Soil and Soil religion - Comprehensive Analysis
[In continuation of Kumo's ask reply on Soil, and knowing Kaze won't ever bother explaining it all himself, the all-knowing narrator (mun, long live the mun) has taken up the mantle of explaining everything about Soil. I’ve done it before but lore accumulated like grease in the pipes and I’ve been needing to update and explain more stuff anyway. A meta-analysis, if you will. Here you will learn everything you may have ever wanted to know about Soil and some useless details you didn't know you needed until now.]
The Soil is one of the two juxtaposed forces of the universe, and its antagonistic force is Mist. Where the Mist represents air, life, breath, and the straight line (continuity of life), the Soil represents earth, rebirth, blood and the spiral (the cycle of life and death). These two energies hail from the two Dragon Gods, the siblings Tiamat (Mist) and Bahamut (Soil). Both of the energies can be described as the states of matter of the soul. Just like with regular matter, the states of the soul can be changed when enough magical energy is expended, with some notable exceptions. Windarian souls cannot be transmuted into Mist and Misterican souls cannot be transmuted into Soil - this is because Windarians were directly influenced by Lord Bahamut and Mistericans were born from Lady Tiamat's breath. Attempting to transmute the two opposing spirit forces in this manner would require obscene amounts of energy, and is practically impossible. A hypothetical union of the Dragon Gods' energies would be hyper-unstable and hyper-destructive, not unlike nuclear fission. Some speculate that this very fusion energy may have been what existed at the beginning of the cosmos itself, and later delaminated and caused the Big Bang.
The majority of life-forms in the universe contain Soil within their beings. There are some creatures whose souls are naturally closer to Mist, such as airborne species and aquatic species (seeing as a gaseous soul and a liquid soul respectively manifest in creatures closely tied to air and water - whereas a solid soul is hard to transmute to gas).
Soil exists in a multitude of colors, and the hues present determine its elemental properties. Though every soul is unique, some are similar enough to be named the same. The color of the Soil is a reflection of the being's true self, their very soul. Though the Architects were the first to harness both Soil and Mist magic, Windarian warriors developed an entire religion and multiple rituals surrounding the use of the spirit sand. A great technique was born anew - the summoning arts.
Three colors of Soil can be sacrificed, dissolved in the caster's own blood, and activated by spiral motion to bring out an Esper. The Espers are the ancient creatures who serve Lord Bahamut, and thus, are entirely subservient to him. Still, an Esper can be controlled through the blood link estabilished between the summoner and the beast, and it can be commanded at the expense of life energy. To maintain a summoning for an extended period of time is synonymous with putting one's own life at risk as the enormous mental effort required to uphold the spell takes a toll on all the systems. In a way, the spirits of the dead can be given a second, albeit brief, life through the Esper called forth. Afterwards, they return to the earth through the Soil Spiral/Life's Spiral (alternatively known as the Soilstream or Lifestream). In Windarian mythos, the Soil Spiral is portrayed as a spiral stairwell (or river) descending into the Planet's core and is considered sacred above all else as a means to rebirth.
Soil undergoes a thaumaturgichemical reaction when in contact with blood, causing the liquid to turn black and highly toxic upon ingestion or prolonged inhalation of its fumes. Inserting Soil into the bloodstream causes widespread organ failure due to the sheer amount of energy released and the produced poison. Espers are thought to bleed Soilblood ichor when struck, but their biology (if they are even comprised of flesh at all) is completely alien and incomprehensible to mortals.
The Wind Cult's Soil religion
Soil and Espers are holy for Windarians, and Bahamut is considered their highest warrior deity. Soil magic has gone through many developments throughout the ages and was not limited only to summonings. Packets of adequate Soil could be activated with circular hand motions to heal injuries or used in engines to generate immense amounts of power. However, Soil engine use was limited by the Windarian High Temple due to its somewhat blasphemous nature when reduced to the mundane. Henceforth, Soil engines were only commonly found in divinely-sanctioned Temple warships such as the Highwind and Emberfall and, of course, calling guns.
Soil, despite its supernatural nature, is sand and can be glassed. The resulting Soilglass can be fashioned into extremely potent magic weapons, but the spirits do not take kindly to being restricted in such a shape for extended periods of time. Soilglass weapons older than a few days commonly cursed their wielders and drove them to insanity out of sheer spite.
The highest form of Soil magic, of course, is summoning. Though the technical process had already been described, there is also a very important ritualistic aspect that should not be omitted.
Soil Gun Poetry (or simply Soil Poetry) was a practice developed as a way to appease the three spirits (Triads) and prevent them from speaking to the summoner as Soil voices are a psychohazard and repeated exposure can lead unprepared gunmages to self-harm or suicide. To prevent the negative energy from the souls of the dead from harming the summoner, a ritual is first performed. All three spirits must be named according to their truest hue and appeased with a poetry verse.
