Saint Silence

Saint Silence, Phantom of Aedes Gotia, Voice of Atrans Nepia Calacicus

"I don't know what that is, but it's not her. I saw her in 68, and that's not her."

— Elderly pilgrim in Aedes Gotia

Known as the Phantom of Aedes Gotia, Saint Silence has roamed the halls of the God of Wisdom for the last 43 years. A bard and poet in her past life, the woman once known as Nepia Calacicus now stays cloistered within the sacred halls, masked and soundless. Cursed for mocking the gods but invited into Gotia's home, it is claimed that Nepia still writes the songs that she can never play herself.

Far from the high-society firebrand of her early years, she now appears as a towering phantom, wrapped in white robes and wearing a blank mask. Those who visit Aedes Gotia on pilgrimage often doubt if that is truly the legendary Voice of Atrans who has made her final home in the monastery, for the phantom bears little resemblance to how Nepia is usually remembered. Occasionally, a song that is claimed to have been written by the cloistered Saint Silence and stolen from the monastery will appear, but most of them are likely forgeries.

Physical Description

Identifying Characteristics

During her career, Nepia was known to be a colorful presence, preferring to dress in blues and yellows, always finding some way to highlight her dress. Though of average height and build, she described as having had fiery red hair.

Saint Silence, in turn, towers over everyone around her and has never been observed to speak or communicate except in written music which now almost always lacks lyrics, and wears all white.

Mental characteristics

Personal history

The daughter of a senatorial legionary officer in Atrans, Nepia was a child of two worlds. Familiar with high society through her father's friends, she nor her family nevertheless had no high rank of their own. It was however enough to ensure that Nepia would be educated, and would be able to pursue her passion of music.

Nepia proved to be a prodigy with the lyre and the flute, and quickly became a favorite performer of many senators in Atrans. No less popular with the masses in the Palatine capital, she quickly catapulted to superstar status in the empire. As her stature grew, she grew bolder and bolder with what she would say in her songs. Intermittently sponsored by one senator or noble before angering them by coming out with a piece that hit a little too close to home, Nepia became notorious for holding nothing sacred and being willing to go after anyone or anything in her songs.

Though she had toured the country before, she was even run out of Atrans in 464 after performing the song "The Emperor's Wives Both Cheated On Him With His Son (And There's Proof)" and revealing a massive brewing court scandal to the regular people of Atrans in an oft-copied tune. She would return eight months later, seemingly untouchable as the emperor had been ousted in the meantime. The Voice of Atrans had only emerged stronger.

Nepia remained a prolific artist, having by this point written over a hundred original pieces in her career and showing no signs of slowing down. In 469 she first performed the dual pieces "Who Watches over the Flies?" and "Our Guardians". In the first criticizing the senatorial class as a whole for failing to reverse the continual decline of Palatina, and in the second questioning the national gods of the Palatines for the same, she disappeared soon after these performances.

A month later, Nepia appeared on the doorstep of Aedes Gotia, a monastery dedicated to the Palatine God of Wisdom. Her arrival marked the beginning of a perpetual silence in that monastery, and not a sound has been heard within those walls for 43 years. It is claimed she writes songs still, but those pieces stay locked away, taken and withheld by the monks who tend to the cursed Voice of Atrans.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Nepia achieved legendary status as a performer in the Palatine Empire, and became known even outside it. Writing well over a hudnred pieces in her 15 years as an artist of national renown, many of her most famous songs are biting satire against the rulers of the empire and the city. Others were written to please whichever patron she had at the time, and even of those songs some survive to this day, played in taverns throughout the empire.

The pieces she is most known for are "The Emperor's Wives Both Cheated On Him With His Son (And There's Proof)" (often shortened to "The Emperor's Wives), and is often cited as the reason that dynasty fell and was replaced. Her last piece "Our Guardians", is more notorious, and held as a reminder that perhaps some things truly are sacred.

Social

Contacts & Relations

In her time as a bard in Atrans, Nepia was widely known in high society and patronized by many senatorial families. She would often have turbulent relationships with her patrons as she always proved incapable of not offending power. Nevertheless, her enduring popularity and high regard among the masses ensured that she would always have some protectors.

Today, she is a ward of the monks of Aedes Gotia, who are themselves not entirely sure what role she is to play. Having greeted her arrival and subsequent silence as a sure sign from the gods, Nepia has run of the monastery grounds but is not allowed to leave, though it is uncertain whether she has tried. Though not a monk or priest in the monastery, Saint Silence is now a looming presence over all proceedings in Aedes Gotia.

Year of Birth

433 79 Years old

Gender

Female

Height

2.4m

Other Affiliations

• Empire of the Palatines