The Afterlife

“There are three deaths. The first is when the body ceases to function. The second is when the body is consigned to the grave. The third is that moment, sometime in the future, when your name is spoken for the last time.” ― David M. Eagleman

The big question about what the afterlife truly represents is still relevant among the philosophers of Camoray. Even some of the gods freely admit they don’t have the full answers.
For the gods, they have a vested interest in teaching about an afterlife. Their power resides in the belief of their worshippers. As such, they proclaim they have a paradise waiting for their devoted, with some even proclaiming they have a torment lined up for those who don’t believe. All this to encourage greater faith, for what is faith without some level of fear existing to counter the distractions of a life otherwise fully lived. To this end, some of the gods even deliver upon their promises.
What follows is the outcome of a mortal spirit on the world of Camoray. Other planes of existence see other outcomes. For example, in the Pryson, reincarnation is the general rule to the dismay of the tormented and not a true death which takes extraordinary circumstances to achieve.

The Dead

Now for most, death is death. Dead is Dead. Death is final. For creatures lacking intelligence, unless their nature is dragged into the afterlife by something more powerful, they pass as the body dies. A brain death equals a death of the first sense. For most mortals, this holds true.
The simple truth is that when one believes that death is the inevitable outcome, that belief becomes reality. Once one begins to truly believe that death isn’t inevitable, options begin opening up.

Ghosts

For many who die not fully accepting that their time has come, they can linger on as spirits, attached to that which they knew in life. For them, a fading occurs. Without the faculties of a functioning material brain, they can’t grow, learn and adapt, they can only react. They find it difficult to experience new events. And over time, a few years, a few decades, a century or so at most, they fade. As the patterns of thought, magic, and energy which make their essence destabilize, they will fade to nothingness. Finding a ghost more than a few centuries old is almost unheard of.

Undead

For some, their focus animates their very corpse. These are the undead. However, they are changed. This force of will to survive leaves them lacking to some degree an empathy or concern for others. The will is a singular force so focused on preserving life within their corpse that it becomes nothing less than selfish. This is a force of will to survive capable of animating a corpse, yet not strong enough to bring that corpse back to full life.
The force of will to survive is sometimes forced upon them by how they died, often by great pain or tragedy. With these often comes a hunger. Either a hunger for vengeance or a hunger to feed on life itself. When the focus is on vengeance, or possibly a reckoning, this driving motivation circumvents all other thoughts and emotions for the unfortunate creature. Even once the object of vengeance is destroyed, the undead knows only its hatred and continues on its initial quest, finding new victims. Such pathetic creatures seldom find peace or rest.
And then there are the cases with the situation of undeath has been forced upon the body by another undead or a necromancer. In these cases, their life force is trapped but mutated to the forms and desires of their new master. In the case of undead spawn, they are like a disease, molded in the form of whatever killed them, now becoming agents spreading their particular form of undeath.
Of note – the legal status of the undead varies from nation to nation. For example, in Borez, the undead retain full rights, ownership, and privileges as when they were alive. Becoming undead has fewer ramifications legally than getting married.

Ascension

Very rarely, the desire to live is strong enough to move to a higher form of life. A strong correlation exists to the overall presence and magical ability of the deceased. For these, a continued practice of focusing and organizing magic during their life translates into a very structured mind capable of making this crossover. Some seemingly move to a higher plane of existence, never be seen again. Some expand their consciousness to join a larger consciousness. Many ancient elves will pass on in this manner, their essence joining the universal essences of their surrounding woods or jungles.

Reincarnation

For some, they cast off from one body only to find another, one newly born, merging with it as it’s initial patterns form. This is reincarnation. How much control one has varies, but what is believed is the more in tune with the universe one is, the more understanding of the ‘big picture’ one is, the more they can control this move. For them, each rebirth is seen as growth, growing in the overall experience, possibly strengthing an aspect of their everliving spirit. Even going from a higher life form like a human to a simpler form like a dandelion plant is still seen a growth. Once a spirit starts reincarnating, it will usually continue that trend at each death.

Raise Dead and Ressurection - External

When the spells Raise Dead and Ressurection are cast, they not only reanimate a dead body, the spells return that body to life. The designation of the spirit at the time the spell is cast determines what inhabits the body. Generally, as most simply die upon death, their spirit is reformed in the raised body as it was upon death. As the spirit ceased to exist upon death, with a return to life it also returns. The spell acts upon the memories and brain of the targeted corpse and reanimates everything that made the person alive in the first place. Just as with near-death experiences, many who are raised or resurrected report memories of an afterlife, of feeling loved, or of a bright light. These stories are hard to prove or disprove. Many chalk them up to little more than an oxygen-starved brain making random memories. Many believe them to be visions of a true higher life.
However, when there is a spirit available, preferably the original spirit as in the case of a ghost or undead, that spirit is reconstituted into the original body. Unfortunately, the hunger and mental damages done by being undead aren't always healed.
In the case of reincarnated beings where the spirit has passed on to another living thing or in other cases where the original spirit is unavailable, possibly through ascension, attempts to bring a corpse back to life usually fails. In the cases of ascension, the choice is given to the spirit to return or not return.
Rarely, should the original animating spirit be unavailable, a false spirit will see an opportunity and inhabit the animated corpse. This horrible circumstance is often the fault of the spell caster for either having bungled the spell or cast the spell in a poorly chosen location like an unconsecrated graveyard.
And once in a great while, when the force of the power invoking the resurrection is extremely strong, it can cause a body to create a new spirit (a clone) should the original spirit be unavailable. When this has happened, the local philosophers and theologians became confused and agitated.

Ressurections - Internal

A few beings possess such power or cohesion of thought that they can reanimate their body to life. Death is just a hindrance which has released their spirit from their mortal flesh. Some can even reform a new body from the air when the original in beyond recovery. This process takes time, anywhere from a day to years, somewhat determinate on whether the original body is recoverable or if a new body is made.

The God Memory

Some of the gods promise their followers an afterlife. For those that deliver, it many times amounts to the gods examining and preserving the essence of their follower at the time of the death. They take and absorb the essence into their own essence, preserving their follower somewhat like a memory. The spirit exists and isn’t a copy, it is actually the spirit of the deceased. Because of how the spirit is held by their god, usually within a mental heaven-like construct aligning to the god’s teaching, the spirit can continue to act as a power of worship for their given god. Due to this nature, many gods eventually find that preserving their followers in this manner increases their power over time. The amount of divine power gained from these dead worshipers is minimal, not enough to fully sustain a deity alone. In the case of a raise dead or resurrection spell, the spirit is retrieved from the god memory. In these instances, it is the god who chooses whether to allow the spell to work.