A Beginning

A Beginning

Hello, and welcome to my blog.

I am Sebastian, an aspiring novelist who has been writing a book for several years now. It is my biggest passion in life and my worst fear is failure. The book follows a fifteen-year-old named Taka, a sixteen-year-old half-elf noble named Beriyl, and a mid-twenties, deeply traumatized, emotionally out of touch ex-mercenary named Arthur.

The story begins with them all at the most vulnerable points of their lives (a topic I will likely touch on and provide context to in a later post) and follows them as they make lifelong bonds and memories, and overcome countless struggles-- emotional and physical.

It is also a story of blossoming love, as Taka and Beriyl eventually find in each other what both were missing in one way or another. A story of what it means to truly find yourself, what you stand for and who you are.

For many reasons, it is a tale very, very dear and personal to me-- for reasons i'll likely explain later. (so i stop editing this one blog post over and over)

I hope that you will follow my journey (and by extension, the journey of Taka, Beriyl, and Arthur) as I talk about my book and what inspired me and my random beliefs most likely, and random excerpts im proud of as I continue polishing my book.

Thank you,

Sebastian Crowling

random excerpts - #1

It occurred to me that if getting exposure for my book is my goal, then posting some excerpts from it might be beneficial. With that said, here is a bit of the very first chapter.

Chapter One

Taka screamed in terror, and shot up in his bed. His heart drummed in his chest at a rapid pace for what felt like an eternity before it finally settled down. Beads of sweat formed upon his forehead as his eyes flitted around the dim room. Everything was as he’d left it—door closed, his things atop a medium-sized, rectangular storage chest in the corner...

“Hah..”

Breathing a sigh of relief, he reluctantly slid out of bed, recoiling slightly at the cold touch of the floor on the bottoms of his feet. It was moments like these that made him wish he knew even a few spells. The entire room seemed to creak loudly as it lurched to one side, the ship rocked by the violent waves. Steadying himself, he rubbed his eyes and yawned.

" ’Smooth ride’, huh?”

When the ship finally leveled out and Taka felt he could move about safely again, he did so, heading over to the lockbox in the corner and kneeling down by it. He pulled his comfortably worn dark leather boots off the box and onto the floor, then slid them on one by one. Then, he attached his pouches to his belt, and stretched the remaining dredges of sleep from his body.

Afterward, he headed over to the small mirror that sat atop a dresser alongside the leftmost wall.

In the mirror now, was himself. In this lightless room, he could just make out his defining features; a sharp nose, and roughly chin-length deep brown hair complimented by his hazel eyes and pale skin.

It cornered his face which gave him an almost wolf-like, mischievous appearance.

“My hair's a mess…”

Grumbling, he spent a few minutes combing through it with his fingers and wishing he’d brought a comb.

When his hair had been made somewhat acceptable, he adjusted his scarf, then nodded.

“That seems good enough. Okay… Already dressed, so…”

He had on a black long-sleeved top and pants which both had dark-brown accents. His top had no left sleeve, and the remaining sleeve was a slightly lighter shade of brown than his hair was. Making his final adjustments, Taka turned from the mirror, and returned to the lockbox.

“Almost forgot.”

He muttered, bending down to grab his short bow and quiver from atop it. Slinging the bow around his shoulder and tying the quiver to his waist just above his pouches, he gave a final nod.

“Right.”

One last time, Taka scanned the dimly lit room. He didn’t want to leave anything behind. When he was content, secure in the fact that he had indeed not forgotten anything, he left the room behind and found himself in the bottom halls of the ship. Yet, this was not his destination, so he headed quietly through the bottom levels, guided under the gentle, orange light of the lanterns affixed to the walls, until he reached a door. Beyond this door was the ship’s kitchen. At the moment, there was no designated ship chef, as the vessel captain, Dane, tended to come down here himself to make meals. But, all of their food was stored in this room, and Taka had been given permission to eat whatever, whenever he liked. He entered, quickly grabbed an apple, then quietly left. Taking a deep breath to calm his rising nerves, he traversed through the halls as slowly as he could, until he finally came to a wooden staircase. Heading up it, wincing with every creak, he found himself on the upper deck. The sky was still dark, but it felt as if he could see better. There was a slight chill in the air, tinged with the scent of the sea. Taka breathed a sigh of relief, which turned into a massive yawn. As far as he knew, he hadn’t woken anyone up.

