The aferlife in your world....
- Thread starter Tinker Gnome
- Start date
glass
(he, him)
Although my homebrew world exists at the moment only as a collection of ideas (which keep changing), this is my current thinking on the afterlife:
When a person dies, their soul (or at least part of it) goes to Limbo (not great wheel limbo, kinda purgatory). Those who had been devout followers are collected by there gods and taken into the gods themselves (not in a soul eating way: in a sense, the gods are planes in and of themselves). Those who had made pacts with daemons find that payment is now due. Those who believe in reincarnation wait in Limbo until they are re-incarnated. Those who practised shamanistic faiths go to the Otherworld to join there ancestors.
Anyone who's acted against the tenets of their faith in life (especially towards the end) waits in Limbo until they are deemed ready to enter their afterlife. Anyone who didn't really believe in anything waits there indefinitely.
I have actually been thinking about this very issue recently, the question is serendipitous. I just wish I had the time to actually run a game with it!
glass.
When a person dies, their soul (or at least part of it) goes to Limbo (not great wheel limbo, kinda purgatory). Those who had been devout followers are collected by there gods and taken into the gods themselves (not in a soul eating way: in a sense, the gods are planes in and of themselves). Those who had made pacts with daemons find that payment is now due. Those who believe in reincarnation wait in Limbo until they are re-incarnated. Those who practised shamanistic faiths go to the Otherworld to join there ancestors.
Anyone who's acted against the tenets of their faith in life (especially towards the end) waits in Limbo until they are deemed ready to enter their afterlife. Anyone who didn't really believe in anything waits there indefinitely.
I have actually been thinking about this very issue recently, the question is serendipitous. I just wish I had the time to actually run a game with it!
glass.
I use the standard from MotP BUT I have a plane called the Grey Waste that the dead have to cross to get to their appointed place. The waste are danagerous, filled with creature that eat souls and spirits. Clerics perform rights that send the dead to the Waste, temples, churches, shrines are protected zones. I have a PrC I call the Walkers of the Dead that are judges and guides for the dead and lead them where they are suppost to be. If the PC pays ahead he could even be lead back to his body. 
heirodule
First Post
Here is an overview of my cosmology:
The gods had to leave the earth because of the sundering of the Great Machine at the center of creation. They fled to the sky to Yesod, the piece of the Great Machine that was a control center. They used Yesod to create a portal to the heaven above, and went through.
Through Yesod is the Ether, in which floats the Silver City, a place for tainted celestials who are not pure enough to enter heaven. Beyond that is the Gate, and beyond that is Heaven Prime, the realm of Gods only.
When the Great Machine was sundered, and the celestial realms spun centriptially outward, an opposing reaction occured in the world. The Effluent of the great machine poured into an underworld. As people died, it became seperated into three parts:
The Boneyard, where undead arise from, and where most of the unrighteous dead remain in torpor, The general netherworld, where the God of Ending has sway, and Iconia, where the blessed dead live on a beautiful land on a great hill.
When you die, you soul goes to the boneyard, and you lie in torpor for a century, with only bones. If you were righteous or think you were, you make your way to the God of Ending for judgement, and dwell in Iconia.
In the center of Iconia is the Pit, realm of devils, and the Abyss, realm of demons (in my cosmology: devils are fallen celestials, and demons the most corrupt form of humans)
The comsology also comes with an eschatology: The dead should be going to heaven, but the netherworld began as a reflex of the great sundering.
Oh, and every time you use a ressurection or raise dead spell, the "opposite reaction" law means that 1) and undead will arise from the boneyard too. 2) a corrupt soul will decend and become a demon. I use Atlas Game's "Touched by the Gods" book and include Death's Forsaken (pro-ressurection group that doesn't knwo this fact) and another group that is anti-ressurection because they know better.
The gods had to leave the earth because of the sundering of the Great Machine at the center of creation. They fled to the sky to Yesod, the piece of the Great Machine that was a control center. They used Yesod to create a portal to the heaven above, and went through.
