Funeral Rites and Customs Within Otkorion

The Otkorioni blieve that Death is the domain of St. Humakt and a gift from the Creator to end the Tyranny of the Evil Emperor. The passing over of an individual of the Church is to be celebrated unless it was a dishonourable death.

The Otkorioni believe that a person will most likely achieve Solace if they die valiantly - they even rank the most virtuous ways to die:

• On a Quest for Family, King or God
• In battle with an enemy such as Chaos or trolls
• In battle with an enemy whom you have a personal grudge with, who has offended you or is a family foe
• Dying whilst carrying out Caste duties
• Dying to save another member of the Church
• Dying of Old Age after a life of valiance and dedication to one's Caste
• Accidental death, dying by assassination or posioning and death by disease, or undisclosed sources such as a shaman's curse
• Dying of Old Age after a life of trying to avoid Death
• Dying whilst engaged in an act against the Love of God and the Church

All Saints have some part in the process of Death. Orlanth and Ralia are the Holders of Solace and they are the Masters of the Afterlife, looking after both the Halls where dead souls go to if they do not reach Solace and also attending to Solace itself. St. Humakt is Death and Protector of the Sacred Power. St. Chalana is the Saint who subverted Death and is sometimes used to defeat it. St. Lhankor Mhy is the recorder and arbitrator without whom the dead would be forever forgotten and whose deeds would never be recorded. St. Eurmal did have responsibilities but shirked them before Time began. St. Goldentongue is the psychopomp and St. Malkion is the Judge.

The Dead are said to wait seven days after their demise in the hope that St. Chalana may turn her kind eye and breath life back into their shells. If these days elapse with no ressurection, then the Dead will walk the road to Hell - banding together in groups along the way. Some groups are given the Blessing of St. Eurmal and along the path of the Dead are accompanied by the Trickster, and so sing, dance and make merriment of the Solace that is to come. On a quiet evening in Otkorion these souls are said to be the willo'th'wisps that are seen in places of death such as marshes or swamps.

The Dead descend down the Gates of Dusk alongside Elmal who guards them until Goldentongue leads them through Hell for Seven Seasons to the River of Swords. Here the Dead (and only the Dead) may cross into the Aferlife - St. Lhankor Mhy stands attendant taking everyone's name for his ledger. St. Humakt stands guard and allows only those of the Church to pass - the living are forced back, unwholesome chaos is tossed into the River of Swords, and all others must pass onwards into Limbo.

Past here you enter into Umathil's Halls where St. Malkion attends as Judge. If you are judged truly worthy you pass into Solace, elsewise you spend a varying amount of time in Orlanth's Halls enjoying the sports of warriorship, wenching, drinking, loving and joking before returning through the power of Ralia reincarnated once more. Those judged unworthy are taken by the Heaven Troop and thrown into the chasm near the Stead where the soul must take it's own chances, normally being caught as some plaything for an evil Krjalki and being taken to where the Evil Emperor remain chained in Hell to be his enjoyment for eternity.

There are two major, and one minor, form of burial. Most Otkorioni are wrapped in cloth and guarded for seven days after their demise. If the individual was a Hero, a Living Saint, a member of Royalty, an individual with a Healer's Boon or whose comrades can afford it, will be given the provelage of a Healer attempting Ressurection. Often the Church will call for some geas during ressurection to show piety and often the wounds sustained in the final battle that caused the Dead's death will never heal. People who are ressurected are often never the same again - many join the cult of St. Humakt. It is considered both bad luck and dishonourable for any but the deceased's lovers to cry in front of the body - in the case where many people wish to lament the deceased's passing, a building will be dedicated to the mourning and a ceremonial vat of Minlister's Ale will be installed alongside any personal items brought in the memory of the deceased.

After the Seven Days a funeral pyre will be built ising logs covered in runes that roughly translate to Good Will, Strong Heart, Bold Courage In Your Afterlife. Although in special circumstances variations are used. For instance, those who died in suspect circumstances merely have written Accursed Soul. The Archbishop may be called to create the appropiate rune set for particular Heros. Such personalised rune sets are known as Eorghal.

The wood that the logs are carved out of is also important - mahogany is used for members of the Lord Caste, Maple for members of the Wizard Caste, Redwood for the Warrior Caste and Oak for members of the Farmer Caste. Usually each mourner will carve one log and take it to the pyre, and below these ceremonial logs is normal wood kindling to ensure it burns.

The funeral is held always on ground consecrated to St. Orlanth or St. Goldentongue. Anyone who wishes to speak of the deceased (whether good or bad, or of past injustices) may do so and then the presiding Priest of the Wizard Caste lights the fire, and gives a small chant in Stormspeech to commit their soul to the path of the dead:

"Lord Goldentongue, take this soul safe into the night,
Past the doors wherein Hell lies
Down the final path, to the resting place
Guard the soul tight, safe from harm
Hold him from the Emperor's clutches
And take him to the Light"

The ashes of the body are then taken to the highest accessible point and thrown into the wind. In some cases a sylph descends of it's own accord and takes the still burning corpse through much of Middle Air as it burns to ash. This is very rare and a sign of a blessing from St. Orlanth.

The rest of the day is spent in one last night of mourning (read: drinking) before life is expected to continue on more or less as normal. The deceased's children are allowed to wear back bands on their weapons until they feel it appropiate to remove them, and the deceased's lovers sometimes cover their left hand in ash until they feel that it is appropiate for them not to do so.

The alternative burial method is reserved for two situations - the person to be buried is Humakti or it is unfeasible for the body to be given a full burial rite i.e. in times of war or emergency. Normally even the most lowly peasant should expect a decent funeral as all priests work for free in such a case.

The seven days of mourning are dispensed with - Humakti cannot be ressurected anyhow and those who die a warrior's death are brave enough to face the seven days as a disembodied spirit alone without any family aid. The body is stripped and buried as deep as possible, if they have any personal items they are burnt during the ceremony. Pillaging the body is against custom - although in times of war a Sword of St. Humakt may reallocate important items such as rations, weapons and armour to other soldiers who need it more.

At the ceremony a Humakti should say a few words of how the person died and pray to Humakt for their safe journey. If no Humakti is available then a Warrior Caste member can suffice. If no Warrior Caste member is present it is unlikely that this form of burial was even suggested.

As soon as the group returns to safety a memorial ceremony is held to send the soul to safety. This is routine if the seven days have not elapsed, elsewise the soul may well be lost and a HeroQuest must be made into the realm of spirits to lead them to safety - a member of St. Goldentongue leads the Quest. In the worst cases a Quest to the Bad Man's Lodge must be made. The Church never allows a confirmed member of the Church to be left without aid, even after Death.

The third, and by far the rarest, method of burial is reserved for the monarchy of Valantia - a remanent of their pre-Orlanthi days. Upon Death the body is guarded by the Royal Guard for Seven Days until all hopes of Ressurection are lost. Then, with no fabulous ceremony, the body of the King/Queen etc... is pronounced dead by the Archbishop who gives the cahnt above, and then one of the Temporal Incarnations of St. Humakt takes it into the Valantian catacombs where it is entombed with a small amount of riches and any items that the person requested to be buried with. The monarchy spend a lot of preparation preparing for thier demise. It is said that no member of the Valantian monarchy ever truly dies, although that is a story for another time - although it is true that no member of the monarchy has ever passed the River of Swords or had their names recorded in St. Lhankor Mhy's Ledger. As soon as the body is entombed the position held by the deceased is filled by his successor - there is no coronation ceremony or it's equivalent as there is in Fiesive, although a declaration is passed through the city.