Yharnam’s burial service is considered ‘blasphemous’ by outsiders like Eileen and, potentially, the player character. From what we can observe in the game, is safe to assume that due to the frequency of deaths, Yharnamites either buried their dead in mass graves or simply let the Church take care of the bodies. Those bodies were robbed of their eyes in Hemwick and later on burned to produce Bone Marrow Ash or brought directly to Yahar’gul.
Incense pots such as those found in Oedon Chapel are also filled with bones, which may suggest another imaginative way to ‘recycle’ the immense amount of bodies that would otherwise fill the streets.
Both Blood and Bones have special properties in the world of Bloodborne. Blood crystallizes instead of coagulating and creates powerful Blood Gems that grant strength and special properties to Hunter’s weapons.
Beast bones can still be ‘alive’ [ “Crafted by chiseling the long bones of an undead darkbeast and fastening them to the weapon. The bones are still alive, and when unleashed, grant its wielder a spurt of beastly power.” - Beast Claw] but their use, just like that of Beast Blood and all the Beast-related Runes is frowned upon by the Church which banned Beast Blood Pellets, the Beast Rune and Beast Embrace Rune.
The reason why Bones and Blood are connected and why bones can be considered alive is probably because red blood cells are created in our body’s bone marrow (the soft tissue inside the bones) and released into the bloodstream from there. In a sense, Dark Beasts like Paarl are kept alive by the ‘will’ of the Old Blood, which not only is a source of power but also a repository of memories and experience: Blood Echoes are ‘echoing wills of those that came before us’, after all.
Attempts in controlling beasthood are the ‘foundation’ of the Healing Church as stated in the Beast Embrace Rune even if complete success was never achieved. The current doctrine of the Healing Church teaches that fear is what drives mankind towards its bestial nature and fights this desire with the Old Blood and the ritual of communion. The fact that the playful ‘sprites’ of the Holy Moonlight Sword “offered ‘guidance’ (and) could empty Ludwig of his fears at least in the midst of a hunt.“ supports this theory, even returning Ludwig to a state of partial lucidity once his 2nd phase starts.
The first beasts were encountered by the Byrgenwerth scholars in the Old Labyrinth. ‘Beast’, one of the first runes to be discovered by Caryll is “a transcription of the roar of a labyrinth beast. (…) ‘Beast’ is one of the early Caryll Runes. as well as one of the first to be deemed forbidden. The discovery of Blood entailed the discovery of undesirable beasts.“ but this doesn’t mean that they weren’t present elsewhere. In fact, the members of the League are said to be Outsiders who chased a beast ‘all the way to Yharnam” which brings me to the conclusion that the plague is more wide-spread and ancient than we may think.
Many kingdoms fell because of the plague of the Beasts before Yharnam. Loran is one of those forgotten lands, now devoured by the sand.
There are statues of Moon Presence in the Lumenflower Garden in Upper Cathedral Ward (the Celestial Emissary boss arena). If we visit the same place in the Hunter’s Nightmare (the garden where Blacksky Eye is located), the statues are not there, because the Hunter’s Dream hadn’t been beckoned at that point and Moon Presence was unknown to the scholars. This element alone is really important when it comes to put together some sort of timeline because if we assume that the Research Hall is a snapshot of the endeavors of the Healing Church/Choir after the discovery of Fishing Hamlet, we can safely conclude that Laurence, Gehrman, Maria and Willem were all still alive at that point in time (when Maria was working there as a caretaker for the patients.) and thus that not only those were the early days of the Healing Church but also that the Choir was active from the very beginning.
The notes in the lecture building seem to have been left by someone who’s piecing together the story of the Hunter’s Dream:
“The nameless moon presence beckoned by Laurence and his associates. Paleblood.“ [the Dream’s creation]
“Master Willem was right. Evolution without courage will be the ruin of our race.“ [What led to its creation]
"Hunt the Great Ones, Hunt the Great Ones.” [What the Dream is used for]
“Three third cords.” [How to trascend the Hunt once for all.]