Necropolitan

"Thank Heaven! the crisis— The danger is past, And the lingering illness Is over at last— And the fever called 'Living' Is conquered at last."

- Edgar Allan Poe

A necropolitan is an expert in death and funerary customs. They may be thought of as a one-stop-shop for all your funeral needs. Their job is to take care of the dead, and the living, throughout the burial (or alternate disposal) process. Typically, one is an apprentice for four to six years under a master, however what exactly may constitute a masterpiece for such a worker-in-death (so that one may become a master and have their own apprentices) is an exercise in morbid curiosity for some, and is known only to the necropolitans themselves. They are intimately familiar with all of the customs, as they relate to death, of all the cultures of Midian. Everything from engraving a suitable epitaph on a tombstone for a Formourian follower of the Temple of Light, to what wood to use to pike the corpse of a Firpish criminal, is in their realm of expertise. Their knowledge includes: anatomy, digging, diplomacy, embalming, engraving, forensics, funerary rites, grooming, public speaking, storytelling. The following skills are known only as they apply to the necropolitan's craft as specializations: administration, basketweaving (wreathmaking), boasting (for others), botany, carpentry, chemistry, culture (death, all), engraving, heraldry, history (various), law, metaphysics, sewing, stonemasonry, superstitions (awareness thereof).

Typical funeral costs for a Formourian peasant is minimal, perhaps 10-20 florins for a simple pine box—if even that—a few dinnar for someone to dig the hole and lower the body into it, if they didn't have healthy young relatives or friends to do the deed. Have a local clergyman say a few nice words, erect a simple wooden placard for a tombstone, and call the task finished. Funeral costs can increase quite rapidly from there, however. Larger towns and small cities may have one or more people who specialise in a particular funerary task. Morticians, casket makers, grave diggers, and even the occasional professional mourner may be found. Embalming a body is a more specialised task, and is typically reserved for the highly-skilled necropolitans. At least this is true outside of the Heldanic Confederation and northern Formour where professional embalmers are needed more often to mummify Dwarven corpses. A fine coffin: nice hardwood, brass handles, satin lining, can potentially cost 20-200 guilder or more. Grave diggers are cheap, still only a few dinnar, but they are typically employed by the mortician, whose services can run a few dozen to several hundred guilder or more for an elaborate funeral. Marble headstones cost 20-30 guilder for the small and simple ones, and can range into the thousands for detailed carvings and statuary. Necropolitans, by virtue of their expertise, can command the upper end of these figures, and can also act in all capacities needed for any funeral.

[See also the prices listed under Mortician.]