Burial practices within the Realms

[paazin]

Chauntea

no crypts. Bodies aren't cremated, but rather ploughed into fallow fields, to enrich the soil (some temples so treat bodies of the faithful only; and for priests, sites are marked and skulls retrieved later, for veneration; other temples don't do this), such fields being left fallow for at least the same growing season as the burial takes place in, and preferably three seasons; in cities, the dead taken out to countryside; where fields can't be spared, burials are done in orchards, woodlots, or forest.


Helm

Embalming, buried in full, sealed (with pitch and other substances) stone casket, buried with weapons and holy symbols to prevent becoming undead spontaneously, but to preserve them for use as "guardians" if a priest of Helm needs to animate them "for a holy purpose" (this almost never occurs, as the animation is frowned upon, but would be done to create temple defenders if a mad ruler or breakdown of all law and order or arrival of an orc horde endangered the consecrated ground).


Kelemvor

no crypts, but in-ground burial, in simple muslin or "found cloth" (used clothing, such as deceased's own cloak, tunic, and breeches, sewn together) shroud (with holy symbols to prevent spontaneous rising as undead) of faithful and of all "common dead" not brought to other clergy, or refused by other clergy. If disease, mummy rot, or other dnger to the living exists, bodies are sewn into a shroud (temples keep some "large bag" shrouds ready for this purpose) and burned in a pyre without delay. Intent is to "keep the dead dead" and return their bodies to the earth for "the Endless Cycle".


Lathander

no crypts. In solemn temple ritual, with loved ones present if they want to be, bodies are transformed into other organic substances at random (Will of Lathander ritual akin to the "wild" effects of a wand of wonder), for use (as compost or material components or raw building materials or whatever) in "new beginnings".


Lliira

no crypts. Dance of Death spell cast in a consecrated (bare-earth and private place shielded from public view, deep in temple grounds [often ringed by gardens] or in the cellar of an in-city temple) bower, that animates corpse to dance endlessly until it collapses, the various pieces continuing to try to move until all joints fail and what's left is allowed to rot on site; many corpses may be dancing in the same bower at the same time; rotted remains cremated and the ashes cast into the air by dancing clergy of the goddess, while participating in certain festivals (most of the major ones, throughout the year).

Selune

no crypts or embalming. Naked skyburial (on high platform, to be picked clean and scattered by scavengers and storms) if far from sea, otherwise laid naked on a raft and set out to sea (released when well out from shore; land should be "just visible" on the horizon) in moonlit conditions, to "voyage at the Lady's bidding".

Sharess

no crypts or embalming. Priests embrace the dead in a 'last intimacy' (that need not be more intimate than a kiss while the living cleric's arms are wrapped around the corpse), and the corpses are then animated in a Firedance spell, to cavort in air above a pyre, which is then lit to consume them (so they dance as they crumble into ash, "dancing on air" no matter how much they've crumbled, rather than collapsing as a Dance of Death spell allows).

Tempus

Embalming, with blood and fluids being drawn off for use (with transforming spells) into oil for armor worn by others into battle; prepared corpses are borne into shared crypts on a "bed of swords" (swordblades held flat, between priests on either side of corpse, to form a horizontal latticework), and laid to rest on stone shelves, holding weapons (their own, whenever possible) if the body is intact enough to allow such holding, and with a stone graven with their name, death date, and abbreviated deeds ("Murtar, died 1273 DR. Warrior of skill, fought at Eskryn, 1211; Horn's Call, 1214; Mornar's Bridge, 1216; much armed service guarding Secomber; fell fighting orcs valiantly"); fragmentary bodies are placed with tablet and any salvaged weapons or relics (piece of helm or armor); crypts typically hold hundreds, and are guarded by armed priests day and night to "honour the Valiant Fallen".

Tymora

crypts for some, embalming for some, resurrection for some, cremation for some, dicing and rotting for some: "Last Gamble" ritual involves dice (cast by loved ones if they want to be part of this, otherwise by the Lady's clergy) that determine fate of the deceased; in above list, "crypts" means full magical preservation spells and sealing in luxurious but small crypt (like a canopied bed made of stone); embalming means body is preserved by physical means rather than magic, and placed reverently in a shared crypt; resurrection means clergy (for free) use all the magic they can muster to restore the corpse to whole and hale life, under no obligation whatsoever to the church of Tymora; cremation means burning on a shared pyre; and "dicing and rotting" means bodies are chopped up and scattered in a charnel (compost) heap to rot down, and eventually be spread on farm fields.


