Spoilers for 7.0 Alexandrian life style

[SannaR]

I feel as though I must be in the minority when it comes to understanding what exactly was going on with their regulators. Were they some how making new souls? Did they just stop allowing souls to go back to the Aetherial Sea? Do regulators come with a soul already inside of it? And what does this mean for the vague notion that some souls have personalities? If souls do have personalities what happens if a person receives a soul that doesn't match their personality? And I guess the souls that the star grants to animals are completely different?

For instance let's say Shenza chooses to slap a regulator on his train loving head and then soon has a tragic accident. Does he get revived soon after or does his memories instantly get sent to living memory due to not having done anything yet to earn himself an extra soul and his own soul gets to now be processed? There feels like there would be a limited amount of souls as you would need more people to opt into this way of life so that people could bank more souls. The whole system just feels too confusing. It is an interesting concept, but not one that was really thought out.

[juliorain]

Were they some how making new souls?

New souls are created when youre born, or at least concieved in this universe. So technically there are a finite amount of souls to work with, hence the story's obsession over genocide to fuel the regulators. Is it really genocide if they get to live on in Living Memory against their will?

Did they just stop allowing souls to go back to the Aetherial Sea?

Yes. The regulators literally take your soul before it has a chance of going in to the Sea and replaces it with another.

Do regulators come with a soul already inside of it?

Probably, and people can literally buy more to chuck more in.

And what does this mean for the vague notion that some souls have personalities? If souls do have personalities what happens if a person receives a soul that doesn't match their personality?

Souls appearently are just the container for the memories and the person inside it according to the people of S9. After the soul is collected from the dead person it is sent to the Originics facility to be "cleansed" i.e. separated so that the memories of the living person who once had that soul get to live on for an eternity in Living Memory, while their now empty soul either gets sent to a reserve or directly into someone else's regulator to be filled with his or her memories. Whether or not I am still me and it's just my memories is probably a really deep existential debate, but for our purposes the Alexandrians find it a suitable reason "of being".

And I guess the souls that the star grants to animals are completely different?

Theyre different containers, entirely, yes.

Does he get revived soon after or does his memories instantly get sent to living memory due to not having done anything yet to earn himself an extra soul and his own soul gets to now be processed?

If Shenza had exhausted his regulator's supply of souls and/or he died of natural causes/old age then yeah he would be sent to Living Memory. If not, the regulator would revive him.

[Cleretic]

My read was broadly more based on writing intentionality than concrete stated fact: if the regulators were doing something that was unsustainable on a cycle-of-afterlife level, one of the Scions would have brought it up. They object to it, but more on a moral level; it's a crime against god and nature, but it's not itself killing the planet, it's not Mako energy.

How they have to upscale it, now that's when things start getting ugly.

[Astronema]

Soylent green movie tropes. The way they say regulators work is evil and inhuman. See the TV series dollhouse. When you die wearing one your soul is replaced with a spare and persona uploaded into it making you a star trek transporter clone....cringe storytelling.

[chip793]

I try not to think about it too much. The writers sure didn't.

[Cleretic]

Soylent green movie tropes.

If you've actually seen Soylent Green (I wouldn't blame you if you didn't, it's one of those movies that's much more interesting in concept than reality), the scene where Namikka gets taken away is very familiar. I think that's a very deliberate evocation.

A lot of Alexandria basically uses classic sci-fi tropes to pave their way to a very 'Final Fantasy' sci-fi destination; I can see shades of a few of my favorite Doctor Who stories in the early Heritage Found worldbuilding.

[Astronema]

I don't understand why the writers decided to try subvert known lore with this soul crap with the regulators. I find it disgusting as its very similar to dollhouse. I really hope they clarify it later about how they work. They did mention how the voidsent work so i hope they come out and say the soul inside is merged into yours to revive you. The assumption they work a certain other way is cringe and disturbing.


yeah the scene with namikka is pure soylent green. I saw that at first sight.

[SannaR]

Sorry for not responding and letting this drop off. I just haven't really felt as enthusiastic or passionate about talking about the story this time around. As I've said some of these things are only possible if you assume that regulators are preloaded with a soul. And I am starting to think that with these and a few other things the writers didn't really think about them too hard or past the initial idea.

Which sucks as I liked the story while going through it and enjoyed Wuk Lamat. I even understood why she continued to come along with us. I just hope they explore more about how the Alexandrians and the few Turali who wear these think about the regulators and what it really means to wear one. Especially when they barely scratch the surface of this life style via the side quests and how some are just now feeling a bit uncomfortable about it all. Not being able to remember a parent/person who fed you such wonderful meals that they might as well be a living person eating food in living memory. Or that there's a little regret in not being able to clearly remember a friend who talked you into using them after having a talk about it over a few drinks at a bar. And even if it wasn't explored what would it mean if a child had lost their parent during the attack due to running out of banked souls.

