Death Toll

The Death Toll is a magical form of currency used by The Ravenblack Court to allow for the safe travel of a Ravenblack to The Otherworld and back.

## Usage

The Death Toll is used to call The Conductor by holding out the Death Toll while in an abandoned area, specifically an abandoned platform or station with an accessible track. The Conductor and his R1 train rolls into the station or platform shortly thereafter and awaits for the Ravenblack to step onboard the train before the doors close shut, and the train moves onwards to The Otherworld. The Same method is sometimes used to return to the Mortal Plane or Physical Plane if The Conductor doesn't show up immediately after finding and guiding a lost spirit to the platform.

## Variants

There are different forms of the Death Toll used by Ravenblack Witches over the years.

* **"Small Y" Token: 1953 - 1970** The size of a Dime, The small "Y" token had a total mintage of 48 million, including a rare variant of this type with the "Y" not cut out. This token was used for only a few months in 1953.
* **"Large Y" Token: 1970-1980** The size of a Quarter, The large Y cutout comes in two varieties, one with larger lettering than the other. The large letter variety is slightly scarcer than the smaller letter variety. To tell the difference: The large letter variety looks like the lettering on the solid brass NYC token. On "NYC" the legs of the N are not deeply cut and there are no hooks on the C. The small letter type looks similar to the preceding small-Y variety, with both deeper cuts and hooks.
* **"Diamond Jubilee" Token: 1979-1980** Issued to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the subway in 1979. Mintage 5.8 million, with some rare errors without the hole punched.
* **"Solid Brass NYC" Token: 1980-1985**
* **"Bullseye" Token: 1986-1995** There are three variations of the "Bullseye" tokens. The first is the "SJD" token, the first of the "Bullseye" series. The letters "SJD" can be found on then "GOOD FOR ONE FARE" side between the "D" in GOOD and the "F" in FOR. The second is the Archer Avenue Extension commemorative token, issued in December 1988 to celebrate the opening of the Archer Avenue Extension in Queens. Instead of "GOOD FOR ONE FARE" it says "ARCHER AV EXTENSION 12-88". The third is the "plain Bullseye" which lacks the "SJD" on the token. Total mintage of all varieties 90 million; 100,000 were of the Archer Avenue variety.
* **"Five Boroughs" Pentagram Token: 1995-2003** This token was newly minted in 1991 for the fare increase to $1.25, but not used at that time. Instead they were held until the $1.50 fare increase in 1995. 60 million of these new tokens were minted. The token was finally phased out in favor of the Metrocard system, just after midnight on April 13, 2003.

## Gallery

### Physical

"Small Y" Token"Large Y" Token"Diamond Jubilee" Token"Solid Brass NYC" Token"Bullseye" Tokens (top); Archer Ave. variant (bottom left); SJD variant (bottom right)"Five Boroughs Pentagram" Token
### Webtoon/Webcomic

Close up of Willow's "Five Boroughs Pentagram" Token
## Notes & Trivia

* The Death toll is based on the Charon Mytheme that is reflected in Ancient Greek and Roman funeral practices. Specifically to provide payment to Charon for travel across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separate the worlds of the living and the dead.

## Sources

* New York City subway Tokens, nycsubway.org.
* Smith, William (1873). "Charon". *Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology*. London.