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Looking to Salamander, Athena nods, "It would seem that way no? But there are only 4 types of souls; depending on their physical forms it is quite possible for a Mortal and Spirit, or a Spirit and God to couple... However for reasons I am about to explain, the result would either be one side or the other... there can be no hybrids between Spirits and other souls, only Mortal and Immortal."
She ponders his second set of questions for a moment before answering, hand to her chin, "For the most part... no, a Mortal cannot become a Spirit, nor can a God become Mortal, and so forth. You are stuck with what you are born with. When a Mortal Ascends and becomes a God, it's Soul becomes much stronger... is able to put off the energy we Gods use to do our work, Ether, however it is still a Mortal based Soul. There may be methods to do otherwise... but they would be considered profane and the work of a potential Demon. It disrupts the natural balance; and to change the very base nature of a Soul would have to be a violent act, and violence against an unguarded Soul is very strictly forbidden."
She grins and adjusts her glasses, "To ask a God what type of Soul they have is like asking a woman her age... it is not a wise thing to do, and can be taken the wrong way. It's quite personal. However, as we learn, you will be able to tell what type of Soul a God has just by looking."
She claps her hands, "Back to the topic at hand however, thank you Dom, the results of breeding will always be one of four - it matters not how 'diluted' the coupling may be." Nodding at Kajin, "It is a very rare thing for one God to contain more than a single Soul, but it has happened before due to extreme circumstances... the abilities and costs that being would have would honestly depend on which Soul was stronger... however that little problem, when it last arose, was solved with what we call Shells."
Taking a moment to address Stan, "We use a Universal-Standard measurement of time, that is to say, 24 hours is a standard day, 60 minutes per hour, 60 seconds per minute." She holds up a great gold watch on a chain, "If you ever travel to a world that runs on a longer or shorter day, you'll be advised to you can adjust any time pieces you may have with you."
Putting the watch away she looks for further questions, seeing none she continues. "The four types of Souls that exist are known as Anima. You all have 1 of the four Anima types, and depending on which you have you will get different Perks and Lodes when it comes to your memories, Shells, and ultimately, what happens when you die."
The lights turn low again, "I may as well get this out of the way right now... Our business? It is a dangerous one sometimes. There are Demons, Spirits, Mortals and Gods alike that don't want balance... they view us as threats. There will be times you need to battle to survive, and I will be teaching you how soon... but know this: You will die in the line of duty."
"There is no God, myself and the Elders included, that hasn't died working as an Arbiter yet."
"That being said, Death for a God doesn't mean the same thing as it does for a Mortal or Elemental. When a God dies, it takes the form of it's un-shielded soul for a little while, or at least in part, until that God can either regenerate it's body, or jump into a Shell." She makes a signal with her hand and in a room attached to the classroom through a door that you all swear wasn't there before, there is a scuffle of movement. "I will get into Death and Shells a little later... what you need to know now, is what your Un-Shielded souls look like, and what they will mean to you." She motions at the door, "These are real dead Gods. Be respectful, and not afraid, for they will jump right back into their bodies when they are done with this lesson."
In floats what is easily recognized as a Mortal Soul, a ball of interlaced Weave stands zooming about each other and putting off a smokey flow of energy... however this time, that energy seems more substantial, more radiant, and quite powerful. "What you are feeling, is Ether. I will explain to you Ether in another lesson, but know that is the energy we Gods use to cast Rune Magic, fight in battle, and thrive. Mortals and Spirits do not make Ether... Gods do. It is what makes us Gods, and the energy you feel is created as the strands of Weave inside your Ascended Soul brush through and past one and other."
The soul stops and floats, dipping into a hovering bow. "This is an Ascended Mortal soul. Note that it seems to be made of Gas. These Souls are very elastic, they can fit a variety of containers so having a Mortal Soul makes it best if you wish to use a lot of different Shells. Shells, in summary, are different bodies that Gods can create and as I stated before, it is a lesson for later. As a Mortal Ascended Soul, when you die it is easier to jump into a Shell than it is to fully resurrect yourself until you rest, but it still can be done. This type of Soul shields itself as well against memory interference, as you saw with the example of the dying mortal. If you have a Mortal Soul as a God, you have the best protection when dead."
The next soul hovers into the room, another ball of fast moving weave... but this one is wildly different than the last. Instead of it's energy flowing off into a smoke, it seems to fill up into very solid vibrant crystals. They hum with energy as it moves about the room, glowing, "This is the Soul of a Pure Blooded God, born and raised. Notice where the Mortal Soul seems to be a gas, the Soul of a God is Solid, crystalline and powerful. With that power, however, comes fragility... a dead God is very susceptible to damage to it's memory. They too can have a Shell, but normally they only can link up to 1. Mortals can take many extra forms. Also, note, that you do not NEED to have a Shell; sometimes its better not to have one. Just know that there is Perks and Lodes both to having, and not having a Shell, as I will explain later. Gods resurrect and change bodies very quickly, and at a low cost... at first. But due to the potent but fragile nature of their souls, that cost will exponentially increase if you die multiple times in a single battle."
Next out hovers a speedy soul, zipping about and room and bobbing up and down in front of everybody. Surrounding this ball of weave is energy that seems to flow like water, "I'm sure you're getting the pattern now... this Soul is liquid, and therefore must be the mix between Solid and Gas... A Demi-Mortal Soul. They are afforded some memory protection when dead, not as strong as Mortals, but not as weak as Immortals too. Demi-Mortal shells are rare... as Demi-Mortals tend to have some issues syncing up to more than a single body, but it can be done. It will just be costly. Instead, most Demi-Gods use the fact that their bodies have the fastest resurrections, in some cases instantaneous, and the lowest costs for coming back consecutive times to their advantage. The liquid nature of this Soul is also why, no matter how diluted a hybrid be, their souls will always take this form... it is the phase between solid and gas."
Finally, the last soul comes wandering out and it could not be any more different than the other three. "This, my students, is the Soul of a Spirit." Instead of a tightly wound ball of weave with energy flowing around it... there is only 5 incredibly thick, wide strands of weave looping about in the air, quite far apart from one and other. It seems to spin slower than the others, but on these thick strands you can easily make out what appear to be glyphs in some sort of odd language. "And here is the reason why a mating between another Soul type and a Spirit can only result in either a Spirit, or the other parent's Anima... this is Weave in it's purest form, the Ether it creates is internalized... it's like comparing smoke or a river to the sun. It is all three elements combined, and at the same time, completely different."
The Spirit Soul floats around the room slowly... you can almost hear the whisper of a song as it goes by. "As you can see, the writing on the surface of the Soul can be read if you know the language... it is the creature's memories made manifest. In this way, Spirit's memories can be easily read... but they are nearly as hard to change or damage as a Mortal's. The writing you see on the Weave are Runes... and yes, it is where Gods first learned to utilize Rune Magic. As a Spirit grows in power, it gains not strands of Weave like other souls, but more writing in crisper detail. Stronger Spirits will have their script made up of smaller Runes, so close together that from a distance it looks like a brush stroke. A Spirit will only be made up of 1 to 10 strands of Weave, at max. A Spirit also cannot use a Shell... however their bodies are perfectly in tune with their souls, making them extremely hard to kill as well as granting them a healing rate that would make even the Elders blush."
"If you wish, you may ask any of these Gods questions, or myself. Since you may be working with them some day, and seeing another persons un-shielded Soul is more private than seeing them nude... they will remain anonymous just like yourselves. When you are finished, we will move onto Xenotypes."
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