Macabre

## Description

### Domains

Macabre created the shadowfell and all it's inhabitants, and he rules over death and the afterlife. Because of his own origins, he is also the god of misfortune, ill fate, begrudging acceptance, envy, and bitterness. Because the dead leave their earthly wealth behind, Macabre has become associated with that wealth, as well as with the abundance of (to him, pretty but valueless) gold in his realm.

It may seem that Macabre is connected to darkness more closely than the other gods, but this isn't the case: Macabre's realm lacks both the sun and the night. It is said that is Macabre is to succeed in extinguishing all life on Terrestria, the world and all that is once known would vanish, and the gods would begin anew.

### Personality

Macabre is a jealous and tyrannical ruler, proud of his domain as lord of all that ever lived. He is an effective warden and lord of the afterlife. However, he is not without compassion, but his compassion is limited to feeling on behalf of others what he himself feels, and his acceptance of his fate means that his lieges, the dead, must accept theirs. He envies the sunlit world of the living, but only in a daydream-like way. Macabre knows that all that lives will eventually join him, which affords him a kind of satisfaction and certainty. When others suffer, it brings Macabre peace, but not glee, because the alienation and banishment of others enable them to identify with his own. He doesn't take pleasure in the suffering of others, but he sees it as a necessity in the order of Terrestria.

### Worship

The god of the afterlife is worshipped by those who exalt death, those who desire wealth, and those who pray for acceptance of their fates. The first group is the smallest but the most dangerous because they seek to bring about a confrontation between Zenith and his shadow. The second group is the largest. The final group is Macabre's favorite — those who have been cast out and who seek peace with their fate.

## Myths

Macabre appears in many god-stories, often as a villain or a foil to the other gods. The stories told by his followers emphasize his power, the wealth of the Underworld, and the inevitability of death.

### Fallax's Escape

Many know the story of Fallax Gage, a Khiban orphan who took up Zenith's spear and attempted to kill Macabre himself. The tale ends in tragedy, as Fallax was struck down along with his friends. Only the high priests of Macabre, however, know that Fallax's soul isn't in the afterlife, having somehow escaped right before Macabre's eyes. Suspecting that either Zenith or Ouroboros knows where Fallax's soul went, Macabre will reward anyone who can tell him.

### Capulet's Song

Long ago, a master lyrist named Capulet mourned her lover, Montague. She studied magic for years until she found a way to create a portal to Montague's afterlife plane, and played a love song to lure Montague's soul back to the mortal world. When Macabre saw this, he became furious, and he extended his whip to draw both of the lovers back. But Capulet was beloved of Senescence, who blocked Macabre's whip with vines. The two lovers lived long lives together. Macabre had the last word, however, tormenting both of the lovers in the afterlife. To this day, this turn of events plagues Senescence, who seeks a way to bring the lovers peace.

### The Return of Daxos

Daxos of Horizon was a powerful oracle who heard the voices of all the gods. Daxos tragically died at the hands of his lover, the champion of Zenith, Elspeth, through the duplicity of the Trickster god, Chicanery. Daxos's soul passed into the afterlife, and Elspeth sought Macabre's help to travel into the Astral Sea. After passing Macabre's test for admittance, Elspeth demanded an additional reward: she would trade her life for Daxos's. Macabre, always eager to claim a champion of the sun god, agreed. Elspeth died shortly after her triumph over Chicanery, whereupon Macabre kept his word, but in a treacherous fashion, allowing Daxos's body to go back to the mortal world as an undead. Bereft of memories, he wanders aimlessly.

### A Shadowed World

Zenith's followers maintain that their god gave rise to Macabre by casting a shadow in the sun's first light. Followers of Macabre say that this tale is self-refuting. Before there ever was a sun, the entire world stood in shadow, and the shadow was Macabre, elder to Zenith. Only with the first dawning was Macabre's form diminished enough that Zenith could overpower him, and the god of the dead has never forgiven his upstart brother. The faithful of both Macabre and Zenith viciously argue the details of their gods' origins, some risking their lives in battle over which of their gods came into being first.

This is Macabre's mythical origin, held true by the mortals of Terrestria. Though there is a theory that states the gods are born from mortal beliefs, not the other way around. More precisely, Esotaria, as the god of wonder and the unknown, was the first born. Death came next, ultimate and inescapable. Then followed the gods of sun and sea, forest and forge. As such, Macabre was born before Zenith and is the oldest of the four major gods of Terrestria.