022. [Text]

[explosivecombat]

With matters of one's heart and soul so close in mind, due to the recent holiday and all the romantic connotations therein, I ask that you forgive the possibly morbid nature of the question I have for you tonight:

The state or condition of one's soul is often brought into question when their deeds are brought to light or held up for scrutiny; the concept of the damned and those destined for salvation aren't new concepts by far. However, I have to ask what that means for all of you - do you accept your soul as existing only as a metaphysical concept, a matter of faith, something unproven and intangible? Or is it something undeniable where you come from, not a matter of faith but rather proven to exist? Does it fail to exist for you at all?

Or, perhaps, is it something else entirely - something that was rendered from one of the above options into another?

I suppose I should apologize for such heavy subject matter; I imagine some will find it rude to attempt to quantify such a thing. However, it's been something I've had reason to consider lately, so no apology is forthcoming.

Comments

[text]

[explosivecombat]

I won't disagree with that assessment, actually; a soul, as far as I understand it, is tantamount to one's life force - that which one cannot live without, because there would be no "one" to continue to live in the first place. I wouldn't say it's not physical at all, because I believe it to be; it's just not always immediately perceivable. It's a bit complicated to explain.

And don't worry about not knowing how this world handles such matters, as that wasn't what I was asking about in the first place; what matters is how you define it. I appreciate the straightforward answer, at least.

[text]

[grapecape]

Life force sounds more like another concept that I know to exist in my world. The soul itself is

Actually, that's not always

[...hmm]

Maybe an analogy would work. I understand the essence of a person to be like a cart - it has its own form, but its contents change over time. There is a force which may act upon it, and pull it along, and when the cart is in motion then it is a living person.

The cart can generate its own momentum if it rolls downhill, but the production of "life force" results from the soul's interaction with its environment, and not its existence alone.

That analogy has more holes in it than a sieve, but I think it illustrates my general concept. The term "life force", for me, has an entirely different connotation than the term "soul", and seeing it used in that context is a little jarring.

My concern with this world is that it seems to possess its own distinct natural laws, and has changed our beings to adhere to those laws upon bringing us here. When I hear things like this, I can't help but wonder how deep those changes go.

[text]

[explosivecombat]

I think I'm following; it's not exactly how we interpret it back home, but I can see where it's a valid differentiation to make.

As for this world - am I to assume you've experienced these changes for yourself, then? I've undergone some, though not as drastic as most: I was human, for all intents and purposes, before being brought here; this world has just seen fit to remove some talents I had previously.

[text]

[grapecape]

I have. The physical changes aren't that severe, but I've lost quite a few "talents" of my own. Given what I know about how they work, I've taken the fact that they simply don't work here as evidence of some kind of fundamental difference in how this world operates. I assume that all the worlds we come from are in similar situations.

If it were a simpler topic to research, I'd be looking into it more actively. [because it's cool as all shit]

[text]

[explosivecombat]

[Isn't. It. Just.]

I have yet to see anyone who's retained any of their world-specific talents, actually. Physical talents such as strength and speed - things that one can train themselves into, basically - seem to be kept, but anything that may be seen as supernatural has been removed. There are a few talents specific to my world, and many of us that were brought here (or who have been here in the past) have wielded those talents well enough to be considered for a highly-specialized division of our military; none of us kept our abilities upon arrival, regardless of how practical they may or may not have been.

However, my associate seems to have kept his rather intense agility and flexibility and what have you - unfortunately for me when we spar, I must say, but we can't have it all, it seems.

You mentioned "how they work" - am I to assume these talents of yours are akin to magic, or at least they appear that way to those not sufficiently versed in them?