The heart of a living being, made of concentrated Dust. They can be created with the power of Creation, or through reproduction in a species with Souls.
Selhae and Fae are all born with souls, and Constructs have an artificial soul made from a piece of their creators soul and Essence in an inanimate object.
Inna souls are created in the form of a World Seed.
The makeup of a being’s soul can be thought of in layers. Generally, the way this appears is with a smaller, compressed Soul core within an outer Essence shell.
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Inna are beings made purely of Soul dust. They contain no Essence, and thus do not have a physical form.
Selhae and Fae follow the most common structure of being. This is a soul, surrounded by essence that provides a physical form and appearance to the being.
Constructs are similar to the Selhae and Fae, except their soul is incomplete. The soul dust within them, on its own, is not enough to facilitate life. So, it is supplemented with Essence. This is unique to constructs, and cannot be done to normal Selhae or Fae souls.
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a diagram showing the dust makeup of different beings. purple - soul, blue - essence
The definition of an “incomplete” soul is not exact. It is more defined by how it affects the being the soul belongs to. The less dust a being has, the harder it becomes for the being to hold its form and retain said dust.
Each soul resonates with an “archetype”, determining their natural “gifts” or “abilities”. These gifts are magic in nature, providing the user abilities one would not have without the same archetype. These come from resonating with specific types and amounts of Dust in ones soul. The more Dust you resonate with, the more powerful these abilities become.
There is a sort of hierarchy (not social, but metaphorical) of the archetypes, since some are more “powerful” than others. It can be visualized as a circle, the further inward you get (closer to the core of your soul) the more powerful your magic is, both within your ring and within the whole circle.
The outermost layer, like a shell, interacts with the tangible world, offering protection, structure, and practicality. There are many types of Shell Archetypes, and it is the most common archetype as well.
The middle layer acts as a veil or bridge between the surface and the core, with abilities focused on connection, discovery, and interaction. Veil Archetypes are slightly less common than Shell Archetypes, but are not unheard of in regular individuals.
The deepest, most essential layer of the soul, representing intrinsic truth, insight, and power. Core Archetypes can be very powerful, and there have only been a handful of Essence Archetypes discovered. It is rare to have these archetypes, as it means one has a very strong resonance with the core of their soul.
A list of known archetypes is as follows:
Selhae souls work inwards, towards the core of the self.