The Weaver Of Souls

Empyrean Empress, Ghost Queen, Shadow of Mystery, Light of Inspiration, The Goddess, The Divinity
Greater Deity
Symbol many, but most incorporate a pair of crossed figure-eight patterns
Home Plane The Tower of Spirits/Terra/Mortal Coil
Alignment neutral
Foes the Faerie Courts, Void Powers
Servants the Weavemakers
Servitor Creatures undead (death knights, mummies), outsiders (eidolons, angels, inevitables, titans, devils, demons), nagas, sphinxes, minotaurs, medusas, gargoyles
Manifestations a windborn, gossamer shroud; the Indwelling; glorious light; protective darkness
Worshippers mortals, nagas, sphinxes, outsiders, undead
Cleric Alignments LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CN, LE, NE, CE
Speciality Priests Luigardian zealot, prelate advocate, raveled mystic, shrouded dervish, unholy pythoness
Portfolio destiny, death, life, the soul, mystery, sun, moon, stars all spiritual concepts
Domains all, but primarily Artifice, Chaos, Community, Creation, Death, Destruction, Evil, Good, Healing, Knowledge, Law, Magic, Mystery*, Nobility, Protection, Providence*, Repose
Favored Weapon Beloved Host (flail), Circumstance (net), Humility (spear), Inspiration (dagger), Release (kukri), Shard of Guilt (starknife), Subversion (halberd), Trial (whip)

Appearance The Weaver of Souls appears most often as a pale female humanoid shrouded in whirling gossamer scarves. The scarves are primarily white, but incorporate strands of every color imaginable, all muted and scattered with stars. She has eight arms, each pair occupied in a different stage of the process of weaving and reweaving her own shrouds. Each hand is a different color - brown and green spin, blue and orange weave, yellow and violet cut, and black and red unravel. Her head is veiled with several layers of fabric and never visible.

Sometimes, when she is shown presiding over the destiny ordained in the stars, she will use the sun as a spindle and the moon as a shearing blade.

When she is shown presiding over holy war, her weaving implements may be replaced in part or in whole with divine weapons.

History Although some of her faithful like to claim otherwise, The Weaver of Souls has not always been the sole goddess of Linscend. About 3,000 years ago, a terrible conflict tore the realm apart, involving horrifying interlopers from outside reality, the entire pantheon of gods (known as the Sala), many mortals, and several of the Faerie Courts. The Weaver of Souls seemed to be least involved of all the powers at first, but eventually revealed herself in the heart of the action when the conflict reached its climax. In the end, most of the gods were killed. The Void Powers present were either banished or locked away beneath the earth. Many suspect The Weaver orchestrated the whole apocalyptic event.

With the other gods dead, the significant majority of outsiders in Linscend (of a great many varieties) are present as servants of The Weaver of Souls.

Nature At her core, The Weaver of Souls is mistress of destiny and mortal souls, interweaving them in grand designs only she can see across the length of history. Most hold that she spun all the threads of fate when the world was young and will collect them again to complete her tapestry at the end of time. Thus, every part of history is said to play a role in her divine providence. Although her enemies scoff at claims of her universal influence, even those events she took no part in are still attributed to her indirectly and her will is said to be found in all of time by her faithful.

All mortals are charged with following her will as ordained by her prophets; in this regard, she is a judge, and every mortal must take care that they be found faithful when the thread of their soul is taken back to The Weaver. The unfaithful will be excised from her grand tapestry while the faithful will be gloriously rewarded. Much conflict between factions of The Weaver's followers comes from conflicting notions of what is the right way to live in The Weaver's eyes and what destiny each follower should strive to fulfill.

The Weaver encompasses all alignments, using each as it suits her varied and mysterious goals. She has champions and servants of every alignment, and each of them must accept this fact. Some take this to mean that either enemy priests or enemy institutions cannot be destroyed outright, but few shy from meddling in and stopping the plans of rival clerics. In a sense, her multifaceted stance makes the command to remain faithful to her a matter of simple pragmatism, and not a moral or ethical stipulation.

