Death

In its normal state, a character has one each of a body, a mind, and a soul. If one of these is separated from the character, he experiences one of the aspects of mortality, all of which are a kind of death.

Physical Death

Physical death is probably the most common form of death, and is relatively easily encountered. It occurs when the character's body reaches a negative vitality level or sustains massive damage in one blow. When this happens, the character becomes a spirit, and the body is separated from the character. Because the body is made out of organic material, it begins to decompose.

There are several courses of action available to a player whose character's body has died. She can elect to attempt to recover or replace her body by magical or mystical means, or she can remain a spirit, and attempt to accomplish her agendas (perhaps with the added one of avenging her death) without a physical body.

Undoing Physical Death

There are many means of bringing a character back from the dead, but most of them fall into one of two categories: revivification and resurrection.

Revivification is a lesser spell or magic which attempts to reunite the mind and soul of the character with her body, and therefore requires that her body still be in existence. The condition of the body not only has bearing on the difficulty of casting the spell or employing the magic successfully, but also affects the recovery of the character's physical attributes and skills. A body that is in very bad shape will cause a proportionate loss of attributes in the character, while a body that has only recently parted company with the mind/soul of its character will allow recovery of nearly all the character's attributes. A character will never lose more than 1/4 of her attributes through death, however, and only in a case where the body was almost completely destroyed.

Resurrection is a greater spell or magic which calls upon the forces of creation to conjure a new body for the character to inhabit. Because the body is being newly created, the amount of attribute loss is subject to the success of the spell, and because the task of creation is a trying one, there is chance for a greater attribute loss in the newly created body -- up to 1/3 the total may be lost in the process.

Another option open to a player who has just died a physical death is to remain in spirit form. This allows not only freedom from the ties of the physical world (no hunger, weariness, thirst, etc.), but also accords the phantom character a few unique abilities. This power comes with a price -- the price of becoming the target of autistic revenants and comatose dreamwalkers.

The spirit character can elect to attempt to reanimate the body of a dead creature -- even himself -- becoming an undead version of that creature. This allows them to use the physical skills which went with that body, as well as operate at a fraction of the attribute level of the body being reanimated. The fraction of the body's attributes that remain after reanimation depend, like revivification, upon the condition of the body; a body in good condition will impart more of its attributes to its reanimator than that of a damaged one.

This power comes with a price, however. The character, while so animating the body of a dead creature, is upsetting the Balance, and so is at great risk. If the body of the animated creature is destroyed (loses the sum of its animated vitality) while the character is still animating it, the character suffers irrevocable death (see below).

Note that a character who chooses to animate a dead creature can elect to stop the animation without penalty, and can still choose to be revivified or resurrected at a later time. This could make such things as animating your own corpse far enough to be revivified a possibility. You could also affect your revenge on your killer if you believed your death was wrongful. The process of animation and de-animation is quite time-consuming, so trying to escape a reanimated body before it is destroyed might prove to be a challenge.

Mental Death

A worse fate, but a rarer one, is mental death. This is caused by the erosion of the character's concentration/perspicacity by magical or psychic means. When this happens, the character becomes comatose (a body and a soul), and is only capable of escaping their condition in dreams. They appear in the dreams of people with whom they have strong relationships (as determined by relationship objects).

Recovery From Mental Death

The comatose character can recover from mental death, but the same penalties apply to the mental attributes of a recovered coma victim as to a revivified character.

Creative Death

Creative death is probably the most subtle kind of death, and the most dreadful from an experienced player-character's point of view. A character's soul is the creative force that binds her to the Balance -- the unified life force of the world, and the source of all Magic. A character whose soul has died can continue to move about, talk, and function, but without any of her creative or magical abilities. She becomes listless, dreamy, torpid, and generally unresponsive. She no longer has any emotions, cannot bind another or be bound by an oath, and cannot fulfill quests or even gain experience until her soul is restored to her.

It takes extraordinary measures to cause creative death because such damage fundamentally requires the cooperation of the character. A truly evil actor must employ Mephistophelean tactics to bind a character by oath to actions which contradict her ethical standards, thereby introducing a quandry from which there is little escape. If she follows her oath, she weakens her inspiration every times she does so, but breaking her oath causes even greater damage -- perhaps even leading to death of the soul.

Restoring a Character from Soul Death

Death of the soul is commensurately difficult to heal. The spells of soul-healing are as rare as those that can cause its destruction, and the casting of such spells are perilous to the inexperienced. Characters that have attained the favor of an immortal or very powerful player character will find much easier going when wishing to recover from this kind of death. Of course, the death of a soul is a significant enough event that those whose dealings are deeply intertwined with the Balance may notice it, and may either be merciful or wish to gain a favor from the character by assisting.

Multiple Death

When a character has experienced physical, mental, or creative death, the danger of the other kinds of death is still very real. A character who has suffered multiple death is afflicted with the symptoms of the loss of both parts, and is only left with those skills which inhere in the remaining part.

Irrevocable Death

The character whose body, mind, and soul are all dead is irrevocably dead. His character is erased from existence forever, and if the player wishes to continue playing, he must create a new character and start over.

Because this kind of death is so dire, there are a few ways in which a character can avoid it. She is allowed a 'saving grace' at the moment of the death of her final part, and if luck is with her, and her Grace attribute is high enough, she will survive by the merest thread. This, of course, does not prevent whatever caused the final death from trying to cause it again, but it presents a small chance of survival.

If the character fails her saving grace, she is then sent before the immortals, who can elect to change her fate. Because immortals are roleplayed by players, there is no standard for how she is dealt with. A character who has been faithful to her religious beliefs, or who died in the service of an immortal may be granted reprieve, or asked to join the demiurges, or sent back as a vengeful wight, or... the outcome is entirely up to the immortal in question.

Link Death

The simplest, most common, and easiest to rectify is link death. This is what happens to a character whose Consciousness? object gets separated from her. In simpler terms, this is what happens when a player disconnects without logging out or whose connection is interrupted. The effect of link death on the character is as yet undetermined, but some possible solutions are discussed on the LinkDeath topic.

Pertinent Quote

"We deserved our fate, he thought bitterly. We were too self-confident. And not virtuous, no, none of us virtuous. So it was fit that, in the end of everything, we killed each other.

"Fit, as well, that we were neither thorough nor resolute, even in that extreme moment. To every truth we found exceptions; to every answer , another question. We doubted everything. We abhorred the demon in ourselves and doubted our abhorrence.

"And, inappropriate to the end, we linger. We cannot believe even in our own calamity."

— C.J. Cherryh, Fortress in the Eye of Time

— Ged The Greys Hain - 23 May 2000
— Scotus - 30 Aug 2003