Corpse Collectors

Soil in northern Slovengaard is frozen solid for much of the year. For centuries, this meant the land was mostly uninhabited, but eventually the humanites spread to conquer even this land. As these new people settled into their kingdom, their belief in a proper burial was as unmoving as the ground and something had to give. In the end, various large structure, not dissimilar to a barn, were built throughout the kingdom each filled with rows of shelves. The bodies of the dead are stored inside with the doors left open, the icy air freezing the cadavers to preserve them until the ground was soft enough to shovel once more.
Corpse collectors were the unlucky souls tasked with being the purveyors of these houses of death. Their primary duty was to visit nearby towns, load any new corpses into their wagons, and inter the bodies for safekeeping. When the ground began to defrost, they would immediately begin shoveling graves; the decay does not take long to set in with the heat. With each grave, the deceased must have the basic rites of their religion completed as well.
Over the last decade, funeral pyres have started to become more accepted and have reduced how many are collected throughout the year. Some believe this will eventually toll the bell upon the profession while others believe in the sanctity of entombment in the soil over all else.

Career

Qualifications

Strength is absolutely necessary. While the winter years are light on work with the wagon doing most of the carrying, the corpse collector has to dig three to four graves minimum once the spring begins. They also need the ability to read and write to track the records of the dead and to provide the basic rites for each of the buried. A weak nose and a strong stomach are strongly recommended.

Career Progression

Corpse collecting is more likely to be the end of the progression than the beginning. This is not because of the prestige of the job but rather the cloud one carries after holding the job. Spending so much time around the deceased has an effect on the soul that is not easily masked. The profession is usually taken on through necessity not choice.

Perception

Social Status

While the profession is necessary to continue the death rites brought from the south, those who do this are poorly viewed. While never outright rude, people will avert their eyes or speak of them with the hushed whispers of superstition.

Alternative Names

Bodyhoarders, Reapers, Winter "Taxmen"

Demand

Medium Demand; Staple Job