Faithless Ecclesiarch

Faithless ecclesiarchs were powerful religious leaders in life—archpriests, hierarchs, oracles, and divine servitors personally blessed by their deities. They are adept at corrupting the pious and inspiring their fellow herexens, often becoming leaders among their kind. This faithless ecclesiarch once worshipped @UUID[Compendium.pf2e.deities.Item.Nethys], god of magic.

A herexen is an undead heretic, driven by hate to destroy the deity they once served. Herexens choose their faith willingly in life, rising to become respected religious figures within their church. Shortly before or during their death, they lose faith in their chosen deity so completely they become a full heretic, blaspheming, committing atrocities, and cursing their god. These anathemic acts bind their soul to their flesh, causing them to rise as cursed beings. To a herexen, faith is the ultimate lie.

Although the circumstances that drive a pious worshipper to break with their faith are varied, herexens are unified in purpose. Herexens spend their existence fighting their former god in every manner they can, destroying iconography and temples, slaying worshippers, banding together with other herexens who oppose the same deity, conscripting lesser undead, and hiring living proxies to wreak havoc or spread misinformation. A particularly motivated herexen may even plot to kill or unseat the deity they once revered. Curiously, herexens maintain a corrupted form of their divine powers after death, wielding the weapons and magic of their past faith to tear it down.