Do we know it's incarnation and not mantling? Yes, we're told they are different things, but I'm thinking about what we actually experience in the game. There is definitely an active element to becoming Nerevarine - the failures attest to that, and also the role of the Sermons as instructions to the player on how to be successful - becoming Nerevarine is a teachable thing, to some extent.

What would mantling Nerevar involve? Can you mantle someone who was not a god, or does that make no sense? Do any of the player's actions echo those of Nerevar, or at least, actions that occur before the Cavern of the Incarnate, which would, I guess, have to be the culmination of the process?

Not saying I definitely think it IS mantling, just considering the possibility.

http://www.imperial-library.info/content/nu-hatta-sphinxmoth-inquiry-tree

But I think there's some overlap between mantling and incarnation anyhow.

Ah, k. Meh, though, I really hate all that destiny crap!

Destiny? Didn't say nothin' bout that.

Mantling and incarnation are separate roads; do not mistake this.

In incarnation, there is a soul preserved and cycled through an arbitrary sequence of events (prophesies). The dreaming god must sort the desirable traits, until the mortal wins. Mantling is a mortal manipulating a god's consciousness, into his own person. The mortal and god can't be distinguished anymore, though now the god behaves as the mortal.

"Mantling and incarnation are separate roads; do not mistake this. The latter is built from the cobbles of drawn-bone destiny."

Don't forget the "built from cobbles" part. You're thinking of destiny in too narrow a sense.

I'unno, I dislike destiny in most wider senses too!

If it just means that there is more than one factor that makes someone the Nerevarine, I still dislike it so long as some of them are accidents of birth/inborn. "Drawn-bone" implies the latter, to me.

About the only requirement for being the Nerevarine which wasn't dependent on his/her actions in life was being born an outlander.

This is a case of taking up a destiny through choice, rather than a destiny forcing itself upon you.

Hmm... I guess, if you interpret that "born on a certain day" line to mean literally that, and therefore render it meaningless. I mean, I'd like that, but I generally assumed the game DID have a specific date in mind, since it's implied the Emperor picked the prisoner/PC for that reason.

Regarding outlanders, not all the prophecies mention that one. I lijke the idea of there being so many prophetic texts that you can basically pick whatever fits you, and go with that.

I've always thought of it as she doesn't want an outlander to be the Nerevarine. But, at the same time, she doesn't want to be proven wrong, so she goes with what she said. Basically, maybe.

The Emperor may have been mistaken/deceived in his interpretation. He would have been counseled by Ocato to ignore heathen superstitions, but others insisted, and so Uriel chose the pc.