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2021-03-14, 09:06 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2016
- Location
- Corvallis, OR
- Gender
I need help coming up with a name for mortal servants of a death-associated entity
Note: these are not clerics of a death god. These are...hitmen. Mortal versions of the inevitables who seek out those who push their luck too much against the First Law (All that lives must die). Originally the "police" of the afterworld, their mission changed. They're not psychopomps--they generally don't care about the spirits of the dead other than to prey on the things that prey on them. Cats (some of them, anyway) fill the "guide of the dead" role.
So they're sort of shinegami (of the Japanese anime type, a la Bleach), but much less organized and much more mortal. They (the few that remain currently) wander around with their companion cat and look for evidence of immortality-seekers[1] and (try) to prevent that from happening. Each one is pretty powerful, but isolated.
The entity they serve is the "ruler" of the plane of Shadow (which serves as a combination afterlife, feywild, shadowfell, and the liminal aspects of the astral and ethereal planes). He's called the Watcher at the Gates of Eternity (short: the Watcher). But very few people know he exists at all. He's not a god, just a very powerful entity (somewhere above an archdevil, but killable)--he's effectively a giant skeletal serpent-style dragon.
I've been going with the name "Scythe" for the servants, but I don't like it. For one thing, it's too...normal. Too...obvious. I could use it as a nickname, used by those few groups that know they exist. But I want something more. Not sure what.
Any ideas? I'm partial to translated-then-altered names or other foreign-sounding quasi-words, but I like them to have some sort of meaning even if it isn't obvious from the word itself.
Thanatoi (butchering the greek thanatos into a not-really-plural)?Dawn of Hope: a 5e setting. http://wiki.admiralbenbo.org
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2021-03-14, 09:45 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2015
Re: I need help coming up with a name for mortal servants of a death-associated entit
The Mokoi are spirits from Australian Aboriginal mythology who killed evil sorcerers. It was also believed that death was rarely caused by old age, but instead the Mokoi were responsible. Perhaps that?
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2021-03-14, 09:50 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2005
- Location
- Santa Barbara, CA
- Gender
Re: I need help coming up with a name for mortal servants of a death-associated entit
Tactumort (actually mortem, mortis, and mors are just good word parts for such a such a realm-this one is a modification of "tactu mortem" or death touch)
Falcati (scythe in latin) Drepani (in Greek)
Vigilite (watcher = vigilia so a follower of that...)
O'limbolasi (o'lim bolasi squished) = death child in Uzbek
Anakmati (anak mati)= “ Malay
Dodsbarn = " Swedish
Maranabidda ” Telugu
Omoiku (omo iku) = " HausaLast edited by sktarq; 2021-03-14 at 11:11 PM.
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2021-03-15, 12:35 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2009
Re: I need help coming up with a name for mortal servants of a death-associated entit
Carnifex is an old term for a butcher or executioner, similar to knacker. Scharfrichter (sharp judge) is an term for an executioner.
Characterizing someone trying to dodge death as old meat seems apt. I'd also propose using terms that reference carrion or creatures that seek out carrion, like ravens (or as my ancestors so poetically discribed them "blood eagles"), vultures, hyenas....
Scythes are for mowing down lots of stalks of wheat; the Reaper isn't doing custom work, he's working in job lots. In India the death god uses a lariat.Last edited by Yanagi; 2021-03-15 at 12:53 AM.
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2021-03-15, 09:20 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Mar 2021
Re: I need help coming up with a name for mortal servants of a death-associated entit
Perhaps "Gleaners?" As a reference to the practice of gleaning, going through a field after harvest and picking up crops that fell between the stalks. Like, a way of saying "All that lives must die, so we take care of the exceptions." Though "gleaner" isn't a particularly threatening word. Perhaps something like the "Gleaning Eyes?" A reference to their role relative to the Watcher.
POST-SHOWER-THOUGHT EDIT: Maybe also consider "Gleaning Hands." Or the "Hands That Glean." So they could say "All that lives must die. We are the hands that glean."Last edited by titlebreaker; 2021-03-15 at 10:50 AM.
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2021-03-16, 08:52 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Apr 2019
- Location
- Somewhere over th rainbow
Re: I need help coming up with a name for mortal servants of a death-associated entit
Scythes, Reapers, The Knights of Mort,
Or, alternatively, you could spin it on the positive axis
Life-keepers, The Sanctitians, etc
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2021-03-17, 12:41 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Feb 2016
Re: I need help coming up with a name for mortal servants of a death-associated entit
The Quietus
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2021-03-17, 02:48 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Sep 2018
- Location
- Seattle, WA
Re: I need help coming up with a name for mortal servants of a death-associated entit
The angels of death, shortened to "angels". It'll sound like a positive thing right up until they learn the etymology.
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2021-03-17, 03:39 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Oct 2014
- Location
- KCMO metro area
- Gender
Re: I need help coming up with a name for mortal servants of a death-associated entit
In the same vein as "inevitables," maybe "terminals?" If you've got more than one variety, that is - the way maruts, kolyaruts, etc., are all inevitables, you could have thanatoi, carnifexes, etc., all as varieties of terminal.
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2021-03-17, 06:50 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- May 2016
- Location
- Corvallis, OR
- Gender
Re: I need help coming up with a name for mortal servants of a death-associated entit
I'm strongly leaning toward this option. They call themselves the Gleaners. Others (the very few who know they exist) call them Scythes. Or "those <expletive> idiots and their <expletive> cats."
One thing I've decided: each bloodline of gleaners (they're family, sort of) has a base runic symbol, and then each individual has their own variant of that bloodline symbol. And most of them have gotten in the habit of leaving tokens marked with their symbol behind when they glean someone. Some leave origami, others leave playing cards, others daggers with the symbol etched into the blade.Last edited by PhoenixPhyre; 2021-03-17 at 06:51 PM.
Dawn of Hope: a 5e setting. http://wiki.admiralbenbo.org
Rogue Equivalent Damage calculator, now prettier and more configurable!
5e Monster Data Sheet--vital statistics for all 693 MM, Volo's, and now MToF monsters: Updated!
NIH system 5e fork, very much WIP. Base github repo.
NIH System PDF Up to date main-branch build version.