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Describe the process of death and after-death in 40k; for all races. From physical, metaphysical, to spiritual.

-Human: Soul goes to the Warp where it dissolves into it.
-Eldar: Soul goes to a Spirit Stone, if not Slaanesh gets it and tortures you for eternity
-Dark Eldar: Slaanesh tortures you for eternity, there's a reason DE are so desperate to avoid death...
-Necrons: Nothingness, they are souless without connection to the Warp
-Tau: See Necrons
-Orks: Presumably they do have Souls as they're psychic beings, but it's unknown if they simply get dissolved into the Warp or Gork/Mork does something special with them
-Tyranids: Nothingness, recycled into more tyranids. Unless you're a Hive Tyrant or the like, where their memories and experiences are kept by the Hive Mind for future use that allows them to be continually reincarnated

 ENOZONE wrote:
Describe the process of death and after-death in 40k; for all races. From physical, metaphysical, to spiritual.

you get placed in a room with strange foam walls and very little space to move...untill a great zipping sound is heard and you find yourself upon yet another battle field, against another foe.

Or just get put on a shelf and get dusty....

You findyourself in a dark room until pale hands feel you up once more

At the end of a hard fought battle as you lay dying and bleeding out surrounded by you vanquished foes your mum/wife calls you down for dinner for the 3rd time.

You become a skull.

You get used as ammo

 Harriticus wrote:
-Necrons: Nothingness, they are souless without connection to the Warp
-Tau: See Necrons

Tau have souls. They just don't have psychic potential.

You get safely laid to rest in a cushioned box along with all of your friends.

 agnosto wrote:
You get safely laid to rest in a cushioned box along with all of your friends.

or roughly piled into a box with the rest of your comrades.

Your bowels loosen as your whole body relaxes.

Kinda puts a whole new twist on those heroic last stands iconic to the series, eh? Knowing that they fell with their space-boxers full of their own poo.

You gak yourself as your soul leaves your body. It then dissolves into the warp, and the last thing you ever see is your body being devoured by a thousand Daemons. Then you pretty much stop existing.

For Eldar, the part when you're being devoured never stops and to add to that, you're also being molested. Fun times.

Well you never actually die do you? Its always wounded, never killed, except for instant death.

 Harriticus wrote:
-Human: Soul goes to the Warp where it dissolves into it.

Don't (faithful) humans go to be by the Empra's Side at the Golden Throne?

Guardsmen Bob wrote:Don't (faithful) humans go to be by the Empra's Side at the Golden Throne?

That's what the Ecclesiarchy teaches people, so of course that is the truth. What are you, an apostate?

Jokes aside, the Eldar Codex briefly mentions human souls not being complex/coherent enough to retain their spirit upon transference into the Warp. Supposedly, they just get nommed by one of the many entities living in the Immaterium, but they won't feel anything as the personality has already dissolved, essentially turning the soul into a non-sentient energy bar for demons - much unlike the souls of dead Eldar, which is why they prefer the soulstone stuff.

That bit also got me thinking how the "sit at the Emperor's side" dogma might actually be true in a very twisted way, in that the Emperor's presence within the Warp could just "eat" the souls of his followers just like he eats all the Psykers brought to Terra on the Black Ships. Basically, the Psyker sacrifice is like home-delivered meals, but he could still feast upon other souls within the Warp much like the Chaos Gods and their demons do? Just a (very) wild theory based on deduction from various bits of fluff, mind you.

As for what happens to the human body, on the other hand, this is heavily dependent on local culture. Each world has its own customs, and the dead will be buried (or not) accordingly. The Imperium maintains a strong cult of veneration for the remnants of heroes, however, right up to carrying their bones into battle or fashioning servo-skulls from the remains of particularly faithful servants:

Apparently, weak humans (in the psychic sense) dissolve, while powerful psykers can hold themselves together for a while (or 10'000 years like the Emperor). Worshippers of the Emperor are told they get to spend eternity with the Emperor or something, though that probably just means that he uses your essence as fuel like he does with the hundreds specifically sacrificed to him. Worshippers of the Chaos gods go to the real of their god and are tortured for eternity or something horrible like that.

So is a part of the Emperor roaming the warp while he sits on the golden throne?

Most of the Emperor is in the warp AFAIK. He directs the Astronomicon and occasionally brings saints into the Materium to aid his faithful.

What happens to Blanks when they die then?

Same as a Necron or Tau, I'd imagine. They have no connection to the Warp in the first place, so they'd just stop existing.

Orks get turned into more orks by spores. they are a fungus... I never thought of them having souls for being psychic they just get their power from gork and mork (Khorne and Nurgle but no proof)

Where do folks in 40k go when they die
they don't go to heaven where the angels fly
they go to a lake of fire and fry
See em' again 'til the 4th of Julllllyyyyyy

Where is the bit where humans just dissipate? Not to be problematic, but I had assumed for the longest time that the Grey Knights, Space Wolves, Sisters, etc weren't wrong and that their dead were saved to stand behind the Emperor and join for one final battle where one side shall stand and one shall fall.

Also how does this explain the Ghost Knights, whom IIRC still retain themselves or an echo of who they were.

 arinnoor wrote:
Where is the bit where humans just dissipate? Not to be problematic, but I had assumed for the longest time that the Grey Knights, Space Wolves, Sisters, etc weren't wrong and that their dead were saved to stand behind the Emperor and join for one final battle where one side shall stand and one shall fall.

