Funeral Rights

When it comes to the internment of the dead, there are many factors that play a part in how a person's life is honoured after they have died. One of the most important considerations is the wealth of the recently deceased and the willingness of their living relatives or next of kin to spend the money on their funeral. The other major factors are the person's religion, their country or race and, in some cases, their job. The different traditions from these various aspects of someone's background and identity will culminate together such that someone of the same religion will most likely have a different funeral if they're from a different country and vice versa.

### Religion

#### Desna

For the truly well-respected and honored followers of Desna, the funeral service consists of a dream session where all of the attendees go to sleep and are drawn into a dream state. In this dream, the dead person is reconstructed and re-imagined from the collective memories of all participants and they have one last fantastical party during which they get a chance to say their final goodbyes to a convincingly realistic impersonation of their loved one. Most, however, can not afford this sort of service and must settle for a ceremony where people the grievers tell stories of the deceased and then take turns to say what they would like to say to the dead person.

#### Gorum

Friends or family of the diseased are invited to compete in one-on-one matches with the temple's champion. These are often more of a show than real combat but if the person can fight then it can become an actual match, though healers are always onsite and rarely is anyone injured severely.

#### Iomedae

Funeral services for those who worship Iomedae consist of two main things - forgiveness and resolutions - both of which are expected to be public. Because of this, the services are sometimes held, at least in part, on the steps of the temple. The forgiveness section involves people who believe that the dead person has done anything wrong to them or owes them anything coming and swearing before Iomedae that they forgive the dead person and that no more justice is needed. This then satisfies the need for justice for those things and the god doesn't have to seek justice for them with the dead in the afterlife, lessening any judgment that might still be due. After a person declares something that the dead person did but has not yet repaid, those present say "the Scales are unbalanced", then the wronged party states that they forgive the dead person and those viewing the ceremony say "the Scales tip closer to justice." On occasion, people will come to the funeral and announce a wrongdoing but refuse to forgive the person; this is considered to be a great insult to a follower of Iomedae and is akin to turning up at a funeral and saying "I hope you burn in hell" to the cadaver. This is still considered less of an insult than refusing to come and air any grievances at all.

The resolution stage begins after the forgiveness stage has run its full course and consists of people making resolutions, vows, and promises. Officially, these are things that they will do in honour of the fallen and as a sign of carrying on their mission in life, but often they're simply bad habits people wish they could give up or good habits they wish they had the will power to start. Other than this, when someone dies, especially if they're young, people have a tendency to think about their own mortality and the things they have not yet done then make resolutions to go and do them.

#### Torag

The ideal funeral for someone who follows Torag involves a casket of the most exquisite design and craftsmanship, made by those who care for the one who died. People then honour the fallen with items crafted in their honour by those paying their respects and placed within the coffin. These offerings are far less about their value and have much more to do with the craftsmanship and the fact that it is made in honour of the dead person.

The reality is that there are a number of people who don't have the skills requited to craft something they feel is fitting for a loved one and thus outsource it to other craftsmen for a fee. The crafted item or coffin is then still considered to be made in honour of the dead.

#### Asmodeus

True worshipers of Asmodeus don’t have funerals. Instead, the corpses are often disposed of in ways that others consider disrespectful but a worshiper of Asmodeus would consider it offensive and hypocritical to perform any sort of funeral ritual. If you’re truly sad that this person is dead then you should have made a deal with Asmodeus to trade your life for theirs or at least make some sort of deal on their behalf.

#### Lamastu

Bodies of the devoted are fed to magical beasts - the more powerful the better.

#### Nivi Rombodazzle

Most funerals for those who worship Nivi seem more like a celebration consisting of partying, drinking, and playing games with gambling. The ethos is that though you may have lost this person, every loss comes with an opportunity for new victories. The coffin containing the deceased is given the place of honour during the celebration and the person within is treated as though they are still alive; revelers will bring food and drink to be left by the coffin and it is also commonplace for people to come up and tell jokes to the coffin, often ones including dark humour regarding the fact that they're dead.

#### Venkelvore

Funerals for those who worshiped Venkelvore always feature a feast and vast gorging, preferably including food that was taken, stolen, or at least could have been intended for the less fortunate.

### Country

#### Torlund

Funerals here often begin with a service at the temple of choice based on the religion the dead person had, they include a time of reminiscing over the good deeds that the person has done as well as what they meant to those whom they leave behind, after this there is a procession of sorts where the corpse will be placed into a coffin and then carried through town with those who miss or respect the deceased lining the streets of the parade to honour the dead. The procession then ends at a temple of Pharasma where the body is handed over to then be buried in the attached graveyard.

