St Eligius

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"Blessed Eligius, we venerate and adore. Blessed Eligius, we loathe and abhor. Blessed Eligius, who taught the swarm and forsook us. We swallowed his tongue. We filled our bellies on his sanctity. Freed from his holy fetters he fled to Hell, and there underwent a change."[1]

Saint Eligius is the patron saint of the Rattus Faber. Among the denizens of Hell, he is known as Saint Trezigor, patron saint of goat-demons.

Saint of the Small[edit | edit source]

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"A knot of tails for his halo. Holy words on his skin. He walked on two legs and spake unto us our names. All of us to follow; all of us to speak. The largest and least: Saint Eligius."[2]

Eligius was a goldsmith from Flanders who was guided by rats down to the Neath[3] after sinking into a bog.[4] It is unclear exactly when this occurred, but Eligius was reportedly active during the era of the Third City.[4] He eventually ended up out in the Unterzee,[4] where his entourage of Rattus Faber may have helped him survive;[5] upon his return, he led the rats to the gates of the Fourth City to "demand their due".[6] Eligius' entourage of rats travelled in small chariots, bearing little instruments in their claws (he may have taught them his craft, as an artisan). The Khatun was so taken with them that she granted them immediate entrance.[7] Eligius was later recorded as a Fourth City priest;[8] he is said to protect people from losing their tools, from glim-fall, and from "silver tarnish in mirrors"[9] (which may allude to wayward circumstances in Parabola alongside its literal meaning).

The Prophet-King

Eligius, a faithful Christian, lost his Bible in the descent. Not wanting to forget the Good Word, he copied the text onto his skin.[10] Using his goldsmith's lens, he sought to preach to all species about a new, strange gospel[11] of "the word made flesh."[12] He taught the rats speech,[13] written language, and mathematics[14] because they were the only souls he found in the Neath.[15] He also created something called the Rite of the Rat,[16] and the rats absorbed his teachings a little more literally than he probably expected,[17] causing things to get a bit out of hand. The rats devoured his tongue[18] and used it to "link their tails,"[19][20] becoming a telepathic rat king[21] that eventually connected all Rattus Faber in a gestalt consciousness.[22][23] Eligius granted his newly created Prophet-King the duty of performing the rite[24] to initiate rats (and other beings) into this Ratdom,[25] but he could not abide what he had created;[26] he abandoned the rats[18] and fled west to Hell.[27]

Possibly thanks to his means of entry into the Neath, or possibly at some point later, Eligius was described by an earlier eyewitness as "a man of mossy aspect."[28] He eventually became "an island,"[29] a haven for animals and zailors alike. The island of Eligius was eventually drowned by the Fathomking long ago, for unknown reasons,[30] but the saint still lives underwater. After encountering him during the Fall of London, a rat called Algernon described him as a gargantuan man surrounded by a golden glow, holding his goldsmith's lens and a tail.[31] Eligius blessed Algernon, who had washed out to zee, with the ability to speak.[32]

The island of Eligius was surrounded by glowing lights,[30] which still float above the zee to this day, and are called St Eligius' fire in his honor;[33][34] St Eligius' fire is venerated by zailors and considered a warning of impending glim-fall.[35]

Saint of the Large[edit | edit source]

"There are no saints but ours, and they are dead. Eligius was one of ours, I think. He perished in Hell, for disobeying the other Princes. He sought to knot our souls, so all were equal. The Equality of Roses was his heresy."[36]

Milton, a devil wearing the Hallowmas mask of St Trezigor

After the episode with the rats, Eligius went to Hell to preach to the goat-demons that lived outside the White City. From them, he learned the Law of Hell[37] and gained the ability to "enlarge his own" soul[38] and alter his physical form through the lily-rites.[39] He gave himself a goat's face (presumably restoring his tongue in the process) and taught the goat-demons language in return for their aid.[40] After this, he entered Hell to preach to its denizens;[40] under the alias of Trezigor,[41] he taught lessons considered heretical by Hell,[42] including an equivalent principle to his earlier ratty hive-mind.[43] Trezigor's "enlargement" of his soul may have allowed him to rise through the devils' ranks to the point where he is thought to have become a Prince of Hell,[43] but his teachings upset the other Princes.[43] When Trezigor was finally discovered to be Eligius after all,[44] his monks were turned into goats,[45] and Eligius himself was executed and thrown out to zee.[46]

