An Essay on Soul Magic: The Forbidden Branch of Magic

The Soul is the most important component of creatures that live in the Mortal
Plane of Existence. It is what nourishes the body and allows the creation of a
developed mind, whatever it is a rational or irrational mind.

The Soul is an amalgamation of Arcane, Spiritual and Physical components,

being unique for every being, with an individual frequency. Created at conception, it
takes the physical energy discharged during mating rituals as a seed to gather
arcane energy of the environment. The amount taken during this point and the
quality of the physical energy are factors that contribute to ease many beings have
gathering Arcane energy, also, contact with divine or infernal energy can create
Special Souls more attuned to those in particular.

During the development of the creature the combination of those two

components will generate spirit, allowing beings to have their own individuality,
essentially it is the Mind.

The greatest projection of the Physical Component is the Body, intertwined

with Spiritual and Arcane components which fuel movement and all possible actions.

Soul magic is, in general, a dangerous and despised branch of magic due to
the complexity of the soul and all inherent risks in messing with it, however, the
greatest minds can not help but be attracted to something that can give power over
the essence of most mortal beings and, at the same time, such an unknown thing.

The most important principle in Soul magic is that the soul is the central
building, supported by components that act as pillars. You can not separate one
without breaking the whole construct and all alterations must be done in equal parts,
searching for balance.

Soul Markers

The best way to manipulate somebody’s soul is by affecting the Mind, using
specific arcane markings called Soul Markers.

Every soul is marked by the passing of time, those marks are natural and will
differentiate a newborn soul from an adult soul in an superficial sense, with every
important and trivial event registered. If you can read it, you will be able to
understand someone better than the person itself.

Soul Markers are the product of an arcane process to alter the Mind in such a
way that a Marker will be formed as if such experience was real and natural.
However, being an artificial thing, it is possible to be noted and undone as long as
enough power or skill is present. Unfortunately, only the original caster can remove
one without side effects.

Soul Refinement

You can extract and refine the individual soul, as a way to use it as an
ingredient in Alchemy or in Rituals. It must be done by your own soul, similar to a
grinding, where you wipe all markers and individuality and equalize the frequency to
your own, easing the difficulty in controlling it. You can also, during the refinement,
acquire part of the memory existing in the Soul, however, there will be always loss in
the result.

The oldest souls are harder and take longer to refine, due to the long
experiences and power accrued during this time. You could say, in simple terms, that
an old Soul is denser and possess more depth, increasing exponentially the difficulty
of the refinement.

Possession and Soul Fracturing

It is possible for a Soul to fracture due to various reasons, such as traumatic

experiences, emotional turmoil, otherworldly corruption, madness, etc.
A Fractured soul is a fragile thing, however it is those souls that can separate
pieces and keep them in separate vessels. Those vessels are then possessed by the
soul piece, functioning as backups for the main soul, useful avatars for management
and important material components for rituals.
The possession of another being with a soul with just a sliver of your own is a
difficult prospect, necessitating great mental assault and resilience. However, upon
victory, the soul piece is capable of assimilating the defeated soul, however it is
almost impossible to break the link between the main soul and it’s pieces.
Communication and Control are the main properties the Soul link between the
main soul and it’s pieces concedes.
The destruction of any Soul piece will cause great pain to the main soul. The
destruction of the main soul will break the original Soul link, with the pieces
remaining establishing a new one.

Soul Crystals

Soul Crystals are a basic and fundamental product of Soul Magic. The
crystallization of a Soul has many uses: Restoring Stamina, Healing Wounds,
Fueling Spells and Rituals, Catalyst in Alchemy, beyond countless other uses.

The possible uses are varied and it allows to jump usually necessary steps in
rituals ou spells, pushing all rules of magic aside. Unfortunately, such impressive
impressive effects come with the price of spending energy at alarming rates. For
those reasons, Soul Mages and Alchemists use sparingly and the way of creating
has been a mystery for a long time.

Curses and Blessings

 You can corrupt a soul, turning it into something full of resentment and hatred.
Those souls are perfect fuel for evil curses that extend to bloodlines, cities, race,
land, etc.
The reverse is also possible, Souls full of love, happiness, purity are perfect
fuels for permanent blessing rituals. Artificial creation of those feelings by use of Soul
Markers are also effective, however, the effect is much diminished and usually
temporary.