[ She makes a considering noise. It's not a simple question
depending on who was approaching it, and with what understanding. Might as
well admit as much. ]
That's a subject of centuries long debate, depending on who you ask. The
simplest explanation could be that spirits are emotions given form in the
Beyond, the world of Dreaming. Also the source of magic, kept separate
from the waking world by a barrier called the Veil. It's... a more
flexible barrier than many expect, like a resistance that holds the Beyond
back and leaves the waking world as immutable as it wishes to be.
[ To Solas' dawning horror, once he realised what the Veil had done
in a practical sense. ]
Though emotions alone aren't the only things spirits embody. Spirits of
Wisdom are collectors of wisdom, as their title might suggest, but wisdom
is less an emotion than a state of being, or an idea, or even an ideal.
Where-as Rage, or Pride, or Envy are easy to recognise from their emotional
source. They're generated by thought, a reflection of the waking world,
and start off focused primarily on the one concept that defines them.
Gaining more complexity is less a spirit's natural state and more a
physical state... that being said, it's possible for spirits to willingly
take on physical form and learn and grow, beyond what they began as in the
Beyond. Or the Fade, as most of Thedas refers to the dreaming world.
[ There are all sorts of complexities there, but it's at least a
place to begin. Getting into possessions, the desire for more negative
emotion beings to press across the barrier, differing levels of
intelligence, the complexities of the Nameless Ones, the Forbidden Ones,
and so on... but who wants to hear all that. ]
no subject
[ She makes a considering noise. It's not a simple question depending on who was approaching it, and with what understanding. Might as well admit as much. ]
That's a subject of centuries long debate, depending on who you ask. The simplest explanation could be that spirits are emotions given form in the Beyond, the world of Dreaming. Also the source of magic, kept separate from the waking world by a barrier called the Veil. It's... a more flexible barrier than many expect, like a resistance that holds the Beyond back and leaves the waking world as immutable as it wishes to be.
[ To Solas' dawning horror, once he realised what the Veil had done in a practical sense. ]
Though emotions alone aren't the only things spirits embody. Spirits of Wisdom are collectors of wisdom, as their title might suggest, but wisdom is less an emotion than a state of being, or an idea, or even an ideal. Where-as Rage, or Pride, or Envy are easy to recognise from their emotional source. They're generated by thought, a reflection of the waking world, and start off focused primarily on the one concept that defines them. Gaining more complexity is less a spirit's natural state and more a physical state... that being said, it's possible for spirits to willingly take on physical form and learn and grow, beyond what they began as in the Beyond. Or the Fade, as most of Thedas refers to the dreaming world.
[ There are all sorts of complexities there, but it's at least a place to begin. Getting into possessions, the desire for more negative emotion beings to press across the barrier, differing levels of intelligence, the complexities of the Nameless Ones, the Forbidden Ones, and so on... but who wants to hear all that. ]