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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Wofano Wotanto" data-source="post: 9357367" data-attributes="member: 7044704">Wordplay aside, a more fantastic fantasy world with serious, long term undead problems might see some cultures abandon burial altogether to deprive necromancers of material.  Cremation is energy-intensive in a technologically primitive system without absurd amounts of magic - whatever you're burning could be heating houses and cooking food, after all - and relying on exposure to natural scavengers is probably impractical beyond a certain population density (and attracts ghouls and other true monsters), but deliberate, ritualized cannibalism could be a viable option.  Many cultures and religions might balk at that (and it does historically carry some disease risks) but fantasy worlds are notorious for having multiple sapient species and perhaps some of them are more accepting of the practice than others.Consider, maybe the dividing line between the "monster races" (TSR D&D's "humanoids") and "demi-humans" is the result of being willing to devour their own dead, a practice that might extend to devouring the dead of other sapient species in time, especially during times of societal stress like war or famine.  Other cultures that see such behavior as abominable would be quick to call them monstrous and accuse them of all manner of other evils despite it being a normal practice in traditional orc, goblin, etc. culture. Or do something more interesting and have one of the traditional "good" species practice funereal cannibalism instead, which is largely a private ritualistic affair and pointedly ignored by their fellow demi-humans in the interests of peace.  I rather like Dwarves for the role, as they're frequently portrayed as reclusive and secretive about their culture, deeply respectful of their ancestors, but also pragmatic enough to accept that homophagy (or whatever the term should be when homo sapiens aren't involved) will efficiently keep said ancestors being turned into undead.  Runequest's Glorantha already has their Dwarven dead being rendered down Soylent Green style (albeit out of sheer pragmatism, not fear of undeath), direct cannibalism would just simplify the process.  Illuminated Chaos worshipper?  Who, me?  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />If you wanted to really run with the concept, perhaps the cultures that frown on devouring their own dead personally are grudgingly willing to let other sapient species do so - presumably in a setting where undeath (possibly as a spontaneous phenomenon) is applying enormous survival pressures and even the staunchest zealots need to bend.  This might lead to cautious integration of "monster race" species with the "demi-humans" as they provide a vital service - or it might lead to a sort of caste system where "corpse eater" species are tolerated but despised for engaging in vital but anathematized behavior.  The possibilities for drawing real word parallels are obvious if you like some social commentary in your roleplaying.</blockquote>

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