Death and Burial

As in most of the Flanaess, Perrenders bury their dead. Traditionally, the dead are buried in a crypt within the family home, so that their physical remains are still a part of the extended family. Perrenders are typically buried in funeral robes and without grave goods, as there is no tradition that the dead have any need or use for particular items in the afterlife.

Cemetaries, which were once used almost exclusively for foreigners and those rejected by their family, have become more commonly used in the larger towns and cities, particularly Schwartzenbruin. This is partially as a result of foreign influences on Perrenese culture and partially because of the number of people chosing not to live in the traditional extended family household. It is sometimes impossible to work out to whom the body of someone living in a boarding house should be sent, and in those cases the easy solution is the public cemetary.

Where Perrenlanders are different to most of the Flanaess is the tradition of keeping and displaying heads on walls - both the heads of your honoured ancestors and the heads of your honoured enemies. In other words, Perrenlanders are headhunters. Since ancient times, Perrenlanders have claimed the heads of worthy enemies killed in battle and displayed these heads in a prominent place, usually the entry hall of the family, sept (sub-clan) or clan house. The roots of this activity lie in the distant past, when it was believed that taking an opponent's head also gave one the defeated opponent's power. There are still folk today who hold to those ancient beliefs, but most today follow the tradition in order to gain trophies, and not for any spiritual meaning. To some extremely traditional families, it is an insult if a fallen warrior's head is not taken - this as seen as a sign of contempt.

At the same time, Perrenlanders also preserve the heads of honoured ancestors - usually those who fall heroically in battle and whose corpse was reclaimed before the enemy took the head. Again, this was originally to retain the honoured ancestor's power within the family. As a result, some families do all they can to make sure a warrior's head remains with his body - including attempting to steal the head back from the person who took the head, or that person's descendants. As with taking heads, most people now attempt to stop others taking the heads of your family and friends to stop an enemy taking a trophy.

Because of the tradition of displaying the head separately from the body, the corpses of Perrenlanders who are being prepared for burial are routinely decapitated. This facilitates the preparation of the head for display if that is what the family decides to do, and has the added benefit of preventing the deceased rising as some form of corporeal undead. Also, this tradition is the reason why the standard Auszug kit includes a waterproof headbag capable of carrying two heads at a time.

For further information, see the Preparing the Head and the History of Head-Taking in Perrenland documents.