Soul

Souls are essential for living things, acting as a “battery” of sorts. The souls of sentient beings are complex and divinely crafted. Orran'sulani was the god originally responsible for the soul forge and this duty passed to Idraen. A melange of mana, ki, and other celestial energies are combined to create a basic soul. The majority of souls in Aserra were crafted by Orran'sulani and Idraen, but some may have origins on other worlds

Animals and plants have a spiritual essence formed of mana, but more complex beings have souls that were forged by the gods from mana and other energies.

Reincarnation

All forms of souls and spiritual essences reincarnate, essentially recycling the energy. In the case of the least complex beings, plants and insects, the mana that exists in them returns to the earth and is sent forth in their seeds eggs to fuel the next generation. For animals, their spiritual essences can condense into true, though simplistic, souls which are reincarnated directly into the next generation after death. When it comes to the sentient races, however, their souls are tended to by the gods in cycles of rebirth.

Human Souls

The souls that incarnate into humans and other races such as Kiar, Iengi, Kuzo, Samiss, some Eain’Idayn, Shaolaon, Ery’Idayn, Oir’Idayn, and Ur’Idayn are all the same souls. They have a varying spiritual capacity, some are weaker while others are stronger. Kuzo, Kiar, and Iengi usually fall at the weaker end of the spectrum for reincarnations, while Idayn sub-races have the potential for the highest spiritual capacity. Samiss are in the middle of this range, but humans range from weak to strong. This capacity is determined by the genetic predisposition of the mortal individual and allows for greater potential in magic and higher spiritual awareness in general, and souls suiting that disposition incarnate into them.

Upon incarnation, the memories of souls are sealed to reduce influence on the new life, but over time they may be weakened allowing memories to filter through. Even through seals, sometimes subtle influences of the soul filter through, such as cases of “soul mates” where individuals who were especially close in previous lives gravitate towards each other and feel a close bond upon meeting in their current lives. Souls can retain memories of up to six or seven lifetimes. Souls may also influence an individual’s perception of their gender; though souls are genderless, they sometimes develop a predisposition to one gender or another over the course of their lives, and being incarnated into the gender opposite of which they prefer may lead to their incarnation feeling out of place.

Mortal souls undergo up to a thousand year process between reincarnations, designed to cleanse them from sin or Karmic debt so that the debt will not impact their next life. After death, a soul’s Karma is measured, and if it is negative, they will be sent to work off their debt in Malbolge. Once the debt is cleared, they will be allowed to move to Zephaer to await reincarnation. A surplus of Karma is not ideal for reincarnation either, and souls with an excess of Karma are kept in a temporary afterlife in Zephaer until they reach a neutral balance.

Elemental Souls

When the seven elemental gods created their races to populate Aserra, they were incarnated with the souls of spirits native to those elements. These souls allowed them to manipulate their aligned element as a form of magic, and secured their loyalty to their patron god. Most elemental spirits are of a similar nature and temperament, which is passed down into their mortal incarnations. For most of the races, this was a process which involved taking a willing spirit from their elemental plane and binding it with a small portion of the normal mortal souls which humans possessed. This is the process used for the Zaedyn, bound with Sylph souls; the Mariel with Undine souls; the Brech’mar with Gnome souls; the Asath with Salamander souls; the Idayn with light spirit souls; and the Danaij with Shade souls.

The only god who had a different process was the goddess Entra, who chose to incarnate her people, the Nafod with the souls of Nymphs, which are a more complex creature than the elemental spirits. Instead of being bound to a mortal soul, the Nafod were the reincarnations of Nymphs who originally chose to abandon their fae bodies to be reborn as mortals. Since, many of these Nymphs have continually been reborn as Nafod rather than Nymphs in the Maze of Dreams.

In the time since their creation, these races have changed, and new ones have been born. The Zaedyn, Mariel, Brech’mar, and Asath are the same as ever, but the Idayn broke into several different sub-races from the original. The Eain’Idayn, Shaolaon, Aeul’Idayn, Fayl’Idayn, Ery’Idayn, Oir’Idayn, and Ur’Idayn now live spread across the world. The Eain’Idayn have two distinct cultures, one which still lives alongside the Idayn in the Eldir and Itray Forests, and far-flung herds that have spread across the world. Only those who live alongside the Idayn still reincarnate with the souls of light spirits, while the others have human souls. The Aeul’Idayn found favor with the Goddess of Winter, Fria, and were incarnated with the souls of her spirits, Lycia. Fayl’Idayn fell into Entra’s domain and were incarnated with the souls of faeries. The Danaij broke into a sub-race, the Danaij’vai, who are also incarnated with shades. The Nafod now exist as three different races; the Ochae’nafod with Nymph souls, the Dra’nafod with Dryad souls, and the Marfod with Nereid souls.

While individuals of the elemental races are usually rather loyal to the characteristics of their element, they can stray from these characteristics by mentally distancing themselves from their soul, which would be achieved by not using their elementalism or performing any sort of self-communion with the elemental spirit within them. In these cases, especially if the individual does something that their god disapproves of, may risk losing their elemental spirit as punishment. The elemental spirit can be removed from the blend of the soul, leaving the individual with a small portion of a soul. This will leave the individual feeling drained of energy until what remains of their soul regenerates enough to work as a full soul, but it will always remain weak. The individual will no longer be able to use elemental magic, and using other forms of magic that require spiritual energy could prove to be risky as they could risk burning out what is left of their soul.

Interracial children born between the elemental races or other races can only be incarnated with an elemental spirit that is the same as their mother. Regardless of the genetic material provided by the father, it is the womb in which the child is conceived that determines its soul.

Elemental souls are not bound to the same reincarnation cycle as other races, and their karma is usually moderate. Negative Karma on the soul can be dealt with in successive reincarnations and throughout life.