Shrouded in solemnity and reverence, the Veiled Reapers are the devout order who serve
Elisium , the two-faced Goddess of Death. Walking the shadowed line between mercy and terror, they are the living instruments of her divine will, guiding souls to rest, condemning those who rebel against fate, and upholding the sacred sanctity of death in a world teeming with peril and temptation.
The Sacred Doctrine: Death as a Divine Mandate
To the Veiled Reapers, death is not an end but a passage, and not to be feared but honored. It is a sacred transition that must not be tampered with. Thus, undeath is the ultimate heresy, a perversion of the natural cycle, and necromancers are seen as blasphemers who defy Elisium’s judgment. Whether a soul departs peacefully or clings to the mortal coil through forbidden means, the Reapers will find it, and guide or sever it accordingly.
They believe all beings have a fated death, preordained in Elisium’s great design. To delay it is foolish. To deny it is profane.
Two Faces, Two Paths
Just as Elisium embodies both solace and dread, so too are the Reapers divided into two sacred orders:
- Intercessors, bearers of mercy, grief-counselors, soul-guides. They offer comfort to the dying, perform funerary rites, and help families mourn in accordance with sacred traditions. Their role is that of empathy, connection, and peace.
- Death’s Disciples, executors of vengeance. Cloaked in terror, they hunt down the defiant, undead, necromancers, and others who twist the cycle of death. When they appear, it is as agents of holy fear. Their masks are the last sight many evildoers see.
At the head of each temple or sanctum is a Deathwarden, who oversees the balance between the two roles and ensures neither mercy nor wrath overtakes the other.
Ritual, Symbolism, and the Masks of Fate
The Veiled Reapers are unmistakable: clad in layered, dark, hooded robes stitched with muted silver threads, they carry with them an aura of timeless stillness. Their faces are always concealed, when they speak, it is in calm, measured tones.
Each Reaper carries two ritual masks:
- The Visage of Solace, worn when comforting the dying or delivering last rites. Smooth and pale, it evokes calm and serenity.
- The Mask of Terror, grotesque and nightmarish, worn when executing Elisium’s wrath. It is never shown to the innocent.
Around their necks they wear a sealed locket, inside of which is inscribed the date and cause of their fated death. This truth is revealed to them through ritual upon completing their final trial. It is forbidden, a mortal sin, to open another’s locket or one's own. The locket is not a reminder of mortality, but a pact with Elisium, a contract etched in fate.
The Trial of Acceptance
To join the order, aspirants must surrender their name, their attachments, and any lingering grief or bitterness over death. They must cast off vengeance and regret. Only then may they begin their training in ritual, philosophy, and combat.
Their final trial is known only as “The Moment”, a ritual in which the initiate is made to face their greatest fear of death. It is different for all: one may be buried alive, another drowned, another burned. Through illusion, magic, or sometimes grim reality, they must accept that fear and pass through it. If they survive, they are reborn into the order.
Anonymity and Brotherhood
Reapers do not bear names. Among themselves, they are Brother or Sister, and to outsiders they speak only in ephemeral aliases, “
One Who Watches,” “
Speaker of the Final Breath,” “
Sister in Twilight.” Their true identity is left behind with their past life.
They move quietly among the cities, towns, and villages of Aranath, drawn to places dense with life, and therefore, inevitably, death. They serve no crown and bow to no kingdom, for death is the only empire they serve. When conflict rages and plagues sweep the land, they appear like specters: collecting souls, guiding the dying, and burning the bodies that rise again.
Heretics and Silence
Though they would never admit it aloud, there are whispered truths of those who strayed from the doctrine, rogue Reapers who embraced only terror, or those who opened their own locket and tried to change fate. These heretics are hunted in silence, their stories struck from the order’s histories.
But Elisium sees all. In the end, she collects every soul, Reaper or not. Even the damned do not escape her embrace.
Legacy of the Veil
Feared in the alleyways of necromancers, revered at the bedsides of the dying, the Veiled Reapers are not assassins, nor saviors. They are the quiet custodians of truth, the last hand to hold yours before the end, or the last face you see if you’ve run from what is owed.
Their presence means one thing above all: death has come. And it will be honored.
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