Ereshkigal

Traveler, the land Irkalla herself cries in indignation at thy presence, for thou art of a faculty too lacking in lacking for this world, and respecting this not, hath defiled the sacred dead by step and by blade, and art now come to stand before Me. Thou knowest Me as the Eater of Death, the Goddess of Dust, the Gravemother, Ereshkigal the Undying - and I am keeper of all who may no longer keep themselves. But my mouth is gluttonous for time, of which I have much and thou enjoy little; so may you be known as more than a brief slight to She who may devour Death itself, shouldst thou speak and explain thy insolence at once.
— Ereshkigal

Ereshkigal is the Goddess of Dust and ruler of Irkalla, land of the dead, in Elae Meltaea. She resembles a Capricean, and depending on how her character design goes, may appear either in Day of the Dead facepaint or with a legitimately skeletal face. Regal and a bit pompous, Ereshkigal takes her duty as Gravemother incredibly seriously and is a stoic old goat in general.

Domain

I keep only the flesh; the One you would imagine is unkinder than I, and most mortals are in no hurry to meet with Him.
— Ereshkigal

Ereshkigal is the goddess of burial and the grave. She is the only soul in Irkalla; while she respects the souls of the dead and will cooperate with other death gods in their interests, they are not within her official jurisdiction, and her primary loyalty is to the respects shown to remains. The land of Irkalla is very barren and cold, like a colossal cemetary of stone and dust. Only the properly-dedicated bodies of the dead are here, and those not consecrated properly to Ereshkigal find no place in Irkalla.

Appearance

Tentative Ereshkigal resembles about a 5'8" (~172cm) Capricean. Ereshkigal is a curvacious Capricean with pale curled horns the color of bone, and a slender, elegant face painted similarly to Day of the Dead. Her coat is a grey-brown umber and her hair is long and dark brown. She clothes herself in a black robe, obscuring most of her person, and carries a long scythe with a shovel at its other end.

Persona

Ereshkigal comes across as cold and a bit condescending, but her most repeated habit is her tendency to speak eloquently and at great length. She's aware of this and often embarrasses herself by talking too much. Contrasting herself, when her patience is exhausted her speech becomes considerably blunter and more truncated. Her terseness stems from a massive righteous streak and a dedication to her duty, as well as the well-being of the cosmic order in general. Nothing angers Ereshkigal more than to see disrespect shown to the dead; although her job limits her to caring for the remains, she is still angered by disrespect or mistreatment of their inhabitants or souls, such as speaking ill of those who have passed. She is also not impressed with mortal trespasses upon sacred grounds or holy domains. Both of these combine to make her a very harsh enemy of necromancers, who may raise the dead from the earth or, in some cases, dare to summon them from Irkalla. All death gods have a deep respect and value of life, and Ereshkigal sometimes surprises acquaintances with her sentiments on the matter.

Talents

As Goddess of Dust, Ereshkigal enjoys (and sometimes doesn't enjoy) many divine powers related to death and corpses, many of them relevant to her titles. Chief among them are:

The Undying: Ereshkigal cannot be killed under any circumstances, regardless of injury. However, when "fatally" injured she is capable of abandoning her current body and "respawning" somewhere connected to death or created in reverence to her.
Eater of Death: Ereshkigal can hasten the decomposition of a corpse to heal herself. This doubles as a way to check if someone is alive, since it won't work if they are. Ereshkigal absolutely despises being forced to do this, unless the corpse she decomposes is her own after a respawn.
Goddess of Dust: All bodies that have been buried under the proper rites for Ereshkigal, even when reduced to skeletons, are loyal to her and will automatically move to her defense. She can also command them similarly to a necromancer. Ereshkigal is extremely unhappy if any corpses are maimed in her service or by her enemies, and usually furious if a necromancer summons a body from Irkalla for ill intent.

Trivia

Ereshkigal and Irkalla are figures of Mesopotamian mythology. Her appearance in Elae Meltaea is also inspired by such things as the Church Grimm of Year Walk and Specimen 8 of Spooky's Jump Scare Mansion. The idea that she and Irkalla could aesthetically borrow from Dia de los Muertos is also very tempting.
The use of "dust" to refer poetically to the dead is derived from the classical cemetery phrase "ashes to ashes, dust to dust".