Jaysehn (prime)/Ranshai's Guide to the Lesser Undead Chapter2

Chapter 2: Prevention

In practical terms, the information within this work is targeted at two distinct audiences. The first of these is the fledgling Hunter for whom these creatures may pose an unexpected danger in the course of their work. For them, the information on how to annihilate these foes is of course pertinent and useful.

The other audience for this work is the common layperson, for whom the life of a Hunter is as far removed as that of a Vaalorian King. To this audience, I hold two key reservations about writing this work at all. The first is my concern that many among them may not have the means or capacity for literacy. I am resolved that this matter is beyond my ability to solve and hope only that if a copy of this work were to find its way into such a community, it would be shared by those able to share. The second reservation I have is the concern that my writings might make the life of a Hunter seem like a romantic adventure. Heed this well.

There is no victory in the life of the Hunter. There is no glory. There is treasure. There is no immortality.

The Hunter's life is the loneliest of all chosen paths. If you have other options, and a person capable of reading this book *does* have other options, exhaust them all first. Exhaust them all twice over. Every young person dreams of great adventure. Of heroic deeds over great foes and the glory that comes with those victories. This is bravado. Foolishness of this sort risks the lives of the people around you when attempt to invite troubles to your door. It is a cheap thing to bathe in glory while standing upon the graves of your neighbors. Is it more heroic to overcome a danger or to have taken the steps necessary to have never faced it at all? Leave heroics to the bards. Let us cling to what is practical.

The Wisdom of Myth

The unwise often consider myth and the fruits of myth to be mere flights of fancy. Interesting and perhaps amusing tales that tell of obvious impossibilities to delight and entertain. Perhaps even to elicit a cheap scare. Of course, those who have taken to the work of the Hunter are more than aware that myth can be a powerful tool, weaponized to a purpose if the right hands.

I've seen the superstitions of common folk mocked routinely in my work, often by those who consider themselves their betters. It is a reality that a good many of the superstitions clung to by the commons are indeed just that, superstitions. However, it is rare to find a myth that is truly just a fabrication. Instead, they are often vessels to deliver long held wisdoms to future generations. The failings of mortality and the misty passage of time means it common to find the root cause for a legend's origin. Never the less, they are often more effective than many would give credit for. Just as this axiom is true in life, so is it true in the face of undeath.

The Strength and Wisdom of Prepared Community

For the Hunter, what follows is of little value. For the farmstead or the fishing village, it may be invaluable. Preparation begins with the acceptance of death. In doing so, one must accept that death is as certain as the rising sun or the ebbing tide. Many rituals of mortal grief attempt to capture some portion of the person's impact on the lives around them. I have traveled far and have studied the death rituals of many places and many people. A great majority of those I have seen entomb the remains of their dead through burial. If I could end one particular practice among the common folk, it would be this one. This is made worse by the fact that many cultures will bury their dead with favored possessions. A prized knife. A well-loved hatchet. A stout walking stick.

To the grieving family, they are creating a final gift to the dead person's remains. However, to the seasoned Hunter, this is fertile ground for future tragedy. It is a grim reality that graveyards and burial sites are opportunities for undeath to strike out at the living around them. Such places attract necromancers, dark spirits and all of the sundry ways a corpse might turn to undeath. The place the local community might consider hallowed and sacred ground is nothing more than tools to be utilized by a being capable of raising or controlling the dead. Better to have left such menaces with no resources to exploit. A reader of this might find it uncomfortable to reduce the remains of a dead parent, or even a dead child, to something as base as 'resources'.

I sympathize with the sentiment and even the most seasoned Master of my Order will fill loss and grief as keenly as anyone. However, it is not out of callousness that I recommend a prepared community abandon these rituals. Wise indeed is the community that commits it's dead to the pyre or casts their deceased into the sea. It is natural for mortal beings to anchor our memories to the physical world around us, but this is a hubris that ignores the nature of death. The empty corpse is no longer the person you loved. It is simply a perished vessel. Honor your lost with carved stone and planted tree. Honor them in your stories and in the names of your children. Pass on those objects they loved and display them proudly, or use them with renewed vigor. The prepared community, reluctantly perhaps, destroys the bodily vessel so that it cannot be a threat to future generations.