Soul Contracts

A soul contract is commitment between two or more parties to perform specific duties or actions, similar to a written or verbal contract. However, unlike a standard contract, a soul contract is defined by all parties using parts of their soul as collateral, severely increasing the stakes for breaking any agreements.

Soul contracts work by using one or several gods to “contain” the parts of soul used as collatoral. Once the requirements of the contract have been met (or if the contract is mutually revoked), the power is automatically returned to all parties.

Most gods do perform soul contracts in some manner as the sheer amount of power they have makes the cost inconsequential, to the point where a god can have several thousand with only a minor reduction in power. The majority of soul contracts are minor, done through a third party such as a priest.

Non-Combative

No physical violence.

Divine Techniques

While gods typically provide some of their power in the form of blessing something you own, they can also bless you directly. These techniques are relatively weaker due to natural incompatibilites between gods and mortals, but it allows more varied powers. Additionally, the direct correction gives makes it impossible for the power to be mismanaged or abused, as a god can void the contract relatively easy (in comparison to blessed equipment, which is nearly impossible to take the power back from without resulting in a cursed weapon).

Bindings

Soul Binding is a rare technique that allows two souls to be permanently connected.

This contract works by making a connection betweens the souls directly in the ethereal plane, typically imagined as a thread or string that is tied at the ends. From this connection, mana and power in general can be transferred from one soul to the other.

Individual that are soul bound are also tied to each other in the physical world. They cannot be a significant physical distance away, as after a certain point, their soul will start to disconnect from their body. This manifests as a physical sensation in the chest that worsens with distance.

While soul bindings can technically be broken, there is no way to do so without permanently weakening both souls. In the best of cases, this weakening can be minor. In the worst, one or both parties can die.

Soul bindings can typically only be performed once for any given individual, as one already provides plenty of strain.

Example

• Aladia forcefully binds Lucien’s soul with hers when he’s nearly killed in order to save him.