Saint Mortaen the Deathbringer
Saint Mortaen the Deathbringer is a minor saint of the Church of Serkatha.
She is the saint tasked by Serkatha with ferrying the souls of the deceased to the City of Judgement and feared by the people of Styx in that position.
Saint Mortaen was canonized by the Church of Serkatha in the First Age and some historians of the Academia Ars Magicka et Mundana have suggested she was a pre-Stygian psychopomp worshipped by the Forestfolk and was canonized to fortify the hold of the Church of Serkatha on the people.
Saint Mortaen was originally called Saint Morvaen but her name was changed when the Church of Serkatha was reformed after the Great Revolution.
The ambivalent mythology of Mortaen/Morvaen depicts the Deathbringer as either a benevolent, kind and caring being that takes souls to the City of Judgement with gentle hands or as an uncaring and cruel mistress that passes souls to their judgement.
Although the doctrine of the Church of Serkatha did not change its actual description of Mortaen/Morvaen when renaming her and her ambivalence remains the same as the Church has always preached it the people of Styx, following the change in name, started to crystallize Saint Morvaen as the caring, kind and benevolent face of death while Mortaen the Deathbringer is the cruel and uncaring one.
Of course the Church of Serkatha rejects this folk mythology as heresy but at no time in the history of the People’s Republic of Styx has the execution of folk preachers stopped the mortal minds of the populace.
Saint Mortaen is most often depicted in saintly iconographic art as a split figure with one part of her body looking more humanoid and quite beautiful yet with a cruel and cold facial expression while the other side of her body is a kindly smiling skeletal figure.
Tools carried by the saint in such iconography are the dual sickles of Serkatha. Animals associated with the saint are the Corpse Crows which announce her arrival and harvestmen.
The Saint of commonly also referred to simply as "Death Herself".
In the year 334 a group of academics of the Academia Ars Magicka et Mundana were officially warned by the Church of Serkatha after publishing a research paper which looks into the supposed pre-Serkathan origins of the saint as a holy figure of the Forestfolk.
The seasonal celebration of the deceased called Mertvinik is held in Saint Mortaen's honor yearly.
Saint Mortaen was canonized by the Church of Serkatha in the First Age and some historians of the Academia Ars Magicka et Mundana have suggested she was a pre-Stygian psychopomp worshipped by the Forestfolk and was canonized to fortify the hold of the Church of Serkatha on the people.
Saint Mortaen was originally called Saint Morvaen but her name was changed when the Church of Serkatha was reformed after the Great Revolution.
The ambivalent mythology of Mortaen/Morvaen depicts the Deathbringer as either a benevolent, kind and caring being that takes souls to the City of Judgement with gentle hands or as an uncaring and cruel mistress that passes souls to their judgement.
Although the doctrine of the Church of Serkatha did not change its actual description of Mortaen/Morvaen when renaming her and her ambivalence remains the same as the Church has always preached it the people of Styx, following the change in name, started to crystallize Saint Morvaen as the caring, kind and benevolent face of death while Mortaen the Deathbringer is the cruel and uncaring one.
Of course the Church of Serkatha rejects this folk mythology as heresy but at no time in the history of the People’s Republic of Styx has the execution of folk preachers stopped the mortal minds of the populace.
Saint Mortaen is most often depicted in saintly iconographic art as a split figure with one part of her body looking more humanoid and quite beautiful yet with a cruel and cold facial expression while the other side of her body is a kindly smiling skeletal figure.
Tools carried by the saint in such iconography are the dual sickles of Serkatha. Animals associated with the saint are the Corpse Crows which announce her arrival and harvestmen.
The Saint of commonly also referred to simply as "Death Herself".
In the year 334 a group of academics of the Academia Ars Magicka et Mundana were officially warned by the Church of Serkatha after publishing a research paper which looks into the supposed pre-Serkathan origins of the saint as a holy figure of the Forestfolk.
The seasonal celebration of the deceased called Mertvinik is held in Saint Mortaen's honor yearly.
Children