Shemnath

Few are as revered by the cultists of K’Leth, or as reviled by their fellow Knights Revenant, as Shemnath. Once one of the most senior of the Soul Shepherds, it was Shemnath’s duty to conduct Sacred Ceremonies of Transmission, which sees the soul of a Knight Revenant transmuted from one body to another. As the sorcerers responsible for their knight's immortality, the Soul Shepherds have always been an integral part of the Cult of K’Leth, and Shemnath’s high standing reflected her role. All of that came to an end during one of Shemnath’s own transmissions. A new acolyte had joined the cult, a learned young woman named Mathilde. The usual promises had been made to her, and she had chosen to surrender her body freely for the use of one of the Knights Revenant. In exchange, her spirit-essence would be stored in a soul gem and, as a reward for her sacrifice, Shemnath promised that it would be one of the first to be transmuted into a new body, when one became available. The truth was that almost no cultists received the blessing of transmission, as there were far too few suitable bodies to go round. Mathilde’s story would therefore likely have ended like that of thousands of other poor, misguided hopefuls, trapped within a soul gem callously buried beneath the earth or dropped into the sea. What Shemnath had not known, however – and what she did not discover until too late – was that Mathilde was more than she seemed. A talented sorceress in her own right, she had doubts about the sincerity of the Knights Revenant and their promises of immortality. Before surrendering her body to act as Shemnath’s vessel, she placed a secret curse upon it. As long as Mathilde’s soul lingered within a soul gem, and was not granted a new body, her old form – the one now belonging to Shemnath – would slowly turn to stone. Shemnath did not discover the trickery until some years after she had inhabited Mathilde’s body. The easiest resolution would have been to destroy Mathilde’s soul gem but, like many Knights Revenant, Shemnath had discarded it once the ritual was completed, and could not find it. She bent all of her substantial sorcerous talents to ending the curse and curing her new form of its stony disfigurement, but found she could only slow the process, not halt it. She decided that the gem had to be relocated or, even better, completely destroyed, wiping out Mathilde’s essence. Convinced, perhaps by her own pride, that the gem had in fact been stolen rather than simply lost, Shemnath embarked upon a quest for Mathilde’s imprisoned essence, a quest she still pursues to this day. As long as the gem exists, and Mathilde’s soul remains within it rather than in a new body, Shemnath’s limbs become ever-more stiff and her skin even harder and craggier. Shemnath’s mistake in transferring herself into Mathilde’s body without detecting the curse upon it cost her the position of Soul Shepherd. Once a senior Knight Revenant, she is now scorned by the others following her fall from grace, and she seeks a return to her former high standing as desperately as she seeks Mathilde’s essence. Ironically however, her condition has made her a figure of even greater reverence among the common acolytes of the Cult of K’Leth. Blind to the realities of the soul gems, they call her the Mother Caryatid and the Eternal Soul Shepherd, believing her condition is due to the fact that she has been chosen to eternally oversee the passage of old souls into bodies anew. Disabusing the acolytes of such a notion would risk revealing the true nature of the cult, the other Knights Revenant have little choice other than to humor these beliefs. For her own part, Shemnath cares little one way or another – for the time being, all that matters is finding the soul gem and ending her curse. Shemnath’s quest often sees her locked in mortal combat, and in such a state her supposed curse becomes more of a blessing. Swords and axes break and shatter against her stony form, while she breaks apart shield and armor alike with her Soul Shepherd staff, or uses it to call down necromantic destruction on those standing in her way. Her determination is as unyielding as her graven form, and when she finally destroys Mathilde and brings the curse to an end, as she is sure she will, she has every intention of reclaiming her former role within the Cult of K’Leth. On that day there will be a reckoning with all Knights Revenant who have refused to stand by her over the years, a reckoning that many will not survive.