The Cycle

Before the time of Kyra Pedra had a religion unlike most. The people of Pedra worshiped the God of Death, an inevitability more than a deity, who took the shape of a skeletal being cloaked in grey. The worship practices were few in number, Funeral rights were of the mortal’s choice, there were no sermons or offerings to their God. Instead, the priests, at the time called Speakers, would travel to or be visited by their God and have a conversation. The content of the conversation, at least in part, would then be spread amongst the people. In this way the laws of Pedra came to be known. The most paramount of all laws was this: Necromancy of the soul is taboo, an abomination and anathema to Death.
Other laws were spread by speakers and mortals alike, such as the law of kindness, collective good and ecological maintenance. The natural order was to be preserved and revered. Death comes to all in due time, yet that never dissuaded the Pedran people from learning and creating new forms of healing and medicine; because, as Death told them, maintaining life is as natural as dying.
While much of the religion was lost there remained pockets of devotees in the further reaches of Pedra. With the loss of magic these devotees had to fight through generations to maintain faith in their God. Death had given them magic, had taught them how to access and use it, and it seemed to those left that Death had seen fit to take it away.
When magic finally returned to the Pedran people it was not as they had left it. Some magics were lost forever, yet in their place new magics had taken root. In the absence of direct discourse with Death the Pedrans did their best to return to the old ways, to preserve kindness and the natural order. It was an uphill battle and not without sacrifice. Many believed that only by returning to the old ways would they regain the favor of their God.