The soul is the part of a being that is not its body, its energies, or its mind. It is that which remains after death, what can never be destroyed or touched by anything that does not approach or desire divinity.

The nature of souls is as varied as the life which grows upon the land, so let us take an example that I'm sure you're familiar with: humans.

A human soul is one energetic, vibrant, and complete being. According to the mind, they take on the appearance of the last body they were in. A soul form of a human will often be idealized, with features that are more like the self image of themselves rather than the reality that they live in. The longer a human is alive the less true this is, and the more they either accept their lot in life or cling to what they once had.

The outer layer of a human soul houses an energetic field. This field is a container for the individuated parts. The layer will contain bodies, not of flesh and blood, but of energy and where to store it. The bodies are responsible for domains such as knowledge, emotions, logic, relationships, commutation, imagination, connections, anchoring, subtle energy, purpose, senses, and completion.

These bodies are the equivalent of organs. No human can live without a brain or a heart no matter how much they try.

Within that outer layer lies a shell. This shell houses memories, their divine blueprint, and their core. Memories are woven into the shell and captured, then activated when necessary. The blueprint defines what one is and can be compared to an outside source, like the human racial shield. The core itself is both more and less complicated than it appears.

Each true human has a spark, a fire, a bit of chaos inside themselves. It is at this deepest, most fundamental level that one can find the true divinity that is within each and every being. This spark is something that no one short of a World Seed is capable of even touching, and should one actually try, the spark will try to consume you.

Creatures that look human will have alternative bodies or a core that differs from the norm. Lythians have holes in their shell that begs to be filled by something else. Demons will have their emotional center closed off and inaccessible, and youkai are strange from top to bottom, inside and out, and they are imbalanced as much as one can be without losing their sense of self.

Souls are not passive objects, and almost none are alone. In the same way that the fingers on a hand are their own object, so too are souls. They can group up together into a fist, multiple fists into an arm, and multiple arms and legs into a ball that is an entire body.

A more apt analogy is a tree. For every one trunk on a tree, there are a number of branches. Each branch has twigs, and twigs have leaves. The pattern must be symmetrical on a circle or sphere in space, but any viable pattern may be used by a soul group. The most common pattern among humans is one trunk, twelve branches, twelve twigs for each branch, and five leaves for each twig.

Let us take another example for a soul: slimes. Most people believe that slimes have no souls, but that couldn't be further from the truth. They are, in fact, the physical manifestation of a soul by a wayward god that wanted to experiment. They have all of the same priorities: an outer layer of muscle, an inner layer of gel, and a core that marks their place in the universe.

The idealized form of a slime is whatever they happen to be copying. The leaves on their head, the color of their gel, and the goofy, simple nature of their bodies all support the idea that they are souls. Unlike humans, each slime is an individual unit, physically manifested, and disconnected from everything. This is why they tend to eat and eat until they no longer wish to do so. Slimes are empty souls mixed with dirt or metal and are trying to fill themselves.

A soul is as far away from physicality that you could possibly be. It exists side by side in the world the same way that the layers of essence are stacked on top of each other. A soul by itself has no anchor, and a body without a soul has no presence. They work together as one, forming a mind and a potent source of energy in-between to facilitate the transfer of memories, growth, and to fulfill any life paths that the soul demands.

There are two consequences of organizing consciousness this way. The first is known as bonds. On a basic level, a bond is a connection between two souls. They find purpose, grow together, or wish to remain near each other. Bonds are forged constantly and easily, and the purpose of the outer layer is to make them intentional.

Bonds can be forced onto a soul. If one has a specific purpose in their incarnation, and another interferes with that to the point of changing that purpose, then a lesson must be learned from it. The one aggrieved will bind up memories and energy into a solid, stable form and contain it either for the sake of making it easier to deal with, or for keeping it from seeping out. Forced bonds can be wounds or scars, and are known better by the name of karma.

The second consequence is that a soul requires a complete anchoring system to change or grow. For humans, this is the purpose of their body, mind, and vital spirit. A cord will bind everything together and anchor the soul into one spot, flow through their vitality, connect to their mind, and in turn let them experience the world as a singular unit instead of as a group of souls.

The cord is often seen as silvery and winding, but can also be brilliant pink and almost invisible. The act of astral projection is as much for disconnecting your soul from your body as it is for your energies to disconnect from your intention. Consciousness is complicated, and is what everything is made of on some level.

Let it be known that anyone who deals with souls directly is beyond the ability to be understood by most people. Everyone else is weaving essence, manipulating cores, tricking your mind, or trying to perform magic. Most people trick themselves more than others, and precious few can do something real.

This concludes the discussion on souls. I hope yours finds the best path through life.