Well, technically, it’s all stored in the consciousness of the individual for everyone.
Now of course, live people don’t have very good control of that, so some scarring/disfigurement can occur. But generally, they just regenerate to their previous state. Genetic code will help.
So, yes, if they are turned into a true puddle, they are pretty much stuck as a puddle. And if you dismember the hell out of them, well I point to the dragon that Tom killed early on.
But you can hack off a limb and then just stick it back on and hold it/stitch it (let the glue set) and be OK.
In short, it’s much like a ring of regeneration in terms of memory.
Of course, what happens with a ring of regeneration when the finger it is on gets hacked off (or hand) but then lost down a drain or something.
Person goes on without finger (or ring) and ring starts growing a new person. Does person 2 have the memories of person 1?
Now, in point of fact, for arcane ring this won’t happen, those typically don’t have the mana reserves, But a divine ring? Or a person in the Abyss?
OK, the person in the abyss is understood. The place that retains the consciousness/and or largest amount of animus (hopefully the same place–if not there will be a problem) regenerates and the other parts don’t. I believe I already explained this in book 1 or so…or in the forums previously.
On the other hand, if you were in the Abyss, with a ring, and the ring and finger got chopped off, the ring would probably have the mana (and finger level of animus) to eventually regenerate a second person (even a normal arcane/wizard ring).
So the finger may be a bit implausible, but say an arm? I could see a person ending up split between two bodies. Although at some point if the person’s two animus clouds were far enough apart, and process slow enough, you might end up with two separate people who both thought they were the original person.
This would be a pretty cool experiment. Hmm. Too bad I’ve got plans for my current test subject and can’t try this out. Need to get a new test subject for Dr Tizzy! The Sane Scientist!