And there you have it. Individual temples vary, especially in the amount of time they keep bodies in "cold crypt" storage (deep in stone-lined or solid stone chambers, to slow decay and prevent rats or other scavengers getting at bodies) for possible resurrections (if requested by family, adventuring colleagues, or civil authorities investigating crimes)

[CloudDancing]

Here is a sample will form someone wrote on the City of Arabel site. It could be attached to a bio page OR to your faction or given to a reliable NPC friend.

Name: (Full legal name)
Race:
Gender:
Age:
Deity: (If one has a preferred patron deity, for purposes of funeral arrangements and last rites)
Home Address: (Local and home of record if required)
Name of the ones to be contacted: (upon determination of death)
Preferred priest at funeral: (by name or by patron)
Preferred ritual:

Belongings: (General or specific distribution of all wordly possessions.)


Signature of Knight:
Signature of Contractor: Name: (Full legal name)
Race:
Gender:
Age:
Deity: (If one has a preferred patron deity, for purposes of funeral arrangements and last rites)
Home Address: (Local and home of record if required)
Name of the ones to be contacted: (upon determination of death)
Preferred priest at funeral: (by name or by patron)
Preferred ritual:

Belongings: (General or specific distribution of all wordly possessions.)


Signature of Knight:
Signature of Contractor:

[Castano]

I'm picking Tymora next time, for that dice roll shot at a ressurection!

[Blindhamsterman]

True! why would anyone NOT follow Tymora with that in mind? :/

[Brokenbone]

Dice could be a d10000

[Brokenbone]

Paazin's source was an Ask Ed from Candlekeep forums, here's related Ed-stuff following on from that post. It even mentions BG!

***
Things vary so much across the Realms that it’s difficult to give any valid overall answer to your questions. However, in general, burial matters in cities and large towns across Faerûn “work like this:”
Only noble or very wealthy or very old (long-established) families (or guilds) in an urban area have, and are allowed to keep, crypts within the city walls - - usually beneath the city proper. Everyone else must inter their dead (after allowing beasts to gnaw the bones clean, in some faiths, or after cremation in some faiths or in cases of disease, fungal growths, mummy rot, lycanthropy, suspected undeath, and so on) outside the city walls.
This is the case in Baldur’s Gate. Or to put it more correctly: aside from a few old, well-hidden old-family crypts in that city, the dead are disposed of in two ways: shipped out to an offshore isle for burning (a formerly-popular custom, now used only for sailors or shipowners), or far more often corpses are carted well inland, to a monastic community. Homeless and penniless folk make the journey in a common “dead cart” known as “the Vulture Run,” and most citizens have a simple walk-with-the-cart funeral.
In the case of Baldur’s Gate, the graveyard is about five miles northeast of the city walls, and (again to try to bring something of a “general rule across the Realms” into this answer) is consecrated ground surrounded by the claimed and farmed fields of a monastery, in an attempt to guard against undeath (or at least armies of shuffling undead rising out of graves unnoticed, until they pose a deadly threat to isolated steads and wayfarers). The Gate’s graveyard is called “the Field of Rest,” and consists of a vast burial hill surmounted by a simple chapel, in the heart of the mixed monastic community of Darfleet (named for its long-ago founding monk), temple-farms dedicated to the veneration of Chauntea. The monks bury all dead, using spells and fire-sticks to fight any undead who rise, and eventually till sections of the burial fields with plows, sewing edible crops that are harvested only for their seeds (sold and sent widely across the Realms). Other Darfleet fields do yield food that’s sold directly to folk in Baldur’s Gate and elsewhere, via city carters and passing caravan-merchants.
So that’s why you’ll find no graveyards on the FR ADVENTURES maps: the dead are either taken well outside a city, or are interred in underground crypts (guild members under a guild headquarters, for example, or members of a noble family under their own family mansion). After the Threat from the Sea, the mounded corpses of attacking sea-creatures were piled up on damaging, sinking vessels, towed out to sea, and incinerated with spells - - so the dryland defenders, to avoid any insult to their families, were all taken to a height (to the north) overlooking Baldur’s Gate, there burned, and carts full of the wetted-down ashes were taken to Darfleet for “tilling in.”
Borch, your earlier and longstanding questions haven’t been forgotten, and I WILL get to them in the fullness of time.
***

I don't think Darfleet happens to be in the BG module, but "cool story."

[paazin]

I don't think Darfleet happens to be in the BG module, but "cool story."

