Beyond Destination

The soul is part of every living person, not only mages. It lives almost entirely on the Spiritual plane and holds essence.

• Size matters. A larger soul holds more essence, and carries more weight when reality tallies up how events turn out.
• It grows like a muscle — through use, through hardship survived, and through achievement. Non-mages grow theirs just as much.
• Souls vary in quality from birth, like eye colour: more capacity, better efficiency, and so on. Innate magic is common, and does not make someone a mage.
• Souls protect their bearer against certain magical effects and changes.
• A grown soul may bring longer life, even natural immortality.

Humans and beings like them are assumed to have souls unless stated otherwise. Artificial beings of enough complexity can and do have souls.

Essence is a state of energy on the Spiritual plane. Mana is essence loose in the world — ambient and stable, usable by mages at little personal cost. It gathers at magical hot spots and where ley lines cross. Essence is not the only currency of magic, and it powers more than magic.

A dream walk is out-of-body. It usually means no access to magic — unless your dreams run through your soul, in which case you keep it. Dream-walking exposes you to certain predators, though an armed dreamer is an unlikely target.

If nothing else is influencing the soul, it drifts in the Spiritual plane. Over time, the soul around the spark of life melds and returns to nature. Then the spark of life disappears from observable reality.

That is the default. Other things can change what happens.