Natural souls

Natural Souls protect Augmented from Arcane Radiation.

Types

Natural Souls

• Aves
• Carnivora
• Arthropoda
• Cephalopoda
• Ruminantia
• Glire
• Terra
• Reptilia
• Spectral
• Golem

Wild Souls

• Fungi
• Perissodactyla
• Cnidaria
• Marsupialia

Player souls

Type		Count	Initial	Additional
Natural souls	🦚 Aves	11	11
	🐅 Carnivora	24*	21	3
	🦋 Arthropoda	9	7	2
	🐙 Cephalopoda	5	4	1
	🦌 Ruminantia	4	4
	🐇 Glire	5	5
	🌲 Terra	14	14
	🐍 Reptilia	6	6
	👻 Spectral	27	25	2
	💎 Golem	8	8
Wild souls	🍄 Fungi	1		1
	🦏 Perissodactyla	1		1
	🪼 Cnidaria	1		1
	Marsupialia

* 24 souls, 23 Augmented as 1 Augmented has two Carnivora souls.

Last updated 2025-12-06.

Shifting

The Temporary Transformation

(... the more fearsome and monstrous form)

Patho-Gen will tell all new Augmented arrivals that their ability to fully transform should be available... now! Yes! Immediately, characters will find that once they tune into the Augmenter implanted in the most vital part of their body, they can tap into the neighboring soul that resides within their body. This is called Shifting. Shifting is exactly what Patho-Gen wants from Augmented characters, because it gives them those incredible powers!

Characters will have a fully bestial figure that they can Shift into at will. This form will be monstrous and exhibit the formidable nature of their soul type. For example, one who bears a Cephalopoda-type soul may have many tentacles, slick skin, suckers, an enlarged cranium, the whole kit and kaboodle. Likewise, a Glire-type soul will have their ears, strong legs, sturdy and sharp claws, long teeth, fur... This is where Augmented characters are the most monstrous they can look. These will be forms that are even more intense than their final, developed corruption (see more about that below), and will gradually drain the user's energy.

Shifting will be mildly uncomfortable for character to engage, and might take some practice at first. But it may feel comfortably intuitive for others who are capable of focusing inward. At first it may be easier to perform a "Half-Shift," where only some of the most monstrous features are engaged, such as a bulky limb with dangerous claws. Within two months, characters will be fully capable of harnessing their Shifting abilities. And sometimes, these forms might accidentally be Shifted into during intense emotional outbursts.

Shifted forms are where ALL of a character's most monstrous traits should be activated. They appear most fearsome when Shifted, and are strongest when they're Shifted too. And not only that, but their most primal, animal senses will be strongest—and most difficult to ignore. With practice, the Augmented will be capable of great things. Two souls are better than one, in this world. And who knows? This is only the beginning.

Corruption

The Permanent Transformation

(... the everyday look!)

Patho-Gen will warn you about this, erm, unfortunate side-effect. With great power comes a small price... if becoming hairy, feathery, scaly, or undead is your idea of a 'small price.'

Over the span of FOUR to EIGHT months, all Augmented characters will find themselves gradually corrupted by the soul they've inherited. This is what happens when the Natural Soul influences its host, resulting in physical, mental, and behavioral changes that reflect that of the Natural Soul's. These will be permanent changes, separate from their ability to Shift into a monstrous form. A Carnivora-type soul will develop a prey drive, distorted dentition, and plenty of fur; a Terra-type will find that down to a cellular level, they've developed plant cells, and may have an instinct to do whatever it takes to survive.

Be warned: these will be some painful months. Bone, organs, musculature, and even vasculature may distort and twist; bodies will demand a lot of calories, diets may change, hair distribution and texture may change... Their bodies may require new or different resources to survive as they're corrupted by their brand new soul-buddy. How you choose to subject your character to this bodily distortion is up to you, and depending on how much they change, they will experience pain like they've never experienced before.

The nitty-gritty of these changes can be explored on each individual Natural Soul's page, listed above and below. Each soul type is influenced not only by its genus, family, or category, but also with some folklore inspiration. If Patho-Gen is asked why a person with an Aves-type soul can do things no mere bird could, such as commune with the dead or manipulate wind... who knows! Perhaps there's more to learn about these Natural Souls, eh?

