Development Info The Broken Hourglass - Death and Beyond in Tolmira

[Diogo Ribeiro]

Tags: Planewalker Games; The Broken Hourglass

Rather than game mechanics, <a href=http://www.planewalkergames.com/>Planewalker Games</a>' update this week concerns the lore of their RPG in the making, <a href=http://www.planewalkergames.com/content/view/32/46/>The Broken Hourglass</a>. The concept of death and its associated customs and beliefs is presented in an article called "<a href=http://www.planewalkergames.com/content/view/84/1/>Death and Beyond in Tolmira</a>":<blockquote>Gray is the official Tolmiran color of mourning, to mirror the fog of the afterlife. Death is marked with far more ceremony than birth, if the deceased’s estate or a willing party chooses to pay for the pomp and circumstance. Funerals in Tolmira are large affairs, consisting of a procession winding its way from the house of the decedent to the graveyard, which is generally a consecrated area near a temple. The burial ceremony itself is held outside, and participants in ornate costumes and masks depicting each of the deities of the Tolmiran pantheon act out specific roles. Each of the deities must say a specific prayer to let the soul of the deceased pass into the realm of the dead.(...)
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The flowers displayed at a funeral typically represent the type of death or the identity of the deceased:
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Red roses for the military or death in battle
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All other red flowers for murder
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White for dying in sleep/old age, an imperial funeral
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Yellow for disease or the priesthood
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Blue for unknown cause of death
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Orange for accidental death
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Pink for death in childbirth
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Green shoots for children/dying "before one's time"
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Bare branches for suicide</blockquote>Purple if you're killed by a group of homofobic peasants after you've named all different shades of violet.
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Thanks, <b>jcompton</b>!

 

[kingcomrade]

Does that actually have anything to do with the game?

 

[Top Hat]

Yellow for disease or the priesthood

Eh? Does this mean that a priest died, they died trying to attain priesthood, or died at the hands of a priest (like as he was raping you up the ass)?

 

[Section8]

You know, I'd love to actually have a character funeral in an RPG, but given the game's roots, I'd be expecting resurrection. I mean, why fork out big bucks for pomp and ceremony when you can just bring them back?

 

[Fez]

I liked in some games, especially roguelikes, where they do give you a description of your life and deeds when you die. A funeral scene or procession to illustrate that could be a nice thing to tack on to it.

 

[Nedrah]

Even if it has a minor role in the game (like a quest where you need to find the grave of a murderer or whatever), it's still always nice to see some fluff and lore - who gives a fuck if it's all that relevant? I hope they spend the same amount of energy for item descriptions, though - somehow these are pretty important to me.