Decibitus

[PapiTan]

_{Whad'ya mean I have to write an intcheck?}

---

The Departure Rail has been at a standstill for three weeks.

Now, normally, that would be none of your business. You have no idea how that train runs, and it’s certainly not your job to make sure that it keeps running, but you’ve also never known it to not make its three daily trips into the After. From what you’ve heard, that’s actually pretty bad–and it must be if the mayor and his assistant have been visiting your boss near-daily for the past week to discuss it!

But you’ve got your own duties to handle. Wisps to unmake, escapees to find, departed souls to help out–your plate’s full already. Plenty of things to take care of. Plus, this sort of thing is way beyond your depth, isn’t it?

That’s probably what you should have said when your boss let everyone know that she has no choice but to tack on “try and see what’s going on in the After” to your usual duties because of the situation. Which, by the way, isn’t as easy as it sounds. The After really doesn’t like people that aren’t supposed to be there sticking around, and it really doesn’t like letting people go once they’ve passed the boundary to it. Your boss said it herself–that’s why reapers aren’t supposed to try and travel past the Kiln.

Speaking of your boss, why the hell have you been seeing her enter the Ligena Fati the past few days? Isn’t that where the psycho-freak monster necromancer is being held? The one that even she couldn’t unmake? The lady literally named Miss Death?

God, you don’t get paid enough for this shit.

Setting

Earth

Earth is… well, it’s Earth. The land of the living. Where people who have not departed remain. In terms of setting, consider it to be extremely similar to our present day Earth, but with the caveat of magic existing–not that magic changed all that many things in the end.

As the land of the living and the first step in one’s journey, Earth tends to be prone to the most issues coming from departed souls–in particular, wisps. Departed souls that linger too long on earth suffer from ego decay, which causes a slow-but-sure loss of self for the soul in question. Eventually, the soul loses itself and becomes something called a wisp.

Wisps can take on many forms, most of them reflecting regrets or things that a departed soul held powerful emotions toward. Generally speaking, wisps don’t start dangerous, but can very quickly become dangerous when they are exposed to negative stimuli.

Decibitus

Decibitus is a city that exists in the space between life and the afterlife–some might say it is the limbo of death itself, but that’s really far too dramatic a way to describe it. Decibitus is, effectively, a normal city for those that need a little extra time before they decide to move on to what happens after death. To that end, only a very small fraction of departed souls actually wind up in Decibitus, each with their own reasons as to why.

That said, Decibitus is not and was never meant to be a permanent place for people to stay, and is only the size of a city. As a result, there aren’t many houses, though there are plenty of apartments that are given to residents for free. It is important to go through proper channels to get this set up though–to ensure that you can be set up with necessities and to prevent anyone being sent to an already-occupied apartment. Because people do not age and generally are incapable of truly dying in Decibitus, people who do not have necessities don’t necessarily die, but comfort is still something that the city tries to offer to its residents, no matter how temporary said residents may be.

The most important part of Decibitus isn’t the fact that it has places to live or functions, effectively, as a city though-. It’s the Departure Rail, the train in the center of the city that ferries souls that are prepared directly to the After. Under normal circumstances, the Departure Rail makes a trip directly to the After three times a day to deliver departed souls prepared for their afterlives.

The After

The afterlife, if one were to describe the After according to common human thought. This is the single destination for the Departure Rail, and is protected by an odd boundary that separates it from Decibitus and Earth in a more definite way. Departed souls that enter the After are not able to return to Decibitus or Earth. Because of this, very little is known about the After.

Reapers are the only beings known to be able to enter the After and return after, though they are only able to do so at the outskirts where the Kiln is located for short periods of time. Most information known about the After is from reapers who have delivered remains to the Kiln.

Magic

Magic is common knowledge on Earth, which means that it is equally common knowledge in Decibitus and in the After. Most people are capable of using it as long as they are taught, though it takes a certain type to both desire and succeed at getting particularly good at it in the modern day.

The basics of magic are taught at all levels of education, and the average person can, at the very least, perform basic feats like creating a small mote of light or making a loud noise (about the volume of a whistle, typically) with magic. However, beyond rudimentary uses, magic takes time and effort to learn and perform.

Current understanding of magic is that every individual tends to excel in a specific type of magic (necromancy, elemental, or healing for example). Typically, when entering formal study of magic, magic users will undergo a number of tests to see which type of magic best suits them.

Vertan, the world script

“There’s magic in your words.”

The basis of all magic in this world is Vertan, a language colloquially known as the “world script”. As far as anyone understands it,Vertan words are the vehicle for an individual’s inherent magic to create effects on the world. To that end, there are two approaches to magic: spoken and written. All formally trained users of magic will learn both systems, and simple spells of both are taught in general education as well.

