A Mages' Understanding of the Universe
The Dimensions
The universe is made up of layers, called dimensions. These layers are distinct from each other, yet overlap indistinguishably when viewed from a point within one of them.
The first three of the dimensions should be familiar to you from mundane understanding, for they are clearly defined scientifically. We will refer to them, combined, as the Material Plane. (First three dimensions; back and forth, side to side, and up and down.) It is the fourth dimension which is of concern to mages. We refer to the fourth dimension as the Astral Plane. Many scientists have argued that Time is the fourth dimension, they are so near to being wrong that the matter is academic. Just as each dimension contains all those dimensions "below" it, so does the Astral Plane contain within it the Material Plane. It is impossible for a lower dimensional being to experience or even fully comprehend a higher dimension. Humans exist in the Material Plane, and it is only because of the fact that we carry within ourselves the "spark of life," a feature of the fourth dimension, that we can perceive and affect the Astral Plane.
The Astral Plane
The Astral Plane contains and extends beyond the Material Plane. The parts of Astral which are easiest for humans to perceive are the shadowlands. The shadowlands echo the shape and content of the material world. Solidness in the Astral Plane is dependent on life force energy. The more life force which is contained in an object, the more prominent the object will be when viewed from the astral perspective. Time and distance do not directly correspond between the Material and Astral Planes, although they remain most consistent in the shadowlands. Beyond the shadowlands exists the dreamlands, a feature similar to Jung's "communal consciousness." The dreamlands are a continually playing storehouse of the memories, thoughts and dreams of the living creatures of the Material Plane.
How we (lowly worms of the Material Plane, in our conceit, attempt the insurmountable task to) explain the Astral Plane (a concept so far beyond our feeble comprehension that it not only borders on, but soars beyond the ludicrous )
The easiest and simplest way for a mage to connect with the Astral Plane is by falling asleep. All dreams take place in Astral. Everyone has access to the Astral Plane through dreams, but only the mageborn may extend their consciousness beyond their own personal dream spheres. Dreams take place in the shadowlands (only past dreams inhabit the dreamlands), corresponding with the location of the dreamer's astral presence. When dreaming, the average dreamer will only perceive the subject matter of their dream, and not any of the goings on in that part of Astral. The more trained your astral perception, the more details of Astral that you will see.
The Energy Forces
The natural force which mages manipulate is called the life force or mana. Magic is the title for the action of manipulating mana. There are two types of mana, to describe them we will use the Hebrew terms Ruach and Nephesh.
The ruach is the ambient life force which is the equivalent in the Astral Plane, of matter in the Material Plane. All the unembodied mana (the mana that is not part of a material being), is ruach mana. The spirits (i.e. souls) of gods and other purely astral beings are made up of ruach.
The nephesh is the type of mana which makes up the souls of material beings. The nephesh is a part of and is melded with the material body, and contributes to the existence of the consciousness. When the material body becomes nonfunctional, the nephesh dissolves, transforming into ruach. Only a strong or inspired ego can keep the nephesh from dissolving after the body dies, creating a ghost. The nephesh is the approximate equivalent of the western mythological soul. The nephesh is connected to the consciousness and is what allows humans to perceive and interact with the ruach of the Astral Plane. Nephesh is a material being's own personal supply of mana (Psyche Score). A mage "burns" his nephesh when casting spells (from your Psyche Current Total), and automatically replenishes his nephesh from the ruach. All nephesh mana is bound to a consciousness and cannot exist without one.
The ruach is all other mana which is not connected to a material being. Ruach mana can be bound to a consciousness, but is not required to be. Ruach mana which is bound to a consciousness is claimed, whereas unclaimed ruach has no such connection. Unclaimed ruach mana is not without form, it is merely without consciousness. Nit pickers may continue to divide unclaimed ruach into raw and channeled. Much like the sand of a sand castle, it retains its form only so long as its maker protects and maintains it. Left to itself, it crumbles back to raw, randomly formed sand piles. The Ruach is the more common and more dominant type of mana in the universe.
The Cycle of Life
Mana is a form of energy, energy can neither be created nor destroyed, it simply changes form.
The Human soul consists of nephesh mana. What causes an object to be alive is the spark of life, which is the mana which is melded with the materiel form. Everything alive contains this spark, which we will refer to as the soul. For simplicity, we will use humans in our discussion of the cycles that the soul proceeds through, although please keep in mind that all living creatures go through similar, if not identical cycles.
When a human is conceived a small portion of both the mother's and father's nephesh contributes to the new soul. The first two thirds of a new human soul comes from the nephesh of the parents, and the last third comes from an outside source. Because the nephesh from the parents does not create a whole new human's soul the remainder is drawn in from one of two sources, the claimed or unclaimed ruach or the unembodied nephesh. Unembodied souls (either of ruach or nephesh) are sometimes attracted to fertile creatures, waiting for the opportunity to become embodied. It is not understood why these ruach and nephesh spirits are drawn to the proto-souls. It is also impossible to determine which type of spirit (ruach or nephesh) will be attracted, or why. After the third contribution, the new human has a whole soul, a combination of forces which is transformed into that human's nephesh.
