Branching off of the we are putting the fun in funeral thread, tell me a bit about fictional world that exist after you die and the gods who dwell there.
What is it like there versus what the people who believe in it really think it is like?
How are the gods there and in general?
I shall return to say what I want.
In the old story I edit atm, there is the River Vash to each all souls go to be immersed and wash off their memories before rebirth. In the same river, on the bottom, dwell Bhutas, the opponents of the supernatural Divines who won the Primordial War with help of the humans. Some areas of the world worship Bhutas as well as Divines. My protagonist’s soul drowns in the River Vash when she is cursed by a dying enemy once and brought back by fertility rights during which she conceives her first child.
Wow, that sounds really interesting.
So, in a sense, you are going for the reincarnation thing, correct?
Not in a sense. The world has reincarnation. And the half-Divine half-humans who are combination of animal and human features. Could be powerful, could be just deformed. Need extreme spiritual strength for conception. It’s a Hindu-Hellenistic world of late antiquity vibes. Only with actual low magic and true matriarchy in all aspects of it.
Let me think about that one… I’m working on it, but have not yet finalized what it may, or may not be…
SD
I’ll be waiting till you do decide to post your thoughts on this thread.
I don’t spend a ton of time thinking about it because my personal worldview is that most all conflicts that are in the here and now won’t make sense in the hereafter, so I often don’t think to address an afterlife.
Uhhhhhh which afterlife? I have many ;-;
Sorry for the late reply.
@alenatenjo: Anyone of them? Doesn’t matter to me.
@J.L.O: Understandable.
I like this topic. It is somewhat still unexplored within my own writing but for the majority of races, there is no afterlife at all. Instead, their souls transverse to a new Material Plane and start a new life… usually. There is a mirror plain called the Shadow-Plain, where lost or trapped souls reside. Aside from them, the plain has a manner of its own creatures that dwell there, most of an undead-like nature.
The Shadow Plain was created (though no one in-universe knows this) by necromancers and other forms of magic that meddled with souls. Souls that are prevented from leaving the Material Plain they are in getting trapped in the Shadow Plain after they are freed from whatever magic had bound them. Their natural cycle to move has been interrupted. The only way a Soul could re-take that journey is if someone went to the Shadow Plain and defeated their presence there.
But then you have races like the Cascadians, who have Soul Bound partners in their lives. Well, some do. It’s never guaranteed they will find their Soul Mate but some do. For those that do, they do actually have an afterlife of sorts. When one dies (or both) their Soul will expend some of its power to materialize a crystal sphere and trap itself inside. When their partner dies, their soul is immediately drawn to it, regardless of who their living partners are. It is unknown what happens after they are together, but I like to imagine it is like a suspended simulation like cryo-pods where (depending on the universe) the occupants are in a sort of dream world.
I am not sure how far I will take this but this does not apply to every living being. Just some. The concept is built on the idea that because souls are reborn from another material plain, some have a magical binding connection that basically makes them soul mates. They are meant for each other and in this particular plain, the strong presence of magic leaves a connection between them. Basically, it’s kind of like how Jedi and Sith in Star Wars can sense what is around them. Only in this case, those bound to one another can sense when the other is hurt, dying, sick, in danger, near danger, ect. But, this sixth sense isn’t active until you come into contact with your other half. You don’t have to touch or speak to each other, just need to be close. Like within a hundred or so feet. I don’t have a specific distance in mind yet.
Off topic, but I REALLY like this “Hide Details” configeration lol
LinkedUniverse: They have their goddesses (Hylia, Din, Nayru, and Farore) but their “afterlife” is spirits: they become spirits after death.
Warriors/Minecraft: The Clans still have StarClan, but in the Minecraft world, there’s a god for every mob (villager, wolf/dog, cat, bird, etc). When they die, they go to the afterlife where all the gods reside, even though only one villager and one player actually believe in the afterlife (although some players become spirits, if they want to, similar to Harry Potter where they can become ghosts if wanted).
Well, because I have such a broad area to work with, every single afterlife exists. Unless there’s intervention, you go to whatever you think will happen. The really important thing is that all the afterlives there are except for the ones from the God Worlds have multiple versions of themselves with multiple versions of the inhabitants. Because megaverse.
