The afterlife, sometimes known as heaven, is a recognized magical phenomenon in Offetstine wherein upon death, the souls of humans and other animals, as well as demi-humans of biological nature, tend to persist in some form, continuing to faintly affect the world of the living. Little is known about the exact nature of the afterlife, stemming from a systemic lack of understanding of the precise meaning and scope of the soul.
While souls are not immediately destined to the afterlife upon death, it is commonly recognized that a soul is “at peace” once it has settled in the afterlife, and though it may sometimes take many times the mortal life of a soul to achieve peace, especially in cases of gruesome deaths at the hands of various demi-humans, it is considered inevitable that a given soul eventually achieve peace.
The effects of the afterlife are most pronounced in fields of magic such as necromancy, where practicing mages often develop an intimate connection with the otherwise intangible plane of existence to draw back souls to the natural world. While the precise nature of the afterlife is shrouded in mystery and superstition, necromancers are able to proudly claim the broadest and most rigorous understanding of the ethereal plane.
The afterlife is considered as part of a trifecta of planes of existence in the world of Offetstine, along with the natural world and underworld, which itself is sometimes known as hell. Some analysts consider there to be a natural flow of living beings from the underworld, to the natural world, and itself to the afterlife, in the world of Offetstine.
Real life
Planes of existence beyond our own are broadly unattested by concrete sources in the real world, although remain a core idea of many religions and faiths from which worldbuilding in Offetstine loans liberally. Despite its precedent in real-life faiths, the depiction of the afterlife in Offetstine does not attempt to emulate any particular faith.
Many common real-life faiths such as Hinduism propose the notion of a heaven and hell as two divergent realms of the afterlife, and yet others such as Christianity propose the afterlife and a process of “final death” as distinct concepts. Readers and editors curious about the approach real-life cultures take to describing and encapsulating the ethereal world are encouraged to research the subject independently.