The "Chosen of..." status

[ElfBane]

I am reading some of the FR books. So far those by Greenwood and Salvatore. I finished Salvatore's "The Cleric Quintet", which is all 5 of the Cadderly Bonaduce novels. At the end of the last novel Cadderly has destoyed the Edificant Library and is creating it's replacement, The Spirit Soaring cathedral. It's dedicated to the gods Deneir and Oghma. The story stongly intimates that this undertaking will eventually take his life. Anyone who has read this series knows that Cadderly is a Chosen Of Deneir. Now, most of us know that Elminster, Blackstaff and a few other wizards, are Chosen Of Mystra. The CoM are, apparently, immortal. My question is why isn't Cadderly immortal? He is also a "Chosen". Is the 'Chosen' status supposed to be consistent in the FR world? Any enlightenment from the folks on this board who have DnD knowledge would be appreciated. TIA.

[Legolas]

I imagine it depends on just how much the deity is willing to invest in their chosen.

[Ziroc]

May have something to do with the power status of the god. Deneir is a lesser divine being. Mystra is a Major.

[SpiritWarrior]

It actually doesn't take his life, according to the newer RAS novels where Drizzt meets him. He is beginning to get younger when they meet, but it had up to that point, aged him like 40-50 years or something. But yeah, Deneir couldn't let that happen and I was so happy to find out one of my favourite characters hadn't grown old and died.

I don't think it has anything to do with power or major and minor deities, since youth would be a small feat for any deity to grant imo. I think it was just a about sacrifice and testing, Cadderly is/was prepared to die for the new library. And, when he demonstrated this, his god eventually reverted the aging. I suspect the reversal has to do with the Spirits Soaring "coming along" and is probably linked to it.

Loved the Cleric Quintet books, I remember them so well!

[Illumina Drathiran'ar]

The posts above are on the right track... there's a good chance that the power of a Chosen is directly linked to the power of the deity.

The Chosen of Mystra are a special case, however... Not sure how much you know about the Weave, so we'll just have a quick rundown for people who don't know.

In the FR campaign, the Weave is the source of most magic... It surrounds and penetrates, kind of like the Force. Mystra is the goddess of magic and the source of the Weave. The Chosen of Mystra each hold a portion of the Weave in their essences- it's tied to them and they protect it.

They're immortal in the sense that they don't seem to die of old age- Elminster is the oldest, and then there's the Seven Sisters who came later- but I know they can be killed... One of the Seven Sisters was killed (I forget which one), and another one lost an arm recently (as far as the timeline goes).