Spoken magic is considered to be easier for most people to understand, particularly because it is much less stringent in being able to create an effect. As one might expect, spoken magic requires reciting Vertan words, and in the case of casting the same spell, is typically much faster than written magic. The speed and general ease of use makes spoken magic popular for casual magic users or for on-the-spot spells. However, in most formal settings, spoken magic is set aside for written magic, primarily because spoken magic tends to be less predictable and consistent than its written counterpart. Moreover, spoken magic has significant shortcomings when persistent effects are desired, can't be prepared ahead of time, and is prone to producing unexpected or unintended effects, even when trying to cast the same spell multiple times in a row.

On the other side of the magic spectrum is written magic. Where spoken magic is often valued for its speed and convenience, written magic is valued for its precision and its ability to be prepared in advance. However, it takes a considerable amount of time for each written spell to be prepared as magic must be inscribed into each word, which can be a time-consuming process. However, complex spells and persistent effects are virtually always done through written magic due to its stability and consistency. When a written spell produces unexpected effects, it is virtually always because of improper inscription rather than "magic being magic".

In both systems of magic, only the individual who creates the spell is able to actually cast it. This means that a spell inscribed or chanted by one magic user can’t be activated or hijacked by another magic user, and spells with multiple writers require all of the original writers to be cast. Furthermore, a script, whether written or spoken, can only work once before having to be rewritten or incanted again.

Reapers

Miss Death’s field agents, (perhaps not so) affectionately known as “reapers” by the general populace. All reapers are under Miss Death’s employ and share a common trait that makes them eligible to become one. What that common trait actually is, however, is something that only Miss Death seems to know.

What people do know is that reapers all have a particular set of abilities that they gain while on Earth.

While on Earth, all reapers gain enhancements to their physical parameters, meaning that they are stronger, faster, and more durable on Earth than they normally would be. Additionally, they are highly resistant to the ego decay that most departed souls are subject to, making them uniquely capable of performing many of their jobs. Unlike most departed souls, reapers are also able to make themselves visible to normal humans and can, within a small radius, make other departed souls visible for a short amount of time.

Finally, all reapers are capable of floating or limited flight in theory. However, Miss Death has noted that several struggle with the concept and have difficulty performing the task.

Weapon Cores

Upon completion of training, all reapers are given a weapon core from Miss Death. These are small gem-like structures filled with a black, smoke-like substance. These cores can be taken to Uchi to be forged into a reaper’s personal weapon–their “scythe”, so to speak. When inactive, they remain in their gem-like form, but when activated, the black substance takes the form of the reaper’s weapon.

Weapons made from these cores are unique in that they are able to unmake any soul–even those that are attached to a still-living person or a soul that exists in the After, should a reaper decide to use their weapon for such purposes. These are primarily used to handle Wisps, but due to their ability, are sometimes used to unmake souls in the Ligena Fati.

Oddly, it appears that these weapons are incapable of unmaking Miss Death herself.

Enthusiastic Welcome

“Congratulations, you’re a reaper!

Hm? Miss Death? Oh, she’s probably up in her office reading reports from Decibitus Hall. You know how it is with the Departure Rail situation–poor thing is probably up to her ears in extra work because of her position, so she doesn’t have time for the usual introductions. That’s okay though, I’ll handle it in her place as your good old fashioned senpai!

We’ll start with your standard job expectations:

First, the type of thing you’ll be doing most often is going back to Earth to go and unmake Wisps and bring their remains to the processing center in the After for reconstruction. This is something that only reapers can really do, which is why you guys get sent to these situations so frequently. Normally someone over in Decibitus Hall will catch wind of weird Wisp-y behavior before they become too nasty, but it’s still good to be careful. They’re the only things that can kinda-sorta unmake a soul other than you reapers, so… well, you can see how it gets risky for everyone.

Ahem, anyways, another one of your jobs is to help find people who have passed on Earth that haven’t made it to Decibitus. People don’t normally need the help, so it’s not that common, but sometimes a person gets a little lost or trapped back on Earth. That’s no good for a departed soul, and leaving them alone for too long will eventually cause their ego to degrade until they become a Wisp, and that’s trouble. A lot of times, this sort of thing is handled by someone from Decibitus Hall, but for ones that take a little more time or finesse, reapers like you are the best bet. After all, for whatever reason, reapers don’t suffer the same kind of ego decay as normal departed souls–maybe that’s why you guys can go to and from the After with no issue? Haha, well, even Miss Death doesn’t really know the answer to that, so we can only guess!

