Corpse Rising

Corpse Rising is a funeral parlor in the Draconian capital city of Zephys, in the bottom district known as Lower Zephys, run by the Elves Altora Shinebright and Mordys Tirner. It was founded in 857 while the two attended the Magic College.

The Funeral Parlor

Corpse Rising is a special place with a unique twist on the idea of a funeral parlor. Rather than just allowing a viewing and a funeral, where the body may be seen and then buried, the viewings at Corpse Rising give a final goodbye between the body and the ones they loved.
Altora Shinebright uses Necromancy to bring back the dead for a short period of time to say goodbye and spend their true final moments with the people they cared about. This is generally something they only allow for family and close friends, as it expends a large amount of mana and energy from Altora.

Namesake

The namesake of Corpse Rising comes from its gimmick. The corpses brought here for their last rites are given new life, rising from the dead to say goodbye. It is said to be the greatest form of closure one could imagine, to not just say goodbye, but to remind the families that their loved ones live on in the afterlife, be it a layer of Hell, an area of the Void, or one of the Heavenly Realms.

Founders

Altora Shinebright and Mordis Tirner founded Corpse Rising while interning with 67th Grand Wizard, the Draconian Cult Leader known as the Mighty Herald. The two were second years at the Magic College and found that while working with the Mighty Herald, they were coming across more and more people dying.

Altora Shinebright by Yumedatchi

Founding Date
857
Type
Funeral Parlor
Owners
Mordys Tirner and Altora Shinebright

Mordys, in particular, found that the places she went to with the Mighty Herald would become filled with the dead.

The Mighty Herald by Jarhed

The Mighty Herald, who led the Paragons of Unity cult, would say that this was the end result of all life: death. He said that those who did not understand the benefits of global unity would suffer pain in death, for they would never truly understand the ones they cared for.
Mordys took this in a certain way that others who ended up following the Herald would not. She believed he meant that all people died with regrets, and that if they continued on like that in the afterlife, they would be unfulfilled. Mordys's thoughts lied with the dead.
Altora Shinebright, on the other hand, had grown up without a father. When her mother died, then, she was alone. Altora learned necromancy to bring back her own mother, to say the goodbye she never got. When Mordys approached her with the idea of stopping the dead from having regrets, Altora thought of something completely different.

Mordys Tirner by Jarhed

Family.
Dead.
Regret.
Goodbye.
Those four words gave Altora a completely different thought. It didn't matter to her what regrets the dead had, they had lived their lives and their lives were over. But all dead people, no matter how alone they were, left someone behind.
Altora's thoughts went to the living, not the dead. It mattered more what the living felt, because that was what kept the world going: the living, not the dead. She had to find a way to say her own goodbye, and so she agreed to give others that opportunity. And every time that a family says goodbye, and she sees the love these people share, Altora has one thought:

"Must be nice."

— Altora Shinebright

The Structure

Exterior

The building is a wooden structure shaped like a coffin. It was Altora's idea to shape it like this, to bring the living into the realm of the dead during their stay here. This way, it wouldn't shock the corpses that were raised, but it would give perspective to their families. That they could leave here only with their lives and closure, nothing more. They could not take the dead with them in anything but a coffin or an urn.
The coffin structure is one that is laying down, and sitting atop this coffin is what appears to be a skull sitting atop it. This is made of white, aged wood, and it is both the home and office of Altora and Mordys. The floor of the skull building is reinforced with stone and metal so that in the case of a resurrected corpse lashing out, there is a safe place for customers to run while Altora and Mordys deal with it.
A graveyard is found behind the building, with countless graves spread out in a field. Due to this, there are not many buildings towards that side of Corpse Rising, as the land was purchased for graves instead.

Interior

The coffin structure features a waiting room, five rooms for corpses, and a hallway within. The waiting room has a desk, where one of the two generally work. If not one of them, then generally they have a young intern man the desk.
The hallway has paintings of graveyards, but also of the various afterlives, lining it. The afterlife paintings are there to assure people that their loved ones are going to a good place. Paperwork is filled out prior to know what religion the dead followed, and the paintings are swapped out depending on the services that would be carried out each day. For this, also, priests or devout followers of that religion are called to say some last words for and to the dead.
Each room has a specialty, such as an underwater room at the far end of the hall for Nereids and Merfolk. This room has a sandy floor, stone from beneath the sea covering its walls, and underwater decorations.
There is a golden room for Elves that can be turned into a stone smithy for Dwarves, a field for those that like the outdoors, a Draconian room for the most common deaths in the city, and an extra room whose decorations could be changed.
There is a storage closet in the skull upstairs where one can get decorations to fill these rooms. Then, there is an office and a bedroom for each of the owners, as well as a bathroom.