Saint Trezigor's Folly, a massive wall located near Marigold Station[47] featuring a carving of Trezigor's goat face,[48] is a primary remnant of his influence on Hell. The carved face can express emotion, and can even speak in several cataclysmic languages.[49] Behind a hidden opening[50][51] is an abandoned monastery, where Trezigor's goat-demon monks once lived in ascetic, solitary poverty.[52][53] This site is also the resting place of Trezigor's "face" itself,[54] which contains all his knowledge of ancient Goatish languages.[55] He has almost been forgotten by Hell at this point,[56] but his laughter still echoes throughout the Folly,[54] and in the ears of those who invoke him.[57]

Historical Inspiration[edit | edit source]

Saint Eligius (588-660), also known as Saint Éloi/Eloy, was a Frankish goldsmith who later became a bishop. He is the patron saint of goldsmiths, blacksmiths, all metalworkers, coin collectors, veterinarians, horses, and farriers. A popular medieval legend recounts how he amputated and miraculously reattached a suffering horse’s leg to shoe it.

Born near Limoges, Eligius apprenticed under the master of the town mint, and rose to prominence at the courts of the Frankish kings Clotaire II and Dagobert I. He became famous for his honesty, notably for using his own gold to craft two thrones and returning the excess; this earned him a place as master of the mint in Marseilles and chief counselor to Dagobert I. Eligius was ordained as a priest in 633 and consecrated bishop of Noyon-Tournai around 641; he preached to pagan Frisians, Flemings, and coastal tribes and worked to dispel superstition. Deeply charitable, he rescued and ransomed captives, ensured dignified burials for criminals, built monasteries and convents, and founded churches and basilicas in honor of early French saints.

References[edit | edit source]

