Essays Index

Borderworld Magic series: Part 1 - Magic types | Part 2 - Souls | Part 3 - Using magic

Souls:
Appearance:
Souls are normally invisible, but when a large amount of energy is drawn away from a soul, light is produced. When this happens, souls have a discernable appearance. They typically appear as orbs of light in various sizes, with the size dependant on the amount of raw power contained in the soul. The dominant magic type in the soul determines the colour and shape of this orb. A soul composed primarily of order magic is perfectly round, with sharp, defined edges. A harmonic soul is less defined, appearing slightly wispy and having frayed edges. And a chaotic soul is not round at all, but instead forms writhing tendrils.

Creation:
A soul is a magical construct which contains and protects a consciousness or consciousnesses. When a consciousness becomes attuned to a mass of magic around it, it will take control of that magic, and the magical construct will form naturally to protect its master. Souls can be grouped into mortal souls and spirits, and both are formed in different ways.

For a mortal soul, consciousness comes first, and magic comes later. This is typically achieved by the consciousness emerging from an organic system like a brain, but it can also come from a sufficiently complex artificial intelligence. Once a consciousness is born, it will begin producing psionic energy, and the psionic energy will attract magic. If enough magic is attracted and bonds to a consciousness, then it will begin converting psionic energy into more magic. From this point, it is only a matter of time until there is enough magic to form a soul.

In contrast, for a spirit, the magic comes first, and consciousness comes later. In this case, the usual process is that a large mass of wild magic will naturally form a consciousness, and the wild magic will bond to the consciousness and form into a soul almost immediately afterwards. Some spirits also form around psychic impressions, becoming linked to the concepts contained in those impressions, and drawing psionic energy related to those concepts to themselves. These spirits are called lesser deities.

Both mortal souls and spirits alike are capable of inhabiting bodies, the only difference being that mortal souls are born into those bodies, while spirits have to find or create them for themselves.

Reincarnation:
Psionic energy, unlike magic, does not wish to change the world in a profound way, but instead mirrors it and seeks similarity. For example, similar thoughts from multiple individuals can consolidate into one mass, potentially creating the psychic impressions of concepts that turn spirits into lesser deities. Psionic energy which consolidates in this fashion while still connected to multiple consciousnesses can also allow for telepathic contact between them. The Dreamscape is the best example of this phenomenon in action, as every mind on Earth telepathically connects to it while sleeping.

Because psionic energy works this way, small quantities of it often stick to the consciousnesses which create them, and form psychic impressions of those consciousnesses, which link to and mix with the original. The impressions are in turn then linked to the soul, and so the soul can carry its bonded consciousness with it if need be, even if the original vessel for that consciousness is no longer functioning.

Throughout most of life, the soul remains anchored to its bonded consciousness, with the psychic impression within it working with the brain to collect all its thoughts and memories. Upon death, the bond is broken, and the consciousness then lives on only inside the soul's psychic impression. Without the bond keeping it anchored, the soul is free to break away from the body, usually leaving with the sunrise. Before the soul leaves the body, there is a small window for resurrection to be possible, but there is no way of telling when it has passed.

Disembodied souls behave differently depending on their origin. Mortal souls are unused to living without bodies, and so tend to fall into a state of deep slumber, their formless souls drifting of their own accord, seeking out a new body for rebirth. Spirits, in contrast, tend to exert more awareness in this state, becoming ghosts who can take a visible form and use magic. However, this is not universally true. Mortal souls can also become ghosts, while spirits are also capable of falling into slumber if they are killed.

Eventually, all disembodied souls tend to find new hosts to reincarnate into. Some ghosts, if they are malevolent enough, may choose to steal the bodies of others, but most souls instead inhabit unborn hosts without souls of their own. The soul will anchor to the host's developing brain, and from then on, the new host will treat the soul as if it were its own. This host can then be said to be a reincarnation of that soul.

A soul cannot impose the full personality of a previous host upon its new one, so in a way, a reincarnation is still a different person. However, the presence of the soul and the impressions of previous lives upon it can still influence the development of an individual even prior to their births, and can result in a reincarnation having a similar personality or talent to their soul's previous incarnations. For particularly magical souls, even a similar physical appearance is possible.

Reincarnation in this way serves both the soul's new incarnation and its old ones. The older incarnations benefit because everything about them is preserved and carried forward through their souls, even if their bodies may die and their consciousnesses become dormant. All that they are is not lost, but is instead used to form the basis of their next self, while they themselves are finally able to rest in peace.

New incarnations, meanwhile, benefit from immediate access to magic and the guaranteed ability to reincarnate no matter how young they die, as it would take them years to form souls on their own. As well, their mental development is assisted by the influence of their previous incarnations, which can cause an individual to grow up faster, or smarter. This is most apparent in small animal species, which have grown more and more intelligent over the centuries. Animals do not use magic as much as sapients, and so each generation has a larger soul and more previous incarnations to learn from.

It's also possible for individuals to access memories from their past lives. This comes naturally to spirits, who normally reawaken their previous memories without even trying as soon as their new bodies reach maturity. For mortal souls, however, this is much harder, and requires deep meditation and secret techniques to dive into one's own soul and make contact with previous incarnations. These techniques can also allow individuals to relive these memories, or seek advice from their previous incarnations by waking up their consciousnesses.

Soul signatures:
Every soul is truly unique, and expresses this uniqueness through a magical signature, indicating how that soul identifies itself. In some species, the soul's unique signature can outwardly manifest on their bodies as a soul mark. Soul marks differ in their nature depending on the species, as whether a species has a soul mark and what it does is a biological factor. In ponies, soul marks are called cutie marks, and have the additional effect of enhancing special talents, but for other species, soul marks may look and work completely differently.

Most species, however, do not have soul marks. For them, soul signatures exist only as an image within the mind's eye. For some, it is only a faint impression. For others, this image is so strong that it is normal in their cultures to create physical representations of these marks and outwardly display them. An example of this would be the Earth-237 humans, who do not naturally manifest cutie marks, but do stitch motifs of them into many of their clothes and display them in much the same way as ponies.

The manifestation of a soul mark is a passive magical effect that draws a very tiny amount of magic from one's soul throughout their life. Interfering with this magical effect is difficult, but an individual can in theory change their soul mark if they change their fundamental self, such as through severe amnesia, or a complete change of self-image, including what one identifies as their fundamental purpose in life and reason for being, or destiny.

Reincarnation is also a major factor in what a soul mark manifests as, because a reincarnated soul influences the mental development of its newest incarnation. It is common for ponies to have similar cutie marks to their previous incarnations. In some cases, soul marks can even remain exactly the same through multiple incarnations, though, this is rare.

Manifesting a soul mark requires forming a solid self-image based on a fundamental truth that the individual acknowledges with certainty, whether consciously or subconsciously. Manifesting a soul mark through subconscious acknowledgement can be confusing, especially for ponies, who can potentially gain cutie marks without truly knowing what they mean. However, most individuals will intrinsically know what their marks represent regardless.

Because soul marks require magic to appear, they can be absent due to a lack of magic. A loss of the soul by complete magical burnout would cause this, as while a pony might still know in their heads who they are, and thus still have the same mental traits needed to have a cutie mark, they would not have one without the soul itself to provide the magic for it. Death also causes a mark to disappear, as regardless of whether the soul still inhabits the body, once it breaks its bond and is no longer anchored, the body no longer has the magic to manifest a soul mark.

Acknowledgements:
-Souls leaving with the sunrise and cutie marks disappearing upon death are from Requiem, an ask-pony blog by Somber.