Bilatch

Summary

The Bilatch is a myth about an evil, highly psionic old man that will snatch up children and turn him into essentially undead zombies that will come and snatch up their friends. The legend centers around the behavior of the children and that only unruly and disobedient children will come to the attention of the Bilatch.

Historical Basis

Many have tried to verify if there was any truth behind the myth. It is known that some powerful psionic individuals turn to evil, but it has not been verified that there was ever one who took children and turned them to their will.

Spread

The myth seems to have spread to a rather large part of the Welcome to the Virgo Cluster. There being a reason that parents might want to gently guide their children to behave, while the specifics are left vague, the myth appears on in one form or another on nearly every inhabited world.

Variations & Mutation

The myth does not seem to have changed much as it is encountered in so many of the worlds of the Welcome to the Virgo Cluster. The basic description of who he is, what he does, and what he looks like is rather similar given the large area and amount of time since the myth was first encountered.

Cultural Reception

The fact that the myth is so pervasive has led scholars to believe that it is something carried to the Welcome to the Virgo Cluster by the original settlers.

In Literature

Since the original myth is decidedly child centric, the literature centers around chasing the Bilatch and preventing from doing harm to anything or anyone. Many young adult novels have been written about finding Bilatch in one form or another and the hero destroying the evil entity.

In Art

The Bilatch is usually represented as a human, although with fangs and sometimes small horns. Tatoos or facial and other skin markings are common and the skin color seems to tend towards red, although that is certainly not universal by any means.