I have been looking through the lore, and can find only fragmented and conflicting views on how exactly the Gifted are returned to life. Clearly the porcess by which it is done is significantly different from the process used by the Withered Aegis the reanimate corpses, but no one seems to be able to agree on what precisely happens. There seem to be two main theories:

1)The Gifted's soul returns to where it was bound and then somehow reconstitutes exactly the body that it had inhabited before its demise. The former body (presumably exsanguinated, dismembered or otherwise removed from the world of the living) remains in place to be resurrected by the Aegis, or becomes food for whichever creature was victorious. Understandably, it would be a disturbing experience to encounter your own body reanimated and turned against you by the Withered Aegis, though might create some interesting RP scenarios . This theory seems to be backed up by a story told by a mage near the tower North-West of Dralk (he stated that the soul returned, but mentioned that the body remained).

2)The Gifted's entire body is removed from where it fell and returned to the place where the soul was bound, somehow repaired and made functional again. This seems backed up by gameplay as the chrachter's body disappears when the player recalls.

Clearly the method of re-animation is significantly different from the method the Aegis use; the minions of the aegis seem to lack sentience or at least any concept of individualisim. The Aegis' minions also lack at least some of the main bodily functions, resulting in a gradual breakdown of body tissues and giving the Aegis their decomposing appearance.
The general impression is that the Aegis control the corpses of their minions like puppeteers working a marrionett, whereas the Gifted return as fully realised and intact individuals. However, there is little information availiable on the nature of the Gifted, their biology or the Ritual of Everlasting Life. Can anyone add more information?