Davdi Silverrock wrote: > I think we can even classify some of these different states, which is > probably a good start towards thinking of it as being a matter of > engineering. No doubt the Necromancer would be able to point out > problems with these definitions, based on better understanding of the > underlying mechanics. > > Alive: Having a viable, metabolizing body, and a soul which was bound > Dead: That point where the body is not in fact viable and > Permanently Dead: That point where the body is not viable and > Destroyed: When a soul is given to a Morganti weapon, via a body that > Disembodied: That situation where the body is not viable or > Undead: That situation where the soul was unbound from the body, and > Undead Vampiric: An undead where the binding of soul to body is > Waiting: That location/state where an unbound soul goes (usualy souls > Pathed: Those souls which have been given to Deathgate, and are > Judged: Those souls which have successfully navigated the Paths of > Bound to inanimate: Like it sounds. A soul in this state may be > Bound to partially animate: If an inanimate object is magically Hmm... Interesting catalog of terms. You could write a book. (Or, at least, a wikipedia entry... ;-) ) I note that some of these terms apply only to the body, and others to the soul, and some to both... So it's possible for a being to have more than one of these states apply to someone at any one time. Take, for example, the life-state of Aliera from /Paths of the Dead/ to the middle of /Taltos/... Her body was "permanently dead", but her soul was--what? Bound to inanimate? What state was her soul in before Orlaan trapped in in a white staff with a rusty star on one end? How about when she was revived by Verra, bu hadn't yet left the Paths in /Taltos/? Is Aliera "alive" again now? How can this be, since her soul was rebound to her body again while in the Paths? By these definitions, she would appear to be "undead", yet the term is not used by Vlad, Morrolan, Sethra, or (perhaps most tellingly) The Necromancer when referring to her. And what about our erstwhile Empress, Zerika? Do any of these definitions really apply to her experiences? (Granted, she never actually had her soul detached from her body... so it seems unlikely.) Majikjon