G is for Grave Warden

Always standing against the opportunistic grave robber is the Grave Warden.

Employed by the smallest village—often a stipend to the head of the village militia or inn keep—and largest city, the Grave Warden's singular task is to assist the priests of Morr* in burying the dead properly: “six feet deep in the cold, hard ground."

But Grave Wardens have a second and equally important role: watch over the graves of the recently buried. The Grave Warden has a singular nemesis: the grave robber.

The grave robber can be anyone. They can be other members of the militia, friends of the Grave Warden!, or just common thieves. All often arrive to secure the body of the recently dead to fulfill a contract from unsavory barber-chirurgeons, mad scholars, even dark wizards collecting bodies for foul experiments or fodder in growing armies of undead.

A Grave Warden is charged by the Cult of Morr to use any force necessary to protect those that have been laid to rest. This means that grave robbers, and any associates, are often met with deadly force if caught in the act. Or worse, held for trial and charged by a Witch Hunter with corrupt acts, whether provable or not. The grave robber will be hung or burned at the stake. The latter saves a Witch Hunter from tithing a Temple of Morr for guilty's Last Rites.

Editor's Notes

Morr is the Old World's god of Death and Dreams. The Black Guard of Morr is a particularly vigilant sect in the priesthood, not unlike the Witch Hunters of the Cult of Sigmar. Being found guilty of grave robbing by the Black Guard might be worse than a trial by the Witch Hunters. The criminal may be denied Last Rites and drawn and quartered. The guilty guaranteed of damnation, but the punishment is also a blessing as a preventive against necromancy. The damned is spared resurrection in an undead horde.