NULL
Null, the Stillborn Godling. The God of Death, Fear and Pity. The strangest and most unsettling of the divinities - part-immortal god, part-dead. But the embodiment of death and the fear of death itself. Nonetheless, he retains worshippers and has power stronger than most other gods. However, he is a deity that does not even realise his own power. Incapable of growth, or learning.
While other gods were born from the Great Founding, Null is unlike any other divinity, he was born dead and given life from the collective souls of dread, doubt and fear, and the energies of death itself from Promethea. He is a mere child in comparison to the gods, but he is the anathema of life, the end of all things. Unlike Tharizdun, he was not corrupted or twisted to be the chaotic destruction of all Creation, rather, he is the natural consequence of life. He is the end of the cycle, the death that finally needs to come, the end that makes room for a new beginning.
"Life is brief. Death is eternal."
Church of Null
Worshippers
Unlike any other god, he is not truly worshipped by the common folk, outside of funeral rites, prayers for the fallen, or even out of desperate fear and doubt calling to the void. But every mortal in Aetheus reveres, fears and prays to him in their most dire of fates.
For those that do take up the black cloth of Null, they are known as the Hollow Ones. Their vestments are simple pallid grey and black, their faces covered in a swathe of clothe so only their eyes are visible, and are often seen carrying a gnarled wooden staff. Across their necks they wear a rope-necklace with a cloth-dolls head with eyes made of black buttons.
Temples and Priests
The clergy of Null are charged to make folk fear and respect death, and the power of the almighty Null, so that no one stands against the church or tries to thwart its activities.
Null's priests are expected to spread the word that touching a priest of Null brings death. They are expected to tell all folk that those in service of Null have perfect patience and can be trusted utterly - then conduct themselves accordingly. They shall take any lamentation, any fear by the common folk, and console them to the best of their ability - but they shall not intervene, only offer peace and calm. And to pity those that no one else pities.
Null's clergy are to teach the stories of the past and future doombringers - mortals that roam the land avenging dead friends, masters, and blood-kin to whom they have sworn oaths to, and slaying those who scoffed or who held other gods supreme over the Stillborn Godling.
Null's priests are taught to fear death, but not fear itself. Crippling doubt and pity can be overcome, as life finds a way, much as Null did, but to realise that all things must end.
Initiates to the faith first hear the word of Null through a speak with dead spell cast on a temple's most revered deceased former high priest. Such spells allow all within hearing range to comprehend the corpse's words.
Null's temples are extremely rare, but all that exist are dimly lit with the exception of the main altar. The main altar consists of a podium in-front of a sacrifical table, which is raised from the floor with steps leading to it. The front of the podium his the Holy Symbol of Null painted in black and white and is paired with a large metal holy symbol which adorns the wall behind the sacrificial table. Surrounding it are troughs filled with maggots that sit and wait until the next sacrifice is offered to them. The surrounding walls are bleak and barren, with little to no decoration, as it would provide possible distraction from the podium and sacrificial table. The floor has two rows of pews with a centre aisle that leads to the steps of the sacrificial table. A red floor mat, bordered by black and white stripes, is laid in the aisle.
Reapers
Null is served by the Grim Reapers, dark undead creatures of unholy might, that enter the material plane in his name, hunting down those who try to escape death. They are those who have suffered a terrible death, great fear and terrible lives - especially those who died before their prime. And thus, many of the Grim Reapers come in the form of children, orphans, and babes. They hunt those that seek to overcome death, raised by dark powers, and come to collect their dues. None can escape the black mark of Null.
Realm
Null resides within the Abandoned Cradle, the grey home of Null, made from the corpses of the dead and the Primordial's that died in the Divine War. The wasteland in which the gods deposited all the lost and defeated foes to their home. Located in Hades, upon the edges of the River Styx.
Holy Books & Codes
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD
The Book of the Dead is an ancient funerary text generally written on papyrus. The book is the closest term to describe the loose collection of tets, consisting of a number of magic spells intended to assist a dead person's journey through the underworld and into the afterlife. Written in by many priests for thousands of years.
