The Grand Temple of Ydos

The temple's walls loomed darkly above the early morning fog. The black marble facade, richly decorated with carvings, presented a forbidding image to any who approached. But behind the tall wooden doors lay something wonderful. Here, the dying could find true comfort in the gentle embraces of Termin and Ydos. And here the living could remember the lost ones and find comfort despite their absence.

The Grand Temple of Ydos sits a mile or so outside the city walls of Oderbeck, deep in the mountains of Greth. It is the main temple of those who devote their lives to honoring Ydos, the deity of death. They believe in the sanctity of death and that it can be a blessing to those who are experiencing great suffering. They abhor the idea of undead, believing it a violation of the realm of death and Ydos himself.

At temples of death such as this, one can obtain many services that might be seen as immoral elsewhere. The temples of death provide one with the choice to end their lives, although this is usually performed only in situations where the individual concerned has no other options and is suffering. These end-of-live services are said to ensure that the individual will painlessly leave the world of the living in a dignified manner and make their transition as normal to Ydogarth by way of the Fields of Termin. The temple's service does not guarantee one a desirable judgement by Termin and only serves as a way to gracefully pass.

Temples of Ydos also keep track of the names and identities of those who die in whichever region the temple oversees. They provide memorial services and various ways by which to take care of the bodies of the dead. They essentially serve as mortuaries for their particular region.

The Grand Temple of Ydos also provides, for a reasonable fee, resurrection services in the case of an untimely death. These services are performed by skilled clerics who use magic to call the soul of the individual in question back from Ydogarth into the land of the living. Often, one may see a regular flow of petitioners to the Grand Temple, hoping for the return of a loved one. This can be done regardless of the presence of a body, albeit for a higher price, and regardless of the state of age of any body presented.

At the Grand Temple, one can also communicate briefly with their passed loved ones, although this is limited. The followers of Ydos have a sacred duty to keep knowledge of the reality of Ydogarth away from the folk of the living world. Only the highest-ranking priests with the blessing of Ydos have any knowledge of this world, and only then very little is revealed. It is rumored that the Order of the Jackdaw has, as some point, collected a piece of information regarding Ydogarth but this secret is of course very well kept and many suspect that the Order has some form of agreement with the followers of Ydogarth, allowing them to keep such an invaluable bit of knowledge.