Souls and Vessels

In the universe souls are born directly from the Principle plane and returns to it when the time comes.   A soul gains power and substance through the experiences it has during "life". This means that a freshly born soul is essentially powerless but also virtually undetectable. Life of a soul is the time it spends bound to a vessel. Bodies are vessels for souls. Binding to a vessel is not an easy proces. If a vessel is unsuitable the soul will "burn" through it while being bound. A soul can also overpower another soul and take possession of a vessel, such as a ghost possessing a person.   While pretty much anything can become a vessel, bodies are specially made to be vessels for souls. Other things can be made suitable vessels through magic. The Awakened spell for example can turn something into a suitable vessel for a soul. A soul can sense if something would be a suitable vessel. There are more fresh souls than vessels and a fresh soul has no reference frame other than its sense of whether something would be a suitable vessel. This means that fresh souls can't detect whether the circumstances of existence are desirable, only whether the vessel is suitable. If someone were to use magic to create a vessel then there will always be a soul to bind to it. Once a vessel dies a soul becomes unbound and no longer experiences the physical limitations that came with the vessel. There are other ways for a soul to become unbound.   An unbound soul has some limitations. Though a soul can "move" nearly instantaneous, such as when its vessel is being targeted by a resurrection spell, it can be bound to something else, preventing it from "moving". Since souls are things of incredible potential they are highly sought after by beings interested in harvesting that power. A soul of a deceased vessel would often rather return to the source, the Principle plane , than risk being enslaved by some strange power. There are reasons why a soul would linger. Some obvious reasons are that they have unfinished business (ghosts and such) or that they were trapped when their vessels were destroyed.   If an unbound soul finds a vessel fast enough they will retain their memories. The longer an unbound soul stays unbound the more of its memories it loses. This also applies to unbound souls that manifest themselves, such as ghosts. An unbound soul can regain its memories when it is returned to its original vessel, such as through the Resurrection spell, or if it spends enough time in similar situations as when the memories first formed.   A soul can also detach from its vessel but still be bound to it. In such a case the soul sees a tether between itself and its vessel. A detached soul can also inhabit a temporary vessel but the temporary vessel is most often ill-suited and will thus burn up.   As mentioned earlier souls can forcefully take control of the vessel of another soul. In this situation the vessel is usually ill-suited for the "invading" soul and the invading soul will be forced to leave after a while. Souls can also ask permission from other souls to temporarily take over or share a vessel. The most famous example being Celestials inhabiting the bodies of their worshippers or followers to better exert their power in the physical realm.   A soul can be powerful enough to permanently inhabit an ill-suited vessel by expending some of its power to constantly regenerate its vessel. Usually these souls will try to find or create a better suited vessel. When a soul possesses the vessel of another soul it can be that the possessing soul is powerful enough to expel the native soul. In such a case the native soul is usually damaged or harmed to a degree that it will return to the source. However, an expelled soul might seek to reclaim its original vessel. Such a soul might seek out a suitable temporary vessel or may even have created a contingency vessel.   The Reincarnate spell can create new bodily vessels for the soul of a deceased vessel. This new vessel is an as good match as the previous vessel. There is also the process of natural reincarnation. In such a case a bodily vessel is born (or created) that is a replica of an earlier existing vessel of which the soul still exists. This does not mean that that specific soul will inhabit the vessel. Another soul might reach the vessel first and find it a suitable match. In such a case the soul that inhabited the older version of the vessel might try to take the vessel from its current occupant, causing an incident of possession.