What would you call them - Death's Chosen? [spoilers]

[fallen]

Watch out, SPOILERS in here for sure.

The Heroes know themselves as Death's Chosen, or her champions.

What else would you call them? Think of the perspective of other characters who might see them from "outside" their situation -- seeing only their actions, prowess, etc.

I'd love thoughts and suggestions from the community. Good suggestions are likely to end up in-game.

[contributor]

That's a great question. I think Death's Chosen is probably about the best term for them. I'll throw it into the back of my mind for a few days and see if it comes up with anything. As I look at the heroes growing in their abilities I think that they are on the verge of becoming terrifying to most people. Even if their role as g killers is not known, everywhere they have gone they've left a trail of death and at times that has been human as well as monster death. In Granthorn, at least, they are known to have repulsed the attack of a God on humanity (one way or another). I think, that as their power grows, most people would regard them with a sort of fear that borders on holy, but is also mixed with a good degree of mistrust. As much as you might want them in a siege on your village, you otherwise dread the day they show up. In this sense, they are very much apocalyptic type characters (the four horsemen anyone?). All this got me thinking about the term "harbinger." They foreshadow massive change in the world, which, as bad as life is in the UD, is always terrifying, both to the average joe and especially to those who have already accumulated some degree of power and control.

Edit: A few synonyms of harbinger would be herald, portent and omen.

[fallen]

contributor - you're on the exactly the train of thought I am on +1 for you haha. Thank for mulling it around. I am too letting it bounce around in my head.

Nice list of words - herald and harbringer especially good.

Hard to beat Death's Chosen

[anrdaemon]

While I generally avoid name calling, I agree with your train of thoughts.

[Deleted]

Along a similar line would be prophets. I imagine they would be very divisive figures. Some will buy in to the message and others would want to go on as before.

I was also thinking that some of their stories are pretty unbelievable for the general people who weren't there. Fanatics or crazies might better describe them for the average "peasant". They talk to the gods? Yeah, right. What other voices do they hear? Also, I'm guessing that in Ep 4 the news about these guys will have spread basically over the whole of the underdeep. I've been a little surprised that more people (esp Granthorn) don't seem to know them.

Others might see them as misguided. The phrase "the blind leading the blind" keeps popping into my head.

I like when Vurnak calls them assassins. That fits with their image for folks like Baron Koda, who won't even meet them.

[bobsoup]

Not a short snappy name, but as a sorta poetic description.

They are the "harvesters of reluctant souls."



Ahem... makes me think of this:

youtu.be/ZVx2i6jGzf8

[En1gma]

I wouldn't be at all surprised if people started wondering if they were a part of the Vrotta Order at this point. They are completely unmatched in what they do, they follow their own unseen agenda, and they leave as quickly as they came, leaving ruin where they walk.

[bobc]

From the outset the Heroes have left a trail of death and destruction.  Everything that they have achieved has been bought at the cost of many lives from across all the races.  They have pretty much wiped out several tribes of Krete, Ratkin and Orcs as well as various human foes, and demolished over half of Brunehorn.  What little good has come of this is generally only known to a select few, like Wyatt or Baron Tazzer, depending on choices made.

From this I would name them the Dark Ones, Doom Walkers or Death Bringers.  Assuming that the last time Steel saw chaos on this scale was the Shattering they might even be called Shades of the Dark-Born.

Of course, by the end of Ep4 they could also likely be called the Prophets of the New Faith

[fallen]

Apr 15, 2015 10:14:06 GMT -5 bobc said:

From the outset the Heroes have left a trail of death and destruction.  Everything that they have achieved has been bought at the cost of many lives from across all the races.  They have pretty much wiped out several tribes of Krete, Ratkin and Orcs as well as various human foes, and demolished over half of Brunehorn.  What little good has come of this is generally only known to a select few, like Wyatt or Baron Tazzer, depending on choices made.

So happy that this resonates strongly through their story

[matrim]

One line Ryethin says that the heroes have "bled a river of souls" for her. This brings Charon to mind so maybe Ryethin's Ferrymen/Boatmen. Maybe just the Ferrymen. Ryethin is also Death's guide so maybe the "Paths of Death" or "Trails of Death" (maybe singular so path or trail of death?). As a group they could the pathmakers/pathblazers. Another suggestion again refers to the guide aspect, the group could be referred to as "The Way" or "The Ways" as in "we are the way or ways to death". Last one related to the previous suggestion would be the "Waymakers". All a little off the beaten path I know but I wanted to stray away from all the really great ones already suggested.

[fallen]

Thanks to everyone for sharing the great ideas!