Soul abilities (WIP)

Type		Improved/reduced sense						Elemental manipulation/magic	Mental	Physical
		Sight	Hearing	Smell	Taste	Touch	Other			Self	Others
Natural souls	🦚 Aves	++	+	-			Soul and wind sight	Wind	Mental coercion through song
	🐅 Carnivora		++	++						Regeneration, healing
	🦋 Arthropoda			+	+	-/+	Othersense (for Katalyth)	Soul dependant	Intent detection	Soul dependant web/silk spinning	Soul dependant poisons etc.
	🐙 Cephalopoda							Water	Curse placement
	🦌 Ruminantia							Earth, rock	Lie detection	Shapeshifting (retain weight)	Poison breath
	🐇 Glire									Shapeshifting (retain weight)
	🌲 Terra							Plants	Psychotropic type mental effects	Regeneration	Type specific: poison, healing, parasitism
	🐍 Reptilia				+
	👻 Spectral							One element of: Fire, Water, Earth, Air, Dark, Electric		Shapeshifting to one of: bats, wolves, owls, rats, goats, spiders, cats, opossums
	💎 Golem					-		Earth, metal, rock	Susceptible to suggestion	Immunity to poisons
Wild souls	🍄 Fungi
	🦏 Perissodactyla
	🪼 Cnidaria
	Marsupialia

Additional Souls

Additional souls can be obtained with Rewards points.

These come with flavour text. So far, the following have been received:

