Blade Maidens: Dead in the Water – 22

“There is a saying among sailors and shipfolk.

‘No gods but Mara upon the waves.’

While easily dismissed as superstition or fervor for the Queen of Tides among her most loyal worshippers.

But certain senior clergy among other divines–speaking on condition of anonymity, to avoid stoking any inter-pantheistic strife–propose that it is far more literal. That Mara lays claim to any souls who have the misfortune to pass beyond the mortal veil within her domain. No matter what diety or faith may have been held close to the deceased’s heart in life, they belong to Mara in death.

Curious, I felt it worth bringing these rumors to the Holy Mausoleum and speak to those devoted to the Lady of the Grave, Sepestra. While as infuriatingly vague and secretive as ever, her acolytes did present an interesting wrinkle, albeit accidentally. When questioned, one Tombwarden snapped that if any such rumors were true then they could only exist with Lady Sepestra’s blessing.

While it could be little more than irritated dogma tossed at a particularly stubborn scholar…what if there is truth to it? What if Mara’s supposed rule over the dead beneath the waves is the the product of some sort of <span;>alliance<span;> between the two goddesses? That Death and the Sea have chosen to intertwine their domains.

While many would assume such an alliance would be grounded in some sort of gambit for more power amongst their divine brethren.

But I, instead, propose another possibility. One in line with my previous research into the gods, for those familiar.

That they are far more…human than we realize. That they are prone to fickle whims and passions as much as any of their followers.

We may never know the answer, but dismissing the idea that this supposed union could be driven by something as simple as shared affection is a fool’s mistake.”

– A passage from Inquiries in the Matter of Faith, by former Archpriest Janell Hartrick