Examples of Soil-Adherents' Soil Poetry:
"Hydrate the drought, Water Blue."
"The moment that dictates the time of extinction, Steel Grey."
"Kiss of the fiery heavens, Solar Gilt."*
*definitely not a functional Triad: may result in spontaneous bodily combustion.
There had been instances where the verses were rejected as unfitting which is why every Soil mage must spend years properly attuning to each spirit's color. Regular Soil mages commonly worked with no more than ten different colors of Soil and only called one Esper whose marking they bore under their right eye. This is because Windaria's calling gun technology was only capable of developing specialized weapons attuned to one particular Esper, whereas the Architects' Magun is capable of invoking every single one, even in quick succession. It is also the only weapon capable of invoking Bahamut himself, considering the Dragon God is actually sealed inside it. As such, the Magun is a sentient magitech being and possesses a will of its own. Wielding the biomechanical Magun involves having one's blood turned to ichor and, eventually, death.
Soil usually lies invisible and dormant within living beings and within the Planet itself. Trace amounts of Soil can be found in plants and animals, with more Soil present the more complex the organism. Non-sapient derived Soil is commonly gray, and possesses very weak magical properties. It is also entirely harmless due to its inability to chatter. This type of Soil (known as silent Soil) cannot be used for summoning, but can be used as fuel. Plantborne Soil acquired by drawing the substance from properly ground fibre is even in use in certain areas of Wonderland, as is silent Soil gathered from the earth itself. Some non-silent, colored Soil is also used in this way, but requires much more skilled magitechnicians to utilize without exposure to unnecessary risks.
The instance where Soil manifests on its own in the corporeal plane is known as a Soilwind. It is a part of the Spiral that appears as a double-stranded helix of a soul's corresponding color. Skilled gunmages have been trained in a specific ritual gesture capable of forcibly drawing Soil in this form from a person and then confining it to a Soil Charge Bullet, which results in the subject’s death. This practice was very common in the martyr caste of Soil Missionaries. A naturally-occuring Soilwind can be made up of one soul or several, though the former is rarer seeing as a singular soul rarely possesses the willpower necessary to manifest on its own. Single-soul Soilwinds that take up the shape of a deceased person are even rarer and are known as Soil Ghosts. Such ghosts can even communicate coherently with the world of the living for a short time before dispersal. Being visited in a dream is the most common way for this to happen, and some Soil-Adherents served as mediums. The Soil’s ability to chatter and ride the wind is what first birthed the belief in the winds being the messengers of the gods themselves. This is also why the general Windarian word for wind is actually rorahm (ro rahm) = god’s messenger.
Conglomerate Soilwinds have been sighted roaming the sites of intense battles before returning to the Planet. A Soilwind activated by spiral motion becomes extremely dangerous and turns black with visible violet electricity discharges. This commonly happens within Soil engines and can be volatile if exposed to inconsistent rotation intervals. It has also been observed happening around the Magun's rotor when in windmill mode, and it is said Lord Marduk has the ability to call the Soil Spiral (as well as freely create Soilwinds and even Soilglass) to his aid without the use of technology. This phenomenon is known as Spiral magic and is not well understood.
Bahamut's corporeal incarnation, Marduk
Though Mistericans possessed a prophecy that described the exact characteristics of Tiamat's Holy Vessel and wielder of Maken, the same could not be said about Windarians. Whether it never existed to begin with or was lost during the many wars that ravaged the Land of the Winds is unclear. Without a clear indication of who the true wielder would be, the Temple instead had many warriors attempt (and die trying) to wield Lord Bahamut's Magun. The true vessel was only known by the name Marduk and it was believed they would be able to not only command the Magun without dying, but become one with the God of Destruction and command the Soil Spiral directly. As the Deity of Soil, Bahamut bestows his vessel with his very own powers and grants them immortality in exchange for reshaping their body how he wishes into a form best suiting them to the role of the Weapon to end Chaos; The Demon Gunman's true purpose.
Despite its beautiful, enthralling appearance, Soil is a dangerous energy consisting of the volatile and often violent wills of the departed. It is governed by the God of Destruction, Bahamut, the great Esper Lord who oversees the cycle of death and rebirth and sets it in motion. Where Soil exists, so too exists death. The Windarians understood this more deeply than any other race and shaped their entire religion around this truth. Mistericans looked down on those beliefs and associated practices as the Deathbringer cult. And yet, while Windarians very much worshiped death as part of nature, they revered it as a gateway to new life.
From the Glory of Death, for the Glory of Life. Ashes to ashes and Soil to Soil
