Nedeker

* Nedeker
* Nedeker (update)
* Nedeker (unused)

**Nedeker** is an Outsider being of unknown origin who dwells in a mysterious domain accessible only to himself and his followers, typically referred to by Nix and himself in their conversations as the Sea of Souls. He strikes deals with mortals at Death's door on the Material Plane to enter his service in exchange for another chance at life, using them to kill creatures that have committed evil acts and to collect their souls for his own purposes. Nix, the changeling warlock, is one such follower, traveling across the Republic of Luxengrand and cutting a bloody swathe through its criminal underworld.

## History

Very little is known of Nedeker's history in Kaldaran, a mystery which the old Outsider is keen on maintaining. Few written records mention his name, and most efforts to uncover information on him end in failure. The little information people have gathered on Nedeker has been uncovered either by his followers (who rarely discuss their patron to others), divination magic (as with Elendar's casting of *legend lore*), and a collection of notes and interviews written and conducted by the scholar Quelloth Quaysir as part of his larger work on the afterlife: *Tales of the Beyond*.

### Earliest Records

The earliest mentions of Nedeker indicate that a humanoid civilization from the Lost Age worshipped him as part of a small pantheon of gods. A temple on the Mooncrest Archipelago houses carvings which lists the practice of an ancient system of law and punishment, dedicated to an unknown god of order and justice referred to as Nedeker. The carvings continue to describe groups of warriors dedicated to him, likely justiciars sent to execute bloody sentences on convicts and outlaws. Many of these punishments depict a victim's soul being ripped out of the body and brought to a well or basin as tribute.

The fate of this civilization is unclear. Archaeologists have found evidence of a great battle waged in their cities, but have no clue as who attacked them or why. Many believe that this civilization's descendants have survived among the islands' residents, but the dangers of the wilderness and the hostility of these residents makes contact with them nearly impossible.

### The Well of Souls

Through the use of *legend lore* on Nix's Blade of the Drowned, Elendar discovered the existence of a ritual site known as the Well of Souls. The well is a large pool of what looks like dark, green water, with a diameter of 300 feet and an indeterminable depth. Spirits of various creatures swim in the well, reaching out to any living thing that enters the water.

Elendar's divination indicated that the well was a site for executions for a Lost Age civilization, starting with a human tribe of unknown name. Innocent creatures could apparently stand in the water as though it were a shallow pond, while creatures found to commit evil acts sank into the waters, never to rise again. A cryptic prophecy indicates a major event tied to Nedeker will come to pass if the Well overflows:

**"...When the Well of Souls spills over, the Gods themselves shall be within reach, and the Sin Eater shall bring upon them a reckoning long awaited..."**

## Description

### Outsider

As suggested by the Absence, Nedeker likely is not a deity in the same vein as the Inheritors or the Fell Lords. The few scholars that know about him theorize that he may be an Outsider, an otherworldly entity with no clear origin or place in Kaldaran's cosmology. Outsiders are generally creatures that dwell in or originate from the Astral Sea, the Far Realm, or a demiplane between the various planes of existence.

Unlike deities, Outsiders can't produce manna and have no innate proclivities towards good or evil. Many of them have wicked or selfish intentions, while a few can be considered helpful benefactors. Mother Maug, Zehr'gaast the Insatiable, and Dendar the Night Serpent are considered evil Outsiders who would seek to corrupt or otherwise destroy civilization. Conversely, Nedeker and the Queen of Twilight might be considered allies of mortal heroes, despite their conflicts with the moralities of most humanoids.

### Appearance

Nedeker has no definitive appearance, and any ancient depictions of his worship show no illustrations of the Outsider despite mentioning his name. Whenever Nedeker reveals himself to a mortal, he takes on a form reminiscent of the mortal's manner of demise: a giant, ghostly shark for Nix; a burning, hooded skeleton for Coal; and a dark, decaying steed for Caleb Bayshore.

### Abilities

Nedeker wields god-like power in his own domain, and can change its appearance, including the environment, landscape, lighting, and weather, at will. He can detect the presence of any creatures that enter the domain, ejecting them if desired or unleashing his imprisoned mortal souls on them. The Sin Eater can also inflict terrible punishments on any souls he owns, usually fitting the way they died or, in a twist of irony, using the soul's preferred method of torture or killing when they were yet living.

