Editing 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."''<ref name = "sidebar">{{FLCitation|https://fallenlondon.fandom.com/wiki/Sidebar_Snippets|Sidebar Snippets|Fallen London|}}</ref>

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

'''''UNDER CONSTRUCTION'''''

== 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."''<ref name = "sidebar"/>

[[File:Ssea gaz soul.png|thumb|100px|A bottled soul. Art from Sunless Sea.]]

Souls are a key essence of life, present in every living creature - even plants and fungi. Each soul can affect one's emotions, and the more life experience a soul has, the stronger and more valuable it gets. No one's quite sure where souls 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; an isolated, bottled soul resembles a thin gas. [[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 barely noticeable at all, except for a feeling that ''something'' is missing. In fact, certain professions known for being passionless are even said to ''benefit'' from soul loss.  

It is also possible, through the right means, to get one's soul back.

[[File:Brilliantsoul.png|thumb|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 and absorb many human souls - several in one body, in some cases. Being monkeys, they often go overboard 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 "absorb" 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.

There are many ways to "damage" a soul without losing it - these are known as '''Soul Flaws'''. ''The [[Carillon]] Compendium'', written by the Presiding Deviless, separates these Flaws into seven categories:

 

''"Soul is fully transparent. No swirls, no clouding, no personality."''

 

''"Disregard of death is a serious flaw. It displeases the Blue Kingdom; it makes the Devils tut."''

 

Those with '''Clear''' souls are known for their disregard for the cycle of life and death. Individuals who refuse to join the military, decline to eat meat, tamper with death and immortality for fun, or merely keep library books past their due date might find their souls more transparent than usual.

 

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===[[File:Bloody square.png|40px]] Cold===

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''"The soul is icy to the touch. Dispassionate, clinical, removed."''

 

 

'''Cold''' souls are borne from dispassion, antipathy, and heartlessness. Owners of such chilly souls are the puppy-kickers, the willful bystanders, the murderers for money - the kind who let out a dark, villainous laugh when given a compliment.

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A person's soul can become '''Curdled''' by not knowing one's place, especially by ignoring or violating the natural hierarchy of things. Owners of Curdled souls might behave too familiar with their superiors, lie their way to the top, pretend to be someone they're not, or even deny the superiority of any [[:Category:Nonhumans|non-human creature]].

 

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===[[File:Hunger square.png|40px]] Fermented===

''"Soul appears faintly bubbling in its bottle. It is pungent of odour and indifferent to taboo."''

 

''"Perhaps you have eaten that which you should not. Perhaps you've come in contact with something unclean. At any rate, your soul has gone a bit off."''

 

Partaking in dirty deeds, shadowy affairs, and repugnant behaviors can cause one's soul to become '''Fermented'''. These are the individuals who ignore other people's plans and schedules, debauch with [[The Tomb-Colonies|tomb-colonists]], wear unwashed clothes, and generally do disgusting things... like swimming in the Thames. 

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===[[File:Pastscandal square.png|40px]] Flickering===

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''"Soul-light is unpersistent, incurious, lacking."''

 

''"Maybe you've found yourself lying as a matter of course. Maybe you've forgotten a few inconvenient aspects of yourself."''

 

The '''Flickering''' soul flaw relates to disassociation, the loss of identity, and self-delusion. Those with Flickering souls may have been compulsive liars to themselves or others, forgotten important aspects of their lives, memories, or achievements, or more chillingly, may have started to see something else in their reflection - perhaps because they passed through a [[Parabola|mirror]] and came back changed, losing a part of themselves that defined them. Or maybe they just published a masterpiece work of literature but forgot to read the reviews.

 

Spores of the [[Blemmigans|Uttershroom]], mysteriously, can also damage a soul in this manner. 

 

===[[File:Mirrors square.png|40px]] Lightless ===

''"Slothful, viceful, willful abandonment of talent and interest."''

 

''"Perhaps you have fallen into habits. Perhaps you haven't stretched your imagination lately."''

The '''Lightless''' soul flaw can be caused by poor habits, playing things overly safe, or leaving things at "just good enough". Those with Lightless souls might have abandoned their natural talents, become lazy or greedy... or they might merely have eaten too many carob candies.

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===[[File:Scrawl1.png|40px]] <font color="red">Stained</font>===

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''"Soul appears damaged, scorched. Reckless, dangerous and fatally curious."''

''"Perhaps you've looked into topics you should not have. Perhaps your soul has been consumed and spat out again by an unspeakable beast."''

Arguably the most dangerous of the seven soul flaws, '''Stained''' souls are the mark of the overly curious: those who seek forbidden knowledge or the world's deepest secrets.

Those who bypass censors, study the facets of [[Judgements|star]]-killing, learn dangerous [[Correspondence]] sigils, or look too closely into the nature of wells may gain a Stain on their soul.  

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[[File:SoulTrade.gif|center|880x880px|alt=A (non-canonical) ticker board of the soul trade. By Observator42.]]

''"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."''

[[File:Document.png|thumb|An infernal contract.]]

'''The Soul Trade''' is the legal, healthy, and widespread trade of (generally unstolen) human souls. After the Fall of [[London]], 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.

''"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."''

[[File:Forkbrass.png|thumb|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.

''"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."''

[[File:Pocketwatch.png|thumb|A Shepherd's Timepiece. ]]

[[Judgements]] need souls, and lots of them. 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. Certain devils, such as [[the Repentant Devil]], are highly competent at refining souls through their owners to make them more appealing to the Judgements, and as a result are highly sought after for their unique skills.

The question of the existence and the importance of souls has been pondered arguably since the beginning of philosophy as a discipline. People in real life might not have had the [[The Correspondence|laws of nature work in their favor]] and likely haven't seen a [[devil]], but the idea of a life-giving essence inherent to all things has been plaguing the minds of humanity for millennia - as has the concept of monstrous, evil creatures living deep underground. So many societies across history have told stories about souls: a divine quantum inside every human, a source of inner strength, a person's real self. For example, the philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, one of the inventors of calculus, thought that souls are the reason for everything we see: every single object, no matter how big or small, has a soul, and the soul's strength defines this object and brings it existence. Small particles combine into more complex systems, which then also combine, and so on. Sentient souls may develop even further by working on themselves, processing the inner and outside world and reaching for the eternal. And every soul is a reflection of God, as well as a potential divine being in itself, able to create its own universe. These concepts are reflected in the world of ''Fallen London'', where even tiny human souls are said to possess the potential to become [[Judgements]] and slowly grow and change as they gain experience, and inanimate objects can become animate given the right push, such as in places like [[Polythreme]].

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