Atheros's Influence

Most mortals focus on the River Guide’s role in their own deaths. Countless mortal superstitions prescribe ways to garner Athreos’s favor, but all Athreos demands of those he transports is payment: a single coin of any minting or value. The River Guide has an expansive definition of what constitutes a coin, from actual stamped currency and jewelry to shiny beads or opalescent shells. Ultimately, he seems most concerned with whether a mortal has prepared for death, keeping payment ready out of respect and as a personal memento mori. Those whose bodies are burned, buried, or otherwise disposed of along with valuables deliberately intended for the River Guide discover that they can make use of such items when trading for Athreos’s services. Spirits that reach the shores of the Tartyx River unprepared, though, risk being stranded, as Athreos refuses to ferry those who can’t pay. Athreos is also invoked as the god of passage, as well as the deity with dominion over borders, boundaries, and that which is “neither.” Those who undertake journeys, especially dangerous ones, often drop a coin into a fountain or a body of water in apotropaic acknowledgment of the River Guide. Bridges and borders are also places where Athreos is commonly remembered, with many such sites being marked by motifs of rivers or spirits. Additionally, phenomena that are neither one thing nor another, defying simple classification, are often considered to be within Athreos’s province—most notably the state between life and death, but also echoes, phantom sensations, and the feeling of déjà vu.

Type

Text, Philosophical