Gravesite of Irkalla

The Gravesite of Irkalla is the central holy site of the Goddess of Loss and Grief Irkalla, and the largest cemetery in the world. It can be found on the southern tip of the desert in Udai, off the coast overlooking the Key of Beasts.  

The Temple of Grief

Graves line the field around her temple for miles, each in the cultural style of who had died, and each bearing the name of a deceased follower of Irkalla or someone close to one of her followers. Even those who do not worship Irkalla sometimes bring their dead here, so that they may be mourned by those who make mourning their duty. The priests of Irkalla carve the headstones by hand and attend to the graves daily, with this being their primary duty when not dealing with followers of Irkalla.   Followers of Irkalla come to the site to grieve, and it is part of the Goddess' worship to do so. She invites her followers to let out their tears and not forget those they have lost, as they are always with those who live on, and grief is a way they can be remembered.  

Major Expansions

The gravesite was once intended to be much smaller, but Irkalla had to expand. The first major expansion was after the Korvian Orchestra's conquest of Udai and the subsequent Beastman Genocide. The three orchestrators of these two tragic conquests (Warbler, Croaker, and Bud the Hollow) have small monuments in the gravesite, calling them "agents of grief" and condemning them for the blood on their hands. There are similar monuments for most other figures of mass death in Udai's history, such as the Monster of Urd Grabad and Tyrant.   The largest of these monuments is for Reoma the Wretched, the Black Dragon Lord that kills countless Lizardfolk in and around the Poisonous Swamps of Zherar.   Other expansions do not have such monuments, such as when a war breaks out between one of the many powers around Udai. If every Orcish warlord or Korvian King were given a monument, they would have nearly as many as there are graves.   The largest expansion was during Divine Amukk's War of Mercy, where his United Holy Front led a war against Heaven to crown him as a new God. While they succeeded on the second attempt, the casualties it resulted in were too vast to count, and Irkalla ended up gaining a large following due to how many deaths followed Amukk's actions. Some followers of Irkalla resent the mortal-turned-God while others call him "Irkalla's greatest supporter" thanks to the mass conversion to her faith he caused. Due to his status as a rival God, Amukk does not have a monument in the gravesite, though there is a small grave with his name on it, intended to memorialize his death as a mortal while not praising his ascension to Heaven.  

Neutral Ground

Intended to be a place of worship and grief, combat is forbidden here, and it is said to be one of the only places where Orcs, Korvians, and Beastmen respect this idea and refuse to fight (save for some vagabonds and criminals who refuse to abide by the Goddess' rules).   Meetings between Orcish tribes are often arranged here when they intend to discuss terms of surrender or alliance, and the same can be said for anything between Korvians, Orcs, and Mammen, as any other meeting place is distrusted for the reason that the other side may betray them under the guise of a diplomatic meeting.   The priests of Irkalla are happy to mediate these meetings, as long as tribute is paid to the Goddess and her rules are observed. Peaceful meetings can prevent the loss of more life and the burial of more people in these graves.   Despite this, there are rumors that enemies of the church are taken here where they are outnumbered by "peaceful" priests and are then buried alive, so that they suffocate and die in the graves where no one is allowed to invade or attack the temple for fear of not only provoking the wrath of the faith, but of all other kingdoms, tribes, and armies that have sworn to uphold the peace of Irkalla.  

The Goddess' Grave

The Goddess herself is buried here, with the temple's main building itself serving as her tomb. One must go underneath it, entering her very grave, to commune with Irkalla. On this topic, she has been quoted in holy texts as saying:

"I reside in Heaven, do I not? My physical form is constrained to this chamber, unable to walk the surface of the world as I once did. Is that not a form of death? Do I not resemble the spirits of those who have worshiped me and perished? When you grieve for them, grieve for me as well. We all die. Even Gods."

— Irkalla

  The building itself is a mighty tower, the tallest in the continent (outside of the major cities of Udai like Ruzrugh, Grandstone, and the Korvian City), with an engraving on the side eulogizing a lost world, which many take to mean that it is in memory of everyone that has ever died. This engraving was perhaps carved first by the Giants that had fled to Udai after the fall of the Giant Kingdom, and may have been carved for the losses suffered during Selene's Fury.

Gone, the streets of laughter and of strife unending.
Gone, the souls whose light shone like seven saintly suns.
Gone, the friends I cherished and the love I've since lost.
Gone, the world we knew and all its inhabitants hence.
For you we grieve, for you live only in our hearts.

  Inside of the temple, there are graves as well. This is where the priests are buried, and they dig their graves as the very first act of joining the priesthood. They sleep in their graves every night, with bedding inside the coffins, and maintain their own places of burial to make the process easier for their fellow priests when they do pass on.  

The Twin Temples

Across the waters of Mino Pass, on the Key of Beasts, is another temple that looks out over the Gravesite of Irkalla. This is the prison temple of the God Tartarus, also called Tartarus. It, too, has a large tower, and is called the twin temple of Irkalla's. The two faiths, however, are in conflict with each other, and this creates a rivalry where these two towers are constantly trying to undermine the other.   Tartarus does not seek to disturb Irkalla's peace, so his forces instead try to create danger around the gravesite so that followers cannot peacefully make it to the graves. Irkalla, meanwhile, does not wish to let out the prisoners held in Tartarus, so she instead helps create strife on the Key of Beasts, making the entire island dangerous and difficult for Tartarus to keep under his control.