Athreos

**Athreos** is worshipped as the god of passage. All mortals are destined to face Athreos, the River Guide, when their lives come to an end. The god of passage ferries the dead across the Tartyx River, sending each mortal soul to its destiny in the afterlife. Athreos has no gender.

## Myth

For most people, Athreos embodies the greatest mysteries of existence—the terror and wonder of life’s last moment and the revelation of one’s ultimate fate in the afterlife. Athreos is no judge, though. The veiled, silent god undergoes no deliberations and makes no exceptions. The River Guide reads the truth of each soul and bears it unfailingly to its proper place in the Underworld. There is no haggling and no sympathy on Athreos’s skiff, the god having heard and denied every conceivable mortal plea.

## Influence

Many Therosians carry at least one coin on them at all times just in case their soul departs this plane. It's believed Athreos will accept any coin of any mint or value. Even their definition of a coin is up for debate. However, those who pass unprepared and without tribute will find themselves stranded for eternity.

Athreos is also invoked as the god of passage, as well as the deity with dominion over borders, boundaries, and that which is “neither.” Those who undertake journeys, especially dangerous ones, often drop a coin into a fountain or a body of water in apotropaic acknowledgment of the River Guide. Bridges and borders are also places where Athreos is commonly remembered, with many such sites being marked by motifs of rivers or spirits. Additionally, phenomena that are neither one thing nor another, defying simple classification, are often considered to be within Athreos’s province—most notably the state between life and death, but also echoes, phantom sensations, and the feeling of déjà vu.

## Worship

Most funeral traditions include small offerings and words of reverence to Athreos. Predominant among these traditions is burying or burning the dead with a clay funerary mask, to “frame” the identity of the dead for Athreos, and with at least one coin, so a soul might pay Athreos to ferry them to the Underworld. Some people are laid to rest with large amounts of grave goods. Memorial practices vary widely by culture, from tearful, somber affairs to lively celebrations. These rituals serve more as catharsis for the living than as meaningful boons to Athreos, though. The River Guide cares only for the single coin he’s owed by any who board his skiff.

## Piety

#### **Earning and Losing Piety**

You increase your piety score to Athreos when you honor him or the cycle of life and death through acts such as these:

* Providing coins and overseeing burial rites for those slain during a tragedy
* Ensuring that the deeds and knowledge of someone who has died are preserved
* Slaying undead creatures

Your piety score to Athreos decreases if you diminish the River Guide’s influence in the world, impede his work, or disrespect the dead through acts such as these:

* Denying a dying person their final rites
* Removing wealth from a corpse or defiling a tomb
* Aiding those who seek to escape from the Underworld, or who already have
* Creating undead

**Athreos’s Devotee**

*Piety 3+ Athreos trait*

Your life is intertwined with the fate of the dead. You can cast gentle repose with this trait, requiring no material components, a number of times equal to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of once). You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

**Athreos’s Votary**

*Piety 10+ Athreos trait*

You can cast speak with dead with this trait, requiring no material components. Once you cast the spell in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

**Athreos’s Disciple**

*Piety 25+ Athreos trait*

You can cast false life with this trait, requiring no material components. When you do so, you gain an additional 25 temporary hit points. Once you cast the spell in this way, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for this spell.

**Champion of the Passage**

*Piety 50+ Athreos trait*

You can increase your Intelligence or Wisdom score by 2 and also increase your maximum for that score by 2.