Death will come, and we will pass together into the EverAfter.— A
Tengu man to his lover
The butterflies! The grass! We are children once more!— Whispering Spirits
Dreams are fickle things. They take you places and show you things, but when you awaken they leave only echoing memories of their visions. The EverAfter is a place where the memories of life echo and mingle. Where spirits forever live mystified, as children.
Fading Memories
Once something dies it passes into the EverAfter, they manifest in an 8-year-old or so version of its body. In the After, spirits dwell in a strange dreamy existence, where time and reality are in no way predictable. One lives in the EverAfter for as long as there are living people that remember them. As they are forgotten by the cruel march of time they fade, losing their color and growing older, until they are but husks serving as an extra in the afterlife of a brighter soul.
All things pass into the EverAfter, but few non-sapient creatures remain for long. A beloved pet might last for a generation, but individual blades of grass or wild fauna fade to a muted grey soon after their death. However, creatures of myth tend to stay bright for ages. Leviathans, ancient dragons, sacred trees, and such glow bright and are numerous in the After.
Shards of Emotion
Spirits wander through a jumbled mess of mix-matched memories of the past, some their own, others not. Most remain unperturbed by the constant barrage of half-recognized images, while those who wish too much for life or attempt to control the After are greeted with insanity and confusion. As souls fade their worlds begin to overlap more and more with the experiences of other souls. Their dimmed bodies are actors or props in someone else’s play.
Lucids in the After
When a greater
lucid is slain by a mighty creature of
The Darkness their soul is destroyed, leaving nothing behind to enter the EverAfter. If a
lucid manages to avoid such a fate for a respectable period of time the subconscious of
The Void reabsorbs their spark. Only then can a
lucid pass into the afterlife.
Lucids are the rulers of the EverAfter. They can command the afterlife with just as much power as they could exert on reality in life. Unlike in life, they are far more detached from people. Dwell in their great halls and watch the After and
The Void in silent contemplation. Occasionally they will manifest in one of the two worlds, in whatever form they so desire. Their goals are unclear.
Soulmates
Those who met their “soulmate” in life will often find themselves bound in the afterlife with their lover. The afterlives of these pairs will often be more coherent, sometimes staying in one shape for years. The landscapes of these dreamworlds are as strange and surreal as the rest of the After, but they are expansive and sometimes even have predictable laws of physics.
Soulmates tend to fade faster though. Sometimes even dying well before they passed from memory in the world of the living. Why this is none can say, some think that it is some kind of cruel joke or metaphor created by the lucids the rule the After.
Significance
The afterlife is a mysterious thing for most residents of
The Void. Most have concepts about it related to their religion, but some simply don't think about it at all. A few are blessed with living near an individual with
the gift of trascendance, those who can visit the EverAfter while still in life.
Tengu and the After
Given that
the gift of trascendance in uncannily common among
Tengu the afterlife is extremely important in their culture. The lives of most
Tengu are dedicated to making their mark on the world in hopes of being remembered for as long as possible. They also seek the hearts of those they believe to be their soulmates with great passion. As long as proper measures have been taken, death is a mundane thing among
Tengu. Unpleasant; yes, terrifying; no.
Dartar and Heria
Heria was a
lucid that was supposed to have died centuries ago, she was a mighty
lucid and creator of
Dartar. When the After called her, she refused, unwilling to abandon her mortal lover.
The Void sent its hunters after her, but she defeated each one, turning them into her servants. She then shut herself and her world away in a tiny bubble of light in
The Darkness, where they could never reach her.
