Milcon

Take heart; the Silent Attendant knows the pain of your loss and will look over them as though they are his own Wife of Flowers

The Silent Attendant (a.k.a. The Silence; The Watcher;)

Milcon is the god of death in the pantheon of the Heavenly Council. Of all the gods of the Heavenly Council, Milcon is perhaps the most ubiquitous. He has no organized religious cult but those that call themselves clergy of Milcon or one of his aliases can be found across Holos in nearly every settlement from the smallest village to the largest cities. However, attitudes towards Milcon vary wildly—some view him as a protector of the dead from the Unspoken Six while others view him as a ravenous collector of souls.
In most traditions, the mortal soul enters the Ethereal Plane upon death and remains near the body’s corpse.

• Servants of Milcon, generally death dogs or true Avatars of Death, patrol the Ethereal Plane for the dead by smelling the soul or the body (this varies by tradition.)

• When a servant of Milcon finds a soul, it will guard it until the Moon’s Eve, a sacred day that happens every month where the portals to the Underworld open up and the death can enter

• Those who are cremated also go to the Ethereal Plane but try to stay near their friends and families, thus explaining the common glimpses of death dogs and spirits shortly after the death of a loved one.

• However, those that die at sea are not protected by the servants of Milcon but by Lacorré’s servants, for the servants of Milcon cannot swim.

• Additionally, if a soul cannot be brought to the Underworld in the time it takes for the Moon’s Eve to pass, the soul will become a ghost and haunt the location of its death until it can be destroyed and freed of its bond to the Ethereal Plane. From there ghosts are sent immediately to the Underworld for 300 years.

• If a resurrection ritual is completed before the passing of the Moon’s Eve and the body of the dead is still preserved, the dead may be resurrected as they once were. This action is sometimes frowned upon by Milcon as it is close to necromancy, a practice he despises and so some resurrection rituals involve convincing the guardian of the soul that the soul needs to be brought back for a particular purpose.

Divine Domains

Milcon is the god of death, grief, medicine, funerary rites, and the Underworld. His domains are that of Blood, Life, and Grave.

Holy Books & Codes

Milcon appears in many, many holy books, scriptures, and myths. His most sacred text is considered to be the Heavenly Codex—specifically the Book of Milcon and the Book of Sidduril.

Divine Symbols & Sigils

Milcon's divine symbol is either a sheaf of hemlock or a threshing sickle. Sometimes it is a single eye flanked by these two images. Milcon's sacred colors are black and red.

Holidays

Milcon's feast month is the Month of Silence, the twelfth month of the Bryaxisian Calendar. His feast day is the Day of Dusk, the Winter Solstice. Weekly services for Milcon are held on Strangersday. Additionally, it is believed that the dead remain in the Ethereal Realm from the time that they die until the Moon's Eve, the last day of the month, when Milcon and his stewards come to collect the spirits and bring them to the Underworld for judgement. On Moon's Eve, priests of Milcon hold vigils to ward off evil spirits and help call the stewards of Milcon to the waiting souls of the dead.

Physical Description

General Physical Condition

Milcon is most commonly depicted as a humanoid covered black funerary wrappings and with facial features largely obscured by a black veil. Older depictions of Milcon show him in similar attire but with the head of a black jackal.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

It is said that Milcon was at one time married to the goddess of flowers, Sidduril, and had a child with her. This child was the pride and joy of the Celestial Mountains until she was corrupted by Rheseldar, the Kiss of Lies. The child became the goddess of demons, Zaguna. Zaguna mortally injured her mother with a poisoned blade and fled from the Celestial Mountains. Milcon, upon seeing his dying wife, screamed so loud his tongue was torn from his mouth. But because Sidduril is a goddess, she cannot die for very long without being resurrected. For a millennia, Milcon has tended to his fallen wife, feeding her potions of hemlock and poppy to ease her suffering while also tending to the other dead deep in under the Celestial Mountains.

Personality Characteristics

Motivation

To protect and watch over the souls of the dead until they have fully atoned for their sins and have been judged as being worthy of living among the gods in Paradise.

Social

Family Ties

Most traditions consider Milcon to be the brother of the goddess Porcia, who was also born of Sharun-sharek in the The Time Before The Dawn. Milcon's consort was the goddess Sidduril. Together they bore a child named Zaguna, but Zaguna became corrupted by the Kiss of Lies, Rheseldar. Zaguna then went on to mortally wound her own mother, an act that trapped Sidduril in a state between life and death and completed Zaguna's transformation into a force of untold destruction and evil.

Divine Classification

Deity

Religions

• Stitchers of Milcon

Alignment

True Neutral

Current Location

Realm of Souls (Underworld)

Realm

Realm of Souls (Underworld)

Church/Cult

Heavenly Council

Circumstances of Birth

Milcon was begotten of Sharun-sharek; during the The Splitting of the Voidcreature

Birthplace

The Void

Current Residence

The Realm of Souls

Gender

Male

Eyes

Bloodshot and vigilant

Skin Tone/Pigmentation

Sallow and pale

Aligned Organization

Heavenly Council

Hallowed Arms

The Soul Sickle

Holy Orders

• Acolyte: Undertaker

• Cleric: Stitcher (Grave Domain)

• Paladin: Watcher/Watchmen

• Temple: Mausoleum

Animal Harbingers:

Dogs (positive) Jackals (negative)