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Summary of relevant information:
- The book was commissioned by the "Ecumenical Authority": a part of the Imperial administration concerned with regulating cults and preventing sectarian conflict.
- The banks of the Niben feature several places where the dead are traditionally cast off. These stone piers are decorated with silk and paint, and should be accompanied by a shrine to Arkay and several baskets of grave goods.
- The southern Niben features several Skiff-graves, shoals where unpiloted boats are often shipwrecked. These sites often feature one or two nautically-themed necropolises, as well as a type of undead called a Wreck-Soul. Also Moth-Eaters, but I'm still not sure what they are all about.
- There is a professional guild of Psychopompoi: priest-boatmen who sail the dead to safety.
Funerary Rites of Cyrodiil: Death by Water
Machil Coridale, by order of the Ecumenical Authority, Temple District, Imperial City
Along the Niben river and its tributaries, one occasionally comes across ancient stone piers and tiered steps leading into the water, lavishly decorated with the bright silks and red and blue pigments so favored the Nibenese, and commonly accompanied by a small shrine to Arkay. Here, the Niben people practice one of their oldest funerary customs: the river-burial. In this tradition, the deceased is placed in a small skiff (called a "Karoon" in the local dialect), and, accompanied by grave goods and personal belongings, is cast off into the stream. By chance and river-fortune, the Karoon must then find its way to the sea, in an echo of the soul's long voyage towards the Divine.
River-burial was once a popular method of interment, but increased river traffic made this a troublesome and controversial rite. The Elder Council has presently instated a harsh tax on the practice, in essence restricting it to the most affluent and traditional clans. Others have turned to internment in tombs and graves, cremation, or moth-burial, though illicit river-burial is still performed by those who do not wish to pay the "mourning toll", as it is derisively called. Apart from such crass economical barriers, the practice has fallen out of favor for more metaphysical reasons: the soul, common wisdom states, is bound to the body's fate during this voyage, which is in turn bound to the capricious will of the river - a will which does not always recognize Divine judgment, and may drag a saint under where a sinner finds safe passage.
The river wrecks these boats with a design of its own, and often deposits them in the same places. Skiff-graves, these are called, shoals, reefs, and bays where wood and bone rot as one, and which are often said to be haunted by Wreck-Souls or the dreaded Moth-Eaters. Occasionally, when the collected mass of broken Karoonii become too great, the Order of Arkay or one of the Niben death-cults sponsor the building of a catacomb in which boats and occupants are buried alike. The wet soil of the Niben basin is ill-suited for this work, and such catacombs are known to flood periodically. In these submerged conditions, the Nibenese believe, the wreck-souls can find at least a modicum of peace.
Due to these hazards, the family of the deceased will often resort to charms, magical wards, and above all the aid of the ascetic Guild of Psychopompoi. This guild, a commercial sub-branch of the Order of Arkay, will send one of their own to act as a boatman for the departed. By tradition, the boatman may not leave his Karoon during the entire journey (which may last for weeks, depending on the weather), living alongside the decaying corpse, depending on the assistance of his fellow guildsmen and the piety of strangers for food and water. Even worse, if a Karoon were to sink despite his efforts, the boatman becomes an outcast to Niben society. As such, there are few who feel called to this most arduous task, though those who do are assured of respect and high standing.
