On Mon, Mar 10, 2003 at 07:58:54PM -0500, Alexx S Kay wrote: > It seems to me that SKZB has been broadly hinting, since at least Dragon, > that souls are, in fact, indestructible . . . Alexx goes on to make an interesting but complex case about Morganti weapons. I think there's a simpler one to be made that closes off other loose ends. The biggest loose end: since Dragaera is clearly an ancient human colony, why don't off-world souls get reincarnated into Dragaeran bodies? Answer: Dragaeran reincarnation is a local effect of the gods. The souls of those who die outside the scope of the gods go elsewhere. Morganti weapons interfere with the Gods capturing and recycling the souls, thereby making the body unrevivifiable. Great Weapons can hold souls locally, much as the gods hold souls in the Paths. Both GWs and the gods can release the soul for use in a body. This explains what has happened with Lady Teldra, and it explains how Aliera was preserved by Pathfinder. It might also explain how Alieras soul was placed into the staff.