Memory Sea

Emeros creatures include humans, familiar mammals, and abundant flora all thriving in the world’s celestial climate. While there is no normalized concept of magic, the closeness of the Heavens to the mortal plane allows an array of unique ethereal qualities to feed into their civilizations. This enabled mortals to thrive, now living in a modern age of enchantment, innovation, and technology.

## Atmospheric Layers

#### Upper Plane (>50km)

Location of the Heavens. Due to the inability to travel there, its appearance is unknown.

This is the destination of all liberated souls. Upon death, the soul migrates to this plane to be purified and placed back into the cycle. Due to the perilous nature of the Gate, no living man has seen past the Heavens. Despite this, the moon, sun, and stars can still be viewed through the plane.

Scriptures and records note having seen the natives to the Heavens. They can be spotted as often where soul reclamation is most abundant. Knowing of their existence, as well as witnessing evidence of their works, allow mortals to accept the existence of the upper plane as factual science.

#### The Gate (<50km)

A dense gaseous layer separating the mortal and upper planes, purifies incoming souls and repels trespassers. Also known as the purification layer, the Gate is impossible to traverse. Those who have tried quickly perished.

People often mistaken it for a rainbow if visible.

#### Memory Sea (<25km)

In purifying souls, the Gate filters out impurities in the form of memories. These are left behind at the doorstep of the Gate, creating the memory sea.

Memory deposits rarely drift as low as the mortal plane. Despite this, the deposits may decay over time and reenter the plane as a gas. This causes natural geode growths such as spireglass.

It is impossible to navigate without a proper guide.

#### Mortal Plane (<10km)

This is where you and all flora and fauna thrive. Efficient natural energy enables large civilizations and air-travel below the memory sea. Without the anchor of a physical body, souls cannot stay on this plane. Rising souls of the deceased can be easily seen resembling yellow feathery lights.

All of the souls and memories originate from this plane.

## Souls and Memories

> **As food and air are important to survival, the concept of souls is at the heart of Emeros life. It dictates the density and location of settlements, the economy, cultural practices, as well as the atmosphere itself. The influence of souls is directly due to the artifacts they leave behind. When one dies, their soul leaves behind a trail of products.**
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To understand life on Emeros, the characteristics and vocabulary surrounding these souls, memories, and their resulting products are vital. Both religion and lifestyle are built off the foundation of these concepts, drastically influenced if there’s a disruption in the celestial atmosphere or law.

Subjects surrounding these provided terms are known as a science rather than theory since they all can be seen and touched. Primary schools taught them as essential topics, since grasping their concepts directly allow students to understand both discipline and politics.

#### Memory Deposits

When a being dies, its soul soon ascends to the upper plane. Upon facing the Gate, impurities are purged from the container, ultimately leaving behind unwanted memories. These little orbs of memories that make up the memory sea are referred to as memory deposits.

Memory deposits are the negative memories discarded by souls in the purification process in the Gate. Because they are essentially an unwanted fragment of souls, they harbor the exact same physical qualities as rising souls. They cannot crack, be broken, or man-handled. The only way to truly capture these deposits is to encase them in a memory capsule, much like trapping helium in a balloon.

#### Empathy

Empathy is the capacity to understand the soul of another. This forges a connection between the thoughts and feelings of mortals. The more empathy shared, the stronger that connection can be. More often than not, this allows one to communicate with another beyond death.

#### Whispers

Even without meeting the person, one can share a high empathetic connection with them. This causes their memory deposits to share their visions and echoes with an open mind. People who are not trained fishers often go mad in the memory sea due to this reason.

High-altitude locations on ground-level do not offer many sensations unless you seek them out. These whispers are practically unnoticeable, leaking into the minds of the people through means of dreams or feelings. Some even connect the uncanny experience of déjà vu to intruding whispers; Believing moments of false familiarity to be a side effect of empathetic affinity with one’s memory.

If you climb higher into the mountains (without spireglass), the whispers may reach in the form of faint daydreams or voices, especially so to those with lower MF scores. Because of the tight pressure enduring whispers may resemble, many claim taking upon these murmurs of memories makes it harder to breathe. This, of course, may just be due to the thinner mountain air.

The higher you climb, the more ‘pressure’ you may feel. This pressure is not literal due to the densities of memories being quite low. Rather, it’s imagined by the whisper recipient as a natural form of biological discomfort. This is not unlike the heaviness or dishevelment you may experience from feverish high body temperatures.

That leaves us with the memory sea itself. As previously mentioned, being exposed to the sea without proper gear is much like an unfortunate psychedelic experience. Thoughts may blur, visuals melt, the uncanny experience unhinged. This does not always have to be strictly visual, auditory, or sensational, as each whisper or memory can be experienced by different means.

