Death, Respawn, and Physical Loss

“The soul endures. The vessel does not. But when both reach their end, the world bends to bring you back — for a price.”

What is Death?

In Shewolf’s Origins, death is not when your heart stops beating – it is when your soul deems the body no longer viable.

Taking damage weakens the body’s structure: breaking bones, spilling blood, causing trauma.
You “die” when that damage reaches a critical tipping point and your soul forcibly ejects, triggering what is known as a Soul-snap. This is the moment of respawn.

What Happens When You Die?

• The body destabalises and vanishes from the world.
• The soul is pulled back to its tether – your spawn point.
• A new body is rebuilt from your soul’s template: same form, same features, no injuries.

You keep your identity. You lose your wounds.

What Is a Spawn Point?

Spawn points are places where your soul is anchored.

• Most Travellers use beds to create this tether.
• Some Travellers cannot sleep – but still bind to respawn anchors or beds.
• On death, your soul is flung to this anchor, and your body reforms nearby.

The Role of Willpower

Willpower does not prevent death – but it can delay it.

If you’re on the brink of collapse, your soul may cling on for a few seconds longer. That delay maight let you:

• Drink a potion
• Escape danger
• Recieve healing

If survival becomes possible again, the soul cancels the snap. You endure.

PvP Deaths & Player Heads

When a Traveller is killed by another, a head is left behind.

This is not a severed body part. It is an echo – a crystallized memory of who they were at the moment of death.
It forms due to the violence of the soul-snap caused by another soul. These echoes can be displayed or carried as mementos.
But they are not flesh. They are memory made manifest.

What About Severed Limbs?

If a body part (like a tail, wing, horn or arm) is severed and the player does not die, the part does not remain.
Instead, it dissolves within moments, based on teh Traveller’s nature.

For example:

Origin	Disintegration Effect
Human	Dust or brittle ash
Enderian	Violet static or mist
Avian	Feathers or golden mist

This avoids gore, but keeps the consequences real.

Respawn and Body Restoration

If you die after losing a limb:

• You respawn with your body restored.
• The soul uses its original blueprint to rebuild you.
• Lost limbs, tails, horns – all are returned.

Summary

Situation	Result
Fall in lava, 1/2 heart, drink potion	Survive – will delays Soul-snap
PvP death	Respawn, player head (echo) left behind
Tail severed, no death	Tail vanishes shortly – dissolves into themed particles
Tail severed, then death	Tail dissapears – respawn restores it
Set spawn in bed	Soul is tethered – body rebuilds at that anchor

Can You Refuse to Respawn

Yes – but it is rare and dangerous

If a soul truly wills itself not to return, it can reject the tether. This may occur if the soul is shattered. Such individuals do not respawn. Their memory may become unstable, fragmented or erased from the world over time.