If I had to name one thing you could develop in your world to make it more realistic/believable/lived in, it would be religion. A year ago I first presented the Unholy Church of Ergalon the Destroyer as a way of demonstrating one way this can be done. In the world of Ossara there two main religions, one based on the evil lich-king that more or less rules the “civilized” world, and the other based on his legendary consort, the death goddess Eriskagal.
One major reason the church followers are so numerous is that all recently dead are granted undeath by Ergalon. His church is responsible for carrying out this mandate. In the part of the world where game play takes place, Death Collectors come monthly to collect the bodies of those who have recently died in the town. Bodies are stored at the church mortuary in-town, which is managed by the lower clergy.
That makes the Death Collectors much more than undertakers. They control the passage from death to undeath: until a body reaches the capital, the dead person is in limbo, and the capital decides when that second life begins.
It sets up several strong pressures in the world:
A monthly countdown: Families know when the Collectors are due. A death just after their visit could mean weeks of waiting.
A local duty of care: The town mortuary becomes a place where families keep vigil and the lower clergy prepare bodies for the journey.
Power over the dead: Whoever controls the Collectors, roads, and mortuary controls access to undeath. That gives Ergalon’s church real political power, even far from the capital.
Conflict over consent and belief: Some families may want their dead returned; others may fear or reject undeath, especially if they follow Eriskagal.
That gives the system its central religious conflict: Ergalon’s church treats undeath as the return granted to the dead, while Eriskagal’s faith holds that death should end in eternal rest. So the Death Collectors aren’t just moving bodies; they’re carrying people into a fate Eriskagal opposes.
It also makes each death a point of tension between the two religions. The disagreement becomes personal and practical: what should happen to this particular person’s body, and who has the right to decide?
Next time let’s look into the Cult of Eriskagal.