Paraphrased from High Cleric Gilsen’s missive on the Acceptable Disposition of the Dead, Year 632 CR.
Greetings
To the Clerics of the Temple Order in Timbur Deep,
It has become of increasing concern that there are those who reject tradition, reject history, reject the will of the gods, and reject morality. Word has reached this office that a campaign by dark believers within the Merchant Houses, the Legion, or the Empire’s own head proposed a treatment so abominable that I can scarcely describe it here. They seek to desecrate the holy vessel, the bodies of the believers, and reduce them to nothing more than animal feed.
Outrageous!
It took many generations to finally convince the Visari to abandon their own practices, and there are those within the Empire that pursue an even greater insult to the gods. The body is a temple in itself, and serving the temple of the gods to the city’s hogs should not now, not ever, be such a sentence uttered by anyone wishing to remain in their favor.
To that end, brothers and sisters, we shall enforce rites which respect and honor the dead, and condemn all others.
Blessed Practices
Family Crypts
Man was born of the earth, and therefore it is permissible to return to the earth. The mountain caves have long been used as a final resting place for the dead, and families with means to build crypts honor them still. Many of our benefactors prefer this end, and where one has the means to acquire crypt or cave, we shall not challenge, and the gods bless.
Village Burial
Those who fall in the city may, at the behest of their family or friends, be returned to whichever village they are from. The Temple will first ensure that the deceased is properly prepared for travel, lest a restless spirit curse the ground the body passes over. Within the villages, they may bury their dead in an honorable way, in designated spaces far from well or water. If the burial is to happen on land used for farm, the grave must be marked and crops must not be planted over it for seven winters.
Burial in the Wilds
The wilds around the city may also accept the dead, as long as they are taken to the true wilds beyond the farms. This is a beloved practice and a procession for those held dear by friends and family is a sight that brings peace to the family of the deceased. Many families choose to fill their pockets with a nuts, acorns, or flower seeds, which, if the person lived an honorable life, allows something beautiful to grow where they lay. If a family returns to find nothing has grown, it often reveals something about the person buried there.
Temple Crypts
Gods bless the lost. Those without family. Those abandoned.
The sorry dregs forsaken by all but the gods, who still bless them.
These poor souls serve the Temple even in death. Clerics learn about the body through their remains, through careful dissection and preservation. Diseases are identified and cured, a noble end to those of such low status. Tallow rendered from the bodies becomes the Temple’s candles and fuel the Temple’s lamps, a final chance for the soul to cast its light on the world.
What remains are the bones, scraped clean, then interred in the Temple’s own crypts. In the Temple, even the wretched find rest.
Funeral Pyre
Cleansing through fire is the final acceptable practice, though it is not common in the region, and very much less common near Timbur Deep. The reason is simple: it takes a considerable amount of wood to cleanse the spirit through fire, and that is a resource best used in other ways. It is far better to bury someone in the wild than to have a family going cold for the winter. Still, for those who desire it, the gods bless.
Cursed Practices
Abandonment
The gods weep, as this happens far more often than should be permitted. A man falls, and the body is abandoned to rot. Whether in the Slums or fields, the spirit receives no rest, and curses the land around with disease and decay.
Burial in Water
The gods have decided this even more detestable than abandonment, as the restless spirit becomes angered, cursing land far beyond where the dead may lay. It becomes bloated, the skin swelling until it ruptures, poisoning everything around. Even among those who die at sea shall they be returned to the land, and put into the earth where they may find rest.
Cannibalism
The Temple has condemned the practice that is most detestable to the gods. The ancient Visari practice of consuming the dead. They claim it is honoring. That eating a small bit, the weight of a grain of barley, is a way of keeping the deceased alive. Of staying connected to their ancestors.
The gods say this: any eating of dead flesh is an abomination. It is forbidden within our lands.
Gods Bless
Go then, brothers and sisters, and make sure the people know what is acceptable, and what brings ruin. Be strong of spirit and bring peace to the weary.
By Divine Charge,
Gilsen, High Cleric of the Temple Order in Timbur Deep