The Soul

**LAYERS:** The soul of a normal being inhabiting a physical body within the physical plane of existence has three main layers.

NOTE: Considering the extra-physical nature of these concepts, words like “layer”, “surrounding”, “innermost” and “outermost”, are not accurate. They are instead used because there is no way to properly describe the soul in a manner comprehensible to a human.

**The Three Layers:**

1.    Soul core: The “innermost” layer. The soul core is always present regardless of plane of existence and cannot be altered in any way by any known external force. It defines a being in the most fundamental way.

a.    The soul core attracts the other energies listed here like a magnet attracts ferromagnetic metals. Therefore, if the soul core ceased to exist (which is impossible), the other energies would rapidly disperse either to their surroundings, or their original sources depending on the situation and their nature. However, unlike a metal, the following energies have many different relationships with the soul core depending on type.

2.    Soul force: The secondary layer. The soul force is a marican energy “surrounding” the soul core, and can only be altered slightly and over time, and only by very comprehensive forces. The amount of soul force cannot be changed, and it, like the soul core always present. The kind of soul force permeating a soul defines what transcendental category the being belongs to.

a.    Since the soul force persists after death, if it is permanently altered, the changes in question will also remain even after the death of the current physical body, although displaying themselves in different ways.

b.    The amount of soul force present in a being varies. It has been observed that less advanced creatures, like animals, have a lower amount of soul force.

3.    Vitae/life force: The “outermost” layer. Vitae, also known as life force is only present in a being which is both alive, and inhabiting a physical body. Vitae provides the connection between the soul and the body, enabling the soul to influence the body, but also restricting it to a small physical space. Vitae is constantly fluctuating, and the amount of vitae present in a soul can be changed by artificial means, but is also changing by natural means (with some exceptions). The more vitae present in a soul, the more powerful the connection between the soul and the body. Therefore, a being can exert more marican force on the physical universe the more vitae it has and vice versa.

a.    Like applicable marforce (aka magical power), vitae usually originates from the Great Source, and flows naturally between it and the soul in most living beings.

b.    Creatures with heightened consciousness have exponentially more vitae than creatures lacking that characteristic, i.e. animals. This pattern bears similarity to that regarding soul force but is believed to result for different reasons.

c.    Minor fluctuations in vitae can cause an increased or reduced feeling of awareness.

d.    In stark contrast to soul force or other aspects of the soul, vitae can be drained from the soul directly and stored within other physical objects, usually an elixir. It can thus also be transferred from one soul to another and can grant increased awareness and marican potential. However, extracting vitae is extremely difficult for a standard human mage without extensive experience and practice.

                                             i.     Note: beings known as aptynes rely on the extraction of vitae from other creatures to survive due to a fundamental difference in their souls.

e.    If a being is drained of a too-large proportion of its vitae, the connection between the soul and the body will falter, and it will permanently lose consciousness or die.