Sermas va Anes (Theory)

On the Source and Nature of Magic
Magic can be defined by its nature of being a type of energy, called magic energy. The source of this energy comes from life itself, and is intrinsic to anything that is alive. As a being dies and fades, the magic of it slowly fades away as well. As such, magic is but a natural phenomenon and is present anywhere that has living beings. The magic energy can be harnessed, either passively and slowly, from being in the presence of places with high quantity of natural life, or actively and rapidly, by drawing out the magic energy from living beings.

Origin of Magic Energy
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Origin of Souls
Just like the origin of magic energy itself, the origin of souls is just as murky and confusing. Due to the difficulty of recreating the processes that could lead to a breakthrough or support one theory over another, this subject of study has many different plausible theories, with the main ones being First Soul Theory (FST), Soul Evolution Theory (SET) and x.

First Soul Theory
This theory about the origin of souls is about the idea that souls cannot be created, unless through reproduction. With this idea in mind, the theory is designed through the principle that, for souls to exist, at least one original soul (the First Soul) would have had to exist at the start of the world. This one soul would then have been able to reproduce itself, eventually creating different souls with different arrays of attributes, characteristics and complexity.

Soul Evolution Theory
This theory, while similar to the FST in the understanding that one soul would have eventually reproduced itself and created the other varieties, goes one step further by theorizing that there would not be the need for one soul to have always existed. Instead, the theorists believe that the First Soul would have been a simple evolution of the magic energy itself, using the Quasi Soul as an example of an intermediate. The way in which it would have occurred is that pieces of magic energy would have eventually refined through natural events (not yet found), becoming a quasi soul, until, by sheer chance, one of those quasi souls would have achieved the ability of being able to renew itself and replicate itself, giving origin to the First Soul.

While it sounds logical, there is no instance of a quasi soul being created by natural means, instead it being considered a failed attempt at creating a proper soul instead of a natural intermediate occurrence.

On the States of Magic Energy
The states of magic energy are the many forms in which one can find magic energy in this world. It can range from unrefined raw magic energy to refined types of energy like the soul and quasi soul. All living beings have a combination of raw magic energy and a refined type to go with it.

Raw Magic Energy
The raw magic energy that comes from life and can be transformed into more refined states of magic energy, an example being the Soul, or directly used as a source for magic spells. Plants, mushrooms, and other animate but non-sentient beings are packed with raw magic energy, as they do not need to spend much of it to have a functioning body. The raw magic energy serves the basic needs of growth and reproduction that allows a living being to exist and new generations to keep existing.

Use of the raw energy instead of its refined states has drawbacks, such as inefficiency of energy use, which often leads to a much higher energy requirement to achieve same effect of the desired spell. Another possible drawback of this direct use of raw magic energy can be the cause of direct harm to the soul of the sentient being using it, commonly known as Magic Blight, or the cause of death for the living beings from which the raw energy is being drawn from.

Soul Energy
The soul energy, also called just "soul", is a refined state of magic energy that serves the purpose of applying the magic energy of a living being for any function, from simple to more complicated uses. This type of energy is present in any living being, with varying levels of refinement and quantity, and is considered to be either the reason for growth, sentience and sapience or the result of it. It is a more organised type of the magic energy, as in, it allows the holder of it to more effectively manage its use, without spending more than necessary to achieve its function. Because of this, most magic spells primarily use this state of magic energy.

A soul is also responsible for determining the attributes of the being. These attributes can be, but are not limited to, the total amount of magic energy that they are able to store at one single moment and how fast they are able to recharge it in an identical environment. Souls can be influenced by their species, as different species were proven to have similar attributes, although each also proved to have its own individuality.

The raw magic energy is transformed, for the first time in a sentient being, when it is born. When the being starts the processes in which consciousness and thoughts are present, the raw magic energy is gradually refined into the soul. As such, it is possible to observe that newborn beings of many different species have a much higher amount of raw energy than soul energy, some of which quickly get refined, others which take a longer time to mature.

The soul energy can be divided into three types: the Vegetative Soul, the Sensitive Soul and the Rational Soul.

Vegetative Soul
The vegetative soul is the most basic type of the soul energy, with basic functions that allow a living being to grow and reproduce. Plants, mushrooms and corals are known to have this type of soul.

Sensitive Soul
The sensitive soul is the type of the soul energy in the middle between complex and basic, in which the functions of the magic energy are used to feel the surroundings, perceive the world and experience it. This type of soul exists in all sentient life. Animals are a great example of beings with sensitive soul.

Rational Soul
The rational soul is the most complex type of the soul energy, having many functions. As well as fulfilling the functions that a sensitive soul does, the rational soul is also attributed to the ability to think and have consciousness, acquire and store wisdom, and the capacity for intelligence in living beings. Therefore, any sapient life possess this type of soul.

Unlike the other types of magic energy, the rational soul is so complex that it is exceedingly harder for a third party to draw its energy from the being that possess it without their consent. Usually, this type of power is considered to be above the realms of the limitations that a normal magic user can achieve, being reserved to limitless beings (aka gods, deities, omnipotent beings, etc).

The rational soul is the type of soul that magic users mostly possess, with very few and abnormal exceptions. The reason for this being that, to perform magic in the sense of magic spells, it is a condition that the user has the capacity to think.

Quasi Soul
A quasi soul is another state of refined magic energy in which it imitates the characteristics of a proper soul, but does not have the ability to refine raw magic energy into itself, therefore being limited and not renewable. This type of refined magic energy is mostly common in artificial beings, and is also considered as part of a process of "soul evolution" within one of the theories of the origin of souls.

