Funerals
See also: Using Corpses & Spirits for other ways to handle a corpse.
Funerals require a priest & a spirited corpse. A suitable ritual & ceremony will summon a Psychopomp to handle the spirit.
Psychopomps take many forms depending on the spirit pleaded to & their domains. They may appear as a mouse, crow, whirling ball of fire, troop of ants, very tired human runner from the nearest cult temple, wayward ferret or fox, or many others.
There are 2 main benefits to hosting a funeral for Players:
- Lessons from the Dead: When a funeral is hosted, PCs in attendance who knew the deceased well (having been with them long enough for both to grow in Level) may state a truthful lesson they have learned from their dealings with the deceased, if any, & add it to their character sheet as a Fact.
- Reincarnation: After creating or adopting a new PC, the Player may transfer a single Class Feature of their choice from their dead PC onto the new one.
A deceased PC’s Player may choose to begin playing as any Retainer of their former PC.
After death, someone must provide a “donation” to one of the temples of the cult that took you in within a month, equal to:
$1 × HD × ([Power] at the time of your death squared, minimum 1)
If your survivors fail to pay within a year, your spirit may be sold off as a debtor’s spirit or evicted & cast down to Hell. If this happens, PCs lose the benefits from having had the funeral in the first place.
Afterlifes
The afterlife is slumber in a Totem in a cult’s basement or graveyard. In exchange for funeral fees, the cult will keep your spirit at rest in one of their temples.
You may make advance arrangements (& donations) to receive better treatment in your afterlife. Expensive Totems & priestly attention are very comfortable for a spirit in its final rest. Some cultures consider it prestigious to have their entire body preserved as a single massive Totem.
Your excess spiritual energy will go towards sustaining the Godhead of the cult’s target of veneration until your soul runs dry, at which point a spirit withdraws into the immaterial Aether & is said to reincarnate.
Some wealthier families in Glass maintain private cults & mausoleums for their ancestors’ souls & may hire a gravekeeper beast or anoint a family member to serve as a focus for an ancestral Godhead.
Desecrating Graves
The desecration of a grave Totem condemns a resting soul to Hell (by shattering the bond keeping it from sinking into the earth) & may create a ghost in the spirit’s desperation to stay alive. Breaking into an afterlife & destroying spirit vessels is a capital offense in many civilizations.
Debtor’s Spirits
Some temples sell off the spirits of those whose survivors failed to pay funeral fees as debtor’s spirits. Most men have little to offer other than for some practical skill with specific tasks.