Appearance

The most enduring image associated with Vesmir is that which has been associated with the harbinger of death among mortal civilizations for time immemorial: a skeletal humanoid in a hooded black robe. The Ferrier has also been witnessed adopting a nautical mantle, in a dark uniform manifesting in appearance from naval captain to pirate lord, depending on the circumstance. His personality tends to adapt according to the context, shifting between shrewdly solemn to self-deprecatingly sardonic.

Though this deity is often referred to as male – and tends to assume that as his visible identity – he seems not to have any particular preference for masculinity. Along with his sense of fashion, his choice of gender and species seems to be primarily influenced by what is practical and appropriate for the occasion.

A similar misconception is that Death wields a scythe. In fact, it is the reapers among his angelic host who favour this particular weapon. Vesmir himself wields a pair of sickles, routinely veiled in crooked sheaths that exist partly out of phase with time. These tools appear well worn but otherwise quite ordinary. Each is committed to reaping the absolute end of any who so much as graze one of their rusted blades. They are forged from the essence of oblivion, provoking at a glance a paralyzing horror. Those who bear witness to their dull sheen are said to glimpse the strands of their own fate unravelling before them, as they stare into a faceless void whose ravenous hunger reaches ever outward, fast approaching, from which they feel forevermore unable to escape.

The only known constant of Vesmir’s regularly changing appearance is the claw mark scar on his left arm: a gift from the Firstborn, Essyllt. Whether this disfigurement has to do with their spirit-tether pact or an unrelated encounter is unknown.

At times, Vesmir appears with a dimly lit and cracked orb in his possession. Tryst, the Orb of Healing, has twice been shattered and sent to his spirit realm. Vesmir pities the ill fated entity and offers what little solace he can by escorting its weakened essence whenever he travels the realms. While Tryst may appreciate this hospitality as a break from the infinite bleak sea of spirits, it takes little pleasure from these infrequent leaves. Each moment among the breathing reminds Tryst of its fate: to be ever the bystander, unable to feel the radiance of life but still able to the spot wounds it can no longer mend.

Vesmir always carries a black hourglass. The Oblivion Dial, as it is called, bestows upon its bearer the ability to analyze strands of fate and determine from them the various futures that could flow from any given course of action. Some prophecies are believed to be echoes of the knowledge of a single grain of the Dial and the mortals who hear them are believed to be the most in tune with the temporal rhythm of the cosmic timepiece. Others suggest that it is the Gatekeeper who permits them to listen, to share the weight of fate with those bound by its strands. It is said that the balance of the hourglass’s contents at any given moment measures the distance until the the end of days, an apocalypse perpetually in flux as incalculable factors play out across and beyond the realm of Arthos. It is the burden of Vesmir, as it was his predecessor, to ensure that the world never sees these sands run out.

Tenets

Five things a Vesmir follower should do:

1. Protect the passage of time and the natural flow of life into death.

2. Put to rest those bodies and spirits who linger. If an undead can not or will not be cured of its affliction, then it is too far gone and must be cleansed.

3. Embrace change. There is a beginning and an end to all things.

4. Defend against interplanar corruption to the spirit realm and work towards reclaiming the Deadlands.

5. The Firstborn are part of the natural order. So long as they do not act to corrupt it, they should be respected.

Five things a Vesmir follower should not do:

1. Use or promote the use of necromancy under any circumstance.

2. Use or manipulate time for any reason but to repair it or to combat corruption to the natural order.

3. Hurry death in any manner other than self-defense. Murder is forbidden except against corrupters of the natural order.

4. Fail to ensure that proper rites are given to those passing over. The dead should never be abandoned or forgotten, for even the most heinous spirit must be remembered and honoured to find their proper rest.

5. Take sides in the war between the Light, Dark, and Draconic, so long as their battles do not interfere with the natural order of time or death.

Celestial Heaven: The Black Tide 

Regardless of their respective faiths or creeds, all Spirits not touched by one of the Firstborn will inevitably enter the Celestial Heaven of Vesmir, for he has staked his godly claim upon the very Black Tide itself. Also known as the River of Spirits by many cultures, Vesmir’s Heaven is an entirely unique system of twisting planar passageways that weave throughout every other single plane of existence. These spiritual rivers carry the Spirits of mortals through the Deadlands toward the final destination that awaits them in death. Those not plucked from its waters by the God they worshiped in life are doomed to exit Vesmir’s domain through the vortex that empties into the Hellstack Plane.

