Hmm... I believe I indeed see about the deities' perception of good and evil, about about the process of becoming an angel of demon. That was a good explanation, for both of those questions.
(I imagine the original - very first - mortals were a bit less diverse in their beliefs than nowadays' mortals, too, due to being formed directly by the spirits according to their respective perceptions? How diverse you imagine Reniam in general to be? You made a couple of fairly strong statements about how the 'civilized races' would perceive something where I would have imagined very mixed opinions at best...)

And yeah ... according to the story of creation (now that I am actually trying to recall it), plants indeed do not have seeds of good and evil, as they were created by Gaia alone. (Horse chestnuts are evil. Not only dominant - as many plants are -, but downright evil. Rather decorative, though... And some other plants are nice and friendly.)
 - It feels strange, though, plants sharing a soul, as in real life plants existing in any sort of harmony is an exception, not the rule. Mostly, they try to very decidedly eliminate other plants in their vicinity by launching a deprivation and chemical war on them, though some will try to "flee". (It can be interesting seeing the same plant pop up a handful of inches from where you last saw it each spring...) How can beings which typically spend their entire lives brutally and relentlessly (if somewhat slowly) murdering one another share a soul?

How come that mind control (and to an extent illusion magic?) and making one's body decay, both of which have been described to work with 'regular', non-favored magic, are not barred by the law of magic that states you cannot directly alter living beings? (As mind control should logically drastically alter the ongoing processes in the brain, and decay is the direct breaking down and altering the consistency of the body. Normal decay only happens due to various bacteria and other flesh-eaters - remove all bacteria, and it would simply stay completely fresh indefinitely ... or eventually simply dry up, if it is in a dry enough room. Time won't cut it.) Or is it just a matter of perception?

Re@Legion's character (since you cannot see the Skype conversations, and hence some of the potential questions may already have been answered; Legion correct me if I misunderstood something, as by the time I left yesterday - well, earlier today - I was already quite tired indeed): Iridiel doesn't have any magical abilities besides her favored powers; the Éireannach simply tend to group all people with magical abilities together, no matter whether it is their own magical prowess or something a deity lends them at prayer. She also did not have her current powers at birth, but was rather 'only' marked by the deity at first. (Sulis occasionally marks people who are meant - or destined - to become her more notable favored at birth; I'd imagine it would work quite well, since the surrounding people are wont to take note of it and start facilitating the idea of being chosen by the goddess early on?) It was only after a long time of dedicated prayers (Legion noted that Sulis is quite big on people routinely praying at her every day, even when they don't necessarily use the favored powers) that she gained the favored powers she has now ... which the officials soon picked up upon, and that did not go well as can be seen.
 - The ability to call lightning has a 'cooldown' mostly for balance reasons - it is meant to be the occasional strategic weapon to take out some single important figure (that isn't somehow shielded from magic and/or lightning), but not to be called upon many times in a row to potentially singlehandedly take out an army. (Now when I think of it, being indoors or the opponent having allies very close to them would probably make using it too dangerous for her and/or her allies.) As for what the IC explanation for the cooldown would be, I figure Sulis as a deity is quite free to lend her powers as she as she pleases and may simply not allow using the ability all that often? ("...No. You just asked to use that but moments ago. You do not squander my more destructive powers.")
(Also, we will finally have a proper healer again! Aemoten can go back to just stopping the occasional severe bleeding that can't wait long instead of bearing the brunt of mending everyone's injuries at whatever cost they take.)

Hmm... I believe it is Jack in Zerul and Jillian's party, and Nessa again with the collab? Or does Olan or Jaelnec have something to say?
Edit: And now that Jack's posted, it is Merc/Rhae and Ink/Ashgan respectively (and still Nessa with the collab). Also, Aemoten and Gerald (well, mostly Gerald) already concluded the Withering was demonic back at the gazzeral church' ruins? Guess confirmations can't hurt, though.