Chapter: Funerary Urns

The kharon are a hereditary caste of boatmen who ferry the Chosen across the Skymere. These boatmen belong to lineages, each of which maintains one or more boneboats constructed from the bones of their own dead.

The kharon live in boathouses along the shores of the Isle and along the Ydenrim) in which they keep and repair their boats.

The first diagram shows my initial conception of a kharon boathouse. Essentially a large shed consisting of a number of ‘A-Frames’ over which hide is stretched to form a roof. Attached to the A-Frames is a ‘cradle’ onto which a boneboat can be dragged up from the lake

The second diagram shows a plan and end view of the specific boathouse in which the events of the chapter “Funerary Urns” of The Chosen are played out. Note the abandoned bone boat leaning to one side. Carnelian and Osidian’s position against one of the cradle timbers is shown as well as the positions of the Brotherhood of the Wheel

These diagrams show funerary urns of the type that appear at the end of The Chosen. Corpses are buried in these, folded into a foetal position as shown. That a Master would have far less room inside such an urn than is shown is because these urns are not made for such a large body

Funerary urns are ‘eared’ with many handles. Some of these are used, as shown, to allow poles to be thrust through them so that they can be carried. Others are used to attach the ropes that keep the lids tightly closed