The goddess of death and fate is a figure of mystery, even to her own clergy. Unlike other deities, She has never revealed Her name. She is known only by a series of epithets: the Raven Queen, the Veiled Lady, the Mistress of Bones, the Judge of the Dead. Her church treats ravens as sacred, believing them to carry the souls of the dead from the material world to Mortuus, the Raven Queen's fortress in the Shadowfell, to be judged. The Raven Queen's scriptures emphasize acceptance of mortality and death as an integral part of the natural cycle. While ordinary worshippers are few and far between, the church sponsors several monastic orders and an order of paladins, the Harbinger Brotherhood. The Raven Queen's church is also notable for having the largest single plot of consecrated ground in the world: the Plain of Bones, the entire vast necropolis, is holy ground to the Veiled Lady's priests and other followers.
The goddess Herself is unusual in several respects, most importantly in that she was challenged only once during the wars of the gods. Lolth, the then-goddess of fate, craved the portfolio of death. Her power extended over mortals only during their lives, and by becoming the goddess of death She hoped to become absolute mistress of all mortals. Thus it was that Lolth marshaled Her angels and other servants and came against the Raven Queen. The two goddesses met on an astral battlefield: many-eyed Lolth, Mother of Spiders, patroness of seers and oracles, wielded nets, whips and chains in each of Her many hands, and Her fangs dripped corrosive venom. The Raven Queen stood calmly in the face of the Fateweaver's charge, seemingly making no move to defend Herself... but when Lolth was nearly upon Her, She stretched forth Her hand and a sword made of roiling darkness appeared in it, and the sword's name was Nightbringer. The Veiled Lady raised Nightbringer and smote Her enemy once, and without so much as a single cry Lolth was blasted into nonexistence by the dark sword's power, and the Raven Queen absorbed the portfolio of fate.
When word of this reached the other gods, they all took pause. None had previously had the merest inkling of the existence of something like Nightbringer. Duels between two deities were normally lengthy affairs, with each struggling to penetrate the nigh-impervious defenses of the other. For one god to dispatch another with a single blow was unheard-of, and horrifying to contemplate. Though the other gods bent their wills and their servants to discovering the nature of the sword Nightbringer, none succeeded. Even the wisest could not say how, or even if the Raven Queen had created the blade, or if She had summoned it from somewhere... else, a place somehow beyond the reach of the other gods.
Thus, Lolth became the first and last deity to challenge the Raven Queen for the portfolio of death.
When word of this reached the other gods, they all took pause. None had previously had the merest inkling of the existence of something like Nightbringer. Duels between two deities were normally lengthy affairs, with each struggling to penetrate the nigh-impervious defenses of the other. For one god to dispatch another with a single blow was unheard-of, and horrifying to contemplate. Though the other gods bent their wills and their servants to discovering the nature of the sword Nightbringer, none succeeded. Even the wisest could not say how, or even if the Raven Queen had created the blade, or if She had summoned it from somewhere... else, a place somehow beyond the reach of the other gods.
Thus, Lolth became the first and last deity to challenge the Raven Queen for the portfolio of death.
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