Commonly referred to as the ‘House of the Dead‘. The land of the dead is whispered about and hinted at in several mythologies. Its real form is somewhat mutable, as it is a unique and eerie manifestation of an Aether Well. It is a place where all souls pass through on their way to their final destination, and lost souls await the final demise of their material from and all memory of it. The Lands of the Dead process the souls of the dead that seek to progress through the next stage. Some merely go to the dark, silent black of the Empty Sky. Others move on to the next steps of an Afterlife based on their beliefs. Neither time or place is real in the normal sense. There is no single entity that “controls” this place, though the being known as Anubis comes and goes as it pleases from this place, and often presides along with its ‘daughter’ in the Hall of Truth – where judgement is made.
There are multiple ways in which characters may traverse the corridors, halls, and passages of the land of the dead – one is to die as part of the natural order. The other is to be seeking not passage, but only entrance – they are referred to as “seekers” by the few denizens of this place. There is a guardian for those who seek to return from whence they came, without passing to the other side. In all places and times, there are always pathways to reach the land of the dead.
Seekers retain their powers. They may only use powers if the have some skills survival, meditation, or astral projection. Neither good or bad luck apply here. Generally speaking, Seekers must possess (permanent or temporary) a Death Bond to be able to physically access and explore the House of the Dead.
No animations can be repelled in the Hall of the Dead.
These pathways manifest in spiritual or metaphorical terms, but if the veil between worlds is thin in a place that connects a sphere of the living to the land of the dead, it is usually guarded over by a material creature as well. The guardian in the land of the dead, who seeks to bar entry to the spirits of those seeking entrance is usually reflective of the culture and setting the seekers are from. However, the guardians are eternal and renew upon death. It is well known that the Hall of Purple Clouds and its dread lord and minions sometimes roam aimlessly over the barren landscape seeking essence to feed their hunger.
The entity known as Anubis is one of the few that move freely through its myriad of halls and rooms. Anubis sees the dreams of the dead, and hears their whispers as they make their way through this abode out of time. This entity sees through all times and places when it is here – this drives one to madness beyond the halls themselves. It drinks from a sacred river in order to forget the whispers of trillions of endless souls when it leaves the halls and goes elsewhere, only to have all the memories and dreams flood back when it walks the halls again.
The living should simply not ever be here. There is not natural way to travel to the lands of the dead. The living are not welcome to this place and cannot come here without dying. Yet, within the land of the dead is a spirit of everyone who has passed through it, and so the living continue to seek answers to mysteries through a connection with those they know possesses the answer and who have passed through the halls. They will gain a deep Mark of the Dead.