Let’s see… your last type of usual job is more of an oopsie on our side than anything happening on Earth. See, Decibitus does its best to keep tabs on everyone that goes back to Earth while trying to clear out any last regrets or anything before moving on to the After, but sometimes, people run off without getting that clearance. Why? Uhhh, well, some of them might be people that are supposed to go to the Depths, but a lot of them are just people that don’t know any better. Decibitus isn’t exactly what people cover in their afterlife beliefs back on Earth, you know. Ego decay and all that is a foreign concept, so they run off thinking it’ll be fine, but…

…

Anyways! That’s why reapers go out to find those types of people before it’s too late! After all, it’d be too sad if they lost their chance to go to the After just because they didn’t know any better.

Aaand that’s it! You’ll get some extra duties here and there too, especially as you rise in the ranks. Things like bringing remains of unmade souls to the After’s processing center directly or unmaking dangerous souls in the Ligena Fati and all that, but don’t expect that to happen all that often.

With that all out of the way, congrats again on becoming one of Miss Death’s reapers! I’m sure you’ll do a killer job out there.”

Heya folks, you actually made it to the bottom of this disaster zone of an intcheck! This is the part that I guess you might be more interested in. Players in Decibitus will be taking on the role of reapers working under Miss Death juggling their usual duties and brand spanking new ones tied to the sudden failure of the Departure Rail. Do you get paid nearly enough for this shit? Probably not, but you must have your reasons for becoming a reaper to begin with, right?

Players will be given the option to take jobs from a job board that will (ideally) be regularly updated while also being given opportunities to investigate the mystery of why the Departure Rail has suddenly stopped. Much of Decibitus's overarching plot will be progressed through player actions and how they choose to interact with the people they meet or the things they learn.

In as far as combat goes, most of the smaller combat situations will be handled at player discretion, but significant encounters (e.g. particularly powerful Wisps, players fighting other players, etc.) will be handled by a simple dice rolling system unless the GMs are told from all involved parties that a specific outcome has been pre-planned. Players will be told when a combat situation is expected to require dice rolls. Active players will have the ability to obtain small bonuses as well based on a system that I'm sure will drive me insane with busywork, but that's what co-GMs are for, right?

Character guidelines

I know for a fact that I won't care how you format your CS, and I may add or remove parts that I will want to know, but for time being, this is what you can expect I will want from the CS. Please feel free to run spells or bio things by me to know if they'd be okay.

✦ Name
✦ Age (appearance), actual age optional
✦ Gender, bio sex optional
✦ Faceclaim and/or physical description
✦ Weapon

✦ As opposed to a personality or bio section, I’m going to request that you do an in-character response to one of the following prompts:

✧ The way your character died (and thus entered Decibitus). Please be aware that all souls that enter Decibitus have significant personal reason(s) to not simply move through to the After.
✧ A brief excerpt of your character’s first job as a reaper or a job that impacted them significantly
✧ Your character has just been given the offer to become a reaper, what brought them to say “yes”?

✦ Magic Branch
✦ Magic

For the sake of balance, I’m going to give everyone pokemon syndrome and limiting initial spells to 4 per character to start with. Please note that these are specifically significant spells that can be used for combat or have a massive effect in setting. Spells for day-to-day living do not have this cap. Spells in this list should be within the same branch of magic–if you tell me your magic is elemental, I want your spells to be elemental.

[BayRat]

Just gonna leave my interest here.

Edit: General question I assume weapons are mandatory for reapers. Do/can reaper weapons have some form of ability unrelated to spells like the equivalent of a weapon that shoots fire as an example.

[Yankee]

Maybe 👀

[PapiTan]

Just gonna leave my interest here.

Edit: General question I assume weapons are mandatory for reapers. Do/can reaper weapons have some form of ability unrelated to spells like the equivalent of a weapon that shoots fire as an example.

@dragonmancer

You thought I would go to sleep, but surprise, I'm a disaster so I'm gonna go ahead and answer this.

Weapons are indeed mandatory for reapers, as they're what let them do their primary duties of getting rid of wisps (will I keep this capitalization consistent? All signs point to probably not). Weapons can have a general mythical ability unrelated to spells, but it'll all be form-dependent. There is definitely more information about this that I can expound on when I make the ooc proper, but in short, reapers specify the weapon they want to Ushi, who forges it for them. While no weapon is going to be straight up magical, extremely basic things can be possible.

Taking your example of a weapon that shoots fire, if the reaper Biggs Hunkman asked for a flaming shield that was also a flamethrower, he'd get a flaming shield that was also a flamethrower, provided that the flames came from the weapon itself. The flames would disappear after a while even without being put out and would instantly go out if the weapon were to be sheathed/inactive since they'd technically also be part of the weapon.

