fWwUjtV.png

Most feared of all the Gods due to His duties, which touch all eventually, Neroth, rules below the loamy earth, in the worm infested recesses of catacombs and barrows riddling the Known Lands. Neroth Deathbringer also has dominion over disease, as well as the body and mind of the dead.

The Nerothian priests site the Librium Sacrum Mortis, written during the dawn of the Imperium, which relates a conversation between a holy man and Neroth. In it, the Death Lord explains that the state of being humanity calls life is just one phase of existence, much like the stage when one is in a mother’s womb. The fetus is born into this state called life through blood and pain. Death is merely a second rebirth, also usually heralded by blood and pain, where one may transcend this life and become immortal.

This transcendence is His gift to those who are faithful to Him and His teachings, at death this chosen followers rise again as undead. Those faithful that do not transcend are seen as unworthy of Neroth’s gift; their bodies empty husks, suitable only as tools for necromancers or food for worms. Those that receive the Death Lord’s Kiss continue onto their next level of existence with their knowledge and memories intact.

The price for this gift however, is the soul, which acts as the catalyst for the transformation and is consumed.

Holy Symbol: Human bones serve as Neroth's holy symbol, most often carved into the shape of a skull.

Position within the Pantheon: Brother to Illiir and Yarris, Husband to Beltine, Father of Sarish.

Favored Weapon: Scythe, “Soul Reaper”

Animal: the Scarab

Color: Brown

Appearance: Neroth usually appears as a frightening, hooded, fleshy skeleton, with a wicked grin. He has also appeared as a burrowing scarab.



Sphere of Influence

The worship of Neroth is concentrated heavily in the southern portion of the Theocracy of Canceri as well as throughout the Coryani Empire.

Just off the banks of the Corvus River lies the Vale of the Immortals, a huge necropolis built during the time of the Nerothian dynasty of imperators of the Imperium. Since the founding of the Coryani Empire, emperors, powerful nobles, and other notable citizens have been interred within this sacred place. A small town has sprung up through necessity to serve the needs of the Nerothian priests who preside over the body’s final disposition and the guards whose duty it is to protect the crypts and mausoleums from tomb robbers or those who would desecrate the dead.

The veneration of Neroth exists throughout the Known Lands, at minimum to oversee funerary rites and burials.

Even the dwarven enclaves have a small number of priests to attend to the needs of their dead. Outside of Canceri, shrines to Neroth exist in small cul-de-sacs throughout cities or within homes where people can burn offerings in the hopes of staving off disease or to ask for His blessings for the dead or dying.



Temple

Temples to Neroth are unadorned buildings built of black basalt with massive bronze doors, the metal most closely associated with the Lord of the Dead. High, thick walls surround a courtyard and several other buildings. These buildings serve many different purposes such as housing the priests, serving as places to view bodies of the deceased, and embalming chambers where corpses are prepared for burial.

Below the main temple structure is a catacomb where the bodies of the deceased not influential or wealthy enough to craft their own monument in the Vale of the Immortals are laid to rest. These catacombs also have ceremonial chambers where secret rituals to the Master of the Tombs are enacted.

It is a gross misconception to believe that the bodies of the dead are used as playthings by the Nerothian priests.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The priesthood believes strongly that it is their sacred duty to protect those interred. Only the faithful to Neroth, those who followed His teachings are eligible for reanimation when the need arises. This is a covenant between the supplicant and Neroth, where the follower understands that his body is but an empty shell after death and that its continued service to Him is an honor. Others are not expected to be so selfless and thus their body’s sanctity is respected.


aVKokFH.png

Role of the Priest

Death is an inevitable part of life and in the world of the Shattered Empires, it is everywhere. The priesthood of Neroth strives to engender faith in their deity by teaching that there is life beyond life. The undead are sacred to Neroth and the priesthood protects them from those that see these transcended beings as monstrosities. There are times however, when Neroth’s Gift drives the blessed ones insane and it is only then that the priesthood steps in and grants the mad creature its final death.

The Mother Church sect of Neroth act as protectors against necromancers and those of their faith that blatantly use the undead to further their own selfish ends. These Nerothian clerics will only call upon the dead in the direst of need and never just for menial labor.

Aside from tending to the proper burial of the dead, Nerothians are also tasked with collecting the great evils of the world released when Neroth murdered Illiir. The reinternment of these primal evils within the Crucible of Sins, one of the holiest of artifacts of the Nerothian religion, is paramount.


BackLinks