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PDFNobles and merchants who have lived to a ripe old age, or who have fallen sick, or who are about to die for any reason that has nothing to do with battle have been known to hire headsmen. These solitary and despised figures attack and kill an old, sick or dying customer of means to ensure that they head to Valhalla and not Folkvangr (Freya’s realm) which in my gaming world is where the souls of non-warrior folk go after death.*
Headsmen typically don’t believe in any of the myths or teachings of the Church, or perhaps they see themselves as damned to live with Hel anyway. The Church has, since the time of Thor, held that killing the sick, helpless or unarmed is a grave sin, which leads to the dark underworld overseen by Hel. (My, what a wonderful divergence from the vikings of old!).
The Church of Aesir has eased off of that position over time and in fact now actually performs this last rite for a hefty donation, sending official Church Headsmen. While shunned for performing such a distasteful profession, these men make a very good living and are known for their discretion and ability to perform their duties with a minimum of pain inflicted and mess made.
Families rely on discretion as none of them would openly admit to hiring a headsman. When a old man’s pyre is lit and he lies there in full battle regalia, the family usually explains that he died in battle with an intruder, assassin or bandit. Everyone then understands exactly what happened and no one says a word.
Those who preach religious reform, who are not afraid to speak up, point to this as part of the degeneracy and hypocrisy of the Church.
Headsmen can typically be found in big cities, especially Nornland’s capital Olafstaad. Wherever nobles and merchants congregate, in other words.
*In the real world, the myth is she takes half the honorably killed warriors to her realm, leaving Odin the rest. Not only should you not confuse this stuff with the real world, but don’t confuse it with real myth, mmkay?
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With the number of “contact other plane” abilities floating around a D&D game, and the gods themselves often walking the earth, getting misinformation about the here after is rough. How will you combat this in your game?
A very good question.
I’d say it depends on how you handle those abilities actually work and deliver reliable information about the afterlife and other planes. I don’t follow the notion that the afterlife and multiverse has to look like how AD&D set it up. Or that those abilities have to be allowed, even.
I certainly don’t have to make such information common or even reliable. And gods who roam the earth (if they do) might not set the record straight or clarify the rules because they don’t/won’t/can’t.
I use religion and belief in a game to set up the everyday campaign world. The afterlife isn’t something I am setting up as a place for players to go adventure, it’s part of the description of who the people in that world are. Contacting beings in the great beyond is risky and dodgy business.
I think this will lead to a post next week. Today I gotta finish prep for the weekend’s one shot.