• Location: Hope
• Address: Seedway 4
• Surroundings: Between The Floodgate and the Old Netter's Rest

Founded on 20 June 2626 — just days before Hope’s Harvest Rest Cemetery opened — the Hope Funeral Parlor was established by widow Elara Fehn and her three sons, Tolan, Sere, and Rinn. Having lost her husband during the Last Frontier crash landing, Elara crafted the small seedway storefront into Hope’s sole temple of final rites: she prepares bodies with botanical bitters, designs tropical hardwood coffins, and dispatches each hearse to Harvest Rest via a Hoo-drawn wagon.

• Construction Material: Raised stone footings reclaimed from river works; walls built from mixed tropical timber planks, salvaged cargo-container panels, and repurposed interior hull sheets from the Last Frontier. Window panes are cut from shuttle-canopy glass, imperfectly fitted and sealed with resin and pitch.
• Floors: 1 public working floor with a narrow second-floor family level built into the roof volume.
• Façade: Narrow Seedway frontage with a recessed entry framed by timber posts and patched metal siding; a hand-carved Mirel Leaf emblem hangs above the door, darkened by humidity and age.
• Design Purpose: Built quickly but with care — practical, personal, and respectful.

Main Floor

• Reception & Condolence Nook: Polished plank counter, condolence scroll, stool seating
• Viewing Chamber (1): Curtain-draped bench area with stasis-mat hookup and incense burner
• Coffin Workshop Corner: Hand-tools for planing and staining coffins of Hope-region hardwoods
• Body-Prep Alcove: Basin, herbal-tincture station, simple embalming rack
• Public Loo: A unisex restroom, featuring the AuroraSan System.

Second Floor (Family Quarters)

• Living Space: Shared bedroom and simple cooking nook for Elara and her sons
• Storage Loft: Shroud rolls, spare coffin lids, incense stock

Exterior Yard (rear)

• Hoo Stall: One-stall shelter with feed trough and rain-catch barrel for the hearse animal
• Cart Shed: Lean-to storing the black wagon, harnesses, and tool kit

The Hope Funeral Parlor exists in the settlement’s unending twilight, bathed in soft, low light that never fully brightens nor fades. Outside, Seedway’s wooden planks are slick with moisture, reflecting lantern glow and the muted sky above. Inside, the air is warm and still, scented with fresh-sawn wood, Mirel Leaf incense, and the faint bitterness of botanical preservatives.

Light filters in through uneven canopy-glass panes, scattering into amber pools across timber floors and workbenches. There is no sense of time passing — only quiet continuity. Voices drop instinctively upon entry. Cloth curtains stir gently in the airflow from the open door, and somewhere nearby, a Hoo shifts in its stall, leather tack creaking softly.

This is not a place of spectacle or fear. It feels domestic, grounded, and human — a workshop and a sanctuary pressed together. In Hope’s perpetual twilight, death is treated not as an ending to be hidden, but as a passage handled with steady hands, familiar faces, and practiced care.

• Elara Fehn (Owner/Mortician): Meets with clients, prepares bodies, crafts coffins, and leads processions
• Body Preparer (Toran): Elara's oldest son cleanses remains, dresses the deceased, and maintains the stasis-mat equipment
• Cart Driver & Hoo Handler (Sere): The second son cares for the Hoo mount, manages harnessing, and drives the funeral wagon to Harvest Rest
• Assistant Apprentice (Rinn): The youngest son assists with coffin carpentry, ceremonial arrangements, and general chores
• Cleaning Bot (1): Sweeps floors, sanitizes the prep alcove, restocks incense

By Appointment: 07:00–19:00 daily; emergency walk-ins accepted

Service Windows:

• 07:00–11:00: Body prep & coffin crafting
• 11:00–15:00: Private viewing & condolences
• 15:00–18:00: Funeral processions to Harvest Rest

• Locked Doors: Front and rear locked after hours; keys held by Elara and the Cart Driver
• Trooper Passes: Guarding Troopers patrol Seedway twice daily, ensuring no illicit access
• Stable Gate: Padlocked at dusk to secure the Hoo stall and cart

Legal Interactions

• Schedule a service and customize coffin engravings with Elara
• Attend a viewing to console NPCs or gather information
• Commission memorial goods (urns, keepsake tokens) from the loft display
• Coordinate coffin-wagon departure times and route planning

Illegal Interactions

• Slip contraband items into a coffin’s secret compartment
• Forge burial permits to smuggle VIP remains for clandestine rites
• Tamper with the Hoo stall feed to delay a rival procession

Use the parlor as a locus for quiet investigation or tender role-play:

• A body arrives bearing smuggled evidence — can the PCs extract it before the procession?
• The Cart Driver confesses overhearing a plot to ambush the hearse on Harvest Rest’s trail.
• When the Hoo mount falls ill, PCs scramble to secure a replacement and keep the funeral on schedule.

• Beta Age
• Free State of Settlers
• Hope
• Harvest Rest Cemetery
• ExoHuman Funeral Rites in the Beta Age