The Lack of a Soul

Fallen London
1

I haven’t seen any threads on this, and I’ve always been really curious: if your character has lost their soul, how do you think it affects/affected them? IE. do you play them differently in-game, or is it just a change to the way you view them?

For example, pre-soul loss, Ten spent a lot of time… enjoying the company of others. Quite a narcissist, really. But after she lost her soul to the Quiet Deviless (always risking it in case an outright rejection would cause the devils to dislike her), she’s stopped doing that as much. She was a very bohemian type, a great appreciator of beauty, but now she doesn’t really participate. She may need to look for a career change at some point.

I imagine that she still feels similar emotions to when she had a soul, but more echoes: habits that it’s too much trouble to try and get out of. Except in dreams. She feels perfectly normally in dreams. (She also doesn’t really care that she lost her soul - she finds it quite freeing, in all honesty.)

2

My character would become furious and disappointed in herself. She extremely distrusting of the Devils which is why she voted for the Bishop. As such, she would do everything in her power to reclaim her “stolen” soul.

That being said, the soulless are said to become more melancholic? Less passionate? Is that the right way to put it? So Blaine may end up just becoming depressed and somewhat cranky instead of shaking down every devil she encounters.

3

Valencia didn’t entirely feel all different when she lost her soul. What really made her seek to get hers back was that all her creative works felt as if they were missing something. They all were still well-received by the public, but lacked that little flourish that makes a work feel like it belongs to a specific artist.

4

I don’t think I really changed my playstyle. I was already roleplaying a solemn and introvertive Tomb-Colonist, so it isn’t that far of a stretch that he wasn’t really affected by the loss of a soul.

5

Flesh-Stick stopped talking in all caps and became very mopey.

6

The Goomeister felt soiled and furious when he lost his soul on accident.

Good thing he got lucky and a kind Shepard returned it to him the very next instant.

Now as for how it affected my RP play-style - It made me loath Devil-kin when before that I thought’em fiery buggers were the Bees Knees!(yo!)

7

The Dean experienced a profound sense of Mono no Aware and entered a hedonistic fugue.
edited by Dean Lee on 7/22/2016

8

Since losing my soul, I don’t drink any more. (I don’t drink any less, either.)

9

key P. wasn’t ashamed for selling his soul, despite his hatred of devils in all kinds. he was a shepered of soul already, but he always wandered if there is a truth in what they devils say about a soul being a burden, so he got the highest price he could and went through the process. the results weren’t pretty, if the chain of robbed ships he left behind him were any indication. he still knew right and wrong, but he figured that the good he does back in london balances his pillaging at zee.

even back in london, he still did the same things, but they lacked the heat and force he used to have- he always punched with the same strength at the ring, his interactions with the rubbery men always used the same movements instead of trying to figure something new, and he even stopped his correspondance studies deeming it ‘unsafe’ and ‘unprofitable’. by the time he decided to take back his soul, he already was living his life as an endless carousel he constantly loop through as if he is sleepwalking.
needless to say, once he found his soul he swore to never do that again. and then he went to channel his anger at a goat-demon
edited by plasmid on 7/21/2016

10

Pre-soul loss, My character had moments of extreme vice for no real reason- thefts for no better reason than because he could, causing trouble when he could make much better money normally.

When he lost it, there was a day of… well, let’s just say vomiting, in more ways than normal. Lots of dirty secrets, lots of stabbing, lots of babbling mindlessly to someone who was doubtless writing it all down. it was expensive day. So many secrets lost, so much rostygold spent on cleanup, and more.

Since the loss of it, he’s found himself behaving more ethically, caring more, choosing efficiency over vice. a dulling of hatred and an increased potency of empathy. Of course, he’s not… he’s still not moral, but he actually can care about others more than he used to, and now he actually prefers to behave ethically, if it’s equal, which wasn’t true before. He actually has moments of impractical morality, and cares about being on good terms with the factions enough to give it a non-zero value.

Whether this is a side effect from soul-loss or simply a reaction to the negative emotions remains to be seen.

He blames this change on the loss of his soul, and plans to see what other types of soul tampering can do once he gets it back. What if you stain it? Will a removed-and-destroyed soul do something different then just a removed soul? will different kinds of destruction have different results? can you destroy a master’s soul? Since that point, he’s been socializing like mad, and seeking lacre, since it’s one of a very low number of items that interact with souls. He also has a new hatred for souls, and has, more than once, given a tirade for removing your soul in a street corner in spite. Not selling it, just putting it on your dresser in a bottle so that you don’t have to deal with the celestial parasite.

