Lysanthir Lugolor

Lysanthir Lugolor is a god in the High Elven Pantheon, twin brother to Rophalin Imperitor and in some ways counterpart of Feno Ilirel. He is known by the epithet Prince of the Dead or Judge of the Ultimate and mortuaries, some magistrates, assassins and divinatory necromancers among his followers. His sacred symbol is an hour glass and his favoured weapon is the scythe, while crows are his sacred animal. He is best known for his prominent place in funerary rites of the Atarlie Empire. His followers can draw divine energy through the domains of Darkness, Death, Erosion, and Repose

History

Lysanthir was created concurrently with Rophalin Imperitor by Pyria Valeptor, as a natural consequence of the mortality of the elves, whose immortal souls would need to be judged and apportioned to their place in the cosmos. Since that time, he has rarely intervened in mortal history, existing more as a passive god of death and judgement than a direct force for causing the same. He is said to some respect to be responsible for the passing of day into night and the change of the seasons, the order he established for which is measured in the Rophalin Calendar, invented by his twin.

As a god of death, he views his role as a necessary unpleasantness rather than something to revel in, and so is somewhat more accustomed to the good faith of mortals than many other gods of death who are more debased

Relationships

Lysanthir gets along surprisingly well with the rest of the elven divine family, given that he is, in many ways, the antithesis of what Elysium itself stands for. Though viewed as taciturn and staid by most, he has good rapport nonetheless with his twin, Rophalin Imperitor. His chief rival should be Feno Ilirel as the goddess of healing, but in actuality the two get along amicalbly, and once had an affair that produced Camus Inakas.

Lysanthir is the intermediary through which the other gods attempt to reason with Shalaevar Shamaris, and it is through this friendship with her father that he has attracted the affections of Hycis Uriris, who he openly disdains. His longest-running affair to date has been with Immarra Hyacinth, and it is a popular legend among the elves that Immarra created so many short-lived sources of beauty as gifts to Lysanthir, which Lysanthir is said to cherish.

Appearance

Rophalin stands head and shoulders above the mortal elves he will inevitably come to judge, but otherwise appears to be a member of their kind, with a head of jaw-length, silver hair, and wise eyes that make him seem older than he otherwise looks. He is often clad in the black robes of a high-ranking elven magistrate.

Realm

Lysanthir is part of the elvish divine family, and so has a portion of the realm of The Cradle of the Wise, a fortified city in the plane of the Elysium. However, his nature is such that he cannot be truly comfortable there, and so has a proper realm in Hell, which he occasionally retires to to rest and meditate.

Providence

Lysanthir's best providence is a good life and a good death, the merciful slip in the dead of sleep or a peaceful death at the end of a battle with illness or injury. Some of his followers have dreams of Lysanthir, warning them cryptically of this or that hazard. A few have returned from the shores of death with tales of having been turned back by the Judge of the Ultimate, told it was not their time.

Servants

A small retinue of minor devils attend Lysanthir at his realm in hell, but his true servants are the Psychopomps, questing through all the planes looking for souls that have gotten lost on their way to his court.

Unique Servants

The Merciful Shepherd

Appearing as a skeletal elven figure in a hooded black robe, armed with a shepherd's crook, Lysanthir's herald is often among the worst omens imaginable, as his appearance, especially unlooked for, rarely portends well for those who he has come to see. Lysanthir frequently sends the Merciful Shepherd to those who have attempted to abuse necromancy to cheat death.

Church

For most Elves, worship of Lysanthir Lugolor is an extension of the general spiritual life of the Atarlie Empire. His temples also serve as mortuaries and have custody over the catacombs and cemetaries that make up burial grounds throughout the empire. Observances toward Rophalin are made at times of formal government proceedings such as trials potentially ordering an execution, state executions, and in the funeral rites of elves of all standings.

Worshippers

Known to all Atarlie, those who worship Lysanthir are more often than not his clergy, though his temples almost always have more than a few worshippers hoping for a glimpse of their recently-departed loved ones, whose zeal and faith will wane with their grief. A few petition him for help in their endeavours, be they to make contact with or gain some mastery over the souls of the dead, or to "help speed death along".

Clergy

Lysanthir's clergy dress in black and white robes in keeping with the somber nature of their profession, and dress formally as a rule, usually including white gloves that are particular to his faith. The carrying of symbolic hourglasses or actual thuribles is also common. Most of his clergy travel with the materials needed for funerary rites on their person.

Clergy of Lysanthir also serve in the Imperial Legion as chaplains alongside those of several other gods, helping with battleground funerary and crematory practices.

Temples & Shrines

Found in a settlement of any size, the temple to Lysanthir Lugolor has a large commonality with other Atarlie temple architectures, sometimes including a public forum. In addition to place of worship and housing for the clergy, such temples have undercomplexes where pre-burial rites are performed on the recently departed, and will either be the entrances to local catacombs or near to local burial grounds. In some major cities, crematoria are also found.

Many temples of Lysanthir are meeting places for local assassin guilds or necromancer cabals, and may have other facilities suited to those purposes for those who know how to identify themselves as such discreetly.

Holy Texts

Lysanthir's holy work, the Codex Mors is a dictated treatise on the nature of death, providing prescriptions for pre- and post-mortem prepratory rites, the formulae for funerary rites, and other bits of trivia. Uncommonly for the holy works of evil gods, the Codex is heavily reproduced and widly available. A great many elder elves, sensing their oncoming deaths in their bones, obtain copies and study them for the philosophical commentary on the nature of a "good death" and to steel themselves against the fear of the oncoming grave, knowing they too will one day have to explain themselves before the Judge of the Ultimate.

Church History

The history of the church of Lysanthir is the history of the empire itself; it is one of the oldest cults within the Empire and has never been out of influence.

Holidays

The Festival of the Turning Wheel nominally takes place on the anniversary of Lysanthir's birth and is the holiest of his holy days, observed throughout the empire and its protectorates. This New Year celebration is also observed in other territories, but rarely in his honour directly.

Favoured Animals

Crows, who are said to be a sort of curious earthly psychopomp, are sacred to Lysanthir and his followers.