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Possible alternative to the Grim Reaper (Animal Psycopomps)
May 1, 2020 at 5:45 pmI know the developers don’t want to go with the grim reaper for deaths because that would be too similar to the sims (and I agree) so I wanted to run this idea by people and see what they think.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopomp
In particular this part:
Psychopomps (from the Greek word ψυχοπομπός, psychopompós, literally meaning the “guide of souls”)[1] are creatures, spirits, angels, or deities in many religions whose responsibility is to escort newly deceased souls from Earth to the afterlife. Their role is not to judge the deceased, but simply to guide them. Appearing frequently on funerary art, psychopomps have been depicted at different times and in different cultures as anthropomorphic entities, horses, deer, dogs, whip-poor-wills, ravens, crows, vultures, owls, sparrows and cuckoos. When seen as birds, they are often seen in huge masses, waiting outside the home of the dying.So! I was thinking it would be a really nice idea if Parafolk had Spirit/Soul Guides that took the form of different animals. (it could be based on personality or how they lived their life) Imagine when a Parafolk reaches the end of their life and an apparition appears in the form of a deer, owl or some other animal to guide them to the afterlife.
To give a visual idea, think of the patronus charm from Harry Potter: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/harrypotter/images/c/ce/Doe_next_step_module.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/340?cb=20161211222529
I think it would be interesting because they have the potential to be very different from the grim reaper while filling the same purpose.
Alternatively if anyone has watched a show called “Dead Like Me”, it involved some people becoming “Grim Reapers” after they died. So it became their role to guide those who had died to the afterlife. I feel like something like this would be better suited to a supernatural expansion pass though. (personally I think I prefer the animal spirit guide idea)
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8 Replies
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I’m glad we’re not having a reaper in this game and to go even further, I’d personally rather deaths not be tied to any type of supernatural concepts. No reaper, no animal spirits, just normal death without anything attached to it. I really would prefer for the base game to remain realistic without any forced supernatural type things. At the very least, if any fantasy is ever included for the base game, I feel they should be optional.
I don’t mind that some people want elements of fantasy to become available at some point, but I’d rather not have it as the default. It is just be very immersion breaking for me to be playing games 100% realistically, but the second someone dies, a reaper always shows up and there’s no way to turn it off. I really don’t want Paralives to go down that route as well.
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I really like this, especially that part with soul taking a form of animal that would be based on parafolk’s personality.
But I also agree with Bailey. I think personally that after parafolk dies, his body should be covered by black blanket and be transported by hearse. This would also give opportunity for funerals
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Animal psychopomps are an interesting idea, but I don’t think a lot of players would get it without some sort of explanation. What about a light appearing, then a ghost climbs up out of the body and walks into the light and fades? I’d also accept a realistic death as others have said.
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what about like sweetchilli said but i think that the persons soul goes with the Psychopomps because then you can have a funeral but the paras cant see the soul leave with the Psychopomps they just go out the body and walk away with the Psychopomps into the light (not trying to steal sweetchillis idea im just agreeing and adding to it)
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I just had another idea – what if the ghosts of the para’s loved ones welcomes their ghost into the light/gives them hugs and stuff? Could be instead of or as well as a psychopomp, because someone has to be there for your first para’s death.
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[quote quote=8637]I just had another idea – what if the ghosts of the para’s loved ones welcomes their ghost into the light/gives them hugs and stuff? Could be instead of or as well as a psychopomp, because someone has to be there for your first para’s death.
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This is partially related to this idea….but I was also thinking if they had animal psycopomps they could make it so dog and cat lovers (like if they have that personality trait) get one of their deceased pets as their psycopomp.
As for people not understanding animal psycopomps, I think it wouldn’t be that hard to make it obvious. For one thing there would probably be a notification stating your para is passing away and there would probably be some kind of music attached to it.
Not only that but I’d kinda imagine (or at least like to think) that people wouldn’t be unaware their para was dying of old age if their age bar was filled up and that they’d be expecting it. (assuming paralives will have an age bar)
In the same way that the appearance of the Grim Reaper makes it obvious that a sim is dying, I think if a ghostly psychopomp appeared and then the parafolk also became ghostly and stepped into “the light” with the psycopomp I think that would also be pretty obvious that the parafolk has passed away. (along with the notification I mentioned earlier)
(I also think you could still have the paras body remain so that you could organise a funeral)
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