The Exalted Executioner of Khem-Ra

The politics of Kem-Ra are famously messy. It is among the oldest civilizations in the world and, through all its forms from the vampire-ruled dynasties of the old empire to the modern aristocracy of Khem-Ra, has been a nation built upon the power of reanimation. All nobility undergo the reanimation process at the age of 40 and become immortal undead.
This creates complications within the aristocracy. It isn’t uncommon for a single person to rule at the head of a noble family for many generations, sometimes going on centuries. Mothers live to see their great grandchildren grow old and become reanimated themselves, and it isn’t uncommon to personally know someone that would be a distant ancestor under more natural conditions.
Because a natural death is no longer possible an unnatural death was designed to accommodate the removal of those aristocrats who had overstayed their welcome. Thus the Exalted Executioner was created.
The Exalted Executioner is in both parts feared and revered. It is a great honor, though one that is seldom longed for as the duty of bringing true death weighs heavily on one’s heart and the cost of obtaining the title is far too great for men of lesser faith to entertain.
The executioner's axe is a famous symbol of order and justice in Khem-Ra. Legally he is the only person in the realm who can take the life of a noble and as such only his axe can bring justice to the aristocracy. For this reason many commoners love him, though as the centuries go on the practice has been getting seen as barbaric and backward by the aristocracy, causing him to be summoned less and less over time.

Appointment

The Exalted Executioner is chosen from among the male priests who have not yet become undead. They will take a series of vows and agree to be killed, mummified, and then reanimated with neither eyes nor tongue. Their mouths will be bound shut and ears removed so they may neither bargain nor hear pleas of mercy. The Exalted Executioner will be guided by priests with their magic to where the act must be carried out and then told who must die through magical means.

Duties

The primary duty of the Exalted Executioner is to execute the immortal nobility who have grown problematic or even harmful to Khem-Ra as a whole. Heads of families who refuse to step down despite having grown mad in their impossible age pr nobility who have been caught committing some sort of crime will be summoned to the Fateweaver’s temple and brought before a high priest to be judged.
If found guilty the executioner will remove the noble’s head with their executioner’s axe, an instrument enchanted to severe souls from the material world so that they may never be reanimated again. A true and permanent death that even reanimation cannot undo. This is a grave sentence that is never carried out lightly. A solemn and necessary act done to allow the rusted wheels of succession to turn once more, breathing new life and new ideas into the aristocracy governing the nation.

Type

Religious, Political

Form of Address

Death Giver

Source of Authority

Cult of the Spider

Length of Term

Life.