Manerray

"Life is short and night is long Ack along with bag-of-hay Falling down is so much fun Someone call the manerray!"
~Maecodian children's rhyme.

Career

Qualifications

Manerray tend to choose orphans, particularly either ones who have seen death first hand or ones too young to learn to fear the dead. They apprentice these children, teaching them the whole of their craft. Upon adulthood, an apprentice chooses whether to remain within the profession or to move away from death, and as a result a manerray will often have several apprentices at once.

Career Progression

An apprentice who has chosen the profession into adulthood becomes a master manerray when they see to their master’s remains, often in a special alcove of the ossuary.

Payment & Reimbursement

Manerray are paid gratuities by the grieving. Some will overtly charge, getting as much coin as they can, while most accept whatever the aggrieved can pay. When dead are buried in the boshof, there is often a collection taken among the community to ensure that every precaution is taken. Additionally, nearly all manerray supplement their income by gathering pedals and seed pods from the star magnolias for herbalism kits. This is a natural source of income, as the useful pedals and seed pods have to be picked up in the course of tending the graves anyway.

Other Benefits

Traditionally, manerray and their apprentices eat and drink for free (within reason) at local establishments. Depending on the communities in question, they may also have other perks

Perception

Purpose

To tend the graves of a community’s deceased, to safeguard against the undead, and to take care of end-of-life arrangements.

Social Status

Many people are uncomfortable around manerray, as their presence is a reminder of mortality. Otherwise, they are generally seen as a necessary part of the community or even a heroic public servant to be admired and looked after. There is an unspoken understanding that, in the event of a large scale undead uprising, the manerray will either be the first line of defense or the first to be killed.

Demographics

Manerray are overwhelmingly human. Haints are sometimes seen, though the thought of an undead citizen safeguarding against undeath usually has an unpleasant reception. Halflings sometimes fill the role, but their smaller size makes handling bodies potentially awkward. Dhampir are overrepresented among manerray.

History

Manerray is a word in the Old Tongue that means “one who aids the dead in sleeping.” It is a position dating back into the days of the Grimhii empire, and its origins therefore are mostly unknown. It is a safe assumption that their original function and most of their traditions have remained largely unchanged.

Operations

Tools

Manerray use herbalist kits to preserve the dead. They have a variety of gardening tools to maintain the grounds, trim the star magnolia trees, and rake the dirt of the boshof to ensure that it has remained undisturbed.

Materials

Manerray live and ply their craft in ossuaries located in the center of the graveyard. They typically have a small workshop used for tending bodies before a funeral, a ‘guest room’ for holding the wake if it isn’t done in a tavern or home, and a room usually referred to as a ‘rackhouse’ that is kept cool and stores bodies in the event that they cannot be disposed of in the usual timeframe.

Provided Services

Manerray tend graveyards, prepare bodies for funerals, dig graves, monitor the boshof for warning signs of undeath, trim star magnolia trees (often times they take an interest in topiary), and usually sell herbal supplies. Their regular exposure and expertise in cadavers also makes them an invaluable source of information for law enforcement and witchfinders.
Finally, it’s a matter of course to most that the manerray deals with any undead threat a community may face. This may take the form of exorcisms, blessings, or physically destroying the undead. This last is more often accomplished by hiring mercenaries and turniptails rather than personally taking on potentially deadly undead monstrosities.

Dangers & Hazards

Manerray are often the first to know that an undead has risen, which means they are often the first to be attacked. On a more mundane front, they also are exposed to corpses, with all of the potentials for disease that brings. Finally, long association with death can cause jading in the best of them, and actual sociopathic detachment in those with weaker minds.

Alternative Names

Deadman, gravedigger, funerist, undertaker, coffinmonger (pejorative).

Type

Public Relations

Demand

Outside of Prunyth, every community either has or wants a manerray. In times of desperation, an edler might be tasked with filling the role until it can be filled by someone with training.