Breath

Breath are fragments of Sol's living consciousness, created upon its sacrifice and spread throughout Ayr.

Explanation
Breath resides in all living beings in one of three places: the Body, the Mind and the Soul. Plants have only one fragment of Breath, making up the Body, animals with two: The Body and Mind. Humans are unique in that they have three: The Body, Mind and Soul, marking them greater than any other living being. Since all life springs from the sacrifice of Sol, most religious individuals on Ayr believe they have three aspects of the divine within him or her and often refer to their inspiration as the “Will of Sol”, guiding their actions along the will of their now absent god.

While much of the trillions of fragments of Sol are contained within the living beings of Ayr, another large percentage is flowing freely across the land. Though invisible during the day, these fragments glow at night, each with their own unique iridescent light. The individual fragments can be thought of as raindrops, flowing along the landscape until they coalesce into small streams known as Lines of ley, or simply ley. These streams in turn join to form larger rivers and when these eventually form up into small lakes called Nodus before flowing further on. Some believe that some of the fragments are diverted into the interior of Ayr itself at a nodus, releasing these fragments with the birth of each new living thing, but this is only a theory. Though invisible during the day, ley and nodi light up the night in an unworldly splendor, as if the Aurora Borealis were spilling down along the land.

Ephemeral individually, the fragments pass through animate and inanimate objects alike. The only object capable of stopping the flow is glass. Though glass is often used to contain fragments in the forms of Luz jars and Renders’ own Glass eyes, it is considered profane to contain a fragment for more than a day and punishable by law. Sharpened glass can also be used to sever the bonds formed between fragments within a living being, the results being instantaneous death. As such, only Renders are allowed to carry their Glass blades. Anyone else found with one is executed immediately.

At the moment of death, the fragments within a living being escape the body, joining the ceaseless flow of Sol’s Breath to eventually be recycled in a new unique combination with other fragments in a new body. Since they can readily see the recycling of fragments, the people of Ayr do not believe in an afterlife, more of a system of reincarnation as some aspect of them will live on again in another form in the future although their individual consciousness dies. Religion stipulates that this flow will continue forever until each unique combination has finally been exhausted, this moment heralding the return of Sol to judge the planet of Ayr in what is known as the Harvest. As there are trillions of fragments in play with many different combinations of Body, Mind and Soul available, Sol’s return could be many millions of years off.

The Blessed
While most humans have the three Breaths (the Body, Mind and Soul), a small percentage (approximately 5%) have a fourth and are known as the Blessed. Those with this mutation are able to influence the flow on Ayr in unique ways depending on where their extra Breath resides.

The Emets
While all living beings contain Breath in their corporeal forms, occasionally fragments can become tangled together at Nodus, forming entities known as Emets. Also containing a Body, Mind and Soul, the emets are by no means human, some quite horribly monstrous, others angelic; while still others mischievous and very fairy-like. For the most part, emets seem indifferent to humans, unable to communicate except through Renders and Weavers, and remain close to their nodus of origin, or at least lines of ley lest they fade away. Many legends have accumulated over the years as to the origins and purpose of the emets, Renders and Weavers differing greatly on how to treat these creatures. Benign emets are known as engels, while malicious ones as ghuls.