Zael

Zael is an Old Spirit who presides over death and ferrying the souls of the dead to their afterlife. Even the Sentinels’ are said to respect her duty and let her carry on as a result. She is said to roost on the moon Mortemuna every day then take flight at sunset to gather the souls of the dead, bringing them to the afterlife by sunrise.

She is commonly depicted as a large avian with a long serrated hooked beak, hollow black eyes, a stark white face, beak, legs and claws, long wings, a forked tail and two long feathers on her head and tail each. She is depicted in blacks, deep purples, reds and whites. In her legends she is characterized as aloof but comforting to both the dead and living. She is also said to be dedicated to her job, even willing to face the Sentinels than to abandon it. She hates the cycle of life and death being broken, refusing to take mortals before their time and condemning those who try to cheat death.

She is patron to those that work with the dead and its said to disrespect them is to disrespect her. Weirdly enough, she had a connection as a sort of patron to the mentally ill as some take her words that she ‘will not take before your time’ to heart.

Zael is said to be sister to Aeln as “born of the same feather”. They are often portrayed as allies though have come to blows before.

Zael was one of the few Old Spirits to not gone into hibernation to escape the Sentinels. She is said to have stood up to them, calling their bluff, and was spoken for by Sapphidel. If she was to go dormant, souls would be stuck on Earth. So she was spared and given the role of “The Keeper of the Dead”. It’s said the Sentinels couldn’t kill her if they wanted to as she is older than anything else and that the last thing that will ever happen is when Zael reaps the Sentinels.