Character	Date	Type	Flavour
Momo (yesdoubt)	2025-08-10	Fungi (Wild)	What Momo hears is particularly unearthly... or particularly earthly, to view it another way. It's like his ears are being clogged with something, distorting everything around him into a dull, oddly-meaty throb. Is it a pulse, or some other kind of beat? It grows louder, closer, and conveys with it a sense of ominous suffocation, as though his own heart, his own essence was being drowned out along with the rest of the world.... It vanishes just as quickly as it came, and the sudden clarity in its wake might be its own form of disorienting. Altogether the experience only lasts for a few minutes, but it might have felt like it took much longer. (link)
Johann (hallankind)	2025-08-06	Spectral	wow it turns up i'm not doing flavor text here either (link lol)
Northly (northling)	2025-09-01	Arthropoda	Congratulations to Northly on her acquisition of one(1) stray Arthropoda soul! Along with the immediate pain at the soul's acquisition, she will hear a quiet skittering, chittering sort of noise in the back of her head. It will feel like something is crawling in there too, a disconcerting sort of invasion, as though her bones were being trampled upon by an uncertain amount of very small, very light legs. It's itchy in the worst sort of way, and the sound builds into a hiss. It's hard to tell whether it's from one or many throats, or whether it's a throat at all that's producing it. After a handful of minutes it fades away, and Northly is free to enjoy her new soul buddy. (link)
Mel (opposed)	2025-10-18	Carnivora	There is always space for more Horrors.... Alongside the considerable discomfort of the wayward soul slotting itself into place, are voices, just at the edge of Mel's hearing. Beyond her hearing, really, as the conversation slips in and out of range. "--too simple, too limited..." "...even raising predators for?" "...settled..." "--can be culled, but we can't send just cattle--" Even in its near-unintelligibility, it provokes a sense of immense frustration. But there's nothing to sink your teeth into. (link)
Hubert (bloodypath)	2025-10-18	Perissodactyla (wild)	In addition to the physical discomfort, Hubert will also find himself abruptly unconscious. How delightful! He could probably use the rest; holidays are exhausting in their own way. Hubert should also be used to by now, the carnival version of the Katalyth music. Here it is again, invading his dreams. With it is a bubbling of voices all around him, the conversation of a crowd, just out of sight. ...maybe this will help? Even if, oh- I think we're too late? ❌ He's already 🥺 We can't take it back         that's okay ... Please take good care of it. 🥹Please take good care of us ...somehow the emojis are audible too. But it ends, and Hubert may awaken, free to explore whatever the hell just happened. (link)
Vanitas (bleude)	2025-10-24	Spectral	Vanitas really out there enhancing his lifestyle.... It's barely audible- mostly inaudible, really- but in the midst of that pain as the second soul settles in, there's voices whispered deep in his head. "Where do you think-- ...? No one's seen-- .....for years now." "....this again... but it would be convenient-- ...our own." With it, even sharper than the pain, is an absolute wrath, a suffocating blackness of utter hatred, but you drown in it before you can drown anything else. (link)
Elijah (viciousabyss)	2025-10-24	Cephalopoda	Eli living the luxurious life here, complete with a new soul friend.... When the soul arrives, alongside the requisite pain of its implantation- are voices, just at the edge of his hearing. "--you to stop talking with it. It's not real debate- just imitation--" "...when you-- ...it almost looks like it's still intelligent." (link)
Pom (feistro)	2025-11-22	Carnivora	What is a Pom for, but to fit ever more dogs inside? There's the pain, as this strange new soul slips its way in, finding a home for itself in the cold of the world. But with it are voices, faint and fading, as lost as everything else it had once been. "...third time this week. Is this batch faulty... ...the implantation?" "...back yet... but what do you bet we're only using these because there's so many?" You feel trapped. The words mean progressively less to you until there's nothing left. (link)
Pal (megatheorem)	2025-11-29	Cnidaria (wild)	A pal to cnidarias the world over, or at least to this specific wayward soul. A sharp pain comes with its implantation, as though on the receiving end of intangible stingers. In the midst of it is sound, sharp and oddly clear, though piecemeal, as though only fragments have survived of some much greater piece. It's something old. The conversation clips in and out, but the speakers (at least two of them, but it's hard to tell for certain) sound insistent, even desperate. What they're saying is incomprehensible. But it doesn't feel like gibberish; it's a language, but not the one currently spoken on Pathos, the one that's been implanted inside every Augmented One to ease communication with the locals. You feel... detached. This has very much to do with you, but you're indifferent to it. You're patient, and in their haste they will leave an opening. All you have to do is wait. ....The sound cuts off, taking the foreign impressed emotions with it, leaving nothing behind but a sore neck and a new friend. (link)
Dorothea (reprisings)	2025-12-02	Arthropoda	The pain is sudden, the sharpness coming all at once, a throb that's in itself almost deafening. At the edges of it are words, like a conversation held at Dorothea's periphery. "...surprised, you know. ...things, but the souls, they're as large as...." "... ...heard? ... ....most of the souls we're working with need... .....broken down, allowed to meld together to create something more..... using the result." Your head is a mess, as if a thousand different voices were screaming at once, and not in any kind of unison. One after another they die out, until yours is the only one left.
Tighnari (sighnari)	2025-12-05	Fungi (wild)	Has all that effort communing with the mushrooms paid off, or is it a coincidence that Tighnari has gotten himself worse than spored.... No voices accompany the arrival of this soul, only the pain, the burn as it attaches itself, demanding a place even if it had been welcomed in. Which isn't to say that there's not still sound of a sort, though it's more of a sensation. A moment of feeling connected to the ground beneath him, but in a way that's different from that of his Terra soul. A sense of being connected to the whole of the island- even radiating beyond it, stretching towards the rest of Pathos, with the faintest of echoes coming from across the ocean. Immense pain comes with it, but it's also... detached, peculiarly endurable, agony turned into an abstract concept. A heightened awareness of Katalyth, of arcane radiation? This feeling of being connected passes quickly, but it leaves a lingering impression of the enormity of radiation in the world. And that it's old. New to Pathos, perhaps, but old.
Rowan (ralliesprotests)	2025-12-06	Carnivora	Unrelated is the sudden attachment of a new soul, a piercing pain in their neck akin to having jaws closed around it. Somehow, rather than aggression it conveys desperation. Alongside it is sound, a nearly-inaudible itch of it, in the back of their head. "....to train. ....manageable than the first batch. Look, it stopped." "...don't like it. It's eerie... ....malformed, I don't... ....getting out. ... ...the point, to be dangerous, but we need better failsafes than the Calling."