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Hello. I beat the game once, and I'm wondering these things. Anyone can help with answers or theories? Thaos As I understand it, Thaos dies each life and is reborn with his memories intact; but does that mean he is always reborn in the same body? How does that work? In all visions of him, he looks the same. Also, there's an option when you kill him where you can let him keep his memories... Isn't that the same as having done nothing? Other than having stopped his plan, I mean. He's going to come back, isn't he? Eothas Did Eothas really want to stop the whole plan from the beginning? That's what I understand; but I didn't find much confirmation. Since the gods aren't really gods, could Eothas have died by something so mortal as a bomb? Wouldn't that only kill the vessel? Why isn't Eothas' symbol in the place where you talk to all the gods? Is that confirmation of his death? The gods I see Eora is somehow atheist and not atheist at the same time. xD I didn't see that coming! How could the Engwithans create gods? What are they made of? Souls? Do the gods' powers have reach over all the world? How did every civilization know about them? Does every civilization know about them or are they just known in the Dyrwood? I don't know if these questions aren't supposed to have an answer, or I just simply didn't get all the information (or didn't pay attention), so I ask for any explanation or theory anyone has. I haven't played the White March expansion, yet; so if there's any more information about this in there, just say so and don't spoil it, please.

For myself one of the most fascinating aspects of Poe that has been announced is Animancy, it makes sense that in a setting where the Soul is real and can interact with the mundane, that there have arisen individuals who wish to study it in more detail. Applying the scientific principle to what would seem a supernatural phenomena to us, but to the denizens of Poe is indisputably natural. However due to the use of Animancy in update #73 as a flawed means of immortality resulting in actual Undeath, one has to question the morality of the science and its practitioners. Is it only the most amoral of Animancers who would promise immortality to the desperate and foolish, or is there a number of them who are genuinely trying to research the disparity between the mortality of the flesh and the immortality of the Soul? And whatever their motives is it right to practice their art when its current application is, to say the least imperfect? At the moment in the Dyrwood the role of the Animancer is legal, and one suspects that their research is legal until they are brought to book, for whatever crimes have resulted from their actions. This would seem to suggest that there have been no great tragedies arising from their research as yet, and that the immortality they have offered to the unsuspecting is a secretive and rumoured matter not common knowledge, indeed pursuing such immortality (in effect spurning the gods and the cycle of death and rebirth) may be an amoral pursuit that none would willingly admit to. Of course as mentioned in the first paragraph of the Update segment above Animancy is not the only method of making the Undead, and maybe any occurences of Undeath can be blamed on these other influences, after all the Dyrwood rests on the ruins of the Old Engwithans. Their potency in Animancy seems to have been undoubted, but they are now long gone and have a foreign race guarding the remains of their culture, perhaps this is a warning to the younger cultures stumbling into the region and the secrets it holds? Is the manipulation and research of the Soul a moral pursuit, after all the people of Poe manipulate their own souls all the time, and surely Animancers are merely taking one more step along that road towards the mysteries of the infinite. Or is the method used to conduct that research the important matter, and Animancy is a tool only as moral as its purveyor? If you get the chance in Poe to support the research and experimentation of an Animancer, one who seeks to unlock the secrets of existence itself, will you?

Its been a while since the kickstarter campaign but I seem to remember that it was mentioned a couple of times that the state of someones soul changes as they move through the cycle and that those with a damaged or shattered soul are mistrusted by some (though how you could tell just by looking I don't know). I think it would be really intesting if you could choose the state of your soul during character creation and the effects that might have on gameplay. Say for example having a perfect soul might give you a boost to certain defense stats. Having a shattered soul might give you a boost to your magic because you can use up part of it as power. Thoughts.

