Hellbend Death and Dying
It is well known that the Hellbend people are a people of community and solidarity. For many years after their birth during the Change Days, Hellbends have had close to nothing other than their brethren to rely on for survival, companionship, and much more. Rebuked by the natives of Siliren for being alien and disowned by their own ancestors for being mutants, a Hellbend in these early days of chaos spent their time cultivating relationships with others like themselves. In order to survive the cruel war with its neverending battles, the Hellbends relied on their internal strength as a newly formed people in order to endure, quickly building large families and forming bonds that could not be easily forgotten. To food foraging, to resource management, to defending their rights to live in a world that saw them as nothing more than a mistake, Hellbends almost exclusively founded themselves on the efforts —and by the hands— of their own people. Even after the war was lost and Humans became more accepting of their presence— even forming an alliance based on their mutual losses— Hellbends already had established a chain of responsibility and duty to one another that would connect every Hellbend to each other for generations to come. A strong, nuanced community was born from the ashes of death that is filled with people who seek nothing but acceptance, harmony, and peace.
Hellbends may have risen from the bowels of tragedy but they have fought with their blood to ensure the future of the Hellbend race sees good fortune. Each life lost only served as a building block for the foundations of hope. To this community, every life is a treasure not to be wasted by keeping weak ties with one another. A friend is not just someone who you know; a friend is someone who you love. A sibling or child is not just family through blood alone but through the heart and soul. If the Hellbend community were a tapestry, an individual would be a stitch. Without the context of the whole, a single thread is meaningless, fragile, and forgettable. But when bound together with strong ties to those around them, they form an important piece of the picture that will only continue on through their children and their children’s children. But much like how a thread can impact a tapestry when being added, a thread being taken away can have devastating impacts. With just a single hole, the picture can unravel, separating the threads until nothing is left but frayed ends and messy strings.
Death is inevitable to all who walk the mortal plane, Hellbend or otherwise. In the early days, a single death was a near-fatal consequence for an already small population, and as such, respecting death became a crucial component of culture. Prolonging death by protecting their own as well as caring and cherishing those who have passed became vital parts of keeping the living community together and strong. Today, death and the process of dying may not be waging war against Hellbends’ very existence, but death, or more specifically the handling of death, is still a prominent piece of culture that serves a vital role in modern Hellbend society.
History
Because Hellbends were originally created during a time in which Cheon loomed over Siliren with a brutal and unforgiving fist, Hellbend society learned early on in their development as a community to respect death but to do so without fear. Early Hellbend ancestors dedicated much of their time attempting to prevent unnecessary death by cultivating awareness of potential dangers to others and distributing wealth and resources to all, for if too many were fall prey to Cheon’s domain then the life of the Hellbend race as they knew it would have been short-lived. However, at the same time, Hellbend ancestor also seemed to understand or even value the need for death at certain times. Death was not praised or worshipped in any way, the pain of losing one of the few you have was too great to have such views, but it was not a topic that was shied away from. Death was an open and common topic of discussion in all of its aspects, resulting in people who were so familiar with the process of death and dying that they can mourn the death of a person who has yet to die.
There are several stories told in Hellbend culture, particularly within Avakaronian society, that revolve around this very idea. These stories say men and women during the Change Days adorn their skin with paint in celebration of their upcoming death in battle or exploration. This celebration of life and death was dubbed the Hibicy.
Hibicies were originally intended to be the one and only occasion to perform any matter of formal grieving or death preparations. This is because during the times of war and banishment, the Hellbends were unable to stay in one location for long. This meant there was little time to even collect their dead from the battlefield, let alone to carry and perform a formal burial ceremony. Those who died exploring or found death through battle often were never recovered. By performing a hibicy before the warrior or explorer ventures off, it ensures the community gets to properly mourn the loss without spending excess time or resources attempting to recover the bodies afterwards. It also gives the warriors a time to present how it is they would like to be remembered and to say their own goodbyes.
Types of Death
In Hellbend culture there are a few different types of death, usually happening one after another. While these types of death are recognized by most of Avakaronian society, discussing death via these terms is not common similar to how discussing grief via the language of the five stages of grief isn’t always commonplace or even welcome. The types are defined as a way to educate people, particularly children, on a more intellectual level about death and what it entails rather than using it to discuss or define a current death.
- Prospective Death– the death of any potential future of the individual. This term is primarily used for the elderly, ill, or the gravely wounded. While the person is not physically dead at the moment and mayhaps even be moving, communicating, and sharing memories with those around them, there is little to no hope for any sort of future for the individual.
- Mundane Death– the physical death of the body.
