Death is common in Nod. The disposal of the dead is a problem that most cities solve through municipal services. Nod solves it through the Pallbearers, a guild of morticians, body-handlers, and Speakers who manage the passage of the dead from the city into whatever comes after.
The work is unglamorous but critical. A corpse left unattended in Nod does not simply decompose. The city's ambient magic and its proximity to the Shadow mean that dead flesh attracts ghasts, that unanchored spirits linger and grow hostile, and that certain bodies begin to change in ways that make them dangerous to the living. The Pallbearers collect, prepare, and dispose of the dead before any of this happens. Their methods vary by species and by the preferences of the deceased's community, but the core service is the same: making sure the dead stay dead.
The Pallbearers operate from the Boneyards and maintain contracts with every district in the city. Their neutrality is sacrosanct. They collect the bodies of all factions and all species without discrimination, and attacking a Pallbearer in the course of their work is one of the few offenses that will draw a response from every power in Nod simultaneously. The last group to try it no longer exists.