Soul Incense

Čedomir Ilyuhkin’s mouth was moving. Unlike the priest, he had no desire to turn his part of the ritual into a performance.

Slowly, Čedomir drew his hand back away from the mouth of the bottle, and a thin, silvery smoke drifted out into the open. It followed the path of his hand as the Throwback led that strange smoke into the safety of the flickering candle set on the chair. He nodded to the acolyte, who struck his match again and let it catch against a single stick of incense.

The silvery smoke exploded upwards with a noise like rasping breath. It grew louder, stronger, morphing into something that sounded like a gasp, then something almost akin to a voice. A man’s voice. Pleading. Begging.

“… Sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m…”

It was the sound of a death rattle, morphing into the Soul’s memory of its dying words.

The Throwback reached out, his eyes still burning like fire. “Peace, spirit, and be still.”

— The Sorrow of Souls, Book One: Harbinger

---

Glass, Candle and Stick...

“By the will of the Saints, I have visited the abyss of Death so that I might tell all Living Souls of it. We must find a way to prevent our Dead from departing to its depths, for thereshall be no intermission to their pain, nor any end to it. No. There shall be no end. The Phoenix will not Rise again.”

— Elroy Gravestein, the Kredasene Throwback

Whatever Power or entity brought about the return of the Throwbacks, it imbued them with knowledge that would help humanity protect the Souls of their dead. The tools are simple: a glass vial etched on its with sacred marks; a candle; and a single stick of burning incense.
None but the Raskvaerii had heeded the Throwback's advice. Eventually, the Kredasene and Lormontai Throwbacks renounced their own people, who rejected their Saints-called duty. Never before had the Raskvaerii Empire sought to conquer their Saeric neighbours, but this... Well, this was an outrage that lit a spark that would fan the flames of invasion and empire.
With the help of the spurned Throwbacks, all but a single country in the Saeric Basin

by @janolario.

quickly succumbed to reason and the sword. Only Versarna, a sodden island of mud and a haven of monsters, refused to bow to the Empire. It was the Raven’s only foothold on a map blessed by the Saints and loyal only to the memory the true Phoenix.

Petrie 1911: Roman Portraits and Memphis (IV) (London: British School of Archaeology in Egypt) XXVI [50] by National Museum of Scotland

Death in Raskvaerii

For adherents to the Raskvaerii faith, there is no greater fear than dying before a Saints-Servant can reach you. When the moment of death comes, the Saint-Servant in attendance takes the holy incense and captures the deceased’s spirit as it tries to flee its body. It is sealed away inside the small, glass vial to prevent it from being captured by the Escorts of Death, and dragged to Raven's Pit of Perdition.
It has become commonplace for families to create private shrines to their ancestors, where they can store their bottled Souls. Since the very early days of this practice, artistic representations of the deceased are placed in front of, or beside, the vial.
Initially, these representations were painted onto wooden boards. These paintings or

drawings can be done by friends or family members, while others choose to take out commissions with professional artists. In recent times, this has largely become a custom of the lower classes. The middling and upper classes now prefer to commission marble busts of the deceased, or have death masks made of their loved ones - although they would never admit that this artistic style has been 'borrowed' from the Kredasene.

Effigy of Faustine Anaïs Dunheuvelin by Brinsmead

Death in Kredashmi

The Kredasene have always placed great importance on the cremation of their dead. Traditionally, the ashes of the deceased were kept in painted urns inside the nearest Everyman's Sanctum. This practice has changed in the last two generations, with the ashes being stored in an alcove at the back of a deathmask or memorial bust.
The Kredasene have embraced the act of bottling the Souls of their loved ones, although many do not adhere to the teachings of the Raskvaerii faith.

by Damon Lam

The Sorrow of Souls

"It has been 252 years since Eneas, one of the dread Escort of Souls, rose up in rebellion against His mistress. He murdered the Phoenix, and claimed Her Powers of afterlife and rebirth for Himself. Eneas had the Phoenix’s feathers made into a robe fit for a Saeric king. When the robe was placed over His shoulders, the feathers of fire and gold turned black: the colour of deceit, for His promises were for naught. In that moment, the Raven was enthroned as the Prince of Perdition."

— Ermolai Gusev, Professor of Raskvaerii Philosophy at the Universität of Rykfontein

When the Raven overthrew the Phoenix, He claimed Her Kingdom of Souls as His own. For seven years, mankind lived in peace, oblivious to the havoc and turmoil being inflicted upon the Souls of their ancestors as the servants of the Raven brought about catastrophic changes to the afterlife. It was only with the Resurrection of the Throwbacks in 7 SGC that mankind became aware of the true horror awaiting them in death.
The Raven's heart can never be changed. Mankind's only chance of redemption is to trap the Souls of their dead in life, and hope against hope that, one day, the Phoenix will find a way to rise once more.

The Phoenix Illustration by Hartmann Schedel

Death in Versarna

Death in Versarna

The Raskvaerii Saint-Servants teach that the Varsii do not protect their dead from the clutches of the Raven; this is, of course, untrue. Part of a Healer's scared duty is to gather the Souls of the freshly-departed, and join them with new life: plant life. Trees are the most commonly used plant in which the Varsii hide their dead. These are planted with great reverence and ceremony in a special wood close to the settlement, and the tree serves as a marker for the burial site of the deceased's body.
Perhaps, if scholars were to learn of such rituals, they would question where the Throwback's gained knowledge of their practice in the first place...