Souls
Souls are a as vital of a component in spellcasting as Verve itself for most mages. Thus it is being researched as extensively as Verve. It is still difficult to make any definitive conclusions as to its nature though.
Properties
Material Characteristics
Generally souls are imperceivable by the conscious mind. However, certain animals, well trained mages, or particularly perceptive individuals can occasionally see flickers of souls. It might be the inexplicable charisma in a person, or a glimmer in the corner of your eye. Some people describe being led into the woods by an insatiable smell only to find a soul in some old rotting grave. The only consistency in these accounts is that it seems to be desirable.
Geology & Geography
Souls can be found anywhere. However, the safest bet is most certainly ruins from the old age. Since souls do not circulate anymore, they have sort of stagnated there. Otherwise one could look in graves or battlefields.
Origin & Source
It is thought that God created souls when it was still alive. They were a way for humans to communicate with God so everyone had to have a soul. It was what enabled people to pray and perform miracles, harness Gods power essentially. After God died souls just sort of stuck around, which is what brings us to the state of the current era. Souls do not circulate anymore but rather stagnate - rest in old graves or sink into the ground of battlefields. It is still possible to acquire a soul but one would have to go looking.
History & Usage
Everyday use
Dreaming
Souls allow you to dream. For the most part dreams are cryptic and confusing however there is often some truth to them. Dreams play out in an ethereal world made only of souls and Verve. Like an echo of our world. Powerful mages, those with the strongest of minds, are capable of having full conversations in this dream world or even command their consciousness to exist within a state between the dream and the waking - enabling them to influence both worlds.
Fuel
Some spellcasters use Souls as a form of fuel for their spells. Souls tend to attract Verve throughout the years and some old souls are truly powerful. This makes them a potent tool in spellcasting since with the right knowledge they can be used as a rich source of Verve.
Some mages in Greywoot tend to use this method.
Protection
A soul is strong. Resilient. Capable of cracking without breaking - and then repairing itself. Some schools of magic take advantage of this and use souls to stave off whatever madness encroaches on their minds. Practicing magic, manipulating Verve - its a straining process. You toy with things which are far beyond the mortal minds limits. Souls can help ease the load - even if they end up breaking in the end.
Most Mages possess a soul. Without one, the nature of the things you work with would eat you alive. The human mind was never designed to understand the world on such a level.
Knowledge
Those who dream understand the world better, understand Verve. It is significantly harder to harness Verve if you do not have a soul - that is the nature of things.
Cultural Significance and Usage
Some religious factions, particularly those involved with Shepherds of the Moon would understand the significance of Souls. In these cultures it is common practice to make sure that your soul is passed on to someone after you die. In small religious settlements it would be customary to bury the dead deep in the ground - so as to not let their soul wander, and whenever a new life is brought into this world it is carried through the graveyard so as to be imbued with a soul.
Hazards
Souls are not just a fantastic commodity though. They come with their own set of dangers for those who seek them out.
Spirits
Souls in the new world have a strange relation with living creatures. Its thought that without the intervention of a Shepherd souls are never really ready to belong to a human. Souls tend to have a semblance of their own consciousness. Some souls will never want to bond with you, some will cause you nightmares, some will constantly try to escape. Souls which are particularly rowdy are known as spirits - living souls. Sometimes souls become magical - enchanted by a bit of Verve. Then they might become powerful ghosts with wills of their own. Or they might go mad. Often souls are an echo of their last host but not always. It all depends on the soul and the person it belonged too.
There's a common phenomenon of the souls of mages going mad and creating a Spirit. These spirits are often capable of performing magic in the same way as the mage was and are therefore incredibly dangerous.
The Mad King
There's a mysterious monster hiding away in the world of dreams known as the Mad King. What it is or wants is unknown but it does stalk through the Dream and hunt souls. People with souls dream, which of course means that they exist, in part, in the Mad Kings domain. For most people this does not matter however, every now and then, somebody gets unlucky.
There are cases of the Mad King possessing your body, taking your soul, killing mages or sometimes parts of it escapes and wreaks havoc on the material plane.
Destruction of a Soul
It is possible for souls to be destroyed. Either through magic, mental strain, the Mad King, or something else. A souls is never truly destroyed but it is broken. A broken soul scatters and is removed from the body. This process is incredibly straining on the mind. Most people who experience it go completely mad afterwards. A broken soul takes time to heal itself. Such things can be expediated with magic but otherwise it can take years.
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