Source vs Shard lore question

[VivienneDragonborne]

Currently playing through ShB MSQ (lvl78) and Emet-Selch was talking about how the people from the shards are "halfmen", does this mean that the people from the Source are canonically stronger/more powerful than the citizens of the other shards?

Quote by Emet-Selch: "Remember, you are of the Source. Unlike the halfmen here, you stand only to gain."

P/S: If this question is answered in a future MSQ quest please ignore this, I just had a burning question in my head that required an answer, lol.

[Iscah]

It's correct as far as that residents of the Source have denser souls than those of the shards, but it's unclear what that means in practical terms. Our character doesn't seem to be physically stronger or "more solid" than the people (or monsters) of the First.

The difference or "gain" may simply be that in the event of a rejoining, as a Source inhabitant we will simply receive an additional soul-shard, while our counterpart in the shard would be erased from existence.

[Cleretic]

People from the Source are more 'complete' than everyone from the First, but evidently that means sod-all, because there are... several people on the First, actually, that give us a run for our money.

Personally, my theory is that relative soul density means little to nothing (at least, in ways that are relevant to most actors in the game's story), but is a metric the Ascians can latch onto as 'proof' of their inherent superiority. So 'more soul equals better than' is not actually a rule of any kind (in fact, we have a LOT more exceptions than we have adherents to it), but because it sounds right and is something the Ascians can claim about themselves compared to others, it becomes the be-all-end-all.

[Jandor]

I think Emet was exaggerating how much difference it makes. He says everything is divided, strength, stamina, intelligence, etc. but that's very clearly not actually the case, at least in so far as the 7/14 of the Source and the 1/14 of the First are concerned.

I think there may be a link between strength and soul, but not in a direct 'getting an extra shard gives your Fire IV more potency' sort of way.
I picture it as the soul being the pilot and the body is the means by which the soul physically interacts with the world. A sundered soul probably isn't strong enough to wield the powerful nigh immortal form of the Ancients, hence why they didn't survive the sundering. The other side of that though is that a strong soul piloting a mortal frame is still stuck with the limits of the mortal body they're inhabiting.

[Cleretic]

I think Emet was exaggerating how much difference it makes. He says everything is divided, strength, stamina, intelligence, etc. but that's very clearly not actually the case, at least in so far as the 7/14 of the Source and the 1/14 of the First are concerned.

I think there may be a link between strength and soul, but not in a direct 'getting an extra shard gives your Fire IV more potency' sort of way.
I picture it as the soul being the pilot and the body is the means by which the soul physically interacts with the world. A sundered soul probably isn't strong enough to wield the powerful nigh immortal form of the Ancients, hence why they didn't survive the sundering. The other side of that though is that a strong soul piloting a mortal frame is still stuck with the limits of the mortal body they're inhabiting.

It's true. I've always thought intelligence in particular was definitely wrong in that one, given that the First has experts unlike any on the Source. And, well, also...

Every single unsundered Ascian, who if Emet were telling the truth would be the literal most intelligent beings we have ever met, all met their end by getting outsmarted by old men with walking sticks. Hell, two of them got outsmarted by THE SAME OLD MAN. One of those two even got outsmarted while literally having that exact same old man's memories! For being supposedly magnitudes more intelligent than everyone else, the Unsundered sure seem to be dumb as bricks.

[Steelbreaker25]

There's also new life that don't have the souls of the ancients, so how they are affected by rejoinings isn't entirely clear.

Also keep in mind when Emet-Selch says they are "weaker," he's speaking from a heavily biased point of view.

[Alien_Gamer]

The only practical difference demonstrated is how much aether a soul can control. You're soul is basically a bigger battery, but that doesn't automatically enable you to do something. You still need training in how to tap that potential and the Wol seems to be inherently gifted in that regard. Why they are is implied later in the story.

[RyuDragnier]

In terms of aether your body can contain/use, yes. If you want to give a good example, back in 1.x Teleport required the use of Anima, which you could only have 100 of a time, with 6 being restored daily (it took more than 6 to teleport). As we know, this was dropped in ARR (after the Calamity, taking us from 7/14 to 8/14). If we take that as canon for how soul density can effect things, then how "complete" you are DOES effect how much aether you can use and contain.

[Kesey]

I think Emet was exaggerating how much difference it makes. He says everything is divided, strength, stamina, intelligence, etc. but that's very clearly not actually the case, at least in so far as the 7/14 of the Source and the 1/14 of the First are concerned.

I think there may be a link between strength and soul, but not in a direct 'getting an extra shard gives your Fire IV more potency' sort of way.
I picture it as the soul being the pilot and the body is the means by which the soul physically interacts with the world. A sundered soul probably isn't strong enough to wield the powerful nigh immortal form of the Ancients, hence why they didn't survive the sundering. The other side of that though is that a strong soul piloting a mortal frame is still stuck with the limits of the mortal body they're inhabiting.

I'm not sure this is outright stated, but I always took it as power to use creation magic and plot related heroics. The practical stats just don't apply.

[Jandor]

I'm not sure this is outright stated, but I always took it as power to use creation magic and plot related heroics. The practical stats just don't apply.

Plot related heroics maybe, but as far as I can recall we can't use any creation magic at all, even at 7 out of 14. I can't remember the exact quest, but I remember one of the shades in Amaurot being slightly alarmed that you show zero potential whatsoever when even a new born should show some limited ability.

I'd guess that creation magic is a distinct 'thing' that is innate to Ancient physiology, in the same way that not being able to use any magic at all is innate to the Garleans. Unless getting a certain amount of soul shards causes you to suddenly change species I expect we'll never be able to use it, not the true original version of it anyway.

Although given how magic works in this setting, with enough aether and sufficient skill a practitioner of modern magic would probably be almost indistinguishable from a creation magic user anyway.