Cybermancy doesn't raise the dead; it keeps people who should be dead alive. Nothing in SR canon can actually reverse death and it is unlikely that anything with that ability will ever be discovered due to the dact that the Black Sea isn't made of lava.

They captured their friend's body,banished the spirit, (OK so they had to use "Banishment Ritual", rather than normal banishment, to separate the body and the insect spirit), created the formula, paid the karma, and brought something back from the Metaplanes that is too close to tell back.

It is clear that the GM is applying the number one rule (no good deed goes unpunished).

It makes a great story.

On the Street Magic section that says no raising the dead. The section is called Limits of Sorcery. Not limits of Magic.

THE LIMITS OF SORCERY (CONT.)
Sorcery Cannot Raise the Dead
Though spells can heal, once a person has
passed away, they are gone forever (though
some view conjuring spirits as raising the spir-
its of the dead).

Even if we do substitute Magic for Sorcery and say Magic can not raise the dead.

Is that like the rule the one that say Sorcery can not teleport someone?

Cause unless it also says Unless they are an immortal elf. we have already seen one of those rules broken twice (Harlequin).

There are, of course, exceptions. Rules are made to be broken, especially by immortal elves.

Which, of course, typically involves a certain... Someone.

"Please allow me to introduce myself: I'm a man of weath, and taste."

I'm generally of the opinion that the rules are there for the players, anyway, and that the GM should not feel bound by anything beyond sensibility.

A fiddle contest, then?

Cos they just gave a shedload of karma to a Mantis spirit..? *grin*

If Death can be imprisoned under a Sea of Fire, then I can't see why raising the dead should be impossible. The former seems much more "fantastic" (or "unbelievable") than the later.

Of course, I'd never let a concept of "Death was imprisoned under a Sea of Fire, so raise dead was possible during that time" even come close to have a shred of hope of influencing the rules and fluff of my Shadowrun campaign.

Apparently, said person has kicked his gambling addicition.

The fact that it was possible to raise the dead only because Death was imprisoned is the important part. With Death free, she could plausibly stop any resurrection attempt.

And the important part for me is that if I accept that Death can be imprisoned, then accepting resurrection as possible is no problem for me.

Of course, I consider the idea of imprisoning Death as something that might be a good idea for a Sword and Sorcery/High Fantasy campaign, but that has absolutely no place, no way in hell, in my Shadowrun campaign.

Well, one thought is, the bug spirits themselves don't exactly have to wait for the old spirit to leave before moving in - perhaps this is just a reversal of that process.

There's a big difference between "mostly dead" and "all dead." The bug doesn't leave until you're left with the option of rifling through his pockets searching for loose change.

"Let me just check for a pulse in his pockets..."

..by binding their spirit to their body after they died (by dropping below 0), indeed.

It's really more like binding their spirit to their body while they're dying.

While I'm inlinded to agree with many of the above individuals that the bug ate/destroyed the soul of the person it was inhabiting, I'm just currious about using a similar method to resurect characters who died more conventional deaths. Would such a method be plausable/possible? SR deliberately doesn't say that souls persist after death, and the fact projecting mages can die if someone moves their body on them would seem to indicate no 'eternal' soul is present. But if such a entity existed, would repairing the body and astral questing to find the soul and reattach it to the body be a 'functional' way of bringing the person back?

That'd be up to your GM, and, depending on the 'soul,' you might have to convince it that it's a good idea to come back from 'heaven'-- Or, likely worse, forcibly remove it and imprison it in a body.

That would seriously depend on what the 'after life' was like.
But the process would likely involve an ally spirit esq. ritual to give it the inhabitation power so it COULD reenter its body.

That depends. As long as you're okay with a definition of "back" that includes immunity to normal weapons, immunity to age, complete forced and unfailing loyalty to whoever brought you back, and an utter inability to ever gain Karma yourself, ever again, then sure.