you will wear your independence like a crown

rain design based on “closed to midnight” by @honey-tongued-devil on ao3 (read here !)

other ghouls from this series here

Reaper Ghouls Headcannons

╰┈ ‧₊˚ ☾. ⋅ ・・・・———-────°˖✧

So, we all remember the Plague Doctor ghouls we saw at the ritual that announced Nihil’s death, right? Well I’ve been playing around with them for awhile and I think I cooked up something good!

So Imma drop a quick TW for abuse and mentions of death. I wont go into too much detail but just to be safe.

⭑･ﾟﾟ･*:༅｡.｡༅:*ﾟ:*:✼✿　⛧⃝　✿✼:*ﾟ:༅｡.｡༅:*･ﾟﾟ･⭑

Reaper Ghouls are by far the most dangerous beings on the Ministry’s grounds. They answer to no one, are extremely territorial, and know no mercy. The Clergy barely has any control over them.

Reaper Ghouls are not summoned. They aren’t born. They are made. They are what happens when a ghoul is pushed to their breaking point. They also tend to be the older ghouls from the Ministry, from before Nihil’s time as Papa.

Any element can become a Reaper, in fact there are five known Reaper Ghouls who haunt the Ministry grounds, appearing to foretell death or hunt down unsuspecting humans or ghouls. Each Reaper Ghoul also tends to have their own unique scent that is often overpowering.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆ 🜂 ⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

Fire Reaper Ghoul: Eurynomos was the best fire ghoul the Ministry has ever seen. An Ancient Ghoul with the characteristics of the extinct American Lion, Panthera atrox. His only problem was his aggression and the Clergy took it too far trying to tame him. They had tried to defang him, and he broke when defending himself. He is a threat to any living creature in the Abby. You can tell he’s close by the scent of smoke and copper.

Copia is one of the very few surviving humans to see Eurynomos and claims he has a very, very strong resemblance to the Ministry’s local sweetheart, Ifrit.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆ 🜄 ⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

Water Reaper Ghoul: Lamiai is the oldest of the Reaper Ghouls, coming from Nihil’s great, great, great, great grandfather’s papacy, and is by far one of the most disturbing ghoulettes the Ministry has seen. She’s a tropical water ghoulette, with gorgeous, flowing dark blue and gray fins tipped with gold. Her voice was hypnotic, to the point even a soft sigh would send a human into a trance.

Due to how harsh the Clergy was during this era, they didn’t like how Lamiai held so much power over the humans and tried silencing her. They were only partially successful before she fled into the lake by the Summoning Well. Her hunting method is often keening wails that create a sense of fear and panic and while not as good as a quintessence ghoul, she can mimic voices.

Lamiai’s arrival is marked by the scent of rotting fish, seaweed, and oil. Another way of telling if she is activity hunting is when the water ghouls who call the lake home flee to the land or near by earth ghouls ponds.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆ 🜁 ⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

Air Reaper Ghoul: Melinoe is a slender and intimidating raptor ghoulette with a resemblance to Tyto alba owls. Her movements are smooth and silent, to the point a little bell was tied around her ankle so she would stop sneaking up on unsuspecting humans. She is the only ghoul to not become a Reaper because of the Clergy. She instead had a run in with another Reaper Ghoul. No one knows which Reaper Ghoul she encountered, but her appearance was altered, half her body being pitch black, as if casted into the void.

She lurks in the deepest parts of the forest, sticking to trees and watching. She still has her bell around her ankle, it often being the only warning anyone gets that she’s about to strike. Bodies are rarely found in one piece or in just one tree.

Melinoe’s scent is that of burnt feathers, rotting wood, and ozone.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆ 🜃 ⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

Earth Reaper Ghoul: Khthonios is what happens when an earth ghoul wanders too far away from Ministry grounds. He was one of Nihil’s great grandfather’s earth ghouls, his prized albino ghoul. Khthonios was a wander, only feeling peace within the forest. During this time, the Ministry didn’t patrol the boarders of their land as often, leading to ghouls often wandering close to town for a small hunt. Khthonios was found on death’s doorstep, dragging himself back to the Abby after having bit off more than he can chew when stalking a huntsman.

The Ministry did try saving him, but with where he was injured, they didn’t think he’d last the night. They were surprised when they checked on him in the morning, he was gone. To tell if Khthonios is near, the scent of sweetgrass and sage and he is the only Reaper Ghoul to not harm anyone.

⁺‧₊˚ ཐི⋆ 𝓠 ⋆ཋྀ ˚₊‧⁺

Quintessence Reaper Ghoul: Askalaphos was quite the trickster when serving Nihil’s father and is the youngest of the Reaper Ghouls. She would target anyone for pranks that started harmless but started to grow more dangerous. This eventually snowballed into a member of the Clergy being killed. They tried to return her to the Pit but she fought back, partially escaping the ritual circle before fleeing to the forests around the Abby.

Or, The new Papa discovers what happened to his predecessors...

I was trying to go for a Vintage / B Movie horror vibe. Idk if it worked...

When Helen was of age to be married, all the Lords of Greece came to seek her hand. This was an issue for her stepfather the King of Sparta who could only pick one husband and then would have to deal with the far greater number of angry rejected suitors.

One suitor was Odysseus, then a younger man. He quickly ascertained that he had no chance of marrying Helen. Ithaca was too poor for him to even bring any proper gifts, let alone a dowry. But he did catch the eye of the King's niece, one Penelope.

Now Penelope was still a bit out of Odysseus' league, but not so much as Helen was. So he makes a deal with the King of Sparta. Support my bid to marry Penelope, and I'll give you a solution to this suitors problem. The King agrees, so Odysseus suggests all the suitors swear an oath to defend Helen's marriage from anyone who might strike against it. They all, including Odysseus, so swear, and Helen is married to Menelaus. The King proves as good as his word, and Penelope is wed to Odysseus.

Of course this means that Odysseus has now bound himself to fight for Helen and Menelaus. After an attempt to feign madness he is forced to fulfill his duty.