Editing Grim Legion (section)

===Non-Military Duties===

Only a fraction of the Grim Legion actually works within the military. The vast majorities work in for more mundane jobs, ranging from bookkeeping to Reaping. For the most part, there are no set hours during which the wraiths of the Grim Legion must perform their duties. The Smiling Lord understands the need to handle personal matters all too well. The only expectation is that each individual wraith performs her duties in their entirety every day. Those who fall behind in their assigned tasks are often replaced by someone more capable. This is not punishment, but rather recognition of the fact that the wraith in question is obviously preoccupied with other matters. Just the same, once a soul has been removed from a position a rank, he must go through the entire process of seeking promotion again – from the bottom. When the wraith gets demoted, any rank achieved to that point is removed, along with any special privileges that rank might carry. The Smiling Lord maintains a policy of lenience, but still expects the work he assigns to be accomplished.

One of the most important assignments anyone in the Hierarchy can receive is that of Infiltrator. Infiltrators are expected to work harder than most of their counterparts, because their task is to discover the truth behind how members of the Legion died. These detectives often interact with the supernatural entities moving through the Skinlands, exchanging information and seeking out the parties guilty of murder. Though Infiltrators once carried the title Requitters, they have long since adopted the name given to them by the masses in Stygia. The Infiltrators changed their name to suit the truth of the matter; as often as not, the very super naturals they deal with or on the list of those the Grim Legion means to punish. That being the case, the Infiltrators often work to gain the trust of entities in question, even as they are working out the details of that individual’s demise. While their work is exceedingly important to the Grim Legion, few Infiltrators are well liked or trusted by their counterparts. Any group, which regularly works as judge, jury and executioner as often as the Infiltrators does, is certain to develop a dark reputation. Frighteningly enough, most of these wraiths seem to thrive on the subtle fear they generate in other Restless.

Reapers in the Grim Legion do not work in quite the same way as many of their peers. In addition to Reaping the souls of murder victims, they are also responsible for gathering those responsible for the murders. The Grim Legion considers any wraith guilty of murder as “fair game,” despite the protests of the other Legions. Numerous skirmishes have broken out as result of this policy, though the tendency of some Anacreons to return to the discorporated remains of wraiths accused of murder to the other Legions claiming them is often considered an appropriate act of appeasement. Most Grim Legionnaires seem to accept that the discorporation of the guilty wretch is punishment enough for the crimes committed, but there are always exceptions.

One duty that must be performed by all members of the Legion, regardless of their rank, is the “fingering” of guilty souls. Any wraith accused of Flesh – Murder is an instant enemy of the Grim Legion, unless he can defend his actions. Murderers captured by the Grim Legion can request a hearing to decide whether or not they should be punished out right or given the chance to face their accusers in a court of law. The Grim Legion fully acknowledges the fact that its courts are not fair. Grim Legionnaires also point out that murdering someone isn’t very fair, either.

While the Grim Legion doesn’t believe an openly snatching the accused from the Shadowlands for instant punishment – unless the Legionnaires are certain they won’t get the blame – they do believe in trying to remove any such blights from the Shadowlands. Every Citadel has a veritable army of arbitrators whose sole purpose is to make public the accusations of the “guilty” and to seek their punishment through Stygian law. Many of the other Legions have been forced to come up with their own advocates in order to combat the number of legal eagles employed by the Grim Legion. Even in the Shadowlands, lawyers are a blight on society. The Smiling Lord fully accepts that this particular curse is entirely his fault.

The last great task kept by the Grim Legion is the continuing work in progress they simply call the Great Ledger. This massive tome comprises the truths about the vast majority of murders committed in the Skinlands, and his eyewitness accounts more often than not. While the work is unavoidably biased, the Great Ledger holds far more in the way of truth than it does lies. After a tale of a murder is told, the Smiling Lord sends out his special investigators to study the facts of the case. Any discrepancies between a wraith’s story and what the facts seem to show are carefully noted. Most of the Legions consider this a wasted effort, a futile attempt to make a record of facts that are simply not important anymore. The Grim Legion believes otherwise. The very act of keeping the manuscript up-to-date is very cathartic for many of the murdered Dead. For that reason alone it is a job worth the immense effort it takes, at least in the eyes and the Grim Legion.

The Great Ledger is kept in a vault in the depths of Stygia, guarded by a veritable army of proficient soldiers who self-deprecatingly refer to themselves as the Librarian’s Guild. These guards take their duties very seriously, as numerous attempts have been made to destroy the text. In addition to the guards, there are hundreds of scribes whose sole duty is to write down the stories of the victims of Violence and meticulously file the pages. The Smiling Lord is known to visit the office of the Great Ledger regularly, and often spends a few hours out of every day reading over the files which contain the truth about more cases than most minds could ever hope to comprehend.