Epistle on Death Culture

[Demented_Delila 1248]

5th of Malin's Welcome, 1793

       Within silver walls, and eons gone by of our peoples' long lives, I found myself unsatisfied in the way we, as Mali'thill, regarded death. It is a mortal thrall, and anything that bleeds can die for sure. Why is it  that our funeral rites are, in a way, deeply impersonal? We "bury" the ones without bodies and care little for the dead who lay before us on their pyre. It baffled me how many times we'd decided that someone was dead, only to find out otherwise.

No body, no death. 

 

         I find this incredibly negative, if not shameful, of us as a people that we assume by default that should someone go missing for a few months, that they are dead. I've done it a few times myself, really, but it's a habit I have broken.  With no body to burn, why declare them dead? Have we seen their mortal forms, laid broken at our feet? Every missing 'thill without a body recovered is just one more 'thill we can welcome home one day. 

 

      It did not seem right to me, to watch the very essences of someone's existence be washed away by the rain. It saddened me as I know that we are a resourceful people. There was use in ash still, for wonderful things that I wish were commonplace in Haelun'or. 

For paints. For ink.

 

       These are ways that we could've been celebrating these lives without such disregard for their death. It was suggested once to me that funeral ash was invaluable; value can be found in almost anything if you possess the knowledge. The use of ash in inks and paints is surprisingly more common than one might realize, with charcoal powder used some of our darker inks.  The process of cremation and with further work produces a varying amount of ash, but very little is needed for inks and paint pots.  Jars for writing works in dedication, pots for creating masterpieces in reflection, and a particularly industrious Mali may even use them in glass work.

 

         The very crux of this practice would reinforce our desire about “living forever”, our Library becoming Eternal in more ways than just name. It seems an awful waste to discard something that could be made into something far precious then it seems. The Valah have their own funeral practices, like keeping their urns, or burying their loved ones if they’ve the land. We don't have such practices in the Silver State, we use the space for the living, although some relatives of the deceased have been known to keep urns as well. We could have something nicer. Something better. Why do we not bury our loved ones in art? In literature? We could add to the culture and let them live on even when they are no longer. 

 

         It would further enable us to add to the growing collection of the Eternal Library, while honoring the deceased more than we do right now. I have said prior, I am dissatisfied with our approach to death, as I felt it deeply impersonal to host a public pyre then never speak of it again. We’ve been known to tell our younger kin about the people who have passed away; but in a way, books about their lives and their truths would tell the story themselves in ink made from their remains. 

 

            I would hope such a practice coming into play would actually drive us to be less wasteful with what we have and are given. In part, I also hope that we as a people would begin to find value in recovering our dead when they are lost, rather than jumping to conclusions because we have, in a way, lost hope about them coming home to us. It’s so easy to do so, but then when the declared dead do come home, we have to swallow up our tears and our pride and admit that we thought they were dead. In some cases, they weren’t even looked for. 

 

              Below, I’ve provided some examples of works I procured from the Eternal Library’s collection with assistance due to the closing. I’ve noticed that they are a touch Distorian in taste, but it’s the closest example I could find to what I picture when I think about painting with ink.

[!] A painting taken from a Bestiary Guide

 

[!] One of the paintings from a geographical guide, obtained from nearby Nakamachi.

 

[!] A copy of a colored ink wash portrait from a book on botany.

Okarir'hiylun, Laurir

 

[Stump 709]

A gray matriarch huffs as she stood before the posting, checking on the artwork there for any signs of tamper, 'til she was satisfied and stood back a few paces. While there, Aiera Sullas caught onto the content of the thing, brows lifting tentatively as she took in the points made. A sigh left her, a little exasperated to be nodding in general agreement. Releasing the pages hadn't been for naught, despite expectations. There'd have to be talk about this.