◈ EMPYREANRanni's Doll
Empyrean flesh discarded, soul lodged in porcelain
Ranni's Doll
"Cursemark carved into the discarded flesh of Ranni the Witch. Also known as the half-wheel wound of the centipede. This cursemark was carved at the moment of Death of the first demigod, and should have taken the shape of a circle. However, two demigods perished at the same time, breaking the cursemark into two half-wheels. Ranni was the first of the demigods whose flesh perished, while the Prince of Death perished in soul alone."
From the Cursemark of Death description
Ranni's Doll is the body Ranni uses after she rejected her Empyrean flesh. To steal a fragment of the Rune of Death, she had to slay the body she was born into; the Two Fingers' cursemark was carved on that flesh, and as long as it lived they could find her. So she killed it, hid the corpse in the Cathedral of Manus Celes, at the Moonlight Altar, and poured what remained of her soul into a porcelain doll she had kept since she was small. The doll is said to be modelled after the snowy crone the young Ranni encountered deep in the woods, the witch who became her secret mentor; it is her guise that Ranni borrows in presenting herself as the witch Renna at the Church of Elleh.
The doll's body has costs. It cannot eat, age, or dream the way Empyrean flesh dreams. Ranni sleeps for long stretches inside Ranni's Rise, indistinguishable from a children's toy on a chair, and only the Tarnished's intrusion wakes her. Seluvis, the puppet-master, schemes to slip Ranni herself into one of his dolls during her quest; the canon records only the scheme and its author's end, his bell bearing found upon his perished flesh. When the Age of Stars dawns at Ranni's coronation, she does not return to a body. The doll-shape becomes the form of the new god, setting out on a thousand year voyage under the wisdom of the Moon.
A pleasure to meet thee, Tarnished. I am the witch Renna. I'd heard tell of a Tarnished hurtling about atop a spectral steed.
Indeed, I am the witch Ranni. I stole a fragment of the Rune of Death, and used it to forge the godslaying black knives. I have slain the body I was born into, and cast it away.
Witch's robe in the color of snow. Once worn by the snowy crone who the young Ranni encountered deep in the woods. She was a witch, and well versed in cold sorceries. It is said that the doll that houses Ranni's soul was modeled after her. That old witch was Ranni's secret mentor.