The Weaver always knows more than she lets on, and it is possible she knows far more about The Godspell than even her fellow gods ever did. She hoards her knowledge and deems mortals unfit to learn great secrets while bound by the failings of their mortal flesh, as they cannot hope to properly understand them. The extent of The Weaver's prohibition on mortal learning is not well-known, but certainly includes all substantive knowledge of The Godspell, the nature of divinity, and ways to draw upon Powers other than The Weaver herself.

Only those she blesses with eternal life, having proven themselves faithful, are fit to learn high truth. They may be timeless undead or undying aberrations (specifically nagas), as well as spirits of other sorts. These ageless beings are the first signs of what is to come - when The Weaver's plan comes to fruition and history reaches its close, The Weaver will replace the current, unclean world with a new, pure one free of mortal frailty.

The undead are The Weaver's primary servants, doing her will across Linscend while they wait eternally for their goddess's providence. Some believe that reincarnation as a naga is a blessing especially reserved by The Weaver for her most pure and faithful servants, something higher than undeath and the only thing truly reflective of the world to come. Others consider the nagas to instead be those who are too impure to leave the world behind, who must go through an intermediary phase of life before eventually moving beyond living altogether - perhaps their faith is in the right place, but they are unable to properly follow The Weaver's will. Those who see flesh itself as innately flawed regard outsiders and incorporeal creatures above all else. Still others revere sphinxes, known as the original servants of The Weaver.

The Weaver of Souls rarely or never leaves the Tower of Spirits.

The Churches of The Weaver The Church of The Weaver is splintered into numerous factions. However, most share certain common features.

The dogma of most churches teach the following in one form or another:

  • The Weaver of Souls, ultimate in power and wisdom, is the only being worthy of worship.
  • Mortals are limited beings unfit to understand the whole of The Weaver's perfect plan for the world. Their purpose is to revere The Weaver so that they can be transfigured and share in her perfection after the end of their current lives.
  • The foremost sin against The Weaver is to learn that which mortals were not meant to know, which is variously defined but which always includes matters surrounding The Godspell, the nature of divinity, and ways to draw on Powers other than her.
  • Good, evil, law, and chaos are all part of The Weaver and necessary to her ultimate plan.
  • The Reckoning, the end phase of The Weaver's ultimate plan, will be heralded by the Chosen Ones. These humen champions will at first be disbelieved by the church leaders, most of whom are not the true faithful. Against The Weaver's servants will be the Towerbreakers, thirsting for the secrets locked within the Tower of Spirits and manipulating all her foes into uniting to destroy the true goddess and her works. Eventually, the Chosen Ones will prevail and usher in the end of time and The Weaver's glorious final victory will come.

The Weaver's churches are all actively interested in converted non-members to their particular brand of faith.

Common points of conflict - sometimes violent conflict - include The Weaver's limitation on mortal knowledge, what purpose the Sala served in her plans, and the nature of the afterlife. Holy wars have been fought over study of magic or the planes or alchemy going too far, lingering good sentiments for the vanished gods, and controversial methods to earn eternal deliverance.

The Tower of Spirits The Weaver's stronghold is a massive mountain that travels all across Linscend as she wills. Its misty sides are covered in a labyrinth of passes and crevasses which threaten to swallow those who are not invited. The natural and artificial mazes are guarded by all manner of divine servants, but especially epic sphinxes.

Relations to other Powers The Weaver is very isolated; every other Power in Linscend has reason to fear and distrust her and consider her an enemy. She rarely gives cause for any to treat her in any other manner. She makes no secret of the fact that she will have no competition in presiding over the continent-realm.

Since she is the only remaining goddess in Linscend, The Weaver's foremost rivals for mortal worship are other things – Void Powers, philosophies, primal spirits, and cosmic entities. The majority of rival philosophies are forms of nature worship, usually supported in some fashion by fey or druids. Others are gnostic, and actively interested in learning what it is The Weaver so desperately wishes to hide.

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