Request for Development: Death

[Lazybones]

This is a request for Storytellers and Founders alike.

So, not to be morbid, but I think this is a topic that is not well covered in the wiki. Death is often a large part of cultural and religious believes, often regarded an an ultimate end, the end of a cycle, or the beginning of a higher existence. The lives of Charoda, Isur, Humans, Drykas, Vantha, and all the other varied cultures of Mizahar is richly detailed in their race wikis, but what about their deaths?

There is some debate about what happens to an Ethaefal when he dies, and as a race, I don't believe they have any uniform belief system about how to treat their dead, unless Syna or Leth request a service. The Akalak may sometimes see their adolescents die in trials. The Konti would not see many deaths on their own isle, but I can speculate that all of Mura would be saddened if someone died.

Not only would different races treat death differently, but different cultures within races would also regard it differently. The Drykas, a sub-culture of humans, leave their dead in the open on raised platforms where they died. Humans in Syliras cremate their dead. But what about other human cities? Lhavit? Zeltiva? Avanthal? The Vantha can't bury their dead in frozen ground.

Speaking for Ravok, they would most likely not have any uniform method for tending their dead. It could be anything from a grand funeral with dozens of people in attendance, to an inglorious kick into the canals. Burial wouldn't be likely, as there's nowhere to bury someone except on the shore, where animals would likely burrow and eat the tasty corpse, but a memorial somewhere wouldn't be out of the question.

What about other cultures? I'd love to know what happens to the bodies of the dead in Mizahar. I think this is important to character development and histories, and future plots if any new characters or important NPCs experience untimely deaths. I've seen my share in Alvadas already.

[Rage]

Myrians burn their dead. What they do with the bones after that, I'm not sure. Cayenne can give more of a definite answer to that, but I've always wondered too if the remains (bones) can be 'inherited' by their immediate family, to be used as decorations for their homes/weapons (maledicted or otherwise)/tools, seeing as Myrians, ever practical, do not like to put anything to waste. And the soul of the departed wouldn't need their physical remains after anyway since they will be reincarnated by Myri.

[Liar]

In Nyka symbolism is paramount, and so their customs probably vary. A fisherman may want to be sent to sea, a farmer buried in the ground. Because it's so crowded, I imagine cremation is common too, with ashes scattered in a place that was important to them in life. Most people probably default to having their bodies sent to the Aperture, back to the Heart of the World, where they can be recycled into the life force of the Mother City.

[Poison]

Symenestra don’t bury their dead because they live in a cave. Instead they treat the bodies with special mixtures to keep them from decaying, wrap them in silk and take them to the Temple of Viratas. The bodies of all Symenestra that ever died in Kalinor are kept there. Dead surrogates on the other hand are discarded like trash, dumped on the bottom of the cave and never talked about again. The monsters that live on the bottom of the cave eat them.

[Fallacy]

In Alvadas Ive established the practice of cremation (contrary to popular belief the 'cremated' bodies are not all ash after they are burned. There are bone fragments left over, and so the NPCs assigned to the cremating will usually pound the remains to dust.) after which the ashes are given to the family, but if they have no family then they ashes are spread around Alvadas by Menna.

There are two locations Ive done to flesh the concept of death in Alvadas out.

The Divine Legacy - of course the 'taking' of bones done by Karash is a very well kept secret

and

The Sealed Grounds - which explains a little history behind the cremation (mainly the fear of malediction and bodies being robbed/disappearing)