Burial vs Cremation

[Sumath]

Besides cult elemental affinities presumably dictating whether bodies are buried or cremated (are all sun cultists cremated?), what are the exceptions? 

For example, most Orlanthi get buried, but Kallyr Starbrow was put on a pyre. There would also be other exceptions, such as if a corpse had been ravaged by Chaos or disease.

Are there conventions of belief on this subject or is it more a matter of practicality?

[Jeff]

12 minutes ago, Sumath said:

Besides cult elemental affinities presumably dictating whether bodies are buried or cremated (are all sun cultists cremated?), what are the exceptions? 

For example, most Orlanthi get buried, but Kallyr Starbrow was put on a pyre. There would also be other exceptions, such as if a corpse had been ravaged by Chaos or disease.

Are there conventions of belief on this subject or is it more a matter of practicality?

Initiates of Orlanthi are burnt. Their remaining bones and ashes are placed in an urn and buried.

[Sumath]

And does this vary by cult?

[Jeff]

2 minutes ago, Sumath said:

And does this vary by cult?

Yep. In Gods and Goddesses I have the burial customs for most cults.

[Big Al]

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Sumath said:

(are all sun cultists cremated?), 

From what I remember about Sun County rune priest at the sun dome are bricked up in open-topped cells to stare at the sun disk for the rest of time. 

Personally, I would have all air cults cremated, earth cults buried, darkness cults placed in caves or deep underground tombs.

[Joerg]

7 minutes ago, Sumath said:

Besides cult elemental affinities presumably dictating whether bodies are buried or cremated (are all sun cultists cremated?), what are the exceptions? 

Sun cultists have various options for burials.

There is cremation, and the holiest of the sun worshippers are expected to leave no ashes behind but those of the timber used. Some use magical fire. Those cremations which leave ashes behind may have rites to deal with the fuel part of the remains. One possibility is for the family of the deceased to smear themselves with these ashes as an exhibition of grief. In another twist, the cremation ashes of a person slain by a foe might be worn as spiritual armor or a charm on a campaign of vengeance. (The same might be possible among Orlanthi, maybe with the additional legal twist that while visibly wearing these ashes, a revenge killing won't be subject to weregild.) In such cases, the funeral ashes would become a magical ingredient.

Grazer sun cultists (and presumably Pentans and Char-un, too) erect platforms for birds of prey (or carrion) to devour the mortal meat. Since birds are creatures of the sky, in the end this is a burial by fire, too. There is no indication that the de-fleshed bones of Saraskos were removed from his last resting site. Shiny burial goods probably will be taken away by birds like crows and magpies, too.

5 minutes ago, Jeff said:

Initiates of Orlanthi are burnt. Their remaining bones and ashes are placed in an urn and buried.

What exactly does "initiates of Orlanthi" mean now that lay membership has returned big way?

I expect cremation to be the main male burial mode in Theyalan (Orlanthi) cultures.

I wonder whether all the ashes of an Orlanthi cremation are buried, or only those bigger lumps of remains that don't get airborne. Having the fine material of one's ashes go with the wind surely is a form of Orlanthi burial, too, isn't it? Those bigger lumps of bone will be mixed with the charred or melted grave gifts.

Female burial rites appear to vary. Body burials of shrouded corpses in the earth appear to be one mode. (It doesn't make much sense of the procession carrying the sleeping Ernalda to her tomb only going to her pyre.) An extension of this might be mummification.

There are however the Teka urns mentioned in Thunder Rebels, in the context of the Lowfire husbands of an array of Ernalda's maids, and I suspect that this might be a practice from southern Esrolia.

River and sea cultists might have a range of burial options in wetlands (bog mummies), on the bottom of bodies of water, floating down the river in a burial boat or on a raft, possibly setting that boat on fire, or giving the dead body to their merfolk overlords to "return to Magasta's Pool".

Darkness cults may have rites that include consuming the deceased - the trolls definitely do. Others might employ insects to de-flesh the bones before stowing them away.

Zorak Zorani have the praxis of posthumous employment of their dead bodies until hacked apart beyond recognition.

There are bound to be some cultures that display the (prepared or de-fleshed) heads of their ancestors in their houses, or at least at their temples.