Valtan Funeral Steed
And the beasts bore them onwards. Where most would shy from the flames and stamp and shudder and run to the places the heat could not reach, the beasts carried the bodies forth to the pyre. With ponderous tilting they gently laid the bodies on the biers, seeming to understand their purpose. They pushed them into the fire with great clawed paws until the long fur on their feet singed and smoked. They stood as if in vigil until the embers froze.The polar nation of Valta has long been besieged by undead; the ice and winds keep corpses perfectly preserved for any errant miasma of fell magic. As a rule, settlements throughout the country burn their dead.
— From The Beasts that Bear Us by Aldís Bluemelt
Hundreds of years ago a terrible blizzard destroyed an entire community, taking the lives of every person within. Nearby villages fortified their walls and built great funeral pyres outside them—for their own who had not survived the storm, and for the undead sure to come. Archers lit flaming arrows and warriors shielded the gates as the looming shapes lumbered through the snow. The first arrow missed its mark, and by its lit the Valtans saw great, shaggy beasts with delicate, spiralling horns. Each one bore the frozen corpse of a fallen Valtan, true dead and not risen by foul magic. They carried their burdens to the pyres and allowed the living Valtans to care for them afterward.
The funeral steeds of Valta are roughly the size of polar bears. Surprisingly, they are omnivores with a preference for produce and grasses. Their fur is shaggy, and any other culture might shear the black-and-white coats for wool. The idea is unthinkable to Valtans. Not only are the beasts sacred to the nation, but frigid climate requires extra layers for all warm-blooded creatures.
The funeral steeds are kept in whatever luxury the settlement can afford, and an entire industry has developed around their care. They work only during funerals, where they bear the bodies of the deceased to their biers and send them into their pyres. When a funeral steed dies, the entire community carries the body to its own pyre, and public grieving ceremonies are held for a week.
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