Metaphysics in video games has always been something that has interested me (36 Lessons of Vivec is amazing). I am not entirely sure why, but it is most likely the slight insight into the writer's mind and how their world-view(s) influence the story of the game that makes the topic so interesting for me. I was even more excited about P:E when I found out about the part that souls play in the world, and I am interested in discovering how they are explained in the story in more detail. So my question is, how do you feel about the inclusion of metaphysical topics in video games (and P:E in particular)? Do you think it strengthens the story and makes you consider things you have never thought of before? Or that it makes things overly complicated (which it can do at times) and only serves to confuse and make things even more obscure? Also, I understand this subject has the potential to lean toward more religious topics, so try to keep it civil... There is no need to make this something it isn't, so just to say it again, this is about metaphysics IN GAMES/FICTIONAL WORLDS.

What if you could discover an NPC that was created dynamically, and designed to be your Kindred Soul? So that he/she were a different class/build each playthrough depending on your own class/build. And only once you found them, together you could perform super awesome abilities, either in combat or spellcasting, or both, or in other ways. Or maybe there's a trade-off? And depending on your future actions, you either bring them closer to you or drive them away. It could cover some elements of romance/bromance and other complexities of party make-up. A power shift in companions, jealousy, or even treachery. Thoughts ????

One of the theories in archaeology for explaining the henges and standing stones scattered across the british isles is that they are visual statements of ownership, oftentimes remains are found buried underneath and the dead are also laid to rest in the foundations of homes, ostensibly to watch over their descendants. This got me thinking, with the importance of souls in the world of Eternity perhaps the more primitive societies (and perhaps even the civilised ones) might see it as pefectly reasonable to bind the willing soul of a family member to their home and hearth. Acting as a lorekeeper and a living reminder of their ancestry, such trapped souls could be enormously important to a community, or perhaps simply stand amid ruins wailing for their long lost children. Or such imprisonment might drive them mad, and they beg to be released from their duties.

I've been thinking about the kinds of creatures and monsters which might inhabit the world of Project Eternity while adhering to the themes and the nature of the world. Here's a few main "types" I've come up with: 1. Soul-Swapped These are wildlife or people that have accidentally been assigned or possessed by other souls. Perhaps a person's soul was accidentally transfered to an animal, and both the physical animal and soul within become changed and twisted over time. This should allow an interesting menagerie of were-creatures - some good, some aggressive, while still adhering to the "natural" order in which the world works. 2. Corrupted Creatures or people who have had malevolent souls forced into them by necromancy or dark magic. There will be distinctive physical manifestations in many instances which would create an interesting assortment of twisted monsters. Evil mages may use these possessed creatures for protection or weapons. 3. Disembodied Souls These disembodied souls fail to complete the great cycle or have lost the ability to atune to living creatures, and thus become trapped in the physical realm for eons. They become either extremely wise as they observe the passage of time over many cycles, or become bitter and weary, as they are never allowed to die and be reborn. They often grow jealous of mortal beings, and this twists them into malevolent spirits. They either possess the area they were forcefully disembodied, or may wander aimlessly. Sometimes, they construct false bodies for themselves as a substitute for a real body. They can "possess" and animate a wide range of inanimate objects or forms - sometimes cobbled together haphazardly, sometimes fashioned meticulously over eons. To get even closer to their ultimate desire of inhabiting a living body, they often possess the dead. In combat, they can sometimes leave their physical form and attempt to wrestle with the souls of party members. Those with lesser powers may incapacitate the party member temporarily as they struggle, or sometimes very powerful souls may possess the party member and turn them against their friends temporarily. Only magic is capable of harming or destroying these souls. 4. The Godforged and the Abandoned. These entities are the results of attempt at creation by the gods. They either were forged to coexist with their makers in the god realm, or are abandoned creations which were never "born" into the physical realm. They are forged using soul energy, but do not possess souls as those on the physical realm do. These entities often reflect the nature of the god they are created by, and may be beautiful majestic creations or vile, ugly monstrosities. Because of their godly nature, they are rarely seen in the physical realm, but there exist certain phenomena which can open rifts between the two realms... What do you guys think? Are these ideas still too "conventional fantasy"? I suppose I've simply "justified" some conventional ideas for creatures/monsters by linking them with the idea of souls. Should Obsidian go for something more unique? How do you justify fantastical creatures in a fairly low fantasy and realistic setting? What are some of your ideas? It's definitely fun making this stuff up!

