K is for Killers of the Dead

In the Empire, and beyond its borders throughout the Old World, a traveler will encounter vagabonds, thieves, beggars, anchorites, hermits, and many more broken men and women. Some by choice, such as the hermit or anchorite, and it is often that a Killer of the Dead is mistaken for either, or both. Like the hermit or anchorite, to chose the path of a Killer of the Dead often begins with being broken by the horrors that prowl the nights of the Old World.

Often survivors of a life of Vampire hunting or broken by an event as a Grave Warden, the Killer of the Dead outwardly may appear to be a loner or outlaw and often resorts to theft to continue a life pursuing the relentless, uncountable hordes of undead.

Killers of the Dead sleep during the day, knowing that the day is anathema to the Vampire or to the undead. A crawl space or basement, more often a cave in the hillside overlooking a graveyard—Morr's Garden—near a prominent temple to Morr or a large cemetery in a city or town. Some find patrons and all patrons are told that a Killer of the Dead sees his or her chosen life above all else.

Killers of the Dead may find associates and may travel or "work together" for a time. In this, experienced Killers of the Dead will teach the apprentice how to use the singular tool of the trade: the wooden stake. They teach skills such as: how to identify the subtle and nefarious behaviors of the undead (or dead-kin such as Ghouls, Wights, and Ghasts), where to find safe spaces for sleeping in the day, how watch for weather that may block the sun, or know when the sun may be blocked by Morrslieb in a rare eclipse; an event feared by all Killers of the Dead. Some Killers of the Dead will teach their apprentices how to recognize the blood kiss through mock performances of the act. To an observer or apprentice this training can be mistaken for intimacy. A "master" Killer of the Dead will see such confusion as a pretext for rejecting an apprentice's further training. For to mistaken the blood kiss is to invite one's death or worse: conversion as a thrall to Night's Dark Masters.

Vampires begin to know the traits and "calling cards" of specific Killers of the Dead and begin to seek them out in their hiding places in the day through proxies or dark servants. For this reason Killers of the Dead sleep with their wooden stakes at the ready.