Editing Questions/Question 431

{{Question
	|QuestionFaqPage=FAQ/Main FAQ
    |Link=https://alogos.dreamwidth.org/1341.html?thread=874557#cmt874557
    |Topics=
    |AskedBy=historicallyloaded
	|DateAsked=2025-11-25
	|QuestionText=Henlo thank you mods for indulging my horrible questions;<br><br>1) How does a spectral die after they've experienced physical death? Is it dependent on the Spectral type's weakness in question (daylight, stake through the heart, garlic, rainbow beam, etc), and then the natural soul totally takes over? I guess more specifically what does death by Katalyth play out like? <br><br>2) Evolving from his <a href="https://kelesis.dreamwidth.org/6083.html?thread=9280963">Katalyth studies</a> Bricks is getting more desperate and willing to experiment on himself (or a test subject like a plant, rock, small animal, other Karterian, other augmented?) using Katalyth. His goals are to see if the can separate a soul from a source (be it a Natural Soul or an augmented's soul), even a small part of it, and if it can be distilled in some form. Could he attempt to possess his pet Katalyth shard, or use it like some kind of soul knife? He'll music to it if it seems to have any effect. Does the Katalyth have its own soul? Would any of this make energy? <s>Would a holey soul need its soul holes filled wholly?</s><br><br>3) If Bricks wanted to experiment with soul-severing on the very specific patho-gen member who very specifically put the <a href="https://enochlesis.dreamwidth.org/19927.html?thread=5628631#cmt5628631">house arrest</a> anklet on Eli, and asked Florian and possibly any other augmented for help in kidnapping them and dragging them back to one of their seedy science dungeons, would that be possible?<br><br>4) How tinkerable is the anklet on Eli?<br><br>Very amendable to him only getting so far in any of that research if it broaches too much into setting mechanics stuff but I also would love to use these experiments as a segue into his eventual death. <div class="edittime"><em>Edited <span class="datetime"><span class="comment-date-text"> </span> <span title="02:19 am (historicallyloaded's time)">2025-11-25 08:19 pm (local)</span></span></em></div>
    |DateAnswered=2025-11-29
    |AnswerText=1. How can something that's already dead die? The easiest method is as described- that <b>if the Spectral-type is badly weak to a specific thing, then being exposed to that thing will kill them.</b> If a Spectral type lacks a mortal weakness, but merely finds it uncomfortable to be exposed to light/rainbows, perhaps- being kept in those conditions would diminish them by degrees, and when paired with something like starvation could lead them to tip into a second death. The character would waste away, eventually reaching a point where their own consciousness had faded back enough to qualify as 'dead', and for the Natural Soul to take over (as best it could, in these conditions). The line is more blurred compared to most other soul types.<br><br>For a Katalyth-provoked death in Spectrals specifically... it's unpleasant. Death via Katalyth in any person is unpleasant, but Spectrals have the mostly-unique (shared with Golems, though their manifestation is different) quality of being better able to withstand it. As they're already dead, how can they die another time? Well....<br><br>It's death of a sort, but closer to a tipping into <b>madness</b>. If left in physical contact with Katalyth, their bodies will <b>excessively mutate</b>, distort and change, their cells rapidly and incessantly forced to adapt to all the grief in the world, to find some form capable of withstanding everything. The change is naturally powered by Katalyth itself, but is exhausting for the character as well. <br><br>Living things are killed by this too-rapid development, torn apart from it. An already-dead thing can physically withstand it, but their consciousness will be perpetually battered by contact with it, broken down by the unending <i>torrent</i> of pain they're subjecting themself to.<br><br>Their body will be a ship without a crew, left to founder in the storm. In this 'death' they will continue to mutate, reactive to everything and nothing. The taking over by their Natural Soul in this mind-broken condition is similarly fraught and directionless, though if they're possessed of any underlying instinct (to haunt a specific location, to perform some specific task), they'll be driven to do so. They will be no more sane in it. In essence... Katalyth will <b>kill the mind</b> of a Spectral-/Golem-type, leaving their ravaged body behind to be piloted by their Natural Soul. Unfortunate.<br><br>2. Trying to cut apart souls using Katalyth as a blade is... a choice.<br><br><b>Katalyth itself does not have a soul,</b> or anything soul-adjacent. That said, Brickston could hallucinate/convince himself that it does, in its own strange way, that the manifestations of its energy, that the connection he's made to it, means that it's not only alive but that it's developed a soul. <br><br>As his pet Katalyth shard remains attuned and specifically responsive to him, he could easily feel that it 'agrees' with any assessment he makes, continuing to reflect what he wants to hear. <br><br>To actually try and <i>possess</i> his pet, in the Spectral way... it's not a good idea. It's a <b>terrible</b> idea. Katalyth is not alive in the normal sense, and trying to possess a clump of it is the same as trying to possess the concept of emotion, or a spell. There's nothing to possess, no consistent will to override and direct- but that doesn't mean that nothing happens.<br><br>It's inviting himself into its corruptive force, in a very vulnerable way, as bad as being in physical contact with it. But it can't be controlled through possession, neither forced to move or grow or diminish. The sensation of possession will almost rebound on Bricks in a way, sharply <b>strengthening his Spectral abilities</b>, and making it easy to lash out with them, to act on every errant thought. And there are a lot of errant thoughts when he's putting his mind in the middle of the essence of emotion. Music will have its usual effect of making things worse/better depending on what he plays to it (although doing so during the 'possession' will be naturally difficult).<br><br>For using Katalyth to cut souls: not really. It could probably be used to <i>damage</i> souls, or to power (dangerously) someone else's ability/object used in that direction. Brickston is invited to make the attempt though, and his pet Katalyth will encourage any feelings that he's definitely making progress and not just horribly warping people (including himself).<br><br>3. That is very pre-meditated of you Bricks, and irresponsible to be bringing in others to these shenanigans. That said, this particular Patho-Gen employee isn't anyone important, and so long as the participants have a way of tracking down a normal person, they could succeed in catching them and carting them off to science. <br><br>If they're careful in their catching and their disposal, all parties involved might even get away with it!<br><br>4. It is very tinkerable, but it would also immediately transmit that it was being tinkered with- which would naturally not be viewed in Eli's favor (along with whoever might be helping him to mess with it). It would be very, very difficult to modify without it triggering that alarm. More punishment time for Eli.
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