Dead Village

It had been five years since Dan Winters and the small band fought the demons in the forest of Cappawhite. Since then none of them have had any memory of the event, erased by a higher force. Now though, and just when it seemed that normality had returned to the quiet village, strange occurrences are happening. An ancient entity has been summoned from the dark side, and Dan and the rest of the group must once again confront the evil which has been sent from the darkness to destroy them.

Ridmark Arban is the Gray Knight, and he leads the battle against the powerful and deadly Frostborn. But the Frostborn are winning, and without allies, the men of Andomhaim have no hope of victory. The power of the dwarves of Khald Tormen might turn the balance, but the dwarves face their own ancient enemy. And that ancient enemy has plans of his own for Ridmark...

The forms by which a deceased person may be brought to rest are as many as there are causes of death. In most societies the disposal of the corpse is accompanied by some form of celebration or ritual which may range from a simple act of deportment in solitude to the engagement of large masses of people in laborious and creative festivities. In a funerary context the term ritual may be taken to represent a process that incorporates all the actions performed and thoughts expressed in connection with a dying and dead person, from the preparatory pre-death stages to the final deposition of the corpse and the post-mortem stages of grief and commemoration. The contributions presented here are focused not on the examination of different funerary practices, their function and meaning, but on the changes of such rituals – how and when they occurred and how they may be explained. Based on case studies from a range of geographical regions and from different prehistoric and historical periods, a range of key themes are examined concerning belief and ritual, body and deposition, place, performance and commemoration, exploring a complex web of practices.