Spirits and Souls

Every mortal creature has either a soul or a spirit. Common animals are the normal animals (not including humans) that can be found in real life on Earth, and every one of these animals has a spirit.
Most other mortal beings have a soul. When an animal with a spirit dies, its spirit seeps into the Ethereal Plane where, as if by instinct, it travels to a Spirit Gate leading to Protogenia, the outer plane of the wilds. Then the animal gets to spend a short amount of time in the realm, learning and adapting. All animal adaptation takes place while the spirit is in Protogenia. Then, the spirit is reincarnated on the material plane in the form of either what animal they were in their previous life. Spirits only exist on one plane at a time. Souls on the other hand exist on 2 planes at once, their body on the material plane, and their soul on the ethereal plane. The ethereal plane is a misty mirror to the material plane, and every mortal's soul exists here (unless magic is used to transport it elsewhere).
When a mortal with a soul dies, their soul is detached from their body, and their consciousness shifts to their soul in the ethereal plane. After this, a servant of Kelemvor, god of death will find the lost soul and take them to the Fugue plane where they will be judged by Kelemvor to decide which outer plane the mortal will be sent to in their afterlife. This is decided by the mortal's actions in life, and the gods they worship. Normally a mortal soul is sent to the heaven of their god to act as a servant to the god or the heaven itself. This is overruled if the mortal made any deals relating to their soul in life, particularly offering their soul to a devil. When this happens, the soul is sent to the lower planes and turned into larvae, the lowest rank of fiend. Additionally, if a mortal was not truly faithful in the worship of their god(s), then their soul is sent to an outer plane that matches their alignment to become servants of the plane. If a mortal worships multiple gods then they will be sent to the heaven of whichever god they were most faithful to (unless some outside circumstance prevents their soul from reaching their god's heaven). After this entire process, what happens to a soul relies entirely on what heaven (or hell) that soul goes to.

Manifestation

The only way to see a soul is to have truesight or to be on the ethereal plane. On the ethereal plane, a soul appears as a sort of glowing mass shaped like whatever mortal the soul belongs to. The mass tends to resemble a shimmering nervous system that is constantly changing form and appearance. Spirits on the other hand resemble a spectral form of the animal it was in life, and can only exist on one plane at a time (this plane is usually the ethereal plane, though there are cases of spirits making it to the material plane and being venerated as spirits of nature by mortals).

Type

Metaphysical, Divine

Misinterpretations

It is common for the less learned mortals of Ebresia to refer to undead ghosts and other such similar creatures as spirits, even though they are almost exclusively lost souls. It is also a point of contention among scholars whether more intelligent animals such as apes have spirits or souls, though the presence of apes within Protogenia proves that they have spirits.

Souls on the Ethereal

While a creature's physical form exists on the Material, its soul simultaneously exists on the Ethereal. In this state, the soul is very resilient and is mostly safe from anyone who would try to harm it. When a creature with a soul enters the Ethereal, its soul merges with their physical form, which is claimed to strengthen one's sense of self.