Changes since version 2
…mystery: **splintering**, the revival of the dead. Through holy ritual, the clergy can preserve a shard of your soul and guide it back into youra re-created body. But as all human souls are inherently flawed, something is always lost in the transition. Only Saint Marrow was perfect enough to return unchanged.
To beSee the [Splintering](splintering) page for more precise, splintering has three basic processes included in it:
* **Splintering** itself, which is dedicating a shard of your soul to Marrow;
* **Fragmenting**, which is updating your current splinter with your most recent memories;
* **Awakening** (to Sepulchre)/**recombination** (to Mythos), when your soul is returned to a new body grown from the prior sample.
In practice, many people often refer to all three procedures as 'splintering' interchangeably, even though they're quite distinct.
## THE PROCESS OF SPLINTERING
To splinter, an individual goes to Sepulchre for a process that registers an impression of themselves at the given time. After death, someone who's splintered can come back at any chosen adult age as a version of themselves without any scars, injuries, or other physical remnants of their past. The real cost is likely mental. For one thing, people forget everything that's happened since the time they splintered - so if you last fragmented 5 years ago, you'll lose 5 years' worth of memory!
Beyond that, however, there are seemingly other issues. While the effects of awakening differ from person to person, people tend to come back fundamentally changed. After all, none are so pure as Marrow.
And the damage compounds: more of the soul is lost with each death. (This means that the Church eyes the ruling line of House Vesalius as increasingly degenerate, as one single soul is being awakened imperfectly in three separate bodies again and again.)
## LIMITATIONS TO SPLINTERING
As splintering requires a procedure done in advance with some cost (S+S, sleeve and shard fees), not everyone can take advantage of it. Exceptions might include executions by the state and church, people who just can't afford splintering because they're too poor, people who don't have time to splinter again before they tragically die again... and, of course, some rare individuals who might simply choose not to splinter at all.
But it takes quite a serious case of heresy to be blocked from splintering. The church preaches that even the worst can be redeemed, citing Saint Cassius the Betrayer and his eventual penitence as an example.detail on this process.
# AFTERLIFE
The afterlife isn't eternal bliss versus eternal torture. It's more you're either saved, or erased from existence.
Since Sepulchre explain [the Hum](the-hum)… faiths can expect to get weird reactions... and potentially attention, because people may end up asking why you care so much.
---
# FAQ
*Does splintering destroy or damage the soul, or is that just awakening?*
Sepulchre teaches that to splinter the soul does not have any negative consequences on its own; it is merely committing a part of yourself to Marrow, living in communion with him. It is the awakening process that causes damage, as the rest of the soul will not always adhere faithfully to the remnant Marrow holds in his bosom.
Certainly the reports of consequences and side effects do seem to come only after awakening, not after splintering.
*Is an awakened person still viewed as the same person post-Splintering by the church?*
Yes. This is the idea it all rests on - splintering and awakening allow for the theoretically eternal salvation of immortality.
*Are the Saints seen as divine? Is Marrow?*
Marrow is the only fundamentally divine entity in the Church of the Ninefold. The Saints are more like exemplars on how…
Line by line
…
# SPLINTERING
- Sepulchre was created by Saint Marrow, also known as the Prophet. Saint Marrow was the leader of the Founders who first established Deshret. His death and miraculous resurrection in the first year after the Founding set the template for Sepulchre's most holy mystery: **splintering**, the revival of the dead. Through holy ritual, the clergy can preserve a shard of your soul and guide it back into your body. But as all human souls are inherently flawed, something is always lost in the transition. Only Saint Marrow was perfect enough to return unchanged.
+ Sepulchre was created by Saint Marrow, also known as the Prophet. Saint Marrow was the leader of the Founders who first established Deshret. His death and miraculous resurrection in the first year after the Founding set the template for Sepulchre's most holy mystery: **splintering**, the revival of the dead. Through holy ritual, the clergy can preserve a shard of your soul and guide it back into a re-created body. But as all human souls are inherently flawed, something is always lost in the transition. Only Saint Marrow was perfect enough to return unchanged.
- To be more precise, splintering has three basic processes included in it:
- * **Splintering** itself, which is dedicating a shard of your soul to Marrow;
- * **Fragmenting**, which is updating your current splinter with your most recent memories;
- * **Awakening** (to Sepulchre)/**recombination** (to Mythos), when your soul is returned to a new body grown from the prior sample.
-
- In practice, many people often refer to all three procedures as 'splintering' interchangeably, even though they're quite distinct.
-
- ## THE PROCESS OF SPLINTERING
-
- To splinter, an individual goes to Sepulchre for a process that registers an impression of themselves at the given time. After death, someone who's splintered can come back at any chosen adult age as a version of themselves without any scars, injuries, or other physical remnants of their past. The real cost is likely mental. For one thing, people forget everything that's happened since the time they splintered - so if you last fragmented 5 years ago, you'll lose 5 years' worth of memory!
-
- Beyond that, however, there are seemingly other issues. While the effects of awakening differ from person to person, people tend to come back fundamentally changed. After all, none are so pure as Marrow.
-
- And the damage compounds: more of the soul is lost with each death. (This means that the Church eyes the ruling line of House Vesalius as increasingly degenerate, as one single soul is being awakened imperfectly in three separate bodies again and again.)
-
- ## LIMITATIONS TO SPLINTERING
-
- As splintering requires a procedure done in advance with some cost (S+S, sleeve and shard fees), not everyone can take advantage of it. Exceptions might include executions by the state and church, people who just can't afford splintering because they're too poor, people who don't have time to splinter again before they tragically die again... and, of course, some rare individuals who might simply choose not to splinter at all.
-
- But it takes quite a serious case of heresy to be blocked from splintering. The church preaches that even the worst can be redeemed, citing Saint Cassius the Betrayer and his eventual penitence as an example.
+ See the [Splintering](splintering) page for more detail on this process.
# AFTERLIFE
…
# FAQ
- *Does splintering destroy or damage the soul, or is that just awakening?*
-
- Sepulchre teaches that to splinter the soul does not have any negative consequences on its own; it is merely committing a part of yourself to Marrow, living in communion with him. It is the awakening process that causes damage, as the rest of the soul will not always adhere faithfully to the remnant Marrow holds in his bosom.
-
- Certainly the reports of consequences and side effects do seem to come only after awakening, not after splintering.
-
- *Is an awakened person still viewed as the same person post-Splintering by the church?*
-
- Yes. This is the idea it all rests on - splintering and awakening allow for the theoretically eternal salvation of immortality.
-
- *Are the Saints divine? Is Marrow?*
+ *Are the Saints seen as divine? Is Marrow?*
Marrow is the only fundamentally divine entity in the Church of the Ninefold. The Saints are more like exemplars on how to live one's life, and holy but not deified figures. People pray to their favored Saint, but they aren't expecting some kind of direct intervention in their lives out of it. At most, if something DID happen, it would be seen as Marrow's grace working through the Saints (i.e., a form of intercession.)
This is the current version.