It is

[Tegid]

Of the dwarves

First, the body must be washed, and three or more stone burial tokens - the corpse's personal mark, the clan's mark, and Dumathoin's mark - must be braided into the deceased's beard. Second, the corpse is clothed in his or her own armor or a light suit of mail burial armor. (No matter what trade a dwarf plied in life, none enters the afterlife unarmored and unreadied.) Finally, the priest presiding over the burial must create a song honoring the dead dwarf's life and deeds; the song is carved into the lid of the coffin or sarcophagus (or when in a large clan tomb with numerous niches for fallen dwarves, onto the back of a mausoleum seal, a plaque, or a marker covering the recess where the deceased is buried).

The song is never sung out loud in honor of the ever-silent Dumathoin. If someone finds it and speaks or sings it aloud, it is believed that a curse will settle on the one who committed the sacrilege. (Some suggest that the corpse itself might reanimate
and smite the offender.) Burial practices may change slightly to suit particular clans, but a number of alterations in typical burial practices occur upon the passing of a dwarf deserving of special status. In general, there are simply more ceremonies, and more attention is paid to the construction of the tomb. The following are some specific variations that might be found in the burials of important dwarves:

• The burial of a priest is a more convoluted and lengthy process, incorporating aspects of Dumathoin's worship and that of the god whom the priest served. Priests therefore tend to be buried within well-guarded tombs, and their sarcophagi are surrounded by (if not buried under) tokens and offerings from the priest's friends and faithful. Priests of Clangeddin or Moradin are often interred with the remains of their greatest conquered adversary, ensuring a grand afterlife of battle against dwarf-foes.
Unlike many other dwarven tombs, priests' spells are used heavily in the interment of a priest to protect the remains and offerings (and, some hint, to prevent the gods from calling on their servants after their time has passed).

• Clan allies of any race can be interred within dwarven tombs, but only if they fell in battle defending the allied clan, the tomb, or a place sacred to Dumathoin.

• While others are buried with standard ceremony and accouterments, wizards are always clad in robes made of woven silver and sealed in solid silver sarcophagi (or a burial creche lined with silver); this is due to a superstition born of an old dwarven myth that Dumathoin paid Mystra his weight in silver to garner his faithful protection from the magics that disturb the sleep of the dead. While there is believed to be little truth in this legend, the custom still prevails.

• Clan outcasts (assuming a priest of Dumathoin willing to officiate over their burials can even be found) are buried without a clan mark in their beards, and their coffins or burial place markers often depict the broken or marred symbols of their former clans.

[Tegid]

Of the elves

As shepherds and protectors of the dead, Sehanine's priests organize and administer funeral rites and guard the remains of the fallen. When the time comes for an elf to leave the ordinary lands of mortals and pass on to Arvanaith, it is common for the individual elf to spend several days in vivid daydreams and waking reverie. Exactly when this happens is unknown to any elf, even to Sehanine's own priests. It is usually obvious to other elves when one of the Tel'Quessir is undergoing this change, but two
marker events are definitive indicating that the Transcendence has begun. First, Sehanine sends the elf a vision where she or he must go to begin this journey from the world. Second, within the lens of the elf's eye appears a telltale opaque milky crescent, the moonbow of Sehanine's honorific name. When the time comes for an elf great in wisdom and accomplishment to depart, an accompanying full moon may display the moonbow as an event in nature. On rare occasions at such a rime, other elves join with the one about to depart in a shared trance state, sharing memories and knowledge in a direct telepathic communion known as the Circle of Transcendence. In some elven cultures this departure is a physical one, that is the elf walks off alone into the wilderness and his or her body is never found. In other societies, the elf's spirit departs its material body, leaving behind a lifeless husk.

In cases of violent or accidental death where the spirit is not utterly destroyed, Sehanine's priests serve in the stead of the departed spirit in the ritual of Transcendence. A Ceremony of Recovery involves one or more days of meditation and mystic communion with the natural and spiritual worlds. If successful, the priest channels the lost spirit through his or her own link with Sehanine, enabling the spirit to transcend to Arvanaith. During such ceremonies, after contacting the lost spirit, Sehanine's priests display the characteristic moonbow within the lens of their eyes, but such manifestations of the Lady of Dreams vanish immediately upon the ritual's conclusion.