  1. ↑ Ferret: Algernon's Baptism, Mask of the Rose
  2. ↑ Harjit: Rodentine Powers, Mask of the Rose
  3. ↑ Ferret: After the Hulk, Mask of the Rose "The interesting thing is I've been talking to a few of the other rats. None as eloquent as our Algie. But I heard a few whispers of this rat-saint. That it was the rats that led him down, from Flanders green. And taught 'im the ways of the Neath, that he might survive it. [...]"
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 The Box of Saintly Whiskers, Fallen London "[...] a small crowd [...] gathers to hear the Maundering Rat's stories of St Eligius – how he was a goldsmith in Flanders before sinking down into a marshy polder and finding himself in the Neath; how he taught the rats of the Third City to make needle-like spears to do battle with cats, and wrestled with the horse-sized fish lice that live in the gills of zee-beasts..." [Editor's note: a polder is a patch of land that has been drained or reclaimed using dikes and lies below the surrounding ground level.]
  5. ↑ Ferret: After the Hulk, Mask of the Rose "Me: It seems unlikely he survived his descent alone. Ferret: Out at sea? The odds seem less'n favourable. Algernon: Saints have a habit of defying those. But it must have been long ago. We can only interpret."
  6. ↑ Ferret: After the Hulk, Mask of the Rose "Others say he taught the rats how to think as well as speak. And led them to the gates of the old city that was here, to demand their due. Eligius converted the rats. Or 'e was converted by 'em."
  7. ↑ Barqujin: Saint Eligius, Mask of the Rose "Ugh. I remember him. He came with his rats. Stinking of the zee, and them all capering behind. We remembered the plague of course. And its carriers. But they came in small chariots, bearing instruments aloft. He must have trained them en route. The Khatun was so taken with them, she gave them immediate entrance. Dreadful man. I have no idea what became of him. Nothing good, I hope."
  8. ↑ Moss: Purloined Books, Mask of the Rose "Amidst these vinegary saints, I encounter Eligius in a slim tome on holy men of the Fourth City."
  9. ↑ Seven of St Eligius' Very Own Beard Hairs, Fallen London "You are assured that these are not rat's whiskers; they are long, grey and stiff. Revered by rats and zailors alike, St Eligius is said to protect against glim-fall, against losing small tools, and against silver tarnish in mirrors."
  10. ↑ A Dream of a Thousand Tails, Fallen London "Before the dawn of whiskered speech, there was a man who fell without his book. He wrote upon his body in an effort to remember, for he held in his heart an impulse: the Word should not be lost."
  11. ↑ Mr Pages: Saint Eligius, Mask of the Rose "An unlooked for vexence. Eminent in his botheration. He claimed to have sunk from some marsh or mire. And wanderated the Neath preaching a new Gospel. The Age of Joachim, the Pentecostal Fire. From every living mouth to inspire. Or some other such doggerel. I did not pay undue heed."
  12. ↑ Moss: Purloined Books, Mask of the Rose "It is a hagiography of St Eligius, seemingly written in his own hand. The letters sear and dance upon the page. It describes a goldsmith who vanished from Flanders long ago, and fell beneath the earth. One traveller writes of meeting a man of mossy aspect, holding a goldsmith's lens. He used it to teach letters from a book written on his own skin, his Bible being lost in the descent. The text suggests he sought to teach those of varied forms about the word made flesh. And each teaching left himself changed. Until at the last, he underwent a sea-change. In traditional doctrine, Eligius' disappearance was his final miracle. But it seems down below, that was but his first of many."
  13. ↑ Death and Tax Evasion, Fallen London "You scamper in places dark and narrow. Light is the enemy. You re-experience the great awakening; you recall the man who fell to the depths and spilled words into tiny skulls. His tongue still binds you now."
  14. ↑ Ferret: After the Hulk, Mask of the Rose "The interesting thing is I've been talking to a few of the other rats. None as eloquent as our Algie. But I heard a few whispers of this rat-saint. That [...] he taught 'em how to navigate the letters and numbers."
  15. ↑ Harjit: Rodentine Powers, Mask of the Rose "A saint of rats, who came from Flanders apparently. Or fell. Supposedly taught the rats to speak, for they were the only souls he found down here."
  16. ↑ Harjit: Rodentine Powers, Mask of the Rose "Our tongues are stilled as our eyes are blind. No truce with the bigfolk. But for those who take the Rite of the Rat, as St Eligius showed us."
  17. ↑ Death and Tax Evasion, Fallen London "'And so did St. Eligius descend unto the kingdom of the rats, and brought the message that was the flesh that was the word. And in our newfound wisdom, we fell upon the word with the fury of the starved, and took his tithe of flesh, and were rewarded.'"
