Lux Tenebris: Somek

Somek, God of the Undead

Somek is the son of Elleru, Goddess of the Earth & the Underworld, and Rovelek, God of the Dead.
His half-sister is Arymat, Goddess of Misfortune.

Somek is the God of the Undead, the patron of necromancers and sentient undead. He is also referred to as the Defiler of the Grave and the Enemy of the Dead.

Somek's current relationship with his father is adversarial, but it was not always that way. For centuries, Somek aided his father in his duties as God of the Dead. But when the All-Fiend rose against the gods, Somek was captured and imprisoned.

The All-Fiend sent word to Rovelek that if the God of the Dead would ally with him, Somek would not be harmed and would be set free.  Rovelek refused.

As a result, the All-Fiend tortured Somek, disfiguring the left side of his face. As he tormented Somek, the All-Fiend told him, in painful detail, of the offer he had made to his father and his father's refusal.  The All-Fiend painted a picture where all of Somek's suffering could be laid at his father's feet.

Eventually, the All-Fiend was defeated and his various divine prisoners were freed. Rovelek himself broke the chains binding his son.  And although Somek understood his father's reasons for refusing to ally with the All-Fiend, he has not forgiven him for the choice that he made.

Rovelek, for his part, was unused to being judged by anyone and grew cold toward Somek. The two of them no longer worked together to guide the dead to their afterlives.  Instead, Somek chose to use his knowledge of Rovelek's domain to steal damned and damaged souls and return them to the living world as undead.

Rovelek grew incensed when he learned what Somek had done and the two came to blows, much to the horror of the other gods.  The two have opposed each other ever since.

Somek is described as a thin, sallow-skinned man with long dark hair. The left side of his face was horribly ravaged by the All-Fiend and Somek bears the scars of those wounds to this day. When he manifests on the material plane, he is always surrounded by shadows, to better conceal his disfigurement.

Somek is worshipped primarily by sentient undead, such as liches and vampires, as well as by mortals who seek to become undead.  He has no public temples and most nation-states ban his public worship, but he has a small, dedicated priesthood and many hidden shrines.

The few clerics that Somek empowers usually choose the Death Domain, while the very rare Paladin of Somek will most often take an Oath of Vengeance.

Somek's symbol is a black ouroboros, an ebon serpent eating its own tail.