Charon

Charon

"All Souls Must pay the Toll"

Domains	Death, Grave
Aliases	The Ferryman of the Styx
Plane	The Lower Planes, The River Styx

Charon is the ferryman of the River Styx. It is his job to transport souls across the planes to their destined afterlives.

Description

Charon can appear in many forms to those that view him. In most cases, he appears as a shadowy skeleton of the species he is escorting, wearing dark robes and draped in shadow. With him he always carried a dark leather tome which he used to catalogue the dead, and the oar he would use to guide his ship. As the last son of Sardior, some scholars believe that the true form of Charon is actually a dragon.

Charon is always astride his ferry of the dead which can vary in size depending on the viewer. Some perceive it simply as a small raft or gondola either empty or filled with a few other souls, while others perceive it as a massive barge made of bone absolutely overflowing with the dead.

Works

Charon is a psychopomp, some could say thee psychopomp. Since nearly the dawn of time it was their duty to travel the River Styx and ferry dead souls to their eternal afterlives. When a soul in Quelmar dies, Charon arrives to meet them where the River Styx borders The Ethereal Plane. To be given a ride, the soul must provide Charon a single golden coin. If they cannot do so, they are forced to remain in the Ethereal Plane for 100 years, or brave the River Styx themselves. After paying their way onto Charon's boat, Charon will ferry them to their destined afterlife.

Charon possesses two artifacts of dive power. The first is The Book of the Dead, sometimes referred to as the Book of the Damned. Here Charon records the names of all creatures who die in Quelmar who have their souls pass through the River Styx. This book allows him to commune with the souls of the departed and hasten the deaths of living creatures if he so desires. It is one of the greatest repositories of deathly knowledge in all of Quelmar and is desired by countless other gods of life and death. Charon's second artifact is his oar. Appearing to be a simple wooden oar with no notable marks, this oar possesses great power. With it Charon can command his ferry and use the oar to bend the Styx and bone alike to his whims.

But as the amount of gods in Quelmar grew in number, with the notable spike in the PR era, Charon's place in the ritual of death became less solid. Many new gods such as the goddess Silent began to share their own services as a psychopomp, reducing the need for mortals to pay Charon's toll. Things changed even more when the upper planes established The Hermes Seal in order to control the influx of souls entering their domains. Due to this seal Charon's became more focused on the souls passing to the lower planes.

Worshippers

Charon's worship exists only in small cults across Quelmar as he has little will he cares to exert on the world outside the Styx. Those that do worship him preach proper burial practices, and that you must bury the dead with a golden coin so they can pay Charon's toll. While maybe not outright worshipped by many, Charon still existed as a small figure in most Quelmar pantheons, with many knowing that eventually they will end up at the banks of the River Styx to meet him.

History

At the beginning of the world, when the gods shattered Sardior the Ruby dragon, his blood flowed out to create the River Styx. Then as Sardior drew his last breath, Charon emerged from the dragon's heart, already astride his ferry with his book and oar. In exchange for Charon guiding the souls of the Gods new mortal creations to their afterlives, the gods made a pact with Charon that they nor any of their creations could ever harm him.

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