The Ferryman

The Ferryman
Origin	Stone
Titles	The Ferryman The Dolomedes
Names	unknown
Aspects
Date of arrival	Unknown
Owner(s)	Edward

The Ferryman, also known as the Dolomedes is the Eighteenth Hour of the Fansus, created by Edward. A God-From-Stone, its aspects are Winter and Knock in decreasing order of importance.

Its tarot card is The Moon.

Appearance

The Dolomedes typically manifests as the Moon in the night's sky. When it must present itself to mortals the Ferryman takes the form of a vaguely humanoid figure aboard a small boat with multiple arms, two used to row the boat, and the others to hold and weigh the souls and possessions of passengers. As the Dolomedes, the Hour takes the form of a massive spider that can walk on water.

Principles

The Dolomedes is the Hour of Dreams as well the Hour of Balance and Exchange. It is the Hour that governs mystical transactions and travel between the Histories and the Mansus. At the beginning of the Histories, humanity made a deal with the Ferryman to attain the ability to cross over into the Mansus. In doing so, all of mankind became indebted to this Hour.

As a result, when all mortals and former mortals die, their value is weighed by the Dolomedes. Its criteria for judgement are unknown, but it ultimately decides where most Dead go after their deaths. Some Dead are left on the shores of the Mansus, and others are taken away to the realm of the great spider. Those that escape this enigmatic realm are rendered mute and are eternally covered in sheets of silk. The Dolomedes allows occultists that know of the secret world to cross over into the Mansus and remain lucid. It takes some of the dreaming as well as objects that would otherwise become lost and forgotten as payment for this service.

As the Hour of Balance, the Dolomedes despises needles disruptions to the peace as well as theft. FNORD

It will always honor its deals, but one must be careful to avoid wording that would allow this cunning Hour to take more than they intended.

Locations

The Fansus

The Moon

The Histories

The Moon and the Bridge of Moonlight

Appearing briefly on the surface of great bodies of water when the rising and setting Moon shines upon them, the Bridge is a metaphysical construct weaved by the Dolomedes to permit the Dead and Dreaming to travel between the worlds. The Dolomedes opens the way each night, and returns most dreamers by morning. If some of these mortals were to never awake as payment for its service to the whole, who would really miss them?

Relationships

• The Architeuthian:
• The Anaconda:
• Snake Tail with Appendages:
• The Engine of Cycles:
• The Peacock: Thief. Thief. Thief. Theft of previously collected Forge Long attempted. Judgement Pending.
• Old Tarnished: Briefly believed by the Dolomedes to be a mortal not adhering to the Agreement. Clarification by the Apple-of-the-Eye revealed this to not be the case, and the spider lost interest. At some point, a messenger from the Golden City was sent to ask the Ferryman the price of freedom from the Golden City. The messenger returned pale and shaking with the spider's offer. The Golden King politely declined. And they never spoke again.
• The Spark:
• The Cuckoo: A murderess whose actions gave the spider a most fascinating soul. Taught the Spider that mortals could End before their time. Most interesting.
• The Silver Owl: Not human, and never truly was. Not subject to the Agreement.
• The Watcher in the Window:
• The Elder Sister: A sibling.
• The Apple-of-the-Eye:
• SWOUP:
• The Archivist:
• The Bright-Delver:
• The Harvester:
• [    ]:
• The Insidious:
• The Snow-Stained: What.
• The Fanged Bramble:
• The Aged Bones: Possible Runaway Debtor. Judgement Pending.
• The Mendicant Without:
• The Anvil:
• The Deceiver:
• The Huntsman:
• The Great Serpent: An old acquaintance. Revised the deal made between the Ferryman and humanity after the fact. Made it so that only the Dead as well as slain "immortals" could be collected by the spider, and that the Hours taking humans for eternal servants was not a violation that gave the Dolomedes the right to immediately collect all of humanity's end of the deal. It lacked the power to resist the Serpent then, and does not try to renege on the deal now. It simply does not break deals, merely follows them to the letter once made.