Death claims all mortals, whether they be part of the lowly masses or the rulers and heroes of the people. Death separates the soul from the physical body, and casts that soul into the void outside the world. While priests and philosophers argue about the true nature of the afterlife, the most popular cosmology in Krith and Visala is that of the prophet St. Ororant (circa 500 KC). The Ororantian view of the otherworlds, or "the Mahun model," is summarized here.

The Mahun (Cosmos)

Ororant used Mahun, an ancient word for "creation" or "creator," to describe the entire cosmos of known worlds and dimensions: Kemil (the world), the celestial bodies, the Ether, Faerie, the realms of the dead and the homes of the gods.

Kemil and the celestial bodies (suns, moons, planets, stars) compose the physical universe, sometimes called "Pan-Kemil" ("all worlds"), which contains the natural homes of all living creatures. In this plane of existence, life depends on the proper connection of the body to the soul. If either the body or the soul suffers enough damage to sever this connection, death results, and the dead spirit enters the Shadowlands.

The Shadowlands

The Shadowlands are a plane of existence which connects all other worlds--Pan-Kemil, Faerie, the Heavens and the Hells--and contains the domains of some gods as well. The Shadowlands are known to some scholars and mystics as the Astral Plane. Astral projection can reach most of the Shadowlands, but does not allow the user to travel beyond the thresholds of other realms.

Upon death, souls enter the Shadowlands as spirits, and can physically interact only with other spirits in that realm. The fate of these souls depends on their religious devotion in life, on the intervention of clerics, and on their own abilities and obsessions at the time of their death. Those who worshiped a given god (or group of gods) will usually find their way to the realm of that religion's pantheon. The intervention of a cleric or shaman can speed the soul on its way and can reduce or eliminate the possibility that the soul will become lost on its journey. Proper funeral rites also prevent the use of all spells aimed at summoning the dead spirit back to its body, or to do the bidding of the caster.

The souls of persons who lacked strong faith, or who died with obsessive attachments to their lives on Kemil, might wander the Shadowlands indefinitely. Some of these become ghosts who haunt the living, while others might transform into elemental or undead spirits. Some spirits find the means to be reincarnated, being reborn with little or no memories of their past life. Some souls, which had connections to Faerie during life, might be able to enter that realm in some new form, but cannot return to Pan-Kemil after their first death. (Some mortals believe that all faeries are reincarnated souls, but Ororant reached no conclusive answer to this question.) Among dead spirits, only a minority have the means to communicate with the living; normally, this only results from a supernatural force of will (as with ghosts) or a paranormal talent possessed in life (such as mind-magics).

A portion of the Shadowlands, the Ether, permeates Pan-Kemil, and can be used for incorporeal travel within the "living" world. Ethereal travel does not allow movement into the Shadowlands proper, or into any other dimension. The "Outer Astral" Plane is distinct from the Ether in that it extends beyond the physical world until it reaches the great void between dimensions (the "Inner Astral" Plane). The Outer Astral space around Pan-Kemil overlaps that of Faerie (Dananira's domain), allowing astral projection to serve as one of several means of transit between those two worlds. (For more information, see the page on Faerie.)

Divine Realms in the Shadowlands

Some of the gods worshiped in Arcadayn make their homes in the Shadowlands rather than in the Heavens or Hells.

The Elemental gods have homes within the parts of the Shadowlands near Pan-Kemil and Faerie. (Their domains touch upon the shared "Outer Astral" of these two worlds). Kemira's earthen palace is within Kemil itself; Ingor's airy realm is nearer Kemil than Faerie; Morovira's watery palace is nearer Faerie than Kemil; and Uralor's volcanic fortress is equidistant to each world. The latter three gods also have secondary homes on Kemil (and possible Faerie?). Uralor has yet a third realm in the Heavens (for his Celestian worshipers, as opposed to his Elementalist ones).

Canthor and Yanira's druidic followers dwell in a wilderness paradise of magical trees and animals. Drumagira's Bloodletter cultists gather in great halls where her dead warriors are continually fighting, dying and being reborn to fight again. Kuldor is thought by some to have a fortress hidden deep in the Shadowlands, where his Holy Avengers continue to help him by bringing miracles to his living followers.

The Heavens

Worshipers of the Celestian and Quadralunic gods hope to join their gods in the Heavens, which go by many names (Godshome, the Sea of Stars, etc.). Ororant's visions depict the heavens as the divinely perfect model for the suns, moons and stars of Pan-Kemil. (The "demon-ruled" outer planets do not appear here--they are perverse creations of the evil gods--while the "druid" planets Yanil and Canthos are present but may be uninhabited.) Each god rules his or her own celestial body, which is peopled with the souls of their deceased followers as well as by their semi-divine servant-beings.