For most people the procession is as short as possible leading directly from one temple to the next so as to inconvenience a minimum amount of people, but for more honoured people the parade winds through the streets, anyone who sees a funeral procession is expected to stop and respectfully honour the casket so longer the routes are only allowed for those the govern deems worthy. For nobles and Kings however the coffin can end up taking a tour of the whole fief or country a team of clerics ensuring that the body remains fresh.

#### Scandar

Typically the dead our burned on funeral pyres.

#### The Drazia Dynasty

The greatest honour in the dynasty is to be given a large and spacious tomb in one of the dense and short on space Kingdom cities but this can get quite expensive depending on which kingdom you live in, for kings these can be extravagant mausoleums that are visited by awe filled future generations, while other tombs only hold a person for a few generations before the body is removed and the tomb redecorated for a new corpse, as the space is only considered to have been rented from the city and if you wish to continue storing a body there then people must continue to pay. Funerals themselves are held at the tomb if there is one and much focus of the service is dedicated to the person who had the tomb commissioned describing what the finished monument will entail and concluding with them doing some sort of ceremonial beginning of the work. Officially the the funeral is only over when the work on the tomb has been completed and it is the responsibility of the dead persons loved ones to make sure it does get completed.

For the poorest of society it has become common place for dwarves to be buried in wooden structures on the surface surrounding the Kingdoms rather than within its walls.

#### Muin-Ru

Most Gnomes hold a very pragmatic view about death and once someone is dead they simply leave behind a shell that needs to be disposed of rather than something that needs to be treated with any reverence. A person who is dying however, deserves the full attention of those around them and everything that can be done in order to save them should be done. In Jel’hep bodies are cremates and scattered off of the side of the city while gnomes from other places cremate the bodies and then scatter the ashes if the person was important they might travel to a high location to scatter the ashes from, more in memory of Jel’hep and Muin-Ru than in a sense respect for the dead. Funerals then are less concerned with the body and focus mainly on the possessions and particularly any inventions they might have made, their funerals become something akin to an auction. While turning up at someone’s funeral might be a great way to get a bargain most of the time people will often pay more at a funeral than they normally would for an item as a make of respect to the person who died.

#### Janmier

Most of the tribes practice a form of sky burial dependent on their type, those of the river tribes take large branches and carve intricate patterns into them the patterns tale tails of deeds that the recently deceased did during their life or stories of great heroes and deities. These branches are then crafted into a crude raft and affixed to the body before it is allowed to float down the river the carved branches will keep the bad spirits away from the dead and ensure that they aren't tormented in the afterlife. Those from the coastal tribes take fresh unprepared Strands of Yaku burn them over a ritual fire, as the fire is burning the tribe sings songs to the gods calling them to look after the dead persons spirit in the afterlife. They then mix the ashes from the burned plant with sea water to make a thick black paste which they use as body paint as the whole tribe decorate themselves in ritualistic symbols, men of the tribe then sail the body out to a patch of Yaku where the body is tied to a strand and left for the sea to take. Jungle tribes will have a place on the out skirts of town where bodies are taken to be given back to nature and eaten by wild animals.

#### Mithril Isles (Dragonborn)

The dragon born of the Mithril isles honour their dead by first having a period of mourning, ritual cleansing and the holding of vigils. After someone dies those who cared for them in life will come and collect the body, find a secluded place were they can store the body often a place of great significance if possible. They then take time to wash the body wash them selves and spend time in complete silence with the body opening their mouths as rarely as possible. In cases where the person either truly cares for or is honour bound to the deceased they don’t say a word from the moment they learn of their death until a week after the body has been destroyed. People will sit alone with the body in silence for long periods of time then for those who are well loved there will be a que of other mourners waiting to take over outside while those who are alone may well have the disgrace of having only a short period of morning between their death an destruction due to a lack of people to stand vigil. Once everyone who wishes to pay their respects have the body is brought out of the secluded place and washed a final time and anointed with oils and perfumes, then their loved ones will gather around and use their draconian breath weapons on the body until it is gone.

#### Carthorka

It is considered a great honour to be buried along with wealth, and often people will be buried along with any valuables they might have accumulated during their life, while others might also place valuable items on the body to be buried alongside the corpse as a sign of respect.

#### Zilcan

Mostly funeral rights are simply incantations and rituals to speed up the recently deceased return to life.