Vesmir
Titles: Death, The Ferrier, The Gatekeeper
Domain: Natural Order (Death and Time), Fate
Symbol: Hourglass
Sphere Granted: Light
To understand how Vesmir came to be, one must look to the history of two gods of old: one of Time and the other known as Death. Their divine presences, quite rigid in their ways, often acted at odds with another, despite the otherwise agreeable nature of their primary domains. When Time prophesied their own end by the hand of the goddess Raze, he called upon Death to assume his divine station. Death initially accepted this gift without hesitation, but even he learned to fear the uncertainty that comes with change. And change he did, as his vision and influence expanded towards omniscience, revealing to him the interwoven strands of fate whose diverse and complex courses ravel and unravel into countless potential futures. As his perspective was reborn, his newfound identity heralded the death of Death alone. The new being called itself Vesmir and declared dominion over the natural order of Arthos.
Vesmir considers corruption – the defilement of the natural processes of the world, primarily the cycle of life and the flow of time – to be the gravest of sins. The product of necromancy is a corrupt state that flies in the face of the processes of nature. The gluttonous impulse that drives the undead to destroy all that is living is deemed an insufferable threat to the foundations of the order that the Gatekeeper has committed to protect.
Vesmir and his followers have seen the fragility of the timestream. As an extension of their dominion, each vigilantly serves to defend its integrity. The Gatekeeper alone interferes with the passage of time, to prevent irreparable disruption of the natural processes or to fix undermining breaches, ensuring that stability across his order is maintained.
Vesmir keeps a unique and precarious alliance with many of the Firstborn, a feat no other god or goddess can claim. While the Firstborn work tirelessly to exterminate all celestial beings in their domains, Vesmir and his followers are granted an exception. The peaceful intentions of the Gatekeeper were first witnessed in the fringes of the Fae Realm, where he restored the Firstborn Essyllt to her home in Melinda. The Purple Dragon, aggressively opposed to the gods, initially rejected Vesmir’s offer with a blast of her breath, which severed him from divinity. Later, however, she found reason to reconsider her unyielding stance and instead bound the deity to a spirit-tethered pact: Vesmir was to recover from Thade, the Orb of Necromancy, the phylactery which shackled the spirit of the Firstborn Dracolich, Suulazultsur, and, ultimately, to cleanse her of corruption so she might at last find rest. As of 25/02/2259, Vesmir has 10 years to accomplish this task. The consequence of failure remains to be seen.
Many Firstborn now treat Vesmir as an exception among the detested divine. They appear to lend the Gatekeeper an unprecedented tolerance. “We shall kill him last” is the common sentiment among the Firstborn, and with this Vesmir appears content.
To Vesmir, the Firstborn exist within the natural order and most work in harmony with the natural processes of Arthos. Even the most vile dragon, so long as they respect the natural order, is still worthy of respect. Vesmir advises his flock to treat them accordingly. Some followers of Vesmir consider the providential direction simply a warning to avoid the wrath of the Firstborn that is oft directed towards devotees of the divine. Others still have taken up the protection of Draconians and adherents of the uncorrupted Firstborn. The range of these deferential acts provokes a similarly wide spectrum of favourable and unfavourable reactions from servants of the divine and draconic.
The Gatekeeper guides his followers towards neutrality in most circumstances. Vesmir’s devout are to strike only in self-defence, or against those who perform the gravest of corruptions, such as necromancy and the manipulation of time. He does not participate in the wars between the Light, Dark, and the Draconic, so long as their battles do not interfere with the natural order of time and death, and further decrees that his faithful should not intervene either.
It is difficult to estimate the size of Vesmir’s following, as devotion to the god of natural order is found across cultural divides, professions, and races, leading to a widespread but diverse group of worshippers. Undead hunters, prophets, mystics, and undertakers might find purpose in the tenets of the Ferrier. Reverence of Vesmir is also commonly embraced among groups of Savar’Aving, Wolven, and Minotaur. A recurring phenomenon, which the faithful of Vesmir consider to be quite natural, occurs among those who are afflicted with a terminal illness or otherwise feel that their own death is imminent, wherein many begin to worship the Ferrier as a way to come to terms with their impending fate.
