Damnatio Memoriae // {Peacekeeper}

I H E R E B Y C O M M I T T H E S E N A M E S T O D U S T

[presto]

D A M N A T I O ▲ M E M O R I A E

You'll find everything you need in my annual review, which I completed precisely one hundred and twenty-seven days ago.

By edict of the President? Very well. You may proceed.

I'm entirely unclear as to why someone else's incompetence should affect my time. If what you say is true and the Detention Center is vulnerable, that is certainly not my failing. I am not the one manning the wall. My duties are much more unique than that. If anything, increased unrest among the prisoners ought to mean that I am given more leeway to perform my specialty.

Erasing people? That's quite the succinct summary of the intricacies I unwind on a daily basis. I do not take the end of a pencil and blot out a name on a list. I take the entire life of a person, from birth certificate until the moment they meet their demise and make them disappear. Vanish. Not just from paper, but from all communications. Because records are communications, documentations of the past that will be read by the future. When I am given a life, I take it out of existence. That person ceases to have been known in the past or by the future. Are you following?

You don't need to know the mechanics. Your security clearance does not provide for such information.

I decline.

I decline.

If you must.

Was that really worth the waste of my time, and yours? Perhaps I could speak with your superior instead.

Yes, let's continue.

Of course not. Who would name their child "Damnatio"? Even here, amongst the most creative and elegant of people. No, I was not born Damnatio, although I do have a very impressive pedigree. You can see that in my face. Notice the full head of hair, the desirable color of my eyes. My mother always said I had the most noble cheekbones. I haven't much time or use for the trends of today, and normally, my grooming is not called into question. I am not designed to be recognizable. Like the anonymity I assign the lives I receive, I prefer to be as blank as possible. However, for paperwork, I must have a name. I thought it suited.

I decline.

Must we review the laddering of security clearances? Very well. You are Level Five, really very impressive for someone of your age. Certainly more than you would need on most assignments. My level cannot be directly compared to yours, because there is no comparison. My level has no number, because I am exponentially beyond numbers and into the realm of description. My access is unfettered, nearly limitless. If I am to consume a life, I must be able to track the footsteps back, no matter where they lead.

The story of my own footsteps is dull at best. My parents are both well-to-do citizens, who style themselves socialites but in fact worked quite hard in the financial sector before I was born. They were perfectly functional parents, providing for me and educating me themselves until I was of age to attend school. I found my studies as a child to be tedious, and I had a few infractions on my record. Nothing serious, clearly, but I was seen as a troubled child, with a temper that interfered with my ability to reason.

I felt called as a young adult to attend the Peacekeeper Academy. That was more common in those days. While the training lasted an excessively long time, it did give me the tools to neutralize my temper. After, I went on the usual circuit of assignments before ending up in the intelligence department, not far from where I had grown up. My particular set of abilities, including my keen nose and discerning eye, were quickly noticed. I apprenticed for awhile as a spy, before finally ending up here. As you can see, I have no apprentice, nor any official department. While I am still affiliated with the espionage unit, I am mostly left to my own devices.

Yes, from time to time my work does take me outside of these four walls. I do not relish those assignments, but sometimes articles are too valuable to be destroyed by someone else.

It has been many years since I have killed anyone personally. That is not my position, and that you asked at all tells me you have not been listening.

I am not the reaper.

I am a historian.

By removing a few unsavory lives, I have made our history cleaner. Better.

The stories the next generation will read will not include the unsavory, the forsaken, nor the damned.

The stories we tell ourselves, even right now, will be in service to ourselves and to our nation. Panem Today, Panem Tomorrow, Panem Forever. My work makes that motto a reality. And now, you will excuse me. I have the damned to escort from this earth.

[/presto]
T E M P L A T E B Y C H E L S E Y

You'll find everything you need in my annual review, which I completed precisely one hundred and twenty-seven days ago.

By edict of the President? Very well. You may proceed.

I'm really unclear as to why someone else's incompetence should affect my time. If what you say is true and the Detention Center is vulnerable, that is certainly not my failing. I am not the one manning the wall. My duties are much more unique than that. If anything, increased unrest among the prisoners ought to mean that I am given more leeway to perform my specialty.

Erasing people? That's quite the succinct summary of the intricacies I unwind on a daily basis. I do not take the end of a pencil and blot out a name on a list. I take the entire life of a person, from birth certificate until the moment they meet their demise and make them disappear. Vanish. Not just from paper, but from all communications. Because records are communications, documentations of the past that will be read by the future. When I am given an life, I take it out our of existence. That person ceases to have been known in the past or by the future. Are you following?

You don't need to know the mechanics. Your security clearance does not provide for such information.

I decline.

I decline.

If you must.

Was that really worth the waste of my time, and yours? Perhaps I could speak with your superior instead.

Yes, let's continue.

Of course not. Who would name their child "Damnatio"? Even here, amongst the most creative and elegant of people. No, I was not born Damnatio, although I do have a very impressive pedigree. You can see that in my face. Notice the full head of hair, the desirable color of my eyes. My mother always said I had the most noble cheekbones. I haven't much time or use for the trends of today, and normally, my grooming is not called into question. I am not designed to be recognizable. Like the anonymity I assign the lives I receive, I prefer to be as blank as possible. However, for paperwork, I must have a name. I thought it suited.

I decline.

Must we review the laddering of security clearances? Very well. You are Level Five, really very impressive for someone of your age. Certainly more than you would need on most assignments. My level cannot be directly compared to yours, because there is no comparison. My level has no number, because I am exponentially beyond numbers and into the realm of description. My access is unfettered, nearly limitless. If I am to consume a life, I must be able to track the footsteps back, no matter where they lead.

The story of my own footsteps is dull at best. My parents are both well-to-do citizens, who style themselves socialites but in fact worked quite hard in the financial sector before I was born. They were perfectly functional parents, providing for me and educating me themselves until I was of age to attend school. I found my studies as a child to be tedious, and I had a few infractions on my record. Nothing serious, clearly, but I was seen as a troubled child, with a temper that interfered with my ability to reason.

I felt called as a young adult to attend the Peacekeeper Academy. That was more common in those days. While the training lasted an excessively long time, it did give me the tools to neutralize my temper. After, I went on the usual circuit of assignments before ending up in the intelligence department, not far from where I had grown up. My particular set of abilities, including my keen nose and discerning eye, were quickly noticed. I apprenticed for awhile as a spy, before finally ending up here. As you can see, I have no apprentice, nor any official department. While I am still affiliated with the espionage unit, I am mostly left to my own devices.

Yes, from time to time my work does take me outside of these four walls. I do not relish those assignments, but sometimes articles are too valuable to be destroyed by someone else.

It has been many years since I have killed anyone personally. That is not my position, and that you asked at all tells me you have not been listening.

I am not the reaper.

I am a historian.

By removing a few unsavory lives, I have made our history cleaner. Better.

The stories the next generation will read will not include the unsavory, the forsaken, nor the damned.

The stories we tell ourselves, even right now, will be in service to ourselves and to our nation. Panem Today, Panem Tomorrow, Panem Forever. My work makes that motto a reality. And now, you will excuse me. I have the damned to escort from this earth.