Elysium

Elysium is the name given to the heavenly realm of the afterlife of all good or worthy souls who die on Yorth.   This realm was explained by Ibin, god of the Beastfolk, as being the paradise which all good Beastfolk would enter after living good lives in service of their families, clans, and Yorth itself. When the first Beastfolk died in clashes with the Awakened, and several Awakened had died as well, Beastfolk and Awakened alike witnessed the victorious Beastfolk closing the eyes of the dead, and saying prayer for them. Later on, after Beastfolk and Awakened had begun to learn one another's tongues, it came to the understanding of the Awakened that after that first skirmish, the Beastfolk warriors had been wishing the dead a pleasant journey to Elysium, for in their eyes, not only their own warriors but also the fallen Awakened fighters had earned a place in Elysium by dying for their clans.   And so it came to be that the Beastfolk and the Awakened alike came to understand Elysium as the destination of all souls that had died honorably, just as Meroskias was the dreary afterlife realm of those who had lived immoral lives. The existence of Elysium is demonstrably true, as some who have died and been resurrected have spoken of seeing the meads of Elysium, and some intrepid magicians have actually bodily traveled there while still living (though many have not returned) and reported on what they saw.   Elysium is depicted as an endless realm of meads and forests full of wildlife, much of it mysterious and alien to the denizens of Yorth, with a great mountain at its center and dotted with lakes and streams. Food and drink is abundant there, and it exists in the perpetual perfect glow of a golden sunset.   The Awakened believe that the palaces and castles of the Automaths are all located in Elysium, and that after they die, they might wander there and find them. These include the Towering Fortress of the Giants, the Gossamer Palace of the Elves, the Shimmering Hall of the Humans, the Wondrous Mansion of the Gnomes, the Crystal Castle of the Dwarves, the Enchanted Greathouse of the Halflings, and the Primordial Temple of the Genasi. They also believe that Afsit, Triton Automath swims freely in through the waters of Elysium, while Skanda, Satyr Automath and Eirin, Firbolg Automath wander Elysium's forests (though Skanda's presence in Elysium is rarely discussed in The Pious Union of the Awakened, as he is rejected along with the other Dissidents).   Citizens of The Verum Imperium believe that Elysium exists, though it was created through the power of the collective delusion of the faithful of Yorth and is therefore a false paradise for fools. Instead, they believe that those among them who fully realize the "divine" nature of themselves reach a state of enlightenment known as Fastigium, and that upon death their souls wield the power of their own wills to forge their own personal paradise realms.