Corpse-Walker's Inner Council - Grandmother Death

Children... You have been bad.

— Grandmother Death

An elderly woman with a mouth full of rotting teeth and sunken eyes, Grandmother Death stooped back and corpse-pale skin hides a terror. To her family, she is the kindly grandmother and family matron, ruling all gatherings with an iron fist. Behind the jagged laugh and past the trembling hands, beyond her constant doting on her precious grandchildren, the Grandmother is the Corpse-Walker's most vicious leader.
As Grandmother Death, she rules one of the largest crime syndicates of Mharaji with terrible cruelty and brutal control. All fear the Corpse-Walkers, but all fear the Grandmother even more.
Once tall and powerful, age has transformed her to a shrunken, hunchbacked old woman, resentful of the strength she has lost. But she has lost none of her cunning, and controls the largest fief among the Corpse-Walkers, controlling a vast number of murderers and criminals across Mharaji. What age has stolen, she makes up for with bloody-minded viciousness.

by Miguel Eins

Kindly Grandmother

The Grandmother casts a dreadful shadow over the city-state of Mharaji, controlling more territory and the most Bones than any other on the Inner Council. She expects obedience from her underlings and dominates her criminal fiefdom with terror and violence. Beatings and cruel torture are regular events both to punish and show all the full extent of her displeasure. Any foe who falls into her tender mercies can be expected to be made an example, and the stories of such unfortunates are hushed urban legends. Even to her own lieutenants, there is terror when summoned to visit the Grandmother herself.

by ABC's Once Upon A Time

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But when she is in a good mood, Grandmother Death will dote on even the lowest ranking Bone like she would a grandchild. Those who catch her unpredictable fancy find themselves showered with affection and find her a raucous and indulgent old woman.
When she is not, she orders unimaginable cruelty upon those who have displeased her or have the misfortune of being nearby when her tempers flare.
Many only ever see one side of the Grandmother and never the other. To her unknowing family or lucky few, she is always the loving grandmother, and to her foes, ever the horned butcher.

When possible, Grandmother relishes the chance to inflict vicious torment with her own hands, reminding herself of her power and fading strength.

For all her viciousness, the Grandmother is fiercely protective of her family, meeting any slight or threat with bloody retaliation. Even when one of her grandchildren found her horned mask and learned the truth, she has not moved to silence him. It is a weakness her enemies long to exploit, yet fear her revenge. The torment of those who have tried is legendary among the criminals of Mharaji.

In The Grandmother's Shadow

The Grandmother sits at the helm of a vast criminal enterprise. Her underlings prowl all the way from the Crown of Mharaji and down to its vaults, driven by her constant demands for more - more territory to control, more wealth to hoard, and more power to batter her foes with.
There are few places in the great city-state that do not know that shadow of the Grandmother, and she watches them covetously.

You're in Grandmother's home now, and you'll do as she says.

— Sharrh, Grandma's Pet Goon

The Grandmother's operations aren't particuarly sophisticated; robbery and theft, extortion and protection. A favored method is to tax the activity of other criminals within her fiefdom and using her terrifying reputation to cow them into obedience. With such a vast holding, the Grandmother is always exacting retribution or punishment somewhere in the city-state to make sure all remember to fear her. Her lieutenants run the day to day business, and her large cadre of reapers keep order.
Such is the size of the Grandmother's mob that it has become difficult to wield with any finess. Among her ranks, there are those that bet that her gaze won't fall on them and use her name to enrich themselves, or sell her secrets to her opponents as her long years become all the more appearent.

by Top Shelf Games

Discontent gnaws at the foundation of her power, fanned with every new demand for new and higher tributes or crueller punishments. It is a behemoth that has begun to buckle under its own weight, but none have dared tell the Grandmother.

Among The Dead

If avarice was a virtue, the Grandmother would be our saint.

— Marrow, Corpse-Walker Council

Among the Inner Council, the Grandmother has few allies and no friends. She suspects them all of treachery and sees the fate of the Eater-of-Dead as a warning about the cost of their dark magic. Gold and luxuries are real and material, and the Grandmother sees little reason to waste them on immaterial mysteries. Only the Gilded Doom has avoided her scorn, shrewdly lying and manipulating her way into Grandmother's good graces. Should the deception ever be uncovered and the Grandmother finds out that her adopted "grandchild" has used her, the Inner Council would almost certainly implode.

by Gabriel Verdon

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The others have long since come to view her as little more as a dangerous psychopath - a once useful tool turned feral. The Grandmother cares little. They fear and watch her, hoping that age to claim her before she decides to act.
But already, her forces have clashed with the other Corpse-Walkers'. Arguments over territory, wealth, and tribute dominate every time the Council meet.
Even Marrow is beginning to lose control as each new meeting become more contentious. Everyone is gathering their forces and throughout Mharaji, lines are drawn and sides chosen. The underworld holds its breath, waiting for the cataclysm that seem inevitable now.

Other than her soft spot for the Gilded Doom, the Grandmother has little good to say of the others. She thinks of Marrow as a fool, blinded by his arcane quest and Three-Skull as a dangerous liability - but fears the power he wields. An unwise comment on her age and imminent mortality has made Stitch into the most hated figure in the Grandmother's eyes, and her plans for him are... Elaborate.

The Corpse-Walkers stand at the precipice of civil war and the Grandmother looms large as its herald.

The Corpse-Walkers
Criminals and mystics, the Corpse-Walkers is a criminal syndicate fueled by dread and the powers wielded by their inner council. They leave their victim's corpses at the doorstep of their relatives, still speaking the will of their slayers.
They are feared even by other criminal gangs as dark and wretched; they wield terror as a weapon and have used it to carve out an empire of sin.
Read More About The Corpse-Walkers

The Inner Council

The dark heart of the Corpse-Walkers, the Inner Council rule through a combination of criminal cunning and arcane might. Only they know the secrets behind the corpse-walking magic and guard their knowledge jealously.
Out of the five on the Council, Grandmother Death is the least skilled in Thaumaturgy, and has compensated with ruthlessness.

The Others

They say I am a fool for not digging deeper into our arts. Hah! Just look at him - the fool. He will die long before age ever claims me.

— Grandmother Death

He'd have us eat dust and ashes, chasing shadows instead of wealth. I think his time has just about passed...

— Grandmother Death

It isn't wise to talk about a woman's age like that, doctor...

— Grandmother Death

Oh, my lovely adopted granddaughter. She's such a darling, isn't she?

— Grandmother Death

Some creatures are best not spoken of.

— Grandmother Death

The Shrike

One of Grandmother Death's most implacable foes, the Shrike is an seemingly immortal vigilante who has returned from countless slayings to thwart her schemes again and again.
The Grandmother fears the Shrike, and hates her for this fear. She dreams of the things she would do should she ever capture the Shrike...
Read More About The Shrike

by SCP 077

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