Tenets of Faith
Fear me, for I am become death. My embrace is for all and is patient but certain. The dead can always find you. My hand is everywhere - there is no door I cannot pass, nor guardian that can withstand me.
1. Fear Null, for he is then end.
2. Do not kill without reason, but never stop someone from dying if the Reaper calls them.
3. Leave no corpse unburied and never resurrect someone who has been called by Null.
4. Do not mourn the dead, for they cannot hear you.
5. Do not try to escape or cheat death. It will only prolong your suffering.
6. Spread the word of Null, so that all may know the Stillborn Godling, and fear his touch.
Divine Goals & Aspirations
The ideals of Null are simple. If any action taken by a worshiper brings death, it is viewed with interest. If an action saves lives, it is viewed with disgust. Those that are in good favour of Null, are accepted into the paradise where the faithful are rewarded eternal for their faith. Those that are not in good favour are doomed to wander the hellish planes. Those who wander the Hells are forever hunted by those who live in the hall and when killed, are born again in the Hells to repeat the cycle.
Normally, only souls in the Ethereal Plane with evil auras are tracked by Demons. However, sacrifices to Null and those slain by Null's faithful whom recite his prayer are marked in the Shadowfell. This mark masks souls from other outsiders' normal ability to sense the dead while making them easier to find for Demons to harvest. Those that are captured in the Afterlife and damned to the Hells are then judged by Null himself. Those he finds worthy are accepted into the heavens. Those he finds wanting are sent into the Hells to become prey for his faithful.
Null himself wishes to bring death to all the inhabitants of Aetheus and the other planes but for those who share his views, they will be in good company.
Most believe that this unformed godling was the child of Promethea. Seemingly born dead and thrown into the River Styx, bound and horrified by the screams and horror of all the souls that pervade in the universe. It's first wailing cry giving it life and a melancholic death. Neither alive, nor dead. Just simply existing, but feeling. Ultimately tied to the realm of Death. The Stillborn One. He is the God of Death, the Dead and those that were unborn. He is the God of Fear and Pity. He is paranoid and fearful of all things, to the point of madness. His wails match the millions of souls that run through the River Styx, his sorrow unrivalled by all in the universe.
Personal History
It is unknown as to when or how long Null has existed. Some believe he is a deity that tried to be birthed from the Great Founding, some believe that he is the failed progeny of one of the divinities, some believe he is older than the universe.
When the Great War occurred between Gods, Titans and Mortals - Null was left to collect the dead bodies of those slain, and to take their souls.
He was present when the Elves first received the gift of death after Arvanos' departure. He watches them as they pine for their immortality, weeping for them.
Null presented himself, and his reapers, to the new and burgeoning goddess' of death, the Raven Queen and the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone. He left assured that they shall be the one to watch over the souls that enter and knock upon death's door.
Null was present in intervening against the aberration of death, the Demon Prince Orcus - fighting alongside the other death goddesses, and banishing the undead from whence they came.
Null had sensed the rise of a new god, one that cheated death, and denied him his soul. Vecna. The Undying King. His reapers quiver and shake with silent anticipation, thirsting to claim this heretics soul, and pit him to damnation.
Null has marked other gods for death, those mortals that had attained godhood, and denied him their deaths.
Lorkhan the Storm Lord - Ladugeur the Grey Taskmaster - the nameless Raven Queen - Kaijos the Scaled Schemer - Quorlinn the Filcher.
He also see's the injuries sustained by the Knowing Mistress, and waits eternally for her eventual arrival at death's door.
He felt the divine essence leave Bane, and was curious, though the deity had fallen... he was not truly dead. His reapers have been hunting for the rest of his soul. And the souls of those sacrificed by Erathis, the Martyr Progeny - exchanged by Persephone for a bid for power.
Even after the Divergence, he still watches the world around him - still feels the fears of all the souls of the world, still feels their terror, and wishes for the perpetual silence that he longs for.