- Transcendent Death– this type of death is referred to as the true death of the individual. The most metaphorical of all the types. This death occurs when the soul or spirit of the person is considered lost. This type of death is almost exclusively used to refer to the death of ancestors or people who have been forgotten by time. However, it can, on rare occasions, be used to refer to someone who has so drastically changed in personality or form as to be rebirthed as an entirely new person, their old self dying.
Funerals
Hellbends often don’t hold funerals like that of Humans. While some forms of death preparation can involve burial, having a standard event at the moment of burial is not common practice. Hellbend tend to interact with the deceased more inimately and personally than that of their Human allies, willingly choosing to humanize the dead as much as possible and accept the death and what it means rather than to distance onself from them. The goal of Hellbend funerals is not to sever ties with the dead and forget but rather to solidify said tie with them and give that connection meaning. In order to do this, Hellbends most commonly practice two different types of funerals.
The Hibicy
It is told in stories about the Hibicy that the deaths of those who fight for the people are the cornerstones of the future— each death bringing new lessons to future generations to come. The community would aid the fighter in adorning their skin with pain, each individual marking one line on their body at a location of their choosing. This process was both in celebration of the warrior’s life thus far and how they have impacted their families and friends as well serving as a living funeral, giving loved ones and the warrior a distinct time to openly mourn and express their feelings about the future death. This process would last anywhere between 12 hours to 48 hours (often across many locations due to their need for mobility during war) with typically more than one warrior participating at a time.
The Hibicy was highly regarded as a sacred time not just because it provided family much-needed closure for the predicted death of an individual, but also because it was suspected that gods such as Nysem, Rakar, Perad, Trizgar, Wysore, Issias, and even Cheon himself attended to bless said events. One particular story popularized this belief, the story saying that a strong, brave warrior was temporarily given the voice of Cheon to speak to the people about their death and what it would mean for the future of the Hellbend. Of course, there is no real record of this event or any Hibicies having godly intervention, but the superstition still persists.
While Hibacies originally were intended for those who would die young fighting or exploring Siliren for the betterment of Hellbend kind, it eventually was adapted for general use after the war was over for anyone who was suspected of dying soon, including the elderly, those stricken with illness, or even before childbirth in the case of the mother losing her life in labour. Hibicies today are considered very traditional and old-fashioned, but are still well known and practised, especially for members of long-lasting founding families, like the Taheriva’s, Negura’s, and Irdis’.
Preservation
A far more recent tradition than that of the Hibicy, a preservation funeral is where the family embalms and preserves the body of the deceased. Much care is taken into this process for after the body is considered preserved, the family brings the deceased back to their home.
The evening after preservation, it’s commonplace for the immediate family to hold a meal with the deceased present at the table. The deceased is served a portion of the food and treated as part of any conversation that may be held at the table. This meal usually revolves around sharing stories and feelings about the deceased, expressing gratitude, regret, forgiveness, or any other kind of emotions the family feels the need to express, talking in a similar manner as that of a Hibicy.
After this initial meal, the deceased is often given a bed to rest within the home and returns to the table for every meal with the family until the family collectively decides to bury the deceased. When the dead should be buried is decided upon by the family and how comfortable they are in their mourning process to let the physical manifestation of the deceased go. As such, this decision to bury the dead can happen anywhere immediately after the memorial meal up to several years after their mundane death, depending on how well preserved the body is. However, it is most common to keep and maintain a deceased family member for a period of one to two seasons.
Preservation, despite its rather young history, is a popular funeral method, especially within Avakaron and for individuals who have died suddenly, like that of a child. Because of its popularity, seeing a deceased family member at the dinner table during family gatherings is not unusual in any way. Corpses are also humanized by Hellbends because of this tradition, preserved bodies not being a source of fear or discomfort for many Avakaronians. Hellbend cultures that practice this type of funeral know well enough that the deceased— unless they were known to carry a highly contagious disease— is not going to bring bad health onto the household. They know that their preserved loved ones are safe to be around, to touch, and to have in the home so long as the preservation process was done properly, which gives the family freedom to interact with their loved one in a more humane and personal manner before burial.
Conclusion
Hellbends have chosen to interact with their dead in such a way, as compared to the more physically distant and detached methods of Humans, because Hellbends are often more personally involved in the dying process of their family and friends than that of Humans. Death is a devastating hit to any family with close ties, but for Hellbend who’s entire lives and culture revolves around the meaning of family and unity, death is more than just the loss of life. Death is a tear in the very fabric of Hellbend society, and without proper care taken to mending that hole in the tapestry, an entire family can fall into ruin. It’s not a light hearted subject, but Hellbend pridefully claim and care for their dead, both in the physical and spiritual forms, attempting to honour their lives to the best of their known abilities.
Article Credit goes to Geronimo.
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