Theme Rules

Soul Matters

Does this unit have a soul?

Souls are complex things which are more evident in some settings and scenarios than others. In one setting, the mechanics of souls might be well-understood and integral to its metaphysics and mythos. In another, there's no way to tell if they even exist.

For the purpose of our setting, we assert that all intelligent beings such as humans and artificial general intelligences have some kind of soul, but the properties of that soul can differ wildly from setting to setting. You can think of the "rules" of how a soul works in each setting as being like a wrapper or box or greater structure, and any mechanics which interact with souls are mostly sensitive towards this theme-specific box. So the mystics of a setting might well believe that robots have no soul, since they're completely incapable of sensing the kinds of souls that awaken in that setting's robots... at least, the ones that aren't simple automatons.

Mind Uploads? Clones?

So how does the above play out when there's settings where people can clone themselves, restore from mind backups, and other strange feats that would seem incompatible with unique souls or how resurrection might work? In short: you tell us. Or don't. Because the answer only matters to philosophers and death gods.

On Afterlives

Each setting handles these differently, and our MUSH tries to respect that. There are no absolutes that can be said about the matter of afterlives, though. This information is the sort that only great sages who delve into the mysteries of the world would ever hope to catalog. Still, what happens to the dead?

The answer is, it depends. Where did you die? How did you die? What spiritual phenomenon does your native setting allow? What spiritual phenomenon does the setting you died in allow? Does your native setting have a functioning afterlife mechanic? Does the place you died?

Generally speaking, your soul is tied to the setting you come from, and will be drawn back to it shortly after death as long as there is a pathway through Beacons to reach it, or some similar powerful bond (like that between a priest and their god) failing that. It will then face whatever awaits it. For settings without known afterlives, one might be surprised to find out that local mythos on the matter is real...

Or, more likely, one might pass on to a greater unknown, one of the greatest mysteries in the world. Souls drawn back from that place through resurrection retain no knowledge of it. This is thought to be the fate of most robot souls, if only because few settings have provided any alternatives.

Other settings may also feature reincarnation as an alternate to a settled afterlife, and this is equally valid, though it can put a serious monkey wrench in resurrection attempts. Wait too long, and there might not be a soul available to perform a resurrection. Stranger still is the possibility that the cycles of reincarnation cross beyond worlds or even exist outside time, leading to someone being reborn in their world's distant past or another world altogether.

But, this is not an absolute. You could also fall into the (likely temporary) care of the local afterlife processing. So, for an example: if you died an ugly death befitting of coming back as a ghost, and you're from a setting which has ghosts or in one, you might become a ghost. At which point, you might soon after encounter some kind of psychopomp to ferry you off to wherever you're supposed to go. Psychopomps may or may not have an inherent sense for this, but if they don't then their superiors will at least know where you're supposed to be if not their domain, and death gods have this weird and uncanny habit of knowing whether you belong in their domain or not, and are rarely willing to break their own rules about this. Worst case they may end up communing and debating on the matter if there IS an actual conflict depending on who has the stronger claim or, possibly, where the dead soul best fits or most wishes to be.

Or, god forbid, the local afterlife might be in dire straits, overrun by devilish beings or dark gods who feast on the souls of the slain without distinction or judgement. Are you a badass enough dude to escape? Or, alternatively, break in and rescue these poor souls? Such things are also possible.

Those who would perform resurrection, beware. The Gods who oversee afterlives can be jealous, dire sorts who don't much appreciate someone barging in on their business, and stealing from their domains. Ultimately they likely only want to be treated with respect and hear some "please and thank you"s, maybe some ceremony in their honor or something that shows respect for their authority instead of cavalierly yanking souls back into the mortal world without even acknowledging their existence.

Psychopomp/Shinigami

Can you play a psychopomp character, with the ability to guide souls to various afterlives? Why yes, you can. Keep in mind though, the typical psychopomp - such as Hermes (mythology), Botan (Yu Yu Hakusho), or a stereotypical Grim Reaper is merely a liminal guide to the destined place, not a judge. They may or may not know the exact place you need to go to begin with, but are capable of getting you there eventually.

Your soul is mine!

Souls are typically considered eternal, but they're not entirely indestructible or unassailable. Many settings present soul stealing, soul imprisonment, soul eating, soul destruction, and so on, which can be a very icky and terrifying topic. It's usually best to not have this showing up all over the place. It can be over the top grimdark.

Still, some settings feature that. Shang Tsung from Mortal Kombat. The Chaos Gods from Warhammer 40,000. Soulsteel and Oblivion from White Wolf's Exalted and World of Darkness. Such things exist. They are also usually quite abhorrent or downright evil.

Just as with resurrection, one shouldn't be too cavalier with this when traveling into unfamiliar worlds. It may piss off the wrong being.

Energy Fields

Many settings feature mystical/meta-physical energy fields, sub-dimensions/planes or similar contrivances used to explain anything from where magical/psychic energies are drawn from to how faster than light travel or communications works.

As it turns out, these Energy Fields are interwoven through each other and into other Worlds that are accessible to Grand Convergence. Though there may be rare areas where they are not present, it should always be assumed that they are. This means that a Jedi or Sith may still use the Force when traveling about Dragon Ball Earth, and KOS-MOS may use the U.M.N. (Unus Mundus Network) to teleport gear even if she's on Hoth. This logic generally doesn't extend to extreme examples of these fields - one is highly unlikely to locate a Force Nexus of any kind outside of the Star Wars setting, though it's not entirely impossible either. If something like that happens, it's a mystery worth investigating!

Many mystics, scientists, and Convergence scholars theorize that these are all different aspects of some greater truth. They possess different aspects, specializations, flavors, and purposes, but seem to also be at least mildly interchangeable. This can allow for certain levels of casual interaction, like the aforementioned Jedi or Sith being able to sense mystical things which aren't strictly related to "The Force", though, in tabletop RPG terms, there's a decent penalty applied at reading fine details.

The Masquerade

Covering a wide variety of urban fantasy settings such as the World of Darkness, Harry Potter, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, etc, the idea that human civilization secretly co-exists with a number of supernatural elements that go undetected... and usually prefer to keep it that way.

For supernatural purposes, Heroic Characters are never considered 'unimportant nobodies', 'mundies', 'muggles', 'mortals', etc, even if they're simply badass normals with no superpowers. This likely means they're unaffected by broad protective illusions, glamours, or wards meant to keep people away from certain areas.

Once a setting has become part of our game though, the sanctity of any Masquerades might be difficult to enforce as well as some might hope, especially if Beacons are accessible to anyone and everyone. As Beacons tend to 'fit in' with the locality and tone of the setting, though, Beacons in masquerade worlds are likely inaccessible to the average joe.

The best interim solution is likely that, when superheroes and villains show up for some reason, well, the public might well learn that these are people from different worlds, and yet still not know anything about the things lurking in their own world.

Heading over to a Masquerade world and then intentionally beating your chest and juggling dumpsters on main street is very likely to invite consequences, though.