Elder monks have foretold the final moments after your inevitable death for centuries. After one’s physical form decays or perishes, they notice their world has suddenly turned gray and lonesome. All living mortals who were present at the place the death took place vanish, all who are left is the one poor soul who has entered the veil between the mortal realm and the valley of the dead. A remote place where the abrupt silence often causes pain and dread. They are usually trapped here for hours, sometimes days, drifting through this husk grave of what used to be called home, now withering into a memory.

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   It is only then after the soul finally understands what has happened, a flock of lifeless crows soar over you as the primordial face of death finally arrives through the fathomless void, Umato; the Serpent Empress of the Dead. In fables, she is described as a giant half-woman half-serpent with white hair and ink-black skin, wielding a long scabbard cloaked in white silk, concealing the blade used to sever the remaining connections a soul would have on the mortal plain. Some may escape her presence and continue to roam through Kudao as lost condemned souls.

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Unfortunate fools who deny their inevitable dispatch see her as an ill omen and will try to flee, or cry in anger. Those who have accepted their fate would welcome her and sometimes, ask for one last desire which she may or may not accept. These final wishes vary from last meals, melodies, and messages to the living, and maybe even a second shot at life if you can convince her. In Shilon and old Tekkanese proverbs, willingly accepting her presence in respect is the way to prove your true heritage. In Monkhu tradition, those who meet Umato are expected to spit in her face and challenge her with the weapon they held upon death. Not to deny her presence, but to show her and one's self what it meant to live. After these final moments, she allows the soul to cry out their final sentences before Umato's sword swiftly see them free.