Zörena

History
Of all the gods of Sidereus, Zörena is the only one of the Ilith’ari who knows what will transpire at the end of the world. Zörena has been burdened with the great and dread knowledge of the end times that is known only to the One, her consort, and Zörena herself. Not even her husband Kal’rën knows the secrets that have been bound inside Zörena’s mind, a fact that troubles him – not for a need to have the knowledge for himself, but rather because it troubles his heart to know of how his beloved must be burdened with this knowledge. Zörena was given the knowledge of the lay of the end of days. Along with that knowledge was the terrible burden of forever being apart from her fellow Ilith’ari. At every juncture of the history of Sidereus, she has opposed Onûs and his attempts to undermine the ultimate plan of the One. Zörena is the only one among the Ilith’ari who has been able outmaneuver Onûs, and despite his best efforts he has not once been able to best her. Since the dawn of the Fourth Age, Zörena has taken a considerably more aggressive stance against Onûs, to the point of finding mild loopholes in the laws of the One in order to stop him. Now, as time moves forward, rumors stand of a handful of Heroborn handpicked by the Fateweaver for the express purpose of interfering with the designs of the Void Serpent and stopping him wherever they may.

Relationships
Zörena is wed to Kal’rën. Bound together by the will of the One, they are an inseparable pair and frequently abide within Kal’rën’s domain within the Halls of the Dead. Despite her tendency to be distractible and morbid, Kal’rën’s love brings light to her eyes. Zörena has adopted Solon and Zephyr as her students, hoping that by influencing them she will have more tools at her disposal to stop Onûs. Vârsha, the daughter of Kal’rën and Zörena, is an unusual parallel to her parents’ somber demeanor, but as a family they are very close and associate well.

• Kal'rën – Husband • Aarûn – Neutral • Jolarä – Neutral • Sûldin – Neutral (Distant) • Tal'rëa – Friend (Loyal) • Fënrir – Neutral • Eäminn – Friend (Loyal) • Roëna – Friend (Distant) • Xi’rian – Neutral (Distant) • Gilana – Friend (Distant) • Onûs – Archenemy (Hostile) • Aviaz – Neutral (Distant) • Zaria – Neutral (Distant) • Solon – Friend (Student) • Selora – Neutral • Tallis – Neutral (Distant) • Endëllion – Neutral (Distant) • Vârsha – Daughter • Snædis – Neutral • Zephyr – Friend (Student) • Kiala – Neutral • Melantha – Neutral • Perdita – Neutral • Dúnmharú – Enemy (Distant) • Sléachta – Neutral (Distant) • Revati – Neutral (Distant) • Iotama – Neutral • Ophira – Neutral (Distant)

Dogma
No creature but the One can see all ends. All other creatures are powerless before Her infinite power. Succumb to your fate without complaint, for you are powerless before the grinding wheels of inevitability. Birth and death are the same before the power of Fate, and ultimately no mortal can change these things. Only birth and death are absolute, and even then only at their appointed hours. Seek to maintain the balance in all existence, for Order cannot exist without Chaos, nor can Chaos exist without Order. Just as all things must come to an end, so too must all endings give way to a beginning. Commit to writing all events that you witness before you, so that the cycle of beginnings and endings may be recorded for future posterity.

Clergy & Temples
There is no one Church of Zörena. The Churches of the Bringer of Endings is separated into many disparate cults who all see the message of Zörena in many different lights. Ranging from the Order of Infinite Beginnings, who focus on aiding expecting mothers and their families as they give birth to the newer members of the populace of Sidereus, all the way to the Church of the Doomgiver, whose clergy record every death that occurs across the face of Sidereus. There is a relatively large variety of faiths based on the teachings of Zörena, and as such there is no way to tell what type of person you are dealing with when you face a Cleric of the Bringer of Endings. While some Clerics of Zörena dabble in darker arts and may even be considered evil, no true follower of Zörena would murder or end life without just cause. Many followers of Zörena are fortune tellers or diviners of some kind or another, making use of a wide variety of divinatory methods to see the strands of fate as they unravel and understand the plan of the One.

Appearance
When Zörena does appear in physical form, she is clad in heavy black robes that conceal her entire form. On the rare occasion that she removes her robes, she stands as a glorious and imposing figure. When fully exposed she is adorned in blazing silver‐white armor with a winged helm upon her brow. Her powerfully enchanted blade “Doomgiver” in one hand and her golden shield in the other, all of the other Ilith’ari take pause before her obvious power. Her skin is opalescent or obsidian in hue and her hair the opposite depending on her mood, and her eyes are like blazing sapphires.

Religious Practices
Those who revere Zörena frequently pray at dawn, dusk or midnight. Particularly devout followers will often set aside an hour every day to undertake a silent vigil. Priests and paladins will often undertake a longer vigil. Followers of Zörena are often as somber as their goddess, knowing that there is more to the world than even the most gifted individual can see. Followers of Zörena will typically conceal their holy symbol unless they are a member of the clergy or a paladin. While there are fewer direct followers of Zörena than of nearly every other deity across Sidereus, all revere her in some fashion or another – for what power in the world is greater than that of Fate.