The ultimate fate of souls of the honored dead

Summary

It is known that the spirits of the honored dead can contact the living and be contaced by the living in limited ways for a period of time after their mortal deaths, but this period of time is not forever. This is fact, and is commonly called "the fading".
The Nine communicate with mortalkind via messenger spirits and mortal oracles but they either can't or won't answer what happens to these souls of the departed.
It is not known what happens to the souls of the honored dead when they are no longer able to interact with the living. This is the subject of myth and speculation.

Variations & Mutation

Reincarnationalists such as the Tiamalan kobolds believe that souls of the departed that are beyond contact are reborn in new mortal infants.


Some maintain that the honored dead pass into eternal paradise in the subrealms of the Nine. It is hotly debated whether this occurs for some, most, or all of the honored dead and if not everyone makes it to paradise, it is hotly debated on exactly what criteria the Nine judge mortals on for this reward.
It is especially unclear on whether those who worship the Nine relatively equally or those who lean heavily towards one of the Nine are more likely to reach a form of paradise.


Many believe that the souls of the dead peacefully pass into nothingness after their ties to the mortal plane are gone.
Some believe that the souls of the dead that fade away merge with the Nine. Some point out that this does not sound that qualititatively different from when Turoch consumed the souls of the deceased en masse in the Age Before Ages.

In Art

An illustration from 1493’s Liber Chronicarum (public domain)

Ancestor shrines and memorials have a lot of art to honored the deceased and many rituals for the honored dead involve a lot of art and costumes. This art almost exclusively focuses on the honored dead that are still partially tethered to the mortal plane rather than the deal with the ultimate fate of the afterlife beyond this period.
Most ordinary Scarterrans don't like to dwell on thoughts of the afterlife, but some do. Those religious factions with the most optimistic views of the afterlife are the most likely to create art depicting the afterlife.
Some religious festivals like to showcase aspects of paradise afterlifes, partially as a method of proseltyzing.

Different immediate fates of the departed

The honored dead are the souls of the departed that pass into Aetherial Realm for their proper afterlife.
Souls of the departed that are seriously tainted by energy of the Void face utter oblivion or they warp into exogenic undead that bear no true piece of the former mortal's identity..
Souls of the departed that are slightly tainted by the energy of the Void, enough to keep them from passing on to the afterlife but not enough to destroy them become the restless dead, aka ghosts.

Related Locations

• Aetherial Realm

What about Scaraqua

Free Pexels download by Francesco Ungaro

Scaraquans have different physiology, different culture, and different religious beliefs from Scarterrans but their souls are metaphysically the same.
Both Scarterrans and Scaraquans generally agree that the souls of the honored dead ascend into Aetherial Realm, in other words the sky or as Scaraquans know it Sky.
People with near death experiences have glimpses of the afterlife in the Aetherial plane and sometimes spirit loas give partial fragmentary accounts. Accounts of sights of shorelines suggest that the afterlife as "wet" and "dry" regions to it to provide a comfortable resting place for both terrestial and aquatic mortal souls.