That said, he’s done some research- a few people in london have actually died of grief- or, rather, soul explosion with no visible cause, as if their soul was dipped in &quotsnow&quot, while still inside their body. sometimes this happens in summer, and there’s no signs of [bazaar’s sorrow] in the area. there are dangers to having a soul, or perhaps they had consumed it. it’s known you shouldn’t, but people are idiots.

[quote=Blaine Davidson]My character would become furious and disappointed in herself. She extremely distrusting of the Devils which is why she voted for the Bishop. As such, she would do everything in her power to reclaim her &quotstolen&quot soul.

That being said, the soulless are said to become more melancholic? Less passionate? Is that the right way to put it? So Blaine may end up just becoming depressed and somewhat cranky instead of shaking down every devil she encounters.[/quote]
Mine doesn’t trust devils, but that’s less because he thinks souls are highly valuable to have inside you, and more because he thinks they know something about &quotsouls&quot that they aren’t telling.

{OOC: That’s mostly found either from the church or the ‘common knowledge’ sidebar, which is something like 20% verified misinformation. it’s quite likely a placebo effect, or from the common misconception that souls are, you know, souls. they shouldn’t be the ticket to the christian afterlife, because any afterlife that can be lost by another human’s doing is not a good god’s design, and an omnipotent one would stop that. never-mind that they can be destroyed in lacre. The only person a non-fate player sees with that trait and no soul is entwined with the church enough that it could well be &quotI did something wrong&quot/&quotI’ll be tormented eternally when i die&quot depression. Unless I’m forgetting someone.}

EDIT: mysterious -2 is gone now, but if this is offensive or inaccurate, feel free to PM me or have a forum debate on it.
edited by Grenem on 7/21/2016

11

My characters first reaction upon losing his soul for the first time was to immediately get it back to stain it some more.

12

While the soul may not be all that it is presumed to be on the Surface, it still is roughly immortal. There are 500+ year old souls rolling around down here. Plus, any Pentecost Ape (Monkey) will tell you the soul carries some piece of you along with it. Even the devils remark that a soul is capable of producing messages of it’s own, so clearly some part of you is still rattling around in that bottle. So all of you deprived of Cider might consider taking better care of that little Star Spore, 500+ years is still way older than anyone on the Surface could manage, even older than most tomb colonists. Plus the game does say you feel a bit down without your soul, which… is bad.[li]

13

The question is, are they actually part of you, or are they siphoning off your personality, and no more you than the apes who abstract and consume said soul, the only difference being that they hold it hostage?

Of course if it’s siphoning off emotions and personality, you’d be changed by the loss. If it’s a parasite, giving nothing, but neither truly taking what it takes until it’s removed, getting rid of it quickly is best, before it’s deeply entrenched. If it’s amplifying traits, well, duller emotions are often good.

Plus, one last question is this- do you want to live forever trapped in a little bottle, or as a dull echo in an ape, or until you get caught by snowfall and die in a violent explosion of lacre? Well, that, and that I’ve seen tomb-colonists pushing 200, and heard of a frostmoth in the colonies they say has been bottled for at least a century. potentially 3 centuries isn’t exactly terrible, and doesn’t leave you crippled as long.

14

If I ever lost my soul it would be accidental - a misclick for example- and the proper roleplaying would be to focus every action on getting it back.

15

[quote=Grenem]
The question is, are they actually part of you, or are they siphoning off your personality, and no more you than the apes who abstract and consume said soul, the only difference being that they hold it hostage?

Of course if it’s siphoning off emotions and personality, you’d be changed by the loss. If it’s a parasite, giving nothing, but neither truly taking what it takes until it’s removed, getting rid of it quickly is best, before it’s deeply entrenched. If it’s amplifying traits, well, duller emotions are often good.[/quote]
There’s no indication that it’s siphoning much of anything off of you. (I mean, it does seem to come from a less than reputable source but given that the soulless never seem better off for the trade I’d say it’s somewhere between neutral-to-essential) Plus given that the Tomb Colonists occasionally chose to turn themselves into frost moths to escape death, it seems at least someone would like to live on in some form. [li][/li][li]
edited by Johny Topside on 7/21/2016

16

speaking of the fate of souls and the soulless: has anyone here ever met a ghost? as in, a thinking soul outside of a vessel? i heard that one appear in the last feast, but i never got the chance to talk to it. think of what we could learn from it if we manage to have a proper, civilized conversation.