Generally speaking, weapon effects won't have the power to affect things that aren't part of the weapon themselves, so "wand that produces temporary/ghost flowers to throw around" would be possible but "wand that directly manipulates plants" wouldn't be.

If you have a weird weapon idea, feel free to jab me with it so I can give a more definitive yea/nay about it.

[DELETED08740]

Showing my interest here!

I have an idea for a character who uses a lantern or a paper umbrella as their weapon, and often has rain-clouds that follow them around and helps make illusions or calm panicked souls. I'll probably have to workshop that idea but I'm excited to brainstorm a couple~

[ERode]

Ya actually did it. Shit.

[PapiTan]

@PigeonOfAstora - Ohoho, I look forward to seeing what you come up with!

@ERode - I sure did, with the dumbest possible timing too!

[Obscene Symphony]

I like the look of this.

[Dragonfly 9]

Sounds interesting! Can I join?

[PapiTan]

@Obscene Symphony - Aw, thank you kindly!

@Dragonfly 9 - Heck yeah, you can! The more the merrier, right?

As an aside for anyone that's lurking around, definitely feel free to ask questions, poke me for info, etc. I did snip a lot of definitions and things to shorten the intcheck a bit, and I'm realizing now that maybe I shouldn't have done that. /nervous sweating

[Obscene Symphony]

@PapiTan So am I understanding correctly that Reapers are people who have lived a life on earth, died, and passed on to Decibitus, but who have unique traits that allow them to essentially loiter longer than other people without ill effects? Is a Reaper ever expected/able to move on to the After?

[Yankee]

@PapiTan Just one quick question for you then. Are you wanting a crew of "new" reapers or a mix of newbies and veterans? If I join in I was considering a character that has been on the job for a bit already. The welcome message you included in the OP seems like it's for new "hires" but I didn't want to assume one way or the other.

[PapiTan]

@PapiTan So am I understanding correctly that Reapers are people who have lived a life on earth, died, and passed on to Decibitus, but who have unique traits that allow them to essentially loiter longer than other people without ill effects? Is a Reaper ever expected/able to move on to the After?

@Obscene Symphony

A good question! I will clear up that every departed soul is okay to linger in Decibitus without issue, but reapers are uniquely able to linger for long periods on Earth without ego decay.

That said, they are able to move on to the After whenever they feel they're ready under normal conditions! Just... Not at the moment, now that the train is borked.

[PapiTan]

@PapiTan Just one quick question for you then. Are you wanting a crew of "new" reapers or a mix of newbies and veterans? If I join in I was considering a character that has been on the job for a bit already. The welcome message you included in the OP seems like it's for new "hires" but I didn't want to assume one way or the other.

@Yankee

I'm perfectly okay with people playing more seasoned reapers! I just felt that the welcome would be a little more fun to introduce the job duties. Sorry for any confusion that might have caused!

[Yankee]

I'm perfectly okay with people playing more seasoned reapers! I just felt that the welcome would be a little more fun to introduce the job duties. Sorry for any confusion that might have caused!

@PapiTan

It was a fun read, no worries there! Just wanted to make sure! Thank you

[Obscene Symphony]

<Snipped quote by Obscene Symphony>

A good question! I will clear up that every departed soul is okay to linger in Decibitus without issue, but reapers are uniquely able to linger for long periods on Earth without ego decay.

That said, they are able to move on to the After whenever they feel they're ready under normal conditions! Just... Not at the moment, now that the train is borked.

@PapiTan

Followup, how does a Reaper find out they're eligible to become a Reaper? Is that something they're aware of during their life or only when they die? Do people on Earth even know about Reapers?

[PapiTan]

<Snipped quote by PapiTan>

Followup, how does a Reaper find out they're eligible to become a Reaper? Is that something they're aware of during their life or only when they die? Do people on Earth even know about Reapers?

@Obscene Symphony

Reapers will usually be approached by Miss Death directly or someone associated with her and told about their eligibility, so that's something that they'll find out only when they die.

People on Earth are kind of a mixed bag in terms of knowledge of reapers though. People will rarely witness a reaper or their work, but they usually have no idea what they're seeing when it happens. They do get mistaken for basically grim reapers at times because of the nature of their work though, hence the association to the name reapers.

[Scribe of Thoth]

I glossed over this a few days ago and just now read it but this looks kinda fire

[Obscene Symphony]

@PapiTan Do the dead always remember their life/how they died, or can they forget?

[Obscene Symphony]

Double post for afterlife beaurocracy vibes to brainstorm ideas to