Garden Beyond the Stars

The afterlife of the Eight Human gods. The garden is said by some to be populated by constructs of light called Houri that provide flawless service to all in the Garden in whatever they ask for.

Type

Magical Realm

Included Locations

• The Allotments
• The Arbors
• The Garths
• The Grounds
• The Lawns
• The Lycea
• The Parks
• The Yards

Related Myths

• The Narrative of the Broken

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Interview Excerpts: What do you think happens after you die?

RESPONSES

Masons

"While I could not presume to know the details, it is widely recorded that the Tinker’s walls are the only ones of greater quality even than our own, and as such the Garden they enclose can be supposed to retain its perfection indefinitely, no matter how many pass onto there from here."
-- Subvizier Aloysius Mason.

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Dargent-Laureats

"I expect to live in wealth in the Garden, with my dynasty."
-- Vizier Victor Dargent-Laureat.
"You go to the Garden, right? Except maybe if you’re really bad and the gods need to punish you. That’s what everyone says."
-- Viziera Satine Dargent-Laureat.

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Ironsides

"I’ll fight my way to the Garden and I’d like to see who’d try to stop me!"
-- Vizier Balthazar Ironside.
"If you’ve done it right, you live forever - your soul in the Garden and your name in the songs. That’s what father says."
-- Subvizier Agamemnon Ironside.
"I neither know nor wish to."
-- Katib Menelaus Ironside.
"After I die? I’m assuming straight to the top of the Soldier’s ranks. Well, not the top. However high women can get."
-- Katiba Britomart Stargazer-Ironside.

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Stargazers

"A voyage beyond the stars."
-- Vizier Leopold Stargazer.
"I expect to find out."
-- Viziera Andromeda Stargazer.
"I think the main theory at the moment is that souls are made of the same stuff as the light that spills through Salsabil, and when they’re separated from their bodies they’re drawn back to the Garden Beyond from which they first fountained. That’s what the books say, and the astronomy seems to line up."
-- Subvizier Pollux Stargazer.
"After I die? I’m assuming straight to the top of the Soldier’s ranks. Well, not the top. However high women can get."
-- Subviziera Britomart Stargazer-Ironside.
"I should like to think that in the Garden Beyond the Stars, there are no courts, and we will be free to admit to who we are."
-- Katib Castor Stargazer.
"I’ve always taken it as read that everyone goes to the Garden Beyond the Stars, but the more I research the less certain even that seems to become."
-- Katiba Cassiopeia Stargazer-Greenskin.

"A dissemination of quintessence back into the substance of the plane, comingling with the whole to produce new consciousnesses in time."
-- Bartleby.

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Dargents

"I can only imagine the Garden has a power structure of its own."
-- Vizier Richard Dargent.
"I settle a debt, and if I’ve done this right, it’s settled in my favour."
-- Viziera Guinevera Dargent.
"I expect to live in wealth in the Garden, with my dynasty."
-- Subvizier Victor Dargent-Laureat.
"You go to the Garden, right? Except maybe if you’re really bad and the gods need to punish you. That’s what everyone says."
-- Subviziera Satine Dargent-Laureat.
"I used to believe that I would go to the Garden Beyond the Stars if I led a good life. These days I'm not so sure the Eight would even let me in. Mostly, I just don't want to end up back in that tooth dimension."
-- Katib Hugo Dargent.
"You go to a big garden beyond the stars, of course! And whatever you leave behind gets inherited…"
-- Katiba Scarlett Dargent.

"The people you leave behind are sad… or relieved."
-- Lindie Asklepa.
"Oh, uh, well in my experience, the universe seems to contrive to make me alive again... but I really hope at some point I'll just get to go to the Briarpatch and stay there with Bramble. These days there seems to be another force keeping me from that, which I'm hoping is temporary."
-- Connie Furr.
"I go to my patron until the Viziera calls me back into a new body. If she dies too, the fox part of me is released to the Garden, and the Rich Man keeps the rest."
-- Voltaire.

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Carterholds

"The Church of the Poor Man says we all go to the Garden to be with our families, which sounds about right. We’ll find out if I can still sneak out up there."
-- Katiba Rouge Carterhold.

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Bakerstreets

"They say the Beggar Man’s got a plan to get everyone who deserves it an eternity of paradise in the Garden. Most people prefer not to ask themselves what has to happen to everyone else in order to keep the garden a paradise for eternity. Some say there’s a place called Alnar, Salsabil’s dark secret: a rotten black star on the opposite sky somewhere far under our feet, and beyond that, the Well, which the souls too blackened to be scrubbed clean get dragged down into by the weight of their sin, never to escape. I’m not saying it’s true. I’m not a preacher. But you’ve got to ask yourself why this city full of sinners never stops sinking downwards."
-- Vizier Cobbler Bakerstreet.
"...[silence]..."
-- Subviziera Diana Bakerstreet-Underhand.
"GONNA FUCK UP THE GARDEN 24/8 AND TWICE ON ECLIPSEDAYS BROOOOOOO"
-- Katib Cody Bakerstreet.
"Oh, I’m still solving that one. And my current theory is after it happens I still will be."
-- Katiba Wiggin Bakerstreet.

