🚂 Sodor Spirits Lore: Engine Spirits 🚂
I pulled together some of my development for what these humanised engines actually are, so everything might possibly be a little easier to understand this small AU. There’s still more of this lore coming some time later but I hope you all enjoy reading this and may help make some sense on this blog and AU.
✨ Spirits are humanoid beings who are born with their souls/ life essence tied to their engines. Their bodies are “condensed” gold dust holograms that can be projected at a fairly far distance as long as their engine is nearby, which is approximately 5 miles. However because the engine is part of them and needed for living, the only real way to kill a spirit is by scrapping their engine.
✨ Their appearances are characterised by their engine’s paint job which is often shown on their hair and clothing, this also applies to general shapeshifting where they will keep their colour scheme. Spirits don’t have a ‘sex’ and their hologram appearances and pronouns are dictated by how they identify unless they make the choice to change it during their form regeneration.
✨ Their bodies seem to be made up of doll-joint like segments in their base forms and their four fingered hands also resembled doll jointed fingers, which they keep concealed with the use of fingerless gloves.
✨ When a spirit’s body is badly damaged, they will burst into gold dust and retreat back to the engine their soul is tied and come back once the regeneration process is done. The only permanent forms of damage is when their engine is also damaged, usually shown as cracks on the spirit’s body like porcelain dolls. They are still capable of getting injuries if their forms aren’t ‘poofed’ and will heal over time like humans; but at a much faster pace.
✨ Every Spirit is able to:
⭐️ Use telepathy if they are still regenerating, in their engine or shapeshifted into a form that doesn’t allow them to speak directly. (Animals or inanimate objects.)
⭐️ Duplicate and extract memories of others’ and themselves. The duplicated and extracted memories take on the form of colored crystals called Memory Gems.
⭐️ Show their existence to humans who aren’t able to perceive them.
⭐️ Summon a weapon from their bodies in any situation that requires them to fight. The Spirits are also immune to any human-made weapons.
⭐️ Use various spells that includes transmutation, concealment and trapping using mystic barriers. Every spirit are also able to detect and sense the presence of magic or magical energies.
⭐️ Store objects into their bodies that turn into gold dust until withdrawn.
⭐️ Enter a personal pocket dimension that can be accessed through their engine. These essentially serve as their home and the appearance of their dimensions are normally a reflection of their consciousness. Other spirits are also capable of entering another’s pocket dimension.
⭐️ Alter or shapeshift their form by rearranging their “condensed” gold dust which makes up their appearance. The more mass the altered form has relative to the spirit’s normal form, the harder it is to maintain.
✨ Spirits’ other typical abilities also include inhuman physical strength, natural combative instincts and durability of varying degrees depending on their elemental.
✨Every steam and Diesel Spirit has their own elemental type that comes with basic powers:
💧 Water:
⭐️ Able to manipulate or create water in some capacity.
⭐️ Ability to breath underwater and withstand against the immense underwater pressures.
🔥 Fire:
⭐️ Able to manipulate and create fire in some capacity
⭐️ Capable of surviving in extreme hot climate, lava or fire. (Only the Spirit, not the engine!)
🌱 Earth:
⭐️ Able to manipulate earth soil and rocks in some capacity.
⭐️ Forms are physically stronger and more durable than other spirits besides metal.
🌪 Air:
⭐️ Able to create and manipulate wind and air in some capacity.
⭐️ Can adapt to high altitudes and capable of flight.
⚡️ Electric
⭐️ Able to create and control electricity in some capacity
⭐️ Immune to high voltage shocks and can absorb and store electricity in their bodies.
⚙️ Metal
⭐️ The rarest spirits in the world. Able to detect and control metal in some capacity.
⭐️ Forms are more durable, surpassing the earth spirits and has more heightened senses.
An easy way to differentiate a Steam or Diesel spirit’s element is by their eye colour.
🔵 Water Spirits have shades of blue.
🔴 Fire Spirits have shades of either red or orange.
🟢 Earth Spirits have shades of green.
🟣 Air Spirits have shades of purple or violet.
🟡 Electric Spirits have shades of yellow or gold.
⚪️ Metal Spirits have shades of grey or silver.
✨ Along with these basic elemental powers, each spirit has a “unique” power that’s tied to their own element:
💧 Edward (water): Create and manipulate ice and snow.
🔥 James (Fire): Create fireworks and explosions.
🌱 Henry (Earth): Rapidly grow and control plants.
🌪 Sir Handel (Air): Control and create clouds.
⚡️ Thomas (Electric): Use electric telekinesis.
⚙️ Oliver (Metal): Turn invisible at will by touching metal.
✨ Even though Spirits are effectively immortal since they don’t have to eat or drink and don’t age due to their “physical age” being an appearance and identity choice, other than taking their needed fuel source. They can still eat if they desire.
✨ Most Spirits usually have one elemental magic when they’re born. But in extremely and incredibly rare cases, a Spirit can be born with two elements. These Spirits are called duel spirits. The only known duel spirits on Sodor are Duke and Stephen the first Steam Spirit.
✨ Not counting the residents of Sodor or roughly one percent of the world population, the Spirits are invisible to human eyes along with any other traces, forms or existences of magic. Despite this humans are capable of seeing them picking up objects or even being hit by them, causing them to sometimes be misnamed as ‘Poltergeists’, which is the actual name for Road spirits.
✨ It’s generally unknown how the Sudarians are capable of perceiving and interacting with the Spirits, regardless whether they’re invisible to other humans or not. Due to the high levels of Gold dust and magical energy coming from the island, which also influenced it’s environment; there’s a shared theory between the Sodor Spirits that due to the residents and their former descendants living on the island, the gold dust had caused them to slightly evolve, allowing them to use some form of ‘subconscious magic’ in order to see and interact with the spirits.
✨ Corruption is a term for a spirit who’s been taken over by any form of negative emotion ranging from Anger, Hatred, Envy and even despair. It takes great difficulty to get the inflicted spirit back to their original personality as corruption prevents from thinking or understanding, only with an unmoving want or desire to make the person suffer for their injustice towards them.
✨Important OOC Post:
There isn’t an easy way to say this but… I’ve been thinking for a long while since December last year and I’ve decided to move my art blog @
✨ More Lore:
The Story of Shining Time 🚂
✨ Content tags:
🎨 Fanart: #tttefantasyau
📖 Fanfiction: #tttefanfiction , #tttefanfic
😅 Sodor Shenanigans
