I am death, destroyer of worlds

[Darrin Drader]

In my campaigns, death appears as a well cultured gentleman. He has wavy brown hair and a pencil line mustache. He always wears a green suit and goes by the name Mr. Wilhelm. Generally speaking, he is well liked and no one ever knows who he is or what his grizzly line of work involves.

 

[reason]

...

Death incarnate in the Enclave setting is a little more subtle; the Power known as the Traveler. The Traveler is a Datarii (~= elementals or dwarves, or something like that) Power connected with the physical journey from this world into the Farthest made by older Datarii. Datarii don't die, but this is close enough to death that the mortal Ammanders - who see roads as a metaphor for life - adopted the Power as their own. So the Power of Known Roads is also a Power of life and death. Like all Powers, he is supposed to be a being that could, perhaps, be met in the Farthest, metaphorically or otherwise.

A little out of step, perhaps, but it makes more sense within the rest of the setting.

------

The Traveler

The stonefolk told stories of the Powers to the first Ammanders to arrive in the Enclave aboard Magi tradeships. Like the Beautiful Stranger, the Traveler is a Datarii Power, adopted by the Ammander folk as their own. The Datarii know the Traveler as the oldest of all stonefolk, one who walks each tunnel, each hall, each vault from deep to shallow. Every possible route beneath Great Home and into the Farthest has been walked by the Traveler and will one day be walked again. The Traveler helps to make the deepest and Farthest ways safe for those Lost Datarii who journey to meet the Crafter and their destiny at the center of all creation.

The mortal folk of the Enclave have come to a different view of the Traveler; he is the guardian of the Known Roads, but more than that, a guardian over the end of Roads. Roads and journeys have always provided powerful metaphors for the passage of life amongst the Ammander people, and this has become even more the case in the Enclave. As a road ends, so too does life end - yet the Traveler still travels, as do the friends and companions of the passed. Mundane but important duties fall to those who continue the journey; burial; respect for the Road traveled; respect for those who kept company along the way.

Travelers' Rest

Travelers' Rest lies on the outskirts of the low side of Port, a cluster of tombs, ossuaries, graves, wooden shelters, half-fallen halls and the ruins of a modest temple. The Rest is tended - after a fashion - by the Gray Folk; outcast poor, criminals, orphans and cripples unable to make a living in any other way. They dwell in the small buildings and ossuaries, always short of food and shelter; no-one in need is turned away, but all must share alike.

Cityfolk give small gifts to the most able amongst the Gray Folk in exchange for gravedigging, burial of unclaimed bodies, remembrances and the upkeep of tombs or graves. Even when a noble is buried on her estate with great ceremony or Seafarers's Guildsmen are returned to the Unending Sea, it is still traditional and proper to gift the Gray Folk. It shows charity and a respect for all that the Traveler represents.

The temple ruin at Travelers' Rest was once an impressive structure and the center of an order of priests; little of that remains save for a weathered, aged statue of the Traveler in the form of an earnest Datar. The desperately poor, ragged, hungry Gray Folk are neither acolytes nor priests, but they know old ways and ceremonies handed down over the generations - how to show respect for the passed and their journeys; ancient Ammander burial rites; where the old graveyards of Port lie; secrets glimpsed in the Farthest Tombs.

Route Markers

Stone route markers, some new, most worn and overgrown, can be found throughout the Enclave. Route markers define the Known Roads - without them, most travelers would stray into the Farthest Roads and become Lost. Far from the Enclave cities, the oldest route markers are boulders shifted to the roadside and bearing weathered carvings of the Traveler. The Power of the Known Roads is usually represented as a cheery Ammander whitebeard with staff and backpack - the Forest Road bears many an example of this sort. In a few of the most ancient route markers, half buried near the Stone Road and Coast Road outside Port, the Traveler is shown as a study Datar.

Route markers set in recent generations are more ostentatious; most stand on the Stone Road linking the cities of Port and Three Stones, the New Road and Trade Road leading to Three Stones. Nobles, guilds and wealthy merchants of Port and Three Stones vie for prestige in many ways, including the self-serving placement of route markers. The old imagery of the Traveler has become increasingly stylized over time, reduced to representations of his staff and backpack and overshadowed by other carvings, texts and marks.

