Death
Entries
Question: Hi! So all I've found about funerary rites, so far, is the following: A less common aspect of her worship, but growing in popularity among the more superstitious commoners outside of the Lyceum, are funerals pyres with rites that avoid any mention at all of the Thirteenth, and pray to Lagoma to help their loved one have an easy transition to the other side. While the Lyceum specifically honors the Thirteenth in its darker funeral rites of Passing Beyond the Reflection, some of the north feels acutely uneasy with any mention of Tehom and turns to Lagoma to mourn their loved ones.
From channel chat, I know that a number of the Commons toss their dead into the Pit. There's also been talk of a graveyard expansion, outside the city, presumably for the commons. So my questions are:* How much does it cost to have a pyre? How much is it the materials vs paying a Godsworn to officiate? * How much does a burial cost? Does that require a Godsworn? * Are there group burials or cremations? * Is it customary for the dying to receive something akin to last rites? If so, is that something that could be administered by a Mercy of Lagoma who possesses the proper theological training?
Answer: Pyres by their nature are inexpensive, due to just collecting kindling. It isn't uncommon for the relatively inexpensive rite for pyres (single digit silver for kindling) or for burials to balloon in cost just by the nature of running a very large, grand funeral with a paid singers, food and so on, which for a funeral cal event would just be represented by the largesse rating.
Funeral and last rites are almost always presided over by a godsworn priest of the pantheon, but in the absence of one, it's not uncommon for laity to say words, and even informal burial rites are respected by the Faith and recognized as legitimate. Mercies of Lagoma would be likely to fulfill that role in the absence of godsworn priests.
Group burials or cremations would be rare but done as an expedient for large scale death.
Answer: There are probably as many mourning traditions as grains of sand on a beach, when one considers the whole of Arvum.
There is, however, only one custom that is shared among all those in the Compact. When a loved one dies, some of their belongings will be portioned out to craft peace knots that can be used to bind weapons to show respect for the dead.
((OOC: peace knots are not yet coded, but they are assumed for all "official' places and events within Arx - and enforced there. Until they have a recipe and function you are free to just pose them))
Question: How old do people typically live in Arx? Does it differ between nobles and commoners and others in a notable way? When people do kick the bucket and a war isn't on, what are the typical things blamed for death?
Answer: "He died of a bad belly." Medical knowledge is a rough analogue to Galen and Hippocrates, so there's definitely no germ theory. The life expectancy of a commoner is probably in his 50s, and with many nobles living well into their 70s, mostly from differences in diet. There's usually not much attribution to demons or evil magic or the like, that sort of superstition is foreign to the mindsets of Arvani, but without germ theory then death by disease is typically talked about in terms of humors, and most organ collapses are described in very general terms. 'His heart gave out' is a pretty rough guess for a heart attack that might be more accurate than not. One core component missing- high child mortality rates. The herbal treatments in Arvum are potent to the point where they lack any real word analogue at all- which makes average life expectancy sky high by comparison to the middle ages, since the average dropped to squat when you average in that a large percentage of the population died immediately.