Goldenveil

Goldenveil is the goddess of the dead and justice, and is worshiped all across Aldmeer. She has many names and titles among mortals; the Judge of the Afterlife, the Lady of the Dead, the Scarlet Death, the Just Judge, the Uniter, Mother of the Fold and the Equitable.

General
Just and fair in her judgement, she shelters the dead and gives them proper judgement. She is the second deity to have had the role of God of the Dead, taking the place of Varacres.

Goldenveil promotes that death is a natural part of life and should not be feared. Everyone is going to die at some point, so it is best to be accepting of this truth in order to continue living well and when the time comes, die peacefully and embrace the afterlife. For this purpose, and to ease the rest of the deceased, she has established that four times a year, souls of the departed would return to their dead bodies and spend a day, their last day, in the world of the living. This day is known as the Day of the Golden Masks.

Unlike the previous god of the dead, she does not endorse the creation of undead, besides those that are returned by her at the Day of the Golden Masks specifically, and views them as a perversion and an affront to the cycle of life and death. However, she pities some of the natural undead, those who are created by having lost their way to the afterlife, by having unfinished business and by being unable to move on because of the suffering they endured in life. She has special agents to lay these undead to rest and then guide their lost souls to her. In general, she opposes evil beings as such beings often seek to manipulate and exploit others, and use life and death as a tool to further their selfish goals. She protects mortals that are good people and just and fair, and shelters the weak.

Church and Clergy
Goldenveil's church and faith is present in most religions as her domain over death is ever present; and in a sense, is the ultimate destination of all mortals once they reach the end of their lives. In some realms and states, the Church of Goldenveil also undertakes the role of the tribunal and court of law, as part of the deity's portfolio is justice. As per the role they have, priests and clerics of the faith in realms where the death sentence is in effect, guide the convicted that are punished by death towards a dignified death; to be at peace with themselves and the Goddess. For realms that have the appeal of trial by combat, the clergy and faith turn their back on such practices as it is viewed as unjust and as the opposite of what a trial to find out the truth should be.

Since she has a prominent role as a deity and is worshipped all around the world, one can find clergy of Goldenveil almost everywhere. If there is one common custom people from different cultures have, it's part of the ritual they hold to say farewell to someone who has died. No matter where in Aldmeer, when someone dies and is to be buried, a priest of Goldenveil conceals the face of the deceased with a golden mask. This golden burial mask has the same face for everyone; it depicts Goldenveil's divine visage or mask. No matter what deity the person worshipped while they were alive, the burial always ends with the dead in question being given Goldenveil 's golden mask before they are placed in their final resting place as a way of honoring the goddess and letting her know that the person is one of her children. While this practice is followed by the vast majority, people who have pledged themselves to a god like Ansephal or Baramus Lyr, or cultists beholden to a fiend most often forgo it.

The church of Goldenveil gives off a sense of unity and equality not common in most churches and faiths of other gods. There are no ranks; no high priests and bishops. Instead the most experienced and wise give advice and counsel to those with less experience and to those who need it. For practical matters such as decision making about facing a threat and things like utilising funds, each individual temple of Goldenveil calls a meeting where every member can attend and take place in the decision making. Each temple has a spiritual leader of sorts though, called  Elder Brother  or  Elder Sister  that guides people according to the teachings of the goddess and tends to their needs as an important part of the Church of Goldenveil. These  spiritual leaders  have no power over the other priests and clergy and no political prestige either; they only have more responsibilities. Each person in a temple is an important part of it, with an important job to do; as important as the next. Only by combining their strengths and uniting for a common goal can people make progress and live justly and fairly. That’s what the clergy of Goldenveil believes, as when the time comes for their immortal souls to be gazed by the Goddess, all will be equal in the face of death and ready to spend eternity as they did in life: as equals; united.

Divine Realm
Goldenveil's divine realm is also the realm where all souls go to face final judgement; the Plane called Sheol. Sheol is a tranquil and mostly flat place with an endless grayish meadow where scattered patches of black and scarlet roses grace the gray landscape in some areas. Its sky is always cloaked in perpetual twilight. The only notable topographical feature of Sheol is a gray mountain where the City of the Dead is located. There, from the Hall of Judgement, Goldenveil passes just judgement on the souls of the dead and decides their fates according to their deeds in life. The souls of those who followed other patron deities are sent to be claimed by them, while the souls that followed her faith join her; becoming denizens of the City of the Dead.