Through Yesod is the Ether, in which floats the Silver City, a place for tainted celestials who are not pure enough to enter heaven. Beyond that is the Gate, and beyond that is Heaven Prime, the realm of Gods only.
When the Great Machine was sundered, and the celestial realms spun centriptially outward, an opposing reaction occured in the world. The Effluent of the great machine poured into an underworld. As people died, it became seperated into three parts:
The Boneyard, where undead arise from, and where most of the unrighteous dead remain in torpor, The general netherworld, where the God of Ending has sway, and Iconia, where the blessed dead live on a beautiful land on a great hill.
When you die, you soul goes to the boneyard, and you lie in torpor for a century, with only bones. If you were righteous or think you were, you make your way to the God of Ending for judgement, and dwell in Iconia.
In the center of Iconia is the Pit, realm of devils, and the Abyss, realm of demons (in my cosmology: devils are fallen celestials, and demons the most corrupt form of humans)
The comsology also comes with an eschatology: The dead should be going to heaven, but the netherworld began as a reflex of the great sundering.
Oh, and every time you use a ressurection or raise dead spell, the "opposite reaction" law means that 1) and undead will arise from the boneyard too. 2) a corrupt soul will decend and become a demon. I use Atlas Game's "Touched by the Gods" book and include Death's Forsaken (pro-ressurection group that doesn't knwo this fact) and another group that is anti-ressurection because they know better.
Munin
First Post
"Hell" by the Squirrel Nut Zippers -
People listen attentively
I mean about future calamity
I used to think the idea was obsolete
Until I heard the old man stamping his feet
This is a place where eternally
Fire is applied to the body
Teeth are extruded and bones are ground
And baked into cakes which are passed around
In the afterlife
You could be headed for the serious strife
Now you make the scene all day
But tomorrow there'll be Hell to pay
Beauty, talent, fame, money, refinement , job skill and brain
And all the things you try to hide
Will be revealed on the other side.
Now the D and A and the M and the N and the A
And the T and the I-O-N
Loose your face
Loose your name
And get fitted for a suit of flames.
There's a little inspiration for you!
My approach to the afterlife is a little off the beaten path as far as d&d goes. It's a mix of quite a few beliefs, but mainly draws inspiration from ancient Hebrew and primitive (before Greek philosophy got ahold of it) Christianity.
Basically, there is no 'afterlife' in the modern sense of the word. Death is a state of final rest, with a resurrection and final judgment on the 'Last Day', whenever that may be.
There is no 'hell' in the damnation sense, though there is a underworld that is similar in a visual sense to the seven hells of D&D fame. The important difference is that it is a physical place, not a different plane, and so if one knew the way one could find the gates of hell, though I can hardly imagine why one would choose to go there. This place is called Tartarus, IMC.
Resurrection is possible, but highly dangerous. This is because not all spirits go to final rest. Some, because of some deed left undone or through force of will, refuse or are unable to go to final rest. These spirits, called the houseless, wander the waking world and haunt the living.
When a body is prepared for resurrection, the spirit may have to contend with one or more of these houseless ones for control of the physical shell, and given the fact that the houseless are often much more powerful than the person being resurrected, the loved one you bring back might not be the loved one that died...
People listen attentively
I mean about future calamity
I used to think the idea was obsolete
Until I heard the old man stamping his feet
This is a place where eternally
Fire is applied to the body
Teeth are extruded and bones are ground
And baked into cakes which are passed around
In the afterlife
You could be headed for the serious strife
Now you make the scene all day
But tomorrow there'll be Hell to pay
Beauty, talent, fame, money, refinement , job skill and brain
And all the things you try to hide
Will be revealed on the other side.
Now the D and A and the M and the N and the A
And the T and the I-O-N
Loose your face
Loose your name
And get fitted for a suit of flames.
