Bones in the Boneyard

[Joviwan]

Hello! I have some very silly questions and I have to assume there's a coherent answer and I just can't find it very quickly.

Why are there bones in the Boneyard? How did they get there? Who do they belong to?

People that die on Golarion don't take their bones to the boneyard, as far as I understand it. And copies of tombs and gravesites that are uploaded into the boneyard upon consecration copy everything that was there, but does that include people who were only laid to rest afterwards?

I've started running a particular 1e campaign and this is gonna be an extremely salient question for my group in one or two sessions. I can make something up, but I'm sure there's a real answer somewhere. Any insight appreciated!

[Habibi the Dancing Phycisist]

Outer planes (that Boneyard is part of) are metaphysical in nature and made of quitessence, or "soulstuff". Bones in Boneyard might not be actual bones but metaphysical manifestations of death, passing and moving on etc. This applies to all material and most of the beings in plane (here psychopomps). Hence the bones are not brought there but they have manifested in plane.

[Sibelius Eos Owm]

Habibi's answer is probably the most accurate--there are bones in the Boneyard because there should be, and the spiritual nature of the plane makes physical what is true to its purpose or meaning.

That said, I'm familiar with at least one adventure which seems to imply that the bones (and grave goods) of mortals also make their way to the Boneyard, which imho asks for at least one more layer of explanation. For me, this explanation was particularly convenient as I was also looking to elide the timeless trait of the Boneyard (as a matter of personal preference). I decided that, in addition to tombs being uploaded on consecration, there were further processes that allowed one to 'add' to the consecrated tomb. Namely, what made sense to me was that a body being laid to rest would be now considered a 'part' of the tomb and cause it's planar duplicate to manifest remains (for what reason youd want to create am extra corpse, I can't say--maybe having a skeleton waiting for you in the Boneyard symbolically guides your passage to the afterlife or even helps your soul accept Mortality once you're in the great afterlife queue awaiting your jusgement, idk).

Likewise, I liked the idea that living relatives may make offerings of food to the dead that manifested spiritual copies in the Boneyard at their graves. The dead don't *need* the food, but it's tasty and nourishes their heart, and mortal adventurers can maybe bargain with a departed soul for the food (normally not necessary in canon, but again, I was interested in removing the timeless trait).

[Joviwan]

Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:

Habibi's answer is probably the most accurate--there are bones in the Boneyard because there should be, and the spiritual nature of the plane makes physical what is true to its purpose or meaning.

That said, I'm familiar with at least one adventure which seems to imply that the bones (and grave goods) of mortals also make their way to the Boneyard, which imho asks for at least one more layer of explanation. For me, this explanation was particularly convenient as I was also looking to elide the timeless trait of the Boneyard (as a matter of personal preference). I decided that, in addition to tombs being uploaded on consecration, there were further processes that allowed one to 'add' to the consecrated tomb. Namely, what made sense to me was that a body being laid to rest would be now considered a 'part' of the tomb and cause it's planar duplicate to manifest remains (for what reason youd want to create am extra corpse, I can't say--maybe having a skeleton waiting for you in the Boneyard symbolically guides your passage to the afterlife or even helps your soul accept Mortality once you're in the great afterlife queue awaiting your jusgement, idk).

Likewise, I liked the idea that living relatives may make offerings of food to the dead that manifested spiritual copies in the Boneyard at their graves. The dead don't *need* the food, but it's tasty and nourishes their heart, and mortal adventurers can maybe bargain with a departed soul for the food (normally not necessary in canon, but again, I was interested in removing the timeless trait).

Yeah it sounds like we're talking about the same adventure!

I've basically come up with that explanation as well, while pursuing a 'real' answer: As long as a place is consecrated, any remains properly interred afterwards get an appropriate backup. I've got two explanations I've decided are both true:
1) This is 'bait' for restless spirits to float back to first, rather than the material plane, leaving them safe and vulnerable for Psychopomps to come put them back where they belong.
2) This is the "final record" for the dead, a truly eternal memory that will persist and survive beyond what the material plane's mortals can preserve.

Habibi the Dancing Phycisist wrote:

Outer planes (that Boneyard is part of) are metaphysical in nature and made of quitessence, or "soulstuff". Bones in Boneyard might not be actual bones but metaphysical manifestations of death, passing and moving on etc. This applies to all material and most of the beings in plane (here psychopomps). Hence the bones are not brought there but they have manifested in plane.

I do like this explanation. However, at least in this case, the module author is on record as saying "the critters that want to eat bones are in the boneyard in order to eat bones," so they appear on some level to be real actual bones being eaten.

[Phillip Gastone]

Well the skulls for Warhammer 40K have to come from somewhere. Unless there is a Bone Dimension where they mine skulls for the skull throne.

[Perpdepog]

The petitioners, now called shades, which gravitate to the Boneyard are also bony and look like animate skelingtons.

Petitioner wrote:

Boneyard (the Dead) The dead appear as animated skeletons of the type of creature they were when they were alive; Alignment N; Language Requian; Additional Ability resist piercing and slashing 3; Melee claw +7, Damage 1d8+2 slashing.

[Archpaladin Zousha]

Phillip Gastone wrote:

Well the skulls for Warhammer 40K have to come from somewhere. Unless there is a Bone Dimension where they mine skulls for the skull throne.

WELCOME TO THE ELEMENTAL ZONE OF BONE!!! *dj airhorn sound effect*

[Sibelius Eos Owm]

I mean, if there's an elemental plane of wood, why not one for bone? Both are just the hard structural bits of living or once-living organisms.

[Castilliano]

Sibelius Eos Owm wrote:

I mean, if there's an elemental plane of wood, why not one for bone? Both are just the hard structural bits of living or once-living organisms.

I believe Ravenloft had a Blood Elemental, and maybe Grave too, for macabre versions of water & earth. So Bone Elemental might be the horror-correlation for wood. (Horrorelation?) Of course, Golarion kinda nipped a lot of the quasi-elemental planes out as TSR had perhaps gone too far. Yet I'd imagine in infinite plains there'd be some representation of fringe concepts (at least in how overall metaphysics work in PF).

[James Jacobs]

One of the handiest narrative tools there is in Pathifnder is that on the other planes, things can just be what they need to be for funsies or because it feels right. The bones in the Boneyard are there because a boneyard needs bones. Whether they're manifestations of previous realities remains, echoes of all the dead who have perished in the current reality, remains left by the countless eons of living creatures who have died in that particular plane, mirrors of all bones on all worlds that have decayed to powder, the final remains of those judged to remain in the Boneyard in their afterlife, trophies claimed by something unknown... or something else entirely... they're there.

[Joviwan]

James Jacobs wrote:

One of the handiest narrative tools there is in Pathifnder is that on the other planes, things can just be what they need to be for funsies or because it feels right. The bones in the Boneyard are there because a boneyard needs bones. Whether they're manifestations of previous realities remains, echoes of all the dead who have perished in the current reality, remains left by the countless eons of living creatures who have died in that particular plane, mirrors of all bones on all worlds that have decayed to powder, the final remains of those judged to remain in the Boneyard in their afterlife, trophies claimed by something unknown... or something else entirely... they're there.

THE VIBES really are just a wonderfully compelling argument.

Thanks everyone, this has been helpful! :D