To reach one of the Heavens, souls must first cross the Shadowlands to the Holy Gates. The truly devout (or lucky) can do this easily by following the Blessed Road, a brightly-glowing trail which follows a straight course to the Gates, but the beginning of this path is difficult for the lukewarm faithful to find in the first place. At the Holy Gates, they are judged by representatives of the god(s) whom the deceased worshiped in life. If judged worthy, the souls are then escorted to their final destination, the orb of the god they revered most--or the one their closest dead kinsfolk inhabit, if multiple gods were revered equally. Souls are normally free to visit spirits living on other orbs, in order to renew bonds celebrated in life, but once in the Heavens, may only leave them on the orders of a god. As goddess of death, Tovanira's primary domain is adjacent to the Holy Gates, but also connects to the heavenly Tovanil.

If a soul reaching the Holy Gates is judged unworthy to enter a god's domain, he or she must then perform penance until cleansed of sin; this is the common fate of souls who merely gave lip service to the gods during life. Those who refuse to go through the proper penance must wander the Shadowlands until they change their minds or find a new home. The spirits of beings who were excommunicated from the Celestian or Quadralunic religions may never enter the Heavens. (Note that excommunication is performed only by divine permission, and thus is never trivial nor undeserved!)

The Hells

In the "opposite" direction from the Blessed Road is the Road of Bones, which leads the way to the Hells (also known as Demonhome). The Road of Bones is easy to find, and many lost souls in the Shadowlands find themselves arriving outside the Unholy Gates.

The Unholy Gates lead into the Hells and, much like the Holy Gates, have guardians who judge those dead who reach them. The souls of genuinely evil beings naturally gravitate towards these Gates, and gain admittance easily. Less immoral followers of the Demon Gods, as well as unrepentant criminals from other faiths, are judged and sent on to the most appropriate Hell. Souls who find these Gates but who truly deserve a different destination are sent back out into the Shadowlands; some of these lost souls eventually may be driven to despair of finding another home, and might be driven to commit sins which earn a place here.

Clerics of religions opposed to the Demon Cults usually portray the entire population of hell-bound souls as suffering hideous punishments, but this is a misrepresentation. This is true for the majority, who were either falsely led to believe that the demons would reward them for their crimes, or who worshiped other gods and are being punished here for especially vile crimes against those gods or their servants. A minority of particularly favored devotees of the Demon Gods (the most willfully and ingeniously evil souls) are transformed into servant-beings (demons or other monsters) in order to better continue their evil deeds after death. However, even these special minions face cruel punishments if their performance, zeal or loyalty is found to be lacking.

Hadira's realm is a colossal labyrinth where darkness reigns supreme. Zukuvor's home is a poisonous, mirage-filled wasteland riddled with the burrows of monsters. As the evil god of death, Shulkor rules from a great palace-mausoleum adjacent to the Unholy Gates; his undead servitors swarm the Unholy Road in order to plague the living. Mefira and Mukor dwell near Shulkor's palace, but may also have hells of their own.

A Final Word

As can be gathered from the description above, existence after death is fraught with at least as much peril as life itself. Souls can wander the Shadowlands indefinitely if they lacked the conviction and deeds in life to earn a final resting place in the afterlife. The more tolerant and compassionate gods, and their clerics, stress the importance of worshiping one or more gods (even one outside the proselytiser's religion!) in order to assure an easy transition from life to the appropriate Land of the Dead. Religious funeral rites can help guide the soul, but even Rashira the Merciful will not be eager to welcome a soul who is devoid of any spark of true devotion!

Other Views of the Afterlife

Northlanders make little distinction between the lands of the dead (Shadowlands, Heavens and Hells). They believe that proper offerings to the gods, and an honorable life and death, will earn the soul a place in "Godshall." Here, the blessed souls may indulge in the pastimes they enjoyed in life: food, drink, sex, hunting, battle, games and music. [With respect to the "Mahun" model, Godshall may be either a single domain in the Shadowlands shared by several gods, or the eleven Rune Path gods may each have their own Godshall (some in the Heavens, some in the Shadowlands).]

Each Tanduzi tribal cult has its own afterlife "paradise"--a land of plentiful water and food--in the domain of its god. [These are probably found in the Heavens of the "Mahun" model, except for those of Horse (Drumagira) and Antelope (Canthor), which would be in the Shadowlands.]

Gate Spells and the Planes of Mahun

The following table gives suggested modifiers to use with the Gate spells in GURPS Grimoire (pp. G44-51):

The author would like to thank Anne Rice, whose Memnoch the Devil influenced parts of this cosmology.

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