Glåugust '26 entry 3: RESURRECTION MAGIC
Resurrection Magic
does not exist. So say the all-knowing drakes of old. So say the gods who dwell in high places. So whisper Strangers through mirrored helms. That won't keep folks from trying though.
Devotionist physickar Elri ul-Lavat wrote, "Death is the cessation of life. No life can remain itself as it changes from active to inactive. It is an irreversible process." He notes that while life can arise from non-life (see the molds that spring from bread), some aspect of death must permanently destroy the living thing. Life, he concludes, must be the active aspect of a thing, which is only destroyed when it stops.
If the entirety of a dead thing (a person, presumably) cannot be restarted, then perhaps a part of a dead thing can be? This is the line of reason that purportedly lead the Daughter of the Sun to perhaps her greatest enlightenment:
All-embrace: (Rituals 5, Lilaic) Range: Touch, Casting Time: 30 sec., Duration: 6 hours, MP: 60. The target recovers HP up to their maximum, and if they had been dead for less than 30 minutes, they are revived. Additionally, their heart, lungs, and circulation are stabilized and made to function flawlessly as a web of warm light envelops them. Lightning, air, and fluid-dynamics pulse a rhythm through the target's organs in perfect mimicry of the mortal coil. This does not cure major wounds, and they will again take their toll once the duration ends.
This is a very high-level ritual taught to high clerics of the Devotion, capable of sustaining the latent life of a body while traditional medicine and wound-closing rituals can be applied. While not 'resurrection' per se, it has nonetheless saved countless lives from states previously considered 'dead'.
Note for DM's: the Rituals 5 requirement and MP cost puts this ritual at level 13 Cleric at least, if not higher. In my supercontinent setting, magical healing is not common and resuscitation is a medical miracle. This ritual's mere invention is one of the things that made the Daughter a god.
from Caves of Qud
Other Paths out of Death
If you are willing to bend the definition of 'resurrection' a little, there exist some methods of returning from the oblivion that awaits all. Keep in mind that it may not be you who returns, but neither was it you who went to sleep last night, now was it?
- Rejuvenation at the pools of the Ur-Molds. Should you be deemed a worthy-enough emissary of those fungal godbrains, they will allow access to their mythic Pools of Rejuvenation. There, the not-waters will dissolve the baptizee and reform a new, younger body who believes themselves to have the mental history of the original. How accurate a reconstruction this is has never been studied (so zealous are those emissaries who have been granted rejuvenation).
- Sunder your shell and reshape its form. Molt your old skin; that isn't who you are today. Your body is as silver, your identity as clay: hammer them, mold them, until you finally feel like you.
- Dwell forever in the pavilions of the Glitter Drake. Those mythic orchards sequestered away in the far reaches of the Subtle World: I have seen them. How the lattices shine sidereal, and the boughs cast soft glows in place of shade! There the Glitter Drake holds her council of muses and musicians. Accept her fruits of thought and dwell with her host eternal, or return to the Heavy World as I have. Had I partaken, my body would still be up there, mummifying in that airless place.
- Be remembered. You will not die until your deeds are at last forgotten. May your actions live longer than you, for many ages to come. Or maybe love is the only vector you need.
My third entry for Glåugust 2026 with the prompt Resurrection Magic. Due to the nature of death in my pet setting, I decided to have a little fun with this one :3
I also must shout out Roll to Doubt's slick system for bookhounding as a method of research available to PC's (also created for Glåugust).