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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Seravin" data-source="post: 892043" data-attributes="member: 6783">Celestial DecisionsSome time after a certain quintet of heroes had gathered and proven themselves there was a council in the Higher Realms, also known as Moran’s Rest, Heaven, and Godshome.  A mortal attending this council would not have heard or seen much unless those invited intended so.  Still, the very weight of the thoughts of those invited would have intruded upon this visitor.First, and most important, a vast and strange alien city would have been featured, burned into this hypothetical mortal’s mind.  Twisting, organic shapes and an awful sense of purpose would have pushed this mortal to the edge of consciousness.Next, the image of a child-goddess would have been featured.  Avia, Lady of Magic, Binder of Chaos, The Chaos-Child.  Her grave, multi-hued eyes would have a gravity and sadness that would have stunned those who have heard the stories about her.  A sense of helplessness would have drove this hypothetical mortal to his knees as images of wizards march down a deep, dark, winding tunnel filled with grasping tentacles.Next would be images of a group of humans and half-elves; raw and untested.  A sense of questions being raised and dismissed fills the council chamber for several minutes.  The potential of these mortals, viewed through the eyes of the attendees, is obviously high.  However potential is not actuality.  That requires tests and time.  A sense of immediacy fills the air.Interference is the next suggestion but immediately dismissed.  The law is clear and interference is forbidden regardless of the actions of others.But…Blessings are permitted.  Nothing direct, but small touches are allowed, driven by the strength and potential of the chosen.Consensus and a decision are reached.  The mortals will have the blessings of the attendees, driven by the strength of the mortals potential.  Where most mortals would require time to assimilate their lessons, that requirement is waived for as long as the mortals strive.  Next, for those that die, and some certainly will, a decision to relax the restriction of death is made.  Sacrifice willing, these mortals will be allowed back to the realms of the living if they so choose.  The other side would see of course and provide their own counter blessing as allowed by the rules – but that would be for later.The council was adjourned only minutes after its inception.  Five devas flew upward, rising like stars, on a mission to bestow the great blessings given into their care.___________________________________________It was about this time I started thinking about implementing training rules and how raise dead and resurrection would fit into my game.  After this is all over I’m going to implement training rules, but decided it didn’t fit the current feel of the game.  It was already going to take a long time to complete and there was a sense of immediacy that might be lost if the characters had to take successively longer breaks to level up.As for the various ‘Raise’ spells, I had decided early on to introduce two caveats.  First, a priest would do a Commune first to verify that it was all right to perform the Raise Dead spell (Resurrections are almost unheard of).  Secondly, in favor of some sort of imposed balance, for every good guy that gets a second chance, the forces of evil get to bring back an equivalent strength bad guy (and vice-versa).  At one point I had also decided that only priests of Moran, Niela, and Vieta would be able to cast Raise Dead – but decided later on for the sake of convenience and the story to relax that a bit.   The above is how I explained it all in my head.</blockquote>

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