The dead of Haven have a rather interesting afterlife, if you will.  The vast majority of the dead pass into the Underworld, a sort of pocket dimension attached to Haven like a great blister, through any number of means. Most are attended to... spiritually... but the god Death or his handmaidens... that is the god or his servants take their soul into the afterlife personally.

This is by no means universal, however, and a great number of funeral rites are designed to send the soul, still housed in the flesh, to the Underworld that much faster.  Burning, exposure and most especially funeral boats are the most common in Haven by far, but some ancient cultures, and a few very minor modern ones, practice burial... something viewed as borderline blasphemous to most people.  Still, among those who do practice burial often place grave goods with the corpse, as do many 'boat' or 'burn' cultures... knowing that the soul of the deceased will take them with them.

Notably: The Dwarves do practice burial, rarely, but never leave grave goods, not even a funeral shroud.  The believe the dead have no use for material things.

It is however quite notable that Sailors who die ashore are rarely 'given to the Sea'. It is a known fact that the Sea takes those who die upon her waters, rather than releasing them to the Underworld, and many who chose to retire to dry land have a morbid fear of returning to Her embrace.  

It is said that when the first mortals began to die, and souls began to gather, as Death reaped his first harvest, that the Sea, always a jealous and possessive goddess, began stealing them for herself.  The other gods, grew jealous of her theft and asked Death to intervene.  Death in turn offered to End the Sea, for it was within his power to do so. The Sea, ever fickle, feared this but refused to surrender her stolen souls. The other Gods were aghast at what they had wrought and, in time negotiated a truce, for the Sea has always been the most powerful Goddess, and the one most closely tied to the Chaos which threatens and sustains Haven, and her death would tear Haven asunder... or so they feared.

So the Sea must return the souls of Men who are devout in their worship of other Gods, and to allow them to travel upon her face as freely as other Men, but those who are given to her, or those she takes are hers. Should she ever grow too greedy, however, Death may travel to her abode and take from her in equal measure.

Death, who cared little for the disposition of Souls, accepted the terms, though he left a tiny peice of his Scythe in the Sea, reminding her of his Power.  When she grows too bold, it wounds her and the waters retreat from the Lands of Men, and so the tides were created.

Career sailors believe it is superstitious to worship any other God, and find the presence of holy men of any stripe aboard ship 'bad luck'.  Keeping a dead body aboard ship for any length of time is considered offensive to 'her', and all ships are 'dedicated' to the Sea. It is believed that it is only a matter of time before the Sea takes the ship anyways, but if She believes it is already hers, She will be patient.  THis is why most mortal races name their ships and at least among Humans put a human face upon them.

As most souls occupy the flesh until it makes its way safely to the Underworld, it is considered bad form to misuse a body in any way. Medical cadavers are rare but not unheard of, but in most civilized cultures a priest of Death must certify that the soul has been sent onwards first.   Even still it is a matter that disturbs the common folk and most religious minded.

There are two 'types' of Undead in Haven, and they are very distinct.  There are the 'animate' dead, zombies and skeletons. These are not at all necromantic creations, but merely bodies that have been caused to move about by some means, often a possessing spirit.  They, as a general rule, do not have souls in them at all, and frequently the presense of a possessing spirit means that even the residue of a soul is gone, pushed out or destroyed by the more active spirit.  There are other ways to animate a corpse than spiritual possession, including using magic to merely move the bones around... but they are less common. This is generally frowned on, much as cadaver studies are, as disrespectful to the dead... and rather creepy, but not inherently evil.  Of course, having rotting flesh lumping around is profoundly unhealthy, and anyone who willingly subjects themselves to that (that is, prefers zombies to skeletons, say) is generally viewed as 'disturbed'.

It is possible for a ghost to be a possessing spirit, which sort of crosses a few lines... but as Death seems relatively unconcerned with ghosts it would appear they are not the returned souls of the dead but something else entirely.

The second form of Undead is 'Necromantic' Undead. In Haven Necromancy is strictly defined as any studies, magical or otherwise, focused on returning from the Underworld from the dead. Necromancers, as a general rule, are not particularly concerned with bringing back OTHER dead so much as themselves.  To date, no Necromancer has ever made it back from the Underworld truly 'Alive'.

The most 'studied' and powerful Necromancers tend to come back very nearly alive... that is to say as Vampires. Their flesh looks alive, mostly, and they can do a great many things the living do, but no undead can stand the light of the Sun, and no Undead can be conventionally killed.. and Vampires are harder than most to 'see off'.

You see, when one 'returns' from the lands of the Dead, one is nothing more than a Soul.  This is an extremely vulnerable state, as Death is constantly on lookout for wandering Souls and can quickly return them to the Underworld or worse. The Sea will simply swallow them up at a touch and the Sun will burn them down.  Thus, all newly returned Souls seek to clad themselves in flesh again. This is only very rarely done as possession... wearing the flesh of another is... challenging. Instead they almost instinctively conjure up new flesh to house them. This is where power and skill comes into play.  

A Soul that merely returns by its own will, without grasping the greater nature of their act will create new flesh for itself, certainly. This flesh, however, is weak and dead and rotten, barely human. These 'Ghouls' are feral, mad things, easily enthralled by more powerful forms.  Frequently they can be cut to peices... this may force the soul to retreat to the Underworld as if they had actually died again, or they may slowly reconjure new flesh around themselves... or reattach severed limbs.  They have very little protection from the forces of Death however, and will 'die' much like people will given the right circumstances.  A little known fact regarding ghouls is that if given funeral rites their bodies will collapse into steaming goo as the soul is instantly cast back into the underworld. Of course, few funeral rites are truly applicable in combat and the person performing the rites must have some authority to do so... however tenuous. Having ever performed such rites at any time is 'good enough' for the gods.

