Martyr

Journal Entry #1

I find that sometimes, people wish to martyr themselves in place of their loved ones. Many times I have selected a father or mother to be gleaned, and their spouse leaps in front of my weapon and is killed in the brief moment in which I cannot stop myself. I have run through many people in the way of my selection. Each time I find it harder and harder to cope with it. Usually I will immediately grant the unscathed spouse immunity, but sometimes I simply must glean them, for it is what I have chosen for that person.

Gleaning by martyr is a tricky situation to explain to the Scythedom. By way of the scythe, a person's family must be granted immunity after a gleaning, but those who martyr themselves are not considered true gleanings.

The hardest part of martyrdom is that the Thunderhead cannot take the martyr and revive them, for they were felled by a scythe's hand. They fall in a grey area between the Scythedom and the State. The most common thing that I am asked after a martyr is if the martyr can be revived. It is one of the most paining experiences to explain the situation, and often I find myself still haunted by those who have taken their spouse's place.

––From the gleaning journal of H.S. Kaku