It's so interesting how both in and out of universe, people don't talk like Caul Serrikane is one of the dead. Like, in the fandom discord, people point out that [casting call spoilers] is Dead all the time; but I've yet to see anyone act like Caul herself is one of The Dead. Someone in the discord joked that she is "death-fluid;" but if [spoilers] is considered Dead after they've been resurrected once, surely Caul should be considered Dead after being resurrected habitually?
And the Nametaker also acts like Caul is alive! Like, I can't prove they would treat her differently if they thought of her as dead, but the general vibe in their introduction seems very much like they consider her a living person. They also say they run an all-living organization because the dead don't answer to the boss, they answer to the one who raised them — apparently without it even occurring to them that this statement, if true, should also apply to Caul.
Which makes me wonder: does death-diving somehow not count as dying? Caul has been death-diving for long enough to build up a reputation and demand a high fee even for the trade. She's got to have died at least a dozen times, then, yeah? So why isn't she Dead, in the eyes of the fandom or the Nametaker? Why isn't she rotting? (Maybe she is rotting?)
Is a brief, less-than-an-hour dip in the Neth somehow a short enough time that the body of the diver doesn't get a chance to really die, and can resume its function in a way practically indistinguishable from the living?
