Naglani
The Naglani don't bury their dead. The deceased are placed on the earth, a custom that dates from ancient times, as the Naglani lived in very cold regions, where the soil was frozen all year over. The body used to be frozen and thus prevented from rotting too soon and the cold also protected the living from illnesses that could be spread by the vapours coming from the decaying body.Wild animals would eat the body and take it into a circle of new life. Other Nowadays, the Naglani will lay their loved ones on the soil, and then burn the bodies so smoke and ashes will be taken into Alls. Those who are rejected by Alls will come back from "the Realms of Riqiz" and haunt the living.
Some Naglani will tell they always burned their dead, even in Trigohaima. No proof of that is found, nor proof for the contrary, that it is "natural" for the Naglani to decay in the open air (popular in Skaunsric). However, it is forbidden to decay the dead in a gong, so the body should be burned and that within ten days, before it starts rotting away.
The family can commemorate the loved one at the personal temple of the deceased - the place where the one who passed away liked it best. This is also the place where many a Naglan wishes to die when his time has come. If that is not possible, the blue sky is preferred.
Poorters of Daleth
The eight pointed star: symbol of the splinter.
The rich Poorters on the main land of Daleth will bury their loved ones on their estates, in crypts and mausolea - these can either be on the ground in rocky regions or on very wet soils, or dug underground elsewhere. The dead body will be exposed to the open sky, until one bright night full of stars has covered the body. After that, the splinter is supposed to be a star in that sky and the coffin can be closed, the body can be buried. During the waiting for the starry sky, an armed watch is placed next to the body to prevent the body from being eaten by wild animals.
Spiritual, the body is no longer important as soon as the splinter is taken into the sky. However, many families want to have their loved ones close by, hence the crypts on the estates. Each family sees to it that the crypts are cleaned out every now and then; if nobody can remember the deceased, the coffin with it content will be burned and the ashes are put in vases that line the walls of the crypts. Eventually, the vases will be buried next to the crypt, and be forgotten in the mists of time. Only the royals will be buried in their initial coffin forever, unless another dynasty decides to get rid off them - usually violently.
Deceased that are not mentioned as "loved ones" might be buried quick and illegal outside the estates - the hated, the murdered, the suicidals, gotten rid off before the community might find out about the murder. Popular folklore has it that these illegal buried might come back from the dead to haunt the villages, because their splinters never had the time to be covered with a starry night sky.
The poorer Poorters don't have estates, many of them don't even have a backyard to bury their loved ones in. And it is not allowed to bury people inside a gong, because the dead bodies are believed to attract diseases or generate poisonous vapours and are a magnet for wild animals. Therefore, graveyards are build outside the gong for the people of a town. There, the watch can take place, and the body is placed into one of the large subterranean halls of the dead for at least 10 years. After the body has decayed, the bones and skull are gathered, cooked to clean them of any flesh and placed into one of the deep bone pits that can be found in these halls of the dead. The idea is that the oldest bones, placed on the bottom of the pit will fade away (helped with a few bottles of a sour liquid, "Likatren") and make place for the newer bones.
During the period of watching and waiting for a starry sky, the people surrounding the dead body are not allowed to wear any light or shiny garments or jewellery. Dull grey, black, very dark blue and other dark colours are used as mourning colours. The reason for these sober colours is that the splinter should not confuse light colours and shiny jewellery with the stars where it should go to. Anyone wearing glittering things during a funeral risk the splinter of the deceased to haunt him for a very long time.
It is important to bury the dead in the ground, for that is the realm of Gräins, the Goddess of Life, who will be honoured with the burial. It is a way to return something to Gräins, from whom a lot has been taken in the form of harvest. Do not forget that Gräins evil twin is Molik, god of the empty fields and death. To put dead in the ground, life comes back, like life comes back on the fields in spring.
Roverseiland and the Dalethian coast
The inhabitants of Roverseiland and the settlements on the Dalethian coast will bury their dead in the sea after the period in which the splinter has to rise up to the sky. Some of the dead are taken to open sea on a special and very expensive burial boat, and then thrown into the waves (usually in a shroud that is heavy with stones or sand, so the body won't drift upon the waves and come back to haunt the ones left behind).More important people will be put into a ship, and the whole ship will be sunken into the open sea by pulling a plug out of it. The ship then gathers water and will sink eventually. The more important the deceased is, the smaller the hole, the slower the ship will sink.
This is not only because there is not enough place on the island for graveyards, but also a sacrifice to Aaser: the sea gives food (fish) and humans feed the fish (dead bodies). There are no debts to Aaser, and the people from the coast think that protects them from a stormy sea in which people might drown.
