Birth and Death in Hox

Birth in Hox

Birth in Hox is never insignificant—it is the beginning of a fresh start in the Cycle and therefore, in its own way, sacred. In the frigid and harsh climate, pregnancy is a welcome gift, though it is one often patiently endured and not actually celebrated until after a live birth because of the dangers that make infant mortality a genuine concern regardless of race.

Galdori Birth Culture

For galdori, announcements of pregnancy are usually reserved affairs that are not marked by celebrations or family gatherings so much as a community effort to make sure the expecting mother is provided for, though none of it is considered a gift.

Mothers are still assumed to continue being a contributing member of society throughout the term of pregnancy until the last season, when a mother is sequestered in the warmth of the home to rest and prepare for birth away from the harsh Hoxian climate.

After a child is born, a mother is given an entire year with her child free of expectations from her career (if she has one), and at the end of that first year, given that the child survives (survival rates among galdori in Hox are higher than, say humanity, but there is still significant risk of infant mortality given the environment of the Kingdom itself and the decision of Hoxian galdori to not rely on the lower races for their provision), the child's birth is finally celebrated. A family gives their baby a name at birth, but it is not until this first year ceremony that a child is officially named, usually in a very spiritual and very heartwarming affair involving extended family, friends, and at least one Mhoren Basheva.

The next birthday celebrated is, of course, a child's 10th birthday, provided they pass their entrance exam and are graded as a galdor.

The final birthday celebrated at all is a galdor's 20th birthday upon graduating.

Most other birthdays are largely considered insignificant, even during childhood and definitely as adults.

Human Birth Culture

Mortality among human births, despite being the majority population in the northernmost Kingdom, is very high. Pregnancies and fertility are celebrated in a spiritual fashion, with prayers and ceremonies for protection and blessings on the expectant family.

Birth among humans, much like galdori, is quietly celebrated when the baby is born, but proclaimed with a much more public and festive gathering upon the child's first birthday. Naming ceremonies are also very important affairs, though humans do not bother giving their offspring a name at all until they reach one year of age.

Wick Birth Culture

Wicks never miss an excuse for a cajoa, regardless of how harsh the climate of their residence may be. Pregnancies are celebrated. Births are celebrated. Birthdays are celebrated. Dancing and bonfires, song and poetry, and prayers are offered at various stages.

Wicks in Hox are most influenced by Mugrobi wick culture, and share many of their practices as outlined [1].

Death in Hox

Death in Hox is not viewed as a mere, useless end, but also as another beginning. It is, in all truth, often more celebrated than birth. Death in Hox is a sacred affair, and the reality of its existence is accepted without fear in such a difficult geographic location.

Galdori Funerary Rites

In Hox, phasmonias take the form of grave-caverns. Their tradition involves interring bodies in the many natural crystal caverns scattered throughout the mountains. The light blue crystal is prone to growing in horizontal layers, creating a natural tomb where bodies are laid to rest on crystalline shelves. The entrances to these caverns are opened magically to allow entrance, then sealed shut after the bodies are placed on ledges. The decomposition rate is slower due to the lack of oxygen and frigid temperatures, so the body remains intact for longer.

Hoxian galdori believe this helps prevent ghosts from forming. Certain magical rites similar to those used by the Everine are performed over newly interred corpses for the same purpose. The bereaved do not visit the burial site; they leave the entire process to the Hexxos, or Carriers of the Dead.

The home of the deceased becomes the center of much celebration on the day their body is known to be interred. Family, friends, and strangers from all over the city or village bring food, gifts, poetry, music, and art of all kind to the bereaved survivors left behind in a wake of sorts that has been known to last for weeks, depending on how well known in their particular community the deceased individual was.

Human Funerary Rites

Humans, however, do not have the same access to caverns, and prefer to burn their dead. The human burial tradition in Hox is more emotionally expressive, more for the benefit of the living than the dead, with mourning, comforting the bereaved, and prayers for the deceased.

The Hexxos have been known to attend to these matters in isolated human communities when requested out of respect, for even among humankind, their unique role in Hoxian society is not unknown. Much rumor and hearsay exists among humans about this religious order, who, contrary to galdori, whisper that the Hexxos inter the dead with their own hands because they can convince the souls of the departed to remain behind as ghosts, not prevent them.

Wick Funerary Rites

Wicks are, of course, the loudest and most expressive at times of death and bereavement. While heavily influenced by Mugrobi culture due to living on the Steppes, there are no formal graveyards known in Hox so much as designated areas in the plateaus where burial mounds have been carved into the cliff sides in remote and difficult to reach places where bones of the dead are brought after being left exposed to the elements until flesh has decayed.

These burial mounds are kept secret, for the wicks are afraid of galdori finding them and destroying or defacing them.

Wick funerals are always parties, usually accompanied by a very elaborate performance describing the life of the deceased in creative detail. Trinkets are sometimes sent wrapped with the bones of the dead, and only a single member of the tribe is responsible for traveling to their secret burial ground. The sharing of its location is passed on only at the time of that knowledgeable individual's end. Entire grounds have been lost to centuries when a tribe loses its guide in an untimely manner.

Ghosts, Possession, and Raen in Hoxian Culture

Hoxians see ghosts an unnatural interruption of the death process, going so far as to claim that something wrong must have happened for ghosts to occur, whether in the individual's life who became a ghost or in the individual's immediate family. Other Hoxians claim that restless spirits are a sign that something is wrong with the very fabric of existence, with Vita itself.

Unlike Anaxi scientists, they do not break the afterlife and the antelife into two very separate stages so much as focus on the unending, cyclical nature of life and death for the soul. Though they do believe in reincarnation, they think that those who become ghosts are no longer able to reincarnate, and that they simply lose their ability to manifest themselves after a while (which is why you never see the same ghost for centuries at a time). This is a very sad realization for most Hoxians, and so they pity ghosts and often seek to appease them in whatever way possible, moreso than most other Kingdom cultures.

The Hexxos are, in fact, more than the mere carriers of the dead they claim to be. The ancient libraries in Kzecka hide many very in-depth texts covering research on the spiritual anomalies across the known world, possibly capable of shedding more light on the mysteries than is currently collectively known by their neighbors. They do not, however, share this knowledge with outsiders.

It was the Hexxos who gave the raen their name, having discovered there was a difference between mere ghosts who merely possessed and the displaced souls who utterly destroyed the souls of the bodies they chose to invade. Offering willing raen sanctuary and learning of their physiology has led to their religious order being far more knowledgeable about the paranormal than any other group or individual in all of Vita.