There's a little inspiration for you!
My approach to the afterlife is a little off the beaten path as far as d&d goes. It's a mix of quite a few beliefs, but mainly draws inspiration from ancient Hebrew and primitive (before Greek philosophy got ahold of it) Christianity.
Basically, there is no 'afterlife' in the modern sense of the word. Death is a state of final rest, with a resurrection and final judgment on the 'Last Day', whenever that may be.
There is no 'hell' in the damnation sense, though there is a underworld that is similar in a visual sense to the seven hells of D&D fame. The important difference is that it is a physical place, not a different plane, and so if one knew the way one could find the gates of hell, though I can hardly imagine why one would choose to go there. This place is called Tartarus, IMC.
Resurrection is possible, but highly dangerous. This is because not all spirits go to final rest. Some, because of some deed left undone or through force of will, refuse or are unable to go to final rest. These spirits, called the houseless, wander the waking world and haunt the living.
When a body is prepared for resurrection, the spirit may have to contend with one or more of these houseless ones for control of the physical shell, and given the fact that the houseless are often much more powerful than the person being resurrected, the loved one you bring back might not be the loved one that died...
frankthedm
First Post
The Afterlife in my game focuses on "Heaven" for the good and "Hell" for the evil, while the very multiverse held together by Law. Chaos is used to prevent Law from crystallizing existence and is also tapped for magical power, which in turn was shaped into [relatively] safe to use Circles of spells [levels] By the power of Order.
At the death of the body, the spirit [ mortal consciousness ] of the body might be approached by entities offering some form of unlife [put your money on Orcus]. If the spirit refuses the choice or does not have it forced upon them [spawning undead] A death angel [Neutral angels similar to the entities from the movie version of “The Mothman Prophesies”] tries to get the soul out of the body and on its way ASAP to prevent soul consuming entities from doing what they do best. If the death was caused by Death magic then the victim can only choose undeath or oblivion. If the death was caused by a spawning undead then the soul can no longer be pulled from the body by the death angel and the soul will be consumed over the duration of the spawn delay [ Undeath willingly accepted is treated as a no-delay spawn]. If the body is sufficiently destroyed before the transition, the soul can then be sent on is way. If corporeal undead are destroyed after transition to undead, then the spirit fades to oblivion or, if strong enough, the spirit becomes an incorporeal undead creature.
Once sent on its way, the spirit enters The Soulstream [the flow of spirits from the mortal world traveling through the astral plane to their final destination]. The soul stream is guarded by a Host of death angels who keep most soul eating creatures at bay. It is advised that Astral tourists avoid the Soulstream if at all possible since death angels are permitted to send any mortal soul found on the astral plane to Judgment, even if it mean separating that soul from its mortal husk.
The speed and how directly one's soul travels through the 'Astral' plan to the target destination is determined on how the mortal behaved on the law-chaos axis. A very chaotic person may spiral incredibly far off the soul-stream. How far a chaotic soul flies from the Soulstream matters since on the outer fringes of the Astral plane lurks an entity, best described as Lovecraftian, that claims the most chaotic of spirits. It is strong enough to pull most chaotic spirits to it, but does not usually does not do this, reserving Its power to gnaw at the bonds of reality. The gods do not speak of what happens to those it takes, but the few mortals who claim to know are quite insane. This entity seems to have an actual dislike of the death angels and tries to attack them at any opportunity.
Once the Astral gauntlet is run, the soul lands at the place of Judgement. Good spirits go to ‘heaven’ and enjoy eternity while evil spirits go to ‘hell’ and suffer. Those dead-on Nuetral [quite rare] can have their souls go to the side where their chief deity is [if the god is offering the option], merge with the mortal world, be reincarnated [starting over, not the spell] or if lawful enough, be made into neutral angels.
