One small correction before we get started on today's topic. Last time we said ‘The World of Nisteria’ was Part 2 and ‘The Nature of Souls’ was Part 3. As you can see, this was incorrect. We got some paperwork mixed up and have decided to keep the new order rather than have to refile the paperwork for several of these little teaching sessions.

Okay so last time we covered The Divine Hierarchy, Divine rules, and at least touched on many subjects related to that. Here today, we are covering ‘The Nature of Souls’ in the World of Nisteria. Many of the ideas here are familiar to you, but there are some subtleties not everyone may be aware of.

First and most simply, what is a soul? In the World of Nisteria, it is the heart of all living things. Gods, monsters, ants, trees, if it can act on the outside world with it’s own intentions, it has a soul. This extends to even mindless creatures like many low level undead, most of which are monsters and not mortal races, and things like Jellyfish. Most microscopic organisms lack souls, barring parasites.

Most living things souls go straight into the reincarnation cycle of this universe upon its death, but new souls come into being all the time. Everytime something new is born, if there isn’t an available soul to reincarnate, which can take awhile to recycle, a new one is created. From where? We…don’t know. It is one of the mysteries only the Creator knows, and they aren’t telling us. Probably so no one gets any ideas of trying to control the flow of new life into the world.

Second, how do souls differ? Well, every soul is unique in of itself. Even cloned beings, if they have at least a few minutes of different experiences, will have minute subtleties in their souls that set them apart. Beyond this, there are broadly speaking Eight ‘types’ of souls. Six for the mortal races, Monster souls, and Divine or Godly souls.

The six mortal race souls roughly define their relation to other species, some broad strokes about their species, and what group they belong to.

First and oldest of them is the Homid/Nisterian/’Human’ species. Even here in the divine realm we can’t decide which fits most accurately, but Nisterian is the most commonly used, so that is what I shall stick to from here on out.

Nisterian species are defined by several relative natures, and most importantly, how they connect to magic and the astral around them. There are exceptions to what is talked about here for every species, but most will follow general trends. We will use ‘Humans’ and ‘Amazons’ as examples here.

Without fail all Nisterian species are bipedal, with between two and six arms (so far), one or two heads, and roughly the same internal layout of organs. They tend to be highly adaptable socially, culturally, intellectually, and individually. They tend to most easily grasp at magic in the ‘Sorcery’ or ‘Esoteric’ category (Magic classification in a later part), which put simply is magic that focuses on concepts or ideas rather than a specific element. Magic such as Death magic, Nature magic, Healing magic, and Mind magic.

Humans are basically THE template of this group. They are well rounded, highly adaptable, and have no particularly glaring weaknesses. Unlike other mortal racce groups, those in the Nisterian category find their species bonuses within the (Current) level system to outweigh their penalties (usually by about a 20% swing (IE if their penalties across all skills comes to -140% when combined (No skill can be above -99% individually) then their bonuses will ad up to around +160%) but rarely have more than 10-15% bonuses in a category.

Amazons are in a very similar boat, but have weaker magical connections to balance out greater natural physical abilities. Amazons compared to humans also have magical connections to ‘Earth’ and ‘Fire’ magic, both of which are ‘Elemental’ or ‘Concrete’ magics.

Other species in this group include Cyclops, Neomites, Ettinlings, Neanderthals, Halflings, and Orcs (Contrary to popular belief, they are not among the Monster races, though they once were).

Second up is the Fae races. The Fae are, as a general rule of thumb, much more flighty and have fewer rules in their cultures than Nisterian races, but are slow to change and strict with what rules they have. The Fae races originally came from another plane of existence, and while refugees fleeing the Wars of the Courts still trickle in, most Fae on Nisteria were born there.

Fae are generally speaking less physically inclined than Nisterians, but more magically powerful, and some of their stronger species push the limits of what a mortal race can be without returning back to being a monster race. They are usually strongly connected to elements, or natural magics (Beast magic, nature magic, storm magic) and generally speaking prefer to fight lightly armored and armed.

