User blog:Holokami/Souls and Nuclei

In the Lumiverse, something is “alive” if it possess a soul. The nuclei of cells all have a ‘hidden’ function, one from the moment the first nucleus appears- attracting and controlling spiritual force.

A Brief History
The nucleus of all cells have always possessed the "hidden" function of attracting and controlling spiritual force, but in relatively small quantities. Spiritual force could build up enough, when a sufficient amount of cells existed together, to form a ‘soul’. The soul is just a spiritual variation of the psionic mind, for all intents and purposes, but its function, power, and interaction with the body is different than that of the psionic mind, and a little more significant. Souls are nowhere near as noticeable as the psionic mind due to how weak they are in comparison. Only a few humans managed to ever gain power from their soul, simply because they possessed unusually strong souls. Those people called it "ki".

Function
Souls, and their spiritual forces, act as nourishment to cells, they’re the "silent power source" of life. At ‘normal levels’ of nuclei 'feeding' on spiritual force, they can function normally- as we know them to. The spiritual force doesn’t replace the cell’s need for biological energy, but instead it allows the cell to function in all its capacities as we know them too. Living organisms are born with only so much spiritual force in their soul. It doesn't regenerate, and when it runs out, it can no longer nourish the cells, and will cause them to rapidly fail. It’s important to note that ageing is a biological process separate from the soul, although spiritual force can decrease and stop ageing at certain levels. The moment a soul runs out of spiritual force, ageing does happen a little faster as the nourishment is gone, but everything is failing so fast it's hard to notice. A soul places a hard cap on your lifespan. However, you’re still able to die by biological means and old age before it runs out, as you might have a soul with enough spiritual force for 120 years, but die of old age at 90. The body has adapted its lifespan over the course of all of human history, based on the average power of the soul, and as such it will never outlive its soul, however, the body generally lives to within 5-10 years of the soul's spiritual force. The nuclei and soul work in a bio-spiritual marriage to allow both to exist and function. As an analogy, think of the body as a business, and each cell is a office in a giant office block. The function of each cell, office, is to keep the body, business, running. In each office is a computer, which runs the vital operations of the business, as well as giving the person in the office their functionality within the business allowing it to, well, function and make the business run, and a human, who does the work. However, the building only has so much electricity to use and the humans grow old, and if either of the humans or computers cease to function, the business fail, the body dies.
 * The humans in each office are the biological side of the cell, which rely on and use biological energy, including the nucleus. As the humans gain energy from outside food sources brought into the body for them, just as cells do.
 * The electricity running through the building, powering it, and all the computers within it. This electricity is the “spiritual force” entering into the nuclei of cells, and nourishing them to let it function as normal, as we know them to function.

Measure of Souls
Despite the unnoticeability of souls, some individuals could sense them in some fashion. The powers which come from souls are very limited, however, during the lengthy studies which went into understanding the soul, one individual who could absorb and transfer spiritual force entered into the ring. In order to gain some type of measure of spiritual force, after the many failed attempts of those before them, this individual brought in a normal person as a subject. Being able to sense the exact level of spiritual force in his subject. They were 20, and had a reasonably powerful soul. They absorbed exactly 99.999% of that person’s spiritual force. In a considerably cruel test, they then waited, and timed exactly how long it took to for the remaining spiritual force to run out. It took 473 minutes before their soul ran out, and for the first time, they had a measure. They came to calculate the spiritual force which they took from this person, which they gave back before they died, was “worth” 47303526.96 minutes, or 89.991 years of life before it vanished and the cells failed. For the first time, they had a grasp on the soul. This allowed this individual to now go around and study other souls, and by measuring their power, could determine the “maximum lifespan” of that living thing (as they came to realise the body could die for other reasons, even old age, before the soul depletes). Others got involved, and the “standard unit” for spiritual force became, well, time. People began to note the level of spiritual force by how “long” it lasted for with a body’s normal function, and it seems this method is continuing even with evolved souls.

Ghosts
Souls can also have information “imprinted” in them. Emotions, thoughts, etc. They can gather a very basic form of the person’s “self” within them. When someone dies with a lot of spiritual force left in their soul, the soul will continue to wonder for the remainder of those years, driven by the raw emotions and thoughts imprinted in them.

When an individual with a psionic mind, no matter how weak, dies, with some spiritual force remaining, they become a true, full cognitive ghost.

Improved Condition
If you're able to 'force feed' your nuclei and cells spiritual force at an increased rate beyond the 'normal level', you can improve your physical condition, however, it will shorted your lifespan if you're unable to replenish your soul's spiritual force. The levels of spiritual force usage are as follows:


 * 0x Levels (No spirit) - Dying Life; super weak, cell deaths, organ failure, cell failure, etc, etc, pretty horrible stuff as the body ceases to function as a whole.
 * 1x (Normal Levels) - At this level of usage, the cells and body function as normal.
 * 3+x Levels - At this level of usage, the body possess a peak condition.
 * 10+x Levels - At this level of usage, the body possess a peak condition, and your ageing ceases completely.
 * 50-65+x Levels - At this level of usage, the body possess an enhanced condition, and your ageing ceases completely.
 * 300+x Levels - At this level of usage, the body possess an supernatural condition, and your ageing ceases completely.

Evolved Souls
With the emergence of psionics, the soul itself began to change. "Evolved Souls" began to appear, powerful souls which can generate spiritual force, akin to actual spirits and the psionic mind. The upper capabilities of these souls is a mystery, as only one person possess an evolved soul, and they're the first to possess them.

Evolved Souls are predicted to be a rare phenomenon, likely generated by specific conditions during the formation of the psionic mind.