Souls

"In simpler times, Hell would take a soul on the death of the body. Death is more complicated in Fallen London, though not unknown. So it's not terribly uncommon to meet someone who's short a soul. Some of them become mumbling, dead-eyed husks: some of them simply turn to occupations where soullessness is a professional advantage."

File:Undistinguishedsouls.png

A Jumble of Undistinguished Souls. Art from Sunless Skies.

Souls are an gaseous, inexplicable, metaphysical, and sometimes valuable part of almost every living thing.

WORK IN PROGRESS

A Metaphysical Caprice?

"An otherwise tedious anarchist pamphlet gained some notoriety when it claimed that eleven per cent of the citizens of Fallen London had traded, lost or otherwise mislaid their souls. An exaggeration, certainly. But the Bazaar does not permit the publication of the real number. Look around you when you next take a seat on a crowded omnibus. The girl sitting next to you could quite easily be one of the soulless."

A bottled soul. Art from Sunless Sea.

Souls are the essence of life, present in every living creature - even plants and fungi. Each soul regulates one's emotions, and the more life experience it has, the stronger and more valuable it gets. An isolated, bottled soul resembles a thin gas. No one's quite sure where they come from, but in the Neath, souls are ferried to the Far Coast by the Boatman after death, and in the High Wilderness they go to the Blue Kingdom to be judged by the Sapphir'd King.

Even such a crucial part of one's psyche can still be removed. Devils along with the Bazaar run the Soul Trade, and are responsible for the vast majority of incidents related to soul loss. It's indeed possible to live without one's soul, but the consequences may be dire, such as losing aspects of one's emotion or memory, or they may be nearly unnoticeable at all, except for a feeling that something is missing. In fact, certain professionals known for passionlessness are even said to benefit from soul loss. It is also possible, through the right means, to get one's soul back.

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A valuable Brilliant Soul. Art from FL.

The Empire of Hands, in the far eastern Unterzee, is a colony of intelligent monkeys who have managed to acquire souls - several in one body, in some cases. Being monkeys, they often go overboard about it and conclude that more is better; social status in the Empire is in fact based on how many souls one has, and they actively acquire souls from smugglers as well as careless zailors. Apparently, they "consume" the souls with the intention of inheriting the soul's traits and becoming more human-like, due to a burning envy of sorts for their less fur-covered counterparts.

Soul Flaws

There are also a few ways to "damage" a soul without losing it - these are known as Soul Flaws. Years in the future, devils of Carlion would separate them into seven categories:

Lightless

This is a flaw of bad habits, of self over-protection, of not being able to move from where you feel good enough. One could make his soul lightless in some way by abandoning his natural talents, by being lazy, greedy ... or just eating too much carob candies.

[ways of curing is not yet here]

Fermented

This is a flaw of dirty deeds, of shadowy affairs and repugnant behaviours. Those, who ignore other people's plans and timetables, participate in filthy activities, such as associating with tomb-colonists or wearing unwashed cloth, or do any other disgusting thing, bear this flaw on their soul. Also everyone who ever swam in the Thames river gets his soul fermented too.

[ways of curing is not yet here]

Curdled

This is a flaw of not knowing your place, ignoring or violating natural status hierarchy. Curdled souls could behave over-familiarly with those who stand higher than them, try to rise from their low-position by false claims and lies, pretend to be someone they are not, or even deny the superiority of any non-human creature.

[ways of curing is not yet here]

Cold

This is a flaw of ignorance, antipathy and heartlessness. Have you ever kicked a small child? Or killed someone you once loved for money? Or avoided petting a cute puppy? Or let out a dark, villainous laugh when someone complemented you? Chances are that you soul is colder than Frostfound's ice.

[ways of curing is not yet here]

Clear

This is a flaw of disregard to dead and death, of ignoring natural way of life. In this category falls those who refuse to join the army, who work with dead and death for sake of curiosity or fun, who seeks immortality and who keep a library books past their due date. Not eating meat is also considered to be a way to get your soul clear.

[ways of curing is not yet here]

Stained

This is a flaw that marks overly curious ones, who seek forbidden knowledge, or just like to stick their long nose in other's business. Deeds that are considered forbidden, for example: asking a recipe for rubbery limps, unravelling of what Masters of Bazaar do in a bathroom, studying nature of zee-beasts, stealing secrets from government, staring into the well for too long...

[ways of curing is not yet here]

Flickering

This is a flaw of amnesia, confusion, and everything that comes with it. Not remembering people, events, dates, seeing someone else in your reflection, lying constantly and not realising it, going through a mirror and coming back changed, loosing metaphorical parts that defined you as a person - that is ways to make soul start flicker. That said, spores of Uttershroom could also have similar effect, damaging soul forever.

[ways of curing is not yet here]

The Soul Trade

"Souls are traded to Hell for brass, hydrogen, devilbone, earthly delights, rare coins and other things difficult to find in a department store. Trade without a license is punishable by - well, I don't want to upset you. Nothing you'll need to worry about. After all, you wouldn't be daft enough to engage in spirifage: the unlicensed trade in souls."

An infernal contract.

The soul trade is the legal, healthy, and widespread trade of (generally unstolen) human souls. After London's failed invasion of Hell in 1868, the devils established the Brass Embassy on Ladybones Road, and set to work collecting souls from London's citizenry. They persuade, beguile, and charm people to give up their souls, and they may even trade with human spirifers, whom the Masters abhor. Devils are especially interested in unique souls, but damaged ones are basically worthless, and should never be offered to them.

Violations

"There's a healthy export trade in souls from Fallen London to Hell. But like all trade, it's licensed and overseen by the Bazaar. Spirifers are those rogues who bypass the Bazaar to sell directly to Hell. A soul may be a final desperate payment against a bad debt; it may be gambled unwisely; or it may be tricked from its first owner."

A Spirifer's Fork.

Spirifers are merchants who lack permission from the Bazaar to trade in souls. Most are humans, but a few may be devils. Their trade is called spirifrage; it is lucrative, but spirifers are often persecuted severely, especially by the Masters.

Spirifers often steal souls from the ailing or the foolish, and almost never with a person's consent. Stopping these villains is the top priority of the Committee for Vital Restitution, whose Shepherds work tirelessly to return stolen souls to their owners.

The Truth?

"Are you quite sure you want to know this?" Beyond this point lie major spoilers for Fallen London, Sunless Sea, Sunless Skies, or Mask of the Rose. This may include endgame or major Fate-locked spoilers. Proceed at your own risk. You can find out more about our spoiler policy here.

"Finally, a soul returns to the sky, for the Judgements to absorb and savour and add to their nature. I do not regard this as ascension. I regard it as digestion. But I fear it comes to us all."

A Shepherd's Timepiece.

Devils use souls to manufacture laws, both natural and legal. With enough souls, one could even create a new law of gravity, but that would be overriding the Judgements, which would be a bad idea. Most of this manufacturing happens in the factories of the Iron Republic, where laws are created and destroyed daily. Certain devils, such as those in Carillon, can refine souls through torture or by other means. Devils who are skilled in this practice, such as the Repentant Devil, are sought out by the Judgements.

Judgements themselves also need souls. Not much is known about their habits exactly, but it is pretty clear that they seem to eat souls. Do Judgements burn souls to create laws like Devils do, or are they themselves a result of the soul's evolution, a combination of myriads of smaller ones? No one really has an answer to that, but mysterious Judgement Eggs, that resemble extremely powerful souls, are real for sure, whatever they actually are.