Setting Overview Chapter 1: Genesis

Chapter One: Genesis

In the beginning were the two souls of Order and Chaos. These two massive forces battled for eons. Order would build stars and planets and systems, and Chaos would destroy and scatter all that Order created. After unknown eternities, the two souls grew tired of the endless struggle and fought each other directly. When the two great souls collided, something unexpected occurred. The two souls merged and shattered into untold trillions of pieces.

These soul pieces varied in strength and intelligence, but it was soon discovered that inhabiting physical objects amplified their abilities. Soon, squabbling and fighting broke out as souls competed for the best bodies, destroying many potential bodies in the process.

The largest and most powerful soul was the being we now know as the lady Karma. Seeing the conflict and the resulting destruction of available physical objects to inhabit, Karma intervened. She gathered the souls together in a realm of her own making, the Astral plane, also known as the Field of Souls. From her new realm, Karma controlled access to bodies in the material plane. Allowing souls to enter at a pace and order of her own design, Karma ended the constant fighting and ensured the continued existence of the material world.

The first bodies available to inhabit were inanimate objects such as planets, stars, mountains, oceans, and rivers. Mortals know these powerful souls as Titans. As life developed, lesser souls were sent to inhabit plants and animals. Sometimes powerful souls grew tired of waiting on an available body and slipped past Karma to take a lesser body against her will. These spirits are known as Kami and are the source of creatures like dryads and talking animals and are the progenitors of many fantastic races.

Whenever a body is destroyed, the soul enters the ether and travels down the path of the dead back to the Field of Souls. Here they await their turn for reincarnation. A disembodied soul quickly begins to lose memory of its life, and unless quickly restored to a body, will lose all sense of self.

Between the material realm and the Field of Souls, lies the shadow plane. This dark and dangerous realm is filled with souls that have rejected Karma’s cycle for one reason or another. Some souls came to avoid Karma’s choice for reincarnation, others grew frustrated with the wait and came to attempt to construct their own bodies, some are the souls of the recently deceased lured there by the promise of retaining their identity, and then there are the poor mad souls who lost their way wandering the paths of the dead. Inhabitants of the shadow plane who retain at least part of their former personality are referred to as devils, while those mad beings who have lost all sense of former self are known as demons. Due to the ever increasing danger of the shadow realm, guards and guides have to be assigned to the paths of the dead to ensure that the recently departed arrive safely at their destination.