| The Stranger |
Stop the Press! This Isn't Right! |
The Stranger Other Titles: Keeper of Secrets, Lady Dusk, Late Woman, Crows, Death Associations: Death, Funerals Associated School: Necromancy Core Values: Death, Peace, Secrets, Vengeance
Peace
The Stranger is Illumitas’ shard of peace. She is associated with death and not without reason, but her true calling is as the bringer of tranquility. It is said that the Stranger is the last entity mortals meet on their life’s journey. The faithful believe that Sparks are her domain to care for and that she is responsible for ferrying them to a place known as the Well. Legend holds that she does this personally or sends one of her crows to fetch the sparks of the dying, carrying them on to the Well where they are then judged. After judging individuals the Stranger is then said to be the one to cleanse Sparks, to prepare them for a future life. Having been cleansed the Spark is then passed to the Mother to be given new life somewhere in the world. All of this being after death means there is no evidence for any of this only conjecture based on things the Stranger and others of the Seven have implied on rare occasions. The Stranger’s way, conceptualizes death as a peaceful ending to the sufferings of life. Death is the time for the faithful to muse over the lessons learned in life, free of the politics, passions, or divisions that drive conflict. If these passions persist beyond death, these troubled dead must be eased with justice. In these ways, peace is served. To the Stranger’s way ghosts are also outside the natural order and should be put to rest as quickly as possible. These tormented beings deserve peace which they will never find as a ghost. It is believed that while she or her crows carry these Sparks, the goddess speaks with each one. They speak freely to her, though there is no sorcery compelling them to do so. In these conversations, she learns much about the people of Novitas. She is sworn to keep their secrets, and her natural quiet demeanor is suspected to be a result of her reverie and nostalgia for all that has been created and lost. Sometimes these secrets are so tragic, so horrific, that her quiet contemplation flares to sudden action, and soon thereafter there are many new Sparks freed from life. Her secrets are sacred and private. Oftentimes, the Soldier or the Scholar will ply her with reasons and rationales, trying to mine her for information that they ‘need.’ The others, on occasion, try as well, all save the Knight, who alone respects her sacred oaths. For this reason, the Knight is the only member of the Sept that does not contend or struggle with the Stranger in one fashion or another. All of these things are why she fights so terribly against the Undead. The Undead by their very nature disrupt the natural order. The simplest of undead, those temporarily reanimated possess no spark but they are a vile mockery of death. Others disrupt Sparks from their proper destination whether the spark belongs to the body being animated or not it belongs on the next stage of its journey. Worst of all are the intelligent undead who through careful planning and power have eluded her embrace. These ones deny her the rightful role to filter evil from the world and reward the righteous dead. They keep their secrets as their own, preventing her from hearing their final whispers and adding to her tapestry of stories. Personality and Behavior The Stranger is quiet and contemplative. She does not speak forcefully unless driven to action by those who would disrupt her peace, those who have seen her wrath and lived to tell of it claim to have seen a very different side of her, but they are few. To most individuals the Stranger acts as counselor aiming to understand her charges at the same time she asks for services from them. She does not see death as a sad thing, only a transition. A transition that needs to be brought to some sooner than later. This does not mean that she doesn’t value life though, it is only through life that people are given the chance to prove themselves. Once they have done so, it is often difficult to prove to her they can be anything but who they have been to that point.
Physical Appearance
The Stranger is often portrayed as feminine, though sometimes she is also genderless. Most artists envision her as slender and hidden. Her face is always covered with shadow under the hood of a cloak or covered by her own hands as if weeping. When she appears in visions it is always cloaked with her face covered by veils, her garb is a dull gray or black. Her hands are empty but sometimes a knife can be seen on her waist. There is always as little color as possible, just a dull monotone gray.
Avatars of the Stranger
The first Avatar of the Sept was the Strangers, Umiel, a stealthy assassin who crept the shadows gathering information for the Sept and ending the lives of their adversaries. Another Avatar of the Stranger in modern times went by the name of Mort and he was known for the trail of bodies he left in his wake.
Worshiping the Stranger
The Stranger is worshiped by anyone with a secret to keep. Oftentimes, she herself is a secret patron. While a King may publicly worship the Knight, for example, in secret he may venerate the Stranger in the hopes that his secrets will remain unknown. Faithful assassins may spend several long minutes after a murder to anoint their victims and compose their corpses so they may meet the Stranger with dignity, and thus please the Stranger, who will in turn keep the killer’s identity a secret. Some worship the stranger as they near death hoping to ease the passing, and some worship on behalf of their loved ones when they lie on their deathbeds. In all cases the Stranger holds no jealousy. Those who dedicate themselves to the Stranger are often anonymous and unknown until they are unmasked. The central mystery of the Stranger’s cult is that a lifetime can only be judged when it is over. In the midst of a life, the individual is caught in their own river, and cannot see further than the bend ahead or the rapids behind. Mortality is often at odds with itself only because it cannot see the entirety of its own lives, how they integrate, and how one action can affect dozens of other lives. This creates conflict, and conflict is the ruin of life. Her formal worshippers are often regarded with a mild sense of dismay or discomfort by the populations they serve. Often, these veiled priests and priestesses are responsible for death rites, burial rituals, and counseling the grieving. Sometimes referred to as Mutes they are sworn to keep all secrets uttered by the grieving and about the dead, as their patron goddess exemplifies. They merely listen and in doing so, soak up the pain of those the deceased had left behind. Additionally, this cult tends to the elderly and infirm as they near their meeting with the Stranger. Again, the Mutes collect stories and secrets, in exchange for care and comfort in their dim temples. Some wonder what secrets these monks and nuns have at their disposal.
Places of Worship
The Strangers temples are usually built in hospices, funerary sites, adjacent to crypts or at grave sites. These places of reverence are marked by veils, curtains, and screens of silk. They are less a meeting hall, than places for quiet contemplation and funerary rites. Often, the smell of incense lingers on those that have visited these places.
Expectations of Chosen
Those Chosen by the Stranger are selected for their discretion with secrets and their ability to put to rest those who need to be put to rest. They are often tasked with putting to rest ghosts, undead or even sometimes those among the living who have upset the Stranger. Each has a great respect for the importance of death in the natural order of things, but that doesn’t mean they don’t fight to help the living. Failing the Stranger is done through causing indiscriminate death, not respecting death (thereby leading to the creation of more Ghosts and Undead), deliberately creating undead, or revealing the secrets of the dead. She is capable of forgiveness but it is a challenging and often a long process to earn.
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