Keepers of Dust
The huge robed beings of the Whispering Trace that sweep its floor and gather the dust of forgotten things, so that nothing is lost completely.
Overview
The Keepers of Dust are the sweepers of the Whispering Trace: huge robed beings that sweep its floor and gather the dust of forgotten things, so that nothing is ever lost completely. They archive what remains of civilizations that have fallen. Among their kind are the Grave-Keepers, which guard the resting places of powerful Echoes, and the Memory-Thieves, which steal memories to live on; the Unfinished, Echoes formed around unresolved business, are counted with them.
Appearance
A Keeper of Dust is massive, twice or three times the height of a man, in a long, heavy robe of faded grey and sepia that drags on the ground and gathers dust as it goes. Its hood is deep and dark, and nothing shows inside it. It carries a broom of long, pale fibres, like grass bleached by years, and sweeps with slow, steady strokes. Behind it the ground is clean and the dust is gone, into its robe or its sleeves, no one knows. It moves very slowly and makes the soft, endless sound of sweeping. It smells of old dust and dried flowers.
Habitat and Range
They sweep the ruins, graveyards, and grey plains of the Whispering Trace, each over its own long road, for as long as anyone knows.
Behaviour and Temperament
They gather and keep. A Keeper of Dust sweeps up the remnants of forgotten things, a name no one says, a ruin no one visits, the last trace of a fallen people, and archives them. It does not stop for visitors and does not speak to them, though some travellers say it will stand still to let them pass.
Abilities
What it sweeps is not lost. It gathers the dust of forgotten things, and holds what remains of the fallen.
Uses and Dangers
Some travellers come to the Trace to ask a Keeper of Dust for the remnant of something lost, a name, a song, a place, and some are given it. They do no harm.
Lore and Belief
Some peoples on Caeldon sweep a grave on the day of remembrance and say they sweep for the great sweeper; the custom may remember a traveller's tale of the Keepers of Dust. Sayings about the sweeper who keeps every grain are common where the dead are honoured.
Where It Appears
- The Whispering Trace
- Writers' Guide: The Planes, The Ten Primes
In the Writers’ Guide
- The Planes FoundationsThe Ten Harmonics
- Grave-Keepers A Bestiary of Caeldon
- Keepers of Dust A Bestiary of CaeldonLore and Belief
- Memory-Thieves A Bestiary of Caeldon