[Response]```Oh lore master Ziggy, please answer my humble question; is there an afterlife in Overlord?```

https://pastebin.com/1dRyRwbK

```Oh lore master Ziggy, please answer my humble question; is there an afterlife in Overlord?```

TL:DR We know once you die you don't just disappear immediately. We don't know if Fragmentation of your Self (Body, Spirit, Soul, Lifeforce,etc) is the 'afterlife', being absorbed by something else, or free standing souls are the end result. If Maru bothered to explain more we could probably nail it down.

 

 Not in the traditional Western  models of 'good place' 'gay place'  or 'bad place'. Clearly there is existence after death (NW True Vampires prove corporeal afterlife exists despite losing your 'life force'), as in momentarily following death one still retains their ego to an extent (Neia, Zaryusu) but you lose it as time passes being absorbed into something (by what is up for debate, the WORLD, "Gods", the "Dragon Emperor" depending on some theories or ????) supposedly. As described though, an aspect of people (some differentiate this from the Soul as Spirit) linger on in the world but mainly it's negative emotions and malice that binds them, from tainting the world or objects due to their bodies being neglected, some terrible death, or so on. We have yet to see Ghosts or lingering wills that aren't disembodied engines of True Negative Energy (Undead Genesis Energy / land corruption / item cursing). Contextually, you could argue these are two different forms of afterlife since the clear distinction in awareness possessed in either state. It's insinuated whatever these 'Spirit' existences are can persist but why is unknown or how long. We'd need resurrection experiments carried out to really understand further or get an info dump about someone well versed in the Pollution aspects of the world and Souls to understand what's going on better. Like if you rez, does that emotional taint to the world just POOF since you get put back together? Or does it persist since it's taken on anew form (using the dismemberment mincemeat rules)? The giant Katze fog.... being??? is part of that puzzle too, as is Undead Genesis in general.  

 

For example Slaine's burial practices differ somewhat to other nations here in the West and Center, so as an older nation they may possess a clearer understanding of how things related to this work if it hasn't been retconned(or Maru forgets). Cure Elim's a special case, but you can get Soul Jarred at least but how cognizant you are at that point is up for discussion. Basically how much of you is your Soul and how much of you is your spirit? Similarly all Players are effectively in foreign bodies but we still consider that 'them', even in Ainz's special case. In either transplant case, there didn't appear to be complications related to time, so your self can exist outside of it's vessel at least. You need more research to say more, like how does a naturally born living creature get a soul? Do Dragon Lords even operate like biological creatures? Do undead operate similarly or differently? Clearly ego alone and being undead doesn't let you use Wild Magic properly but was that due to just a difference in body or whatever 'warping' does to you once you become undead as Maru described it? You'd also need to clarify where the Soul ends and your ego begins as Souls alone supposedly start off with no ego and you lose it slowly if you lack a vessel.  For example do you just get a blank floating soul upon birth or do you get splintered pieces from your parents upon fertilization (once a vessel is created)? Ainz's undead seem to 'anchor' given sufficient data and vessel correspondnce, but is that because of the body or residual ambient soul just being near the body ala Dark Souls bloodstain? Basically there is lacking details about what even happens to ambient souls (fade away, absorbed by environment, absorbed by nearby creatures ). Another mystery is where soul, body, and/or spirit end and begin or if the ego is even part of these, an amalgam, or an additional piece.