Fiction:The Firmament/Dominus Mortis

Dominus Mortis is the god of death, mortality, fragility and the end of all things. Considered among the eldest deities, he is also among the most influential, for all cultures revere death in some manner. Tasked with judging the final resting place of the souls of the deceased, he is both feared and respected by mortals and gods alike.

Appearance
Dominus Mortis is a levitating humanoid skeleton shrouded in a tattered cloak, often with a pair of large, skeletal wings. He wields a scythe which he uses to behead the deceased, claiming their souls into the afterlife..

History
Most theologists place Dominus Mortis among the oldest deities, with some claiming he may be the first of all gods, younger only than Aether herself. With the formation of the planes, he recruited other gods of death to assist him in maintaining the realms of afterlife, sending souls to their respective destinations depending of their actions in life.

There is evidence found in Primordial ruins that Dominus Mortis was involved in the Great Gap as one of the gods who fought Varagarash Narahil, leading to his eventually imprisonment at the Abyssal End. Such tales describe "death itself" striking at the World Worm with a scythe, sending gashes of demonic blood across the landscape that killed all it touched.

Realm
Dominus Mortis claims ownership of the entirely of the Underworld, but his personal abode is the River Styx, a river of souls which passes through the Underworld itself, Ziana and ends in Irkalla. He typically resides upon a simple boat, taking the form of a human ferryman who offers to take others across, as swimming in the river is impossible without being consumed by it.

Personality
Many races fear the Reaper, and with good reason due to his power over death. However, Dominus Mortis is completely impartial to mortal morality, seeing his duty as the lord of the dead as all there is, leaving many other deities to be wary of him. However, there is one thing which earns his ire, and it is the undead, who are considered the greatest crime to the cycle of life and death in the Firmament by him and his followers. Necromancers and other undead beings are generally fated to Irkalla as far as Dominus Mortis is concerned.

Relationships

 * Allies
 * Aether - Dominus Mortis treats Aether as the only authority beyond himself.
 * Psychopomp gravekeepers - As lord of the Underworld, Mortis is the master of the gravekeepers.


 * Ambivalent
 * Strerderimm - The dwarf god of death collaborates with Mortis often, though the greater god has no strong feelings for him.


 * Enemies
 * Varagarash Narahil - The Grim Reaper goes out of his way to cause as much suffering as possible to the World Worm.
 * Analuhati - The creation of vampirism granted Analuhati with the Grim Reaper's eternal ire.

Cult of Dominus Mortis
Dominus Mortis is arguably the most worshipped greater god of the Firmament, as all cultures respect death in some manner. Many of his worshipers are closely aligned with either burgeoning life or terminating death, such as morticians and grave diggers. Ferrymen are also associated with him, as he too is associated with them. Pregnant women often carry small medallions bearing bell symbols to protect their child. His followers dress in black for his ceremonies (no matter the local custom), with their clothes adorned with silver, and carry tiny vials of holy water. Carrion-eating animals are strongly associated with the deity, with vultures often seen as an omen linked to him.

The Grim Reaper's priests are typically clerics and wizards who dedicate themselves to studying the dead rather than becoming full necromancers. His followers view the undead with hatred and consider them a great abomination. Mortians view putting the undead to rest as a holy duty, and raising them for any reason is grounds for being excommunicated and completely forsaken by the god himself.