Beyond his domain, Nedeker's influence is limited to wayward souls in Asphodel or to his own followers. He can find the souls of deceased creatures and restore them to life in a new body, in exchange for their eternal service to him. Once he binds a soul to service as a warlock, Nedeker can contact them through waking or dreaming visions, bestow eldritch powers unto them, or, by exerting direct influence beyond his domain, transport them to another location on the follower's current plane of existence. This last ability is risky for Nedeker, as doing so exhausts much of his power and forces him to recover for some time.

If a follower displeases Nedeker, he can choose to drag their soul back into his domain, effectively killing them. Such an event relegates the warlock to the same horrid fate faced by their own victims, tortured eternally for their infraction.

### Personality

Despite ordering his followers to kill evil creatures, it is unclear whether Nedeker is truly a force of good or evil. He showed some displeasure towards the activities of Vekel Finespindle, a notorious child kidnapper in Veltear, though whether this was due to his distaste for the criminal's actions or impatience for Nix to get the job done is up in the air. His tolerance for Caleb Bayshore's approaches to capturing targets also indicates he does not take exception to the bounty hunter's cruelty and wanton killing, so long as he gets the job done.

Of all the creatures Nedeker tasks his followers with targeting, he despises the undead the most. Ironically, Nedeker's own followers are raised from the dead themselves, and a few of them can even use necromancy with the magic granted by him. Whether this is a case of hypocrisy or because he hates undead creatures beyond his control, he will not say.

## Domain

Nedeker's domain, likely a demiplane within the Astral Sea, goes by many names, including the Charnel House, the Boneyard, and the Sinner's Lot. Between Nix and himself, however, it is often referred to as the Sea of Souls. When depicted as the Sea of Souls, it is a realm of dark clouds and black, ghostly water, where drowned corpses float in the sea and countless ships sail across storm-whipped waves.

## Warlock Patron

### Type(s) of Patron(s)

Nedeker can fulfill various patron roles as needed.

#### The Fiend

While not considered a fiend, some of the boons Nedeker offers coincide with those granted by archdevils and demon lords, or any sufficiently-powerful denizen of the Lower Planes. Those who take these boons are known to conjure flames and harness the power of collected souls as needed, usually to afflict victims with unseemly curses.

Those who take the boons of the Fiend are normally people who died while sating some dangerous vice, or who were killed while serving a fiend. A creature that consigns its soul to a fiend can't be claimed by Nedeker, but one that has yet to cement that dark deal is free game for the Sin Eater.

#### The Hexblade

The most common of Nedeker's followers, those who take the powers of the Hexblade wield martial weapons with uncanny ease, using eldritch magic to augment their attacks and supplement their combat options with ranged spells. They use a debilitating curse which weakens targets on their lists and hastens their demise.

Hexblade warlocks are victims of violence, killed by enemies or traitors and raised to enact vengeance upon their offenders.

#### The Fathomless

Warlocks who take the powers of the Fathomless can travel through aquatic locales with ease, conjuring spirits of the sea and lakes to assail enemies and slow their advances. Many prefer to use their abilities to do battle from a distance, crushing their enemies under oceanic pressure, while some use their powers to get closer to a target and finish them off.

Followers of the Fathomless all faced their dooms in the lakes or seas, and use this demise as inspiration for their magic.

#### The Undead

Almost as common as the Hexblade is the warlock of the Undead, who wields necromantic power to raise undead servants and imbue themselves with dark power. When taking on their Form of Dread, an Undead warlock often resembles a mightier form of their deceased body, becoming the very image of an unstoppable revenant.

Warlocks with the power of the Undead typically dabbled with necromancy in life, and turn their skills against other dangerous practitioners.

## Items and Artifacts

### The Sinner's List

Nedeker grants each of his followers a record of creatures Nedeker wants dead. This Sinner's List provides the names of humanoids and undead creatures who have committed grave misdeeds, typically murder or mayhem, but can also mention people who have caused irreparable, life-ruining harm through selfish actions.