“Sun should be rising soon,” He murmured to himself, leaning against the taffrail and looking out across the vast blue ocean as he took a bite of the apple he’d procured. He’d always liked apples, and fruit in general.

‘One of nature’s best things,’ if he said so himself.

Idly, he tossed the apple into the air, and then felt himself jolted to the side – “Aah!” -- as the ship rocked against a massive wave that sent seafoam and seawater spraying everywhere. The wave crashed and broke, finally rescinding back into the sea, its anger having passed.

 “Great.”

Taka sighed. He’d lost the apple.

Normally, he would have just gone and grabbed another one, but he didn’t want to risk waking anyone up, nor did he want to overstep, and take too much.

'Then Dane might make me give him some of the money he gave me back, and I don’t really want that to happen.’

Looking out across the great blue, its color becoming more vivid as the sun slowly rose, Taka turned to his thoughts for a while. He was no stranger to sea travel and the whims of the sea and of ships, thanks to Dane who’d taken him on countless trips over the years. Yet, he still felt a tinge of annoyance.

“It’ll likely be a gentle ride.” Those words rolled over in his head several times.

‘Yeah, right. ‘Gentle’, huh?’

Suddenly, another thought struck Taka, and distracted him.

“Hmm,” He hummed.

“How long have we been at sea?”

He had no earthly idea. Weeks? Definitely less than a month. Perhaps this one had taken longer since Dane had opted to visit all the major ports that ran along the Advent Route this time around. Normally, he wouldn’t have been allowed to do that, but due to several unforeseen issues, the other ships running the Advent Route this time had been severely delayed. So, Dane was being allowed to pick up their slack. Despite being an independent contractor who ran his own business, even Dane had people he answered to. He couldn’t just do whatever he wanted.

Taka could guess what the problem had been, anyway. As Summer reached its end, the sea itself would, independent to the temperature of the world around it, begin to get colder and colder, until it became so cold that everything living in it would enter a state of hibernation to protect themselves. It would reach it’s “peak” when Winter rolled around, and then sea-travel would be at its annual safest. Traveling by sea during the Advent month and onward was safe, but you could still definitely run into trouble if you were unlucky. Summer was ending and ushering in Winter, slowly but surely, but the rain had not yet turned to snow, and the monsters living in the sea had not yet begun their long sleep.

Advent Month. Advent Sea Route. Things established to make the “advent of new adventurers” as easy, organized, and accessible as possible. The month was a sort of holiday organized by the Kommodian Government, the only difference between it and a “normal” holiday was that participation was not an option. Whether you liked it or not, swarms of adventurers would sign up at guilds. Like it or not, Leln would be very busy. And like it or not, you’d have a lot of work if you agreed to run the Advent Route, as a captain. Of course, lots of work meant lots of rest after, but come to think of it, Taka had never seen Dane take so much as a day off. Maybe a half day. He was quite the workaholic, now that he thought about it. The Advent Route itself was a route stemming from every major Kommodian port, trailing down the neighboring oceans, along a carefully curated path the result of years of research and trial and error. Depending on the port, you’d typically be taken to either the leftmost meeting point, which was rather mountainous and hilly, or the rightmost one, alongside the Leln coast.

‘Adventurers, huh..’ Taka had just turned fifteen himself, not too long ago. That was the age the Kommodian government formally recognized an individual as an adult—and the earliest age the Guild would accept you as one of their own. Over the course of the last month, they’d picked up countless adventurers and merchants alike, all seeking passage to the bustling town of Leln. A full circle around the Kommodian continent should have, by rights, taken them months to complete, but this ship – which the captain had modified himself – was special. Voyages that should have taken months could take weeks, ones that should take years only months. With this ship, Dane had made quite a sizable amount of coin, being able to complete more than double the amount of work a normal captain would normally within the timeframe of a year. Due to Dane’s intense work ethic, he quickly found himself one of the most sought-after ship captains in the world. Indeed, there were many who’d in this world who would pay lavish amounts of gold just to have him captain their ship, and some would pay even more for him to simply be part of their crew. To put it bluntly, he was something of a celebrity in the seafaring world.

