The Parents

**The Parents, Father and Mother, Father Death and Mother Life**

￼Neroth and Beltine are
the chief deities and progenitors of the current Carceri pantheon.
The couple show the people of Carceri’s unique looks on both death and what
happens afterward. According to Nerothian scripture, Neroth is the bestower of
life in all forms, including unlife, gifting physical existance on the souls
his wife, Beltine, creates from ingredients of magic and the pieces of the
universe, so that they might know themselves. When a rare soul does not live up
to the full potential that lies buried deep within is not brought forth in the
soul’s natural life, Neroth will bestow a Gift of
extra time to fulfill their potential. Because of this, necromancy is not seen
as an evil practice in and of itself, and the wielder’s intentions are more often
taken into account in societies judgement.

The Parents of the Carceri pantheon begat the only progeny of the Carceri Gods: Larissa and Sarish, the deities of Fate and Volition.

## Neroth

Neroth petting a kitten, his favored animal.

### Aliases

Lord of Life and Death, Summoner of the Ancients, He who Extends Life Beyond Death, Grim Sovereign of the Catacombs

### Relatives

Beltine (wife), Illir (brother), Larissa (daughter), Sarish (son), Althares (cousin, deceased), Val'iura (sister-in-law, missing)

## Physical description

### Gender

Male

￼Neroth, is the father figure of the Carceri pantheon, bestower of life in all forms, including unlife. He not only holds sway over the body and intellect after death, but also during life. According to Nerothian scripture, Neroth bestowed his Gift on rare souls, whose potential lay buried deep within but was not brought out in their natural life. Neroth is usually only associated with the congregation of
undead that so characterize His worship in far off Canceri, but in actuality, many healers pay as much obeisance to him as to His wife, Beltine.

Neroth is depicted as either a skeleton with glowing eyes floating in his sockets wearing ultra-violet robes, to those whose visual acuity extends that far, with the hood pulled up over His head. In depictions where the Lord of Life and Death is depicted with his skin it is drawn tight to the bone with no musculature beneath, but with shining brown eyes instead of the spectral blue ones.

***Source***: Original Creation, inspired by Arcanis

***Pantheon***: Carceri

***Alignment***: True Neutral with Good leanings

***Favored Weapon***: Scythe

***Symbol***: Skull with glowing eyes and crossed sickles

***Sacred Animals***: Cats, particularly strays

***Sacred Colors***: Brown and Ultra-violet (shows black for those
without that visual acuity)

***Domains***: Ancestors, Arcane, Aristocracy, Caves, Community, Death, Divine, Family, Fate, Growth, Home, Inevitable,Judgement, Leadership, Loss, Memory, Nobility, Redemption, Repose, Rites, Undead

***Inquisitions***: Anger, Banishment, Conversion, Excommunication, Execution, Fate, Final Rest, Heresy, Oblivion, Order, Persistence, Redemption, Reformation, True Death

***Mysteries***: Ancestor, Bones

***Blessings***: Charm, Community, Death, Nobility, Repose

**Worship of Neroth**

The priests and priestesses of Neroth are a grim and sardonic group, tending to emulate their Lord’s twisted sense of humor. Nonetheless, they are not without compassion (at least those still among the breathing) and in many areas, such as in Coryani, actually try and stave off disease and tend to the mentally infirm.

## Beltine

Beltine's avatar, dressed in her usual finery.

### Aliases

Mistress of the Cauldron of the Underworld, Nurturer of the Spirit, Forger of Souls

### Relatives

Neroth (husband), Val'iura (sister, missing), Larissa (daughter), Sarish (son), Althares (cousin-in-law, deceased), Illir (brother-in-law)

## Physical description

### Gender

Female

￼Gentle Guardian of the Afterlife, Beltine is the matron, ever stirring her cauldron, from which she pulls souls for her husband, Neroth, to bestow. All souls are vested with a certain amount of time on the Thousand Oceans to enjoy and live out their destiny as dictated by their nature. When mortals die, their souls are consigned to the Cauldron of the Souls, a vast boiling soup of spirits mixed with magic and star pieces. When new souls are needed, Beltine stirs the cauldron with her ladle and takes bits and pieces of spirits to make a new soul, one that is hopefully not as flawed as their previous incarnations. Evil necromancers steal souls from Mother’s pot before they’re ready to return to the mortal realm, so they come back wrong. Good necromancers bestow Neroth’s gifts on the worthy, by seeking the soul with the Parents aid to return them safely to their form or keep them in the mortal realm before even entering the Cauldron of Souls. Those who prove themselves worthy of joining the Gods in their realms are allowed to exit this reincarnation cycle and ascend to the higher planes before re-entering the Cauldron.

Beltine is depicted in flowing yellow robes adorned with turquoise inlaid into the fabric. Representations show her stirring the Cauldron of Souls and other pots to feed the lives that she and her husband create.

***Source***: Original Creation, inspired by Arcanis

***Pantheon***: Carceri

***Alignment***: Neutral Good

***Favored Weapon***: Quarterstaff, “Pot Stirrer”

***Symbol***: A Cauldron boiling with bubbles that look like hearts

***Sacred Animals***: Owl

***Sacred Colors***: Yellow and Turquoise

***Domains***: Alchemy, Arcane, Aristocracy, Blood, Community, Cooperation, Death, Education, Family, Fate, Healing, Home, Knowledge, Life, Love, Medicine, Plant, Protection, Redemption, Repose, Restoration, Resurrection, Souls

***Inquisitions***: Banishment, Clandestine, Conversion, Damnation, Excommunication, Fate, Final Rest, Heresy, Oblivion, Redemption, Reformation, Restoration, True Death

***Mysteries***: Ancestor, Ascetic, Life, Lore,

***Blessings***: Community, Death, Healing, Nobility, Repose

**Worship of Beltine**

The priests and priestesses of Beltine tend to be very calm and peaceful people who are neither easily upset nor distressed. Their unnatural calm gives them an air of saintliness, which has a way of diffusing the most difficult of situations. Her clergy are tasked with attending to the funerary rites for the dead as well as the healing of the infirm and weak, a task that is shared with the clergy of Her husband, Neroth.