If you're potholing a single trope, you want {{pothole}}.
This doesn't seem like much incentive to stay in the separate worlds to me. All the smart souls (or soul components; do they still think rationally or are they the mindless kind of monsters?) would just go to earth and "terrorize" people just to get a Reaper after them.
I'm just gonna ignore the dark/light part, because it doesn't tell me anything.
Grouping willpower with order doesn't really make sense to me, unless you mean to say that beings in this group represent an emotionless superego that does things because... actually, what is this "order" they're supposed to be a part of? What authority are they taking commands from?
Overall, I'd say it's very reminiscent of Bleach.
edited 30th May '11 7:58:53 AM by melloncollie
Why? You think they'd all be suicidal? Because to me, returning to the essence sounds like it'd be seen as a kind of 'death' for them.
If I'm asking for advice on a story idea, don't tell me it can't be done.
Oh, the way it's phrased makes me think this "essense" is a positive thing. Like nirvana, or something.
@Melloncollie:
That's essentially what I meant. By order I mean they...okay let's see if I can articulate this properly. The three components of the soul: heart, mind, and spirit, symbolize the Id, Ego, and Superego.
If one of these creatures retains their mind then they remember their human life. This gives them an entire life's worth of experiences to draw upon and, in the case of the light beings, a purpose.
Beings of light and order are essentially a race of superegos. They lack emotions and tend towards long term planning or achieving a common goal. Their goal varies between individual or groups though those without minds usually fall under the sway off an Angel(one that does have a mind). This Angel is essentially a mentor and gives them a purpose, achieving the Angel's goal. The Angel's goal generally branches off from what they did in life or something they wanted to do in life. For instance, if they were violently murdered by a person they might seek to return to Earth and end that person's life.
Dark beings are Ids. The ones without minds are just violent monsters that attack each other and are ruled by emotions. Ones with minds generally exhibit a higher level of sentience because they remember things from their past life. They know what kinds of people they were and have more of an identity. Regardless of their state of mind they tend towards short term goals and instant gratification.
So to answer your question, they both have the capacity to think rationally, mind or no mind. It's just the ones that retain their human mind have all their memories and thus an identity, making it akin to being born a baby that has to figure things out again or being born a baby with all the experience and knowledge of an adult. They also tend towards certain kinds of thinking depending on whether they're the light or dark half.
@Ettina and melloncollie: Well they will die eventually no matter what. I said if they stay they're gradually purified and when they're fully purified their body disintegrates and the fragment goes to the essence. If they leave and go to Earth they can potentially live forever. However the Demons, as said before, are Ids. They can think rationally but they tend towards violence so it's usually just a matter of time before something happens.
As for fearing the return they react slightly differently to it. Light beings usually see it as something that will happen eventually so they won't fight it. However if they want to continue their goal they might try and put off the return.
Dark beings like to be happy and generally like existing and doing fun things. For example, even among the most devoutly religious people in this world, many will say they fear death even though they realize it isn't the end. It's for this reason that they go to Earth. Sure they might get killed by a Reaper but it's something that might be prevented if they're strong enough.
Sorry for the long post. I know exactly what I mean but I'm having a hard time explaining these ideas to others.
edited 30th May '11 9:45:11 AM by Kostya
Hmm, I see. The Light beings make a little more sense now. But what if there were 2 Angels with conflicting goals?
If Dark beings represent emotion and like to be happy and feel pleasure, then why would they necessarily be violent? Many hedonists aren't violent.
Okay so I've been kicking around an idea for a story that focuses on fighting...The Heartless Is probably the best name for them right now.
Anyway here's how it works. The human soul is divided into three separate yet equally important components. The first two are called the heart and spirit and symbolize dark/chaos/emotion and light/order/willpower respectively. When a person dies their light and dark halves leave the body and go to one of two alternate planes, aptly named the light and dark world.
These two worlds are essentially purgatory. While there the fragments take on monstrous forms representing their true nature until one of two things happens. If they stay in their respective world long enough they're gradually purified and return to something called the essence. Some however escape and terrorize the people of Earth. These ones are hunted down by a group called the [[psychopomps]], though in present day there's only one left. If defeated by a Reaper they are instantly sent to the essence.
Now the third component of the soul, the mind, makes things a bit more complicated. When a person is born a light and dark half from the essence leave it and enter his body(it's not always the same light and dark half as their last life). The mind is the only part created from scratch when the person is born and it(usually) gets destroyed with death along with the brain.
Sometimes though, the mind survives death and becomes a part of the light and/or dark half in the next world. These beings are a little different and are called angles or demons. Unlike their mindless counterparts angels and demons have all the memories of their past life and can generally return to Earth at will. They're also hunted down by the Soul Reapers.
So how does this sound so far?
edit: Anyone know how I can fix the links in my explanation? I'm not too good with those yet.
edited 30th May '11 6:43:05 AM by Kostya