Post by Sardinal on Aug 5, 2017 13:58:27 GMT -5
Death in the Three Worlds
There are a variety of possible fates in store for the departed of the Three Worlds. In most cases, the fate a particular soul finds itself in was earned through the life it lived. It's own decisions, its own actions, its own journey has led it to one of many possible afterlives.
Death:
Once a mortal creature dies, its soul emerges from its body onto the Via Mortuus, the Path of the Dead. The Via Mortuus is a transitive demiplane identical to the Ethereal Plane in most respects. It is only accessible, however, to the newly deceased and servants of Sardinal whose job it is to collect the souls of the dead and deliver them to The God of Death.
Soon after emerging onto the Via Mortuus a soul is approached by a member of the Divine Host of Sardinal, normally one from Ellroian, the Archangel of Death's many cohorts. Often called Reapers or Hands of Death, these beings use a variety of tactics to shepherd souls along the Via Mortuus. Sometimes they approach the soul directly, other times they use magics to appear as loved ones, or to disguise the Via Mortuus as a tunnel of light. Whatever the tactic, the goal of the Reaper is to herd the soul on towards its final judgement in the Soulsanct Cathedral in the city of Sardanthum, the divine realm of Sardinal.
Some souls, however, hold on to their mortal lives so fiercely, so blindly, that no tactic works. When this occurs, the soul is confronted directly and told refusal to travel the Via Mortuus will result in its expulsion from the Path of the Dead and into the Ethereal Plane. There, it will watch helplessly as the Prime Material plane continues without it, eventually going mad and becoming a vengeful spirit. Those with emotional unfinished business in the world of the the living most often make this foolish choice, becoming ghosts and spectres.
Judgement:
When a soul arrive at Soulsanct Cathedral, it is brought before Sardinal, The Arbiter of Souls for its final judgement. There, in front of the penetrating gaze of the God of Death, the life that soul lived is laid bare. Every choice and action is scrutinized in an instant and Sardinal decides which of several afterlives the soul has earned.
The Devout: Souls found to be truly devoted to a particular deity are normally sent directly to that deities Divine Realm. There, they become petitioners of that God and enjoy the rewards of a life of piety and service. Such petitioners, depending on their persona, eventually merge with their gods divine realm, the god itself, or are elevated into the ranks of the deities Divine Host.
Those that worship a pantheon of deities are normally sent to a specific heaven that exists simultaneously in each God of the pantheons divine realm. They become petitioners of the pantheon dwelling and serving in their heaven until they finally merge with it.
The Righteous: The souls of those who have lived genuinely good lives, lives that reflect the seven heavenly virtues, but do not profess faith in a deity are sent to Celestia if they are Lawful Good, Elysium if they are Neutral Good, or Arborea if they are Chaotic Good. Once there, they become petitioners of that plane, living out heavenly lives and serving the rulers of those planes.
The Corrupted: Those terrible souls who have lived lives of selfishness and evil, who have debased and abused others and themselves are judged corrupt and sent to the torment they have earned. Those who have wallowed in lives that reflect the seven deadly sins, those who have fallen victim to the Pact Insidious, and those who have sold themselves via the Pact Certain, are sent directly to Baator, the Nine Hells. More rarely, those who have led lives of genuine savagery and chaos are expelled into the Abyss to become the tormented fodder of whatever powerful beast snatches them up.
The Deceivers: Those who in life profess false faith, who pay only lip service to a god or gods but carry no belief in their hearts, are sent to the Fields of the Fruitless, a demiplane connected to Sardinal's Divine Realm. There they become one of the Toilfell, souls tasked with endless and utterly pointless labor. Struck mute, held in golden chains, and branded with a golden sigil on the forehead that means "futility", the Toilfell dig holes only to fill them in, carry rock from one pile to another, attempt to empty a river of water one drop at a time and all manner of other tasks. Their labor has no end, no reward, no point. They are permitted no respite, working fruitlessly at their mind numbing tasks. Eventually, this drudgery begins to wear on the soul, weakening it until it finally becomes immobile, unthinking, and unresponsive. Some of the Toilfell are tasked with randomly moving these worn souls around, forcing them to view up close their own eventual fate.
The Fated: Though the reasons are generally unknown to anyone but him, some some few souls that come before him are deemed somehow necessary. They carry with them a fate as yet unrealized and are so sent back, reborn to new parents. They carry no memories of their former life, nor of their judgement from Sardinal.
The Unknown: For all those that do not fit into one of the above categories, the final judgement of the Arbiter of Souls is a mystery. These souls pass through Sardinal and into the unknown.
Returning to Life:
For those with powerful allies still among the living, death does not have to mean the end. Various divine spells, and to a lesser degree arcane magic and psionics can return the fallen to life. These spells do not come without a cost, however.
Revivify and spells or abilities like it that are cast soon after death and return a person to life before the soul has had time to leave the body or travel far down the Via Mortuus carry only any costs normally associated with the spells.
Raise Dead, Resurrection, True Resurrection, and any other spell or ability that returns the dead to life, however, carry a much steeper cost. In addition to the cost on the returning soul from the spell itself, the caster of the spell must be willing to sacrifice an experience level to Sardinal to pay for the Souls crossing back to the worlds of the living. Sardinal levied this brutal tax in response to the faithful of other deities abusing their power and cheating death.
