Reincarnation Musings (Garnham)
From the journal of K. Garnham Seeker translated from the Valossan.
While we were getting our preparations made for the trip to Farshore Dexter, Maggie and I were approached by Elyosha with an interesting proposal. She believes that she is fairly close to a breakthrough in learning a new level of spells. It is possible that she will be able to cast reincarnate sometime after we reach the distant colony and she, quiet reasonably, requested some funds for the very rare components needed to cast the spell so that she would have them available should one of us die on this mission. It's been a long trip and I find myself wondering about what the implications of this are.
How strange would it be to wake up, a sword tearing through your stomach the last thing that you remember, and find yourself perfectly healthy, looking at the world through new eyes. To get up from my grave in clothes that no longer fit, rest my weight on feet that had never walked the earth and breathe in the night air with lungs that had never known the stench of the Burn Houses, the smell of good roast beef or the scent of a perfumed wrist.
Would I still be Garnham?
Would I act differently if I was half a head taller, half a stone heavier, was farsighted, was blond?
Possibly.
What about a more profound change?
What if that virgin flesh coalesced into an orc? What if elven legs lifted me from that grave? What if it was a woman's face looking back at me from the looking glass?
All so different from what I perceive as "me." Such profound physical changes would surely change the way I perceived myself, but how much does that perception alter my core; what it means to be Garnham.
How much of what makes us who we are is defined by the soul and how much the flesh? Will the soul remember the lessons the body has learned or have them fade into some dream?
If the new hands had never spilled blood; would I still be a killer?
From the journal of K. Garnham Seeker translated from the Valossan.
While we were getting our preparations made for the trip to Farshore Dexter, Maggie and I were approached by Elyosha with an interesting proposal. She believes that she is fairly close to a breakthrough in learning a new level of spells. It is possible that she will be able to cast reincarnate sometime after we reach the distant colony and she, quiet reasonably, requested some funds for the very rare components needed to cast the spell so that she would have them available should one of us die on this mission. It's been a long trip and I find myself wondering about what the implications of this are.
How strange would it be to wake up, a sword tearing through your stomach the last thing that you remember, and find yourself perfectly healthy, looking at the world through new eyes. To get up from my grave in clothes that no longer fit, rest my weight on feet that had never walked the earth and breathe in the night air with lungs that had never known the stench of the Burn Houses, the smell of good roast beef or the scent of a perfumed wrist.
Would I still be Garnham?
Would I act differently if I was half a head taller, half a stone heavier, was farsighted, was blond?
Possibly.
What about a more profound change?
What if that virgin flesh coalesced into an orc? What if elven legs lifted me from that grave? What if it was a woman's face looking back at me from the looking glass?
All so different from what I perceive as "me." Such profound physical changes would surely change the way I perceived myself, but how much does that perception alter my core; what it means to be Garnham.
How much of what makes us who we are is defined by the soul and how much the flesh? Will the soul remember the lessons the body has learned or have them fade into some dream?
If the new hands had never spilled blood; would I still be a killer?