Epaeives

Goddess of the Underworld

All things are within my grasp, for All Creation lies within it All things shall fall within my grasp, even that Forever Distant

The Dead and Undying Goddess, the Queens Majestic, Pure Queen of Them Below, the Queen that Hungers, the Queens Unsleeping, Smotherer of Life, Keeper of the Waters Dead, She-Upon-the-Mountain, the Author of Fates, the Soul-Mother, Exalted Above-and-Below, She Who Waits, the Runescribe, First of the Name-Givers

Some things are so terrible they must not be named. Such is the case of Epaeives, whose true name, has long since been buried beneath an endless deluge of bynames. Along with her name has been forgotten any sort of consistent lore about the Queens, the plural goddess who split into many once she sat upon the Throne. It was said that she was the demigod daughter of an ancient deity, and promised an inheritance to all the world. Now she rules the Underworld, a land from which no tales return, and in which all things must meet their end.

Though she rules the Underworld, Epaeives has little to do with the undead, nor does she care much about their existence either way. Nor does she have any burning need to kill the living. She reacts both to the slaughter of entire cities by the undead and the destruction of a great undead kingdom in the same way — a muted, detached acknowledgement, when acknowledgement is given at all. For she was promised all the world, and all the world will come to her in time — she has no concern as to when it finally arrives. The one exception is in resurrection, or contact of any form with the dead; Epaeives asks much for the privilege of hearing old friends speak once more, and even more for a temporary return to the realm of the living. And temporary is the right term — few who are resurrected live for very long, for Epaeives has granted not mercy but a loan of time, and loans given by a goddess can be called at any time, for any reason.

Just as she might kill the resurrected without warning and without any defence possible, so too does Epaeives hold an absolute power against the undead, save those who have anchored their souls to the material world. Though she gives her blessings sparingly when at all, crusaders against the dead occasionally turn to her, giving up great treasures and conducting vast rituals in the hopes of attracting her attention to their plight. When she does become involved the results are cataclysmic; hundreds of thousands of the dead simply drop as if they have had the strings cut from their bodies, and the energies released kill any living too close. But it is not only warriors against the dead who pay tribute to her, for the undead also have much to gain by being on good terms with the Queen of the Underworld, and villagers too studiously observe festivals in her name, so that their mothers and fathers are treated well in the world beyond.