Heaven is as one would expect it, except not being chopped up into separate planes. The souls can earn a more pleasant existence by helping out with the work load [become Good angel and serve…etc ]
Hell is a little different there are the 9 levels of the hells where the devils hold sway and punish mortals. Spiritually nearby there are at least 666 separate sub levels where demons, unbound by hell’s hierarchy rule.
At the death of the body, the spirit [ mortal consciousness ] of the body might be approached by entities offering some form of unlife [put your money on Orcus]. If the spirit refuses the choice or does not have it forced upon them [spawning undead] A death angel [Neutral angels similar to the entities from the movie version of “The Mothman Prophesies”] tries to get the soul out of the body and on its way ASAP to prevent soul consuming entities from doing what they do best. If the death was caused by Death magic then the victim can only choose undeath or oblivion. If the death was caused by a spawning undead then the soul can no longer be pulled from the body by the death angel and the soul will be consumed over the duration of the spawn delay [ Undeath willingly accepted is treated as a no-delay spawn]. If the body is sufficiently destroyed before the transition, the soul can then be sent on is way. If corporeal undead are destroyed after transition to undead, then the spirit fades to oblivion or, if strong enough, the spirit becomes an incorporeal undead creature.
Once sent on its way, the spirit enters The Soulstream [the flow of spirits from the mortal world traveling through the astral plane to their final destination]. The soul stream is guarded by a Host of death angels who keep most soul eating creatures at bay. It is advised that Astral tourists avoid the Soulstream if at all possible since death angels are permitted to send any mortal soul found on the astral plane to Judgment, even if it mean separating that soul from its mortal husk.
The speed and how directly one's soul travels through the 'Astral' plan to the target destination is determined on how the mortal behaved on the law-chaos axis. A very chaotic person may spiral incredibly far off the soul-stream. How far a chaotic soul flies from the Soulstream matters since on the outer fringes of the Astral plane lurks an entity, best described as Lovecraftian, that claims the most chaotic of spirits. It is strong enough to pull most chaotic spirits to it, but does not usually does not do this, reserving Its power to gnaw at the bonds of reality. The gods do not speak of what happens to those it takes, but the few mortals who claim to know are quite insane. This entity seems to have an actual dislike of the death angels and tries to attack them at any opportunity.
Once the Astral gauntlet is run, the soul lands at the place of Judgement. Good spirits go to ‘heaven’ and enjoy eternity while evil spirits go to ‘hell’ and suffer. Those dead-on Nuetral [quite rare] can have their souls go to the side where their chief deity is [if the god is offering the option], merge with the mortal world, be reincarnated [starting over, not the spell] or if lawful enough, be made into neutral angels.
Heaven is as one would expect it, except not being chopped up into separate planes. The souls can earn a more pleasant existence by helping out with the work load [become Good angel and serve…etc ]
Hell is a little different there are the 9 levels of the hells where the devils hold sway and punish mortals. Spiritually nearby there are at least 666 separate sub levels where demons, unbound by hell’s hierarchy rule.
Last edited:
Tinker Gnome
Adventurer
After looking at this thread. I now realize why so many D&D characters want to be ressurected, the afterlife in general seems to suck. Hehehe, J/K. 
Last edited:
Turjan
Explorer
The afterlife in my homebrew is a variation of themes above .
The Material Plane is the proving ground of ideas and concepts for the Creator. The beings of the Material Plane try to develop these concepts through their existence. Upon death, the souls wander to the Astral Plane for a filtering process.
The Astral Plane combines aspects of the Ethereal, the Spirit and the Dreams Realm IMC. A ghostly, nebulous atmosphere shows windows to the Material Plane or the dreams of beings. Besides many other aspects, the place of judgement can be found here. It has no distinct form, but every soul meets a different combination of place and "persons", and time is highly subjective. A soul meant for resurrection has to be found here (a difficult task if you don't know what to look for).
From here we have a threefold path:
1. Souls without a real goal in their former life and who just lived their day forget everything about their life. They merge again with the essence of the multiverse and may be reborn in a different form.
