Dres Cremation Practices

Publisher's Note: The following missive is printed by authority of the Hlaalu Council Company and with the permission of its original author in the interests of promoting understanding and respect between the visitors to Morrowind and her local people.

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So you've seen the Dres beacons shining over the plains? No, they are not lighthouses. The Dres don't need big lights to navigate by. Well, I suppose you outlanders could use them as such, but the Dres won't have lit them for that, I can tell you. No, those are the Dres. The recently deceased, that is, on their journey to Necrom.

No, the Dres don't use Veloth's Way. They don't like to leave their territory if they don't have to. Well, yes, they do send hunters into the South, but that's business and not pleasure. Too much trouble, anyway. Why walk when you can ride, the caravaners will ask you. The Dres are clever; they noticed there's a strong wind that goes up from Lake Andaram and then rushes down the other side Necrom-way. That wind carries their dead.

Of course the flesh and blood is too heavy to be carried by the wind. And the bones; especially the bones. The Tribunal (Blessed be their Holy Names) need the bones to power the Ghostfence; they can't do with just the flesh-ashes, which we burn up here. We can send the bones after, sure, but the Dres aren't going to. So the Dres need to burn the bones as well. Get the fire nice and hot. Hence the beacons.

How do they do it? Well, I can tell you, in fact, but it's not quickly told. The Dres stand on ceremony, if their dead are on the line, and ceremony takes time.

First, they dry out the body. Not very hard to do over there; just find a salt patch and lay it in. You'll see them sometimes, if you ever have the misfortune to cross the plains: a few clan guards standing vigil over a dry brown form. That'll be the body. Yes, they stand vigil. In shifts, of course, as the body takes a long time to dry out properly. These are not your dead slaves left to parch in the salt and sun and be nibbled away at by whatever thrice-cursed salt-munching beasts live up there. Especially in these days, with you outlanders sniffing about where you're not meant to, begging your pardon. If you do see them, I'd suggest you keep your distance and not stare too much. We don't hold by corpse-gawkers around here, but we understand you foreigners like to gawk, so we just gawk back until you back off. The Dres are not so understanding.

Your folk don't abide by corpse-gawking either? Huh. Well, the Dres don't know that, and they won't ask.

Now they don't just lay the corpse flat. It's not dignified enough for them, and besides, it would be a pain to balance them on their pillars that way, begging your pardon. They have them sit, lotus-position, as you'll see Lord Vivec sit in frescos. They're dead, of course, so they're not about to sit by themselves. But if you've spent a bit of time in Morrowind you'll know that's no object. The bonesmiths know all about reinforcing joints, as you'll know, and they have a much easier time getting something not to move than they do getting something to be able to move. They drive long, sharp bones and bits of metal and chitin tubes between the bones in such a way that the body doesn't shift about. Looks like what? Onsi? One of your foreign gods? Don't mention that to the Dres, they won't like it.

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They don't use metal much, no, they don't have a lot of it to go around. They always make sure to use at least one piece, though. It's the only bit that doesn't burn up completely, and it's not needed for the Ghostfence, so it's the only bit they can really keep.

The chitin just comes from the legs of some bug, I'm not sure which. It’s pretty sturdy stuff, though. Used for scaffolding and the like. Much lighter than the wood from the jungles, and more convenient to get at.

Where do they get the bones from? Ah, the bone stakes you mean. Those are the 'bones of their enemies'. I told you the Dres stand on ceremony. Though to be fair, 'enemy' means 'some wretched slave' more often than not. Bones of traitors? Where’d you hear that from? You read it in some book? Hanin’s what? Never heard of it, but sounds about right. The Dres don't hold by traitors either, but don't get a lot of them. No wonder. You can be sure if some do pop up they'll be the first to burn. They sometimes use the bones of some other clan's Chap-thil if they're having a very bad feud or the body is of a very important clansman, but I hear even the Dres leadership frowns on that, let alone the Temple. No, if they want to go out of their way nowadays it usually involves a trip to the South to get a lizard that at least puts up a bit of a fight. Times have changed, even for the Dres.

Once the body is dry they carry it back. It's a good deal lighter then, even with all the bits of bone and metal and chitin sticking out, but the Dres carry it very carefully, to be sure, on its bug-husk platform. I don't know how they get it up on the pillar, in fact. They must use those flying things they have. I don't like those.

Though here's a bit of knowledge for the road, and you'd better hope you won't need it: those bugs don't like fire much, or so I hear. No wonder as well, as their tallow burns like nothing else I've seen. Or you've seen, for that matter, as you've seen the beacons burn yourself. Once the body is back at the clanstead, it's coated with the stuff. And draped over with clan textiles coated in the stuff. And the chitin shell the body is sitting in is filled with the stuff as well. They want to be sure it all burns up, you see, or they'd have to burn it again later, which isn't really proper.

And then when it's sitting up there all right and ready they light the lot -- not sure how they do that either, as I doubt the bugs would play along, and I know I wouldn't want to be anywhere near it when it lights up, or I'd be halfway to Necrom before sundown -- and that's the light you see. I wasn't kidding either, the fire does its work quickly, or something's gone awful wrong.

Now I've told you and saved you the trouble of asking the Dres. They don't like questions, especially about their dead. It's a good thing you asked me as well. I know caravaners who go up into the salt plains -- gods know why, as they don't like it there and the Dres don't like them there, but they're proper Hlaalu so they know to follow the money and it's not my place to question them -- and they tell me a few tales of what they see. And I don't know about you, but for me hearing is enough.

But you seem sensible, for an outlander. Curious, sure, but I suppose we all are. Where was it you were headed? Narsis? Straightaway out of the province, not bad. Maybe the Dres would like you after all.