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Reason
Principia Infecta

 

[Aristotle]

As far as the quote goes...
It's been my .sig here pretty much since the day I joined. I've always loved that quote, the Openheimer story, and the powerful way the words feel when put together like that.

As far as Death in my campaign.
Death holds no power in my current homebrew. When a mortal dies their soul ascends to the realms of creation. No mortal can enter the realms of creation while living, and souls are not able to relay what they might know of those realms to the mortal world in any way. After a time the soul returns to the world in new form. This cycle is endless. Reincarnation is understood to be the norm. This plays down the importance of death enormously. Death is a natural part of the cycle of life, and it is accepted as such.

The only exception is Hell. Some souls are too destructive or chaotic to be permitted to continue within the cycle of life. These souls are judged by the one true god and, if found guilty, placed in an extradimensional prison realm known as Hell. Some souls have been known to offer enough penance to be freed from Hell and put back into the cycle, but most have no hope of ever leaving this place.

Note the setting emphasizes law vs. chaos rather than good vs. evil. Chaotic souls are removed. It's a common wivestale that 'evil' people are reincarnated in lesser forms as repayment for their evil ways, but no gospel exists that proves that belief to actually be true.

 

[Paragon Gnome]

Warning: I am very long-winded and have been known to pontificate for hours.

In my campaign (which doesn't actually exist yet; I'm still ironing out the details), Death is very much a tangable force. The campaign is mainly inspired by classical heroic myths; gods and the like are a very real force in the world. After all, Hercules never wondered whether or not Zues was really there.
In World of <Currently Unnamed>, when someone dies, their body shuts down and they hang around invisibly for a few minutes waiting for Death to show up and use his scythe to cut their silver cord, freeing them from their broken body. If you want to cast a raise dead spell, you'd better act in those precious few minutes, because once the cord's cut, reviving the body won't do much.
Once the soul is free, death leads it to the gates of the Crystal City. Souls that resist strongly enough, or that have something else anchoring them down, become ghosts. Similarly, souls that have irrevocably been corrupted, such as those with vampirism, find that they can not pass through the gate. They usually linger around the outskirts of the city, festering with resentment until they become unwholesome undead like bodaks and devourers. Once inside the city, the soul is given rest for a while, and then, whenever they deem appropriate, they are free to leave through the back gate and be reborn.
Under most circumstances, they lose all their baggage from their previous life and are born with a fresh start. However, a particularly strong soul, such as that of a legendary hero or notorious villain, will occasionaly retain some of what made them so great in the first place, and be destined for great (or vile) deeds again.
Souls are not forced to leave the Crystal City, however, and while most get tired of sitting around for all eternity while they miss history being made, some value something from their previous life too much, and never leave. Lovers who never want to be seperated again, sages who never want their secrets to be forgotten, and the like.

All of the above applies to mortals. What happens to dead spirits and gods is a little more ambiguous. Furthermore, it's all a different story for those who sell their souls or are eaten by barghests and stuff.

As for Death himself, he has the uncanny ability to be multiple places at once. He is also the only being in World of <Currently Unnamed> that has the "life and death" SDA. He is a grim figure, not necessarily evil, just someone who's seen too much. The few people that have seen him and can actually tell about it all discribe his appearance differently, because it varies from person to person, largely on the circumstances of their death. Should someone somehow steal his scythe, he could just make a new one, but they would have themself a nifty new weapon that can attack an enemies silver cord even while still in their body.

 

[Hand of Evil]

something along the lines of the grim reaper or Carrion (sp), in my games the players have to cross a plane called the gray waste, a NPC/prc for clerics guide the souls to their afterlife be it hel or the happy hunting grounds.

 

[tonym]

The old 1st-edition DMG with the efreeti on the cover contained the stats for a Minor Death!!! If I recall correctly, the minor death always struck first, it never missed, had 33 hit points and an excellent armor class. The stats are found within the description of the Deck of Many Things.

I attacked my players' PCs with plenty of Minor Deaths, as my Big Bad Villains were sometimes able to summon them via powerful magicks. Bwa ha ha.

Oh. And if a Minor Death killed you, you were DEAD FOREVER!


Tony