The Black Tide itself is largely featureless; there are no islands along its length to break up the monotony of its flow, nor will the sights of the Deadlands’ shores that flank the river inspire any poets. Vesmir sees little point in changing this, the Black Tide serves its purpose well enough, and that is that. Nevertheless, its waters are hardly a suitable afterlife for his followers. Thus when his servants rescue one of his supplicants from its black waves, they are brought to Vesmir and given a choice. They may join his crew aboard the Reaper or as one of his chronomancers in The Final Bastion.

Realms Within The Black Tide 

• The Reaper

At first glance, The Reaper appears to be nothing more than a simple seagoing galleon, easily a familiar sight for any mortal who lived near any sort of port settlement. It looks a little gloomy, perhaps, and a charitable person might admit that it does look rather black, and there’s a bone here and there. However, most would agree that it does appear to be a rather poor destination for the spirits of Vesmir’s faithful. How could a ship of that size house all those who died while worshiping Vesmir? Vesmir has dominion over time and space; thus, his vessel is not bound by the laws that most mortals have become accustomed to from their living days. Reality aboard his vessel bends to his whims, and the space the vessel appears to occupy from the outside does not match the size of its interior. Entire cities easily fit within its cargo hold, with room to spare. It is…bigger on the inside.

Those Spirits who chose to sail with Vesmir aboard the Reaper find the sailing part boring. While it is true that the Black Tide has many tributaries and navigating its winding paths is often tricky, Vesmir’s river is nevertheless rarely beset by the kinds of fierce storms that his more nautically-inclined followers may be used to. Its waters are most often entirely calm and still, and even on the rare occasions where that is not the case, the vessel can be effortlessly controlled entirely by Vesmir’s will anyways. However, that does not mean that an existence aboard the Reaper is an idle one. This is a camaraderie to be had, a drink to be shared, and so on. But there is also a duty to be fulfilled. Not only must the spirits of the faithful be rescued from the waters, but the Black Tide itself must also be protected. Many of the higher powers, Styphon the Black Wyrm and Malagant, God of Undeath most prominent amongst them, have tried to twist the Black Tide towards their own vile ends. Time and time again, Vesmir’s rivals have attempted to dam the Black Tide or have tried to redirect one of its many tributaries so that they might harvest the flow of Spirits. Vesmir has often decreed that final death is meant to be just that, final. Once a spirit has been claimed by his river, he does not tolerate the efforts of those who would seek to liberate the Spirits from his grasp. The Black Tide is simply too vital to the Natural Order to risk its function ever being perverted or denied by anyone, no matter their reasons or relations with the Spirit in question. Vesmir’s supplicants are often called upon to help him in his efforts to keep his Celestial Heaven free from outside interference and malfeasance. As a result, some of his oldest fallen worshipers are veterans of wars so old that Daelrion is somewhat jealous. Powerful Ghosts seeking to escape the Deadlands by commandeering his Ship or escaping to the chaos caused by one of these conflicts are also almost a daily concern and must be dealt with regularly.

• The Final Bastion

This awe-inspiring fortress of black granite is where all threads of fate ultimately converge and where time itself comes to an end. Situated on an uncertain point along the banks of the Black Tide, it is said that this desolate citadel is all that remains of Cronos, the now-dead God of Time. When Charon became Vesmir and assumed dominion over Time, he dragged the Final Bastion into his own Celestial Realm, just as Cronos’ own Heaven began to fall into ruin upon his death. While he would have preferred to have made a clean break from both of their pasts, the mechanisms within the Final Bastion were simply too important to his new functions to lose.

While thousands of intricate mechanisms are strewn throughout the Bastion, perhaps none are so important as the seat Cronos used to occupy. This massive clockwork throne clicks and whirls as it counts the passage of time in all the known realms, and provides all who sit upon it perfect knowledge of all that has happened, is currently happening, and likely will happen. The sheer amount of information provided means that few beings aside from the Gods themselves are able to break through the static and focus on seeing what it is that they wish to see, and even for minds of that caliber, it is a difficult task to perform. Nonetheless, with the help of the mortal Spirits who have ascended to his Realm and operate some of the smaller machines, Vesmir is able to process and use this information to identify and eliminate threats to the proper flow of time.