TheNexusProject/AshtownReapers
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The Ashtown Reapers
- "They're a strange phenomenon, aren't they? They do trouble me so. If only there was a way to find them decent homes, somewhere else..."
-- Lyra Lennesh, concerned philanthropist
- "Oh, yes, the boy! The boy with the eyes... the dark eyes. The sweet, dark eyes!"
-- the Crazy Goose Lady
The Ashtown Reapers are a mob of children and adolescents who wander Ashtown, unsupervised and apparently aimless. They currently number sixteen, but their numbers fluctuate wildly between nine and twenty-five, depending on the season.
The Reapers cover a wide range of ages, from those barely older than toddlers to some perhaps in their late teens; they do not wear any particular gang markings, but they all bear a surprising physical resemblance to one another. The Reapers are grubby and skinny, with dark, sunken eyes and skin that ranges from sallow to ash-grey. Some have speculated that they must be a family of some sort or another, but if they are, nobody has ever seen their parents or any related adults -- or, for that matter, any new babies. Given that the first sighting of the Reapers was twenty-seven years ago, over ten years after the Great Nexus Fire, the continuing renewal of the child-mob without any adults in sight is troubling to those from outside Ashtown who take any interest in the area. To Ashtown natives, the Reapers are simply a fixture of the gutter, and those who live in Ashtown are not accustomed to asking questions.
Despite the morbid nickname given to them by the Ashtown natives (no Reaper has ever referred to herself as such), the Reapers are actually quite nonviolent; they survive from scavenging and occasionally from charity, scrounging as they can and squatting in burnt-out husks of buildings, much like the rest of Ashtown. The only thing that marks the Reapers as at all different from the mundane Ashtown resident in behavior is their immense courage towards, and apparent power over, hungry ghosts. Though the Reapers wander at night, reports of Reapers being slain by the hungry ghosts of Ashtown are unknown, and several local legends speak of a Reaper youth repelling hungry ghosts away. For this reason, many Ashtown residents welcome the Reapers as a protective force, and those Ashtown residents who can accept another mouth to feed often foster a Reaper in return for his services in warding hungry ghosts away. (This ability to repel hungry ghosts has granted them their other nickname -- "the Ashtown Ambassadors.")
The Reapers seem reluctant to leave Ashtown, and those who leave (or are dragged away) tend to return; when pressed, they explain this drive as some sort of "call" and that Ashtown is their "home turf." All attempts to forcibly prevent a Reaper from returning to Ashtown have resulted in the child's escape, sometimes from wildly improbable circumstances. The only times that any Reaper has been seen willingly and permanently leaving Ashtown are the occasional sightings of an older Reaper taking a long, almost-ceremonial walk out of the district, their younger comrades trailing behind them like a parade.
Rumors
- Investigations into what happens to adult Reapers have led to wild speculation about many well-known lower-class Nexians; virtually everyone of any infamy who bears the physical characteristics has been called a "former Reaper" at one time or another. The current favorite of the gossip circles is the Nighthammer seamstress Rain of Smoke, noted for her grey skin, dark eyes, and quiet manner.
- The Crazy Goose Lady has been seen speaking with various Ashtown Reapers, both at her home and in Ashtown proper; she seems to have an easy rapport with them, and them with her.
Secret
- The Ashtown Reapers are a pack of Ghost-Blooded, all begotten by the particularly bitter ghost of an Aston resident killed in the fire; a socialite and artist in life, he manages to seduce a few women each year and thus refresh his family. Their father has no higher purpose for them beyond their existence, though, and thus they live with only minimal contact with him and very little idea of their true origin.
Comments
Just out of curiosity, what happens to the mothers? Why do they let their children go? Do they all die in childbirth?
~ Shataina
- Maybe the ghost robs them of their memory of the entire pregnancy and birth? -Okensha
- Or maybe none of them want to actually say: "Hey, I'm a Reaper Mom!"
