"Blessed is the Lady of Night, the Mother Moon. Though Alissa's warmth may give the false impression that life is to be cherished and lived to it's fullest, we Lunissans see the true way of life as it is; The great preparatory journey to the true destination that awaits us all, at the end of things - The realm of death. By her grace shall we ascend, walking upon the long rays of the moonlight striking the earth, our spirits whole and at last freed of the flesh that binds us, to unite once more in the cold, comforting embrace of Her absolution."
Sermon on Lunissa, as preached by Nagawe Orogamba, Lunissan Priest of Wyrmfall Gate
Lunissa the Lady Night also known as the Grim Harvest, Mother Moon, and the Cold Hand, she is the goddess of the moon, death, and darkness. As one of Aranor's ancient gods, she is mistress of Aranor's moon and the Plane of Death contained within it.
History
Believed to be originated since before Aranor's creation alongside her bright sister Alissa, she introduced death and darkness to the world when there was first only the light and life, creating the cycle of rebirth and decay that all living things go through and personally overseeing the delivery of souls whose time on Aranor has come to an end. Her sister Alissa is considered an enemy at worst or a rival at best owing to their opposing forces, which paints Lunissa as either a jealous usurper tarnishing Alissa's perfect creation or the necessary counter to her small-minded, incomplete world without death to balance life. Nevertheless, it is Alissa whom retains the greatest worship of the sisters as the forces Lunissa represents is cause of fear to many mortals.
Characteristics
Lunissa's avatar in the shape of a humanoid woman wearing a gown made of brilliant moonlight, wreathed in an aura of pure darkness, her face obscured by a silver mask flared into the shape of a crescent and formed with the smooth, feminine features of a woman whose eyes are black, starry pools of darkness. She is grim, forthcoming, and blunt in her manner, but devoid of deceptions, half-meanings, or vague words or prophecy. Her coming often precedes the cold hand of imminent demise but she is a gentle collector of her grim harvest, directing the souls of the departed to their intended place without judgement.
Worship
As a goddess of death and darkness, worshippers of Lunissa tend to be sober, practical, and sometimes grim, preaching the cold truths of her tenets to those who can bear to stomach them. Within the Lunissan faith death is only the beginning of a new journey, to some, one far greater than the one undertaken in life which itself can have no clue without an end. Although a goddess of death it is considered the duty of all mortals to live their lives fully and truly as nature intends as the test to prepare them for the next phase of their existence, as such it is also their duty to provide others the means to do the same, and to accept theirs is a violent world where they must be prepared to fight for their place in it. In some sects of the faith, it is tradition to celebrate a death and mourn a birth, believing life to be only a period of suffering before the embrace of their goddess. Lunissa's most sacred day is the Moon Solstice on the longest night of the turn of the year.
The faith of Lunissa is thinly spread across Aranor, it's few bastions of worshippers often overshadowed or outright driven off by the vast reach of Alissa's Radiant Church but for the continent of Azur where Lunissa is widely regarded as the one true goddess of their people. Their widespread worship of Lunissa began in the Age of Fear when her priests rallied the peoples of Azur to defeat the great landwyrms that once roamed their lands, draconic beasts of titantic size that cost countless lives in the long battles, but with the moon as their guiding light they became the masters of their homeland anew and built from the bones of those mythical monsters the first temples of Lunissa.
A crescent moon is the typical holy symbol of Lunissa in the silver of her holy metal, while her favoured weapon is the axe often fashioned into a crescent shape. Her most prominent domains are that of the Grave and Death.