For when the gods first made us, they were petrified: they did not know much of mortals, save that they knew we died. So with their powers, great and wise, they made a world first— that we may learn and grow and die before we sprout from earth.

-Lichan Proverb

From the cold reaches of Shost to the sweltering jungles of Velti, we tell stories of the gods and how their actions affect us to this day. One such story which rings across all of Lapida, remaining surprisingly consistent, is the place of Fae in our own life cycles. It is agreed upon that the first world, sometimes called the faewild, was made as Lapida grew and the animals and plants that inhabit it became what they are. It is agreed upon that souls are created there, born as fae, and that they enjoy some time roaming free there, experiencing death as a temporary and mostly harmless roadblock, before they are ready to live as mortals proper. It is also accepted that we live many lives as mortals, each time getting a period of rest in the realms of the gods, before we have lived out enough lives that we may spend a small eternity in what some call the final world, Pida's domain.

However, it is on the details between these statements that so many cultures differ so greatly. Does the first world overlap with our own, or is it fully separate? Do some fae spend longer as fae than others, or perhaps remain fae, never letting themselves become mortal at all? How long do we rest when we die, and how many lives do we live, or do we actually only get one in a given go-around? What happens after the final world?

Join me, Bantan, as I travel across Lapida and document the many beliefs that surround this important aspect of our lives— and, indeed, our afterlives.