This is more or less a greater explaination of what I've developed for the plot.
*** WALL OF FUCKING TEXT AHEAD ***
I cannot reduce its size without losing detail. So sorry metal, sucks to be you.
Death permeates most of this worlds cultural and values, they don't view death as a bad thing mind you, nor do they necessarily revere or worship it, they accept it for the most part as being a part of the natural order of things.
That said, the protagonist in my story was "ordained" to carry on her research and studies about how to better reach out to runners and bring them to salvation. Runners are those whom, like the protagonist, were raised to fulfill their purpose on this plane of existence. After completion, they are exalted and allowed to finally pass on, but, such people either rejected their fate or upon completion of their ordained task, desired to stay in the mortal plane and fled in order to remain.
Through her studies she finds that the increase of "elementals" in the corporal world may not be due to the angst and anger of the damned whom are trapped within the veil, but may actually be caused by mortals themselves. The souls of "humans" for lack of a better word at this time, are the most powerful form of magic in the mortal realm. Long ago in ancient days, when a person died, they passed on beyond the veil, the sins and wrongs they committed in life are considered to have been done by your flesh, which is fallable, death frees you of this, and thus you are "pure" (seeing as magic does not have morals).
However, humans deemed you needed to be "purged" of these sins and you do that by repenting in the after life. How do they do this? Well the Veil is a powerful "barrier" of magic, it is there to filter out the magical echos that occur within the mortal realm. Emotions are a powerful thing, and seeing as mortals are "magical" in essence, such powerful feelings cause arcane "echos" these echo's resonate within the afterlife, and are anathema to beings of pure magic (your soul). As such, the "lord" of this world created the veil to protect the next world. Well, mortals view this as the wall of judgement, your "soul" cannot naturally pass through this veil, the ritual performed upon a mortals death basically "teleports" your magical essence from this plane of existence to the next, past the veil, they are "deconstructing" your soul and "re-assembling" it on the other side of the wall if you will.
For centuries, this was the natural order of things, until at some point in history (which has been forgotten), mortals decided that it's not good enough for you to just die and be "cleansed" of the crimes you committed in life. Thus the creation of "purgatory" was born.
Essentially, the idea is that if you were a murderer, rapist etc, you need to repent. You do this by experiencing all the horrors and pains of those you wronged in life by serving your time being shackled within the maelstrom of magical energy that is the veil. All the emotions that mortals experience typically get trapped within the veil, which is how a "damned" soul "experiences" their victims pains.
it is up to the "lord" to move you beyond the veil when you've "repented" for your sins. The problem is, this is not the case, mortals are damning the souls of "sinners" to an eternity of suffering. They are stuck, and their cries of frustration, agony and sorrow echo within the veil as the soul is slowly torn apart (this can literally take centuries to completely tear apart a soul), and push the trapped "magical" echos within the veil back out into the mortal plane. These "echos" and soul fragments are the concentrated emotions of humans, and they manifest as "elementals".
This is why it's considered a terrible crime to use elemental magic, you are essentially taking advantage of the pain and agony of the damned, preventing them from "repenting" at the expense of their soul.
Now that I have a little bit of history out of the way, onward we go to how does this fit in with the protagonist?
She was the one that discovered this, after she was ordained and raised. The order found this hard to believe but considered it nonetheless, and shortly after declared that her task has been complete and that she is now blessed to move to the great beyond.
She disagrees however, stating that she still has more to do, the order however states that it was fated for her to discover this, but it is not her fate or role to take in the terms of fixing such things. In truth, her task is multi faceted.
1. She was ordained by their lord to reveal this
2. She was ordained to hunt the runners who are abuse the elementals.
3. She was ordained to bring peace to the damned and let them finally move on.
The problem is, for her to carry out these tasks she must become in the eyes of the order a "runner", an enemy of the Order per say, and one of the great "sinners". One that must be cleansed and repent for disturbing the great order of the world.
So while the order considers her words, they personally do not believe them (Afterall, they believe they are doing the lords work, and how is it that she can see such errors and they, who are supposedly able to commune with the dead and their "lord", did not hear this from him)
To complicate matters, not only is she on the run, she's being pursued by those whom should be her most valuable allies. She is considered one of their greatest hero's in a way, her works and divination if you want to call it that granting greater clarity to how to deal with the rising elemental problems.
They do not want her to face the horrors of purgatory for long, so they release their trump card to hunt her down. The Inquisitors.
Now inquisitors in this world are not the same as in other stories. Inquisitors are those guilty of the greatest crimes a mortal can commit, that being the practice of Elemental magic, execution is not something that is considered in this world however. It is not up to mortals to decide when you are to die or not, only fate and their lord has the right to determine such a thing. So they place them in "solitary" confinement in a way, "re-educating" them, drilling into their minds that they must repent.
Those that accept that they "sinned" become the penitent, an inquisitor. They're zealous, fanatical even in their desire to atone, how is this carried out you may ask? Well I'll tell you
An inquisitor is used only against those who are the most desperately in need of saving, according to the order (otherwise the hunting of runners is carried out by another mortal within the order).