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Underhands

"...[silence]..."
-- Katiba Diana Bakerstreet-Underhand.

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Baharats

"Freedom, I’m told. But I do not expect to know for sure for another few centuries."
-- Ex-Subvizier James Baharat.

"There’s a Garden Beyond the Stars, isn’t there? That’s what mama always said."
-- Beautiful Baharat Guard.
"I don’t remember everything the church taught me, but I do remember there’s supposed to be a Briar Patch by the Garden where we all get to be free to run and play wherever we want. No-one’s a noble; no-one’s a pet."
-- Martini.

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Brasseyes

"I think there’s a wider range of options than people realise."
-- Katiba Grimoire Brasseyes.

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Darktusks

"They chuck you in a fucking furnace so you don’t become a ghoul. What are you, nine?"
-- Mirze Rifi Darktusk.

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Greenskins

"There is a Garden Beyond the Stars. That much I believe."
-- Vizier Kronk Greenskin.
"I’ve always taken it as read that everyone goes to the Garden Beyond the Stars, but the more I research the less certain even that seems to become."
-- Subvizier Cassiopeia Stargazer-Greenskin.

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Jackalslicers

"Peace in the beyond, if we are fortunate."
-- Viziera Atkin Jackalslicer.
"I choose to believe there is peace."
-- Katib Fennec Jackalslicer.

"Who cares. Wolf knows."
-- Stubby.

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Shajaras

"Why, no need to have a stance on that just yet, at only these years."
-- Vizier Hali Shajara.
"Oh, gosh, I’ll think about that when I’m, uh, older."
-- Viziera Cassilda Shajara.

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Brambleites

"It is my firm hope that I shall be borne nimbly to the holy Briarpatch in recognition of my service to my liege!"
-- Bugsby Cottontail.
"Oh, uh, well in my experience, the universe seems to contrive to make me alive again... but I really hope at some point I'll just get to go to the Briarpatch and stay there with Bramble. These days there seems to be another force keeping me from that, which I'm hoping is temporary."
-- Connie Furr.
"Freedom, I’m told. But I do not expect to know for sure for another few centuries."
-- James Baharat.
"I don’t remember everything the church taught me, but I do remember there’s supposed to be a Briarpatch by the Garden where we all get to be free to run and play wherever we want. No-one’s a noble; no-one’s a pet."
-- Martini.
"If I die in this form? I imagine my parents may resurrect me just to kill me again - to ensure I died in the other one."
-- Vulpix.
"I’ll join Brambleson in the Briarpatch of course. I hope it’s peaceful."
-- Warren Furr.
"We are told that we will join the Prince of Rabbits in the Briarpatch… I hope the Prince likes a lot of company."
-- Winnie Furr.

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Patchwork Empire

"Without a star to draw me back, everything I am rots back into the churning, fermenting filth that permeates every grain of sand on this plane, until someone else bubbles up out of it and what’s left of me lives on unknowingly in them."
-- Pairaka.

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Undergazette

"That one’s a little beyond my investigatory powers. I’d like to think the Garden is real and there’s a sense of justice somewhere in the cosmos, but I know I don’t have a lot of evidence to go on there."
-- Krona Tailfeather.
"The people you leave behind are sad… or relieved."
-- Lindie Asklepa.
"That’s the great mystery, isn’t it? You transcend the known and ascend from the physical to the untethered spiritual, out of the veil that everyone who’s gone before had to get out of to learn the truth and never got back in to spread it. A lot of people say there’s like a Great Togetherness out there that works like a Garden Beyond the Stars, where everyone grows in a whole harmonious ecosystem. I hope they grow catnip."
-- Tito.

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Yvette & her Handmaidens

"I’ve read a great many ideas about the Garden Beyond Salsabil. Do you know some texts say there are native constructs of light called Houri that provide flawless service to all in the Garden in whatever they ask for? Alas, for now the closest you can get is the same service from a flesh-and-blood woman for a reasonable price, although I do do my best to live up to a divine standard."
-- Yvette, the Courtesan.
"Oh, I don’t know if they’d let me into the Garden. But I’m sure the Tailor wouldn’t want to lose me, so perhaps we’ll work something out."
-- Yvette Vixois.
"Without a star to draw me back, everything I am rots back into the churning, fermenting filth that permeates every grain of sand on this plane, until someone else bubbles up out of it and what’s left of me lives on unknowingly in them."
-- Pairaka.