Congregation of Inke (in-kay)

There's a superstition among the Vitlesh peoples of central Vesrae that wearing yellow is a sign of impending demise. When a researcher from the Sophos asked why, the questioned party replied, "The Rotpriests are the only ones allowed to wear yellow."

— A file under "Inke" in the Endless Sophos

The Vitlesh of the steppes and deserts live in a world where death is always a mere moment away. Plague, violence, famine, dehydration, animal attack...the possibilities are endless. Is it such a surprise, then, that they turned to worshipping the personification of death itself in an attempt to stave off the inevitable? Over the centuries, they have written, debated and codified their findings and entrusted it to the Rotpriests. And thus was the Congregation of Inke born.

Mastery over Life and Death

Death? Life? Such binary thinking! Inke's creations do not subscribe to basic definitions such as these.

— A Rotpriest)

The Congregation worships death and life in all of its myriad forms. Necromancy by the various Rotpriests means that the line between the two has been blurred beyond recognition. It is also the Congregation that has defined the various kinds of living, dead and undead that inhabit the Vitlesh nations. The two major categories that they differentiate are the ashekle and the ashekzik:

• The ashekle are those who still have the "spark" of life. This category covers the living who have never died, those who have used necromancy to prolong their lives and those who have been resurrected with their soul intact.
• The ashekzik are those who have lost that "spark." Most undead are in this category, particularly the stereotypical "mindless" ones and the Diseased Ones. The permanently dead are also in this category, rare as they are in this part of the world.

The Congregation's largest festivals and ceremonies are focused on the fluidity between these various states. Festivals of the Congregation celebrate those who have achieved immortality or the blessed dead. The yellow-robed Rotpriests are commonly summoned for funerals, where the recently-deceased are celebrated for returning their spark to Inke before they are revived as ashekzik. They also attend births, celebrating the new spark's arrival on Dreandril.

CW: disease, death, undead, body horror, mutilation, blood, gore (text and images), funerals and childbirth (mentions).

Type

Religious, Organised Religion

Alternative Names

Angels in Yellow, Golden Skulls (for the Prince's personal Rotpriests)

Deities

• Inke, the Death

Related Species

• The Diseased Ones

Related Ethnicities

• Vitlesh

A Diseased One, one of the creations of the Rotpriests of the Congregation.

All images in this article were created by me, EmperorCharlesII, unless otherwise credited.