bethexton_at_... wrote:
>
>Andrew:
>
>> This might have magical
>> consequences. For example, Yelm could be expected to have
>> "self-resurrection" magic or quests. Elmal would not, since he never
>> died--though he might well have "recover from grievous wounds" or
>> even "turn out not to be dead when everyone thought you would be
>> becuase your head got chopped off" magic or quests.
>
> According to Storm Tribe his secret (or the secret of at least one of
> his cults, I forget now if they have different secrets or not)
> is "heal completely at dawn." So long as the devotee is not _quite_
> dead yet, when dawn comes he can totally heal himself. But no "come
> back from actually being DEAD" type magic that I'm aware of.
>
> Interestingly, no mention in the Elmal myths of some crucial piece
> surviving intact, or of his being broken into so many bits but no
> more. It seems that so long as his sense of duty survives, he
> managed to pull himself back together.
Yeah, I vaguely remembered that he had magic like that. It seems like in
*practical* terms, there is no difference between this magic and
self-resurrection magic. e.g. An Odaylan gets stabbed through the heart and
dies; his body gradually recovers, and he comes back to life. An Elmali gets
his head chopped off, but it turns out he isn't actually dead--he rises
intact at dawn.
But there would be circumstances where there's a difference. For example, if
a Humakti successfully uses his "death" secret on an Elmali, the Elmali is
*dead*--and since he's dead, his "heal at dawn" magic won't work (whereas an
Odaylan could resurrect himself normally). It would be well within the
narrator's rights to say "No, actually, that really *did* kill you, you
can't rise"--though it is also in his discretion to say "You were torn to
bits and eaten, but no, you're not dead, and you can heal yourself with your
secret magic."