Ask Arkanis

[DM Arkanis]

To answer your question on details, though the deity is perhaps somewhat irrelevant for the original question, and explaining how the favored soul might be a fatal flaw in the possibility of the death of a god.

A little alternative story then:


The Elflord lounged in his bath savouring the sight of the darkskinned elven maids surrounding him. Eons had passed since he had last enjoyed their grace and beauty.
He sighed and closed his eyes, too long in truth.

Suddenly pain on a cosmic level racked his very being, instantly his eyes opened to bear witness to the lithe creature sitting by his side looking at him over her veil with steely grey eyes. Sparing a brief glance down their bodies his eyes widened as he saw a familiar blade stuck deep into his midriff, shadowflash.. but how..he looked up again.

The maid spoke in her melodous voice "Did you miss me father? at all."
Time stretched as the lord realized he was held in paralyzis.

" I could forgive you for your foregiveness at mother's betrayal, I even forgive how you allowed that pissant elf to sully my name and reputation. But stealing what is mine father? Really? Taking my portfolios.." He voice hardened "..and my people?" that I cannot forgive!

She stood and smoothly glided away to come to a pose a few steps in front of him. He could feel parts of his essence cross the span between them.

In a chilling tone she stated " If you my lord, can take all that is mine. Well, then I will take all that is ours!" With a thought a bow and arrow appeared in her hands. As she trained them on his broken heart she ended the monologue "Aim for the heart isnt that what you taught me when we roamed the planes together? This time I wont miss."

A tear ran down her ebony skin as the arrow pierced her father's heart, ending the life of Corellon, master of the seldarine court. As more of his essence poured into her, the black hair changed into silvery white again and a tall blade appeared at her waist. She was finally complete again... and so much..more.

With the powers taken from Corellon she could smite that inconsequencial ursurper Shevarash with a mere thought and her mother...
Her mother had it coming, Eilistraee grinned, how could the spinner of webs forget what she had let in by stealing from her portfolio? Lolth would soon see how aptly she had named her Lady Penitent.

"No." The voice, it couldnt be! Stunned she looked at the still transfixed corpse in front of her. "I will not allow this daughter and you will release your brother at once!" Another Corellon stood by the corpse now and the flow of essence to her stopped and began anew moving for the breathing Corellon. "As much as I despise what he became, he is my son."

Eilistraee contemplated the demand while Corellon continued "If you had a faithful servant given undeniable access to your spells, how many such servants do you think I have at my call? This was all for naught daughter." A weary sigh left his lips "I die and return again, it never ends does it?".


Bane and lately Mystra did return by somewhat the same means arguably.
Ie by placing part of their very being elsewhere for a time.

In essence a favored soul is a broken off part from a deity?
Thus the natural spell casting?
Thus it doesnt matter if some other deity picks up the fallens portfolio?

While possible a god puts some of their essence somewhere (i.e. in a mortal FS type person/avatar) hedging their bets about being killed (like a Lich) I think in terms of the class of FS over-all that this is not really the case, otherwise no god could die while enough pieces of its essence was out there in multiple characters, and I would think that the entire pantheon of gods would have dozens and dozens of these kind of followers all over the world and across planes of existence if it were always possible. I think there must be some out with respect to the lore surrounding Bane and Mystra in terms of their ability to cheat being dead. I think that saying all Favored Souls have pieces of their god in them stretches the bounds of credulity - with some exceptions:

"Though Ao had decreed that none of the gods fallen during the Time of Troubles should be reinstated, a complex convergence of factors regarding Torm's death led the overgod to make a single exception in his case, resurrecting him and elevating him to the status of lesser god" I believe that AO grants portfolio's and abhors a vacuum in terms of maintaining balance between Law/Chaos/Good/Evil and... (Waterdeep, Richard Awlinson, TSR, 1989) "after Bane's death, his portfolio was divided among the newly anointed god Cyric and Bane's own half-demonic son Iyachtu Xvim. Upon the death of one of the greatest forces of evil in existence (Bane), all of Faerûn breathed a sigh of relief; however, in 1372 DR, Bane was resurrected, destroying Iyachtu Xvim and reestablishing his church.
and
After a decade of isolation from her followers, Waukeen was freed from her prison in 1371 DR by a band of adventurers, and has resumed her place in the heavens. Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting (3rd edition), Ed Greenwood, Sean K Reynolds, Skip Williams, and Rob Heinsoo, Wizards of the Coast, 2001."

"Bhaal had already foreseen his own death, and had populated the world with scores of his own progeny in earlier years, each possessing a portion of his divine essence that could later be recovered to enable his resurrection. This master plan is the basis of the Baldur's Gate computer game series."

"Myrkul infused the sinister artifact the Crown of Horns with the remnants of his essence, and teleported it away. While its location is unknown, the semi-sentient artifact is presumably fomenting a plan for Myrkul's resurrection" Volo's Guide To All Things Magical, Ed Greenwood with Eric L. Boyd, 1996;

[Tempist]

Why do hotdogs come in packages of 10, and hotdog buns come in packages of 8?

[DM Arkanis]

Why do hotdogs come in packages of 10, and hotdog buns come in packages of 8?

You get ten hot dogs and eight buns per package because meat packers like things that come in pounds and bakers hate things that come in tens.

[Tempist]

Why do hotdogs come in packages of 10, and hotdog buns come in packages of 8?

You get ten hot dogs and eight buns per package because meat packers like things that come in pounds and bakers hate things that come in tens.

Then why not a bakers dozen for buns ? Better to have extra buns I think.

[DM Arkanis]

Why do hotdogs come in packages of 10, and hotdog buns come in packages of 8?

You get ten hot dogs and eight buns per package because meat packers like things that come in pounds and bakers hate things that come in tens.

