Lyssras

Death, Grave   Death, Fate, Winter

Black pathway leading into a tall, dark mountain

Path's Awakening   Hiver 25   On this day, families visit the final resting places of their passed loved ones and pray for blessings upon them from Lyssras so that their loved ones might traverse the Darkened Paths without fear to their final destination in the afterlife. It is a somber day held on the shortest day of the year.

Lyssras guides the fate of each person, ensuring that the time and reason for their deaths are not challenged. She believes that life must always lead to death, and to cheat it is to become an abomination. All life must follow the destiny that has been laid out before it.    Throughout Fragmentia, families call upon Lyssras to guide their loved ones on her Darkened Paths and into the afterlife. Though many fear Lyssras, they still call on her to protect their loved ones from the curses that wait for those that stray from the Paths.

There are not many depictions of the Darkened Path, and she asks that her worshipers never show her face. If she is depicted in artwork, she is portrayed facing away from the viewer as her long black hair pools behind her, blending into the black path beneath her feet.    However, there are some pieces circulating that do depict her face, and it is devoid of expression. Her face is pale and hallow, eerie and terrifying as dark black eyes stare back. It is said that Lyssras feeds on despair and as such, has become the embodiment of it.

Lyssras was troubled in her mortal life and she was obsessed with the concept of death and the weave of fate. She was a cult follower of the Raven Queen, who was not technically a Creator but still associated with the ancient line of beings. The Raven Queen herself was a mortal who found a path to ascension before the Creators' sacrifice, and Lyssras found her history intriguing.   However, when the Raven Queen chose Lyssras as her Champion, Lyssras resented it. She felt bound to a duty she did not want and attempted to circumvent her own fate. Lyssras attempted to take her own life, but was stopped by the Raven Queen who instead made her position of Champion into something more like a punishment.   During the War for Creation, Lyssras was forced to learn the hard truths about death and fate, forced to shephard the dead along the Darkened Paths and into the afterlife. She began to feed on the despair around her and was cursed to wield the Phantom Scythe, a weapon made from the bones of innocents killed by the Corrupt Gods. It forced her to herald the dead without tiring, and then to sleep in moments of reprieve. After the Creators' sacrifice, Lyssras was still cursed in her ascension, forced to wander the Darkened Paths and ensure the cycle of life on the Material Plane.   Lyssras never entered the Material Plane or traveled to Nova. She remained in contact only with Domini who still saw some spark of light in her. Domini helped her during the Divine Wars to finally break her curse with the Phantom Scythe, thus releasing her to find a new deity of death to fill her position.   It is believed that she was cast beyond the Mortal Gate in the wake of the Shattering before she was able to accomplish this goal. Now she simply wanders the Darkened Paths, fulfilling a responsibility she never wanted in the first place.