The main one I work with would be the ancient Egyptian Underworld because that’s where my MC ended up. As for what it’s like, well, that depends on your perspective. Outsides would find it weird but if you spend a lot of time there, it’s normal 
But, yeah, it’s the Duat so it’s got the 12 Hours and everything in them (e.g., River of Night, The Gates, Hall of Judgement, A’aru). A’aru (basically paradise) is quite nice (sunshine, beautiful nights, a big field, lots of happy people, etc) but my MC found it boring af
Most of the Duat is a giant night time desert but it varies hour to hour. I’m yet to cover all 12 hours but hours 4 and 7 make an appearance in some of my short stories. But it’s got stuff like sand, water, pits of fire, giant caves, underground realms, lots of snakes, a giant mountain, a lake made from fire, docks, other areas for certain Gods to dwell in. All that stuff.
In my most recent story there was a side adventure to Hel (the Norse one). Not all fire and brimstones as one would expect because it wasn’t actually described that way until the current major religions came into play. Hel is basically the same as this world only without things like love and happiness.
Also got the Greco-Roman one which makes an appearance, but only in the Mansion of Night (Nyx’s dwelling in Tartarus) has been shown so far. Basically, giant mansion made of night and filled with nightmares. Enter at your own risk. Also do NOT make Nyx mad. Oh, and there’s also a part of Cronus’ consciousness chained up in there.
As for the God Worlds (the place where most of my books are set) there’s Desyen (Beyond), Void (the Void), Renyai (Peace/Rest) and KenKai (Punishment).
Desyen is, well, what’s outside Creation. It’s just Beyond. No one can reach it. No one knows if anything even exists out there. It’s existence only got confirmed recently after an, um, incident. But, yeah, my characters can’t reach Beyond. It’s totally out of bounds and should be out of bounds for everyone but, again, incident. No one knows what’s out there.
Void is pretty obvious. It’s the Void. It’s where there’s nothing, the space between universes/multiverses/dimensions. It’s part of the God Worlds’ mythology but everyone there knows that it is a real place. Void Beasts, the inhabitants of the Void, often come into Creation and do a bit of damage. But, again, Void is one of those places you can’t get to unless you have some VERY bad luck. Until recently, but that’s spoilers for my current and especially my next book (happy to explain if you’re cool with spoilers)
Renyai is basically the heavenly realm. Still under development.
KenKai is basically the hellish realm. Also still under development.
There’s also all the other Earth afterlives, plus all the ones for the aliens races, plus the higher beings, plus realms that have special requirements to enter. So, yeah, everything exists several times over except for the realms related to the God Worlds, the Void and Beyond because they’re all one of a kind.
Sorry if it’s a little confusing
Is this a Fan Fic your writing within the world of The Legend of Zelda?
SD
Yes.
Spoilers for Breath of the Wild: seeing the Champions’ spirits made me cry.
Okay so, there is a sort of afterlife place that exists in Elgana. It’s not up, it’s actually down, in the core of the world. Elgana has a surface land and an underneath land. Think of a bagel sandwich. No one lives in the middle of the two slices of bagel. (everyone thinks no one lives underneath, but… 
)
The core of Elgana is where the core of magick is. So, you have all these races looking up at the sky believing in heaven, but it’s actually below them. Who knew? 
There’s not much down there in the core. Mostly kept by the first Guardian. Many who believe in him think he’s some scary all-powerful being. But he’s really not so very different from anyone else. He’s quite normal. You could have a conversation with him and joke around and you’ll forget he’s a Guardian that keeps the balance of the entire world.
If something ever happens to him, Elgana will probably not be able to keep its own balance for long.
That’s why he’s appointed seven Guardians of mortals that take on bits of his power to keep peace among mortals on Elgana’s surface. They aren’t gods, but the magick in their bodies prolongs their lives and they age slower.
Kind of pools into the villian’s motivations.
They beleive that you receive ultimate truth once you die and then, aferwards, you become “pure”. Which is to say you cease to exist and become “one” with nature. In rare cases, they beleive it possible for a mortal to ascend to godhood, or they beleive they turn into a specific part of nature like flowers or a tree.
About 20 yrs before the story begins, there was an outbreak of people who beleived that the gods intended them all to die, and that the only way for your suffering, pain, etc. To end was to submit to the gods whims. This led to /many/ horrific tragedies, mainly to do with crimes against children.
Although those beleifs were quelled, the system of it still rings through the culture and has even semi-engrained itself into the religion/god they currently worship.
So, in short, they don’t beleive there’s an aferlife at all. They beleive that you find peace, truth, and purity and then you cease to exist. That’s basically it.
I did a similar short regarding the after events of that very game…
About 6-7k words, and it was more about Links thoughts of what Hyrule could become within the ruins of that land.
Then I lost it…
SD