The mermaid-duke who steers the fleets and rots the flesh of the wounded.
The Spirit
Vepar — also written Vephar or Separ — is the forty-second spirit of the Ars Goetia, a Great Duke who appears in the form of a mermaid. She is one of the maritime spirits of the catalogue, sharing her element with the duke Focalor who precedes her, and the tradition assigns her a threefold power over the sea: the guiding of ships and their cargo, the raising of tempests, and a darker gift bound up with disease and death.
Her mermaid-form places her among the several sea-spirits of the hierarchy, and the grimoires treat her as a governess of the waters whose office runs from the practical business of naval logistics to the infliction of mortal wounds. She is a spirit of both the harbour and the sickbed.
Office
The Goetia says Vepar governs the waters and guides warships laden with arms and armour. She can make the sea rough and stormy and cause it to appear full of ships. She has the power to cause men to die within three days by putrefying wounds and sores, filling them with worms — though the grimoire notes that at the operator's command she can, by contrast, cause such wounds to heal. Her office thus joins navigation, tempest, and the affliction and cure of the body.
Attributes
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Number | 42 |
| Rank | Duke (Great Duke) |
| Legions | 29 |
| Appearance | The form of a mermaid |