Essence

**Essence** is one of the main types of magic in Purapía.

It's blessed and affiliated God is Simamace, and the sub-magics of Essence are Soul and Spirit magic.

The Essence of Deities, Celestials, and Fiends is called Pure Essence or Cursed Essence, depending on their alignment. Because of this, spells relating to Essence refer to them as Pure Essenced or Cursed Essenced, rather than Deities, Celestials, or Fiends.

## Soul Magic

The user can manipulate the soul, the incorporeal and immortal essence of a living thing, souls are usually most obviously present in sentient beings. At some level all biological organisms have souls, and even non-biological entities (such as rivers and mountains) possess something that is analogous to a soul.

Most users have to learn to control their own soul first and expand from there, some may be able to learn how to tap into the essence of everything living.

The user can inflict an enormous level of agonising damage to the soul of an opponent which not only damages the spiritual being of an opponent but their physical form as well. The damage this ability deals out to the soul is permanent and may kill another living being, potentially destroying the victims' soul in the process.

The user can perceive and read the souls, whether free (i.e. dead, astral projection, etc) or in body. They can study and observe the nature of one's soul and find weaknesses based on the nature of the observed souls. By reading souls, the user can see/feel the being's characteristics, personality, feelings, memories, whether they even have a soul, damage others' souls have endured, and whether or not another entity is possessing or influencing the person on a spiritual level.

Limitations :

* Cannot affect soulless beings as they have no soul to manipulate
* May be dangerous/ineffective if the target's soul is stronger than that of the user
* If a soul doesn't want to be summoned, they might resist the summoning
* Summoned souls may have a mind of their own
* Cannot summon souls that have been sealed/trapped
* May have limited range, including touch only

Example Spells :

**Rightful Place** - Users can bind a soul to its rightful place. If the user doesn't know the targets name, then the binding will be incredibly painful

**Perceive** - The user can perceive and read the souls, whether free (i.e. dead, astral projection, etc) or in body.

**Essence Division** - The user can split or divide their own soul or the souls of others to create new beings, including basing the division on personalities and emotions to become separate beings, as well as having the divided portions possess other people.

## Spirit Magic

Users are able to use spirit magic that revolves around channelling, summoning or using the power of spirits to achieve their goals. They can summon spirits, use spiritual weapons, or channel a spirit into their body to gain physical enhancements or gain completely new abilities i.e. channelling a fire spirit gives the user Fire Manipulation.

Users can create, shape and manipulate their own or others' spiritual power, which is generated by every sentient being that possesses a soul, or in places with powerful spiritual influence. They can convert it into various forms of energy, manifest it into solid form, or merge into existing objects.

The user possesses a heightened awareness/sensitivity to the paranormal, allowing such feats as being able to see beings, such as spirits and higher darknesses, that are normally invisible to humans.

User with this ability either is or can transform into a spirit: a supernatural and conscious (although may not be necessarily sentient) being that in its normal state is incorporeal, invisible, and immaterial. Many spirits are able to materialise either by shifting into a more solid form or by taking a vessel to give them physical shape, which can be done either by possessing an already existing form (either a living being or an object) or by animating and wrapping part of the environment "around" them.

There are several types of spirits, ranging from the souls of the dead (ghosts) to the spirits of places, objects, concepts, and/or elements. Several forms of magic centre around contacting and bargaining with spirits.

Limitations :

* May summon something they cannot control.
* May have to strike a deal with the spirits in order to use their power and to keep using it.
* May have to do the bidding of the spirits or else they will lose some if not all of their power.
* Certain forms of magic and/or technology may allow their users to control and/or imprison spirits.
* May be vulnerable to any abilities that affect spirits such as a Spirit Barrier or Exorcism.

Example Spells :

**Bemba** - Summons a Higher Darkness

**Beyond Time** - Reveals Spirits to everyone around the user, they can then speak and hear the spirits

**Guardian** - User sends spirit or spirits back to where they belong/to rest