“Oh!” Taka exclaimed. “I can see it!”

Finally, the coastline had come into view. It was a far away sight, and by his wager they wouldn’t be there until the sun had peaked in the sky, but he could finally see it! Land! Their destination was inching closer before his eyes!

When they finally laid anchor and docked on the Central Coastline, they’d be halfway there! There, the merchants and adventurers would part ways and take carriages the remainder of the way to Leln, which would take about a day and a half if things went smoothly.

Not every ship combined merchant and adventurer both. Dane’s was certainly unique in that regard. The reason most ships didn’t mix merchants and adventurers, was simply for the fact that most ship captains had never been adventurers themselves. Dane was an ex-adventurer, and so he knew the commonly held “merchant stigma” of: “Adventurers are all savage beasts who’ll rob and rape at any opportunity!” was entirely false. Sure, there were some adventurers who weren’t really good people, and there were certainly adventurers who used their job to do bad things, but they were a minority. The majority of adventurers were good people. So, Dane reasoned, mixing merchant and adventurer is no problem. Because in reality, there was no problem. The chance you, as a merchant, got attacked by an adventurer on a ship, was about the same as your chance of being randomly attacked by an adventurer in a town. Very, very low. Exceedingly so. Sure, you’d occasionally hear the disheartening case of some awful crime occurring, orchestrated by some nutcase who happened to be registered as an adventurer, but those were far and few between.

Taka shook his head to clear his thoughts. He was a bit nervous, so his thoughts were running wild. Taking a deep breath, he shifted his pose and re-laid his hands over the railing before him. He’d been staring into empty space, but now he found himself gazing beyond the sea, towards his destination. The sun had finally begun to clear the horizon, casting a beautiful orange glow on the waters ahead. The sky was like a painting, a myriad of colors composed of purples and blacks, oranges, and dark reds. As the sun rose higher and higher still, the last remnants of the stars overhead began to fade in the presence of the dawn of a new day. With this wondrous sight before him, he was truly thankful he’d woken up so early. There were a few other people on the deck now, an older-looking man and a younger one who was currently vomiting over the siderail, but nobody so far had engaged him in conversation. With a subtle smile, Taka took a small comfort in that solitude. But even still, he considered going over to him and doing something. Like asking if he was okay. But he quickly decided against it; the thought alone made him extremely nervous.

‘I guess it’s probably better if we all leave each other alone. I mean, I hope that vomiting guy is ok. But I don’t know. Should I talk to him? Should I not? It’s obviously easier to sit here and… It doesn’t really matter, why don’t you just chill out? Obviously, I’m nervous. Today’s a really big day, lots of stuff happening, so I’m obviously nervous. But chill out, alright Taka? Chill out. No worries. No problem. It doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things if I talk to that guy or not. Here’s a question. Do you want to talk to him? Do you? If so, why don’t you? If you don’t, then don’t. But it’s okay, don’t worry about the right or wrong answer. As far as I know, there isn’t one here. I mean, yeah, I hope he’s okay. But also, I’m nervous to talk to him. He’s a random guy. How would I react if, well I guess it depends. Right? If they were nice or mean. If I was vomiting and…’

Silence punctuated by his rambling thoughts and the sickening sounds of vomiting filled the air. Taka looked away and turned his eyes back to the seemingly endless ocean before him. Eventually, the sun reached its peak in the sky, and by that time the coast was more than just a distant sight—it was directly before them. They had arrived! Pulling into the dock, the ship creaked and cried as the anchor dropped, rocking unsteadily for a few moments before gradually smoothing out. Now that he could see it up close, it was almost unremarkable. A vast clearing spread outward, marred by the coastline sand, several pieces of foliage, and a well-trodden dirt path which split out in several directions. Cornering the clearing was a massive forest that Taka couldn’t even begin to see the end of. Lastly, in the center of this plain were a few small buildings, and several carriages awaiting their cargo—the adventurers.