2. Souls with a strong will, but who used all their energy to further only their own goals without looking for others or consequences of their deeds will go their way to the Demon Realm (the Abyss). There they are subjected to the will of the demons, and they either loose their personality in agony and, after some time, merge with the multiverse like aforementioned group (most of them), or they "survive" all atrocities and may find their place among the demons, who harass mortals in their dreams.
3. Souls with a strong will, who tried to reach great goals in their lives to make the world a better place (be it a small or big dimension), will go on to Arcadia (a small plane). There they may be asked by a god to be a guide for other living souls. Arcadia is a nice place, but there is nothing to do; souls don't eat, drink and don't have to do anything connected to a normal life. Therefore, their normal way goes on, to Nirvana, where they will become one of the many-voiced thoughts of the Creator which may be heard in Arcadia. Nirvana is not known by gods or demons (not a big difference IMC, btw), because they cannot go there; gods have the taint of craving for power, and the doors will be kept closed, unless they have given up their power.
My homebrew has also the Shadow/Fairy Realm, where those beings can be found, that try to escape death. But there is a price; they forget their beloved, where they came from and why they wanted to live longer than their usual span.
.The Material Plane is the proving ground of ideas and concepts for the Creator. The beings of the Material Plane try to develop these concepts through their existence. Upon death, the souls wander to the Astral Plane for a filtering process.
The Astral Plane combines aspects of the Ethereal, the Spirit and the Dreams Realm IMC. A ghostly, nebulous atmosphere shows windows to the Material Plane or the dreams of beings. Besides many other aspects, the place of judgement can be found here. It has no distinct form, but every soul meets a different combination of place and "persons", and time is highly subjective. A soul meant for resurrection has to be found here (a difficult task if you don't know what to look for).
From here we have a threefold path:
1. Souls without a real goal in their former life and who just lived their day forget everything about their life. They merge again with the essence of the multiverse and may be reborn in a different form.
2. Souls with a strong will, but who used all their energy to further only their own goals without looking for others or consequences of their deeds will go their way to the Demon Realm (the Abyss). There they are subjected to the will of the demons, and they either loose their personality in agony and, after some time, merge with the multiverse like aforementioned group (most of them), or they "survive" all atrocities and may find their place among the demons, who harass mortals in their dreams.
3. Souls with a strong will, who tried to reach great goals in their lives to make the world a better place (be it a small or big dimension), will go on to Arcadia (a small plane). There they may be asked by a god to be a guide for other living souls. Arcadia is a nice place, but there is nothing to do; souls don't eat, drink and don't have to do anything connected to a normal life. Therefore, their normal way goes on, to Nirvana, where they will become one of the many-voiced thoughts of the Creator which may be heard in Arcadia. Nirvana is not known by gods or demons (not a big difference IMC, btw), because they cannot go there; gods have the taint of craving for power, and the doors will be kept closed, unless they have given up their power.
My homebrew has also the Shadow/Fairy Realm, where those beings can be found, that try to escape death. But there is a price; they forget their beloved, where they came from and why they wanted to live longer than their usual span.
Last edited:
Trickstergod
First Post
Galeros said:After looking at this thread. I now realzie why so many D&D characters want to be ressurected, the afterlife in general seems to suck. Hehehe, J/K.
Heh.
That's actually why, when writing up a little primer on my house rules and the like, I put in a section on character death and how a character who winds up in an afterlife out of sync with his beliefs (or is just out of favor with his deity) might not able to be resurrected or, more pertinent to this reply, how even an evil individual who was completely devout to his god likely wouldnt want to come back, either, due to being able to "beat slaves and copulate with succubi."
It amused at least one of my players.
In my homebrew, there are two destinations for souls, the Underworld, and being absorbed into the main deity of evil.
