The cycle of life and death ensures that a supply of souls will always be available to house the bodies of the newly born. Anything that interrupts this cycle threatens to disrupt this delicate balance and throw all into upheaval. Members of many religions pledge themselves to safeguard this balance, with the chief champions being the Cult of the New God and those devotees of Father Death. But there are some who recognize the importance of this work without having to be convinced by scripture or divine decree.

These individuals belong to an old secret society called the Preservers, established to safeguard the cycle of life and death and to destroy anything or anyone that would interfere with it.

Preservers keep secret their affiliation, for they have many enemies—even among members of religions that share their ultimate aims. Part of their trouble stems from a general misunderstanding of their objectives. Many people believe the preservers seek to hasten death, to speed the cycle by ending lives early. While it’s true that preservers do sometimes kill individuals, they choose only those sullied by corruption, and the death they bring delivers these souls to Hell before the souls become too darkened to escape the devils’ clutches. Mistakes have been made, certainly, but the preservers take steps to ensure that their victims have earned their fates before executing them. With respect to spirits and undead, no such steps are needed— preservers move with speed and accuracy to rid such abominations from the world.

Although most preservers belong to the organization of the same name, many individuals might have talents in common with them even though they claim no such association. One might find such individuals among the ranks of Father Death’s priesthood, the Cult of the New God, or members of the House of Healing who have become disgusted by the darkness spreading across the world.

• Sense Corruption If you don’t already know it, you learn the life sense spell (Shadow, page 133) from the Life tradition. When you cast that spell, you can expend an extra casting of it to also determine the Corruption totals for each living creature you detect.
• Fear No Death If you don’t already know it, you learn the protection from death spell (Demon Lord’s Companion, page 36) from the Death tradition. Targets under the effect of your casting of this spell also make challenge rolls to resist being frightened or possessed with 1 boon.

Invert Healing When you cast a Life spell that would allow a creature to heal damage, you can use a triggered action to invert the spell. When you do so, make a Will attack roll against the target’s Strength. On a success, the target takes the damage from the spell instead of being healed. For example, if you invert minor healing and you get a success on the attack roll, the target would take damage equal to half its healing rate rather than heal damage equal to half its healing rate. Targets hit can make a Strength challenge roll to take half the damage instead.