Maelstrom

The Maelstrom between live and death is a barrier the surround the Dancing Spheres cutting it off from the rest of the Multiverse. It is experienced by creatures as their bodies fail to be viable host to their soul. Mythologies around the Maelstrom have cropped up in different cultures to explain it, but the general consensus is the Maelstrom is the remains of the Old Gods and their Divine Realms that were destroyed in the Godswar. It is corrosive to souls cast adrift in it, so the maintenance of funerary rites are necessary to protect souls from the Maelstrom as the souls await the psychopomps of their divinity to collect them. Those cast out into the Maelstrom are shredded by it. Particularly powerful souls or souls with a powerful drive may survive the Maelstrom as a shadow of their previous self and become wraiths.
  Traversing the Maelstrom devours souls, so souls brought back tend to be damaged by the experience. Memories, personality traits, and guiding principles may be changed in the resurrected being. Myths explaining this change lead to resurrection being a rare phenomenon limited to high level priests, Soulmages, and Necromancers.