Valyrian Funeral Rites
While Valyrians have no god or goddess of Death, two particular deities are concerned with the final ascension of a Valyrian soul - Aenela, the Goddess of Fire, and Vysena, the Goddess of Travelers.
Valyrians believe that they are born of dragons, and believe that when they shed their mortal coil, they will ascend to become dragons once again. This is the primary reason there is no specific god or goddess of Death - for Valyrians, death is just another door, one every one must pass through. It is not the end, but a new beginning - a chance to join the skyward dance that has no beginning and no end.
For this reason, if you ask a Valyrian why they mourn, they will not say it is because their loved one is dead. They will instead say that they mourn because they are separated from the one they love, but that they will be reunited one day. This is true from the highest of families to the lowest of peasant-born Valyrians within the Freehold - almost all believe they are descended from dragons, and almost all believe that death will free them to become dragons once more.
This deep belief in an afterlife of joy and freedom and power is a major reason why Valyrian soldiers rarely show fear. They don't fear dying, because they don't believe that dying is the end for them. The vast majority are completely certain that when their time on this plane is done, a better fate awaits them.
As such, Valyrians have no specific color for mourning. Typically, those in mourning may wear darker and less intense shades of theirfamily colors.. Veils, both of hair and face, are very common, especially at the actual funeral. They are used to hide the mourner's grief...or the mourner's glee, depending on the situation.
In every house in Valyria, from the highest to the lowest, there is a place - sometimes a corner, sometimes a shelf, sometimes a small room, sometimes an entire hall - where death masks of their ancestors are kept. In smaller households, only a few will be displayed at any one time, with the others kept carefully stored until they are rotated into the display. In the wealthiest of households, there may be an entire hall of such masks displayed. In the poorest households, these masks are typically made of plaster or clay, as those materials are cheap and readily available. Wealthier households might have masks cast in iron, the masks of Merchant and Military nobility are typically cast in silver, and the masks of Dragonlord families are typically cast in gold.
Funerals themselves are presided over jointly by clergy of Aenela, the Goddess of Fire, and Vysena, the Goddess of Travelers. During the funeral rites, shortly before the burning takes place, a death mask is taken in wax of the deceased by one of the clergy of Vysena. It is this death mask that is used by one of the clergy of Aenela to create the final version of the death mask that is given to the family. Sometimes the ashes of the deceased will also be given to the family along with the death mask in some kind of small urn or box. During the funeral itself, rituals are conducted by the clergy, and prayers are offered to ensure the soul of the deceased is properly freed from its mortal coil by Aenela, and thereafter guided by Vysena's hands to the very stars, where they will become the dragon they were always intended to be.
In cases where there is no body available due to the manner in which the deceased perish, an effigy is used to represent the physical body of the deceased. A generic death mask is given to the family for display, and the same prayers and rituals are conducted as though the physical body is present.
It is the practice of Valyrians to conduct sacrifices to ensure the soul of their loved one has enough power to reach their next existence. Typically this will be of one or more slaves, and it is generally thought that sacrificing the slave that was closest with the deceased - their handmaiden or manservant - will provide the best and most potent power. However, this is not always the slave who is chosen, and at times slaves are simply chosen at random to be sacrificed. In cases where the deceased is an infant or child, it is often an infant or child that is offered in sacrifice. However, some Valyrians find this to be wasteful. Occasionally, the slave that would normally be sacrificed as one last service to their deceased master is deemed too valuable to be given over. In those cases, another slave may be selected, sometimes at random.
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