Then, as if it were being projected directly into his head, he heard a familiar voice say:  "Attention, all travelerssssss. Thisss is your captain ssspeaking. We have reached the Eassst Leln Coassstline. I repeat, we have reached the Eassst Leln Coassstline. All passsssengers, please prepare to disssembark. Thank you for ssssailing on the Marvelad."

END OF EXCERPT

thanks for reading if you did :) comments are more than welcome. i'll post more if i can think of any more that im happy with.

also, please remember that my book isn't entirely finished-- some of this may change when its fully complete! :D

ROAW Stuff - Weekly Writing Post #1 (spoilers)

Hello!

Since this is just the first real post i've made that isn't an introduction, I won't talk about any lore stuff this time. The reason im doing weekly is because having a schedule feels better than doing it randomly, and also because i didnt know what to title this post. Maybe I will do it randomly anyway, we'll see. It just depends.

For future context, the series title is Record of Another World, abbreviated as ROAW. The "collection" title (encompassing the "main" series) is Party of Three. The first book will likely also be called Party of Three. idk if that makes sense.

So I suppose like how you have A Song of Ice and Fire - Game of Thrones, or A Song of Ice and Fire - A Tale of Dunk and Egg, you have Record of Another World - Book 1, Party of Three, Party of Three(?) idk lol

In any case, in this post I wanted to go over who the people in my book are in a bit more detail, as that feels like an appropriate first "real" post, to me.

Taka

Starting off with our main POV, we have Taka. When he was born, his parents didn't want to deal with the burden of a child, so they gave him up to a lizardfolk who had been a part of their party for a very long time. This lizardfolk, named Dane, became Taka's adoptive parent. At the beginning of book 1, Taka has just turned fifteen, the age of majority in Kommodia (and the age one is allowed to register as an adventurer) and wants to experience the world for himself.

He may have seen a lot of the world traveling on Dane's ship (Dane is a captain with his very own port, and at a certain point became responsible for the Advent Route, which is the sea path from ports to adventurer-centric towns.) but he wants to see it on his own two legs, of his own volition. He wants to explore, and meet new people, try new things. He wants to live, and satisfy the intense wanderlust he'd harbored for so long.

Even still, he is very young at fifteen, and has a lot of anxiety and worries.

Taka is neurodivergent, like most people in my book are in some way. He has ADHD and Autism.

Soon enough, Taka finds himself wrapped up in a world of adventure, surrounded by people he never thought he'd meet, friends with people he never could have possibly thought he'd befriend.

Beriyl

Next up is Beriyl! He is a half-elf who hails from a very prestigious noble family. While he can come off as abrasive and even incendiary at times, he has his moments of genuine caring and warmth. He connects with Taka on a very deep level, I think.

Beriyl is probably one of my favorites to write because he's a know-it-all, he possesses a very large vocabulary and REALLY wants to show it off. He's spent so much time cooped up reading, his brain is a literal vault of random tidbits and facts. He is a textbook bookworm, and he *will *make sure you know it. He's very snarky and sarcastic and I find some of his exchanges with Taka really funny. Their dynamic, although it softens with time, is one of my favorite things ever. Not unlike Taka, I believe Beriyl also has Autism.

Arthur

Last of team Lucky Seven, Arthur.

When we first meet him, he's incredibly depressed, giving off this awful vibe of a man who has all but given up. He hasn't slept in days, probably hasn't eaten or drank much either. His eyes dark pits of horrible despair, but gradually he learns to live again, to love and forgive himself.

The rest is a bit spoiler-y, revealed within the first half of the book. I will be spoiler marking it, but just so you all know! (The stuff at the end about Rend is never revealed, so that counts as lore i guess)

Anyway, pretty big spoilers actually, and i cant hide them because tumblr doesnt have a spoiler text feature for some reason, and i cant figure it out with html or anything. All of this is revealed at roughly 55% through the book or so, so i guess it is pretty massive spoilers. Don't read the stuff about Arthur, skip down to the Advent Route if you don't want to be spoiled on Arthur's backstory and my read on his mental state.

