The Manifest Path/Rituals

Funerals

When a human dies, the body ought to be burned, so as to deny the mortal vessel to the foul undead. The full ceremony should be performed whenever possible, and involves laying out the corpse at the nearest temple or shrine with something representing their highest achievement, what they are most proud of, and a shield. The first is to show what aspect of their soul was improved the most during their life, and the second represents the guardian their soul has become. Once the pyre is lit, a time should be set aside so that those who knew the deceased best can speak as to the deceased's virtues, and try to identify where or what in the temple or shrine has taken up the soul. This should take no less time than the pyre takes to properly burn, so that all may ensure that nothing remains for the foul undead to pervert.

Often enough, alas, the burning must be a hurried affair but is very important for it weakens one of our foes. Most commonly, this haste arises after battles. In such a case, the bodies should be prepared with sword and shield to signify that they gave their life defending the Path and will now guard it, and a banner should be set near the pyre. Once it has burned out, the banner should be carefully stowed and taken to a temple to be added to the collection for the honoured dead, in the hope that the souls of those who fell will take to the banner and thus join the temple defenses.

Battle

Before Battle

Obviously, armies may only have a little time to spare from necessary preparations, and thus pre-battle rituals are by nature short. The first is that each soldier should spread a bit of their blood on their banner, to establish a link in case they fall in battle so that their souls may find their way more easily to the banner and be carried back to a temple. By the same token, all efforts should be made to retrieve the fabric of banners that fall in battle so that the souls of the dead may be brought to strengthen the defenses of the temple.

Priests, if present, should take of their blood to paint each soldier or, if there are too many, each captain and troop leader and provide some of their strength to guard the troops in the coming fight. If time allows a short sermon to bolster morale should be offered.

After Battle

There are two paths here, one in the case of victory, and one in the case of defeat.

If victorious, banners should be recovered and records updated on those who died. The banners should be dipped into the blood of the dead of their unit, and then packed away for transport to a temple. The pyre must of course be prepared, the surviving troops tended to. Those lightly or unwounded should gift some of their blood to their wounded comrades to help protect them, and Priests should do likewise. If those fought were abominations, their fetid corpses should be burned as well to prevent them from being reassembled or fouling the land. If those fought were humans, the broken banners and bodies of their fallen should be returned unless they are of an evil faith, in which case the bodies should be burned along with the banners to keep the bodies from the abominations and hopefully stop their souls from returning to guard the worship of evil.

If defeated, heralds should be sent to honorable foes requesting the right to gather banners and the dead for the above rituals. If fighting foul foes, be they abominations or their servant humans, then raids by brave souls should be undertaken to recover as many banners and bodies as possible. If some must be left behind, then efforts must be made to take the field at a later date and recover banners and see that the bodies are burnt. If the banners are taken as trophies, these must be pursued even at great cost, as the very souls of Walkers are at stake. Recovering all lost banners should be a primary point in peace negotiations.