Soul

Souls are the essence of Mortals that are released upon Death. If the Mortal it was housed in did good in their life then the Soul goes to Heaven, else it descends to the Underworld.

The Life Cycle of a Soul
A Soul has four main stages in its life:

Birth
Souls are born with the Mortal. They are then bound to said Mortal until they die. Souls have different colours and classifications depending on the type of person that they inhabit. The main colours of soul are: Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, Topaz, Diamond, Onyx, Gold, Silver, and Bronze each reflecting a different kind of person

Life
The Soul will stay in the Mortal for all of its life and govern the characteristics and personality of said Mortal just like genes govern the physical traits. Souls can be forcibly removed during life resulting in a premature death for the Mortal they inhabit. The forbidden spells of the Soul Artes make use of this by attacking the opponent's Soul directly.

Death
When the Mortal dies, the Soul is released and separated from the body. It is judged based on the Mortal's deeds in life: if they are good then they ascend to Mept in Heaven, else they descend to Temp in the Underworld.

Reincarnation
If the Soul is powerful enough, then it will craft itself a new, immortal body in its new domain. The body will change depending on where it is sent to: Demons for the Underworld and Angels for Heaven. As this body is immortal and the Soul is powerful enough to handle it, there are no risks involved in this process.

Fading
Fading refers to a process whereby a Soul - usually one less powerful - is taken outside its domain and begins crafting itself a new, mortal body. Depending on certain factors, there are different forms the end result of this process can take. Note that, due to their immortal bodies and powerful souls, both Demons and Angels are immune to fading.

Fade
The default form and the one that gave its name to the process; a Fade is a subpar - often ghostly - mortal body crafted by a Soul when taken outside of its domain. This form is usually only achieved by less powerful Souls and, because of this, the Fade's sanity soon begins to degrade as it loses control. Fades often regress into one of two states: ferality or docility. When feral, the Fade will attack anything in sight, hoping to regain its original body. When docile, it will just float about aimlessly, not interacting or reacting to any external stimuli.

Manifest
Manifests are more powerful forms achieved by the fading of more powerful Souls - though still not powerful enough to become Demons or Angels. These forms are much more like their original bodies and often retain their original personalities. However, there is a deep hunger to return to Mortality that causes Manifests to try and seek out new Souls to gorge on, making them a high priority for the Fade Mercenaries to return.

Transient
Sometimes, unscrupulous wizards may start trying to cast Magic on their own Souls. However, this may backfire and cause their Soul to become stuck between Mortality and existence in the Spirit Realm. This state is referred to as 'Transience' and any Souls as 'Transients'. Sometimes this state can occur due to random complications, as was the case with Andras.

Fade Lord
Main article: Fade Lord