• Progenitors •
Lacuna • The Grim Reaper • M
"I am the Bringer of Death. Where's my Coffee?"
Name: Grim
Any Titles: Death, The Grim Reaper, Bringer of Death, Thanatos, Mors, San La Muerte, Yama. Grim has collected many names in his time, some in old tongues long forgotten. He responds to almost all of them, though his memory is a bit foggy at times. Grim is his recent favourite. It's...catchy.
Gender: None, but his voice is deep and gravelly, suggesting he prefers to adopt a male presence most of the time.
Age, Appearance: Usually, Death is a walking skeleton. So... dead guy? When under glamour, he looks like a charming young gentlemen in his 20s.
Appearances:
Grim can shapeshift a little, depending on what form the soul he is reaping is most likely going to respond to to get them to the afterlife most effectively. He mostly sticks to what he's comfortable with really - black cloak, scythe, that sort of thing. The height, fright factor and sociability of his forms is what changes from reaping to reaping.
A towering hooded figure, he usually stands at an intimidating 6"8. His body is hidden by a long dark cloak, veiling his deathly thin shape from view. Usually he wears his hood up, a huge baggy thing that casts his face into deep darkness. Around the Apartments, he tends to wear it more further back, exposing his skull to view. If feeling casual or ready to party, you can bet that hoods coming down. (Note: he never wants to party)
Under Glamour?:
When using a Glamour, Death appears to be a young gentlemen in his 20s, standing at about 6"2 in height. In this form his Cloak is far too big for him, draping around him and swamping his arms. It trails around the ground most of the time, but in this form, he has been known to trip over it or have to hoist it up. He hates not wearing his cloak, but sometimes in the human world he has to take it off. Death has no idea about human clothing. He lets more human-knowledgeable Anons pick out his wardrobe, or if no one wants to help, puts in a request with Anon Resources to buy him some appropriate clothes.
Creation date, roughly: It is hard to pinpoint the exact time Death became a personified entity. His memory stretches back to the very beginning of life itself, when the first fear of death was born, but these times are foggy and hazy to him. It was humans that really gave him a name, molded him to their culture. He has had many forms and guises throughout the ages, taking on many personalities as the civilizations that bled their belief into him rose and fell into obscurity. He likes how he is at the moment.
Concept:Personification of Death
Concept Information: Grim is the man who helps the souls of the dead cross over to the Immortal Realm, he reaps the souls of the dead from their bodies. Sometimes they step out of their bodies without his help, and then it's his job to ease them into the afterlife.
Powers/Abilities: Grim has the ability to become invisible, but can be seen by those who have experienced the touch of death (either having died once themselves, being on the verge of dying, or having the experience of someone die with them there)
He can summon his scythe at will, regardless of where he is or what he is doing. A touch of his scythe is an instant kill to a human.
He has a connection to animals associated with death; deathwatch beetles, crows, vultures, coyotes to name a few, and can control these signs at will so long as they're up for it. Some Anon types - such as banshees, who prophesize the coming of death - are his coworkers, and he works with them regularly on missions.
He has the ability to show people their lives lived, bringing them into an alternate world state where they can look through their history and make peace before moving onto the afterlife, or show them the current lives of people around them they care about. Such an ability is of course very useful for solving people's problems - where they put their keys last, solving a murder mystery, things like that - but Death vehemently refuses to do such things and loathes the idea of him doing such menial tasks. He can also use this ability to conjure up visions of hellish landscapes or paradises, whichever is most likely to get his job done quicker.
Death has the ability to return a soul to its body if they die and it's not their time. He's not allowed to give out free passes after all. The balance of life and death and the cycle of nature and all that jazz. Can't go messing with it.
Death has the ability to sense when a person is near-death, and can see how long someone's got left just by looking at them. It appears as a sort of, glowey floating counter above their heads, counting down to their demise. He also has
lots of paperwork and records of the expected death date of every creature in existence written in an ancient Progenitor language. It's very messy.
He can wither and blacken things around him. This isn't always a conscious thing he does. Actually it can be really annoying sometimes.
Death can appear where he is needed. This cuts down on travel times a lot.
Death can split his consciousness into many little fragments, to escort multiple people from around the world all at once. People die all the time, but Death is always there.
The ability to raise the dead. He's not supposed to do that, it's pretty much an abomination against nature. But, he did raise his pet goldfish, Plinky. Hey - he filled in the proper paperwork! Well, thats what he says if anyone asks.
Death can techniquely delegate some of his duties. As a Progenitor, he can funnel his belief - which is abundant - into another vessel, creating an extension of his concept that inherits some of his lesser abilities and powers. He's been thinking about taking on an apprentice, but it seems risky and also alot of work.
Weaknesses: He can't for the life of him look after a plant or pet without it dying. He had a goldfish once, and it lasted about a day. He wasn't even in when it died.
He has no dominion over the living and rarely meddles with them.
He is bound by the law of his creation to escort all dead souls onwards. He has to turn up and take 'em away, he can't just ignore a soul (although there have been a couple of times he might of... forgot for a bit. oops).
