Death happens to monster races in spades, both on and off the battlefield. Most sentient monster races have their own methods for disposing of the dead and do so principally to avoid the accidental creation of undead.
The goblin races practice cannibalism more as a matter of cruel practicality than ritual respect. Goblins are usually hard-up for food and their culture (such as it is) instills a bone-deep dislike for each other. As such, when a goblin dies in or near the home warren, the other goblins eat the remains of the deceased. The only exceptions are for the skulls of a goblin important to the tribe, such as a leader or shaman, which other goblins clean, polish and place on a shelf where the members of the tribe may see it every day.
Kobalds customs are similar to those of goblins; though the skulls of respected kobalds are stored in the hoard of the dragon – a shrine where the tribe worships rather than on a shelf in a room where the tribe sleeps.
Orcs practice cannibalism of those they consider worthy, in an attempt to magically consume whatever valuable traits the dead possessed. The large bones – ribs, legs bones, the pelvis, etc. – orcs use to make special tools. A stout femur might be employed as an axe handle or a rib might be sharpened and hollowed to become a ceremonial tattoo needle. The remains of other orcs go to relatives, who usually bury them quickly in shallow graves. Only the greatest of the warriors or magic-using orcs receive a full burial. Orcs place menhirs over the grave of these revered ancestors to keep them in the ground and believe it to be bad luck to knock over a menhir.
Lizard folk do not practice cannibalism on the remains of members of their own tribe (though they will eat lizardfolk of another tribe during a conflict) and inter the remains of most tribal members in simple burials in the mud at the bottom of a swamp. Important shamans and warriors receive interment in a dolmen – a single-chamber tomb, usually consisting of large upright stones supporting a large flat horizontal capstone. Lizard folk construct Dolmen at the edge of the tribe’s territory, both to honor the dead and mark the tribe’s territory. A successful Nature or Religion skill check, DC 18, allows a PC to recognize a lizard folk dolmen and understand its meaning.
Giants have a peculiar tendency to imitate dwarf funerary customs, right down to the funerals coming in two parts and petrifaction of remains. However, when a new leadership assumes control of the tribe, old statue-remains are often broken apart and scattered around the giant’s community.
Drow funerals are parodies of elf and eldarin funerals. Among other things, assuming an important drow receives an interment, it is usually at the base of a stalagmite or top of a stalactite, the event occurs on the autumn Day of the Dead and an enslaved dryad is magically bound to the rock to protect the grave. Drow frequently arrange for their deceased to return as some form of undead.
Gnolls, trolls and ogres are noted for having no burial customs at all. Minotaurs customarily stuff and mount their deceased.
Dragons that do not die by misadventure feel a call in the extremity of their age to go to a far place, to rest and to die. In any event, there is such a place as the Dragons Graveyard and it is a place of terrible wonders.
With so much time spent on how adventurers end monster lives, it’s nice to see that there’s an article out there that deals with how monster society treats death when left to their own devices. Great stuff.
I find it interesting that you chose to make the giants imitate dwarven funeral customs. If the 4e fluff is to be believed the dwarves were the slaves of the giants for most of pre-history – wouldn’t it make more sense for giant society to influence the culture of the dwarves?
Really interesting topic!
I had a half orc character once and for some reason the GM always through alot of orcs our way, so after a few sessions of desperately trying to work out how my character felt about this I came up with my own traditional Orcish burial ritual:
Take all their valuables and roll them in a ditch!
Every time we killed some orcs I’d beg the Paladin to be allowed to send them off in the manner of their ancestors
Nothing worse than traveling through the swamp and running into a bunch of undead, preserved lizard men. Probably immune to fire from all that time in the water.
Sounds like minotaur customs aren’t too different from mummification. Perhaps they store their dead in catacombs modeled on labyrinths?
Victor: I see it as a “which came first, the chicken or the egg” situation. The giants and the dwarves deeply influenced each other and the dwarves tend to make things useful, if not good while the giants makes everything shoddy, big and unsavory.
Dungeons’ Dragon; It is important to maintain cultural traditions, such as ditch rolling.
A3; The bit about minotaurs was a joke on my part – I see stuffed and mounted minotaur heads hanging on the walls with little plaques reading things like “Uncle Larry.” But mummified dead minotaurs in catacombs modeled on labyrinths is good too.
Interesting that you don’t mention cremation for any of these, as that is the most obvious counter to problems with the wakeful dead.
All in all, great article, though. It’s definitely given me some food for thought for some of my own cultures.