As mentioned before, death permeates nearly every facet of life in this world, and it is the belief that when one encounters near death experiences, it gives them greater clarity of the world. Also, every action you do within the mortal plane of existence leaves "echos" of your passing. Your soul is magical after all, as such you leave a small portion of yourself where ever you go in a way.
Inquisitors use this to hunt you. They first find an object that has the greatest "spirit echo" from you, typically this can be a doll, or some kind of object of value. It could be a chair you frequently used or a mirror.
They then fashion a weapon of sorts out of it (In the case of a doll, the hair or the cloth for the clothing can be wrapped around the hilt or what have you). They then mortally wound themselves with said object, by doing so, they crest just on the verge of the veil, and since the veil's magic is what initially was used to sustain a runner, they can then bind their soul to that magical "string" that is calling for the "damned" soul to return the magic taken from the veil back.
Inquisitors completing this ritual of binding will execute their task with utter ruthlessness, without remorse, and cannot die of natural causes due to that link between the runner and the veil.
The task of an Inquisitor is not to kill the runner, but to return them (if possible) back to the orders custody so that they may answer for their sins and be sent onwards to the beyond, at nearly any cost.
A runner cannot simply kill an inquisitor either, because they are considered to be holy in a way, because they are actively seeking redemption by redeeming another soul.
If a runner were to kill an inquisitor, the inquisitors soul binds to them (magic again is very powerful, and your soul is raw magic). This acts like a ball and chain, magical shackles that weigh you down, both emotionally and physically. If they cannot bring you back by your own will, they will do so by force, and at worst, force you to kill them by your own hands so that they will bind you to this world in a pseudo repenting fashion. You lose all freedom and will remain so until the rest of your days, because you denied "heaven" and you do not belong in the mortal plane, you are to be denied both.
This alone is not normally what drives some runners to return however, it's the endless running, the paranoia of constantly having to look over their shoulder, they are never given a moments peace, because an Inquisitor can find you wherever you go, not matter where you hid, and will continue to hunt you, until their task is completed. For they are undying, as long as you still reside in the mortal plane.
My protagonists task is not so much to just free those damned within the veil, but to send other runners to beyond the veil, as well as bringing down the system that is damning others in the first place. Because without the souls locked in the veil, elementals would not exist, therefore the abuse of such power will cease to exist as well.
That is her ordained task, and it clashes with everything that her people have been led to believe.
*** WALL OF FUCKING TEXT AHEAD ***
I cannot reduce its size without losing detail. So sorry metal, sucks to be you.
Death permeates most of this worlds cultural and values, they don't view death as a bad thing mind you, nor do they necessarily revere or worship it, they accept it for the most part as being a part of the natural order of things.
That said, the protagonist in my story was "ordained" to carry on her research and studies about how to better reach out to runners and bring them to salvation. Runners are those whom, like the protagonist, were raised to fulfill their purpose on this plane of existence. After completion, they are exalted and allowed to finally pass on, but, such people either rejected their fate or upon completion of their ordained task, desired to stay in the mortal plane and fled in order to remain.
Through her studies she finds that the increase of "elementals" in the corporal world may not be due to the angst and anger of the damned whom are trapped within the veil, but may actually be caused by mortals themselves. The souls of "humans" for lack of a better word at this time, are the most powerful form of magic in the mortal realm. Long ago in ancient days, when a person died, they passed on beyond the veil, the sins and wrongs they committed in life are considered to have been done by your flesh, which is fallable, death frees you of this, and thus you are "pure" (seeing as magic does not have morals).
However, humans deemed you needed to be "purged" of these sins and you do that by repenting in the after life. How do they do this? Well the Veil is a powerful "barrier" of magic, it is there to filter out the magical echos that occur within the mortal realm. Emotions are a powerful thing, and seeing as mortals are "magical" in essence, such powerful feelings cause arcane "echos" these echo's resonate within the afterlife, and are anathema to beings of pure magic (your soul). As such, the "lord" of this world created the veil to protect the next world. Well, mortals view this as the wall of judgement, your "soul" cannot naturally pass through this veil, the ritual performed upon a mortals death basically "teleports" your magical essence from this plane of existence to the next, past the veil, they are "deconstructing" your soul and "re-assembling" it on the other side of the wall if you will.
For centuries, this was the natural order of things, until at some point in history (which has been forgotten), mortals decided that it's not good enough for you to just die and be "cleansed" of the crimes you committed in life. Thus the creation of "purgatory" was born.