Elven funeral rites vary widely from community to community and from individual to individual, reflecting the nature of the departed spirit. If the elf has simply answered Sehanine's call, as opposed to death by accident or violence, death rituals are more often a celebration that the elf has achieved the joys of Arvanaith than a time of mourning. In either case, if the body remains, the method of disposal varies as well. In some communities, the assembled mourners gather with great pomp to watch the body be interred in the ground, with examples of the late elf's artistry and passions displayed and speakers expounding on the merits of the deceased. Other elven societies bury the body immediately, regarding it as a mere husk from which the life force has departed. After disposing of the shell, they celebrate the spirit of the elf who once resided there. Still other elves believe that burning is the only way to truly rid the spirit of its earthly ties. Not only does it free the spirit for Arvanaith, it also prevents anyone from using the body for nefarious purposes. Elven cultures that bury the bodies of the fallen with great ceremony leave the most durable archeological evidence of their funeral rites, and thus the practice of interring the bodies of elven dead in formal tombs is less widespread than commonly perceived. Of all the elven subraces resident in Faerun, the remains of gold elves, and to a lesser extent moon elves, are most commonly interred within burial vaults, but that practice is by no means universal within those subraces, nor is it restricted to them alone. Elven tombs are typically hewn from bedrock and warded by powerful magic. Whereas the Stout Folk typically trust in mechanical traps to ensure the sanctity of their fallen kin, the Fair Folk weave protective mantles into the construction of tombs and eschew false tombs and extended gauntlets of traps. The Luminous Cloud is said to gather elven tombs to her bosom, and most are cloaked in enduring illusions designed to obfuscate their location and to mislead grave robbers who would violate the sanctity of the elves interred within. Elven tombs are typically subdivided into three chambers, each of which is of circular or rectangular shape with an arching dome-shaped or semicylindrical ceiling, respectively. The first such chamber represents the world from which the elf has departed and is dominated by carvings of the natural world including plants and animals from sylvan settings. Commonly a pool of crystalline water, enspelled so as to prevent evaporation or stagnation, is set in the center of the first chamber. The second chamber is dominated by a stone bier on which rests the body of the fallen elf. The Fair Folk rarely place their dead within a sarcophagus unless the body is badly mauled, as they feel to do so restricts the freedom of the spirit in Arvanaith. The walls of the second chamber are adorned with examples of the fallen elf's gifts, and the ceiling is carved with a depiction of the heavens as they were at the time of the elf's death. (By analyzing such records, sages are sometimes able to date the age of a particular elven tomb.) The third chamber represents Arvanaith, the destination of the elf's spirit. The walls of the chamber are carved with depictions of the Seldarine (as the pantheon is perceived in the culture that created the tomb). The ceiling is carved with a stylized depiction of a crescent moon within a full moon, symbolizing the combined role of Corellon and Sehanine (or Angharradh) in overseeing the passage of the spirit to Arvanaith. The third chamber is otherwise empty, but all who enter are overwhelmed with a feeling of great peace. This is not a magical effect but a collective manifestation of the Seldarine. Violent action or thought is impossible within the third chamber of an elven tomb. Items of magic and other riches are rarely entombed within an elven tomb when they could be better used by those elves who have not yet journeyed to Arvanaith. Nevertheless, ancient elven tombs are sometimes filled with artifacts of elven artistry, including examples of magical items or spells developed by the elf interred within the tomb. Sometimes the elves of a single house are interred within the same crypt. In such cases the first chamber may be shared by the individual tombs, with the second and third chamber housing the body of the fallen and representing the destination of the spirit.

[Lokan]

Ilmater:

The Passing - This ritual is celebrated at the death of a devout Ilmatari follower, whether lay worshipper or cleric. It is a solemn chanting service that commends the passage of the departed soul to Ilmater's embrace. No Ilmatari cleric who receives this rite can be brought back to life on Faerûn, unless Ilmater himself sends him back. Most clerics take this as a vow during their adornment ritual. They choose to forego all attempts to be brought back to life, should clerics of other faiths attempt to do so. Lay worshippers decide on their own whether to undergo this rite. Most devout followers of Ilmater do choose The Passing. It is celebrated at the first dusk after death.

Related:

The Turning - This rite is mentioned in WotC's Faiths and Avatars. It is essentially a deathbed conversion attempt.

From: http://davidcwood.com/adnd/campaign/blo ... lmater.php

Originally published as part of Northern Journey Campaign Guide version 7.0, Stan Allard, Trevor Cooke, Bill Farge, Carl Nielsen and Mark Oliva (Based Upon the Work of Dr. Jeffrey David Bray)
1. Ed Greenwood
2. Faiths and Avatars
3. Powers and Pantheons
4. FR9 Bloodstone Lands
5. FR6 Dreams of the Red Wizards
6. Volo's Guide to the North
7. FR Adventures
8. Empires of the Shining Sea
9. Sojourn
10. War in Tethyr
11. Ruins of Zhentil Keep , ESD download