Great Beast-Spirit

The Great Beast-Spirit is the philosophical term for the theory that that each type of animal native to the Material Plane shares a collective Celestial presence. Non-sapient, non-awakened individual animals do not possess souls; rather, they are thought to be unique fragments of their species' Great Beast-Spirit temporarily given mortal form on the Material Plane. Conjurers and druids may manifest similar fragments through magical means, as do some wizards seeking familiars.
The Great Beast-Spirits make their home in the Beastlands, within the Upper Planes. Reputable planewalker records of these lands are few and far between, given that humanoid souls never inhabit them, and thus no one has ever been resurrected directly from the Beastlands. (In some folk wisdom, certain types of Great Beast-Spirit are thought to reside in different planes. The cat and the 'ngaragola, for example, are often thought to hold their domains primarily in Pandemonium.)
Still, artistic depictions of the Great Beast-Spirits abound, particularly for well-loved domesticated animals such as dogs. Mosaics, murals, and tapestries depict the Great Beast-Spirit as a host of similar beasts, often collectively engaged in a typical activity of that creature: a unified flock of flying birds, a legion of hounds of all kinds running after a hunted quarry, or an endless meadow in which each flower hosts a happy bumblebee. Such depictions are sometimes given as gifts to those who have recently lost a beloved pet, often with the likeness of that pet shown prominently. The most famous artwork featuring a Great Beast-Spirit is the Sirius Wall in Linnunrata. Originally painted as a few dozen dogs running across the Astral Plane, people's continued additions of their own dogs over time have stretched the mural nearly half a mile across the southern wall of the city.

Type

Metaphysical