When a player falls in battle, they are not slain. Their weapon drops from their hands, their helmet rolls from their head, and they lose some of their memory. But they are rescued from an ultimate demise by whatever gods or powers their race believes in, in a suitably memorable way. The rescue usually takes about 30-50 seconds, and the player is then returned to the city they call home (they can select which city is home at any time).
Alternatively, players can choose under the options menu to disable this feature, and upon falling their screen will instead display a black screen for 30-50 seconds with a text box saying "Heroes Never Die. You are being rescued and returned to your home city by your gods, get ready to fight on!"
Player death is intended to reflect the harshness of Veshnin, without breaking the player's will. Upon death, players lose their weapon, their helmet, and have a chance to experience minor skill loss in a random skill. Lastly, Artifacts they hold have a chance to fall from their grasp, based on their Willpower and the artifact itself.
Individual Racial Deaths:
Norse
A Chariot of Valhalla descends from the sky with a Valkyrie driving. She swoops down saying, “A new day, a new battle! Soon *playername* shall return to glorious combat!”
Greeks
The fallen hero is dragged down into Hades. Anyone nearby is repelled a short distance. The player must walk through a short amount of Hades, filled with evil spirits. At the end there is a tree, which they climb and burst out from the ground at their nearest city. Spirits try to pull them back down.
Aztecs
A black puma with a supernatural roar (who keeps the living from passing into the kingdom of the dead) bounds up and roars at the player (everyone’s attack damage is reduced by 5% for 10 seconds), then carries them off from the battlefield and home.
Indians
The Indian stirs from their unconsciousness as "AUM" chants fill the air, and is wrapped in a glow. They immediately assume a floating lotus position. For the player, they suddenly see the sun and moon in the sky. They float toward the one that their deeds deserve. The other players see the sun waver in the sky as a moon surrounded by darkness appears. They see the player floating in the lotus position toward one or the other. When they approach their destination things go black (or light) and the world fades back into existence. They are at their home city, in the lotus position.
Muslims
Man appears wrapped from head to toe and riding a white horse. He rides in hard, knocking aside anyone in his path. He says "Perhaps it is not God's will that this one should yet face judgment. The holy war is not yet ended!" and takes the fallen one off, swiftly.
Franks
Angel with a blazing sword appears and says “Follow the saints to safety; your work on earth is not yet done.” Everyone is struck blind for 1 second, except the player, who is permanently blind. Then the player is guided away (though they can’t see it, they can only hear voices saying things like “this way”). They are guided swiftly to their homeland.
Persians
A djinni appears with a crying virgin over his shoulder. He slings the player over the other shoulder and in a swirling sandstorm takes off flying. If anyone comes close to him he will blow a puff of air to throw them back and shout, "Two fish, one as beautiful as the night, the other as ugly as a crone. Both for me, no fish for thee."
Chinese
An ancestor appears and says "Death is merely another side of the coin that is existence. Let me show you." Then he and the player disappear. Upon dropping the player on their face in their starting city, he says "You do not yet understand enough to be at peace with death. Let life teach you of the Tao and perhaps you will be ready to learn the lessons death has to teach."
Zulu
A spirit antelope bounds up and a shaman thrusts a spear into the hands of the player, and tells them to join the great hunt! They get massive movement speed and must chase the antelope. Once they are about to catch it and make the kill, they revive.
Celtic
Crows circle overhead, then a wail of the banshee (-5% to damage for all who hear) and the banshees come and carry the player into a fairy mound. More powerful players get more banshees/crows.