Skördeman (An Introduction)

Embers float around the battlefield as ashes and smog cover the air. The battlefield reeked of burning flesh and exposed bowels and the sound of structures, former homes breaking down could be heard at random intervals. Feint clanging resonated in the distance as hardened steel hit hardened steel as the remaining soldiers of what were once both great armies that consisted of one hundred thousand strong and able men each, were now down to their last hundreds, still fighting each other for reasons and beliefs they have now forgotten in battle. And the battle-cries that once dominated the peaceful grasslands were now overwhelmed by cries of agony, pain and suffering from the soldiers that are strong and able no more.

Blood of the innocent, of the guilty, of the old, the young, the civilians and soldiers have now blended and puddled on the fields as the soil refused to take anymore. The corpses of both factions who had hated each other for generations now slumped together on the ground, their hatred, their reasons for war no longer mattered as their lifeless bodies heaped on top of each other. Their chain-mails, shields and helmets deemed ineffective to save them from their own brutality.

Four men, two from each armies, all fatally wounded lay on the middle of the battlefield where the violence had already moved on from. There they lie, waiting for their inevitable death. Their hatred and hostility for each other's faction now turned into companionship as they waited for the same thing, their finality.

One of the four soliders caught a figure in the corer of his eye. He mustered what little strength he had left and turned to where he caught a glimpse of the silhouette.

The figure was not disturbed by the smoke and ashes that covered the entirety of the battlefield. He seemed to have always been in front of it, despite the smog reaching even the deepest of crevices. Whoever this man was, he was no soldier. At least he didn't belong to either of the armies that participated in the brutish war. As instead of wearing heavy armor plates on top of chain-mails, he wore a robe, his face hidden from the shadows cast upon its hood. He also didn't walk, but covered distance by gliding or floating. His actual feet, concealed by the robe that caressed the ground beneath him.

The other three men soon noticed the figure, as it glided closer and closer to them. "Vem är det?" One solider asks the rest.

"Skördeman!" The soldier that first took notice of the being mustered a reply as he coughed up blood and laughed. His teeth and mouth covered in his own blood, his entrails hanging from his exposed belly. But despite his current condition, he was elated, relieved to know that death was finally here to relieve him of his pain. Of his suffering.

As this hooded figure neared them, its composition made less sense.

The robe that it donned seemed to be actually apart of it, rather than clothing worn on top. At the seams, it acted more like smoke from the battlefield itself rather than clothing. And as the hooded figure inched closer and closer towards the men, it finally interacted with its surroundings. The mysterious figure now disturbed what little grass left it made contact with. His robe flapped around with the wind for the first time since his appearance and moved the debris beneath him.

As the being passed all four men, their bodies slumped to ground, into the puddle of their blood that had accumulated as they waited for their wounds to overcome them. But it wasn't the wounds that would be their finality, it would be death itself.

"Me. Take ME!" Someone yelled, like the hooded figure, he wore no armor, he was no soldier, but a civilian. A farmer caught in the battle. Two arrows stuck out his chest. His left eye missing, and a fresh wound ran across his stomach, his bowels somewhat exposed.

"It is not time, yet" The figure replied. Its voice accompanied by weird echoes and unusual reverb as it walked passed him. His response sounded close, as if it was right in front of the farmer despite this mysterious figure being quite distant from him

As The Harvester of Souls traversed further and deeper into the battlefield, the sounds of clanging swords changed into heavy artillery, machine gun fire, and heavy machinery. Skoderman continued to walk as the season of harvest never ends.

OOC

Hey guys! I've been sitting on this idea for a couple of weeks now and I decided to pull the trigger. I thought it would be a neat idea to create a character that is literally death, or the personification of it/him/her.

How would you RP with death? Well you wouldn't, in the traditional way. I was thinking it would be a cool idea to have a universal account, where everyone can use this account if they choose to when they decide to kill off one of their characters. Or ask another RP'er to write as Muerte to interact with their dying character, or to be the final post that actually takes the life of a said character.

It would be like a pen name, and with different RP'ers having different writing styles it would be cool to see how you guys write as death!

It's an interesting idea, although the whole "universal/shared account" thing would be a bit shaky [i.e. inadvisable], as there have been issues with that in the past, and multiple other issues that could be likely to pop up in an instance like this.

@rosso: I think a nice workaround for that is just getting other people to send their write up, probably a hassle for some though. But I think it would be great to have a CVU or CVnU entity similar to marvel's TOAA that is available for everyone to write with.

@muerte: That would be one workaround.

I'll say this. Shared accounts are as good as those sharing them - no better and no worse. We had obvious [if you were around, not sure how much because you've got a few accounts and they move around] issues in the recent past, and there's the obligatory message that if one person breaks rules while on a shared account, then both users will bear the consequences, so it's risky and you'd have to be sure you trusted them. For that reason, I think a "universal" account is a bad idea. But if you felt you could trust someone, nothing's stopping you.

And I mean, people could send a write-up and that'd probably not be too much trouble [unless the person in control of the concept disappeared as people were looking to use it]. Another way to go about it would be to link several users on a concept. And while [in the CVnU at least] no one writer is allowed to write Death itself, a person/group could write avatars of Death and make them however they like. Of course, the challenge with a character like that would be getting them to mesh with the other characters in a way that's fun for all, and keeping them relevant. Which could be doable, albeit challenging most likely.

@rosso: I was thinking that this character would pop up only when a writer has plans to kill off one of their characters and if they'd like, have another scene after the event that led to his/her character's demise with Death. I think in this way, Death gets to be written like the unstoppable, inevitable part of life that Death is and won't get watered down. And who only pops up when a character is nearing their finality. I think that eliminates a lot of the problems of trying to mesh and interact with this character. Because when Muerte is used, it only means that a character is about to die and the writer wants to add another scene interacting with Death or the actual moment Death took their character.

Muerte wouldn't be in a lot of RP's, (If any, haha!) in this style, but when he does appear it would only mean one thing, Death. And I think that just reinforces the feel and power of Death.

And of course, anything posted by this account RP wise will be in collaboration with the writers that want to use Muerte. But I have been inactive for far too long to know the current state and whatnot so I genuinely appreciate your feedback!