Grim does not understand human emotion or behavior even slightly. He does not understand things like love and connection, although he is curious about them.
Death is not very socially adept and usually has no idea how to respond to human social cues. It is possible to manipulate him because of this.
Death has seasons of laziness, melancholy and emotional outbursts.
Death really likes coffee.
Personality: In the olden days, Grim very much enjoyed being the evil monster hated by man, or the sly trickster who deceived people into dying before their time. Sure, it meant more credit to him and he got a bonus at the end of the year, but these days.. he's just tired. He can't be bothered anymore. He's fed up being the bad guy. It might of started a few centuries back when he saw how the humans celebrated other Anons with such joy. Maybe he got a little jealous, and then depressed, who knows.
Grim exists in a state of melancholy. Being sent back to the Mortal Realm has been a bit of a wake up call for him. He's started to become fascinated by humans, even sort of... liking them a bit. He's eager to be a part of things but he's so socially awkward, he often does things in a very strange backwards way. He means well, and likes to take part in Anon Apartment events, even if he needs a little direction sometimes, he likes to help out.
He's been around along time, so as you'd expect he's very wise and knowledgeable. Normally though he doesn't share information with people about things they aren't aware of - it's led him into trouble in the past.
But in many ways he's kind of childish. He can get stroppy and throw temper tantrums or act like a spoilt child. Other times he really steps up as leader and protector. He is certainly hard to place, but one things for sure: Grim has changed alot since he started this gig. Other Progenitors will attest to this.
Character Motivations?: Death just wants to make his stay in the Mortal World less of a drudgery. He's fascinated by this concept of feeling, this strange idea humans have about the world. Not to mention imagination - what on earth is that about? He yearns to understand, and know the world through their eyes. As such he's actually got quite the soft spot for humans.
Don't get the wrong idea, though. He wants to go home to the nice comfy Immortal Realm where alot of the other progenitors are hanging out. He feels such a sense of loathing towards the Immortal Realm for sending him here on a more permanent basis, but he'll get over it.
He understands his duty and the importance of his job. As much as he can be a bit of a diva, he undertakes his job with grave importance. Except a few times, but hey, he's been doing this gig for thousands of years, one or two slip ups is nothing.
Opinions on the Immortal Realm: Ugh. The Immortal Realm kicked him out because he'd "Lost his spark" and the Mortal Realm "Needed a Progenitor to show 'em how it's done" and he's getting "Lax in his duties". Ok, so he kind of stopped escorting dead people for like a day, but so what? He's allowed a vacation, right? Besides, he's bought a miniature golf course and was learning how to use it... jeez.
He was the first Progenitor sent back through to the Mortal Realm. And they're not letting him back in. Which is utterly ridiculous, do they even know who he is? Death has been around an awful long time, and is very fed up with the jurisdictions and bureaucracy that's seeped into the Immortal Realm workings in the recent years. Things were just fine before that! There was no reason to change things!
He really hates the fact he's not at home in his Immortal Mansion. He EVEN had a garden, for the Progenitor of Life had kept it well tended and alive for him, knowing how difficult it was for him sometimes to pretty much kill everything he touches.
Opinions on the Mortal Realm:
...Death is actually fascinated by Mortals. They're so... weird. And actually kind of endearing. He likes learning about Mortal culture and tries his best to fit in, though he's not that good at it. While he's here, he might as well enjoy it right? Not that he wants to be here long. But still, can't hurt to have a look around…
Mortal Job?:
Death can't hold down a human job to save his life. His most recent foray into the world of work is at a tech company, where he spends his time filling out emails and asking people to turn their computers off and on again. It's pretty soul-sucking work. He kind of likes it.
Immortal Job?:
To reap the souls of the living when it is their time, and to increase belief in the world. Not that he needs it personally, but he knows how important it is for the Immortal World, yada yada yada... blah blah blah... He also looks after the Portal Room. This isn't actually his job... he just figures, if he's stuck in the Mortal Realm and can't go home yet, then NO ONE is getting through that Portal without a permit and proper documents.
Apartment Information:
Grim lives down in the deep, his front door leading off the side of Portal room. Grim's apartment is an endless maze of strangely shaped, jagged rooms, long hallways that snake into darkness. It is said the place has a mind of its own, and the locations of places tend to shift and move around at will. Luckily though, his entertaining areas are near the front door, and quite spacious and tasteful. Deep within his apartment, he keeps his records, and a library with a collection he'd started back from the very beginning. Obviously, these areas aren't open for visitors.
Other Information:
Sometimes, a person's death date is changed, usually by Anon interference. He really hates it when this happens and tends to hold a grudge. He has to fill out forms.
Anons are out of his jurisdiction. When Anons die, there is usually nothing left of them to escort to the Immortal Realm, so he doesn't bother with them. Plus, it's just really weird reaping your friends. Sure, he could perhaps raise them with his own Belief, but at what cost? Who would they become?
He has a goldfish named Plinky.
