Aevilok

Though one would safely assume that a deity concerned with the aspect of Death would be avoided by most, this is not entirely the case for Aevilok, who sees a healthy amount of worship all around the world, specifically in Maz’Aena. Aevilok is, through its manifestations, representative of every kind of death, from the cruel, to the fair, to the kindly. Aevilok is not, however, the one who chooses the manner of mortals’ deaths. It simply guides and directs the flow of fallen souls, keeping them safe, before their energies are distributed once again onto Iadrenium.

The nature of a worshiper of Aevilok is entirely determined by the manifestation being worshiped, to a more extreme degree of any other deities in the pantheon. Indeed, the manifestations of Aevilok, though stemming from the same Core Deity, are very different from one another, which causes a great deal of diversity amongst the faithful.

### The Strangler

The Strangler is the aspect of Aevilok that governs violent, vengeful deaths, and is undoubtedly the most dangerous of the god’s manifestations. The Strangler appears as a desiccated man beneath ragged black robes, heavy red marks against its throat, its eyes burning with rage. It is said that, once, Aevilok inhabited a corporeal form and walked amongst kin. Five men discovered the identity of the god and, in hubris, attempted to kill death, so that they might achieve immortality. They succeeded, but failed to understand the nature of a god. Aevilok returned, this time fully divine, and strangled the men to death, before tearing out their souls to keep for itself. Every few decades, Aevilok returns the souls to the mortal realm, with their memories intact, only for the god and its minions to find them and murder them all over again, in an endless cycle of punishment and vengeance. Worshipers of the Strangler are known as the Stranglers in Shadow, and their sole task in life is to find these reincarnated souls, and slaughter them mercilessly.

### The Crow

The Crow is a more gentle aspect of Aevilok. Holding control over the aspects of travelling, awakenings, and exits, the Crow manifests itself as either an individual bird, or as a murder of them, typically of lustrous ebony plumage. The Crow appears to travelers, and is that aspect most commonly associated with the elderly, members of society for which Aevilok holds a great deal of respect and adoration. Worshipers of the Crow, at least in Maz’Aena, will usually wear corvian masks, and armors adorned with black plumage. Priests of the Church of the Black Feather, whose headquarters are found in the Unidon Republics, also worship the Crow and stick to this aesthetic as well, though they tend to act more as advisors and aids, such as in a noble household, or even to a Duke.

### The Keeper of the Dead

The Keeper of the Dead is the most mysterious of Aevilok’s manifestations. With dominion over the aspects of souls, mortality, and death, the Keeper is an amorphous darkness with no shape, only represented by its symbol, the keyhole. The Keeper stands on the other side of death, or it is said, and is twin to the aspect of the Doorman. This manifestation is charged with the souls of mortals, and their secrets are for it to have alone. Those who worship the Keeper are often just as enamored with the deity Woe, for the two share some aspects of Knowledge and Secrecy. The Keeper has no centralized church, and sees the most worship amongst tribal communities.

### The Doorman

When people think of Aevilok, the image which is conjured is typically that of the Doorman, the deity’s final manifestation. The Doorman is the entity separating the world of the living from the world of the dead. With dominion over the aspects of immortality and endings, it is the Doorman who decides when the doors of death open, and for who. As such, those who wish to resurrect someone through magic typically always bargain at the feet of this entity, even though they may not know it. The doorman is represented as a cloaked figure with a wispy blue mote for a face, carrying a staff ending in a lantern. It is this aspect which the Deadfyre Knights worship, commonly.

A few parts of Aevilok’s worship is found in all of its forms and manifestations. Those who disrespect these rules are hated, and most worshippers will attempt to kill them on sight, if able. Firstly, Aevilok despises the undead, and truly any form of necromancy, for it exists as anathema to the god’s ideals of a final death. Secondly, Aevilok’s clergy is very particular about the manner in which burials must be conducted. Bodies should be buried, without caskets and any deviation from this norm will result in cries of heresy. Cremation is considered the worst of these offenses. Lastly, worshippers of Aevilok despise most of all the murder of children. Those who are found guilty of such an awful crime are almost always handed over to priests of Aevilok, in every part of the world, for the clergy is known to be brutal and vindictive in its response to such a crime. The punishment is typically slow strangulation.