Lore:Death/Breton

Overview | Altmer — Argonian — Bosmer — Breton — Dunmer — Imperial — Khajiit — Nord — Orc — Reachman — Redguard — Other

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Breton Beliefs and Customs

Cultural Beliefs and Traditions

In the Kingdom of Daggerfall, locals observe the Day of the Dead on the 13th of Rain's Hand. It is one of the oldest holidays in the Iliac Bay. It suggests that ancestor worship was once prevalent in the Breton religion of antiquity. Superstitions claim that the dead will rise on this day to wreak havoc on the living. It was actually on this day that the vengeful spirit of King Lysandus returned with an army of undead to haunt Daggerfall city in 3E 404, seeking revenge for his tragic death.

Breton Afterlife

A Breton priest of Arkay

Bretons worship Arkay, one of their Divines, as the paramount god of the dead. His worship, at least as recorded in written history, originated after that of Nord Orkey and Elven Xarxes and it is taught he was once a mortal who ascended to godhood. Scholarly views on the matter explains that Arkay is merely a convenient syncretic god between Orkey and Xarxes, becoming an integral part of the religion of the Nedes (and the people descending from them) freed by Alessia. Although the Bretons became the most influenced group of the Nedes' descendants by the High Elves, they continued to worship Arkay as the god of the death, instead of Xarxes, god of their Direnni overlords.

Bad Man's Hallows

Considering themselves one of the most faithful people in Tamriel, devoted to the Divines (both Eight or Nine, depending on the century) the Bretons believe Arkay commands the souls of the deceased to the realm of Aetherius, where they meet their gods and their ancestors. The Direnni left their mark upon the Bretons, who maintained the same aristocratic structures of powers those Altmer had built in the previous centuries. As nothing is more important to an Altmer than his or her ancestry, it is easy to understand Breton nobles and kings (thought to be the rightful successors to the Direnni) valued their ancestry to maintain and expand their status in High Rock society. As a result, prestigious ancestors, as well as royal and noble bloodlines, are respected and remembered with high esteem.

To the Bretons, Arkay is the God of the Cycle of Birth and Death, who spends eternity making sure that deaths and births stay in proper balance in the physical world.

Breton Funerary Customs

A Breton graveyard

Traditions dating back to the witch kings and nomadic horsemen mandated cremation of the dead. This was likely influenced by the Altmer of the Direnni Hegemony, an aristocratic state which ruled over High Rock during the First Era, who also cremated their dead.^(?) This tradition remained longer in the north than in the south, where Imperial burial customs frequently usurped traditional Breton practices.

Breton barrows

By the Second Era, Bretons had abandoned cremation. All of the dead—from commoners to kings—were buried underground, returning to the traditions of their other Human cousins. Kings and high nobility are commonly buried in crypts and catacombs, usually built outside of the cities and towns. Dishonored kings and nobles are segregated from their relatives and entombed in special crypts, only to be forgotten by history and their descendants. Breton commoners, on the other hand, most usually rest in graveyards, where their bodies are buried within a coffin in familial or individual tombs. Burial sites are commonly guarded by Arkay's priests, who watch over the rest of the dead.

Illiac Bay Pallbearer

A Breton graveyard and crypt

Arkay's priests in High Rock give every Breton his Three Consecrations: Arkay's Grace, which they bestow upon birth, to protect the souls of the innocent until they are old enough to exercise their own volition; Arkay's Blessing, which they bestow upon the dying, to prevent their souls from being used without consent; and Arkay's Law, which they bestow upon the deceased, that their corporeal forms may not be raised to unlawful servitude.

Most, if not all, Breton bodies are anointed with the Three Consecrations, yet necromancy is still a common practice in High Rock due to the amount of dispensable corpses left to rot on battlefields without any further blessing or burial.

By the late Third Era, cremation was used for kings. Typically, a blessing is put on their suit of armor before they are ceremonially cremated so that the king can have an eternal rest. In the case that their spirit remains because of a curse, as seen with King Lysandus of Daggerfall, a special powder called the Dust of Restful Death can be used to let it rest by sprinkling it on their body. It takes a month to prepare it for use.

Druids

Druids believe in a natural cycle of death and rebirth, for Y'ffre blesses the living with the same breath that flows across the world, and it is seen as a blessing for him to withdraw that breath. To die means that one once lived, and at the end there is always new beginnings. Indeed, druids believe in reincarnation. Dovah-flies are such an example, and they're believed to be their ancestors given new life. The corpse that is left behind also plays a part into natural cycle by returning to the living, whether by serving as food for an animal, fertilizing the forest, or having a body part dried and worn in memoriam as pendant. Some among the Druids of Galen practiced necromancy as a legitimate venue of faith, as it is focused on the end of Y'ffre's blessing of life. In the Iliac Bay, druids are responsible for bringing the bodies of the departed to their final resting place in the crypts.

References

Note: The following references are considered to be unofficial sources. They are included to round off this article and may not be authoritative or conclusive.