Fate
History[edit source]
The three Fates weave the tapestry of life and have disposition over the length of human lives and the pattern they produce. Clotho, the youngest, spins the threads from the substance of Void; Lachesis, the middle aspect, measures the threads and Atropos, the oldest, cuts the thread of each individual human. When she takes the aspect of Clotho, Niobe must journey to the edge of the Void without aid from the other Fates and replenish her stock of thread.
Current Officeholder
Clotho
As mentioned earlier, Clotho is the young aspect of Fate. She collects the Spins the Threads of Life and Stuff of Souls from the Void. Many times, Clotho is the lover for the other male incarnations. The only named Clotho is Niobe, but others have held the job during the series.
Lachesis
Lachesis, the middle Aspect of Fate, measures the Thread of Life. She also tends to be the one who runs the office. Again Niobe is also Lachesis, but at a much later point in her life.
Athropos
Athropos cuts the Threads of Life. At least one actual grandmother becomes Athropos during the series.
Fate's Accoutrements
The Thread of Life
Fate's primary concern is with the threads that govern mortal lives. As Clotho, she spins them from the Void of Chaos, as Lachesis, she measures and places them, and as Atropos, she cuts them. She can create travel-threads at will, sending them out and traveling along them wherever she wishes, as well as "Read-Only" threads to allow her to check that everything is running smoothly. In addition, an invisible web of them surrounds her at all times, protecting her from harm, as like some Incarnations, she cannot be killed.
The Tapestry
The Tapestry of life is an immeasurably enormous tapestry, containing all the threads of life from the beginning of time to the end, chronicling all of human existence. Fate's task is to build and maintain the tapestry, though like all of the Incarnations, she has a staff that handles the routine issues - there is simply too much for her to do it all herself. The Tapestry has many unusual properties - its main one being that it does not function as something only half complete. It does not end where they are working on it, but simply fades into the future, or becomes impenetrably tangled and impossible to read. Correcting these tangles is what takes up much of Fate's time, in addition to working with Chronos to schedule where in the tapestry each thread should be anchored and where it should be cut. A semi-physical form of the Tapestry resides in Fate's Abode, but it is merely a representation - the true Tapestry is so massive and complex as to be incomprehensible except at a very specific level. As such, the Tapestry can only be harmed indirectly, by altering individual events - the Tapestry as a whole remains largely untouchable.
Method of Transfer
Of all the incarnations, Fate's transfer is the simplest and the easiest. It is also unusual in that when an Incarnation of Fate steps down, she is actually returned to mortal life, rather than being sent on to Heaven or Hell. The only other Incarnation who follows this is Nature. Fate's transfers, however, are completely voluntary on all sides. When one of the Aspects of Fate decides she is tired of being an Incarnation, she chooses an appropriate successor and offers them the job. If they decline, she picks another. If they agree, the exchange is as simple as a handshake. Like all the Incarnations, Fate favors a particular gender, though she is one of only two (the other being God) that is actually shown as using both, as at one point a male Atropos is picked. However, due to the fact that they share one body and the discomfort it might cause the other incarnations, who sometimes dally with Clotho, he disguises himself as a woman.
Annotations
The three aspects of Fate come from Greek Mythology. Other people comment on the stages of life for a woman being similar as in the idea of the ultimate witches' coven: Mother (Lachesis), Maiden ( Clotho), and Crone (Athropos).
| Incarnations in Incarnations of Immortality |
| Thanatos• Chronos • Fate • War • Nature • Good • Evil • Nox |
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