Arthur is a sufferer of extreme PTSD, he likely has DID. When he tells Taka and Beriyl of his past, of how he felt when his friend and family died, when his town was razed to the ground, I believe it's really hard for him to really stay "present". I think he probably suffers from an extreme emotional block, he feels very absent and er, numb, I think is the right word. When he was a mercenary, I don't imagine he was truly himself. I do think he created a separate persona who didn't think or feel just so he could get through it. At that point I think he was just biding his time until he died, only truly happy when he was able to do things that reminded him of his parents like train or cook. Yet, we see that when he meets Taka and Beriyl, he starts to look better. He starts to sleep, to eat. He makes Taka and Beriyl his life's goal, his one true priority. He becomes unhealthily co-dependent on their safety and existence, so I think that reflects in how overwhelmingly overprotective he is, how quick he is to justify violence in the sake of defending Taka and Beriyl. Without them, he never would have had the "color" restored to his world. He'd still be wandering in a storm without a light. Taka and Beriyl are that light-- without them, he would be dead, most likely.||

Hell. He says it himself: how he tells them he'd become an adventurer to die helping someone, so he'd have an excuse for Rend in the afterlife.

(little does he know, Rend died young enough, and as a person who was isekaied to Tamalnh without his memories from Earth, the Gods allowed him to reincarnate again. He is the Spear Warrior that Taka asks for directions to the guild in Chapter 1.) I will elaborate more on how this works, how the afterlife and things like that work, and summoning and blablabla, all will be explained in a future post.

some minor adjustments 8-26-24. Rend cannot be the Spear Warrior, iirc Arthur was a merc for about 10-15 years, from 18-26? i think? Smth like that, anyway, that means Spear Warrior would have had to have been born the instant Rend died, so... it makes more sense to believe he isn't the Spear Warrior, but someone else. Arthur will probably meet him (whoever rend reincarnated into) towards the end of his (arthur's) life.

Now, about the Advent Route...

The Advent Route, to be better explained, sort of works like this.

On Kommodia, the most popular starting town at present is Leln, a town named after the legendary hero who felled a Dark God several thousand years prior.

Each port runs along a prescribed route and anchors on the coastline. From the coast, adventurers are taken via carriage to the town of their choosing.

Simply put, the Advent Route is a searoute chosen specifically to maximize safety and efficiency, seeing all those who'd wish to become adventurers to their destinations with relative safety, barring extreme circumstance. It is conducted at a time of year (the book starts as summer ends.) where the water in the sea becomes cold enough that sea monsters like Krakens and such go into a state of hibernation.

I'll do a follow-up post talking about the people Lucky Seven meet at the end of ch1 and their incredibly important role in the overarching story, also with spoiler tags soon. I will also elaborate on the afterlife/reincarnation process and what that really means, how people were summoned from another world, their role, and about what a "starting town" actually means.

i dont usually reblog stuff but omg is this relatable

Me waking up: I want to write

Me eating breakfast: I want to write

Me getting ready for work: I want to write

Me at work: I want to write

Me eating lunch: I want to write

Me driving home: I want to write

Me at home, sitting in front of my laptop:

random rant about music

I really, really love music. Music is super important to me, same as how writing is really important to me.

I hate english music and literally only listen to japanese music, because english music is really grating to me for some reason and it all sounds the same. It's all very soulless imo. Here is a playlist of basically my favorite songs:

Anyway, at a future point i will talk about songs i feel represent the people in my book best and why :D

ROAW Stuff - Weekly Writing Post #2

Hello, and welcome to my second weekly post ^.^

Like I promised at the end of my last weekly post, in this one I have a few topics to cover. This might be a bit of a long one! :D

Topics covered: Twin Feathers, Towns and Cities, The Afterlife

On that end, let's start with the members of Twin Feathers, the rival adventuring party that the members of Lucky Seven meet and become so inseparable from.

