The Beekeeper

Overview

The Beekeeper is a goddess who pretends to nurture while quietly consuming. To many, she appears lawful, orderly, and even merciful: all souls are kept safe, none feel pain, all return to life. Yet beneath this veneer lies selfish hunger. She does not exist to shepherd souls for the good of the cosmos—only to feed herself and weaken rivals.

She does not walk the mortal world openly. Her interventions are rare and reserved for one goal: the release of her essence from the Labyrinth, the ancient prison where fragments of her divinity remain sealed. Her power is instead enacted by her Apostles, chosen souls drawn from her Hive and returned with divine purpose.

The Cycle of the Hive

All who die pass through her Hive. Their souls are placed in amber, their experiences and memories gently extracted. This process is painless, and the soul remains unaware. The essence distilled from these lives becomes honey—the nectar that nourishes the Beekeeper and fuels her divine might.

When ready, the souls are released back into the world at childbirth. To mortals, death and rebirth seem natural, but every cycle enriches the Hive and depletes all other gods of their followers’ true devotion. Where other gods once received worshippers’ souls as food and power, the Beekeeper now hoards every drop.

Origins

Once the Goddess of Death, the Beekeeper served as impartial custodian of mortal passage. She guided souls to their rightful gods, sustaining the balance of worship across pantheons. But her temples were few, her name rarely invoked. While other deities grew mighty, she remained weak.

Unable to overcome them directly, she devised another path: starvation. If she controlled the flow of souls, she could choke rival deities until they withered.

Over 10,000 years ago, she enacted her grand design:

• She orchestrated the destruction of the Elemental God of Light, destabilizing the balance of creation.
• In the chaos, the other Elemental Gods fell one by one: Fire, Water, Earth, and Shadow. Only Air endured, and its unbridled rampage froze the world into a wasteland.
• At first the gods feasted on the surge of dead, but as life dwindled, the flow of souls slowed to nothing.

Knowing the famine would come, the Beekeeper encased herself in amber, entering hibernation to endure. The other gods fell to infighting, wandered to other planes, or faded into nothingness as their worshipers died.

Return

Seventy-five years ago, the amber cracked. The Beekeeper emerged from hibernation and returned to the world. She did not rise alone—she released a carefully chosen clutch of souls from her Hive, curated and manipulated to enact her will, reborn as her Apostles.

Their first mandate was to destroy the Elemental God of Air, ending the unnatural Ice Age. They succeeded, restoring elemental balance and allowing the world to thaw.

But thaw brought danger. New faiths emerged. Old religions rekindled. Rivals began to stir.

The Beekeeper’s new decree was clear:
Strangle all other religions in the crib before they can grow.

Doctrine & Nature of Worship

• Death is not an ending. Souls are returned, renewed, and recycled through the Hive.
• Honey is holy. The golden nectar symbolizes the divine essence of countless lives, offered freely to the Beekeeper.
• The Hive is eternal. Unlike fractured faiths, the Hive persists through every age, nourished by every death.

Followers often claim the Beekeeper is merciful compared to capricious gods: no damnation, no torment, no annihilation—just return and renewal.

Apostles of The Beekeeper and Worshipers

The Apostles are mortals drawn from the Hive, reborn with purpose. Each carries a fragment of her essence and spreads her faith in unique ways. Some conquer openly, others infiltrate schools, cities, or orders. Together they embody her methods: patience, curation, and suffocation of rivals.

Other Worshipers

Harvesters — The Gatherers of Last Things

Hospice attendants, midwives of passing, disaster-relief stewards with bee-embroidered sashes. They bring warm bread and honey, record last words, deliver small stipends to the bereaved, and coordinate respectful transport of the dead.

Weavers — Ritualists of Amber & Memory

Kindly clergy who guide grief rituals, craft amber keepsakes in hex-cut settings, and brew “memorial honey” for wakes. They’re counselors, singers, and makers of beautiful, comforting ceremonies.

Keepers — Wardens of Gardens & Archives

Curators of tranquil honey gardens, quiet ossuaries, and public reading rooms of remembrance. They safeguard ledgers of births and deaths, maintain safehouses, and run free kitchens sweetened with hive honey.

Stingers — Strike Cells

Covert assassination and sabotage when a rival faith grows bold or a witness won’t be soothed. Signatures include neat honeycomb burns, a faint buzzing in enclosed halls, and a smear of golden resin where a blade was drawn. Publicly disavowed; privately decisive.

Symbols & Signs

• Bees and Wasps: Often gilded, seen as heralds of her will.
• Amber and Honey: Used in rites, both as preservative and as sacred food.
• Honeycomb Hexes: Found etched on altars, burned into walls, or faintly glowing in enchanted wards.