The most just and loyal worshipers of Goldenveil are rewarded by being transformed into celestials called Deathguide Angels, should they accept their reward and responsibility that comes with it. These celestials have two duties given to them: First, maintain and defend the City of the Dead against planar threats such as demonic incursions, and second, guiding lost souls to Sheol. In their second duty though, Deathguide Angels are given numerous assistants to help them. These assistants are the False, souls of those individuals who intentionally betrayed their faiths and deities after making a commitment to them during their lifetimes. The False are surprisingly many, a fact that means many people throughout the ages were betrayers of their faith, selfish and hypocritical only caring for their own immortal soul and hiding behind their shell of a faith to reassure their place in the heavens. Many of the denizens of the City of the Dead are False and one of their punishments is helping the Deathguide Angels to find lost souls.

As a mortal
Before ascending to godhood, the Lady of the Dead was once a mortal; a half-elf woman named Aurora Malkal. She was once a cleric of Leneiru, the goddess of love, expression and art. She was from the continent of Ule and hailed from a wealthy family, the Malkals, a family killed by corrupt plutocrats of the then slaver-infested and corrupt desert city of Saramar. When she joined the church of Leneiru she took in the name Goldenveil as her last name, hiding her family name from the plutocracy who killed her family. After her years in the church she started travelling and in her journey became an adventurer. During her life, she, along with her friends and companions fought tirelessly to protect Ule from demonic invasions, an evil and half-dead deity, and also managed to save Saramar and its people from eternal damnation in the Nine Hells.

In her journeys, while having the utmost respect for Leneiru and had learned a lot from her, she respectfully relinquished the faith as she felt that her own beliefs and ideals that had been harbored in her heart and brought out by her travels remained in the dark; unheard. She believed that merely spreading love and the message of Leneiru was not enough for her and for her home city to be free of slavery, drastic action was needed; action amplified by a just philosophy to do what is right and to unite against injustice. So, she started embracing her ideals, talking about them. This turned into preaching and in time, with help, a church was established. More and more flocked to her preachings and she attracted people who later became priests of a sort. In the meantime, Leneiru had not left her but supported her with clerical power, as what Aurora was doing was expressing herself and her beliefs and doing it out of love for her people no less. So strong was Aurora's love and conviction to her ideals and her expression of them that the Goddess of Love made Aurora her Chosen for this. In fact, when it was the time for Aurora to ascend all those years later, it was the goddess Leneiru who first welcomed her into the ranks of the gods.

Having lived some 800 years ago, Aurora Goldenveil lived through the Scarring, the event that shook the foundations of Aldmeer.

In the aftermath of the Scarring, she along with her companions fought and defeated the weakened Primordial Garszazil, which was wreaking havoc in its wake and was partially responsible for creating Rythalion from the two smaller continents of Ryth and Alion.

Aurora Goldenveil never did have biological children but instead saw every one of her people as her  children  ; people to be loved, protected, guided and cared for. She effectively spent most of her mortal life striving to better the life of her people, and to teach them to be free, fair and just towards others and themselves. Among the years, her popularity grew, even in places far away from her home. People knew her as Just Goldenveil by the time of her death.

She died at the age of 73, protecting Saramar and the surrounding lands when death clerics and necromancers of dying Varacres had opened portals to the Shadow Plane and brought hordes of shambling undead, shadows and nightwalkers into the Material Plane in order to harvest mortal souls to save their god from disappearing. In the end, they were thwarted by combined efforts of different armies led by Goldenveil's companions.

After her death, her soul arrived in front of dying Varacres; the weak god of the dead was barely able to speak. He lamented that he couldn't absorb enough souls and tried to devour hers as her soul shone brightly with a Chosen's light. It was then that she killed him and absorbed his divine essence; not only brought back to life as a result but also becoming the new deity of the dead. She would moreover be ideal for judging souls because of her life of justice and fairness; as the goddess Leneiru attested. And so, she has grown into her station; Goldenveil, goddess of the dead and justice.