The Afterlife: The Hearths Among the Stars

The Demi-humans, or Besnir, do not age the same way as humans do. Rather, after many years of mortal life, their bodies are finally consumed by the unquenchable fire of their spirits -- the way that a candle is consumed by its flame. They will then "Journey On" to be one with the spirit of their makers: Yomal, Goren, Morad, Lareth, and Drash.  

To accomplish this unification, they must have returned in their dotage to their Arvonaith -- the Holy Place of their ancestral home. For this reason, it is considered a sin of the highest order to prevent or delay one of these home faring pilgrims from arriving at their destination. 

Once arriving the Besnir will become one of the "Silent Siblings" -- a caretaker of that Holy Place. Their other interests in the world of Erenth will have grown faint. Even routine conversation and reminisces of old friends will cease to have meaning for them. Over a period of a few moons, they will begin to become increasingly insubstantial and then eventually fade from view.

Because making it to Arvonaith is a requirement for a peaceful and happy death, those Besnir who are taken ill and suffer death, along with those who die from wounds, must be conducted by others to their proper rest. Those that do not become wild and angry things, separated from their origin and the being which made them. 

Once a year during the Festal period, spirits are released from the Arvonaith of their people and conducted by the ferryman to the hearths among the stars which their creators have settled -- there to be joined with their makers forever. The Vyrum are reunited in Drasenth; the Elves in Larenth; the Dwarves is Morenth; the Gnomes in Gorenth; and the Halfling in Yomenth.