Essentially, the idea is that if you were a murderer, rapist etc, you need to repent. You do this by experiencing all the horrors and pains of those you wronged in life by serving your time being shackled within the maelstrom of magical energy that is the veil. All the emotions that mortals experience typically get trapped within the veil, which is how a "damned" soul "experiences" their victims pains.
it is up to the "lord" to move you beyond the veil when you've "repented" for your sins. The problem is, this is not the case, mortals are damning the souls of "sinners" to an eternity of suffering. They are stuck, and their cries of frustration, agony and sorrow echo within the veil as the soul is slowly torn apart (this can literally take centuries to completely tear apart a soul), and push the trapped "magical" echos within the veil back out into the mortal plane. These "echos" and soul fragments are the concentrated emotions of humans, and they manifest as "elementals".
This is why it's considered a terrible crime to use elemental magic, you are essentially taking advantage of the pain and agony of the damned, preventing them from "repenting" at the expense of their soul.
Now that I have a little bit of history out of the way, onward we go to how does this fit in with the protagonist?
She was the one that discovered this, after she was ordained and raised. The order found this hard to believe but considered it nonetheless, and shortly after declared that her task has been complete and that she is now blessed to move to the great beyond.
She disagrees however, stating that she still has more to do, the order however states that it was fated for her to discover this, but it is not her fate or role to take in the terms of fixing such things. In truth, her task is multi faceted.
1. She was ordained by their lord to reveal this
2. She was ordained to hunt the runners who are abuse the elementals.
3. She was ordained to bring peace to the damned and let them finally move on.
The problem is, for her to carry out these tasks she must become in the eyes of the order a "runner", an enemy of the Order per say, and one of the great "sinners". One that must be cleansed and repent for disturbing the great order of the world.
So while the order considers her words, they personally do not believe them (Afterall, they believe they are doing the lords work, and how is it that she can see such errors and they, who are supposedly able to commune with the dead and their "lord", did not hear this from him)
To complicate matters, not only is she on the run, she's being pursued by those whom should be her most valuable allies. She is considered one of their greatest hero's in a way, her works and divination if you want to call it that granting greater clarity to how to deal with the rising elemental problems.
They do not want her to face the horrors of purgatory for long, so they release their trump card to hunt her down. The Inquisitors.
Now inquisitors in this world are not the same as in other stories. Inquisitors are those guilty of the greatest crimes a mortal can commit, that being the practice of Elemental magic, execution is not something that is considered in this world however. It is not up to mortals to decide when you are to die or not, only fate and their lord has the right to determine such a thing. So they place them in "solitary" confinement in a way, "re-educating" them, drilling into their minds that they must repent.
Those that accept that they "sinned" become the penitent, an inquisitor. They're zealous, fanatical even in their desire to atone, how is this carried out you may ask? Well I'll tell you
An inquisitor is used only against those who are the most desperately in need of saving, according to the order (otherwise the hunting of runners is carried out by another mortal within the order).
As mentioned before, death permeates nearly every facet of life in this world, and it is the belief that when one encounters near death experiences, it gives them greater clarity of the world. Also, every action you do within the mortal plane of existence leaves "echos" of your passing. Your soul is magical after all, as such you leave a small portion of yourself where ever you go in a way.
Inquisitors use this to hunt you. They first find an object that has the greatest "spirit echo" from you, typically this can be a doll, or some kind of object of value. It could be a chair you frequently used or a mirror.
They then fashion a weapon of sorts out of it (In the case of a doll, the hair or the cloth for the clothing can be wrapped around the hilt or what have you). They then mortally wound themselves with said object, by doing so, they crest just on the verge of the veil, and since the veil's magic is what initially was used to sustain a runner, they can then bind their soul to that magical "string" that is calling for the "damned" soul to return the magic taken from the veil back.
Inquisitors completing this ritual of binding will execute their task with utter ruthlessness, without remorse, and cannot die of natural causes due to that link between the runner and the veil.
The task of an Inquisitor is not to kill the runner, but to return them (if possible) back to the orders custody so that they may answer for their sins and be sent onwards to the beyond, at nearly any cost.
A runner cannot simply kill an inquisitor either, because they are considered to be holy in a way, because they are actively seeking redemption by redeeming another soul.
If a runner were to kill an inquisitor, the inquisitors soul binds to them (magic again is very powerful, and your soul is raw magic). This acts like a ball and chain, magical shackles that weigh you down, both emotionally and physically. If they cannot bring you back by your own will, they will do so by force, and at worst, force you to kill them by your own hands so that they will bind you to this world in a pseudo repenting fashion. You lose all freedom and will remain so until the rest of your days, because you denied "heaven" and you do not belong in the mortal plane, you are to be denied both.
This alone is not normally what drives some runners to return however, it's the endless running, the paranoia of constantly having to look over their shoulder, they are never given a moments peace, because an Inquisitor can find you wherever you go, not matter where you hid, and will continue to hunt you, until their task is completed. For they are undying, as long as you still reside in the mortal plane.
My protagonists task is not so much to just free those damned within the veil, but to send other runners to beyond the veil, as well as bringing down the system that is damning others in the first place. Because without the souls locked in the veil, elementals would not exist, therefore the abuse of such power will cease to exist as well.
That is her ordained task, and it clashes with everything that her people have been led to believe.
