Karthex

Karthex is the Cardinal God of Death, and one of the original Ten Gods known to Djorig. Paradoxically, Karthex could be said to be the most caring of mortals among his siblings, keeping a watchful eye over each and every mortal until finally collecting their souls when they inevitably die.

Karthex, similarly to his siblings, does not truly care about the mortal that inhabit the Prime-Material Plane, doing his duty with a detached fatalistic disposition. Karthex is often depicted as an emaciated man dressed in the finest clothing of the viewer’s perception. He wears upon his neck a golden ankh and wields in his right hand a large, though simple, scythe.

Despite popular convention, Karthex despises the existence of Undeath, something he sees as a personal insult against his realm. In his eyes, all things have an end, and to avoid it in any way is an act of impudence. Though unallowed to directly interfere with the realm of mortals, he has been known in the past to pick champions and empower them to destroy particularly powerful Liches, Vampire Lords and other stains upon his reputation. The rise of Vecna, Ramethotem, and their ilk to godhood continually vexes him, though he patiently waits, knowing that before the end, all will be collected by him.

War of Divinity
At the Dawn of the Age of Divinity, before the creation of the Prime-Material Plane and when Primordials roamed free, from the aether of the Astral Sea came ten entities. These self-fashioned Gods came into conflict with the Elder Primordials, and sought to bring order to the universe around them. Leading them was Akaene, the Firstborn. The battles of the newborn Gods and the Primordials were devastating, ripping portions of the Astral Sea open. However, the disorder of the Primordials proved to be their downfall. The siblings were able to isolate and defeat each of the elder beings, as while together the Primordials were indominable, alone they were only a difficult foe. In the final battles, the Cardinal Gods failed to destroy Primordas, the mightiest of the Primordials, and were only able to separate portions of Its essence. They used what remained of Its power to create a new realm, aiming to forever seal away their greatest foe.

The Cardinal Gods started to debate how they would divide their newly conquered realm, but their squabbles started cracking the very foundations they just formed. From the darkness came a figure unlike any they had seen, a being cloaked in flame and shadow that was neither Divine nor Primordial, holding in its hands a scroll of gold and vellum. The being spoke with civility and decorum, informing them that the adversary they fought so valiantly to seal would eventually be reborn if they did not take careful steps to ensure the stability of their newly created realm. Ashmedae referred to himself as a curator of order and divided the fundamental forces between the younger gods as a neutral party. No recollection states exactly what was said, but a contract was formed, a Divine Mandate, one that would ensure the everlasting sealing of the First Adversary and balance of the Inner Planes.

Divine Mandate
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