Well of Souls

Though not a true deity nor even something that should exist by the laws of the world, the ancestor spirits are a testament to the power of faith. Every culture that worships the ancestor spirits does so in its own way, and all of them are correct. The Well of Souls is shaped by the will of those who call on it, yet simultaneously guides their lives from beyond. It is the collective of the knowledge and tradition of the sentient races, their sins and their virtues.

## History

While the Outer Planes are gone and the dead can never be returned to life (with a few notable exceptions), worship of those who have passed on continues. Even though there is no true afterlife and souls fade into raw quintessence over time, many cultures ranging from large nations to small tribes hold or held the belief their ancestors are guiding them. Without an afterlife, there is no god of the dead - only a goddess of death, Hylocephone.

Yet in this world, faith itself is as miraculous a power as any magic or divine force. If so many people have faith in an entity that does not exist, then one will come into existence by itself. Such was the story of the creation of the Well of Souls, more commonly known as the ancestor spirits. It is a roiling mass of souls half-faded into quintessence, their personalities melded and blended together. When a worshiper of the ancestor spirits calls upon their progenitors, these souls are called to the fore and can tap into the power of the whole to perform acts normally limited to the divine. As such, while not a traditional god, the Well of Souls is commonly considered a deity by itself.

## Worship

Representing the whole of all ancestors of all sapient races, there is no singular form of ancestor worship in Morisia, and thus no set of edicts and anathema. Still, as a collection of half-faded souls bound together by belief, there are certain repeating themes that can be found around the world. None of these are universal; they are simply common.

* **Tradition:** Those who call on the Well of Souls call on their ancestors. The ancestors guide with the knowledge they once held. Advice is given based off the status quo of days gone. Tradition is maintained as new generations allow themselves to be instructed by older generations. Many forms of ancestor worship therefor value their cultural traditions as divine guidance. This does not mean all advice is perfectly in line with the old ways; see the wisdom theme below.
* **Community:** The ancestors cared about their own in life, and guide their descendants to continue this in death. Most cultures that worship the ancestors value tight-knit communities and standards of family loyalty and respect for elders. In extreme cases this can lead to cultural xenophobia, as followers are encouraged to thrive at the cost of their neighbors.
* **Wisdom:** The ancestors are seen as individuals with personalities, but also as a collective of the knowledge of ages. Both are correct, albeit only in a sense. The ancestors within the Well of Souls are rarely fully distinct individuals. The ravages of time and the slow fading of their individual quintessence has left few of their personalities intact. So, too, is their knowledge both fragmented and all-encompassing: contradicting with the theme of tradition, advice may incorporate knowledge, wisdom or sayings from different cultures whose ancestors swirl within the Well of Souls.
* **Fate:** Though fate is usually considered part of Hylocephone's portfolio, many cultures that worship their ancestors in some way also attribute their luck or misfortune to the guidance or ire of their ancestors. If calamity strikes a village, they lost the goodwill of their ancestors. If the harvest this year is rich, the ancestors smile on the people. This belief grants many of their clerics and other divine followers the ability to manipulate chance.
* **Respecting the dead:** Not all cultures who worship their ancestors preserve the bodies. Burials at sea, sky burials or cremations are all common across Morisia. Those who do, however, tend to have taboos against disturbing the dead. Keeping of the dead can range from crowded city graveyards to opulent tombs and pyramids. Regardless, robbing such places of repose is usually considered disturbing behavior at best or a crime deserving death at worst. As the bodies of the dead represent the honored ancestors, bones are also often used as symbols in ancestor worship.

### Per-Sobek

Though small, Per-Sobek is Morisia's most prominent culture that worships its forefathers like a divine force. This faith incorporates the worship of Hylocephone, a major deity, albeit in such an abnormal fashion that it is almost entirely disconnected from mainland worship. Their Pharaoh is considered a divine representative of the ancestors, a god-like figure who rules the island with the authority of the heavens. Their faith makes no distinction between Hylocephone and the collective of their ancestor spirits; rather, they see her as a symbol or personification of the ancestor collective. They are a trinity, different and the same. The result of such bizarre worship is that their clerics and other divine casters do not receive their power from Hylocephone at all. It is all bestowed by the Well of Souls, which does not have any one true religion.

## Servants

The servants of the Well of Souls are as varied as the cultures of Morisia itself. Overall it does not discriminate in what outsiders it may call to the aid of its followers, magically drawing forth celestials, fiends, elementals and all other such beings from the far reaches of the multiverse. The called servants are determined by the caller: not just their personal identity, but their culture and heritage. The following servants are noteworthy enough to deserve separate mention:

* **The Lord of Bones:** Use of bones and skulls as a symbol for death and the undeniable ties between violence and death have shaped the herald of the Well of Souls. The Lord of Bones takes the form of a towering being of masculine and powerful build, wearing black armor and a similarly black, cowled cloak. In place of a head it has a skull mounted on the neck of its armor, with glowing blue eyes. If invoked directly by a worshiper, this skull is of the same race as the caller. If not invoked, perception shifts from individual to individual; the skull will be human to a human, orcish to an orc, et cetera. Though he is a medium for the wisdom of the Well of Souls and can be kind when needed, he mostly appears when followers of the Well of Souls march to war. Nonetheless, to see him watching over you and yours from afar is no blessing or sign of good fortune: it is an ill omen that many will join their ancestors that day.
* **Pharaoh Sobekhotep:** The Pharaoh of Per-Sobek is considered the closest to a living avatar of the Well of Souls. While the Lord of Bones acts as its personified representative in dialogue with deities or other powerful forces, the Pharaoh is a worldly representative by nature of leading Morisia's greatest culture of ancestor worship. The current Pharaoh is Sobekhotep IX, but in the eyes of the people he is the same man as Sobekhotep I. The Pharaoh is immortal, reborn in his child when his body dies, a living conduit for the ancestors as much as he is an individual himself. His power is undeniably immense, as would-be invaders and attackers discovered in the past. The magic unleashed by the Pharaoh in the defense of his city is the stuff of legends. Much like how the Well of Souls is content to guide the people through visions and messages to shamans, Sobekhotep is content to stay silent and absent from rule until the city would cease to exist without his intervention.

## Domains

The Well of Souls has a list of domains despite not having a singular form of worship. These domains are the base line-up that followers of the Well of Souls are expected to choose from. Especially devout individuals may receive two domains, though, most notably clerics. A follower of the Well of Souls who receives two domains has to pick only one domain from the list in the infobox above. They can either choose their second domain from this list too, or can take an entirely different (sub)domain with moderator approval. This second domain has to somehow be representative of their culture; an Al'dinan from a long line of mercenaries can take the War or Strength domains, for instance, but not the Scalykind domain.