Whenever the name of a creature is audibly mentioned, the list seeks out a creature going by that identity and reveals it on the list if that creature is considered a viable target. Nedeker can communicate with followers through it, but the list is otherwise closer to a tool than an actual extension of his being. Sometimes, the list can print multiple names that refer to the same creature until the list's holder pieces together that they refer to the same being.

When a soul is collected, the name is marked off the list, and the collector is rewarded for completing the task. Typically, rewards come in the form of new spells, class features, and invocations, though high-value targets can elicit more valuable boons.

### The Blade of the Drowned

A minor artifact of great import, the Blade of the Drowned is a saber made of *scoinca*, a rare, dark-green metal found on the ocean floor. Experts that handle *scoinca* note its usefulness in combating incorporeal undead, making it a valuable reagent for blacksmiths and hunters of the dead.

The blade was formed from one of Nedeker's oldest followers, an unnamed humanoid who threw himself into the Well of Souls after taking revenge on the people who murdered his family. As he drowned in the waters of the well, he clutched a shard of *scoinca* floating in the water and plunged it into himself, gathering the spirits surrounding him into the shard itself and tying his own soul to the metal. This shard formed the blade itself, which has been passed down to Nedeker's worthiest servants.

The Blade of the Drowned grows more powerful as the wielder collects additional souls. These souls don't need to belong to people on the Sinner's List, nor do they have to be humanoids or undead, but they can still be weaponized to augment attacks or produce brutal magical effects.

## Known Followers and Associates

### Current Followers

#### Nix

Killed by his former criminal associates at sea, Nix claimed the powers of the Fathomless and swore revenge on the people who betrayed him. He travels with the party in search of worthy tributes for Nedeker while seeking his mortal enemies, and has crossed paths with a cult of necromancers known as the King's Court multiple times. As of this writing, Nix has collected two of his enemies: Lonzo Grimjaw and Cassian O'Daire. Now he seeks the sea elf druid Obed Artani and the hobgoblin pirate Visha Shoreseeker.

#### Caleb Bayshore

A notorious bounty hunter and former outlaw, Caleb Bayshore was raised as a servant of Nedeker after a botched attempt to rob a lightning train, finding himself ensnared by a heroic paladin's lasso and dragged along the desert sands. He now leads the infamous Hellshire Gang, roaming the Dread Wastes of eastern Luxengrand in search of wanted criminals to deliver to a cruel, half-orc warden. Caleb's arrangement with the warden conveniently coincides with his duty to collect wicked souls for Nedeker, and he takes advantage of this by bringing convicts to the warden for execution. Their deal began as a way to have his and his gang's sentences reduced, but after completing their deal and walking as free men and women, the gang continues their business with the warden as a reliable way to earn gold.

Despite suffering for his sinful ways and hunting down the wicked, Caleb himself shows no remorse for his actions and continues terrorizing townsfolk across the Dread Wastes. He enjoys subjecting his quarry to unconscionable tortures and permits his gang to use any means they desire to chase their targets down, even hurting innocent people when it suits them.

### Former Followers

#### Coal

Once a brigand who tried to turn his life around and start a family, Coal was killed in a raid on the town of Duskfall by his old gang. After being given a chance at a second life by Nedeker, he immediately avenged his family by wiping out the gang, then continued to serve the Sin Eater dutifully. Several years passed before Coal broke his pact with Nedeker, being the only known servant to do so and survive. He now keeps in contact with Nix, knowing the latter has been tasked with eventually killing Coal yet maintaining a tenuous alliance nonetheless.

## Trivia

* Nedeker was originally created by the player of Nix, and features prominently in that player's settings as Nix's patron. In those settings, he is considered a god of vengeance who orders his followers to bring justice to "those who don't deserve the lives they live."
* Nedeker is the only character that has a consistent theme song. Whenever he appears, an unused music track for *The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt* plays (link: https://youtu.be/wF-OFm34G4U). This music was originally written for Gaunter O'Dimm, the main antagonist in the game's *Hearts of Stone* DLC.