Also how does this explain the Ghost Knights, whom IIRC still retain themselves or an echo of who they were.

Previous Chaos Codex and I think Ghost Knights are like Wraithlords aren't they?

Imperials: the souls of Humans just 'dissolve' into the Warp, though apparently this takes time to occur, in which time they may be devoured by Daemons. The Emperor may or may not be protecting the souls of non-Chaos-touched Humans. Human psykers have the ability to reincarnate in theory, but that assumes they can survive their time in the Warp. However, the souls of psykers in Imperial service are absorbed into the Emperor's 'oversoul' upon death.

Chaos: followers of Chaos Undivided have their souls' energies partitioned between the Powers, while those dedicated to a single power are absorbed by that Power. Favored/useful followers may be 'set aside' to be resurrected as future pawns (Eliphas the Inheritor, Lucius the Eternal, Emeli Duboir, etc.)

Tyranids: reincarnated into more Tyranids. All Tyranids are psykers (seeing as they need to be receptive to the Hive Mind, though only higher bio-constructs can 'send' apart from 'receive' the Hive Mind's signals), and the Hive Mind is more than powerful enough to keep its components' souls from being devoured by Daemons (assuming the Hive Mind isn't disrupted, like having the entire Hive Fleet/Splinter Fleet wiped out, in which case I guess they just get lost in the Warp/devoured by Daemons).

Eldar: before the Fall, they could reincarnate like all psykers, though with apparently less risk (although whether this is because of their gods' protection or their own abilities is up in the air). After the Fall, their souls are bound to Slaanesh and destined to be devoured by her upon entry into the Warp, forcing the Craftworld Eldar to use Spirit Stones to capture and protect their souls after death. The Infinity Circuit provides an alternative to the Warp as a 'home' for these souls. The Harlequins have their souls protected by Cegorach, who absorbs them after death.

Dark Eldar: if they are not resurrected in time, their souls are devoured by Slaanesh.

Orks: since all Orks are psykers, it can be assumed they reincarnate. Considering that Orks are apparently immune to chaotic influence/daemonic possession, their souls may be immune from being devoured by Daemons.

Tau: as non-psykers, they just 'dissolve' into the Warp, but whether or not it takes less/the same/more time as Human souls is unknown, as is their degree of danger from Daemons.

Necrons: soulless. 'Alive' is debatable when it comes to Necrons, 'animate' is probably more accurate.

 Maddok_Death wrote:
Orks get turned into more orks by spores. they are a fungus... I never thought of them having souls for being psychic they just get their power from gork and mork (Khorne and Nurgle but no proof)

That makes little sence due to the fact that those few orks that have been effected by khorne and nurgle are very different to normal orks. There is also fluff that says the Ork Gods do not care for the chaos gods and see them as no more than gnats.

As for souls, it is very simple all species that can use the warp for psychic energy or be directly effected by psychic energy (such as telephathy) have a soul to varing degrees of strength (this includes Tau, they may have a very faint soul but they still have one.)

Those with a weak presence in the warp will have their soul disapate into the warp once they loose their material link. What happens to that energy is the part that is up for debate. Either it gets absorbed by a greater presence that the weak one was allied with (the Emperor, Chaos God or group concious) or it gets eated by a creature of the warp.

arinnoor wrote:Where is the bit where humans just dissipate?

Actually, I have a feeling that this is the effect of the usual "game of telephone" that happens when a bit of fluff is passed on within the community by word of mouth rather than direct quotes.
From what *I* have read the souls themselves do not vanish - just the personality.

"If an Eldar's spirit is not captured by his waystone, it is sucked into the nightmarish depths of the Warp. To a Human, such a fate means nothing, for virtually no Human mind is strong enough to retain a sense of consciousness after death - the psychic energy of the Human mind being paltry compared to that of an Eldar."
- Codex: Eldar, page 14

... and that'd explain how various daemons and maybe Emps can nom on them.

Tau have souls but the warp cannot see or detect them, basicly no Tau can ever be affected by the Chaos gods.

 Lynata wrote:

arinnoor wrote:Where is the bit where humans just dissipate?

Actually, I have a feeling that this is the effect of the usual "game of telephone" that happens when a bit of fluff is passed on within the community by word of mouth rather than direct quotes.
From what *I* have read the souls themselves do not vanish - just the personality.

"If an Eldar's spirit is not captured by his waystone, it is sucked into the nightmarish depths of the Warp. To a Human, such a fate means nothing, for virtually no Human mind is strong enough to retain a sense of consciousness after death - the psychic energy of the Human mind being paltry compared to that of an Eldar."
- Codex: Eldar, page 14

... and that'd explain how various daemons and maybe Emps can nom on them.

Isn't fading a type of dissipating?

Codex: Chaos Space Marines 4e

When followers of Chaos die, their souls do not fade and disappear like the spirits of others ...

Aha, thanks for the quote!

I wonder how the two fit together, then. The full quote mentions that instead of "fading out" (possibly because without a conscience, they cannot keep the soul "together"?) they get eaten by their gods - which in turn would imply that those who are not followers of Chaos are not consumed like that.

This in turn would mean that the Eldar are somehow special (cursed?) in that they get hunted even without actually being a follower of Chaos, else they would not need a soulstone. Or they would all get eaten, but the Human souls usually just cease to exist before it happens - unless you were a Chaos follower.

Or the Human souls of those who believe in the Emperor are similarly consumed, just by the Emperor's presence in the Warp. That'd still be a possibility.