Sending

The **Sending** is a ceremony summoners perform in Ozuma that helps guide the spirits of the dead to the Afterworld. Sending is performed via dance ritual.

## Nature

Sending dispatches perished sentient lifeforms' spirits to the Afterworld, a place that exists on the inside of the planet of Ozuma and is the planet's life energy. The lifeform's sentience is crucial, as pyrelights from plants and fiends do not need a sending.

Unsent spirits eventually become fiends. When someone dies without accepting death, the pyrelights that made up their "soul" may be trapped in the world of living. If the person has a strong enough conviction to remain in the world of the living, their pyrelights may take the form of the deceased's former body and remain in Ozuma as an unsent. The spirits remaining in the world may begin envying the living, the envy turning to hate and resentment and turning them into fiends.

In rare cases, a sent spirit can leave the Afterworld if they still have a strong attachment to the world of the living. A spirit doesn't necessarily need to be sent to find its way to the Afterworld; in fact, as there are only a limited amount of summoners, and their main job isn't performing the sending, but rather completing the pilgrimage, it is likely most people do not need a sending. Sending is required most commonly when a person dies in violent or otherwise unusual circumstances, as their spirit still has "unfinished business" back in the world of the living. Once an individual has accepted death they will return to the Afterworld without the need of sending. Even the individuals who go on to become unsent possess this ability.

## Story

> I wished there would never be a next time. No more people being killed by Penance. No more sendings for Tasha. Everyone stood there watching her. It was strange, and somehow... horrifying. I never wanted to see it again.
>
> A party member, ruminating on the sending

Sending was an ancient ritual used in the ancient Bavel as the metropolis was known to use summoners. During the present day Ozuma summoners perform the sending, but this is not their main purpose.

## Musical themes

The music that traditionally accompanies the sending is a solemn rendition of the "Hymn of the Fayth". It mirrors Japanese ceremonial music, complete with Japanese instruments.

## Behind the scenes

Many cultures and religions have funeral rites with belief that failure to perform them will lead for the spirit to be unable to find rest. The dancing element of the sending refers to Shintoism, as *Kagura* is the ancient Shinto ritual dance of shamanic origin, with the legend stating that the sun goddess Amaterasu became upset at her brother and hid in a cave. Ame-no-uzume began to dance and create a commotion to entice Amaterasu to come out. The kami (gods) tricked Amaterasu by telling her there was a better sun goddess in the heavens and Amaterasu came out and light returned to the universe.

In both ancient Japanese collections, the Nihongi and Kojiki, Ame-no-uzume's dance is described as *asobi*, which in old Japanese language means a ceremony designed to appease the spirits of the departed, conducted at funeral ceremonies. Therefore, kagura is a rite of *tama shizume*, of pacifying the spirits of the departed. Spirits were pacified and rejuvenated in ancient Japan by songs and dances, also called *asobi*.

*Danse Macabre*, French for "dance of death", is an artistic genre of late-medieval allegory on the universality of death: no matter one's station in life, the dance of death unites all, similar to the ritual of the sending.