Samsara

"Every path, every river, every life have an end where He waits."

Introduction

As the spirits began to develop their mortal creations, death became a much more common reality. The souls of these inferior but no less curious creatures became loose, free mana that could not remain within the world in such a state, and as the Cycle of Souls came into being, Rhyst required a guardian and steward for the dead. Samsara, strange as he is, fulfilled this role well, for he had already claimed a domain at the boundary of the world. Now every soul would come to him, and thusly would every soul be guided into the afterlife. At least that was how it would be for a time…

Background

As Limbo manifested and mortals walked Rhyst, the Dragons became aware of the systems put into place to ensure the vacuum at the center of the cosmos did not consume the whole of reality. The flow of the Styx took the attention of Melusine most of all given the Dragon had been the one to fill Rhyst’s oceans. There at the edge of the world where the river of souls extended out into the Astral Sea and the Void beyond that, Melusine recognized the danger of leaving such a connection unattended. A spirit that had made a point to swim through the still waters where currents originated was found there at a place that only Eidolons could easily reach, and for his efforts and curiosity, he was rewarded.

Samsara was gifted with the ability to travel through any current and from sight that stretched from each shore to where all oceans end. It didn't matter if a soul died alone or if it died at sea after some torrential storm, for ultimately they all drifted to him, and the spirit ensured they crossed into the Styx as designed. For these reasons, Samsara is not often regarded as a benevolent spirit, but instead as a necessary one. He is death within Rhyst, the essence of finality and closure; in time, every mortal will come to meet him.

The Spirit of Dark Waters does not often care for the greater troubles of Rhyst or the planes. Samsara has been told to offer no aid nor intervene in the wars between mortals as well as the greater conflicts that spark across the cosmos itself, for if he ever did, he would directly alter the natural order of death and fate. Samsara believes in the ultimate flow of the Styx and the direction by which Rhyst’s waters always run, and the only thing he truly opposes is any act that occurs within the natural world that may upend these things... despite never personally interceding. It’s for this reason that necromancers in Rhyst are often hunted by the rare few who choose to worship the Boatman, and why his followers gather only in secret and in the dark. They are much more a spiritually militant sect than peaceful servants content with prayer.

Throughout history they have been an overly quiet group, but in the modern age, Samsara’s worshippers have begun to travel the world where they speak on the matter of the Styx being diverted. It is said that the Spirit no longer holds dominion over the intersection between the River of Souls and the natural world, and they have been sent out to find the reason why. Thus far, they have yet to find an answer, but constant flooding occurs in regions they suspect to have some blame in the matter, and they are determined to deliver the souls of the dead back to their master.

Trivia

Samsara is also considered a patron of disease, famine, and other such events that may ordinarily cause a large amount of deaths to take place

Some curse his name, while others recognize the Boatman as a kind yet stoic spirit.

It is said that if any sail far enough out to sea to the point where they become lost, they may just meet Samsara himself, though such incidents are said to rarely yield sane survivors