Psychopomp, Eseneth
Habitat: Underlands
Alignment: Neutral
Challenge Rating: 17
Working quietly and quickly, the stitchers of souls are charged with mending the souls that arrive damaged after their long journey through the River of Souls. Souls which have arrived broken—assuming they survive the journey, aren’t picked off by predatory daemons, or devoured by overzealous esobok—are identified and rounded up by the gentle catrina, and then brought to the eseneth. These dispassionate surgeon-tailors are mysterious and terrifying, looking like they are already halfway to becoming sahkil. Wielding their needle-arms like master tailors, the eseneth snip and stitch, excising the necrotic to cleanse the spirit, sewing up the damage with silver astral thread. The best eseneth needleworkers can mend a soul so you’d never know they were once undead, sew back on a missing head, or cut out memories which prevent a soul from passing on.
A wise cutter will avoid angering an eseneth, for their are fearsome foes in battle. The chant goes that their soul needles are actually a part of them, and boil away into soulsmoke if dropped or the eseneth is defeated. Using these needles, the eseneth is able to pierce both corporeal and incorporeal beings, causing positive and negative energy damage. But their most terrifying ability is to grab hold of a mortal victim and literally rip the soul out of their body. Once they’ve done this the’ll use their needles to shred the soul to pieces.
Let’s just say it’s easier to stay on their good side. Let them do their thing and steer well clear, cutter. You can thank me in your afterlife.
See Also:
- What are Psychopomps?
- The Castes of the Psychopomps
- The Ushers of the Psychopomps
- The Ecology of the Psychopomp
Sources and Stats:
- Pathfinder #186: Ghost King’s Rage [PF2e] p83, here
- Origin: Unclear. If you have an idea, please let me know. Eseneth is a Biblical name but I haven’t find any links to historical psychopomps.
