| “ | I can’t decide whether this existence I find myself in is better than the death I feared so long ago. I sometimes wonder, but have decided that it is. A living hell is, after all, still living. | „ |
| ~ Nathaniel Thorp describing his existence as Death. |
Death is a title and role adopted by multiple minor characters in the Rusty Quill horror podcast The Magnus Archives.
The people given the role of death are those who, when their time came to die, challenged Death to a game to avoid their end, and won. Upon winning, they become servants of the godlike entity known as the End, being responsible for collecting the souls of the recently deceased until they can switch places with one of their victims. Although generally acting as forces of nature, in their quest to escape their fate in between life and death, people given the role of Death would often bring untimely fates to those who weren't meant to receive them yet.
Appearance[]
Those under the title of Death generally appeared similarly to the classical grim reaper. They were skeletons, having lost their skin when they took up the mantle of Death, and wore black cloaks. However, they had a presence about them that seemed to make them more than bones. Upon losing a game and becoming somewhat human again, muscle, skin, and fat grew over the bones, and they resembled human once more.
Personality[]
Those who ended up Death were usually somewhat arrogant gamblers with an immense fear of dying. Challenging Death to a game was nearly always a final act of desperation but was also inspired by some amount of ego, as the person believed they could beat this cosmic force. As Death, most humans became cold and quiet, and seemed to gradually lose any sense of empathy towards their victims. Many, but not all, regretted their decision to live forever, preferring instead to die in any way possible.
History[]
Death has existed as a servant of the End for as long as the End has existed, but it only seemed to make mortals take on the role when humans had evolved enough to complicate the concept and truly fear it.
In Egypt thousands of years B.C, a mortal won at a game of dice against Death and was gifted with immortality. However, the Egyptians could not understand how a human could not die, and entombed them, still conscious, deep below the ground, where the now deathless mummy began to lose their mind entirely.
During the Revolutionary War, a soldier named Nathaniel Thorp met Death and gambled for his life on a game of Faro. He won through cheating, and Death became human, forcing Nathaniel to become Death for 200 years. He was eventually beaten at a game of roulette and made human again and gave a statement about his existence to the paranormal investigative agency known as the Magnus Institute.
The mummy was unburied in 2012 by an illegal archeological expedition. Upon its release, it moved to grab a knife and immediately attempted to kill itself. It was unsuccessful and was presumably doomed to continue living for all eternity.
Powers and Abilities[]
Those working as Death didn't actually seem to embody the concept itself but were instead creatures that brought either timely or untimely death to those they chose, all for the power of the End. They could not be fought or escaped, and when challenged to a game, they won automatically unless the game was pure luck. Despite this, while their impact on the world could not be fought, they had no power over themselves. Under no circumstances could they kill themselves, disobey the influence of the End, or purposefully lose a game.
