Expendable

Pilgrim's Caravan: An Open-Ended Fantasy (with Worldbuilding!)

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Siri is approved!

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So I have to reject Lord Jester, Grim and Dia's sheets completely. I'd rather you just mention somewhere in Siri's sheet that she follows a god called Lord Jester, and maybe offer a few paragraphs of exposition regarding what she believes about that god. You can do the same with the cat. But all this definite exposition about gods and demons? It's just a bit too far. We're only building our characters at this stage.

@Tortoise

Understood. I shall edit out Grim and do a rewrite under the worship section about the Old Believers and Jester.

Pilgrim's Caravan: An Open-Ended Fantasy (with Worldbuilding!)

I'm already going to plan some NPCs on my end, all related to the kingdom I made.

@MagusDream

I'll have to do that too for Oscana and the Old Empire.

Pilgrim's Caravan: An Open-Ended Fantasy (with Worldbuilding!)

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No apologies needed. The point I was trying to make is I think it'd be cool/necessary to have multiple pantheons and somehow they're all real, sort of like the Riordanverse or Indiana Jones. Your death and my death can operate at the same time without issue. I also wasn't trying to be accusatory of you taking from Pratchett, just wondered if it was in part an homage?

@Overlord Thraka

That's the whole idea behind Lord Jester. The Old Wolf was part of a pantheon that ruled over Oscana until an empire muscled their way in, destroying their temples, converting their people, and the former gods were exiled - not to the Material realm, but down to the Shadow Realm, a bunch of fallen.

Had they been more powerful, maybe they could have converted the invaders into some very ugly frogs, but they didn't get the chance.

@Expendable NOTE - Do not include that temple in any world building here.*

Grim was one of the psychopomps for the pantheon, but His power was separate, so He found Himself under "new management". Now He's sort of freelance, mostly with the old believers.

I've read Terry's Good Omens and the various Discworld books and even watched the movies. That last was a mistake, as Death's voice is what I hear for Grim.

Oooh, here's a concept - six year old girl trapped in the fairy realm for thirty-odd years. Her body hasn't aged in all that time, but she's gotten strong enough to wield a halberd. And she really, really hates the fairy realm.

Pilgrim's Caravan: An Open-Ended Fantasy (with Worldbuilding!)

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Best of luck.

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It was a busy day for me, work-wise, but remind me to check this one out upon the morrow.

@Tortoise

Death is now Grim, Reaper of Souls. If it helps, I can add Department of Collections, Sector 9. He can exchange a nod with The Morrigan as he passes through.

Pilgrim's Caravan: An Open-Ended Fantasy (with Worldbuilding!)

Ooooh thanks @MagusDream. Idk if I'll use them long-term, but I'll make an effort to start off with it.

@Expendable I was discussing this with Tortoise in a PM haha. Cause Mergoux is a servant to Death as well, albeit a much different form of her. Sort of like your Death, she's not likely to do much other than maybe pass on a message or two or something, but just for kicks here's her quickie CS just for kicks. BTW, is your death based on Sir Terry Pratchett's death at all?

The Morrigan (NPC)

"I am she who is Death. All meet me, though few wish to."

Race: Elder God
Age: The fifth eldest god.
Time in caravan: NA

Appearance:
A gaunt, pale-skinned woman, with large black wings. What would be pink on a person, (lips, fingernails, inside the mouth) are black, as are her eyes. From a distance, her eyes appear much much larger, due to the intense black circles under them from millennia without enough rest.

History:
Born when the first thing died, she has carried the duty of collecting the souls of those who have passed, so that they might pass on to whatever afterlife is coming to them.

Personality:
Irritable, short-tempered, aloof, but not cruel. Sympathetic to a degree, but often to cranky to show it.

Motivation:
It is the task she is given, so shall she do it.

Skills, Strengths and Weaknesses, and Tools:

Strengths
Flight
Physically very strong and durable

Weaknesses
Not very practiced in combat.
Bit of a softie for kids.
Easily distracted or angered.
Narcoleptic

Tools
2 Sickles, which can be merged magically into a scythe when needed.

Near eldest of all the gods is The Morrigan, The Crow Goddess, Death herself. So feared is she that none speak her true name, so long has this tradition been in place that the name itself is long since lost. Instead the call her The Morrigan, and those still more fearful refer to her only as 'the goddess'. Resembling a pale-skinned woman, so wan and withered as to look like a corpse warmed over. Her voice is a harsh croak, her eyes shining and black. Yet for all her appearance, she is no great evil. She is simply the end. All the harshness attributed to her comes from the simple fact it is her task to collect the souls of the dead, yet she is not some being who may travel across the earth in a shroud of darkness. Instead bearing great black wings upon her back, she flies across the world, collecting slowly the souls of those whose time has ended. It is a thankless task, a ceaseless duty, and it wears thin on her patience towards mortals. Death is inevitable, death is immortal, death will come for you, but above all death is simply exhausted.

Like other gods, she will occasionally take on servants, or apprentices. The Morrigan makes her choices carefully, often seeking those who give her the most work. Those killers who bring death in droves, they are given a choice, to serve her or to meet her for that final time. Presented with such a choice, few choose the latter. What tasks they are assigned is a closely guarded secret, even amongst the other servants of the Lady Morrigan, but all know the punishment should they ever fail...

@Overlord Thraka

Sorry, missed we already had a Death floating around. He's a psychopomp, so really there are several different guides doing the job, like Ketrak, Moddey Dhoo, Mallt-y-nos, and Muut. So I'll rename mine to Grim, but the Grim Reaper's been around for a lot longer than Terry Pratchett's been doing Discworld novels. I do like the way Terry's aspect of Death talks, but I can edit mine to set Him further apart.

Pilgrim's Caravan: An Open-Ended Fantasy (with Worldbuilding!)

Something like this...

Hider

Pilgrim's Caravan: An Open-Ended Fantasy (with Worldbuilding!)

@Expendable Death visual reference?

@Katakuri

Very nice, but He's wearing armor.

I suppose I could change their description...

Eye of the Needle (where Sci-fi & Fantasy collide)

I don't know if this would fit into your concept or not, but we have all these frozen heads and sometimes bodies tucked away in cryostasis facilities. At some point, it was decided to see if a life-mage could bring back one of these people to life. Unfortunately, ice crystals had formed in the subject brains and the expanding crystal damaged their brains. While the mages are able to fix some of this damage, they can't restore what was lost - memory, personality.

The public calls them "Burnts," and they're usually found performing menial jobs.

But this is an expensive process trying to restore these frozen heads, especially since they need to clone full bodies for them. So the ones that show they can carry out more complex instructions are rebuilt as security cyborgs. Most people are unaware that behind that body armor and faceplace is an actual face, thinking they're purely machines. And nobody sheds a tear when a "machine" gets damaged while trying to protect a client.

Possibly you have one or two on board, for security or perhaps as expendable scouts?

Introdution

Sounds fun. Welcome to the guild.