Mummy, mummy, mummy I've got stuffing in my tummy...

From: Erik Sieurin <BV9521_at_utb.hb.se>
Date: Wed, 16 Jul 1997 16:35:37 +0100

Nick on the Earthy religion:
> I'd go older than that. Think of the Sumerian afterlife, where ghosts
> rustle around, drinking dust and eating clay, clad in black feathers
> like skeletal birds, inhabiting the Houses of the Dead. There is no
> joy there, nor merriment, for the laws of Ty Kora Tek are of Silence
> and Subservience.
>
> The "Asrelian Fields" might be a nice thing to have -- except that I
> strongly doubt whether *all* rulers/priests/nobles would expect to go
> there post mortem. I think the gloom of Ty Kora Tek's caverns is only
> increased by contrast with this wonderful place, fit only for heroes.
Hmm, I have to think about this. In Sumer, as I remember it, only the king, or something like that, could expect another kind of afterlife. He became a god or something. (Wow, I'm _so_ good at this! :-)) Now, my big excuse would of course be that the nobility of Esrolia are the desendants of the Earth Goddess herself (thru various semi-divine nymphs), so they can get into Asrelia's caverns by referring to their family. (Or perhaps you can PAY for your entrance; then you can bury all those Aunt Scrooge Asrelia priestesses with lots of gold and gems and stuff).

I think the existence of a "the afterlife is horrible" would tend to encourage those sort of mystery cults which shout "There is a way out of this misery!" to attract members.

> Mummies would not appreciate being summoned back, 'cos it interrupts
> their Silence and Subservience. Speaking with the Dead, likewise, is
> irritating to Ty Kora Tek (who wants them to shut up), and she may
> get her "children", or "husbands", or "servants" (Esrolites are vague
> on the exact relation of these dark, whip-bearing enforcers to their
> "barren" goddess of the Underworld) to take it out on the unwary soul.
 

Kenth:
> You mean they keep undeads in Esrolia???
> Erik please.

Keep and keep. It's not like everyone and their uncle have a Stuffed Necromant Relative around, and undead are used to clean the streets. As I said, the only ones who get Mummies they can Easily Reanimate are dutiful Nobles and Vile Criminals, and neither are very happy about it.

On the subject of certain Player Characters getting miffed if they heard that them TKT crones are creating mummies, I don't think it is a thing you speak about publicly in Esrolia. (Especially not around barbarian maniacs with strange ideas about undead). And I bet these Esrolian Humakti class the mummies as "ghosts who happen to be able to move dead bodies around" instead of "undead". "I mean, they have souls and everything. Not far from Humakti Temple Guardians, really" Not that northerners would agree...  

"The Owl and the Pussycat went to sea, in a beautiful pea-green boat..."
>From "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear

Erik Sieurin
bv9521_at_utb.hb.se
Bodagatan 39, 2 tr
50742 Boras
Sweden
033/141731

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