Soul Theory

## The Great Soul Cycle

All life rests upon the core element of one’s self and conscience - the soul. There are many disputed definitions of what a soul is; some say that it is the sentient life force of a living being, others argue that it is a more intrinsic element of the world and that the prior definition is limited in scope in that sentient life force is merely a form that a soul may take. Some even believe that souls are not a fluid element but rather a discrete one. The truth is perhaps a mix of all the above.

All sentient creatures contain a soul within them, however, the processes through which souls are recycled vary depending on the creature in question. The Great Soul Cycle is more aptly described as two processes rather than one, though the term is most commonly used to refer to the controlled process by which the gods recycle the souls of civilised races. The cycle existed long before the rise of the Meridians, and it is only after that fact that the cycle split off into two distinct yet related phenomena which may be labelled as the New Cycle and the Old Cycle.

The civilised, great races of the world that were created by the gods fall within this New Cycle which is largely under the discretion of the creator gods and their proxies. The fate of civilised souls is a far more controlled and deliberate process and often varies in specific procedures depending on the race in question.

Despite the procedure, the souls of all civilised being, once departed from their mortal coil, travels to the Grey, an artificial realm of souls that the gods created. It is here that the soul’s next destination is decided by Ioryx, the God of the Grey. Some especially devoted souls may travel to the realms of the god they served in life to ensure that their domain is governed well. Souls which Ioryx have deemed as potentially dangerous to the order of the world, typically powerful, ambitious individuals that given the nature of their soul may come close to discovering the truth and attempting to topple it given enough cycles, will be sent to the Grey Prison. Despite these odd cases, most souls will be sent back to the prime material plane in another body and another life in some manner.

For instance, a human soul is not exactly reincarnated or recycled but rather mixed into a great crucible - the soul-power of humanity - to be reborn as a new individual though some especially powerful human souls with a strong sense of self may retain parts of their soul essence through this process.

On the other hand, elven souls are kept almost entirely intact when travelling through the Grey - an elf’s soul is an ancient thing that has likely persisted in the same form for many, many millennia.

A dwarven soul, in some aspects, is similar to an elven soul in that in between reincarnations, they retain significant aspects of their essence. When a dwarf dies and their soul travels to the grey, it is typically sent to the Realm of Iron, where the god of the forge reshapes, refines and reforges their soul. Thus, while dwarves do retain their underlying soul essence, they are not as in touch with the cycle as elves are.

## Qualities of a Soul

### Colour

The colour of a soul is perhaps its most defining characteristic. Non-humanoid beings have souls infused with the energies of the plane from which they hail. For elementals that are held together not by a soul or spirit in the typical sense but rather by the primordial energy of their planes, they cannot be perceived through soulsight. Constructs, being non-living creations similarly held together by primal or arcane energy cannot be perceived through soulsight either but can usually be seen through detect magic or similar methods. The same applies to the majority of undead creatures which are merely husks of once living beings held together by negative energy, however, especially powerful undead beings such as liches do have souls though they are often thoroughly tainted by negative energy, being perceived as very dark grey, nearing black. Fiends generally manifest in three ways - either as the souls of mortals so corrupted by evil that their soul becomes more attracted to the Nine Hells instead of the Grey, as lives taken by particular fiends capable of abducting souls or as an ancient fiend, an original inhabitant of hell. Despite their origins, their souls are black like tar. Celestial souls have a bright, golden hue that is difficult to gaze at for too long. As the nature of a celestial being does not vary significantly always beings creatures of good, their souls are very uniform and look similar to one another. Dragons are ancient beings of great power, and their similarly bright, platinum souls symbolise their unified pride and might though, unlike celestials, there are far more characteristics of draconic souls that highlight their characters, being a diverse group of creatures with varying thoughts and ideals just like the civilised races. The colour of a fey’s soul is a vaguely emerald-green colour, and flickers and twists according to their fickle mood. Another characteristic feature of a fey’s soul is that it is slightly reflective of nearby souls in the vicinity, hearkening to the reactive nature of the Feywild to emotions and feelings. The colour of a fey’s soul can range from shining, bright emerald to dark, blue-ish green depending on their alignment. Monstrosities, being the unnatural monsters that they are have multi-coloured souls - a twisted amalgamation that is an affront to nature. Finally, beasts have souls of white, indicative of their simple and pure souls.