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Harjit: Rodentine Powers, Mask of the Rose "Once, we ate a saint's tongue. He gave us voice, before he abandoned us."
  19. ↑ Harjit: Rodentine Powers, Mask of the Rose "Many Rats: Now we are bound by his relic, a piece we took from him, which links our tails."
  20. ↑ Harjit: Rodentine Powers, Mask of the Rose "Harjit: With that many heads? Not to mention tails - all chained around a golden... relic? My eyesight is impeccable. It recommended me for this position."
  21. ↑ Harjit: Rodentine Powers, Mask of the Rose "We are the Prophet-King of St Eligius. Every rat is our concern."
  22. ↑ Harjit: Rodentine Powers, Mask of the Rose "Have you heard the ancient expression, which was preached unto us by Eligius? "If thy brother be grieved with thy meat, now walkest thou not charitably." We have fed fully upon the flesh that is the word. It has bound us in a community - a greater Ratdom. A crown of rats upon his head. When he beheld our many eyes he named us the angel of Ezekiel. Now we are bound by his relic, a piece we took from him, which links our tails. But look not to the old carrion; the word lives in our flesh. And though our bodies perish, the swarm persists. This is the greater Ratdom - Which extends across time, in a great chain of knotted pink tails. Nothing wasted; nothing forgot. One in many, many in one."
  23. ↑ Harjit: Rodentine Powers, Mask of the Rose "Oh yes, we are in many places. An eye unblinking behind the skirting board. A plaintive squeak beneath your bedpost. These things can be coincidence. Yet, though all rats are not the same, all are bound together. In us."
  24. ↑ Harjit: Rodentine Powers, Mask of the Rose "A charge bestowed upon us by Blessed Eligius, tongue-bearer, in days gone by."
  25. ↑ Harjit: Rodentine Powers, Mask of the Rose "We have heard your Ferret's wishes to introduce a rat to your church. We extend a counter proposal. That Ferret join our church - to be a voice for the rats in this new city. An initiate they will be, honoured among rats. To undertake the Rites of the Rat and be deemed one of our many."
  26. ↑ Ferret: Ferret's Baptism, Mask of the Rose "You came. Most would balk. Even Saint Eligius did, at the last."
  27. ↑ Ferret: Algernon's Baptism, Mask of the Rose "Blessed Eligius, we venerate and adore. Blessed Eligius, we loathe and abhor. Blessed Eligius, who taught the swarm and forsook us. We swallowed his tongue. We filled our bellies on his sanctity. Freed from his holy fetters he fled to Hell, and there underwent a change."
  28. ↑ Moss: Purloined Books, Mask of the Rose "[...] One traveller writes of meeting a man of mossy aspect, holding a goldsmith's lens. [...]"
  29. ↑ A Dream of a Thousand Tails, Fallen London "A bow-backed man with a goldsmith's lens, reading from a book of skin. [...] A saint who changes his face to better speak with demons. [...] A friend who is an island, mossy-tailed and golden.'"
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Moss: Saint Eligius, Mask of the Rose "I have heard of Eligius. It was an island, peopled by many animals. A safehaven for zailors, lost at zee. Lights danced amidst great old bones. A skeleton of a kind, strewn across the soil. The island sunk long ago, by the will of the Fathomking. But its purpose had been good."
  31. ↑ Ferret: The Story of Speech, Mask of the Rose "...But far below the water, I saw a glow - like gold beneath the waves. I thought I spied a man, much too large. He held a goldsmith's lens and a tail. He waved me on. I thought it a dream, as one has when on the verge of death –"
  32. ↑ Harjit: Rodentine Powers, Mask of the Rose "Me: Algernon certainly hasn't learnt to speak from you. He uses but the one tongue. Many Rats: Not from us. The Saint himself. But before he found Eligius, he was an idle rat we'd wager, fat on cheese and stolen trifle."
  33. ↑ Map, Sunless Sea "We enter the Stormbones. St Eligius sends his fire to dance on the air, on deck. Very far away we see the great light of the Ragged Crow."
  34. ↑ We made camp, Fallen London "The hard stone was a bed to me. I looked down on the dark of the zee. St. Eligius' fire; stars below and around me."
  35. ↑ The Box of Saintly Whiskers, Fallen London "Plucked from the very beard of St Eligius," […] he swings the […] door open, revealing seven stiff, thick hairs. "Patron saint of delicate tools," […] "Venerated by zailors, who say he sends his fire down from the Roof to warn of impending glim-fall..."
  36. ↑ Virginia: Saint Eligius, Mask of the Rose
  37. ↑ Moss: Purloined Books, Mask of the Rose "St Trezigor, they say, came to Hell, half-eaten. He preached amidst the native Goat-folk who dwelled in its shadow. He learned the Law of Hell, such that he was able to alter himself just as he altered them. [...]"
