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Surmakull

(a.k.a. Dread Owl, Lady of the Sunless Lands)

The Dread Owl who guides the souls of dead to the worlds beyond life. She is a primordial god which even the gods fear. One of the true ancient gods, she is as mysterious as she is powerful. She has taken many forms over the centuries but she is nevertheless a constant in the world. Death will come for you.

Divine Domains

Grants access to the Death and Grave domains.   Her portfolio includes divination, wisdom, and guidance.

Divine Symbols & Sigils

As she is commonly referred to as the Dread Owl, owls are closely associated with her. Making them one of the few flying creatures not under the domain of The Morrigana. Bones, especially those bleached white, are also used as symbols. The colour white also holds meaning to many cultures in the continent, the greatest exception to this is in the The Radiant Empire where white is seen as a colour of purity.

Tenets of Faith

Death is the one absolute in the world. The powers of undeath and necromancy are present in the world but even they will return under the wings of the white owl. The wings of death are patient and have eons to wait before they come to snatch the wayward.

Divine Goals & Aspirations

Surmakull is an ever present but patient goddess. Her goals are not those of an personality but rather that of a force, a universal law. She does not seek to inflict death onto others despite what some might say. Rather she simply collects those whose time has come. On more than one occasion her followers have adopted predatory campaigns of terror meant to feed her power by killing sacrifices both willing and unwilling. Surmakull is not an evil deity yet she does little to stop these actions.

Physical Description

Specialized Equipment

The favoured weapon of priests of Surmakull is the scimitar.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

Priests and Priestesses of Surmakull are on average a fairly solemn group. Rarely prone to fits of passion, these priests are calculating and analytical by nature. This nature however is rarely cruel rather it is dispassionate studying. They train for years, learning the correct funerary procedures based on class, rank, culture and customs. The average priest knows a dozen different funeral customs to match the exact needs of the departed.

Employment

The feathers of the owl are well respected but usually kept at a distance. They are almost never employed as executioners but are usually present in places where death is expected. Battlefields, jails, and gallows usually have at least one priest calmly surveying the scene. Members of nobility or upper classes will often hire a priest of the Dread Owl years in advance of their expected death to ensure the proper formalities are in place. They are one of the few pagan gods which operate openly in the The Radiant Empire as even the Radians have a healthy fear and respect for Surmakull and her cold claws.    Indeed there are rumours that within the Radiant Empire there is a secret order of "Owl Knights" which harvest worthy souls for the Cold Construction Process. These rumours are largely unconfirmed yet have stayed consistent for hundreds of years.

Social

Hobbies & Pets

Owls are heavily associated with her across multiple cultures. While a pet owl or the odd sighting of an owl is not an omen of death; it certainly raises eyebrows depending on the crowd.
 

by Archillect

Divine Classification
Greater Deity
Alignment
True Neutral
Children
Gender
Referred to as She/Her
Hair
Snow white
Quotes & Catchphrases
"When the first living thing was born, I was there; waiting."
Character Prototype
Death from Neil Gaiman's "Sandman"

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