Funeral customs in Thorgh

The unusual environment of Thorgh leads to different funeral customs than are typical on most terrestrial worlds. In particular, the lack of large areas of earth or similar materials makes burial impractical if not entirely impracticable—and while cremation might be possible, it sees little use in Thorgh, perhaps because Thorgh itself is somewhat flammable, at least compared to rock and earth. Nevertheless, residents of Thorgh have developed their own taphetic techniques. As on other worlds, different cultures have different customs, but there are some common, though not universal, threads.

Disposal of the body

One of the most important funeral considerations is the disposition of the corpse. While a serety of practices are found across Thorgh, there are a few that seem particularly common. Which of them is practiced in a given area depends in some cases on the availability of appropriate resources, but the matter is largely arbitrary; Thorgh is a large and diverse enough place that it houses radically different cultures that vary as much in their approach to death as they do in any other matter.

Delivery

Perhaps the most common mortuary practice is one often euphemistically called "delivery"—the corpse is simply left somewhere outside the population centers, to be taken care of by lukes and other of Thorgh's cleaners and scavengers. This does not usually mean it is merely jettisoned somewhere at random; most communities that practice delivery choose a consistent location to which to "deliver" the corpses—generally somewhere that is known to be frequented by lukes and the like and where it can be relied on that any corpses will be removed before they pile up to unsanitary levels. Another common variation is to send the corpse away through a nearby peristaltic tube. Sometimes a tube is chosen with a destination that is known, but that the living have little reason to travel through, but often a community may have a tube designated for delivery without knowing where it may lead. The idea, apparently, is that as long as the corpses are delivered away from their origin, that's all that's necessary, and what exactly is at the other end of the tube is unimportant; out of sight, out of mind.

The fact that the word "delivery" also applies to childbirth is not lost among the people of Thorgh—at least, those of them that speak English or other languages in which the same word has these two meanings. Indeed, this fact is often seen as quite felicitous, and even poetic: life, it is frequently said, both begins and ends with delivery.

Liquefaction

Less common than delivery but still fairly widespread is liquefaction—the corpse is rendered into a liquid and then poured out onto a porous or absorbent area of the ground. The liquefaction is usually achieved by means of powerful acids or alkalines—both of which are not difficult to find in Thorgh, being carried by common vessels that can be easily tapped into. Some cultures, however, prefer to eschew direct chemical dissolution, and instead leave the body in a sealed container—often with some starter material that is known to be rich in appropriate bacteria and other saprogenic organisms—and leave rot to do the job. This takes more time, of course, but various traditions have arisen surrounding the wait. This latter method of liquefaction may not result in the complete eliquation of the bones, but some cultures after liquefying the rest of the body relegate the bones to delivery—while others have found putrefacients powerful enough to break down bone as well as flesh.

Incarnation

The word "incarnation", as applied to the treatment of the dead on Thorgh, does not have its otherwise common meaning of embodiment in a fleshly form. Rather, it is a revival of an otherwise obsolete use of the word, synonymous with implantation in the surgical sense. Perhaps the closest analogue that is practiced on Thorgh to burial on a more typical terrestrial world, incarnation involves cutting a large incision in a wall or floor of the living world and placing the body within. Generally the garse is then covered by some sort of poultice or bandage to expedite its healing, though often it is first treated with some sort of epulotic to ensure the formation of a scar to act as a permanent marker of the place of incarnation—or at least a long-lived one.

As for the incarnated corpse, it is usually decomposed and assilimated by the tissues into which it is embedded. However, in some areas the tissues instead surround the intrusive matter with a nacreous deposition, until it is eventually enveloped by a thick layer of the substance. This ultimately results in the corpses being effectively turned into giant pearls of the approximate shape of whatever species they pertained to, and some cultures disinter these so-called margeries once the coating is complete and erect them in "pearlyards" as monuments to the deceased.

Interfaction

Where interfaces are plentiful, some cultures employ them as a place to entomb bodies—a practice called interfaction. The interfaces apparently have some ability to discrepate between living and dead bodies—at least for most folks of Thorgh—, and while they may keep living intrants alive almost indefinitely, dead bodies introduced into interfaces are not similarly preserved. They do last longer than they would otherwise, but they are eventually decoagulated and incorporated into Thorgh's tissues. However, many Thorghans believe that it helps some part of the personality or psyche of the deceased to persist, as just as the interfaces induce the living within to share some of their thoughts and feelings, so perhaps they might even help the living experience some of the thoughts and feelings of the dead.

Perhaps surprisingly, there is evidence that this belief has some basis in fact. Although there is considerable dispute about the mechanisms involved, there are indications that those embedded in the same interface as a corpse do in fact receive some of the memories of dead intromitted with them. This is not, however, an unmixed blessing; it has happened sometimes that people have acquired memories from the dead they would have preferred not to know.