The human soul rejuvenates itself throughout its life by either drawing from the unclaimed ruach, or draining another being's nephesh. When a human dies, his body decays and his nephesh(conscious soul) disperses, transforming into unclaimed ruach. That ruach is then the raw material which feeds back into hungry souls after death, but occasionally something different happens. In some cases the human's soul will resist disbursement, in these cases the disembodied nephesh becomes a ghost. Souls which become ghosts do so either; because of some traumatic issue left unresolved in life which prevents the soul from submitting to the rest of disbursing, or because of the abnormal cohesion of the soul due to magical training.
The first type of ghost, called a Haunter, spends its existence roaming the shadowlands, trying to resolve its troubling issues. If a haunter's issues are resolved, their soul will either disperse or be drawn in as the third component of a new soul.
The second type of ghost, called a Searcher, cannot disperse unless they accept and relegate their individual consciousness to the oblivion of dispersal. For most mages, being self-important, self-centered wretches, this letting go of one's self is impossible. The fate of the searcher is to roam the shadowlands until they find a burgeoning proto-soul to join with. The problem with being reborn into a new material body, is the competition between resolved haunters, searchers and ruach spirits to become a component in a newly conceived human.
Glossary
- Alive:
- Having the qualities of life; see Life.
- Astral Perception:
- The ability to perceive mana.
- Astral Plane:
- The fourth dimension; the realm overlapping the material plane.
- Astral Presence:
- The perceivable shape of a soul or spirit.
- Channeled:
- Unclaimed ruach mana which has been manipulated into an unnatural form by a consciousness.
- Claimed:
- Mana which is bound into a consciousness, either nephesh(soul) or ruach(spirit).
- Dimension:
- One of three or four coordinates determining position in space and time.
- Dreamlands:
- One level deeper in the Astral Plane than the shadowlands; contains all past thoughts, dreams and memories of material beings.
- Ego:
- The conscious part of the personality that mediates between the mind and the external reality.
- Embodied:
- Mana which is melded to a material body; usually any mana which is embodied becomes nephesh mana.
- Ghost:
- A nephesh(soul) which is not melded with a material body.
- Haunter:
- A ghost whose mana cannot disperse because of unresolved issues from its previous life.
- Life:
- The state of a material complex or individual characterized by the capacity to perform certain functional activities including metabolism, growth and reproduction; the sequence of physical and mental experiences that make up the existence of an individual.
- Life Force:
- The essential energy required for a material object to be alive.
- Mageborn:
- A soul which has the potential to manipulate mana.
- Mana:
- The energy which forms the substance of the Astral Plane; also see Life Force.
- Material Plane:
- The first three dimensions; normal life as mundanes know it.
- Reborn/Rebirth:
- A soul or spirit which had been embodied at some time in the past, which is re-embodied into a new, usually just conceived material body.
- Raw:
- Unclaimed ruach mana which is not committed to a consciously determined form.
- Searcher:
- A ghost who cannot disperse because of the training it received in life about manipulating mana.
- Self:
- The consciousness; also see Ego.
- Shadowlands:
- The part of the Astral Plane most easily perceived by material beings; the Astral "shadow" of the mana resident in the Material Plane.
- Soul:
- A consciousness made up of nephesh mana.
- Spark of Life:
- The nephesh mana content in a material body.
- Spirit:
- A consciousness made up of ruach mana.
- Unclaimed:
- Mana which is not bound to a consciousness; only ruach mana may be unclaimed.
- Unembodied:
- Mana which is not melded to a material body.
Vampires Ain't Got No Soul: Outside the Cycle
The fate of the vampires' soul is a special case in the universal recycling of souls. When a human dies and receives vampire blood, their nephesh is torn from the physical body of the human in the form of a ghost, and is consumed by the ruach infesting the vampire blood. But because the ruach in the vampire blood is not conscious, the consciousness of the human soul is absorbed into the new composite creature of ruach spirit and material body.
A vampire literally has no nephesh (i.e. soul) of their own. The mana which magically animates their nonfunctional body, is ruach mana. Ruach mana cannot successfully copy the cohesion and automatic rejuvenation of nephesh mana. The vampire must literally "hold their soul together" through a force of will alone. In technical terms, a vampire does not have a soul, it has a mana pool. They have a capacity to channel mana through them, but the mana does not hold the signature of the vampire's self. When a vampire is destroyed, the ruach melded with their body is released, this freed ruach spirit regains it's original consciousness. In this rebirth of the ruach spirit, the consciousness of the originally human vampire, bereft of the mana which sustained its consciousness, is destroyed.
