Deysachni Funerary Customs

There are numerous Funerary Customs found throughout Deysachin, which vary across culture and time. Rituals include mummification, bog burial, sky burial, cremation, devourment, and repurposement. Many of these customs relate to honoring the dead, or utilizing the power which is said to lie within a corpse.

History

The oldest known burial in Deysachin is that of the Su'am Body, dated to ~5001 TT, which seems to have put into a primative form of bog burial. Lacking any contemporary flourishes and having no other contemporary examples, it is possible that the burial held little ritual significance, and was either an accidental submersion or an attempt to hide the body for whatever reason. The next oldest bog body is more than two thousand years younger, and the oldest mummified body another thousand.

It is thought that bog burial is the oldest still-practiced funerary tradition, with the rituals surrounding it being purely functional with the purpose of keeping corpses within the earth. It is then posited that, as early Deysachni cultures spread out from the south, they retained the same beliefs of the ritual significance of bog burial despite lacking the bogs, and, seeing how bog bodies were perserved, turned to the similar practice of mummification, which repurposement and devourment would later stem from. Cremation and sky burial are harder to trace, and it is unclear if they developed independantly of the bog-mummy traditions or as seperate branches.

Rituals

Deysachni funerals, typically conducted by a local Priest, often feature numerous Modhes or Sasatanl'c rituals, such as a celebration of life and a warding against Demons, before or during some form of mummifcation or disposal of the body..

Mummification

Mummification is the most ubiquitous burial tradition found across deysachin, present in some way across almost every culture. Despite this, it is not the most common form of burial, due to the high cost and complexity of the practice. Instead is is often reserved for higher status individuals, the wealthy and priestly elite. Mummified bodies are said to be objects of great power, perminant bridges between the worlds of life and death, and possession of a deceased's body is reserved for their closest friends or family. Manner of mummification can vary dramatically from culture to culture, with a general trend for societies found at higher altitude to perfer bodies left in as preserved of a state as possible to as to be seen, whilst low-elevation societies prefer them to be wrapped up and hidden away, to last for longer periods of time intact. It is unknown why this dichotomy exists, though Modhes tradition, which both leans towards the visability of the mummy and is more concentrated in mountainous regions, could be a part.

It is common in some cultures for a mummified corpse to be intentionally split apart according to the last will of the deceased, with valued friends and family being given portions thereof.

Repurposement

Owing to the power of the mummified corpse as a bridge between world, it is no suprise that they are seen as potent tools of magic. For this reason, portions of the corpse may be intentionally incorperated into physical objects befit to the deceased, such as turning the arm of an expert fisherman into a fishing rod, with the idea that his soul would provide fortune to the user. Modhes Temple advises these repurposements to be done by an expert, as amateur attempts can lead to the destruction of the artifact and desecration of the corpse. Saintly Artifacts are a form of repurposement.

Devourment

Devourment, the ritual consumption of the deceased, is the highest honor within Modhes Deysachin. While the practice existed prior to the Modhes, it was Modhes theology which popularized it. As a corpse is seen to hold great power, to devour it is to gain that power for yourself. If done by a loved one, this is seen as a form of highmost respect to the dead, an aspect of their soul is carried on through the devourer. If done by an enemy however, it is a great disrespect, for the enemy is stealing the power of the dead for themselves. When devourment is to occur, the cadaver is prepared by a trained corpsechef, and turned into a proper meal for the devouring participants, Depending on the size of the body and number of devourees, meals can be prepared to be carried out over several courses seperate in time.

In Renumeration, the ashes of the anihilated Archpriests are devoured by the next council, which both symbolically (and supposedly, literally) transfers their souls and memories unto them. To date, every archpriest that has died prior to renumeration has be devoured by the rest of their council and their successor.

Cremation

While not a culturally common practice, cremation is an increasingly popular alternative for those unable to afford mummification. Generally, a cremated body is not seen as being destroyed, but rather transformed, and in the few cultures where it is a traditional practice (such as among the Idrstras people) it is seen that the cremated body is a more "pure" form. Cremated bodies may still be devoured, being mixed into a meal, and it is common for ashes to be compressed into a gemstone. Such gemstones are often worn as jewelry, with those of noble lineages wearing whole necklaces composed of ancestors. Some go as far as to have already long-cremated bodies cremated centuries later to be made into gems, though this also serves the purpose of taking up less space. Besides devourment and gemmification, cremated ashes may be scattered to return to the earth in a form of oblique sky burial.

Sky Burial

Sky burial, known also as Earth Return, is actually the most common type of burial across Deysachin, though it is not seen as being as spiritually significant as mummification. In sky burial, the corpse is left in a high location, most commonly a mountain, to decompose, be eaten by birds, and return to the earth. While initially seeming to be odds with practices related to the preservation of the corse, it is based upon the same concepts of spiritual power, with return to the earth being the acceptance of death and replenishment of spiritual power to the universe rather than its utilization. In this sense, while mummification and devourment can be either respectful or disresprectful according to the standing of the living and dead persons, sky burial is a singularly altruistic and apathetic process, which grants nothing to the living and neither respect or disrespect to the deceased, but allows for the acceptance of the natural order. In Llongiouqu, it is more or less the only form of burial practiced. Sky burial is discouraged in Modhes belief.

Bog Burial

Bog burial, practiced commonly in the Great Southern Bogland, and to a lesser extent in the Odlh Swamp, involves the deceased being intentionally sunken into a wetland, most commonly a swamp. Bog burial rituals are strikingly different to those practiced across the rest of deysachin, with little significance placed upon the body itself as a connection to death but instead the water-medium. In this sense, the imprisonement of the body within the wet earth is a physical depiction of the passage of the soul into another world. Graves often have large stakes, referred to as "pins", driven into the earth atop the corpse, to stop it from floating upward. These pins are typically designed in complex manners specific to the culture, and inscribed with prayers for the well being of the deceased. In many bod-burying cultures, the idea that the body would float back up is connected with a real fear that the deceased, dishonored by an improper burial, would rise as a vengeful undead.