  38. ↑ Milton: Saint Eligius, Mask of the Rose "[...] He learned techniques of souls from us. And enlarged his own, as was the practice of our saints."
  39. ↑ Invitation to the Lily-rites, Fallen London ""[The Lily-rites] offends the stars, [...] It invites other creatures to cross the borders set by their own nature, and to share the dignities of Hell, if they have the skill. And it usually perturbs a soul in an interesting direction." Verity tells you then a story of Saint Trezigor, who was not always as he appeared in his late days. But he had a message for Hell, and rather than leave it silent, he transformed himself in order to become its messenger. His followers suffered the consequences, perhaps, but all transformations have a price."
  40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 Moss: Purloined Books, Mask of the Rose "[...] He taught them language in return. And then, wearing his new face, he entered Hell. To preach the same to those that dwelled there."
  41. ↑ Moss: Purloined Books, Mask of the Rose "Hagiography is rarely the full story. I look deeper. The categorisation is neither chronological nor alphabetical. The collection is, instead, thematic. Once I have grasped this, I realise that Eligius has been grouped with another saint. Their name is Trezigor. Like Eligius, they have but one volume. I take that too."
  42. ↑ Milton: High Trust Inquiries, Mask of the Rose "Ah, Trezigor. Among humans, Trezigor was called Eligius. But he found his message was not well received in Hell. So he masked himself as a goat demon, and brayed his heretical preachings. [...]"
  43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 43.2 Virginia: Saint Eligius, Mask of the Rose "There are no saints but ours, and they are dead. Eligius was one of ours, I think. He perished in Hell, for disobeying the other Princes. He sought to knot our souls, so all were equal. The Equality of Roses was his heresy."
  44. ↑ Milton: Virginia's Past, Mask of the Rose "Milton, do you recall the fate of Trezigor? Or Eligius, as he called himself when the mask fell, screaming."
  45. ↑ Milton: High Trust Inquiries, Mask of the Rose "[...] So spectacular was his punishment that his monks have followed after him. A mortification of form and flesh – not to mention a goaty perversion of one's personal odour."
  46. ↑ Virginia: Saint Eligius, Mask of the Rose "He is buried at zee, deep beneath the waves. If you wish to speak to him, you'd best hold your breath."
  47. ↑ Beseech Saint Trezigor, Fallen London "[...] just within sight of the station is a wall, standing alone [...]"
  48. ↑ Beseech Saint Trezigor, Fallen London "The wall is carved with a stone face [...] The stone face of Saint Trezigor [...] its goaty features [...]"
  49. ↑ Beseech Saint Trezigor, Fallen London "The stone face of Saint Trezigor [...] goaty features adopting an [...] smile. [...] [...] the saint screams in seven [...] tongues. The air around darkens [...] you see fire and its is alive [...]"
  50. ↑ Beseech Saint Trezigor, Fallen London "The stone face of Saint Trezigor [...] a piece of masonry swings aside, revealing a hole. [...] you have been invited to enter."
  51. ↑ Return to the Lost Wall, Fallen London "Saint Trezigor smiled on you. You are at liberty to enter [...] at will."
  52. ↑ Saint Trezigor's Folly, Fallen London "The tunnel leads you inside the wall; [...] the wall is riddled with warrens. [...] through tunnels and empty chambers [...] high-ceilinged domiciles and abandoned halls."
  53. ↑ Explore the Folly, Fallen London "[...] misshapen hairy robes, [...] floors are chipped, as though [...] goat-demons processed through [...] Those that dwelled here did so in poverty and hermetic solitude. They are most likely dead. The many long, misshapen bones you find are testament to that."
  54. ↑ 54.0 54.1 Recover an artefact of Hell (St Trezigor's), Fallen London "There is a laughter [...] in the stones of Saint Trezigor's. You hear it in the walls, [...] A groove opens where there was none before. [...] you find a mask. [...] A dried face. [...] of a goat-demon, [...] Relics have been beaded into its long hair. Perhaps this was Saint Trezigor's face."
  55. ↑ Present the artefacts, Fallen London "[...] you don the Mask of St Trezigor, [...] His voice cries out [...] speaking through you in an ancient Goatish tongue."
  56. ↑ Spread the gospel of a suspect saint, Fallen London "Saint Trezigor is the almost-forgotten patron of the goat-demons [...]"
  57. ↑ Spread the gospel of a suspect saint, Fallen London "You provide enigmatic answers, elusive and hypnotic. Archangels, novel saints, the Harrowing of Hell. Truths gather in the words you are not saying. A grand and noble effort to convert the goat-demons. New parables to leverage against infernal forces. Saint Trezigor's cloven-tongued laugh echoes in your ears."
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