Within the reinforced airship itself, the feelings are dulled. While it may still feel nauseating to enter due to the mentioned elusive pressures, the body can become accustomed to it through experience. In terms of non-biological sensations, they feel much like high-altitude locations, unnoticeable.

Once a sentinel is in place, whispers called forth through empathetic connections may be experienced and ‘viewed’ like being in the memory sea itself, but at a more organized and controlled quantity. Think of it like going through the files of every memory in the world, but with a sentinel, you are able to apply a filter based on experiential qualities. Hence the need for empathy and investigations is important. The more you know about the individual’s thoughts and feelings, the more you can hone in on the applicable whispers and follow their path.

Empathy connections or seeking out specific whispers can work without a sentinel as well, but it will be without those metaphorical filters. In cases without a sentinel, the whisper to see you out rather than you seeking it. These are the whispers that find you when unwillingly exposed; Those being the ones with the highest empathetic connections to your life.

The invasive nature of whispers is only an issue when subjected to endured exposure. If you were subjected to a sitting of the memory sea’s whispers, it would be much like a drastically bad acid trip. It can indeed scramble points of your mind after a single, potent dose, but not quite break it in one sitting.

Unfiltered high-altitude endured exposure resembles the following:

**1-10 Hours** = Fatigue and possible trauma

**10-24 Hours** = Permanent mental detriments, Trauma, but can still independently function

**24+ Hours** = Permanent damage to the psyche, extreme mental detriments, can no longer independently function

#### Mental Fortitude

Unrestrained reception to whispers can wear on one’s mind. To practice as a fisher, you are required to meet a certain tested score, also known as your mental fortitude, to prove your endurance. Doing so preserves one’s sanity and ability to last in the memory sea.

Mental Fortitude is the measurement of your capability to unconsciously keep whispers at bay, but it doesn't mean people can't consciously leave their minds open to them. This allows people with high MF scores to be capable of hearing whispers naturally if they try hard enough.

#### Spireglass

Memory deposit will eventually decay and fade back down to the mortal plane. No longer a memory, it survives as a rare mineral called spireglass. These crystals are most commonly used in valuable fisher gear to keep whispers from entering unwilling minds.

#### Rising Souls

Souls leave the dead the moment their minds cease functioning. This can be seen with the naked eye as ethereal golden orbs pulling from their bodies. Like wandering wisps, they would lift into the atmosphere, reaching back to the upper plane.

Souls, in essence, are the human ability to collect emotions. When they naturally rise into the atmosphere after death, they resemble gaseous wisps that are cold to the touch. While they are indeed acting containers to these memories, this shouldn’t be taken literally. Think of them as an ethereal pressure, capable of being seen and felt but never held. If you were to chop a soul with a knife, it will simply move around the blade like an airy fluid completely unaffected.

An exception is when empty souls are sent back to the mortal plane in the form of soul recollection. In this process, the soul is unconsciously tasked with finding a new vessel via a human ready for a new soul. Sometimes there are more soul containers than needed, stranding them to the mortal plane without substance. These eventually materialize like a fossil, creating sentinels in the form of solid, glass-like stones. Sentinels cannot hold memories or act as a soul since they are aged and brittle. Do not confuse these with soul containers (souls without memories), rising souls (souls with memories), or memory deposits. In other words, this is the only form souls can be materially solid and physically prone.

#### Soul Reclamation

When a soul ascends, it is purified by the Angels. The cleansed soul can again act as an empty container for new memories. It is returned back to the mortal plane, ready to reenter into the cycle as Soul Reclamations.

Empty souls cannot be seen with the naked eye, but they can be felt. Like a magnetic pull, certain regions are more susceptible to being the entry point for these souls. They often would experience temperature drops and higher atmospheric densities. These locations are loosely referred to as ‘susceptible points,’ or places most abundant with Soul Reclamations. Most of them can be found about Concordia, acting as a catalyst for the people’s spiritual and cultural practices.

#### Sentinels

Soul reclamations that wander the mortal plane for too long can become stagnant. No longer a soul, these containers eventually harden to resemble frail pearls called sentinels. If used correctly, they can voluntarily attract whispers from the memory sea.

#### Angels

Native to the upper plane, these sentient creatures are forever shrouded in mystery. While evidence of their existence is undeniable, both their purpose and appearances have never been definitively defined. Still, careful planning may yet allow you a glimpse of one. Documented angels were said to be too brilliant for the eyes to see. This is why disagreements on their appearance endured, fluctuating between depictions of idealized humanoids to incarnations of light.

Since Erith is the only angel history acknowledges, all artworks view her is maternal and god-like. She is identified by her white flowing dress, varying in all other aspects such as hair and face. Otherwise, standard angels are represented as radiant pockets of light. It's similar to enlarged versions of Navi/Tatl's design from The Legend of Zelda.