We know that souls will be the power source that allow our heroic (and not so heroic) characters to perform the extraordinary. As souls are used as power could individuals be able to craft souls into items? Could an individual have the power to remove a soul to make a weapon? Could desperate individuals offer their soul up so that some champion could wield it to avenge a great wrong? This is something I wanted to do in a D&D game but sadly never got to run. A few rare artefacts empowered by souls created in times of desperation. One example was of a blade made by a nation on the eve of annihilation. The blade was to be trusted to a champion to ensure revenge. Unfortunately the champion never arrived in time and the sacrifice was in vain. She saw the knife it seemed small and poorly crafted. A simple wooden handle warped with age would make it awkward to wield. The blade itself seemed sharp enough but looked like it was made in a rush without much care. Initially she was going to ignore it, but something compelled her to pick it up. Once in her hand she was swarmed with emotion. The Sorrow was crushing. The Fear overwhelming. The Hate intoxicating. Her thoughts drowned out with cries for justice and revenge. A whole nation of voices screaming endlessly. This seemingly simple weapon had been forged in a time of desperation. People with no more hope gave the last thing they had. How many souls had been used to craft it? She would never know. She would never let it go. She would never stop till the blade was sated. What a shame the disaster had long since passed. The great enemy long dead. The hopeless nation forgotten in time. Now just a champion driven mad by angry souls demanding justice. The surrounding lands were doomed. Do you think souls will be used to create items of power?

So, well to begin with could we bring to mind the Souls update and how Sawyer mentioned that the gods are meddlesome and also are purposely obscuring the nature of souls/how they work. I have an idea for why this might be and thought I'd make a thread on here to see if anyone has any of their own ideas/theories/what have you. What occurred to me is I'm guessing the most obvious reasoning. The souls spend time among the gods in-between re-incarnations, so perhaps the souls are intertwined with the gods and not just leaves floating about the godly landscape? Are souls a source of power for the gods as well as the earthly races? Are gods equivalent to a huge accumulation of souls who somehow ended up conjoined? Were gods maybe at the beginning individual extremely powerful souls who stayed awake when entering the realm of the gods and use freshly arriving souls as some sort of sustenance or power increaser? Like a water skin being emptied then sent back to re-fill with a new lifes worth of experiences? If any of that is spot on, then it would make a lot of sense for the gods to be actively interested in preventing magicians or anyone else from learning how to ably manipulate souls for if they do they may end up being able to manipulate the gods themselves or through artificial means turn themselves into gods. Of course it could be anything but this is what came to my mind.

In the context of this fiction... Where do you feel souls come from? How do new souls come about, if any? What do you think they look like or are shaped like? Are they huge, small, shaped and sized like us? Are they us, ours, or visiting? Do they have much to do with conventional ideas of souls or are they just called souls and happen to share some apparent similarity to what these people would call souls?

They've made it clear that Souls are going to be a key thematic element of the game. They've mentioned "Strong Souls" "Lineage Souls" "Travelling Soul and" so on. So what element do you think Souls represented by Races or Classes. They've said that magic is powered by souls so I'm inclined to think Classes. So someone born with multiple Souls could be a multiclasser, someone with a "Strong" soul might be a fighter, someone whose soul has been to divine realms might be a cleric, one with purity might be a Paladin, one with lineage might be a wizard, and so on. Alternately it could be race. The Godlike races (peple seem to forget the Godlike are multiple races, not a single race, just like the planetouched have tefling, Genasi, and Aasmir) would have had a soul visit the divine realms, a elf may have lineage, dwarf a strong soul, human fragmented, and so on. So what mechanical representation do you think souls will have?