Day of the dead
On the Day of the dead, the Poorters of Daleth commemorate the ones that died, and other sad occasions. See also Seasons. For this commemoration, special sites are made, memorial statues and such, so the people pondering death can stay in the towns.
Sudzi
The Sudzi will bury their family with as much care as possible. The deceased was, is and will be a part of the family. To make sure the deceased will still be nice to the family that is left behind in this world, the one who passed away is treated very very gentle, with all honour and courtesy the Sudzi can provide. If the funeral goes wrong, the one who passed away might be enraged and refuse to offer help later, when it is needed.After a loved one has passed away to "the other side", the body is laid in the house of the family, in front of the family altar. There, it will stay until every member of the family has said goodbye. This can take a while, and in case the body may start to decay, the body is first washed, then embalmed with perfumes and ointments and finally dressed in special clothes. The Amalbruns will be burned next to the body, to open the doors between the world of the living and the world of the dead.
After the ritual goodbyes in the house, the body is laid upon a plank and taken to the cave where the bodies are stored. Bits and pieces of the body, such as curls of hair, nails, fingers, are placed on the home altar.
The body will be placed next to members of the family who have passed away earlier. There it will stay for eternity. Caves that are full are walled up, but not after some of the recently placed bodies are taken into a new cave. They are placed there so the fresh bodies won't be alone.
Sometimes the family will come to the cave to burn the Amalbruns and talk to the one who passed away and can not be reached at home - maybe the essence of being is still in the body and they will try to convince the essence to leave this world before it gets frustrated. In the first menoths, the family will talk a lot to the one who has passed away, to show they did not forget him or her.
The caves the Sudzi bury their dead in, have been used by the Giants too. Because the bones are so small, no one believed it were the bones of the Giants, but some artifacts in these caves proved the Giants were not as large as anyone thought.
Those who have no family are dropped into the Wyz River, just on the border of Ciniz, so the body drifts away, out of sight, into Wythviz and eventually Luban. The Lubaner might think the decayed bodies are in fact evil spirits...
The dropping in the river was custom in Het Koude Dal, territory of the northern Sudzi. After the body had decayed enough, they got rid of it by dumping it into the Noorderstroom. The inhabitants of the Weslanan got sick of this and forbid to do that any longer.
Now, the northern Sudzi bury their dead under large heaps of stone, enough stone to prevent the body from being eaten or replaced by animals.
Fanigawi
There is not much known about the funeral rites of Fanigawi. The people of Fanigawi throw the dead bodies in lakes of their water god or burn them and let the ashes be taken away by the wind gods. See also the book of Master Denneglans of Uzda, A survey on Fanigawi.Dernian Landis
There is nothing known of the funeral rites of Dernian Landis. There are reports of long, high burial hills in Thirun, but these might also be of Sudzi origin. The Sudzi have lived here, and considering their modern funeral rites, they might want to have build their own caves here, for there are no natural caves around.One reporter told us, the people of Dernian Landis bury their dead in huge gardens under a glass roof. The decaying bodies should fertilise the soil of these artificial gardens. This story is too strange to be believed by the more civilised inhabitants of Daleth.
Others say the Dernian Landian just put the dead bodies outside the domes of their cities at night, where the light of the dawn will eventually burn the bodies until nothing is left of it. If the ashes are used in the domed gardens is unknown.
Unknown territories
If someone dies in the unknown territories, the few contacts tell, the body is put upon a burial chariot. This burial chariot is filled with holy earth. The caravan takes the body along until they reach the holy place. Because it is so hot and sometimes damp, they mummify the bodies with salt and clay.All the time the body is not properly buried at the holy place, the one who died is considered a "living dead" (called Usmet) and is still a part of the dæ-kerwi, who needs food, drinks, attention and so on.
Luban
The Lubanians don't talk about funerals, for it would attract evil spirits. They bury their dead in the darkest of the night, and only when Lukarna hides her face. Until then, the body of the deceased is placed in a metal coffin in the cellar, protected by dozens of amulets, the grave gifts from the family. To hide the bad smell of the decaying body, mir'qot is burned near the coffin.The graveyard is hidden in the mountains, and the graves are left behind as if it were nature, as if nothing ever happened there. The body can not be found by spirits, and the family will forget it too. The amulets are buried with the body and should stay there until the gods wake up and time ends or until the body has totally decayed and the good spirit of life that hides in the body can escape (there are holes in the metal coffin, so the good spirit can escape that too, and small tunnels from the grave to the open sky so the spirit is free to go where ever it wants to go.
However, the Lubaner from the Highlands and the Dreaded Coast don't want the good spirits to roam free. They make the bodies of the ones that died into mummies, so the good spirit can stay there until the gods wake up and time ends.
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