Since Vesmir swore to put Suulazultsur to rest, many of the remaining green Draconians have voiced their support for the Gatekeeper, with a few even offering up their faith. This particular development has led to discomfort across faiths. Some of the Church of Vesmir fear this as a potential threat to his tenuous alliance among the Firstborn. Many of the Draconic consider this a repugnant betrayal or degradation. The reactions of the god followers are more varied, ranging from amusement, to rage, to pleasure.
Contents
Appearance
The most enduring image associated with Vesmir is that which has been associated with the harbinger of death among mortal civilisations for time immemorial: a skeletal humanoid in a hooded black robe. The Ferrier has also been witnessed adopting a nautical mantle, in a dark uniform manifesting in appearance from naval captain to pirate lord, depending on the circumstance. His personality tends to adapt according to the context, shifting between shrewdly solemn to self-deprecatingly sardonic.
Though this deity is often referred to as male – and tends to assume that as his visible identity – he seems not to have any particular preference for masculinity. Along with his sense of fashion, his choice of gender and species seems to be primarily influenced by what is practical and appropriate for the occasion.
A similar misconception is that Death wields a scythe. In fact, it is the reapers among his angelic host who favour this particular weapon. Vesmir himself wields a pair of sickles, routinely veiled in crooked sheaths that exist partly out of phase with time. These tools appear well worn but otherwise quite ordinary. Each is committed to reaping the absolute end of any who so much as graze one of their rusted blades. They are forged from the essence of oblivion, provoking at a glance a paralysing horror. Those who bear witness to their dull sheen are said to glimpse the strands of their own fate unravelling before them, as they stare into a faceless void whose ravenous hunger reaches ever outward, fast approaching, from which they feel forevermore unable to escape.
The only known constant of Vesmir’s regularly changing appearance is the claw mark scar on his left arm: a gift from the Firstborn, Essyllt. Whether this disfigurement has to do with their spirit-tether pact or an unrelated encounter is unknown.
At times, Vesmir appears with a dimly lit and cracked orb in his possession. Tryst, the Orb of Healing, has twice been shattered and sent to his spirit realm. Vesmir pities the ill fated entity and offers what little solace he can by escorting its weakened essence whenever he travels the realms. While Tryst may appreciate this hospitality as a break from the infinite bleak sea of spirits, it takes little pleasure from these infrequent leaves. Each moment among the breathing reminds Tryst of its fate: to be ever the bystander, unable to feel the radiance of life but still able to the spot wounds it can no longer mend.
Vesmir always carries a black hourglass. The Oblivion Dial, as it is called, bestows upon its bearer the ability to analyse strands of fate and determine from them the various futures that could flow from any given course of action. Some prophecies are believed to be echoes of the knowledge of a single grain of the Dial and the mortals who hear them are believed to be the most in tune with the temporal rhythm of the cosmic timepiece. Others suggest that it is the Gatekeeper who permits them to listen, to share the weight of fate with those bound by its strands. It is said that the balance of the hourglass’s contents at any given moment measures the distance until the the end of days, an apocalypse perpetually in flux as incalculable factors play out across and beyond the realm of Arthos. It is the burden of Vesmir, as it was his predecessor, to ensure that the world never sees these sands run out.
Tenets
Five things a Vesmir follower should do:
1. Protect the passage of time and the natural flow of life into death.
2. Put to rest those bodies and spirits who linger. If an undead can not or will not be cured of its affliction, then it is too far gone and must be cleansed.
3. Embrace change. There is a beginning and an end to all things.
4. Defend against interplanar corruption to the spirit realm and work towards reclaiming the Deadlands.
5. The Firstborn are part of the natural order. So long as they do not act to corrupt it, they should be respected.
Five things a Vesmir follower should not do:
1. Use or promote the use of necromancy under any circumstance.
2. Use or manipulate time for any reason but to repair it or to combat corruption to the natural order.
3. Hurry death in any manner other than self defense. Murder is forbidden except against corrupters of the natural order.
4. Fail to ensure that proper rites are given to those passing over. The dead should never be abandoned or forgotten, for even the most heinous spirit must be remembered and honoured to find their proper rest.
5. Take sides in the war between the Light, Dark, and Draconic, so long as their battles do not interfere with the natural order of time or death.