On the Types and Souls of Beings
In such a vast and varied world, as well as outside of it, numerous different beings coexist in peace or chaos. Nevertheless, their characteristics in regards to the understanding of the concept of a soul is a matter of study within this philosophical magic system. Therefore, the following beings and their souls are described to the best of the scholar's abilities in the following sections:

Natural Beings
A being is considered natural when it was created through natural processes. Often being created through reproduction, these beings possess a soul, according to their complexity, with their own attributes and characteristics. These beings are also rich in raw magic energy and are able to refine it into soul energy in order to perform normal functions or use magic spells. However, the magic spells are mostly used as a tool by those natural beings that possess sapience.

Artificial Beings
A being is considered artificial when it was not created through the natural processes. Their creation can happen through many different ways, and are not to be confused with undead beings (which originate, at first, through reproduction). From the many methods, more widespread ones would be the creation through the use of magic or other energy sources and the transposition of a soul from a natural being onto an artificial body.

In case of the origin of the being coming from the soul of a natural being, it is widely accepted that the attributes and characteristics of the soul would be the same as of the original being. Nonetheless, the action of changing to an artificial body has its drawbacks, mainly the lack of raw magic energy in the inanimate body. As such, the process often involves the addition of artefacts charged with high amounts of raw magic energy or of a insentient being, that possess high amounts of raw magic energy, in a mutualistic relationship with the artificial being.

When the origin comes from a different source of energy other than magic, it is widely accepted that such a being does not possess a soul, nor is it considered alive. Examples of this would be automatons, which are given pre-made functions achieved by the mechanical technology employed in them, but are not able to achieve simple living functions such as growth, reproduction, sentience nor sapience. Sometimes, these creations are so complex and advanced that they can seem to have these traits, but ultimately, it is just a feat of technology and not of life.

When the origin is from magic energy, but without the use of a proper soul, the being is considered to have what scholars describe as a Quasi-Soul. While this type of magic energy is able to properly do the functions of a normal living soul, it is not able to refine raw magic power into its own refined state of magic. This is what differs the soul from a quasi-soul: one is able to renew itself, while the other is limited by its original amount. In this case, artificial beings with a quasi soul are unable to renew their soul energy, therefore often opting to use raw magic energy for spells and other uses as to not use their limited refined energy.

Undead Beings
A being is considered undead when its life has come to an end, but for whatever reasons, their soul stayed in this plane of existence. This can happen due to a multitude of factors, often varying greatly from one undead being to the other. Sometimes, that soul is attached to an inanimate object, to another animate being, to its own, but dead, body, or even left to roam free from physical form.

Due to the lack of life, undead beings do not possess intrinsic raw magic energy, even though their soul energy is still present in the state that was preserved after dearh. As such, undead beings are unable to naturally absorb raw magic energy, instead needing to make use of raw magic energy directly, by drawing it out and using it in its inefficient form, or by storing it in inanimate objects for later use, as opposed to storing the energy in their soul.

Spiritual Beings
A being is considered spiritual when it does not possess a physical body. It is unknown how these beings are created, as every religion or faith has different ideas on what they are, what they represent and what their purpose and origin is. It is, however, possible for a being with a soul to be made into a spiritual being through the splitting of the connection between its body and soul.

It is also observed, in many spirits, a high affinity with specific elements of nature. Throughout history, many groups, and even many spirits themselves, would start to consider that the spirits were proof of souls bound to inanimate objects. While it is possible to bind a soul and its energy to an object, the process is differentiated by the fact that it can only done to a well defined finite inanimate object, in contrast to the beliefs that a spirit is the soul of a mountain or a river, which do not have defined boundaries or are made of matter that is constantly cycling. These cases are, however, simply a misunderstanding of the spiritual beings. Spirits themselves are animated, living beings, who can, through a very high affinity with the element that composes one of these inanimate concepts, create a connection between themselves (a soul) and the material nature of the element in order to have it function like a body, from which the spiritual being is able to manifest.

Transcendental Beings
A being is considered transcendental when its soul is not present in the same plane of existence in which its manifestation (aka body or any other presence) is observable. This existential gap between both necessary parts of the entity make it so transcendental beings are mostly unable to perform spells through the use of their soul energy, as the gap does not allow a connection of the soul to their manifestation.

Exceptions to this law occur when the plane of existence in which the soul is present: is in close proximity to the plane of its manifestation; has intersections with the plane of its manifestation; has accessable paths from to the plane of its manifestation, through which the soul energy can connect to their manifestation.

Otherworldly Beings
A being is considered otherworldly when its origin and systems did not originate in the this world. It differs from transcendental beings in the fact that other planes of existence are still present in the same world and share the basic rules of nature (with their own twists), while different worlds do not. Due to the laws and physics of their different universes/worlds, it is not possible to categorize if they have or not a soul in the same terms previously specified. Concepts of characteristics related to souls or proof of magical power similar to soul can still be understood from these beings, through the terms of equivalency. Examples would be "sentient-like","sentience-equivalent trait" and "soul equivalent energy".

Since their worlds have different rules and ways into which a being can use or act through the means of energy, this subject is often considered to be unknown. Beings with these characteristics that are well known are often considered deities or gods, as many can be or appear to be omnipotent or simply too powerful for a being of this world. Other beings might not have this much more powerful aspect, and be very similar to beings of this world, but still have natural rules and systems unbeknownst to anyone of this world.