Mendrith, Goddess of Death and the Afterlife

## Mendrith

**Mendrith**, also known as **The Pale Mistress** or **The Great Embrace**, is the Goddess of Death and the Afterlife. She represents one of the most revered gods in **Yarelle**, having a great number of followers in all corners of the world. **Mendrith** is the Goddess that oversees the concept and act of death, the mortuary rituals and the passage of souls into the Afterlife.

### Description:

**Mendrith** manifests as a tall woman with pale, porcelain-like skin, draped in many different flowing fabrics of white, gray and black color that constantly move, shift and flow. With medium-length wavy black hair, she is often seen barefoot, sometimes with wings and carrying a thurible.

### Divine Realm and Duties:

Before the creation of different afterlives for specific Higher Gods, **Mendrith** has created the primary realm of the dead, **The Pathways**, which acted as both her divine realm and afterlife for all collected souls. The realm consists of extensive plains, forests, meadows and hills, populated by pale, albino versions of all animals found in the mortal realm. There is no day and night cycle, but the sky is in perpetual darkness, a deep dark void with only one star shining, pointing towards **Alboras, the City of Death**, where **Mendrith** gathers all of the souls, regardless of their belief or morality. All gods are permitted access into the city, where they can reclaim the souls of their worshippers and carry them to their respective afterlife. However, this has not always been the case. In the beginning, when **The Pathways** was the only afterlife, all souls would remain in the realm, where **Mendrith** would make use of them - that is how **Alboras** was built.

Being the Goddess of Death, **Mendrith** has also taken the role of "Judge of all Mortal Souls". Even before allowing gods to retrieve their followers from **Alboras**, **Mendrith** regulates the access to the city. Demonic beings are not allowed in **Alboras**, and must wait at its gates, trying to convince passing souls to sign a deal with them or their masters. This is one of the few options that the souls of the faithless, those that did not worship the gods or acknowledge their importance in their lifetime, for they are also not allowed in the city unless they agree to a condition: they must spend a century of wandering the city, contemplating their lack of faith, and aiding the goddess in her affairs inside **Alboras**. If they find faith in the gods within these 100 years of service, their soul will be retrieved by the gods they now worship. However, if the faithless refuse this condition, or are still non-believers after the century passes, they are transformed into pale animals that endlessly roam the realm of the dead or that of the mortals, acting as omens of death. The other souls that are not claimed by any god become inhabitants of the city of death, tasked with expanding it and living for the rest of eternity amongst other souls of similar morality.

While **Mendrith** can collect souls personally, it is not a common occurrence. She instead relies on other agents of death, but mostly on **The Thread**, a pact made with her sibling, **Gudakaro, God of Life**. When a mortal is born, their souls become connected to **The Thread**, a cosmic link that ensures automatic access to **The Pathways** once the mortal dies. Thanks to the machinations of the gods, mortals have a degree of independence when it comes to their actions and influencing their destiny, so **Mendrith** cannot always pinpoint when a mortal might die. However, there is always a sense when death is close, and **The Thread** ensures that whenever it happens, the souls will safely travel to the realm of the dead, of course if not interrupted by certain magic. For this reason, **Mendrith** despises any form of undeath that captures, imprisons or otherwise prevents a soul from joining her realm. When a vampire is killed or dies, their souls are claimed by the goddess, and they receive the most severe sentences and punishments. Liches are seen as enemies as well, and **Mendrith** encourages her living followers to hunt these types of undead creatures at all cost, rewarding those who do succeed.

While **The Thread** is a pact that takes action after death, a small number of mortals and other beings of other planes have been able to exploit it, and travel to the land of the dead. **Mendrith** has been aware of it, and seeks constantly to learn how exactly these mortal beings have been able to do so. Any being that is not of godly nature, or a claimed worshiper of one, can be claimed by the Pale Mistress herself. That is why few dare to even think of stepping foot in the realm of the dead.

### Worshippers:

Though many fear death, **Mendrith** is one of the most revered of the Gods. Temples of the Pale Mistress are found in most cities of every continent, where the goddess is worshiped under different names. These temples also serve as a mortuary for burial service, as well as a safe space for all worshippers. The followers of **Mendrith** often wear light purple or gray robes, and adorn themselves with her symbol, a circular silver chain with a forget-me-not flower in the center. Those that are devoted to **Mendrith** often receive active guidance from her, and clerics and paladins that follow this path are welcomed after their death to serve as champions of the goddess, becoming agents of death that aid her in all her endeavors. Cults, mercenary groups and assassin organizations also often invoke the goddess and dedicate their work to her.

As a personification of death, and through her work, **Mendrith** is often perceived as a neutral, non-malevolent force, an inevitable truth that can be accepted without much resistance. This association stems from her bond with the **God of Life** and her distaste for undeath, where many people have come to see death as part of the natural cycle rather than something to be resisted. Despite this, **Mendrith’s** main goal is that of collecting as many souls as possible, without disturbing the balance in the process. Due to her close relationship with her sibling, **Cylvir, the God of Change and Transfiguration**, The Pale Mistress has been swayed many times to tip this balance - wars, crusades, diseases - they all bring many souls to be collected. In this way, the goddess’s favor is often valuable for any other god who seeks to enact big changes on the mortal realm.