Then why not a bakers dozen for buns ? Better to have extra buns I think.

OK I emailed a friend who works for Kraft who put me onto a colleague of his who used to work for Hostess. I just got off of the phone with him and he had several good points:

1. When I asked about the meat weight (i.e. ten dogs to a pound) he replied that hotdogs way back when came eight to a pack but were bigger - ballpark frank kind of big. When companies made the hotdogs smaller the bun companies didnt follow suit. He says this is due to sales staying steady- no one complained. I checked the stats on-line: Oscar Meyer says that of the 50,000 consumer letters and emails they get every year only 10-15 complain about the meat-bun mismatch.
2. Several markets apparently offer 12 packs - depends on the sales again. I called my buddy Mike at Sobey's (big grocery chain here in Canada) and he said that not only do they stock the 12 pack, but also a "slit-top" variety of buns that come in 12 packs. Mike also suggested that if you wanted to even things out to buy four packages of 10 pack hotdogs and 5 packages of 8 pack buns... he was trying to be funny...
3. I suppose there would also be an increased cost if the bun package size went from eight to ten - more buns means more money, and perhaps the market is skiddish in losing any share because of increased costs passed along to customers.

[Tempist]

1. When I asked about the meat weight (i.e. ten dogs to a pound) he replied that hotdogs way back when came eight to a pack but were bigger - ballpark frank kind of big. When companies made the hotdogs smaller the bun companies didnt follow suit. He says this is due to sales staying steady- no one complained. I checked the stats on-line: Oscar Meyer says that of the 50,000 consumer letters and emails they get every year only 10-15 complain about the meat-bun mismatch.
2. Several markets apparently offer 12 packs - depends on the sales again. I called my buddy Mike at Sobey's (big grocery chain here in Canada) and he said that not only do they stock the 12 pack, but also a "slit-top" variety of buns that come in 12 packs. Mike also suggested that if you wanted to even things out to buy four packages of 10 pack hotdogs and 5 packages of 8 pack buns... he was trying to be funny...
3. I suppose there would also be an increased cost if the bun package size went from eight to ten - more buns means more money, and perhaps the market is skiddish in losing any share because of increased costs passed along to customers.

I tend to think it is a conspiracy between hotdog producers and bun makers. You run out of buns after 8 hotdogs, so you have to buy more buns. But then you don't have any more hotdogs for the left over buns, so you buy more hotdogs. - Vicious cycle........

[DM Nilbog]

Why do hotdogs come in packages of 10, and hotdog buns come in packages of 8?

Buy in bulk 8 packs of hot dogs 10 packs of buns.

[DM Nephilim]

Monk With No Name: Why do hot dogs come in packages of ten, but hot dog buns only come in packages of just eight?

Kar: So, I figured it out, why hot dogs come in packages of ten and hot dog buns come in packages of eight. See, the thing is, life doesn't always work out according to plan so be happy with what you've got, because you can always get a hot dog.

From the movie Bulletproof Monk (2003)

[DM Arkanis]

I tend to think it is a conspiracy between hotdog producers and bun makers. You run out of buns after 8 hotdogs, so you have to buy more buns. But then you don't have any more hotdogs for the left over buns, so you buy more hotdogs. - Vicious cycle........[/quote]

Suggestions for not buying buns: (nuts to the bunmakers!)

My mom used to cook hotdogs and cut them into bites and put them in baked beans.

In some parts of Eastern Canada, hotdogs as actually considered the "meat" part of a meal and served bunless with vegetables. (I won't tell you what they call it but you can infer what kind of "steak" it is...) There is a brand (I cant remember the name) that used to be made in Nova Scotia that were the very best hotdogs I have ever eaten... as an entree.

In college we never bothered buying buns; we just wrapped our hotdogs in white bread.
1. Cook two hotdogs in the microwave for 40 seconds.
2. Remove and cook two pieces of white bread for 20 seconds.
3. Remove bread, add condiments, wrap hotdog in bread.

[Hitman Hard]

To your knowledge and infinite wisdom, has there been a 24hr event on Bgtscc server, and if not has their been plans now or in the past to devise such a beast of an endeavor?

[DM Arkanis]

To your knowledge and infinite wisdom, has there been a 24hr event on Bgtscc server, and if not has their been plans now or in the past to devise such a beast of an endeavor?

To my knowledge and not so infinite wisdom, I have never heard of a 24h event on our server. On a personal level, I think it would be amazing. On a practical level, I dont know how it would be done.

[Hoihe]

To add to that, I've been in some events lasting 8+ hours.

The DM was usually half-dead by the end of it, and the players were as well.

[DM Arkanis]

To add to that, I've been in some events lasting 8+ hours.

The DM was usually half-dead by the end of it, and the players were as well.

Thanks for this - I have personally in in-game for many a marathon sessions as a DM. I think a 24h session would require a few DMs and a lot of coordination

[Passiflora]

To add to that, I've been in some events lasting 8+ hours.

The DM was usually half-dead by the end of it, and the players were as well.

Thanks for this - I have personally in in-game for many a marathon sessions as a DM. I think a 24h session would require a few DMs and a lot of coordination

There has been a 3 days session during the Amn-Gate War, which was epic.

[DM Arkanis]

To add to that, I've been in some events lasting 8+ hours.

The DM was usually half-dead by the end of it, and the players were as well.

Thanks for this - I have personally in in-game for many a marathon sessions as a DM. I think a 24h session would require a few DMs and a lot of coordination

There has been a 3 days session during the Amn-Gate War, which was epic.

Beautiful. Reminds me of college when we wouldnt leave our PC's... epic, three day Doom, or Duke Nuke Em, or Civ weekends...