The Land of the Dead

Knowledge unlocked by Marcus Hildebrand and from personal experience:

No one knows for sure what happens to someone's soul after they pass from this world. Even the dieties, who created mortal man, know little about life after death, or if they do they tell nothing. Some feel the soul just dissapears. Some think it passes into a different plane, one that is different than any of the planes we are aware of. There are many different forms of the belief of reincarnation, from the belief of direct reincarnation into another living being, to your soul getting converted into life energy that plants the seeds of new life. There are many different theories, but one thing is for certain. When someone dies, thier soul passes briefly through a world between the planes of existence as we know them and whatever lies in wait. This world is the Land of the Dead.

Most spirits only pass through this plane briefly. Having accepted thier death, or being too weak to resist death's forces, they pass through this world without struggle. But there are plenty of exceptions. Someone with a strong will who refuses to accept thier death can linger in this world for long periods of time, sometimes years, resisting death's pull. Over time these people will either grow to slowly accept thier fate and eventually pass. Other grow dark and tainted, enraged by thier death. These sould wait for thier opportunity to pass back into the mortal realm and unleash thier anger as evil spirits. They wait for the opportunity when the path to our world is open, when the newly dead arrive, and pass back into our mortal existence and reek havok. The most powerful undead of our lore is not the result of foul necromancy but the results of these tainted spirits.

Another exception exists as well. These are the tortured spirits. Those who lived lives of pain or who died horrible deaths find themselves reliving thier pain over and over in this world. These souls are gathered together in what is reffered to as "The Hall of Tortured Souls." The purpose of this suffering is not understood, like much of the ways of death.

Little is known of the workings of this world. The laws of existence, which we must abide by while within our planes, play no role within this world. It is a land seemingly of chaos and disorder, but there also seems to be some form of method to the madness. What little we know comes from the experiences of the nearly dead, who have come close enough to death to visit this world only to survive thier injuries or mallodies. This limited ability to study the world is a big part of the reason so little about it is understood.