Chinvat Bridge
Planar pathway
The Chinvat Bridge ain’t your everyday bricks-and-mortal affair, oh no cutter. It’s a bridge that stretches all the way between the realms of the living and the dead, and it’s made of beams of solid light. It connects the Prime to all of the Outer Planes where powers of the Persian, Sumerian, Babylonian and One Thousand Gods pantheons reside, via the Astral.
While it might be a lot shorter, and less creepy-looking than the Dead Roads, don’t assume it’ll be an easy path. As well as being a deceptively long span, the Chinvat Bridge is also a test of your moral compass. Once you step on it after shuffling off your mortal coil, and where you actually end up on the other side will depend on your deeds in life.
If you’re a paragon of virtue and you’ve lived a life that would make celestials blush, you’ll breeze across like the Concordant Express, straight to the good places, like Elysium or some other heavenly Upper Plane. But if you’ve been a nasty berk, well, be prepared for a bumpy ride. The bridge narrows, gets all wobbly and jagged, and if you’re not extremely careful, you’ll end up taking a dive into the Underworld of the Anunnaki, or even the Abyss.
On the bridge, you’ll find a lot of psychopomps flitting about, keeping an eye on the souls who the bridge is really intended for, and trying to keep them away from planewalkers who it isn’t intended for. It’s best to be polite, because it’s these cutters who check your spiritual credentials—and they don’t take bribes. Well, most of ‘em don’t. If you don’t make the cut for the Upper Planes, they’ll politely (or not so politely) show you the way to your next destination, whatever that might be. And if need by, they might even give you a good shove to help you off the bridge.
I’ve heard tales, berk, of planewalkers who’ve crossed the Bridge and come back with their heads all turned around, muttering about what’s waiting on the other side. Whether it’s a shortcut from the Prime to the Outer Planes, be warned, that Chinvat Bridge ain’t no tourist attraction. But if you’re in a hurry, and feel ready to face the consequences of your life’s choices, and keep your fingers crossed that the psychopomps of the bridge are in a forgiving mood.
Source: Jon Winter-Holt