Metaphysics and All its Fabulously Gnarly Implications

[alphyna]

A bit of a rant here.

 

I am wary of the term. The word "soul" has certain connotations: it's linked to something spiritual, mystical or even religious. And while these are all interesting topics, what I'm personally more interested in are problems of the mind. Not in a Freudian psychoanalytical sense; what's interesting is that mind is hard to grasp, it's elusive. Also it's rational, while souls are generally linked with emotions and moral standarts/innocence.

 

I'm a bit tired of the problem of "the purity of soul". It brings objective moral code into the picture, and that's boring. What I'd like to see are souls which are neither good nor bad, neither pure nor dark, and which are also elusive. I want a study into the nature of souls. Can it be separated from the body? Can my soul be separated from me, if only as a thought experiment, or is my soul me? Can it evolve and change? If my soul is somehow bad, do I become evil, or can I change it?

 

I want a twist, I want something different from your standart plot-device, explaining everything with a simple "Well, his soul is like this". And I want a character who thinks that all that soul stuff is bull****.

[sparklecat]

Hmm, can it be ripped out, stored, stolen, bargained, like "I would sell my soul for..."?

 

If so, what's the market value of a soul...

Illegal black market souls, "I'll trade part of my soul to you if you heal my sick child", soul-brokers hunting down the right kind of souls for interested buyers, populations enslaved and bred for their souls in certain places...

[PsychoBlonde]

Is it even metaphysical if it can actually be objectively measured and studied?

I'm no philosopher, but generally all talk of the soul and of things that are purported to exist despite not having any physical substance, all of it is metaphysical talk, yeah.

 

I didn't notice if somebody else talked about this, but in philosophy metaphysics is the fundamental branch that deals with the underlying nature of reality. For instance: does reality have certain underlying rules, or is it random and chaotic? Is it ordained by some kind of god or gods? Is it a projection of some kind of "ideal world"?

 

Spirits and such get lumped under metaphysics because they assume a particular set of metaphysical conditions: the existence of an afterlife, souls, perhaps gods, miracles, consciousness that can directly affect reality, etc.

 

So, if you're asking about metaphysics qua Eternity, what you're asking is, what are the fundamental rules underlying this reality? Did the gods create it? Did souls create it? Did it come into being some other way? Does this question even make sense to ask? How do these souls interact with matter?

 

I(Some of this may have been answered somewhere, sorry if it was.)

 

Souls are not physical things, but they can interact with physical things, or at least with energy.

 

Your soul--well, that's not really a good term for it, perhaps. The soul currently inhabiting you isn't the same as your mind or body. It sounds like the living minds and bodies of intelligent creatures may act as a trap or attractor for souls, which stay in the body while it lives but when it dies they depart. The vestiges of the mind may cling for a while but eventually become washed away, leaving only whatever events may have impacted the soul itself. So, when do people become imbued with souls? When they're born? Sometime around age 2-3 when they become sufficiently intelligent or self-aware to attract a soul? When they're conceived? If so, shouldn't plants and animals have souls? What about sufficiently large and interconnected groups of plants or animals?

 

Do people NEED souls to function in some way? What happens if you destroy someone's soul without harming their body? Can they still live? Is it possible to raise the dead? (I think they mentioned you can, but only until the soul actually departs, after that, no dice). Is a soul in a dead body an "undead"? Is a living person without a soul an "undead"? Can souls be placed in inanimate objects? Do souls sometimes remain attached to dead bodies on their own? If so, what exactly is it that anchors a soul in the world, or sends it back to purgatory? What process brings souls OUT of purgatory and back into the world? Are there a finite number of souls?

[Tauron]

So, souls in this setting are sort of trapped. There is this cycle of birth and rebirth, both in flesh of "our" reality aka bodies and death (rebirth of the soul) .Seperation from the whole, which might be the universe or whatever. Sounds like something from the Vedic sanscripts. Something ("Gods", some law even "Gods" cant control) is making souls get reborn again and again. As it was mentioned before, bodies are sort of batteries. So souls go to this higher dimension and than are flung back again. I guess our character becomes "awake", something like Buddah on steroids. I am awake and I am angry! grrr

 

So, how does this realm of souls looks like...will it remaina mystery somewhat or are devs going into the realm of higher dimension with a twist, giving us taste of how higher demesions work rather than our limited 3D sight. I would love to see some different approuch to godlike realms than another Elysium or Tartarus add ons and explanations we see in traditional fantasy. Especially since this will have mature setting.

 

 

I just found this video, i initially searched 5th demension becouse someone once told me that is where souls are and than this came up and it is kinda awsome. I hope devs cook some nice lore.

[Pop]

I demand answers to these burning questions, it's been 13 months now and your grace period is over, Obsidian

[Pop]

I've had it with these delays. Answer our questions, Obsidian. Mods??

[Karkarov]

I've had it with these delays. Answer our questions, Obsidian. Mods??

[Stun]

What questions do you seek answers to, exactly?

 

Oh wait, the questions in your OP....

Some examples: So people in this setting have souls. Therefore we can ask:

- What is the substance of a soul? Is it connected to the mind, or the body, or both? How can you even read a person's soul?

- Does one soul differentiate from others based upon someone's characteristics? Do different races have demonstrably different souls? Do different genders?

- Do one's actions affect his/her soul? Does experience in the world foster soul growth? If I commit senseless violence, does my soul reflect that as well?

- Can a person's soul be damaged, removed, controlled or captured? If so, what happens to that person? Can that malady be mended?

- Do all creatures and living things have them (failing that, a "spirit")?

- It's already been said that the PC and his companions will have "high-quality souls" (paraphrasing here). How does one make that determination? Is a high quality soul born or made?

- What of people with "broken" or "anemic" souls? Are they naturally incapable of the things that people like the PC can achieve? Do strong-soul'd individuals pass on that trait to their progeny or is it random? Would we see social caste systems emerge from this "natural order" favoring those with better souls?* What if a race does not seem to have a detectable soul? Are they thought of as monsters, as animals to be exploited at the whim of the soul'd?

- Can one's soul be sick, or abnormal? What terrifying or intriguing ways can that manifest?

These are very Plot-specific questions. So no. The developers have already made it crystal clear that they will not be divulging plot spoilers. You'd know this if you were actually around here in the 2 years since you started this thread.

 

That said, Sawyer has already discussed, in general terms, stuff like Animancy. Perhaps you can use such revealed info as a source of speculation until the game actually comes out.

[JFSOCC]

I think they are fair questions and while maybe not all of them can be answered directly, Obsidian can shed more light on the soul mechanics of eora.