[kinda OT] President Bush's spirit trapped in a pot

[Rashak Mani]

A person without a soul (as all undead are in Arcanis--they sacrifice the soul to preserve the intellect (although I'd say it does a rather poor job of preserving that except in the case of ghosts, vampires, and liches)) would have lost all passion and emotion.

So, if you figure out what a soul is, it will be clear whether or not you can tell that you've lost it.

In D&D if your made into an undead after being dead you can't be resurected... so the idea of undeath involves up to a point the subjects soul. (Or he might be brought back into another body for example... )

 

[kenjib]

As regards the nature of the soul, the beliefs of the Northern Thai seem to be the ones which would be most relevant here. What are they? I have no idea. All we know from the article is this:

"This is a traditional northern Thai ceremony aimed at keeping his spirit down on the riverbed so he could not come and exploit our natural resources or suppress our (farming) brothers with his superior influence."

So, somehow, being without a soul reduces one's personal power, the power to act, the power over those who hold the soul, or something along those lines.

 

[Mark Chance]

As regards the nature of the soul, the beliefs of the Northern Thai seem to be the ones which would be most relevant here.

For purposes of adapting this "news" story to a game, the beliefs of the Thai may very well be completely irrelevant. Buddhism is, AFAIK, the major religion everywhere in Thailand, so if religious authenticity is a goal, that would be a good target.

As a GM, I'd lean to either the affected ruler becoming old and dementia'ed, as per Theoden in LoTR: TT.