17

My soulless character has more difficulty telling emotions apart from each other - she still knows full well when she is having emotions, and can still reason which one is which from the surroundings, but she no longer knows intuitively whether her heart is beating from love or fear.

To be fair, physiologically, there isn’t much difference. Arguably, this lack of differentiation is closer to the truth.

18

Eglantine sold their soul. They found the process of losing it highly enjoyable. And the only effect they really noticed was a vague sense of something missing, like if you were to go out not wearing a ring or watch that you’re very used to wearing. But it was theirs, so they worked to get it back anyway. They have no hard feelings toward the devils about the whole business: it was an interesting transaction, a new experience, and they tracked the little blighter down and put it back in eventually, so no harm done in their eyes. Really, half the reason they put it back was that they were tired of getting snubbed around Summerset.

19

Before, and for some time after the loss of his soul, in his younger years, my character enjoyed all the vices the Neath had to offer. Wines and honey flowed abundantly, passionate encounters with strangers were not uncommon. He spent most of his time in the presence of the Bohemians as an aspiring poet hoping to get his works out to the world, to be known for his skill with the written word. So, when approached by the devils, he felt it was natural to indulge himself in their enigmatic, if slight unsettling, presence. The gifts certainly didn’t hurt. When time finally came for him to decide whether or not he would sell his soul, the thought of turning them away and all their tokens of affection and pleasant company was too much to bear, and so he allowed himself to be teased until one day he awake, drenched in sweat, soulless without even a fleeting memory of what had happened the night before. Huzzah! Being soulless was splendid for a time. Using the payment the devils had given him for his soul, he went out and drank and ate and enjoyed himself, with the burden of morality no longer infringing on his ability to indulge himself. Things went on that way for a while, a young, soulless man throwing himself into Neathy pleasures night after night. Taking up journalism not soon after, he found being soulless also helped him to obtain information and weaponize such knowledge with a ferocity a soul would not have allowed. When he rose to fame and his works became prominent enough, he moved on to the Shuttered Palace, sure that it was his best chance to have his works known to all. Around this time, he had also been doing some digging in the Forgotten Quarter, finding it both highly interesting and highly profitable. Thus he stumbled upon the mysteries of the Correspondence. Seeking more and more knowledge of the burning language, his aspirations now extending not only to the art world but the academic one as well, he decided on an ingenious way in which he might further both causes simultaneously. Thus, he put on a series of concerts with the Correspondence as the inspiration for his music. Arrangements were tricky, and each show could only last so long until someone caught on fire, but his shows became a hit, a strange curiosity that awoke the sleepy Palace regularly. Something, however, started to change within. Searching for inspiration, honeyed dreams and consultation with his artist friends gave him little inspiration. Quite frankly, something was missing. He was losing the desire for revelry he once had and felt none of his, well, soul going into any of his music or written works. Determined to keep on, he sought new inspiration. Deciding a bit of introspection might uncover where his passion for his work had gone, he went into seclusion and felt the sudden urge to fast, and focus solely on discovering where his love for his work had gone. Meditation brought him closer to the answer he was searching for. It was as if there was a quiet emptiness within him, and he became shocked at how content he was feeling this way, this loss of true love and compassion, of respect and care. Emerging from his meditation he realized what was so obvious now but for so long alluded him. It was his soul. He needed back if he was to complete his works at the Palace with satisfaction. I won’t go on much longer now, but essentially, upon recovering his soul, he was a humbler and more reserved individual. Replacing his nights of indulgence and joyful folly were nights of studying and writing serious works, ones which might be respected by the public and those he considered his peers. Gone were the hedonistic and selfish pursuits, replaced by more compassionate and selfless acts. As it stands now, my character is a respectable academic even after the nasty affair at the University, a Correspondent, a philanthropist, and a well known figure within high Society and the Church, doing his best to bring a bit of self awareness to the members of said groups.
TL;DR He was an absolute hedonist before and for some time after losing his soul but he eventually missed what it brought to his life and got it back, and as a result became a more selfless and reserved individual having learned the value of love for his fellow man which his soul afforded him

20

Uhh, very shinny diamond!
Let’s open many boxes; probably it’s in one. Weird writing, something poisonous, dead rats from the Duchess, purple secretary, some documents, some wine. Nop, no soul.
Meh, maybe some day…