Peter H. Granzeau wrote: >> If taking the body to Deathgate is that important, there will be a >> big industry to handle this, and people would be as concerned about >> whether it happens as they are about being killed by a Morganti weapon. >> Holding corpses for ransom could be used as a weapon. > > > I'm thinking about Dragaeran vital statistics--we see no evidence that > Dragaerans have more than a very few children (more closely > approximating modern Western demographics than anything else, it would > seem). Given their very long life, one would think that births and > deaths are very rare occurrences. I wouldn't expect that any kind of > industry for the handling of the dead exists in Dragaera at all. Add to that the fact that most deaths probably occur in battle (sorcery preventing most deaths by illnress, and accidental deaths resulting (in most cases) in revivification), and most armies probably arrange for the disposition of bodies (and threrby, souls) as a part of their general operation . (This certainly is how it seemed to work for Morrolan's army in Dragon.) I doubt that the "holding of ransom" of bodies could really be common enough to matter (any more than the attempt to steal Lincoln's body for ransom was in the late 19th century). Majikjon