Coroner's Star

The Coroner's Star is an unusual honor. It is given to someone who, in an occupation frequently dealing with death, performs a great service to the living.  The award stands as a reminder of the greater purpose served in the necessary work surrounding the end of a life.

History

The Coroner's Star was created by a crisis hospital in Stolc in response to the high burnout seen in its staff. Its original purpose was to increase the morale of those performing some of the grimmest work. The recognition was first limited to workers at that particular hospital, but as word of the award spread, other hospitals adopted the tradition. Later the qualifications for earning it were loosened to include anyone whose work brings them in regular contact with the dead or dying, from emergency medics and Security Patrollers to street cleaners and soil farmers. Well-known past honorees include Besi Galiasollei, a street cleaner credited with ending the Twilight Chaos, and Solvan Mudirendas, an autopsist whose report on a seemingly causeless death exposed the actions of a serial killer.

Components and tools

The medal is a red starlight gemstone, representing a drop of blood, mounted in a bronze circle the color of living skin. It is approximately the size of a fingertip, so that it can be comfortably worn attached to a cape fastener.

Participants

To avoid any appearance of profiting from death, recipients of the Coroner's Star cannot be self-nominated, nor should they ask someone else to nominate them.  The medal is presented by one of Galtern's coroners, the census officers responsible for documenting deaths in the island's population--ironically, the single death-related occupation ineligible for the award until after retirement.

Coroner's Star Medal by The Big G

Primary Related Location

Galtern

Important Locations

• Stolc

I understand why you're giving this to me. I still wish I hadn't had cause to earn it.

— Besi Galiasollei, on being presented with the Coroner's Star