From: Alex Ferguson (alex@dcs.gla.ac.uk)
Date: Mon 17 Oct 1994 - 01:27:45 EET
Sandy plays Spot that Soul:
> Because most roleplayers come from a
> modern society which has decided that man's "life" centers in the
> brain, most roleplayers assume that the same must be true of their
> characters as well. I've tried to claim before that the liver is
> where the soul is centered. The heart is another claimant.
Seems most plausible that the Gloranthan jury is hung on the issue. Maybe Yelmic belief is for the brain, Orlanthi the heart, Westerners may take the view of Platonic dualists, and the Kralori, holists. I'd suggest the stomach for trolls, but this would raise the obvious question: which one? (I'll say "entire GI tract" for now.)
An interesting question would be what happens when these interact in some way; frex, if an Orlanthi cuts out a Lunar's heart, and his body gets taken to a Yelmic healer. My first thought is that the beliefs of the resurrector (especially where they coincide with those of the resurrectee) should be the principle determinant
> On the other hand I _like_ the idea that
> to prevent resurrection you've got to do a little more than lop off
> the head and carry it off (like excise the heart).
Probably "rather less" is more like it in practice, due to the difficulties of fixing up badly mutilated bodies, but that's less a ultimate limitation than a T-hitch in fixing up the non-contiguous or incomplete corpse.
> Hah. I've seen ye both. "Stick Insect" is the word. You [Joerg],
> Alex, and John Cleese.
> I would say that a heretic dwarf who joined a
> lightbringer cult could be resurrected through CA magic. For that
> matter, I'd allow a Brithini who'd spent his lifetime persecuting
> lightbringer cults to be resurrected through CA magic
I note that Sandy stops short of claiming an _orthodox_ dwarf could be CA-resurrected. Maybe this is because the Brithini does share some reference points for belief in a soul (and in resurrection), even if he thinks it doesn't survive death in any long-term way.
> Just like
> there's _one_ soft-hearted Death Lord somewhere.
Doubtless in the sense of being on a high-fibre diet (lots of aldryami) and hence having comparatively unclogged arteries.
Alex.
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