The Soul Cycle

The Magic of Life

Souls are the Pure Magic force which binds people to life and provides emotion and individuality. It is what holds together the raw magic which composes the physical form and binds humans to life within that shell. And once the shell fades, they return to the Stars to begin the cycle anew. This process is not unique to sentient life, but rather all living beings, from grass to humans. However the amount of Sentience that a living being possesses lies in the amount of Pure Magic contained in their Soul. This amount is the same for every humanoid being, as they all originate from the same basic blueprint of life, however different they may manifest their physical form.

Life

All lives begin as a ball of Pure magic forming within a mothers womb, slowly collecting Soul Rain and coalescing into a ball of Pure Magic. It then begins to create a shell around itself from magic stored in the womb after impregnation, and binding itself to that shell, slowly forming a body. After birth, whether through seeds, eggs, or live birth, the body will continue to draw in magic from the surroundings until adulthood, at which point the body will stop absorbing magic into itself and the soul is completely integrated with the body. At this point the Soul is no longer a ball of pure magic in the center of the body, but rather one with the physical form, with a strong presence in the head, but over all far more similar to blood. At this point, there are two normal outcomes; The body is harmed beyond repair, causing the soul to leave it, or the body loses its binding to the soul over anywhere from 75-150 years depending on the magics creating the shell. Either way, once the physical form has reached the point of no return, the body will exhale its final breath, releasing the soul in an invisible mist of Pure Magic. Once the soul leaves the body, the magic forming said body flows away, usually leaving a physical manifestation of the magic within the form.

Afterlife

Once the Soul ascends from the physical form, it will ascend into the sky to return from whence it came, that being the Stars. During the day-long journey back into the Stars, the Soul will coalesce into a pure ball of magic like it was in the womb, all while shedding the microscopic amounts of Hued magic that form personalities. Once it reaches the Stars, it will suddenly halt, and begin the process of raining its magic back down into the world. This takes multiple years, depending on the amount of magic stored in the Soul, and is known as the Soul Rain. Along the process of descending from the sky it will combine with other Soul Rain that is descending, forming into Soul Streams. These Soul Streams are formations of Pure magic which flow through the sky, constantly shifting and splitting like water flowing down a mountain. As this pure magic nears the ground, it absorbs microscopic amounts of Hued magic to form personalities. Once the Soul Rain, stream or no, nears the ground, it will begin to funnel into newly forming Souls, beginning the cycle anew.

Manipulation of the Soul Cycle

During the Soul Cycle, there are many different ways in which the magic which composes a Soul and its physical form can be manipulated out or around the Soul Cycle. The most common of these exceptions include; Elementalism, Necromancy, Ancestral Divination, Astral magic, and Divine Manifestation. While these are the most commonly practiced and well known, the removal and manipulation of the Soul Cycle is an incredibly rare and complex sect of magic, with the practice of these magics being either incredibly rare, taboo, or just extremely difficult to learn and perform safely. A note about the removal of Soul magic from the Soul Cycle, it is incredibly difficult to completely remove magic from the Soul Cycle, as the magic which prevents the Soul from collapsing into the different Hues of magic around it forms also allows it to return to its original pure form after conversion into new Hues, like with Elementalism. To further elaborate on Elementalism, once the magic making up the soulless Elementals is damaged to the point of no return, and "dies", it will dissolve back into the Pure magic which once made up its soul, and ascend back into the Soul Cycle, leaving behind the magic that once made up the person's body as if they had died naturally.

Manifestation

Souls manifest themselves in the night sky as Stars, glowing as bright as the magic contained within them, and slowly fading as their magic gets repurposed into new life. The sheer amount of barely sentient life coming into and leaving the world on a daily basis creates what are known as "Oceans" of stars, so dim but dencely packed they form clouds of color. However on the other side of the scale, the brighter a Star is, the easier it is to view the microscopic amounts of Hued magic within the soul that once formed individuality, visualized as a tint of a particular color.

Type

Metaphysical, Astral