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Player > Setting > Deities > Pharasma
Starfinder Core Rulebook p.489
N goddess of birth, death, fate, prophecy
Centers of Worship: Absalom Station, Apostae, Eox
Symbol: A cometlike spiral of energy
As the goddess of birth, death, and fate, Pharasma awaits
all mortals when they die. Her realm, the Boneyard,
sits atop an impossibly tall spire overlooking the city-plane
of Axis and is the final destination of the River of Souls, the
metaphysical stream that carries the souls of dead mortals
to her realm for judgment and subsequent assignment to an
afterlife in the Outer Planes.
The faithful say Pharasma is with any living creature in the
universe from the instant it is born to the moment of its death.
She sees all the possible choices facing a mortal at any given
moment, as well as their long-term repercussions. And when
that creature inevitably dies and goes before her to be judged,
she and her army of psychopomps use this knowledge to send
the souls to the reward or punishment they earned during their
lives. No one escapes her decisions for long, and even the gods
are judged by the Lady of Graves when they perish.
Pharasma sternly observes both life and death, assigning
afterlives in accordance with mortals’ characters but without a
personal interest in either sin or righteousness. Despite being the
goddess of death, she has no quarrel with magical healing and
even resurrection, as she can read the lines of fate and knows the
difference between a mortal’s true death and a temporary state
of nonbeing. However, she considers the undead a desecration
of the memory of the flesh and a corruption of a soul’s path
to judgment, and she instructs her followers to destroy such
abominations wherever they may be found. Those who create
such monstrosities are to be treated similarly.
Every species that lives and dies worships Pharasma to
some extent, though many do so by different names or in
forms unfamiliar to Pact World races. Her most devoted
followers come from the ranks of diviners, expectant
parents, morticians, and slayers of the undead. As befits
her impartiality, most members of her church take a neutral
stance regarding politics and other worldly concerns. The
majority of Pharasma’s priests in the Pact Worlds are mystics,
working as healers, midwives, and prophets, though she’s also
popular with warriors in some societies. All Pharasmin priests
are well-versed in the funerary rites and practices of at least
their home culture, and many try to learn as many rites as
possible in order to cater to a wider variety of people. While
even the simplest cemetery is a shrine to the Lady of Graves,
Pharasma’s temples in the Pact Worlds tend to hearken back
to an earlier age, taking the form of grand gothic cathedrals
when circumstances allow, though usually still adjacent to a
crematorium, graveyard, or other place of rest.
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