Eirairr

Eirairr is an interesting one-- he's a full elf, but due to his many long years of isolation he's incredibly eccentric. His personality changes on a dime, he is very much a person that takes from other peoples personalities and tries to mimic them if he thinks they're "cool" or "funny". Despite his weirdness, he's dependable when it counts. He's a good friend, and loyal-- even if he IS a bit immature and annoying at times. (and almost incapable of taking anything seriously) He is definitely the most childish out of the six.

Some of my favorite Eirairr scenes are when he's acting like a total nutcase, and then Qlul joins in because he's a bubbly, energetic birb.

Qlul

Speaking of Qlul, let's talk about him next! The resident birdfolk healer of Twin Feathers, he shares a few similarities with Eirairr. Namely, he's awful with directions, is far too energetic and happy, (although honestly, you can never be TOO happy) and has a problem taking most things seriously. His serious side does come out more often than Eirairr's. All in all, Qlul is a very empathetic person who cares deeply for his friends and the general well-being of those around him. He's dependable when it counts.

Contrasting Ecirr, he's an eagle-like birdfolk with white/brown plumage. (although honestly, i always see him as pretty much completely white)

(and he's dating Ecirr)

Ecirr

Ecirr is the closest thing to a leader Twin Feathers has-- stoic, stubborn, and serious, maybe a bit arrogant. He (also a birdfolk, but raven-like in appearance) and Qlul grew up together as close friends. They attended a prestigious university in Kaarda, then headed to Kommodia to become adventurers-- and see the world. I'd say Ecirr and Qlul are both of above average intelligence, but you wouldn't really guess it with how Qlul acts.

He has a good heart, if a short temper. He's the kind of person who won't say anything if he sees other people doing something wrong, until they notice. This tends to result in Twin Feathers getting very lost in the middle of nowhere for days on end. (and arguing alot)

Honestly, it's a miracle their party works at all. It's thanks to that when it really comes down to it, all of them can really "get their head in the game" so to speak.

Final Words on Twin Feathers

Before we move onto the next topic, I just wanted to say that I really love Twin Feathers. They give a much needed "happy" vibe to the world when they're around. They're the kinds of people that when you're around them, you can't help but smile, even if they're acting utterly ridiculous.

It may not seem it, but these three silly guys have a huge part to play in the overarching story. Without saying too much, there's a certain part where their lives (Taka, Beriyl, Arthur's) would have taken a very dark turn had they not been able to intervene/had they never met one another.

What is a "starting town"?

This will be a relatively short explanation, and I started thinking about it because I watched a scene from the new Sword Art Online Aincrad movie, (which i still need to watch, really want to) and i was like hmm... Why do I call Leln a "starting town"?

(anyway, i think that's why this came to mind)

Anyway...

In the first chapter of my book, I describe Leln as a "beginners town" or something to that effect. The reason is relatively simple:

In the world of commercialized adventuring, where everyone wants to do it and tons of people *are* doing it, it's a very lucrative business.

Leln is situated in the perfect part of the world where new adventurers can get the hang of things, do a few jobs, figure stuff out, all that good stuff. Leln is smaller than most cities, it *is* a town, after all. (I think with something like less than 20,000 people living there, probably in the 5,000-10,000 range. Compare this to the capital city which is like 300,000 or more? So...)

(the numbers aren't exact, i have them written somewhere but i'm too lazy to pull them up rn)

Basically: Leln is relatively safe. The goblins in the area are culled regularly by government-sent high ranking adventurers who can be trusted to do the job and do it right. (This, of course, is standard procedure and happens in Hamelan Territory, too. Hamelan is actually very safe, the towns outside Hamelan's walls pay a tax to the royal family to be under their knights protection, so pretty much everyone up there is relatively safe)

Back to Leln: There aren't too many caves or dungeons nearby, and given that it's a small town, the "risk level" of jobs at the Guild are, naturally, much lower than the ones you might see in a sprawling city like Hamelan (the capital). or even Demarcos (a coastal city) idk if that makes any sense.

tldr: leln calm area of the world, other places not so much, but still safe enough. leln good for new adventurer, other places ok too, but leln is the most popular destination (and also the one the *MAIN* Advent Route has carriage's go to!)

