Revision in Settings: No Burials

[Can-ned Food]

Sprung off something I read, on these boards, regarding the Death Realm and corpses.  Also, working to make the game mechanics more consistent with their Settings.  Frankly, I hadn't really bothered to consider such a thing for PlaneShift yet.

When any animal dies, sentient or otherwise, let's say that its soul — whatever magic animates it — goes to the Death Realm and brings its body.  Sentients are able to bring their immediate possessions with them, but nonsentients lack the wherewithal to do so.

Thus, there are no corpses in-game.

From in the DR, the animal can either manage to return to the Life Realm or Vital Realm or whatever, or it remains in the DR.  Or, it experiences “true death” in the DR, which occurs either immediately or gradually.
If it experiences such “true death”, then the material of its body is somehow recycled to the lands of the living again — via magic working in reverse of whatever pulled its corpse towards the DR.

[Volki]

True death is when the body fails to materialize in the Death Realm. If the body vanishes and appears in the DR, it can escape. If the body is still in the living realm, it can't. The soul is completely absorbed by Dakkru. Or something.

[Can-ned Food]

Yes, you got it pretty well.  I recently re-read the books in the DR which talk about that.

I was working on a possible scheme for mapping out the various as–yet unseen locales in the DR, and the DR itself, and came up with the premise that true death is some manner of fading away which occurs while in the DR.
That DR would be full of wandering creatures, in graded states somewhere between mostly corporeal and ghostly, while on their way to join with Dark version of the Crystal.

Since I posted this new topic, I recognized that the many other changes which it required in the setting of the world would be too difficult to reconcile.

Pity, because I did like the idea of a vast Dying Field set on the inverted roof of Yliakum, with the Dark Crystal situated in the center and slowing drawing all those creatures into it.

Right now, I'm working a tiered system of presences in the DR which is more consistent with the present setting.