Funeral Rites for the Races - Ideas Wanted!

[ThePainter]

Hi all

I need a bit of advice here. Specifically, for one reason or another, I've had reason to kill off my player's parents ... oppps!!! :) The issue is funerals, how exactly should the bodies of the respective races and religions be disposed of?

For your information, we're playing in the modern 21st century world, and the location is Boulder, Colorado, USA.

The group is composed of a Lirie-Kana (followers of Liea), a Silana (followers of Liea) and an Asana-Lea (followers of Shea). Their parents are, of course, of the same respective race and religious persuasions.

I remember reading somewhere in the CoE book that Asana-Lea should be burnt. We've already expanded that to being burnt/cremated in the open, under the light of the full moon (if possible!) with, of course, appropriate rites to Shea!

The problem lies with what to do with the Silana and Lirie-Kana! I cannot find any details on how to deal with these bodies.

Given the tribal nature of the Silana, we tend to think that the bodies should be returned to nature in some way. The question is how? Buried, exposed to the elements (I think some of the Native American tribes do it this way?), or something else entirely?

For the Lirie-Kana, we have no real idea! We're tending to some sort of standardised, traditional human burial, but we really don't know.

Ideas anyone!!! How do you bury the various races/religions?

[Elune]

Well, you could have avoided this problem if you had not killed off my parents...

you only have yourself to blame, really :p

[Christopher Ashe]

I'm running a game tonight but I promise I will give you a write up on some ideas this weekend

- Ashe

[ThePainter]

Thanks Ashe! That said, it wasn't a demand for information :-) Please, take your time in answering. At the rate that I tend to run games there will still be plenty of time for you to carefully consider your reply, go out and sunbathe for a few days (weeks!) and still get the ideas to me before I actually need to use them.

I tend to run fairly detail heavy games, and that lends itself to a relatively slow passage of game time. So far we've played fourteen sessions and we're only half way through the seventh day. And that's comparatively quick for one of my games! Mind you, it might be quick for your games too?

Having said all that, any ideas are definitely appreciated! As yet, only the grossest of the funeral arrangements have been made, and the full details have been left in the hands of an NPC ... so things could easily be rearranged, or even changed!

It's also nice to hear that you're still a player/GM! Keep on playing!

PS: Thank you Elune! But did you ever consider possibility that it might not be my fault? After all, I'm only the GM ... you're the player! Maybe it was something that you or one of the other players did? :p

[Elune]

ME? i KNOW it wasn't anything to do with me.
Luny or her gangster friends maybe....

[Scarlet]

Poor LUnnie why do you always pick on her?

[ThePainter]

Arrrrrrgh!!!

You do something perfectly innocent, like kill off your player's parents, and they never let you forget about it!!!

Mutter, mutter.... ungrateful... don't know they're born.... mutter, mutter...

[Elune]

I think i'll go with a simple burial - "return to the earth" kind of stuff.
Recital of the dead ones lives, and prayers to Leia & of course Mharius.

I had a dream of Touched by Sun turning up and doing his Shaman bit too. ;)

[ThePainter]

Yes a simple 'return to the earth' is probably the best way to go; with appropriate invocations to Liea and Mharius.

The question however still remains as to exactly how to return the body to the earth? A simple burial would certainly be the easiest. If however you utilise a burial, I tend to feel that you should forego the use of a coffin, so that there is nothing between the body and the earth. Consequently, the body should either be laid out nude, or covered only by a simple cloth shroud. Perhaps, for formality, prayers, or holy symbols etc. could be woven into the shroud, although personally, I don't particularly like that idea.

As for prayers; well I tend to think that simple is better. Make of the life story what you will.

Personally, I still like the 'exposure' idea, but that's probably just me :)

Ah 'Touched by Sun' (an NPC), well, he could turn up, but as for the shamanistic bit, well I wouldn't really know an authentic shamanistic rite if it came up and hit me in the face. :p I know, research... I'll think about it. Actually, it'll probably come down to whether I can think of something appropriate for him to do.

[Elune]

nude but covered with a cloth/shroud works for me.
why not have religious symbols on the shroud?

I was thinking of objects to be buried with them "for use in the afterlife" - symbolic items, weapons, wealth, and items from their lifetime - or is that a bit too primitive/superstitious?

A raised platform (but out in the forest maybe), like some of the native american tribes did?

[ThePainter]

Why not religious symbols woven into the burial shroud?

Well, it's basically just a personal belief. I tend to think that this type of thing rarely look good, and quite often, actually looks tacky! If you go the back to nature route, I think that simple is good/better! To me, religious symbols woven into the shroud would just be an unnecessary elaboration. That said, I've no intrinsic objection to their use.

Actually, given the type of world that it is, the use of symbols/glyphs could actually serve a useful purpose i.e. if they're ethromantically charged then they could be useful in protecting the body of the dead from desecration etc.

In essence it all comes down to a personal belief of what you see as working best, or if you prefer, to your beliefs concerning the most likely religious rites of the race. And remember, it's your parent's funeral El, and so what works best for you is probably the best answer.

As for burying the bodies with symbolic items or things useful in the afterlife, well, once again my basic view is that simple is best/better - avoid elaborations! I also tend to agree with your latter comment that this may be too primitive/superstitious. The Silana may an old race, but they are far from primitive! That said, there's no real reason why such usages cannot be a holdover from more primitive times, but personally I wouldn't do it.

A raised platform/exposure? Well, that's still my personal choice as to how the Silana would dispose of their dead. Actually, this could work out quite well, with the Silana utilising exposure, while the Asana-Lea use cremation and the Lirie-Kana utilising burial in a simple cloth shroud. The Oraki? Hmmmm! Need too think about that one. What do you think?

