Tuesday, November 24, 2015

Personnel Files: Lethe (Part 1)

Though the rivers of Hades number five, there is but one with which most are familiar. It cannot be disputed that any other than the River of Hatred, which takes its name from its cruel mistress, Styx, is the most well-known of the rivers. Yet it can be said, with equal certainty, that The River Lethe is of the greatest importance to The Schemes of The Moirai. Our understanding of Fate is our greatest strength, and our greatest weakness. If, at any time, there is any being with a greater understanding of Fate than is permitted to them, the consequences could be ruinous. This is why every precaution is taken to ensure that the secrets of The Bureaus of Death and Life do not fall into the wrong hands. Yet “every” is not always enough. When this is the case, it is Lethe who sees to it that our secrets are snatched from the wrong hands with all due haste.

When a god of The Pantheon is charged with overseeing a domain, that domain becomes them. Gods of beauty are themselves beautiful, just as gods of terror are terrible. It is fitting, then, that Lethe, Goddess of forgetfulness and oblivion, is herself both forgettable and forgetful. There are few among the residents of Olympus, or even The Underworld, who seem to remember her name, despite her unparalleled contributions to the continuing functioning of The Bureaus of Life and Death. And just as everyone and everything seems to forget her all too easily, she seems to forget everyone and everything with no more difficulty. This makes working with her somewhat challenging, as all business is urgent business. Attempting to make an appointment with her is as futile as asking The Unturning Atropos for mercy. This would severely limit her usefulness to We, The Moirai, if not for her unquestioning devotion to serving Our will. If We command it, she will going to any length, even casting her own memories of forbidden knowledge into oblivion, as unnecessary of a measure as that might be.

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