All I know is this system isn't really sustainable and probably started up at a high price. That and had a lot of trial and error if the lines in Alexandria are anything to go by.

[Lady_Silvermoon]

Sorry for not responding and letting this drop off. I just haven't really felt as enthusiastic or passionate about talking about the story this time around. As I've said some of these things are only possible if you assume that regulators are preloaded with a soul. And I am starting to think that with these and a few other things the writers didn't really think about them too hard or past the initial idea.

Which sucks as I liked the story while going through it and enjoyed Wuk Lamat. I even understood why she continued to come along with us. I just hope they explore more about how the Alexandrians and the few Turali who wear these think about the regulators and what it really means to wear one. Especially when they barely scratch the surface of this life style via the side quests and how some are just now feeling a bit uncomfortable about it all. Not being able to remember a parent/person who fed you such wonderful meals that they might as well be a living person eating food in living memory. Or that there's a little regret in not being able to clearly remember a friend who talked you into using them after having a talk about it over a few drinks at a bar. And even if it wasn't explored what would it mean if a child had lost their parent during the attack due to running out of banked souls.

All I know is this system isn't really sustainable and probably started up at a high price. That and had a lot of trial and error if the lines in Alexandria are anything to go by.

Based on what you are saying, I believe you are under the mistaken impression that regulators destroy souls. They do not. A person wearing a regulator keeps the soul they started with and when they meet what would be an accidental death, the lifeforce out of a soul cell is used to revive them. So now they have both their soul and a drained soul inside them. Their memories are imprinted on top in order to maintain their personality as the dominant one. When someone dies of old age or illness wearing a regulator, then the souls they've used during their lifetime are then released to the aetherial sea and their soul is stored in the regulator to be cleaned and packaged into a soul cell.

So while it's delaying people's return to the aetherial sea it's not soul killing anyone or draining all life from the planet or anything. Because FF7 is very popular, people think this is a mako plotline, but it's not, which is why the characters didn't stop them from doing it. They find it distasteful and sacrilegious, but it's not actual a threat to the star. At least not from the information we've been given thus far.

The Endless was a different situation as what they needed to be maintained required people to die. And while they were able to coast on natural deaths for four centuries, they've reached a point where Sphene feels she must cause some deaths to get the corporeal aether she needs to sustain the Endless.

[Lyth]

A living being has both corporeal aether (body) and incorporeal aether (soul). The new entry on Souls in the Codex goes over this quite well. Zombies only have corporeal aether. Ghosts only have incorporeal aether. Your memories are inscribed on your soul's aether.

When someone wearing a regulator dies in Alexandria, they are taken to Origenics, the soul processing facility. Their corporeal aether is disposed of, and their incorporeal aether is extracted by means of their regulator. Namikka's record in Origenics confirmed that this process happened to her on her death.

'I: Extraction:
Mixed aether comprised of both memory and soul is extracted from regulators and transferred into the stabilizing tank. As hastening extraction increases the risk of damage, the rate must not be adjusted except in the event of an emergency.'

'II: Separation:
Mixed aether is put through the aetheric separator and divided into its soul and memory components. Soul aether is then conveyed to upper Origenics for further processing, and memory aether to the Meso Terminal (route and location classified). Unless expressly specified, the memories of fiends are discarded.'

You'll recall that the Meso Terminal is the central unit of Living Memory, where Sphene's memory was stored.

'III: Purification:
Separated souls undergo through cleansing for the removal of residual memories. The purifying light is harmful to organic beings, so utmost care must be taken during the procedure. Even the slightest contamination can lead to memory and personality disorders within the user. As such, each and every soul must be cleared using the precision detector. Having completed the aforementioned processes, a soul may be finally be made available to the people of Alexandria. Your efforts are essential for the functioning of our nation, and we thank you for undertaking you duties with diligence.'

You have the modern day citizens of Alexandria, who are protected from premature death by means of their regulators. When they eventually perish, the memories that were inscribed on their souls are stored in Living Memory endlessly, sustained by the aether of newly harvested souls. As the Meso Terminal stores more and more memories as Endless, it needs a steady influx of aether from harvested souls to keep running. That's why it wasn't sustainable.

Also worth noting that using feral souls comes with problems.

Experiment log 216. Subject: Ambrose
Experiment sees a soulless body infused with multiple souls, including those of beasts, via a prototype multi-regulator. Subject currently behaves within the parameters of a living person, but displays advanced symptoms of personality breakdown and destructive tendancies. This is all but certainly due to an overdominance of feral souls. Yet while the subject possesses phenomenal strength, it cannot be reliably controlled, rendering it unfit for purpose. Future experiments must focus on imposing loyalty and obedience.'

The breakdown resulting from utilizing feral souls being referred to here is probably Psychonekrosis. The fact that the acquisition of a strong soul could potentially stabilize the aether of someone undergoing psychonekrosis makes me wonder if this is an aetheric corruption phenomenon, similar to how Ardbert stabilized our soul in Shadowbringers.