Souls

Souls are of significant importance in Baltia, as they are the root of all energy within the world. Souls are the primary source of magical energy in the world of Baltia, with the oldest and most prominent forms of magic using the energy released by souls as the fuel to create miraculous effects. As a general rule, all mortal creatures that are “naturally” born into the world will have a soul, including even plants and insects. However, not all souls are equal.

Even the smallest blade of grass technically has a soul. However, its soul is so small and weak as to be functionally imperceptible unless one looks very closely. Similarly, the soul of this blade of grass puts out nearly no energy at all - but it does put out the tiniest bit. This little bit of energy, when multiplied against the countless blades of grass that exist in the world, begins to add up over time.

Further, the more complex a creature is, the more powerful its soul and the more energy that soul puts out. A tree's soul is more powerful than the soul of a blade of grass, the soul of an animal is stronger still, and the soul of a humanoid even more powerful still. When examining the beings that naturally reside in the mortal world, those creatures that tend to rest at the top when it comes to soul power are those one would likely expect - dragons, krakens, and other creatures that are singularly considered extremely powerful.

The origin of souls is somewhat mysterious, with even the gods themselves claiming not to know exactly how they come about. The leading theory among scholars is that they originate in the Outside, the plane of contradictions and illogical physics, where the existence of such a powerful “substance” as a soul is not at all unlikely. Souls that are in their infancy, like those that would inhabit plants or other very simple organisms, then filter through the barrier that protects Baltia from the outside, and into the afterlife.

Once a soul exists in the afterlife, it may then enter the cycle of Reincarnation. The vast majority of souls are so weak as to be imperceptible to most beings in the afterlife without a deliberate desire to focus on them, and few creatures that reside there have

Within Baltia, the laws of Thermodynamics are firmly in place, with one notable exception - it is possible for energy to be created, with a soul as the only thing capable of doing so. All living beings have souls, from individual blades of grass to the most ancient and powerful dragon, with the gods and even some constructs also having souls. However, the souls of all creatures are not created equally. Where a human has a soul that can be