Death

[Effervescent]

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Death is inevitable, even in the Ascender Universe. While it is rumored elves may live hundreds of thousands of years, it has only been Elder Lannya that has been confirmed to have lived through the entirety of the First Era. Everyone has a beginning and an end regardless, and therefore there is no such thing as immortality on this world. Due to this, there are several places a soul can pass on, but where one can pass on is determined by one simple factor: are they magic or non-magic?

Due to this, there are also particular beliefs that are built alongside what little knowledge and understanding the people of this world have. There is little religion in the terms that we know, apart from those who practice Inner Light. God, or a higher being, and Satan are very old concepts for the human populace that now presides in the Ascender Universe. The religion itself is no longer known as those who had practiced have long since died out. Heaven and Hell are not present even in terminology as locations accessed after death, though hell could be used as a swear in the fashion of Earth terminology.

Every culture has their own method of dealing with the dead and their reasons for doing so. Burying the dead is the most common method in the northern hemisphere while those in the southern hemisphere prefer cremation as the popular choice. Their beliefs of what comes after death affects how they deal with the departed.

 

[Effervescent]

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The UnderElm is the metaphorical "roots" of the World Tree, but it exists on another plane of existence. This is where all magically attuned souls within natural means converge to be recycled within the World Tree. This is not reincarnation, as each magically attuned soul born into the world is unique, but their attunement is part of the cycle. The only souls that garner access to the UnderElm after death are those whose magic was granted by the World Tree. This includes elves, half-elves, and Dragon Wardens.

But what happens to those who strayed from their attunement to practice Shadow Magic? Since Shadow Magic is an unnatural form of magic, this causes conflict as to where the soul may be ferried after they have passed. Only those who were once naturally attuned to magic suffer this unfortunate fate upon death. Their soul is designed to be recycled within the World Tree, but the World Tree cannot process it past its corruption, and so they are thrown into the physical plane of the UnderElm where they become trapped within the roots and lost to Despair for eternity.

The UnderElm is filled with giant insects that nurture the World Tree's roots and protect it against foreign entities. Shadow Magic creates foreign entities called Leeches that bore into the roots of the World Tree and parasites that take over the insect guardians as it weakens the magic of the World Tree. This causes corruption in the World Tree, and is also the source of The Sickness in magical beings.

When a World Tree dies, everything attached to it ceases to exist. This includes the adjoining UnderElm. While this will not kill the magical beings currently living, their attunement will die with the World Tree unless there is a successor that desires to take on the souls within the former World Tree. This requires the next World Tree to take on its duties before the World Tree is completely dead.