Vidius

God of Death and Duality, He is a patron of theatre and actors. He is a member of the Pantheon, and is part of its Triumvirate with Omnu and Avei. He has a black scythe as symbol.

His physical appearance is that of a slim man, with a gaunt skeletal face and hawkish countenance, in black priest’s clothes and a broad-brimmed hat.

He recently took Gabriel Arquin as his Hand, gifting him divine powers, a weapon and a horse. Gabriel's charge is to clear out rot in the Cult, remind everyone of humility that they don't know all the answers, and to "screw around."

The valkyries are his supernatual servants. Vestrel is assigned to Gabriel. Known Valkyries are Vestrel, Evaine, Yrsa, Yngrid. Vidius, during mortal life, saved the Valkryies from annihilation at the hands of Rauzon the Prime. Although the Valkryies were cast out of this dimension, the fact that Vidius saved them earned the Pantheon's rebellion against the Infinite Order the goodwill of Naiya. This connection to the Valyrkies, who already had a death/cleanup function during the Infinite Order's reign, was the motivating factor in Vidius become the God of Death.

Vidius has been described, along with Vesk and Eserion, as a trickster god. Elilial described him as two-faced, while Eserion described him in mortal life as a "sly old fox." Others describe him as easy-going and easy to get along with, with Melaxyna describing him as a reasonable fellow. Yrsa (AKA Walker) describes Vidius as a good boss, mostly, and easy to like (12-35). Vidius appears to be a strong patron of Arachne Tellwyrn's amongst the Pantheon members, not sharing Avei's disdain for the Professor.

His head priest is currently Lady Gwenfaer. Val Tarvadegh is his priest in Last Rock since 1183.

Vidius sits in judgment of the dead, reputedly from a throne. This judgment of the dead function has caused Vidius to obtain a reputation, amongst mortals, for fairness. Style, head of Eserite enforcers, one joked to Thumper that the measure of fair retribution she would dole out to him would astonish even Vidius to come down from his throne and kiss her boot.

When judging the dead, Vidius apparently has several options. He can consign bad souls to hell, most to the oblivion of a divine energy field, and an honored few to a special dimensional paradise. Vidius does not let the opinions of fellow Pantheon members influence his judgment, such as in the case of Melaxyna, a former Izarite priest who was struck down by Avei, personally. Melaxyna was nonetheless offered, even beseeched, to accept to reward of paradise but ultimately insisted upon damnation.

The Valkryies reap and summons the souls of people to be judged by Vidius. Apparently only special people are personally reaped and fetched by the Valkryies, allowing Mortimer Agastis to summon voluntarily suicides to be reincarnated as special undead demons for a great many years before anyone caught on.

According to Elilial, Paladins are automatically entitled to a place in Vidius's special dimensional paradise. Maintaining the paradise is apparently ridiculously energy intensive, which is a substantial reason for the limitations upon entry only to the few Honored Dead. Elilial also decribed Vidius's dimensional paradise as "hive-minded" but the reader currently lacks context to understand its meaning.

Vidius and Vidians are known for mind magic including a kind of notice-me-not technique.

Vidian holy ground has special properties which, among other things, allows valkryies to be seen and physically interact with the mortal plane. Proximity to Vidius, or his carriage, when on the mortal plane extend the same effects. Vidian ceremonies, because of the God's affiliation with duality, frequently occur in crepuscular hours.

Vidius asserts the idea that religion, as a phenomenon, is a question and an answer (14-7).