My thoughts about the "soul" discussion

[Shadowmail]

So they were discussing back and forth what a soul is and why Ramus is the same without a soul. Then there is the discussion with the God in the archives saying the gods are lying.

What if they are like a “GPS” for the gods but does not have much other function. They plant them in all living things to track people and their lives. This sounds like something Adam would do. This is something our government would love to be able to do, but the gods pulled it off so to speak with us none the wiser.

What are your thoughts?

[itmeJP]

Can totally see Adam doing something like that! I think we’ll have answers soon.

[Monstercloud1]

I’m pretty sure they have another function - doesn’t the fountain essentially want (or hang on to) pure souls? IDR, but I thought Adam explained at one point a while ago that the fountains ultimate goal is to reincarnate souls until they’re “pure” and eventually return everything to nothing? I’m probably getting it wrong or oversimplifying it.

I’m wondering if the physical being is used as some sort of collector or dynamo for positive dharma. I’m sure the Arcana/Mara are going nowhere, and can wait the long game if this is the case. The “GPS” theory works with this, but I doubt the Mara would corrupt these “souls” “for the LULZ” if they truly served no other purpose.

[apepi]

My main theory is that the gods use the souls as a source of power. Which really isn’t even a theory.

We know people walk the way of Arcana to make their souls to become ‘pure’(or what you want to call it) and then join the fountain. Cleric’s and Paladin’s get their power from drawing from the Fountain. It has been declared multiple times that the fountain is a source of power.

I think the gods saw the power of mortal souls and it made them think “I want that.”, but barely anyone is prepared for them to be able to convert that energy. So the gods spilt up the human soul, higher(what the gods want) and the lower(personality/alignment). And they create the Arcana to give the mortals a way of being able to process/convert the mortal souls into being prepared.

As for why the gods can see those that have no ‘high’ souls I am not sure. I wonder if there is a division amongst the more divine gods and the elemental ones like Agni who is not part of the Arcane gods, I might go back and look to see how she interacts with Ramus. Perhaps only the divine can’t see those without their high souls.

[TwilightBorealis]

This is good stuff, but I want to clarify two points. The Fountain is not just the source of power for divine casters, but all magic. Arcane casters, such as Salihafa, are still tapping into the Fountain’s power, but as Ramus put it they are “stealing [it]”. Divine casters ask for the power; arcane casters press the buttons and turn the knobs themselves. The second point is that alignment is carried with the upper soul, not the lower soul. This, of course, applies to elemental alignment, and not traditional D&D alignment. For the latter, you would be correct.

Adam has also painted it before as the gods investing in and nurturing “humans” (see: anything with a soul), but this could also be said of animal husbandry, so your theory is still solid.

[apepi]

But the thing is your alignment can’t change, which would confuse me why it would be part of the upper soul if it was changeable? I don’t know.

And I don’t think everyone uses the fountain for magic? For example the forgotten gods may not, they seem to have been ‘left out in the deal’ to what ever happened between the divine gods/fountain/mortals. But they do seem… Weaker because of that? Hence they are forgotten.