True Name: Marlis
Persona Name: Marlis
Other Personas: –
Greater Power of the Allure, Famine, Drought, Blight, Decay, and Death.
Excerpt: ‘Some ends are beautiful, some are messy, some are span so far there is no one left to bury the dead. Marlis starved the Gallus when one of them stole from her the tribute of a Great Bull of Brown, she drained the wells and stopped the rains when a Freian painted a mortal more beautiful than her, she laid to waste with plague the fields of the Marok when they burned her priestesses at the fall of the southern lands, and she culled the children of the Kaiden when they elevated Dreous above her as the chief god of death.
All that gleams shall become dull; All that is strong shall weaken; All that is Vain shall break their mirrors, and All that is shall end.’ The Lamentations of the Allure.
Known across the plane as Marlis, The Mother of Maggots, The Kiss of Death, The Goddess of the Blight, The Final Alure, The Ruinous Beauty, The Wrath and Whim, The Lady Death, The Final Face, The Strife, and The Emptied.
Holy Book: The Buch der Kronen, The Book of Crowns, The Tosk og Hal, Gambri nuk Kunn, The Immortal Scriptures, The Book of First Flame, and The Book of Scales.
A member of the Gods of the Dead.
Marlis’ holy symbol is the Shepherd – a crook surrounded by four black tears representing each of the four gods of Death.
When active on Ithia, The Ring is the Celestial Body of Marlis, a golden ring of light. It forms around Drei as a golden halo when both Gods are active.
Marlis’ Divine realm is Vigil, where the Gods’ favored dwell. It is paradise incarnate, but a lonely place. Marlis spends her time keeping souls’ company as few make it to the sprawl of Vigil.
Marlis does not put her faith in power; that isn’t her own.
Marlis has a selection of holy relics, including the Skull of Tarbh Donn, the Second Nail of Kain, the Chalice, and the Bouquet of Decay.
Marlis views Chrysanthemums, Poppies, Hyacinths, and Flies as sacred.
Marlis is beautiful, her form changing to fit each individual who looks upon her. She is always deathly pale, with black ash darkening her lips and around her eyes. Her hair is the night at the witching hour, sparkling with stars, and her eyes are depthless pools of moonlight that draw souls into eternity. Marlis wears outfits of shadow and spun spider silk, jewelry of polished gravestone from tombs so old their cultures and corpses have turned all to dust.
Marlis is lacks the calm, patience, or decorum of the other Gods of the Dead. She is chaotic, flirty, and energetic. She’s the midlife crisis, that sudden burst of energy after long sickness just before the end. She is the energy of youth, the arrogance of the mighty who in their mind will never die, and she is the pursuits of delights that edge and even chase around death. She is one of the most feared gods of the Dead, and if not regularly appeased by mortals, will wipe out entire villages, city-states, countries, and species with her wrath.
Marlis grants her divine servants the power to rot away plants, drain water, shift life from one plant to another, revitalize the water they’ve destroyed, reform things from ash, decompose matter, summon and command decomposers, and unleash blights.
Marlis maintains a holiday known as the Gray Day as sacred. A time when new compost piles were generally started, marking the start of a new cycle of decay and life. People worship it in colorful face paint, big clogs, dancing, and creating proper layered piles of compostable waste for communal projects.
Marlis is worshipped in general to escape her wrath. Farmers in particular worship her to escape the wrath of famine, blight, and drought, destroying their livelihood. But almost everyone makes sacrifices to avoid the ruin of their lands.
Marlis has sacred rites for properly creating healthy compost piles, rites for natural burials that return the body to the earth, and ones for revitalizing poorly managed fields or infertile lands.
Marlis accepts sacrifices of animals, semiprecious and precious stones, beeswax, honey, milk, and crops. She also allows the gifting of young girls into her divine service from cultures that might otherwise kill or abandon them.
Kaxis’s Values
Arches (Goals) –
Marlis demands sacrifice, services, and thought. She is the careless death that must be appeased.
Pillars (Virtues) –
Death, Life, and Appeasement.
Columns (Vices) –
Undeath and Stinginess.
Marlis is worshipped in farmlands and cities. Her temples are domes made from clay and/or stone. Built around a central pyre where sacrifices may be burned. A large iron spit was set across the burning pit. Farmers make desperate shrines to her, and cities appease her.
Marlis has no avatars.
Marlis has no Coelestis.
Marlis has no demi-god species.
Marlis has no mortal species.
Marlis has no prophets or saints.
The Daughters of Marlis exclusively recruits girls, raising them from an early age.
-The Allure: Arch Priestess of Marlis.
-Lady in Black: High Priestesses of Marlis.
-Lady in Grey: Priestesses of Marlis.
-Lady in Waiting: Utility Staff.
-Maiden: Student Priestesses of Marlis.
Marlis’ daughters wear nearly sheer white, grey, and black robes with hoods. Stoles and sashes marking veteran service ensure modesty.
Marlis has no holy orders.
Marlis has no parents or children.
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