More powerful undead are somewhat harder to dispose of, representing greater knowledge of necromantic magics. It is notable that more powerful undead tend to be smarter as well as tougher... their conjured flesh more able to sustain their intellect.  

Many Necromancers, fearing to test their abilities, ritually prepare their own bodies and arrange for secretive, blasphemous burials. Upon return from the Underworld they are mystically drawn to their old flesh and occupy it. This tends to make for very powerful, durable, undead... frequently able to withstand the touch of the Sun, for example, but also robs them of the terrible durability of the greatest undead.  If their body is destroyed it is destroyed and their preparations are for nothing... they must then do as all other necromancers do... return and conjure new flesh.   This is the problem with dealing with the undead: They have already proven capable of escaping the Underworld... .and will continue to do so.  

Of course, there are no 'necromancer kings'... any sort of fame is a... ahm... death sentance, bringing the attention of the one God who actively seeks the undead out to end them... and who it is believed has a special fate in store for those who refuse to stay dead.... or he could just give them to the Sea, for that jealous goddess has a much better track record of holding onto her dead.  Indeed, escaping the Locker is viewed as entirely seperate school of Necromancy.

Vampires the the pinnacle: Masters of Necromancy, their bodies are little more than conjured shells, no more vulnerable to harm than their own soul. Disrupt the flesh and it reforms anew. Of course, vampires don't just rely on their own power, no, they steal the very souls of others, chaining them mystically to their own and shielding themselves with magic nearly as powerful as that given by the Gods... powered as it is by stolen souls... to protect themselves.  No Vampire doesn't know some potent magics and many have bonded with runes or made deals with demon lords for additional power.

Of course, the most common vampires, in terms of numbers, are the weakest... those trapped on the Island at the Edge of the World. Bereft of living souls they can only trap fellow escapees and have very little power to barter to Demon Lords.  They are also those Necromancers who were not studied enough to find away around this clever trap of the Gods, or are so ancient that it was not yet known.  Of course, strangely enough, some actually prefer their prison... seeing it as a haven from the laws of the Gods. Death does not hunt them here, not actively anyway, and the Sun and Sea can be avoided easily enough.

It is a 'known' fact that powerful necromancers that come to the attention of Death, by whatever means, do not return to the Underworld... and in fact do not return at all. This has lead to some to speculate that the Ender of All occasionally goes so far as to End even the Soul of these blasphemers. Others suggest He has some special prision or means of keeping them imprisoned... various names for this Donjon are put forth, but no confirmation of its existance is known.  Some have referred to it as 'Death Oubliette', where the souls of the Blasphemous Dead are forgotten.


There is one question that has not be addressed in all of this: Why does the Sun burn the Undead so?  

To answer that question we will turn first to the ancient myths discussing the creation of Haven.  

In those days the Sun did not set, but burned continuously in the sky, and the Moon could not be seen for His glory.  The Moon grew jealous, but could not convince the Sun to dim for even an instance, and so She appealed to his pride, convincing him to burn every brighter and hotter.  Soon he began to boil the Sea, burn the Sky and scorch the Land, and those Gods grew most angry with the Sun.

Yet under His light the plants and and crops grew ever faster and larger, and the Sun grew brighter still, seeing himself as a Lifegiver.

Finally the the other Old Gods could no longer take his brightness and there was a war in the Heavens.

It wasn't until the Fires began to rage across the Land, burning away all that He had given that the Sun realized the harm he had caused.  In His pride he could not bear to surrender to those who had fought Him, but neither could He bear the harm He had caused.  

Ashamed He asked Death to end His light. The other Gods, though they were upset with the Sun did not desire His ending and they cried for mercy.  

In turn Death reached forth with His Scythe and told the Sun that it was not His place to Judge but only to End. Should the Sun be ended, should not all things perish as well, for had not the Sun brought forth life with His Radiance?  

The Sun allowed that this was so, but could not bear His shame. It was the Sun who stretched forth and cut away half His life, giving the smallest portion to the Moon so that they world would not grow too cold. And so it was that Night and Day came to be, and why the Sun is the patron of Judges, for they must judge themselves most harshly. The Sun is also the paragon of Life and Honor, and in His sight those who do not accept their fates are to be abhorred.  The Sun is seen to be friends with Death, for they understand each other, while the Sky and the Sea still resent the Sun for the harm His pride did to them so long ago. The Moon, whose trickery started the entire affair did not escape unharmed, for when the Sun handed Her the half he had cut away She burned herself trying to hold it, dropping most of it, to Her shame.   This blackened her and when she turns the burned face to the surface of Haven there is no light to be seen at all.  Thus the Moon is depicted in many artforms as having a burnt half face, and it is impolite to mention it to Her.

I always enjoy a properly done, thoughtful piece of cosmology.  A rarity, actually, in these days of packaged settings.   Love the creation Mythos tied to it.

Kudos

Funny how we seperate undead similarly.

Celtrician Undead

Thank you. I've been struggling mentally to work in more mythological stuff, stories of the gods and so forth, into Haven, and dedicated threads weren't working.  

I did mention some things about the Sea when I was developing the Reve, and it sort of expanded a bit when I really sat down to think about it.  I aim for consistency and logical connections in the world building, while having enough room for wildly divergent customs, and solid reasons for said customs.

I did worry abit about putting so much emphasis on Death, but given that the specific topic of this particular thread is the afterlife and the dead... well... I think its just about right.