Building Blocks of Life

There are three main parts to most beings in the world. There are souls, essences and bodies. A creature can potentially exist without one of these elements, however survival would be difficult for them.

## Souls

Souls contain the consciousness and life force of a being, packaged into a small wisp. These wisps can look like anything, and aren't limited to any sort of set form. However, souls that have not had a body and/or essence typically have a tear drop shape with two little dots serving as "eyes". Souls may possess certain objects or other bodies, provided the object or body does not already contain a soul. Prior to Season 7, Au'ora was one of the only entities capable of creating, destroying, recycling, and giving souls.

## Essences

Although essences share some similarities to souls, they are two separate entities. Essences are the culmination of the will of a being, and can be created in several different ways. Some essences are created by the gods, some develop on their own if the being is without an essence, and others can be artificially created. The strength of an essence matters greatly in what properties it possesses. Stronger essences tend to have elements or powers attached to them, though this is not always the case. Stronger essences are also capable of having a physical form and may escape the body if the being is killed. Weaker essences on the other hand tend to shatter upon death, dropping in the form of XP orbs (Note that only XP orbs dropped from entities are canon in The Oasis, all other form of XP spawning is not) Essences also are very flexible in nature and are capable of changing their properties if the right circumstances are met. These circumstances can range from the soul being damaged, to physical events or things changing the will of the essence, or simply even a change in a being's desires.

## Bodies

The body of a being is the simplest one of the three elements. It is a vessel that was made so that the creature can interact with the physical world and a shield for the soul and essence. Bodies are also the element that can have the most variants in appearance. Prior to Season 7, Gykallis was one of the only entities capable of creating new organic bodies.

However, organic bodies are not the only type of bodies that exist. There are robotic bodies that can be artificially be created with metals and such, and if built correctly, can store essences and souls (A notable example of one is Saul BetterCall). There are also magic based bodies, which can only be made by powerful spellcasters. These magic bodies tend to amplify a creatures essences power (and typically magical abilities as well), in exchange of them being physically weaker than an organic body since they dissolve once the entity dies. Making an entity that has a purely magic body that does not dissolve on death is theoretically possible, but has never been done before.

## Other Important Notes

-Plants do technically have souls and essences, but they are so weak that they are incapable of being collected upon death.

-Although souls can only be created or destroyed by Au'ora, souls can be broken into different pieces

-Due to their flexible nature, essences are able to be manipulated and changed by powerful outside entities (mostly Gods)

-Beings without a body but have a soul and essence are known as Spirits. These entities are incapable of interacting with physical objects unless they directly possess them. A notable example of a Spirit is Vesta.

-Beings without a soul are completely incapable of moving or doing much of anything at all. These are known as Shells, but there are no known examples of such an entity.

-Beings without an essence are sometimes referred to as Husks. These entities are completely blank, only having the will to survive and meeting their basic needs to keep their bodies from collapsing. One notable example of this type of entity is Dr. Olivia Charlotte, who briefly had her essence removed.

-Magic bodies were never intended to exist, as the only magic that Aukallus meant to be in the world was the magic they possessed, and the runes that were a part of The Seal. However as time went on, The Seal's runes started to fall, and magic became an integral part of The Oasis's ecosystem. Gykallis and Au'ora also started granting magic to creatures after Aukallus split themselves in three.

The original concept page of the fundamentals of life.