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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6276477" data-attributes="member: 4937">It depends on the incidence of undead associated with cremated ash or disembodied souls separated from burnt up bodies.  There are things much worse than zombies.  A society might be willing to tolerate a 1000 potential zombies if it avoided one wraith or worse.  Or it might not, depending on its relative ability to deal with spirits as opposed to wizards.You can be sure that in a world with undead, every precaution the society can afford will be provided for to ensure the dead comfortably and reliably journey from this world to the next.  But how can we know what those precautions are?  Are we learned sages within that world, that can say what steps are most reliable?  And perhaps the learned men of the postulated world themselves argue over the trade offs?For my part, I imagine the following are guidelines:1) The soul of the newly dead must be comforted and consoled in preparation for departing this world.  Exactly how that is done depends on the society and its traditions.2) Benevolent spirits from the beyond should be summoned and placated so that they'll act as guides for the dead.3) The spirit is likely to retain some attachment to the body for some time.  The body must be respectfully and securely interred so as to not disturb the spirit by its mistreatment.   Whether this is by burial or cremation or other means probably depends on the societies traditions and the resources it can muster. 4) Care must be taken to contain evil spirits, curses, and taints lest they spread.  The bodies of the foul hearted cannot be buried amongst the good, but must be placed in a special higher security zones isolated from the rest of the world and fenced in by additional protections.  In effect, the bodies of the cruel, the vicious, the murderous, and the like are like toxic pollutants.  You must put them where they won't contaminate everything else.   If you can't force the soul to depart or prevent the body from rising as undead, at least you can force it to happen where it can't threaten anyone.  The ideal situation is good people die peaceful deaths, are given funerals lamenting their passing but inspiring them to begin their journey to the lands of the after life, their bodies are respectfully laid to rest and spells are placed upon them to render them less useful as necromantic resources.Of course, that is the ideal situation in places who think 'good' is in the right.   In some cultures the ideal situation is believed to be all those bodies and sometimes the souls, and all that taint and curse and the dark energies that seep from them are harvested to power engines for the good of the living.</blockquote>

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