The Labyrinth

The Labyrinth is the afterlife of Varuna, a dangerous and near inescapable maze with 99 layers. According to myth escaping the labyrinth allows a creature to truly return to life.

Dying
When a creature dies it's soul remains in its body for one day and one night before the goddess Saumthalla sends it on its way to the Labyrinth. The soul is then drawn inexorably through the Ethereal Plane and into the Labyrinth, where it is deposited on the highest layer. Souls in the labyrinth have the same physical form as they did in life. For most souls an immediate second death follows their arrival among the horrors of the first layer, death in the labyrinth is possible and causes a soul to descend down to the layer below the one in which they died. When ever a creature enters the Labyrinth the Labyrinth expands.

Resurrection and Undeath
True resurrection is impossible except by leaving the labyrinth, the labyrinths pull upon souls is otherwise irresistible, however there are three ways by which a facsimile of resurrection is possible:

Undeath
When a creature dies its soul remains in its body until Intelligent or soul having undead are creatures that have been prevented from dying in the first place, usually by the intervention of a god or particularly powerful spellcaster before the soul begins its journey to the Labyrinth. Mordra in particular is known for offering contracts to creatures to become this kind of undead. Unintelligent or soulless undead can be created at any time and doing so causes the soul of the creature in the Labyrinth to be torn apart, part of it returning to fuel the magic of undeath. The parts of their soul that remain in the labyrinth are mutilated and incomplete, incapable of dying or acting in the labyrinth they simply remain trapped in place on the layer that soul was upon when it was rendered undead.

Ghosts
Although ghosts are theoretically undead creatures, they are demarcated from other forms of intelligent undead as they are not formed via the will of a god or spellcaster but solely by the will of the creature to continue to affect something in life (the will to simply survive is not enough, that merely fuels a desire to escape the labyrinth, a creature that becomes a ghost must have a specific fixation in the world of the living). A creature who becomes a ghost provides so much resistance to being drawn through the ethereal plane to the labyrinth that parts of their soul remain there, forming a ghost, the parts of their soul that do go onto the labyrinth are akin to those created by the forming of soulless undead but uniformly trapped on the highest and most traumatic layer of the Labyrinth.

Magical Resurrection
Some extremely rare and powerful magic can bring the dead back to life, however this, like undeath is made possible by the grace of Mordra. When a spell such as Resurrection or Reincarnate is cast upon a dead creature their soul remains intact within the labyrinth, however Mordra allows a new soul of her choosing to enter the body of the resurrected creature, this new soul has all the memories of the resurrected creature prior to its entering the labyrinth and in all regards believes itself to be the creature, but truly it is not. A great deal of personality change can occur after a resurrection, some believe that this change will in some way benefit Mordra.

Structure
The labyrinth is comprised of 99 layers, each with a distinct character and nature, beyond its confusing structure it is home to many creatures that can hinder a creature who travels through it. The highest layers are more hostile and difficult to traverse and vice versa. Each layer has but a single exit, each exit leads to the layer above and the exit of the highest layer leads to the land of the living. There are only two ways out of any layer of the labyrinth, ascending via the exit or descending via dying.

The First Layer: Havoc
Home to some of the most powerful creatures to ever die and site of the most brutal and enduring conflict in the universe, among Havoc the battle to find the doorway to true resurrection is fought. This blasted and ruined wasteland should barely be a labyrinth anymore given the rubble most of the interior been reduced to however its shifting and and non-euclidean landscape renders it near impossible to traverse.

Inhabitants

 * Hadar the Dead God who sits among a temple he has crafted for himself out of ruins, from here he directs his universe wide schemes to escape the labyrinth.
 * The Black Serpent is the most fearsome native of the Labyrinth, it is said that he alone is blessed with true immortality and protects his gift jealously.
 * The Chorus Tormented the mutilated souls of all the worlds ghosts, their constant screams resounding over the sounds of battle.

The Final Layer: Quiescence
Quiescence is a realm of absolute peace, once a creature enters into Quiescence it never returns nor attempts to ascend the Labyrinth again. It is home to majority of the dead.