Guardians

Guardians are the lost souls of humans that were trapped on Irf at the time of the great apocalypse. Not much is known of that time, and what knowledge there is is held by the ursaline. Regardless of the how, these lost spirits lingered until they found a species that could hear them: The herla. They began influencing herla on a massive scale, trying to advance their culture. However, their love of their old lives led the race to a downfall in the form of a witch that went mad on power and the energies of the ancient, radioactive cities.

Ashamed, the guardians went silent, and stayed that way for thousands of years. They only came back when they saw that the dirla were struggling to keep their youths from wandering back into the old cities. They appeared again, this time with visible forms of light and symbols, and each focused on one dirla instead of many. They moved the yearlings away from the cities and into other adventures.

Guardians do not meddle so much as they used to. They mostly are there to give advice when it is needed, lend ideas, and prompt a dirla to deal with their issues maturely. They also seem to manifest at the number of their dirla's song level, though for their own reasons.

**How do Guardians interact with dirla?**

The guardians can choose whether or not to manifest, but when they do, everyone can see them. Most of the time they will be manifested, since it is easier to talk to something rather than nothing. Only their bonded dirla can hear them or feel their emotions. Generally, they float around and follow their dirla, and don't stray far. They cast a glow that they can make dim or bright, and they cannot interact with solid matter.

**Okay, but OOC how do they really work? (TW: Abuse, self-harm, death)**

The souls exist in the soul cloud, a barrier of souls that blanket the entire country. This cluster - which they jokingly refer to as the local group - is a gathering of souls that have reached a state of self-lessness, having let go of their issues from when they were alive. As states of energy, they follow their instincts to a pregnant dirla. There, they bond with a baby, giving up some of their energy to influence the strength of Song that baby will have. This also ties them to the mind of the baby, making each able to feel the other's emotions.

**Why do they do this?** Because they are trapped souls, and each time they bind to a dirla, they run the chance of riding that dirla's soul out of Irf to whatever lies beyond when that dirla passes on.

**So they're all nice and good?** No, actually. These souls aren't perfect. They will sometimes give bad advice or try to turn their dirla to something they aren't meant for. Occasionally, a greedy, abusive, or evil soul slips past the local group and attaches to a baby sneakily. They'll try to blend in until the dirla is old enough to survive on their own, and slowly mold them into someone easily manipulated or overtly selfish, then turn them to power-seeking or evil deeds.

**Can a Guardian ever be removed from a dirla?** With great cost, yes. It takes the entire power of a Songless' Guardian to destroy another Guardian, destroying both in the process. Such a sacrifice is not taken lightly at all, for the removal of a Guardian soul-wrecks their dirla. Many don't survive the process, mostly self-inflicted.