The Solemn Gravedigger

The Solemn
""I am so sorry.""
Origin	God-from-Blood
Titles	The Shadow-Clad Gentleman, He-Who-Witnessed, The Gravedigger
Names	The Fallen King, The Silent End, The Vigil
Aspects
Date of arrival	{{{arrival}}}
Owner(s)	Maltramac

The Solemn (The Shadow-Clad Gentleman, He-Who-Witnessed, The Gravedigger) is the Ninth Hour of the Fansus, created by Maltramac. His aspects are Winter and Heart in decreasing order of importance. The Solemn is a servant of The_Millions-Upon-Millions and his duty is intertwined with that of Abbess Sunset. Brother Grimalkin is his sibling, for they were both born from the same mother.

His tarot card is The Hermit.

Description

Appearance

Sometimes a black beetle, sometimes a pale-faced servant in formal wear, never talkative, always attentive.

Principles

Winter, for the endings at which he is present. Heart, for what he preserves. The Solemn One remembers. He is invoked in the desperate prayers of the dying and in the final breath, but he can offer no aid. When the Sun-Eyed Maiden arrives to guide the dead to where they must go, he follows in her steps. What belongs to the Omnipede, he brings to the Omnipede, but what he is permitted to keep, he buries and preserves. He is the patron of memorials and remembrances, of bittersweet partings and of everything that is lost.

Worship

Cults

The Shadow-Clad Gentleman is invoked by priests, gravediggers, hospice workers and by those seeking to learn of the past. He provides little power to his worshippers and thus it is rare for him to be worshipped alone, but he generously shares lost wisdom with those who care for what is gone.

Servants

The Fallen King was formerly a Name of The Weft, a mortal king who ascended in her service. When his empire fell he came into the Gravedigger's service instead. The punishment for his defection was that his name, Ozymandias, was taken from him and now refers to Ramesses II instead. He appears as a dark-skinned, middle-aged man in golden robes, moving with slow, determined precision. He carries with him the tools of an architect, a builder and a king. His duty to the Solemn is building tombs, mausolea and monuments for the preservation of what has been kept.

The Silent End often takes the form of a mouse or bird when she is not a young woman in a white dress. The details of her appearance are different each time, but an unmistakable chill follows her. A patron of euthanasia and peaceful death, she leads Brother Grimalkin away, distracting him so that the end may come in peace, then returns to take one's final breath so that the Solemn may preserve it.

The Vigil dwells in candlelight, in the smell of incense and in other funerary traditions. It is more of an intangible presence than a physical existence. It brings remembrance from the Gravedigger's vaults to be shared with mortals, and in turn acknowledges their grief, recording it when returning to the vaults.

About the Wassail

How They Feel

"I wish it hadn't happened. Not like this. But as always, I was powerless. I will remember them."

Who They Blame

"It seems to me we're all to blame."

What They Hide

"I hid the bodies of the Gods-From-Stone. I do not deny that."