Spiritual essence

Estra creates a wall of ectoplasm using her phantom Honaire.

The wheel of magic divided into quadrants, with the points pointing towards the four essences of Mind, Spirit, Life, and Matter, and the quadrants representing arcane magic, divine magic, primal magic, and occult magic. Eight colored rings surround the wheel, one for each of the schools of magic.

This article refers to one of the four essences. For the type of creature, see spirit. For the immortal substance of a mortal being, see soul.

Spiritual essence, also called Spirit or ethereal essence, is the academic definition of the immaterial and intangible components of souls, alignment, and transformative emotion in reality. It is one of the four essences of metaphysical study, the opposite of tangible material essence and shaped by mental and vital essences.

Beings native to planes other than the Universe are composed entirely of spiritual essence, the physical form of which is quintessence, or "fifth essence". The properties of spiritual essence can be manipulated by aether, also known as "pure force" for its unique manifestation in phenomena of metaphysics. Both aether and quintessence represent tangible manifestations of intangible spiritual essence. Additionally, tangible ectoplasm is believed to similarly be the result of the transformation of material essence by spiritual essence.

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In magic

Magic that affects spiritual essence prominently features alignments and metaphysical force, manipulates or guides a being's soul or quintessence, inspires transformative emotions, and connects beings to the Outer Planes.

In the magic theory of magical traditions, spiritual essence is most associated with the divine and occult magical traditions for their properties in manipulating spiritual and metaphysical aspects of reality such as emotions, inspiration, and souls. Divine magic is the conjunction of spiritual and vital essences, while occult magic is the conjunction of spiritual and mental essences.

In the schools of magic theory, it is most associated with the divination and necromancy schools, and certain enchantments. The soul magic specialization of necromancy focuses on the manipulation of spiritual essence and encompasses resurrection and curses.

Sorcerers of sufficient experience with a bloodline of divine or occult powers can harness their spiritual essence to detect the presence of spirits, including those in possession of a material form.

The eidolons of occult magic summoners are typically formed from spiritual essence and often ectoplasmic in form. Those of divine magic summoners are always formed from pure spiritual essence and resemble the forms of the deity's divine servitors.

Fiends often consume souls as nourishment, but they also extract their spiritual essence to empower spells, magic items, and other creations. These acts ultimately destroy the consumed essence.

In creatures

Ephemeral beings composed from and defined by their spiritual essence, often in lieu of a material form, are also known as spirits. This is in contrast to vitae, beings composed from and defined by their vital essence, which are often confusingly referred to as "nature spirits".

A leshy spirit is the pure vital essence of a leshy without its spiritual essence.

Raveners can sense the spiritual essence present in both living and undead creatures, with beings purely or predominantly composed of spiritual energy appearing even brighter in their vision.

In items

Hrym, a sapient intelligent sword.

Ectoplasmic tracers are alchemical items that can mark beings formed of spiritual essence with a flourescent substance that makes it easier for corporeal beings to track them.

Familiar sages of Tian Xia can imprint the spiritual essence of their familiar to temporarily transform the familiar into a fulu.

Ghostbane fulus attune a physical weapon to an incorporeal being's spiritual essence, which allows the weapon to do harm the being as if the being were corporeal.

Scavengers of haunts can extract spiritual essence from the resolved haunt's ectoplasmic remains, as well as from the residual ectoplasm of a destroyed incorporeal undead creature or a killed creature capable of possession. Alchemists and spellcasters can in turn use this harvested essence to empower their spells and craft magic items.

Soulforged armaments can optionally be formed wholly from the spiritual essence of their wielder.

Intelligent items

An intelligent item gains sentience and sapience by acquiring mental and spiritual essences, resulting in a consciousness—and in some cases, a soul—of its own.

In locations

Locations rich with life, or exposed to a tremendous amount of death, can cultivate a spiritual essence of their own. Such locations include verdant cultivated gardens and the sites of bloody battles.

In religion

Changes in faith

A being's faith in a divine entity can be rapidly transformed to that of another deity by an emissary of the new deity. This emissary directs spiritual and vital essences aligned with those of the new deity into the being, transforming its faith to that of the new deity.

Marsh giants

Animism-practicing marsh giants believe that all things contain a spiritual essence, and that by consuming things, they absorb that essence into themselves. This contributes to tribal practices of communal cannibalism of their dead, which they engage in to empower and nourish their spirits as well as their bodies. Those who have committed a violation of tribal norms, however, are considered poisonous and their corpses avoided.

Likewise, these beliefs result in the stigmatization of childbirth and rearing in marsh giant cultures, as they believe the child drains the parent of their spiritual essence.

In souls

Souls are composed of spiritual essence, and the natural cycle of souls concerns their formation and reclamation. However, other forces and phenomena can also dissolve a soul into its component spiritual essence, such as the powers of a death coach.