They are internally divided into three groups, mostly defined by the very Courts they fled from, though old ideas and prejudices from it persist. Those are the Sidhe Lords (Created by Mother of All Fae ‘Natla’ who created the majority of Fae species in existence) who were born of the ‘Pure’ Elements, AKA energy. Below them are the Sidhe, who were created from the physical elements, such as Clay, Metal, and Rock. Finally are the ‘Lesser Sidhe’ who were created from the plants, beasts, and other things and are the youngest of the three.

Among the ‘Sidhe Lords’ you can count the Daoine created from light, Puca created from Shadow, and Fairies who were created originally from Air. Among the ‘Sidhe’ you have Dwarves, Gnomes, and Goblins, who contrary to other worlds, get along rather well (A shortened version of their creation myth shall be included at the end of this lesson), Among the ‘Lesser Sidhe’ you have beings like the Cait Sidhe, Pixies, and Redcaps.

The Third Mortal Race group is the ‘Infernal’ races. Demons, Devils, Fiends, they all fall into this group. Largely they are divided into two main groups, Demons of the Seven Aspects and the Oni of the East. All of them, including the Oni though they have other distinguishing characteristics, are defined by a single strong ‘Vice’. The Demons of the Seven Aspects all fall under one of seven (Wrath, Envy, Lust), while the Oni of the East have others (Murder, Cannibilism, Torture, Impersination).

As you can imagine, this leads most of them down a darker path, but it would be untrue to say they are inherently evil. Many of Nisteria’s greatest Heroes have been among the Infernal races, and the current head of the Adventurer’s Association is a high level Succubus by the name of ‘Victoria’.

Unlike most other races, infernals ‘metamorphize’ or ‘evolve’ as they gain in power, starting as Imps (Impt of Wrath, Imp of Sloth) and rising to to different forms as they grow older and stronger. Past a certain point they become monster races once again, this is when they become a ‘Lord of X’ with the X being their Vice. At the top of all of this, ruling one of the seven thrones, is the ‘Personification of X’ which are usually warring amongst themselves.

The Oni have a similar metamorphing quality, but it’s less around their vice and more about how they attain their power. They to have lords, called Daimyo, above all others, but there are more numerous and the barrier to entry is lower.

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Infernals tend to be connected to a magic of their vice (Lust Magic, Sloth Magic, Wrath magic), Infernal magic (Which is Elemental) and a few others depending on their personal path of growth. Physically Greed demons tend to be the weakest but most magically potent while Wrath demons tend to be the opposite. Oni are usually very physical, but tend to connect to magics similar to their ‘Vice’ (Murder could have connections to Gluttony and Wrath magic for instance)

The ‘Celestial’ races are our forth group, and follow much the same rules as the Infernals, but connecting to a specific Virtue instead. The Western ones, usually falling the Seven virtues that oppose their Demon counterparts, are the Angels, while in the east they are the Kami.

At the top of their hierarchy are the ‘Thrones’ and the “Emperor/Emperesses’. Much like the Infernals, while their virtues tend to push them into a path of good, they can also do great evil. An Archangel (Highest level of the mortal Celestials) of Temperance by the name of ‘Ouroborus’ is currently one of the great evils plaguing Nisteria.

In the east they are currently ruled by a Empress of the Cleansing Light named ‘Ame’, who is the daughter of a Goddess over there that is worshiped as the sun incarnate (Please note that even in the east there are multiple goddesses of the sun, and Ameteratusu is not currently active, which Goddess serves as her mother is unknown)

Fifth up we have the Beastkin, who resembles a Nisterian merged with a beast, usually only displaying one or two traits, but there are exceptions. All of them (Foxkin, Bearkin, Wolfkin) have a ‘superior’ version that is rare among their kind (Kitsune, Arctotherium, Son of Fenrir) that is just the base form, but with the species traits cranked up to eleven, good, bad, tangible, intangible.

If it is a non-monster animal, insect, or arachnid, it has a kin out there somewhere. Traits typical of those animals are found in their kin (Bearkin are big and physically imposing, mouse-kin are fast with deft hands, ETC) and their personalities often bear some hallmarks. Bearkin tend to be more introverted and solitary, Wolfkin highly social. These are general trends and not representative of the whole population.

When it comes to magic they tend to have few but powerful connections. Foxkin and Kitsune are powerful masters of Fire, and Illusions. Bearkin tend to master Earth and Beast magic. So on and so forth.