Whatever you decide, you'll have to decide fairly quickly, the day is fast approaching ... sorry!

[Christopher Ashe]

Well, first off, sorry - I just bought a house and I've been moving and working and all sorts of stuff.

There is a reason in particular that I discuss the Asa burial rites in the book while skimming over those of the other races. The Asa are a very young race and are very few in number as compared to other races and are unique in the fact that their structure of culture, even across worlds is very close-knit. This deals largely with their extreme difficulty in reproduction and societal superstitions.

With the other races, the spread of their tribes and peoples, burial rites and even the way the gods are worshipped will vary greatly. I would recommend for the GM to consider setting and local cultures when designing such rites. With the Oraki, burial customs tend to reflect either the local or whatever the rat's particular favorite was. With Silana there remains a common factor to go with the pervasive element to the tribe. For example, those that live close to the sea would probably invoke burial rites with an emphasis to Inta, goddess of water. The GM might draw from Norse influence here. Those on the open plain might burn the body openly so that the wind could catch the soul and carry it to Mharius. With the Lirie-Kana this is absolute: there are just too many of us out there. Those LK in the modern world will probably wish to be buried according to their own wishes and beliefs. The LK are the most widespread race in Zaira and many different cultures will arise. In all honesty, there is a lot of creative work here that could be done on individual cultures, some of which I'm working on myself.

I'll put it on my list of features to do though so I may expand on it further soon.

- Ashe

[ThePainter]

First of all, let me just say thanks for the advice/guidance. What you say certainly makes sense; that is, consider the societal and cultural backgrounds, etc.

The point concerning the close knit nature of Asa culture is well taken. Given their relative youth as a race and their relatively small numbers, uniformity of burial customs does indeed make sense. Quite simply, their rites haven't yet had a chance to diversify!

As for the other races, well local setting and personal culture were indeed factors that shaped our decisions. One issue however that seriously coloured those considerations, was that the characters had all been raised in almost complete isolation from their racial backgrounds. Thus they only know what their parents chose to reveal to them; which is, in essence, very little! There are/were strong game reasons for this; although I won't go into those at this point i.e. I don't want my player's to know! :)

For some strange reasons the parents had not spent a lot of time considering their own mortality, and so had failed to inform their children as to potential funerary rites. Furthermore, there was effectively no one that the PC’s could really turn to for advice on this subject, nor had the characters been to any relevant rites. In other words, I wanted the players to decide the rites for themselves ... which would hopefully get them involved in the game. It seems to have worked!

The Silana: Well, the tribal element of the background was perhaps the over-riding factor here. The problem was, we hadn't really considered exactly what the specific tribal type actually was! And I'm far too lazy to actually perform research myself ... actually I was trying to get my players, or you, to do the work for me! :)

The location for the group is on the edge of the city of Boulder, Colorado USA (2007 A.D.). As a consequence, we've ended up going for something pseudo-Amerindian, or at least something that felt pseudo-Amerindian coupled with a back to nature theme. Specifically, the plan is to expose the body on a platform placed on a tree. Or at least that's the current plan; things could change again. But if they do, they had better change in a hurry as we're on the actual day of the ceremonies now!

The Lirie-Kana: We did indeed go with one of the major new-world human rites prevalent within the Boulder area i.e. burial. This was amended slightly to reflect the more traditional nature of the Lirie-Kana, by utilising only a simple cloth shroud rather than a coffin. This alteration was also designed to reflect, once again, a back to nature theme!

The Oraki: Well, the Oraki weren't actually a problem in this specific instance as there weren't any being buried at this point in time, although I certainly do appreciate your comments concerning their rites. They may actually come in useful in the (near) future!

As for the timing of your comments, don't worry about it. Certainly moving house is a time consuming business and must, unfortunately, take precedence over mere role-playing :-( I'm grateful for any comments at all - thanks!!!

[ThePainter]

The funerals are all over now, and all six bodies have had the relevant rites performed over them.

Everything went pretty much as expected, and as planned. There was only one minor change from the plans given above, inasmuch as the Silanan corpses were 'exposed' on a simple platform in a clearing rather than on a platform in a tree.

The actual rites themselves were confined to the immediate family; if for no other reason than the fact that the PC's do not know of any other family! Sorry... :-( The only exceptions to this were the presence of two old family friends (Oraki) and one NPC … Grandparents? ... What grandparents?

There will however be a 'memorial service' next game day, which is essentially open to anyone who knew the families. Some interesting events could happen at this memorial service, so keep your eyes and ears open...

I really hope that I didn't depress anyone too much. I know that the ceremonies did depress you Elune; once again, sorry!!!

I know that I did slightly mess up on the funeral oration that I was required to perform over Jay's parents. I can only say in my own defence that I wasn't expecting to have to do this; Jay pulled it on me at the last moment and consequently, I hadn't prepared (my mistake!) ... apologies! I hope that it wasn't too bad?

Cheers all!

[Scarlet]

Yes it would be nice if it didn't fell like me and Elune are the only 1's who prepare for the game.Ha ha

My parent funeral went well and was preformed as l planed it .was hopeing for one of the other players to interupt but can't have everything l surpose. they mustn't mind me cutting myself!

[Elune]

You see how nice Elune is, how respectful of your beliefs?
Because we are like sisters, and she loves you :)

Notice no one walked out during your recital...

Besides, you know if I had healed you, you would have taken a mega strop (and probably blamed Tara for it.

As for the memorial, it went rather well I thought, as these things go - shame someone walked out before the most moving performance of Elune's life... still I did receive two possible offers of recording deals out of it.


Hmm as for going to the Rocket club, you realise Tara and Elune are too young (should be 21)...
(a good way to cause bother for sebastian of course...) ;)