And finally... Let's talk about The Afterlife

First, there are a few things I think it's important to understand about the world before I delve fully into what awaits people after death.

In the world of Tamalnh, the Gods tend to not intervene. They do exist, but a very long time ago, they swore to not intervene in the world any more than absolutely necessary to ensure it's survival. (As the Gods are omnipotent, they'd step in if a world-ending threat were to crop up, but as long as 50% of the world remains safe they won't intervene. To reiterate, if a threat capable of killing more than 50% of the worlds population arose, they would step in and destroy it to save their world, and their creations.)

Here are some fun bullet points:

When you die, there's a short period of time as your soul leaves the Mortal Realm, ascending to the Judging Realms for the "Will of the Gods" to, for lack of a better word, judge you for your actions and intents in life. When a soul has reached the Judging Realms, it can not be brought back into the body it was from- ergo, resurrection magic only works within a short window (and it's very, very hard to pull off. I will talk about healing magic, magic in general most likely, churches and resurrection magic/etc in a later post. I also want to talk about "Wills" as that is very important to my world.)

The "window" shortens or lengthens based on the individuals will/desire to live, how much they have left undone. I think the longest time a soul could stay tethered to it's vessel would be 8-10 hours. It's usually a pretty short process of a few hours, although theoretically the most strong willed of people could stay tethered for a day or two, i suppose.

You are not conscious as your soul ascends, and as souls cannot be pulled from the Judging Realms or the Afterlife itself, no memory of the "in-between period" remains, hence nobody knows the afterlife exists.

However, there are some practitioners of specialized magic known as Soul Diviners/Spiritual Diviners/whatever u wanna call em. These people serve two purposes: They can read your soul and tell you your fortune, like a palm-reader, or they can tell you the color of your soul. The color of one's magic is tied to the soul, so the proof of a soul, magic that interacts with a soul, and some other phenomenon prove that souls exist (and hence, the afterlife.) Also, Ghosts, Revenants, Wraiths, etc, exist.

The Gods believe that Soul Erasure is the worst "crime" one could ever inflict on another (apart from the act of killing someone to begin with, I wager. Although they aren't going to condemn you to eternal torment for killing in self defense like Arthur has/does, it's circumstantial.), as life does not end in death, it only begins. Your eternity begins in death, an eternity of doing whatever you wish for as long as you wish, with the ability to sleep, be intimate, read, write, do whatever you like-- forever. Taking that away from someone, taking life away from someone is something the Gods can not condone. Even the worst of criminals aren't subjected to the erasure of their soul, and only one in history was ever punished in a way even slightly reminiscent to that-- they were put permanently to sleep. They still exist, technically, but are unable to experience the afterlife, as they are asleep. Forever. Fun little loophole for the Gods, I say.

If a person dies before the age of 15 (or was it 20-25, i dont remember), when their soul is "completed", they are given a second chance and allowed to reincarnate. They lose the memories of their past life. Similarly, the two examples of isekai'ed people (Rend, Arthur's childhood friend, and Lelnas, the legendary hero. fwiw, this will never be brought up in my book, so it's not a spoiler at all) lost their memories of their time in their original worlds. For the most part, generally people who are murdered or lose their "remaining/full life" in some unfortunate way are granted a second chance if they wish to take it, a chance to reincarnate. Their soul and personality would remain the same as they're still the same consciousness/person but in a different body, going through different circumstances. You know how every person you know kind of has their own "feeling" to them? It would be like if one person you knew died, and you met another who had the same "feeling". That's how you'd know someone you cared about had reincarnated.

Closing notes:

I'm not really sure what i'll cover next, but i should still have a few things I can talk about that are general lore that wont be talked about in the main books and isnt a huge spoiler for anything. I might talk about the "Body of God" and the nature of reality and some other fun things. I think that'd fit in well to my long expo dump about magic in my next post :p

Unrelated: this song reminds me of taka, beriyl, and arthur's dynamic (and it reminds me of ecirr, qlul, and eirairr)

(the tone of the series changes alot with book 2 and i feel like this would fit as an anime ED showing the lighthearted moments of book 1 as a sort of parallel)

its a good song :D bye for now!