Frithlings

Frithlings themselves are neither dead nor alive, neither a spirit nor anything divine. They are forces of nature, the very essence of life distilled to a single desire: to live. They are intangible on the physical plane, oftentimes invisible to the naked eye, clinging onto each other, or another living thing. Thus, when they come across a vessel--a baby, a seed, an egg, or the like--it can reside inside it, giving it the spark of life to sustain itself.

Origin

bokeh light photo by Eric Han

It is thought that frithlings were a part of the world before even the gods existed. This theory is referred to as the weave, a net of life that spans off of existence. If this were true, Gods would be made up of frithlings, and their ability to create would be a direct manifestation of the power of the frithlings ability to manifest life--the God's then able to move frithlings in and out of themselves and command the shapes a frithling would take.

Namesake

Frithlings get their name from one of the binary suns that circles the world of Airth--Frith. This sun is thought to actually be a frithling that grew so large that instead of jumping into a vessel, it simply reached a homeostasis and now supports the life of its fellow frithlings on Airth.  

Manifestation

Frithlings are so small that they cannot be seen by the naked eye, and, worse for them, they cannot move very far on their own. To overcome this, these frithlings will gather up together and bind to each other. When binding together, frithlings blend into one another, and no longer separate entities. Thus, they function as one thing and grow in size; when they grow in size, they also grow in brightness. It can be fairly common to see frithlings as bright and floating bug-like creatures in areas dense with life. Once at a great enough size, the frithling typically float or otherwise propel themselves around the world through what limbs they are able to manifest.
Still, most frithlings do not get the chance to bind together due to their inability to move on their own. Additionally, a frithling cannot join with another frithling if they are separated by their chosen vessel (except by outstanding circumstances--such as great emotion or great sickness). Thus, most frithlings will instead wait where they are and wait for a vessel to travel near them. They will then cling to the passerby and wait for their chance to live--usually when the passerby has offspring.

Named Frithlings

Some frithlings are like ghosts. When a person dies, their bound up frithling exits the used vessel. While other frithlings would unbind and wait to be cling to the next passerby, a person's ghost does not. It is bound through ceremony and sympathetic magics to an effigy by giving the frithling a name. Families will have several of these effigies, and will employ a mage during childbirth and death to determine which frithling has gone inside a child, and bind the frithling back to the effigy when the life is over. This is done by a mage who can hear the frithlings inside the effigies; the mage will ask "What is your name?" and the effigy will respond; the effigy that does not respond is the frithling who has gone into the child.

These names are referred to as "True Names", and are given to the child once they reach adulthood. Giving away one's true name is often only done at marriages between the wedded couples. Very rarely is a true name given to a good friend, for a true name allows one command over another, over the very essence that gives the person their life.
Often, the binding of a frithling to an effigy is not perfect, and a named frithling might drop or pick up a few new frithlings along the way when entering and existing a vessel. Still, this practice is maintained as it is thought that the deeds a person accomplishes in a life is indicative of the frithling's future deeds. Thus, a named frithling who inhabits a person who does great deeds is likely to cause the next person they inhabit to also do great deeds.

yellow green and purple plastic balloons by Eduardo Dorantes

Over the years, wars have been waged in the hopes of obtaining the effigy of a great frithling who performed extraordinary deeds, or destroying the effigy so that the frithling might be lost to time.

Frithling Ceremonies

To keep away an unwanted pregnancy, to avoid a personality change after great sickness or great emotion, many people will wear seeds around them to trick frithlings to enter into the seed instead of into their own vessels to either create life or affect their own life. Contrary to popular belief, frithlings do not help a person heal.