Morty Waldeburg | Reaper I (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
reapossessed) wrote2016-07-24 09:07 am
reapossessed) wrote2016-07-24 09:07 am
VERSE BREAKDOWN: REAPERS
REAPERS - DEATH'S SECOND STRING
(art by ömer tunç)
When the population of Earth climbs so high that Death can't reasonably keep track of it on their own anymore, they form reapers from their own energy to pick up the slack. Eldritch abominations in their true forms, but capable of taking on human form to guide their charges more peacefully out of this life and toward the next, these reapers are largely shaped by their individual experiences because they were only given knowledge before they arrived on Earth; elements such as personality, interests, tastes, were not important enough to prescribe with the clock already ticking. Reapers can also look however they choose, but once their human form is set, they can only switch between that and their original form; unlimited shapeshifting is not in their skill set.
Reapers also do not kill: rather, they can sense the approximate length of time that any human has left when in proximity with them, and their smartphones have an app which sets off an alarm (it can’t be turned off, not by muting the phone, not by turning it off, not by letting the battery die) and provides a GPS marker when they need to be directed to a particularly urgent case. Creating portals is part of their skill set, which allows them to travel quickly and seamlessly across the globe when these situations arise. Thus, the act of reaping cannot be performed until someone has reached their natural time, which does not mean that the cause has to be “natural” – whether the person is taken out in a quick catastrophe or after a prolonged illness, their death date is set in stone to reapers. The only exception can be made if a reaper prolongs someone’s life by not taking the soul at the time of death; this will not lead to a very happy life for the person given more time, and it can only last up to 30 days, but it can be done.
Note on death dates: immortals will simply not have one, while any form of undead will feel as though they have lived past their expiry date already. Both are very much remarkable enough for a reaper to notice in about the proximity of a large room. If there are other exceptions you can think of lmk and I’ll come up with something.
Taking the soul once someone has reached their time is painless for the human, regardless of whether they were killed violently or peacefully. It appears as a flame drawn from the center of the chest, everything about it – size, colour, temperature, shape, whatever you can imagine – determined by the person, each one unique. Once the soul has been taken, the person is truly dead, and the reaper must eventually return to Death and deliver the souls for redistribution (yes, like reincarnation, and the soul-flame both shapes the new life and is shaped by how they are different.) Thus far, no souls have been destroyed despite the ever-climbing population, but Death does have the power should they decide to take things further.
This is a verse that is very much under construction, so anyone building characters in it who needs to know anything, please comment below! Consider it an FAQ. As I amass more information, I'll be editing this post a lot, so check back as well!
Some Questions
are they like robits or more like puppies
Does anyone else know about them? What does Death do if one gets out of line? Does the possibility of their own demise bother them? (ninja)
HERE GOES...
As for spiritual beings like Mother Nature, any kind of gods, etc, the verse itself is secular, but reapers could also learn about the human belief in those things! If panfandom type stuff happens where they actually meet those kinds of beings, how they react is also very dependent on the path the reaper has taken, because so much of their personality is developed from their interactions (or lack thereof) and what does (or doesn't) capture their interest about Earth and humankind.
2. Physically, they're very average in human form, except that they actually can't be wounded: think the T1000 without the liquid metal effects, it's not so much healing as everything just being disrupted and then moving back into place. No super-strength or anything, though, portals are the only "superpower" type thing I've given them thus far. That could always change. In their original forms that's totally up to the player, as they can be anything from an amorphous blob to one of those crazy angels as actually described in the Bible to a void like a black hole. Whatever suits the beast is a-okay.
3. They don't have any natural enemies, but it would be incredibly fun to play with some kind of human (or enhanced human, magical, technological, scientific, since those things are still very possible within the context of the verse) resistance where people discover that actual, physical beings are taking their lives and they're all linked to a Big One. So p much I don't have anything specific in mind but I would be open to all of the ideas because that would rock.
4. Reapers and Death really are not well known yet. Humans still have their individual and group beliefs about how the process works, and since reapers have only been created and brought in recently, word hasn't spread that far. There are major leaks, though, like loved ones watching the souls being taken or reapers being caught portaling or just straight up saying what they are - which would not get them punished, because Death isn't actually working with any kind of stealth. They just don't believe a force like them could ever be defeated, so there's no need to hide. The thing is that reports and stories about the reapers tend to come off like alien abduction stories at this point: weirdly similar, but obviously crazy. And since they're like alien abductions, believers and cults and such would also be fun to play with, so they can def be built in as well. They could even be characters people made!
5. Death will really ignore a lot of stupid shit from the reapers if they get their jobs done, as far as things like misbehavior or bad habits go. They are very hard on laziness, which is why Morty gets so much flak, and something massive - like trying to start a mutiny or privately deflect from the reapers or even take death into their own hands rather than just collecting the souls of those who have reached their time - would lead to a threat of re-absorption into Death's mass so that they could make a more useful reaper. They communicate with reapers mostly via (nagging) texts, but one could also instantly be withdrawn to... the Death place I still need to develop if it were Very Serious. And now we come to the last question for this comment...
6. Which is SUCH A GOOD ONE, YES, THIS IS WHAT I LOVE ABOUT AI AND ANDROIDS AND SHIT AND ABSOLUTELY APPLIES HERE. The whole reason Death's biggest threat is so effective at getting reapers back into line is because they were given form and sentience almost from nothing, and they absolutely do not want to lose it. It wouldn't matter so much very early on, but part of that maturation and learning process in the early days is developing a sense of self, at which point they are independent enough not to want to lose the life and autonomy they have. That said, they can't conceive of facing "death" as they know it, only the erasure that re-absorption by Death can bring - if a way to kill them permanently ever was found, they would be so unprepared that killing them would be a cinch at first, and that would cause sheer panic in other reapers.
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