Only divine casters who worship Sardinal and choose the Death domain may ignore this additional cost. With the ascendancy of Myr Valar, the God of Life, Sardinal has extended the ability to ignore this additional cost to divine casters who worship Myr and choose the the Life Domain in order to maintain the balance between Life and Death
There are a variety of possible fates in store for the departed of the Three Worlds. In most cases, the fate a particular soul finds itself in was earned through the life it lived. It's own decisions, its own actions, its own journey has led it to one of many possible afterlives.
Death:
Once a mortal creature dies, its soul emerges from its body onto the Via Mortuus, the Path of the Dead. The Via Mortuus is a transitive demiplane identical to the Ethereal Plane in most respects. It is only accessible, however, to the newly deceased and servants of Sardinal whose job it is to collect the souls of the dead and deliver them to The God of Death.
Soon after emerging onto the Via Mortuus a soul is approached by a member of the Divine Host of Sardinal, normally one from Ellroian, the Archangel of Death's many cohorts. Often called Reapers or Hands of Death, these beings use a variety of tactics to shepherd souls along the Via Mortuus. Sometimes they approach the soul directly, other times they use magics to appear as loved ones, or to disguise the Via Mortuus as a tunnel of light. Whatever the tactic, the goal of the Reaper is to herd the soul on towards its final judgement in the Soulsanct Cathedral in the city of Sardanthum, the divine realm of Sardinal.
Some souls, however, hold on to their mortal lives so fiercely, so blindly, that no tactic works. When this occurs, the soul is confronted directly and told refusal to travel the Via Mortuus will result in its expulsion from the Path of the Dead and into the Ethereal Plane. There, it will watch helplessly as the Prime Material plane continues without it, eventually going mad and becoming a vengeful spirit. Those with emotional unfinished business in the world of the the living most often make this foolish choice, becoming ghosts and spectres.
Judgement:
When a soul arrive at Soulsanct Cathedral, it is brought before Sardinal, The Arbiter of Souls for its final judgement. There, in front of the penetrating gaze of the God of Death, the life that soul lived is laid bare. Every choice and action is scrutinized in an instant and Sardinal decides which of several afterlives the soul has earned.
The Devout: Souls found to be truly devoted to a particular deity are normally sent directly to that deities Divine Realm. There, they become petitioners of that God and enjoy the rewards of a life of piety and service. Such petitioners, depending on their persona, eventually merge with their gods divine realm, the god itself, or are elevated into the ranks of the deities Divine Host.
Those that worship a pantheon of deities are normally sent to a specific heaven that exists simultaneously in each God of the pantheons divine realm. They become petitioners of the pantheon dwelling and serving in their heaven until they finally merge with it.
The Righteous: The souls of those who have lived genuinely good lives, lives that reflect the seven heavenly virtues, but do not profess faith in a deity are sent to Celestia if they are Lawful Good, Elysium if they are Neutral Good, or Arborea if they are Chaotic Good. Once there, they become petitioners of that plane, living out heavenly lives and serving the rulers of those planes.
The Corrupted: Those terrible souls who have lived lives of selfishness and evil, who have debased and abused others and themselves are judged corrupt and sent to the torment they have earned. Those who have wallowed in lives that reflect the seven deadly sins, those who have fallen victim to the Pact Insidious, and those who have sold themselves via the Pact Certain, are sent directly to Baator, the Nine Hells. More rarely, those who have led lives of genuine savagery and chaos are expelled into the Abyss to become the tormented fodder of whatever powerful beast snatches them up.
The Deceivers: Those who in life profess false faith, who pay only lip service to a god or gods but carry no belief in their hearts, are sent to the Fields of the Fruitless, a demiplane connected to Sardinal's Divine Realm. There they become one of the Toilfell, souls tasked with endless and utterly pointless labor. Struck mute, held in golden chains, and branded with a golden sigil on the forehead that means "futility", the Toilfell dig holes only to fill them in, carry rock from one pile to another, attempt to empty a river of water one drop at a time and all manner of other tasks. Their labor has no end, no reward, no point. They are permitted no respite, working fruitlessly at their mind numbing tasks. Eventually, this drudgery begins to wear on the soul, weakening it until it finally becomes immobile, unthinking, and unresponsive. Some of the Toilfell are tasked with randomly moving these worn souls around, forcing them to view up close their own eventual fate.
The Fated: Though the reasons are generally unknown to anyone but him, some some few souls that come before him are deemed somehow necessary. They carry with them a fate as yet unrealized and are so sent back, reborn to new parents. They carry no memories of their former life, nor of their judgement from Sardinal.
The Unknown: For all those that do not fit into one of the above categories, the final judgement of the Arbiter of Souls is a mystery. These souls pass through Sardinal and into the unknown.
Returning to Life:
For those with powerful allies still among the living, death does not have to mean the end. Various divine spells, and to a lesser degree arcane magic and psionics can return the fallen to life. These spells do not come without a cost, however.
Revivify and spells or abilities like it that are cast soon after death and return a person to life before the soul has had time to leave the body or travel far down the Via Mortuus carry only any costs normally associated with the spells.
Raise Dead, Resurrection, True Resurrection, and any other spell or ability that returns the dead to life, however, carry a much steeper cost. In addition to the cost on the returning soul from the spell itself, the caster of the spell must be willing to sacrifice an experience level to Sardinal to pay for the Souls crossing back to the worlds of the living. Sardinal levied this brutal tax in response to the faithful of other deities abusing their power and cheating death.
Only divine casters who worship Sardinal and choose the Death domain may ignore this additional cost. With the ascendancy of Myr Valar, the God of Life, Sardinal has extended the ability to ignore this additional cost to divine casters who worship Myr and choose the the Life Domain in order to maintain the balance between Life and Death