[contributor]

There's some good suggestions in this thread. I was thinking more today about their role in bringing change. After all "it is said that in the 72nd year of the Shattering everything changed." I don't know where this is all going and whether they Presage positive or negative change but there are lots of good terms to describe the changing of days and seasons. If Tevensa promises not to take them to court they could also be the Springtide, the First Frost or the Last Storm of Winter. They could be the Scion of New LIfe, the Dawn of New Age, the Advent of a New Era, but then again maybe they are the Sunset over a broken world, the Twilight, Nightfall or Eventide. Either way they are a Rupture in the fabric of what has come before, a total Parting of the Ways with the past.They are Spasm of violence that will Inaugurate something new, provided everyone isn't killed in these last Paroxysms of the Shattering. My hope is that they are the Surgeon's Knife cutting out what is decayed in order to bring healing, a true Balm of Healing to bring Solace to the remnants of humanity, but maybe their steel tolls the Death Knell. What role they play as the Stewards of Fate is yet to be revealed.

[fallen]

contributor - wow, that was an amazing run. Exalted! Really awesome. You almost used the key phrase I am using in the game at the moment, a couple more in the run and you might have hit on it

[John Robinson]

Apr 14, 2015 21:08:30 GMT -5 fallen said:

Watch out, SPOILERS in here for sure.

The Heroes know themselves as Death's Chosen, or her champions.

What else would you call them? Think of the perspective of other characters who might see them from "outside" their situation -- seeing only their actions, prowess, etc.

I'd love thoughts and suggestions from the community. Good suggestions are likely to end up in-game.

Seer's Nemesis

Edit: I can't quite figure it out yet but I'm looking for a phrase containing the word Nemesis and here is why.
In the Greek tragedies Nemesis appears chiefly as the avenger of crime and the punisher of hubris, and as such is akin to Atë and the Erinyes. She was sometimes called "Adrasteia", probably meaning "one from whom there is no escape"; her epithet Erinys ("implacable") is specially applied to Demeter and the Phrygian mother goddess, Cybele.

This fits as being chosen by Ryethin.  In the natural balance death cannot be escaped.  When Ryethin tells them "Where you go Death follows", does not indicate to me they are her servants but retain freewill.  She does not interfere with their choices.  In cut scenes Cortias and Rabiel think Ryethin has come to collect their souls, but instead she leaves their fate in the hands of the chosen. She does not interfere in their battle with Vurnak.  They have the choice to kill Hagathrun which would end the last divine vestige of stability and law.  They can choose to kill Tevensa without Ryethin's intervention. It interests me that the chosen do not attempt to kill Ryethin because if there was no reaper of souls would they not obtain immortality?  I am puzzled by Selen's changing from a doubter of the Gods to a devout follower of Ryethin.  She almost has a sixth sense about when Ryethin is nearby, and begins to pray for her aid.   Vraes is also a mystery.  He reminds me of Hercules the son of a God.  How else could he live after being struck with the sword of Cortias, or the blasts of pure destructive power from the chief of the Seer Lords before Brother Nikolai arrives? 

Another definition I found: NEMESIS was the goddess of indignation against, and retribution for, evil deeds and undeserved good fortune. She was a personification of the resentment aroused in men by those who commited crimes with apparent impunity, or who had inordinate good fortune. Nemesis directed human affairs in such a way as to maintain equilibrium. Her name means she who distributes or deals out The word Nemesis originally meant the distributor of fortune, neither good nor bad, simply in due proportion to each according to what was deserved. Later, nemesis came to suggest the resentment caused by any disturbance of this right proportion, the sense of justice that could not allow it to pass unpunished. Oxford dictionary word origin: Late 16th century: Greek, literally 'retribution', from nemein 'give what is due'.  Mythology, A goddess usually portrayed as the agent of divine punishment for wrongdoing or presumption (hubris).

The chosen are much more than agents of destruction.  One of the first things they do is liberate Oskahold.  The residents of the farm holds do not cower in fear but welcome them with open arms for saving them from the Ratkin siege.  The Knight and Reeve are forever grateful and present them with rare gifts.  Even the choice to kill a troll to allow them to continue hunting for food is a choice the common man would hear of and appreciate. In Gholla Outlook they are heroes and save all the people of the city.  They are allies and friends of Baron Tazzer, and his son Brother Nikolai.  In my case they are heroes and allies of the Braeyson clans.  They have decided to destroy the Seer Lords without Ryethin's help.  It is also to their credit to be good friends of Balgair, a man of unquestionable morals and self esteem.  They have attempted to broker peace between Barnett and Riven Field, to head off violence between Braeys and Koda on the outskirts of Ember City. When given a choice they choose to destroy evil and attempt to preserve the remnant of the human race.  Why did Ryethin choose them?  The World of Steel remains terribly out of balance, the forces of evil left unchecked will destroy all that is good.  Death can be a tool to preserve equilibrium and bring final peace to the suffering of the undead.

[anrdaemon]

One of the first things they do

What travels faster than light? Rumors.
By the time they liberated Oskahold, noone know them.
By the time they arrive to Brayeshaulm, rumors already arrived before them.
The trend will continue the further the story progress. And none of the people who spreading the rumors will know, what really had happened.