Finally of the mortal races we have the Draconic races. Created by a ‘Dragon’ monster race or one similar, most Draconic species were created to serve and mimic their parents. Dragonkin mimic the kind of Dragon they resemble, Lamiadyn have many similar powers to the Lamia, Nagalings are the favored children of the Nagas and so forth.

Physically they are highly variable, but magically they tend to be connected to the same magics as their parent monster. Dragonkin for instance have strong Elemental connections, while Lamiadyn are skilled with poison and shapeshifting magics.

Unlike most of the other species, Draconic races rarely have their own societies (The Free Dragonkin of the Northern Steppe are one exception), and instead live only to serve their creators. The major exception to this is that the Lamia, Lamiadyn, and their kin have a much more equal and diverse society, created out of need after the Lamia were expelled from their homeland by the Spartans. As such some Lamiadyn have formed their own cities and clans without any Lamia influencing them, though most still happily work with their parents in the mountain tribes most Lamia now live among.

Finally (As we explained gods last time) are the Monster races are are actually divided into two. Lesser monsters (Which can’t be revived after death as their souls are to unstable), and Greater or ‘True’ Monsters (Such as Dragons, most Giants, Lamia, and Naga) who are too powerful for a mortal soul to sustain.

Lesser monsters have souls like all else, but unlike mortal races they simply pop into being wherever they are needed. The world is divided into regions based on natural borders and biomes, and monsters spawn within the appropriate areas. If a monster population is above a minimum threshold, no new ones will spawn. Spawned monsters come in mostly identical to each other as adults, where born monsters can be more variable.

Giant Orb Weavers have a very high population threshold, and thus will spawn constantly. Dragons have a very low population threshold, and more than two or three in most regions prevents new ones from spawning.

Intelligent Monsters that spawn come equipped with basic clothing, skills, and attitudes that form the stereotypes most people have for these monsters. Bred monsters will diversify, with diverging culture, scientific and magic advance, and so on. Spawned dragons are to a tee domineering, greedy, and selfish (Among ‘True’ western style dragons (Don’t tell Ryujin this as they claim to be the ‘True’ style of dragon, many wars have been fought between the various groups on this) there are two notable exceptions. Crystal Dragons, who are rather isolationist and passive, and Fae Dragons that are flighty, aloof, and fun loving).

When a lesser monster dies, their soul cannot remain together as a cohesive whole, and instead returns directly to the world to turn into a new monster, with part of it remaining behind as the crystalized essence use for many magical purposes. Their bodies likewise will vanish in puffs of smoke, occasionally leaving behind useful processed or semi-processed parts (If the killer of the monster was killing them for a specific purpose, such as their meat, the body does remain but less or no essence is collectible as that energy was used to make the body solidify).

Greater monsters leave behind actual corpses, and some have souls powerful enough to reject the cycle and remanifest after a time, building a new body.

Finally if an area's monster population is allowed to stay at a critical threshold for long enough, Apocalyptic Variants are born. Basically Unique or Raid Bosses that can be formed from any monster race along it’s metamorphosis or evolution path (Most of which have multiple branches (Orb Weavers can for instance eventually become great titanic spiders, Arachnea, or extremely venomous stealthy spiders)), usually a final variant.

These can be anything, from the Continent Eater Slime destroyed some 3000 years ago, to the Nigh-Immortal Dragon Emperor who was powerful enough that he could not be permanently killed. Instead his soul was bound into his corpse by force, and the corpse sealed with 1000s spells and other bindings, of which 800 have been broken giving him enough space to reach into the minds of those similar to himself, and influence the world around him.

As a Monster grows more powerful, it will morph down one of it’s various paths, or step sideways and pick up a ‘unique’ trait before continuing down. The most common of these unique traits is a elemental connection (Giant Orb Weaver of Fire, of Ice, of Lightning), a general stat buff, or an intelligence boost, though some other rare variations have been seen (Such as the Curse Spider, whose venom was replaced with pure mana that levies a random D-rank curse onto a person). The further down a path a monster is, the less likely it is to gain a unique trait. Intelligent Monsters, such as Ogres, Blackcaps, and Night Goblins, have their own paths, but they are slower and more subtle, with variations being far more rare.