Life And Death

Only two things are certain in life: You will be born at the very beginning, and die at the very end.  King, mage, warrior or beggar, at some point everyone will receive a tap on the shoulder from someone a bit bonier than they would normally expect.  Death, almost the oldest person in the Universe (something had to die first), may be a mere anthropomorphic personification of a natural process, but that doesn't stop him being bloody good at his job.

Death goes by different names, but appears to all beings on the planet, be they Dwarf or Human, seagull or Troll, exactly the same, as the Grim Reaper.  The scythe was too good a metaphor for the Humans to miss, and every other species grabbed onto it, even the non-agricultural ones, until Death's appearance stuck in the belief systems of all species.

Death does not grant life, nor does he take it away.  He is merely a gatekeeper, a chaperon between worlds.  Upon the death of an individual, Death will arrive, sever the link between the soul and the body with his scythe, possibly give some brief advice to the nearly-departed as to what happens now, and then go off to his next "appointment".  It is generally accepted that Death will answer one question truthfully to anyone who can see him, but for many people this tends to run something along the lines of "Oh, am I dead then?" or "Hang on, I get one question, don't I?"  Also, no one really knows what the truth is, and what death gives as his answer may or may not be what the asker was expecting.

After the separation, the soul of a dead person will generally hang around for a period of time, between days and weeks, as a ghostly presence. The ghost cannot be seen or heard by anyone but the most perceptive of minds, and cannot influence anything around him.  All that will happen with a ghost is that people will become uneasy when a ghost is in the room. A ghost cannot move beyond a certain distance from his body or, if he has been murdered, the place of his death.  He will haunt this area until he moves to the afterlife.  

What happens next is dependent upon his god.  In exceptional cases, th god may resurrect the body and reconnect the soul to it.  On the other hand, in even more exceptional circumstances, such as if he has greatly angered a major god, or if he is considered to have "unfinished business", they may keep him in this state for a great length of time, possibly forever.  A ghost is truly in "limbo," but if he remains a ghost he may be able to recapture some powers - he may be able to manifest himself to people for short periods of time, or appear in dreams, or to slam doors behind people.  The "life" of a ghost, however, is unpleasant and dreary - it could take years to build up the power to even tip over a glass, or make a simple "whoo" noise and frighten a rabbit.  Most people prefer the other option...the afterlife.

The soul of all beings in Majik is created at birth.  This soul is what makes a being truly individual, what makes him alive.  During his life, a being can treat his soul how he wants.  If he wishes, he can align his soul with a god, giving power to the god from his belief, and in return possibly receiving privileges from the god for his piety.  If he does this, he will be granted Peace in death from the god.  Each god has a heaven prepared for his followers, where they will retire for eternity.  On the other hand, a being can live a life of decadence and corruption, ignore the gods, or even turn to and worship Yorkaturr.  In these cases, the soul will be transferred to the realm of Yorkaturr, where he will become a member of Yorkaturr's mindless undead minions.  Yorkaturr gains his power from the weak, the corrupt, the evil, or those who turn away from the other gods, and when they die he gains them.

A member of Yorkaturr's army cannot be controlled, is no longer the person they were.  It is just a shade, an echo which will someday assist Yorkaturr when he hopes he can storm the overworld and make it his own.  If an evil mage makes a pact with Yorkaturr, he can create a body and bind an undead soul from the army to it, creating a zombie which he can control.  Depending upon the power of the pact (which will always tip in Yorkaturr's favour in the long term) the soul the mage gets, and therefore the zombie, will vary in power.  For instance, a weak thief's soul might make a fairly weak zombie, capable of scaring people and committing a few acts, but nothing major.  However a mighty warrior's soul might be able to create a nearly indestructable zombie, capable of tearing down walls.  A zombie cannot be killed.  Its body can be destroyed, but the soul is still powering it, so if the body is recontructed, from the original components, then the zombie can continue.  A zombie can be made of anything, clay, glass, straw, even dead people a-la Frankenstein.

Zombies, ghosts, and other manifestations of the undead are, however, very rare (after the first few days of death, that is), and most beings end up in peaceful or chaotic oblivion after death.