Soul

**Soul** is essentially the life found in every living being on the planet: from humans and dinosaurs to insects and blades of grass.  Souls have been a part of creation since the beginning of life on the planet.  Some beings are born with greater souls than others, with dinosaurs being particularly more gifted than other species.

Souls can have many different shapes, pressures, and feels. Some souls can be soft and quiet, while others can be wild and burning. Those that have immense training or power over soul can feel as thought they have a torrent of soul pressure rushing from out their body (i.e. Baldur). People who actively train their souls have a more refined energy than those who don't.

## Background

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### Prehistory

Approx. 1 million years ago, an asteroid from space impacted the planet.  Yggdrasuar, the god dinosaur, managed to lessen the destruction of the disaster at the cost of using massive amounts of soul, so much so that it into a deep sleep state.  This event caused the creation of Soul Crystals, minerals/crystals from the asteroids that were charged with soul from Yggradasur and spread throughout the planet.

### Ancient Age

Millions of years after Yggdrasur, the first human beings start to make their mark in the world.  Humans are very intelligent, but their natural strength is lacking in a world as primal as the one they live in.  To gain a foothold, human societies learned to use the surrounding wildlife to their advantage and learned to trap animals (particularly dinosaurs) as the primary means of survival.  They use the dinosaurs for food mostly, but some they learn to domesticate for protection, transportation, etc.  Human societies also develop ways to utilize Soul Crystals.  Originally mined/gathered for fashion and/or religious purposes, humans start to learn that with the crystals, they can acquire power from the world around them.  Through vigorous time and  training, one can learn to borrow the soul of other beings to power themselves physically for a short period.  With these new sources of strength, human societies start to solidify and establish permanent territories.  This births the Tribe system.

Raising dinosaurs becomes more specialized over time, meaning less people in the tribe have to dedicate time towards raising dinos.  Those whose primary role is to take care of dinosaurs are called Handlers.  Expert Handlers are called Tamers; the name being derived from "those who tame the beasts of the wild".  Tamers not only help raise the dinosaurs, but also guard the tribe from outside forces (wildlife and other tribes), capture/trap wild dinosaurs, and oversee transportation.  To get the most juice out of the Soul Link, Tamers usually end up raising a dinosaur companion for most of their lives.

Over time, humans start to learn more about soul crystals and how they work.  It becomes apparent that the more familiar one is with the being they are borrowing soul from, the better their abilities manifest.  In short terms, the better bond a person had with a dinosaur, the stronger they would become; it also becomes easier to borrow the strength as well.  This practice is eventually named Soul Link.  Soul Link has many other benefits, and one can unlock more abilities/get stronger the better the connection is with one’s partner.  Because of this epiphany, many tribes start to treat their dinosaurs better and with more respect to get the most power out of Soul Link.

The phenomenon of Soul Link, Soul Crystals, and the soul are very beneficial to human beings, and many have tried to extract the power of the soul without the use of other beings.  With Soul Link becoming more and more researched, some scholars begin to experiment with methods to increase their soul, thereby increasing power.  They eventually discover a method using Soul Crystals.  Using their own soul as a base, they weave symbols called Runes into the area around them.  They extract a part of their soul with the Crystal and use it to manipulate reality around them.  These scholars learned to create shields from air (barrier), travel great distances within seconds (teleportation), and float above the trees (telekinesis). This process has become known as magic.

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## Properties of Soul

### Flame of Life

The Flame of Life is a being’s life energy. It allows one’s soul to interact with other souls around them.

### Soul Cage

The Soul Cage is a part of one’s soul that is responsible for keeping the ‘flame of life’ within one’s body.

## Advanced Techniques

### Soul Plate

A Soul Plate is a technique where one focuses their soul into a thin coating around their body. It helps reduce damage from soul-based attacks

### Soul Burst

A suicidal technique that has mostly been lost in time, allowing the user to blur the boundaries between the physical body and the soul. It temporarily juices the user by spewing out all the Soul/Energy they got, but when that's depleted, it shreks your body hard. If you keep using it or use it too much in general, will make it hard for your body to recover and can even lead to death. It was originally invented by sorcerers in Yolpheim and has since been kept secret from the majority of the world. The Soul Burst has also been used as a last-ditch effort in skirmishes during the Age of War, where warriors would achieve great power using their own soul as fuel; however, within minutes, one's Soul Cage would be thoroughly burned through, leaving them nothing more than empty husks. It is not necessarily an attack, more like a powered-up form.

### Soul Projection

A skill where one can can control one's soul to such an extent that they can project their own soul from their body. It starts with one focusing on their Flame of Life while everything else around them grows dark, colorless, blurred, and distorted, almost like time stops. The Flame of Life morphs into their own body while simultaneously leaving their physical one. In this state, one can see and feel the souls of other beings more acutely. Handlers use this technique to Soul Link with their companions from a great distance. This is also called Distance Linking.