Harvester
Harvesters are immortals associated with the Harr'khel, Death Inevitable. They are a fleeting, rare sight among mortals, only approaching habitable areas when a mortal has violated the sanctity of death in some manner. Generally, this is by attempting to escape it in an unusual or cosmically abhorrent way, such as by consuming others' souls' energy to empower one's body or artificially forcing one's soul to remain in their body beyond their time.
Whenever a mark is picked up, a harvester will drift from their usually barren, inhospitable residence and portal through to wherever their mark's community is situated. They usually make a point of being witnessed by multiple unrelated mortals to ensure their visit was known about, to serve as a warning. Then, depending on the nature of their mark, they will either cut down their prey without mercy or calmly discuss their situation.
In cases where a person simply fears their own death and have endangered or destroyed numerous other people/souls to ensure their own persistence, harvesters will chase their target down mercilessly, ensuring they die running and whimpering. In cases where a person has unintentionally become immortal, or has otherwise had their soul bound to an unnatural body without their intent, such as with revenants, Harvesters are much more negotiable with.
In such cases, they will generally visit their house, get express hospitality rights, and quietly discuss their options. With revenants, they will ask if they believe the necromancer who raised them has the right to bring them back, and if they waive their rights to their own soul, the harvester will accept this, but also remind them that if they ever want to die but the necromancer doesn't wish for them to, it's out of their hands. In the cases of accidental immortals, they will simply inform them of the gravity of their situation, and offer to rip their immortality asunder or accept the consequences of their immortality. Finally, with Kakajuan elves, harvesters simply have difficulty portalling into the Isle of Kakajua for reasons akin to being forbidden to barge in on other gods' property.
Certain forms of immortality achieved by mortals have other means of deflecting a Harvester's collection; for example, Galdusian ascension stones are specifically made to adhere to souls, and not even Harvesters are capable of ripping that bond asunder (and indeed, the only means of ending an ascendant's life that doesn't involve direct severance of the stone's arcane power involves a specialised magitech device known as a soulstealer). In addition, all mortals who are host to the Thread are toxic to the touch for Harvesters, and thus any Yukishimans with slightly extended lives from the symbiote are steered clear from.
Some harvesters lament their growing irrelevance, as more mortals are either accepting of death or pursuing a form of immortality that they cannot interfere with. As such, many have taken to inventing and playing games with each other, and it's said the Harvesters in the Harvesters' Peaks are particularly good at a game called 'Orbits', where the aim of the game is to throw a skull as close to a short pole as possible. If one manages to make their skull's orbit get caught on the top of the pole, they get the highest possible score, and all participants are expected to call 'Orbits'!
Despite their apparent natures as has-beens, ancient Galdusians and old Arkherans alike will whisper tales of the harvesters that would, once in a while, walk the streets ominously, quietly asking locals for a certain named individual, before moving on and thanking them for the directions.
Additional Information
Facial characteristics
Harvesters which show their 'faces' usually place humanoid skulls as their point of 'expression'. As such, they tend to be locked in a skull grin no matter how they're feeling. Sometimes, their skulls' eye sockets will shine a peculiar purple-blue. In addition, sometimes they have multiple heads, one for each skull collected by their marks.
Geographic Origin and Distribution
Harvesters are willing to travel great lengths to collect those that evade their deaths, but regarding permanent residences of harvesters, they prefer desolate, deadly environments such as the Harvesters' Peaks in Arkhera, the massive desert wastes of Sahra-ul in Southern Amerist, and the wildlands/wastes of the Galdusian continents.
Average Intelligence
Harvesters tend to be somewhat more aware of mortal feelings than daemons or angels, understanding their natural fear of death. They sometimes exploit this when hunting those that have violated natural lifespans willingly, and other times use it to gently assure those that unintentionally are, for whatever reason, living beyond their allocated time. Harvesters tend to be non-malicious but dangerous nonetheless; they understand why their work is feared, but continue on despite that.
Civilization and Culture
Naming Traditions
Harvesters, much like other immortals from the Old Four, have an honorific system. Traditionally, harvesters bear the honorific 'Harr'khan ge', followed by their self-assigned name, a prefix that means, in Deathtongue, 'the friend who slays'. However, many Harvesters aren't particularly picky about retaining their honorific, considering their sacred duty much more important than that.
Harvester name examples: Harr'khan ge Morturus, Harr'khan ge Ali, Sylvester, Harr'khan ge Psion, Harr'khan ge Azrael, Simeon.
Interspecies Relations and Assumptions
Harvesters are generally feared, but respected by most civilisations. As they're rarely seen in habitable areas, most know that if they're roaming the streets, it's likely they have a mark. They're generally left to their work without comment. However, the recent reduction in Harvester-correctable attempts to achieve immortality has reduced the number of Harvester sightings in modern society, leading many younger generations to consider them something akin to urban legends.
Scientific Name
Deus mortensis
Origin/Ancestry
The Harr'khel
Average Physique
Harvesters often cover their true bodies with black cloaks, because within is a mishmash, not of reconstituted flesh like their daemonic cousins, but a collection of bones as harvested from their various marks. They assemble their bodies in abstract fashions, often thought by deathspeakers to be their major means of expressing individuality. Freshly created harvesters are almost non-corporeal, acting as a disembodied miasma waiting for its first set of bones to pilfer.
Body Tint, Colouring and Marking
Black and white are the colours of harvesters; black from their cloaks and white from the bleached bones they harvest from their victims. Aside from the blue-purple energy that occasionally emanates from their bodies, their palette is mostly muted.
Geographic Distribution
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