The Underworld is very Greek flavored, but is mostly like a town or city where best friends always live next to each other, and whoever you want to talk to is right around the corner. Essentially, the place is enchanted so that whoever you want to talk to is right there, and whereever you'd want to go is within five minute's walk. The place is ministered by the dwarves, who learn from the wise souls, and catalogue all the knowledge of the dead into enormous, endless books.
The only fixed location is the Throne of the Broken Sword, where the goddess of the dead sits to sleep/think/create/ponder how she's going to get her physical form back. The place is pretty idyllic, and they feel no pain even if someone were to decide to try and kill the souls of the dead. Souls of unborn children sometimes get formed into dwarves, and other times are cared for by the dead who like taking care of children (gives professional mothers something to do). I wanted to add in the Styx somehow, but I realized that the goddess in charge doesn't want souls to forget, she wants them to commit their memories to paper so that others don't repeat their mistakes.
Since the world is new, the evil deity takes a very hands-on approach to the whole deal. When someone is being extremely evil, or would be open to turning to evil, he's there with an offer of power and what they have to do to get what they want. For example, one barren woman was told that to have children, she would have to kill a child, and that soul would become her child; to this end she was given powers of poison and disease. Once they have pledged their souls to him, he gives them free reign.
When such people die, he has three options: immediately forge their souls into monsters, absorb them for power and keep them, or absorb them for later reforging. If he chooses the last, he doesn't choose exactly which soul is forged, only which would be most suited to his purpose. The deity's power is directly related to how many souls he has absorbed, so he doesn't often make monsters. As he sometimes ends up with good souls (through parents promising the souls of their children, or kings their subjects), the last option (delayed forging) sometimes comes with interesting results.
The last "botch" was when the deity wanted a creature that would destroy men with beauty, he got the (neutral good) nymph, who can both blind and kill men with beauty, or turn them (unintentionally) to evil through their drive to possess this most beautiful of beings. All such creatures are unique, and are, at their core, book monsters with a couple extra powers and a backstory.
The Underworld is very Greek flavored, but is mostly like a town or city where best friends always live next to each other, and whoever you want to talk to is right around the corner. Essentially, the place is enchanted so that whoever you want to talk to is right there, and whereever you'd want to go is within five minute's walk. The place is ministered by the dwarves, who learn from the wise souls, and catalogue all the knowledge of the dead into enormous, endless books.
The only fixed location is the Throne of the Broken Sword, where the goddess of the dead sits to sleep/think/create/ponder how she's going to get her physical form back. The place is pretty idyllic, and they feel no pain even if someone were to decide to try and kill the souls of the dead. Souls of unborn children sometimes get formed into dwarves, and other times are cared for by the dead who like taking care of children (gives professional mothers something to do). I wanted to add in the Styx somehow, but I realized that the goddess in charge doesn't want souls to forget, she wants them to commit their memories to paper so that others don't repeat their mistakes.
Since the world is new, the evil deity takes a very hands-on approach to the whole deal. When someone is being extremely evil, or would be open to turning to evil, he's there with an offer of power and what they have to do to get what they want. For example, one barren woman was told that to have children, she would have to kill a child, and that soul would become her child; to this end she was given powers of poison and disease. Once they have pledged their souls to him, he gives them free reign.
When such people die, he has three options: immediately forge their souls into monsters, absorb them for power and keep them, or absorb them for later reforging. If he chooses the last, he doesn't choose exactly which soul is forged, only which would be most suited to his purpose. The deity's power is directly related to how many souls he has absorbed, so he doesn't often make monsters. As he sometimes ends up with good souls (through parents promising the souls of their children, or kings their subjects), the last option (delayed forging) sometimes comes with interesting results.
The last "botch" was when the deity wanted a creature that would destroy men with beauty, he got the (neutral good) nymph, who can both blind and kill men with beauty, or turn them (unintentionally) to evil through their drive to possess this most beautiful of beings. All such creatures are unique, and are, at their core, book monsters with a couple extra powers and a backstory.
