[DRAFT] Risen From the Dead

[Candlewhisper Archive]

TITLE:
Risen from the Dead

VALIDITY:

DESCRIPTION:
Due to local government cutbacks, a centuries-old war cemetery has received no grounds maintenance for almost a year. This has resulted in it becoming significantly overgrown, with moss-covered tombstones disappearing beneath verdant undergrowth.

OPTION 1
"It's disrespectful, is what it is," complains @@RANDOMNAME@@, grandchild of a soldier interred in the graveyard, who is wearing @@HIS@@ grandad's war medals as a fashion accessory. "The government ought to put some funding to clearing and maintaining places like these, and keeping them as dignified places of rest for the honoured dead."

OUTCOME:
flowers aren't allowed to grow in cemeteries

OPTION 2
"The graveyard is full, as far as the dead are concerned, so why not let new life flourish?" asks ecologist @@RANDOMNAME@@ whose scalp is flourishing with dandruff. "This is a precious habitat for native wildlife. Not only should we let it alone, but we should turn all old graveyards into protected nature reserves."

OUTCOME:
urban wildernesses are dead beautiful

OPTION 3
"If these graveyards are full and nobody cares about them, then why are we letting good urban land go to waste?" asks retail developer @@RANDOMNAME@@, who is selling handmade soap of dubious origins. "Mark the land for repurposing, and we can have a nice mall there."

OUTCOME:
the future is built on the bones of the past

OPTION 4
"That's disgusting!" yells young protestor @@RANDOMNAME@@, hocking a loogie at the retail developer to show @@HIS@@ disdain. "Look, this can be a nature reserve and a graveyard at the same time. In fact, what we could do is encourage people to leave newly dead loved ones on the ground in these places, to provide food for plant and animal life. With enough human fertiliser, you could turn this place into a forest!"

OUTCOME:
if you go into the woods today you're sure of a big surprise

[Bears Armed]

I think that probably this should have [fairly] low religiousness, &/or low government spending on religion, as a validity factor: Otherwise, the cemetery would quite probably be attached to a church or temple or whatever whose management would organise the place's upkeep.
For that matter, why don't you get local volunteer groups (dedicated ones with names such as 'Friends of [WHEREVER] Cemetery', perhaps, or more general '[WHEREVER] Village Preservation Society'-type organisations) stepping forwards to fill the gap? That's the case for more than one cemetery in the part of [RL] England where I'm living...

[Candlewhisper Archive]

I think that probably this should have [fairly] low religiousness, &/or low government spending on religion, as a validity factor: Otherwise, the cemetery would quite probably be attached to a church or temple or whatever whose management would organise the place's upkeep.

I dunno about that. Under UK law at least, closed churchyards often pass in responsibility from the church to local government. Active cemeteries tend to be well maintained, but historic ones often fall into disuse. A little googling suggests to me that disused graveyards also exist in the US, Canada, France, Italy. China, Russia... I stopped looking after that.

It's more like the prerequisite is that the nation needs to have a longstanding burial tradition, which admittedly some nations don't have, but I don't think that's an excessive assumption for NS.

For that matter, why don't you get local volunteer groups (dedicated ones with names such as 'Friends of [WHEREVER] Cemetery', perhaps, or more general '[WHEREVER] Village Preservation Society'-type organisations) stepping forwards to fill the gap? That's the case for more than one cemetery in the part of [RL] England where I'm living...

Good point, though my own assumption here is that if there is a local preservation society has stepped in, then the Issue wouldn't arise.