therookery | [ OPEN ] Let No Soul Hunger For Justice: An Inquiry.

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[ OPEN ] Let No Soul Hunger For Justice: An Inquiry.

FORM: Sending Crystals
SENDER: Adelaide LeBlanc
RECIPIENT: Everyone
WHAT: Vaguely philosophical question time
WHEN: Current
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Part of Let No Soul Hunger For Justice.

[ Adelaide’s voice is even, if tired- but what else is new? Still this is a requirement for the next ritual and to that end, she must find some sort of acceptable truth from a variety of opinions. Sequestered in ‘her’ desk in the Library, full pot of coffee warmed to one side, sheaves of blank paper and bottles of fresh ink before her. To her right? Anders with a similar set up, papers, quills, ink- a kitten. To her left, Roul to take just as many notes. Prepared as they are ever going to be- she asks. ]

A few questions for the Inquisition:

What is a soul, truly? What fundamental differences are there between a mortal’s soul and the embodiment of a spirit? Is it the culmination of our thoughts and experiences, our emotions? Is it a combination of our self given purpose and our ambition?

A mortal might change their purpose, might grow and become more due to our experiences- most spirits do not. But what more than that? What sets one soul apart and makes it distinct from another? Can the same be said of similar spirits?

Answers need not be religious or academic- merely true. What do you believe to be the difference, what do you believe to be a soul?

[ ooc: threadjacking is welcome and encouraged ]

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I would call a soul the essence of who we truly are. All of our thoughts, our personality, our hopes and dreams... all of it. A body without a soul is dead, of course... Though I've seen plenty of undead, zombies and so forth, roaming around soullessly. Not a pretty sight.

[It's something Kain has thought about a great deal. He's seen too much back home not to understand the difference, the way that the undead aren't really themselves. There's a look in the eyes that somehow shows whether that soul is in there or not. He's also experienced death and being in soul-form himself, though that's not something to bring up at the moment.]

Your spirits here seem very different than that. They normally don't have mortal bodies of their own, for one thing, do they?

Nor do they much long for one as a demon might. They wish to fulfill their purpose and do so quite happily on their side of the veil for the most part.

[Interesting to know, he keeps lumping them all together in a way.] Do they have any interest in this world at all? If they could have heard us the way we did them back during that illness... do you think they might have wanted to come over here?

Most do not. Some can be compelled to render aid if we ask it of them. I have heard that in the Imperium mages make servants of Spirits but I have no knowledge of how such a thing might be done, nor do I have any desire to learn. Most spirits do not 'want'. They are. Desire and ambition are traits of men, of demons. If they wish to help it comes from their purpose and they find ways of offering it from where they are.

Well. Then... At least we're in no danger from them wanting to take over... though the demons are another story entirely. How do the spirits offer help from their side, though? I assume through communicating somehow...

Through dreams, most often. I am not certain how it works for those that are not mages- but for those of us so deeply connected to the fade? They help through dreams.

Much like the demons can also make contact and tempt people through dreams? But at least the spirits sound like they tend to be benevolent or neutral, anyway… What makes them so interested in helping? Is it somehow because they’re drawn to mages and magic?

Spirits are not drawn as much as demons are. For a demon, a mage is a potential way to this side of the veil. Spirits are...driven by their purpose. They need to fulfill it. Spirits of Justice wish to see things made just, spirits of Compassion wish to help those in pain become well. They are often disinterested at best- but there are those that help.

Those at least aren’t such bad things… it sounds as if they truly could be beneficial in those cases, especially if they lend their aid to those who need it. They can do so from their side, you’re saying, right? Just make contact from beyond the Fade? But if they cannot take on a form here, in this world, without possessing someone… I can see how that would lead to problems.

Most do not wish to be here- a desire to do so is dangerous. Desire in and of itself is dangerous for a Spirit. It runs the risk of tainting them, making them demonic- or that is the theory. We are unable to observe or test such things safely.

Desire... corrupts them somehow? [Oh, how he dislikes the sound of that overall. The very notion that desire could twist something around into evil... that's something he unfortunately experienced first hand, himself.] I can see all too well how that might be possible, unfortunately.

Desire, anger, envy, despair- strong negative emotion or being denied their true purpose. It is not often their fault, but it does happen.

Negative emotion can corrupt anyone then... Spirits or people.

[He sighs. Darkness has long been a part of his life, and it’s no different even in this world.]

There’s no hope for them once they become so corrupted? They cannot ever be turned back, be cleansed of that darkness once it’s within them?

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fleurdesel - 2016-05-17 08:31 (UTC) - Expand

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dragoon_pride - 2016-05-18 02:24 (UTC) - Expand

And spirits can't exist here without a body. Corpse or living doesn't entirely matter, but they need one.

Our souls need bodies as well, however.

Ah, so we can't expect spirits to simply cross over on their own? That's a relief. Seeing and hearing them last month was bad enough.

Which makes for a... troubling conflict, if a soul and spirit inhabit the same body...

[It's bad enough having any outside force get into your head, in his experience, but he can't imagine what it's like to carry one around all the time.]

Spirits don't want to cross over. Generally something has to happen that throws them here, as it did in this case - a particularly powerful pride demon was angry that we thwarted her and flung him out of the Fade along with the rest of us.

And yes. There's... conflict.

I have to admit, I've wondered how it came to be that you gained your... companion. He latched onto you because he had nowhere else to go, basically? He couldn't cross back?

That's... truly unfortunate. I only hope there's some way to ease that conflict, somehow.

He landed in a corpse when initially flung, and survived there for several months. There were problems with that, beyond the fact that corpses fall apart. He'd residual memories and feelings from the man whose body he had. If he moved every several months, he'd lose himself entirely in no time. A host who agreed with his ideals seemed the best solution.

Things did not go as planned or hoped.

How strange... so even though the body was dead, the... person in there remained somehow? [Very creepy thought, in a way.] Not what I would call a pleasant living environment, no... But then if he didn't intend to get flung out here in the first place, why did he not seek a way to return? Or couldn't he, at that point? Or... did he even want to?

[Does that spirit want to leave now, even? He knows it seems that the spirit is more or less stuck there at the moment, but still...]

We couldn't find a way to get him back, and our resources were very limited. It was mostly me and him trying to figure things out, and the environment was fairly hostile.

[Heavily hostile, in the end.]

Small library, people who want you dead, people who if they knew what he was would want him dead as well and would probably brand you as maleficar and then have grounds for killing you are, oddly enough, not conducive to finding out a great deal of anything.

Right, that wouldn't exactly be a great way to start off a conversation. Hardly an easy topic to discuss around here in general.

[He knows well by now how others feel about the matter and Anders overall. He gets it, but he's still an outsider to all of it, in the end.]

It sounds like you did what you had to at the time, and as much as you could.

[Little does Kain know that this came about before Anders had even done anything wrong save run away for the sake of freedom seven times.]

I did. Maybe this will mean more options in the future should others wind up in similar situations.

[It really is a difficult situation to be in. Which is why he can’t completely go along with what everyone’s told him. If he did that, it feels like he’s got no hope for his own situation.]

I’d hope so. It can be easier for others to walk a path that someone has already made for them. Perhaps that will be the case here.

It would be nice to find a way that does not doom one or both caught in the situation, yes. Even nicer would be something that can be done quickly. If someone's fallen under the hold of a demon, there are only moments to act. At best.

That really isn't much time to work with. But if there were some way to stop it as it's happening, or before... not to mention also dealing with those already possessed...

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