Burial at sea

Many inhabitants of those areas close to Thorgh's inner seas take advantage of those as a destination for the dead, performing burials at sea. Unlike burial at sea on most other worlds, the dead so "buried" are rarely fully enclosed in coffins, nor wrapped in cloth; most commonly, they are simply coated in resins harvested from various vessels and surfaces around Thorgh. Depending on the density of the resin and the thickness of the coating, the corpse will either sink into the water (assuming the local part of the sea has gravity and a well-defined "down" direction) or float away with the current.

Of course, to the inhabitants of the inner seas themselves, "burial at sea" would have a different meaning. Some marine Thorghans do cover their dead in suitable funerary resins and let them float away, but others employ variations on the other necial conventions: delivering the body to a haunt of marine scavengers, incarnating it in a suitable surface, and so on.

Funeral rituals

The various cultures of Thorgh have developed a panoply of different kinds of exequy for seeing off the departed. As on other worlds, the disposal of the dead is accompanied by funerals where the bereaved can say their farewells to the deceased and honor their memory through eulogies and epicedes. The details of the obsequies vary by location and culture, and in many places by the social class of the deceased. In some cases, the only observance may be a short speech by someone close to the decedent, or by a religious authority; in other places the dead—especially those of especial influence or standing—are honored by elaborate song cycles or commendaces that may go on for days.

While on other worlds funeral services are carried out at the graveside, the fact that there are no graves or graveyards in the traditional sense makes this less common on Thorgh. In the case of incarnation or interfaction, there is an accessible place where the body is laid to rest, and funerals can (but do not necessarily) take place there, but especially for the dead destined for delivery the primary time of observation is not during or after the disposal of the body, but rather on the way to its ultimate destination. Magnificent funeral parades are a tradition on many parts of Thorgh.

Religious Observances

Funeral observances are frequently connected with religion, and this is no less true on Thorgh than elsewhere. Religions imported from offworld generally follow their usual rituals as best they can, adapting as necessary to the different circumstances of dispatching the dead. Some religions may forbid or at least highly discourage certain of these methods; many Christian sects consider interfaction to some degree blasphemous, while liquefaction tends to offend the sensibilities of the Xavaya.

Native Thorghan religions naturally fully embrace and incorporate the idiosyncrasies of Thorgan necrhesis. The Heredes Vitae practice an elaborately ritualized form of liquefaction. The Wandering Angels typically deliver their dead, seeing this as symbolic of their own spreading of their message, and mark that symbolism with various ceremonies. The Kerists are especial advocates of incarnation, seeing it as a way to unite the dead with Thorgh itself.

Memorials

While many Thorghans share with inhabitants of other worlds the desire to memorizalize their dead with some sort of tangible marker, some of their traditions lend themselves to this better than others. In the case of delivery, liquefaction, or burial at sea, there isn't generally a readily accessible place where the body is located, so there can be no analogue of a typical grave. However, cenotaphs are still possible, and widely used. In some civilizations, a cenotaph to honor the deceased is erected in some place significant to them in life; in others, it's common for multiple cenotaphs to be placed in a designated area called a mnemocep, that plays a similar cultural role to a graveyard.

Interfaction and incarnation, on the other hand, do ubicate the body at a particular site, so they do lend themselves more to something like a grave marker. In the case of incarnation, the resting place of the relicts may be marked by a cicatrix; failing that, any sort of plaque or sign will do, as it does with interfaction. Of course, if the dead are ennacred, the margery serves the purpose of memorialization.

Funerary trades

Of course, there are on Thorgh as on other worlds those who specialize in arranging or conducting memorial services, or on preparing the dead for disposal, even if the details of that disposal may differ. But the unusual circumstances of body dispensation on Thorgh have led to the development of funeral trades unknown elsewhere—some of them specific trades associated with each of the particular methods of disposal, but also some that apply to multiple such methods.

Cubilar consultants help the uncertain bereaved decide on how and where to lay their loved ones to rest. Unfortunately, the trade is rife with mysticism and mountebankery, with most cubilar consultants claiming to be somehow in tune with Thorgh itself and to be able to sense psychical connections between the world and the deceased. The few honest cubilar consultants instead delve into the psychology of both the decedent and, more importantly, those they left behind, judging what course of action would best bring them comfort and satisfaction in the long term.

Another common funeral trade on Thorgh is that of necrocartologist. The resting places of many of those incarnated, liquefied, or interfacted might not be overtly marked, but it is still often desireable to the living to know where these places are, and necrocartologists keep track of them, and divulge them for a fee. There are also taphiaters who work to prevent or minimize damage to Thorgh itself from incarnation or other funeral processes. Of course, there is little danger of such events doing large-scale damage to Thorgh, but a localized infection or sphacel may still have deleterious consequences to the immediate area, and so taphiaters do their best to make sure that body disposal doesn't cause such consequences, and monitor the areas around the corpse's ultimate destination to detect and treat any uncome that might occur.