Hangman

Content warning: This article is about executioners and how they practiced their craft.

The hangman was the man carrying out executions by hanging on behalf of the law. He worked exclusively with rope, and did not perform other method specific executions. His duties beyond the executions often included rope inspection, or even the making of rope. As is the case with all executioners, he was generally not liked by the community, and wore a hood to hide his identity. Many hangmen were repenting criminals seeking redemption by taking on the job no one else would.

Following the heavy death tolls of The End, a lot of thought went into the philosophical aspects of life and death. Lawmakers around the world sought to ease the suffering of the damned, and executions by hanging were now considered inhumane. Instant deaths were the latest fashion, and military executions were to be carried out by firing squad, while civilian executions were limited to decapitations. In the countries of Craw Eiland, Greymarsh, the Freelands, Ghardlind, and Watolla, the hangman was rendered obsolete. He would have to learn the ways of the blade, or find work elsewhere.

A hangman is less of a profession in the decentralized countries of Auregelmir and Arkovoij. Punishments are often the burden of the local community rather than the government. It is easier for the men of a village to gather and hang someone in a tree just outside of town, rather than making a spectacle of chopping someone's head off.

I make my way to the gallows
An obsolete monument to death as of today
A crowd awaits with curiosity
To watch my last working day

As I ascend the gallows,
The crowd falls silent, their eyes fixed upon
The man whose livelihood n’ profession is reviled
Fuck you all, avert your eyes

From the Freelander song The Last Hangman of Old Route