I would like you to take what you have learnt about Souled and Soulless and create a piece of literature to compare and contrast the two paths.
I am greatly humbled that our Ritualist would inquire at all as to my thoughts, much more preserve them. To be fair, however, I have done my share of research on this topic. I am fascinated with this concept of Soul-bearing and Soulless Reapers. Who shouldn’t be, if they are of a philosophical mind? The reasons supporting the sacrifice of ones own mortal soul are complex, highly subjective, and deeply intimate things. It is a decision that to this day I still struggle with.
In authoring this document, it is my presumption you have already familiarized yourself with the introductory material on Reapers with Souls, and those without.
The Ultimate Inquiry
At face value, the ultimate inquiry is simple: “Whether in my service to Death, I shall do so without my own Soul, to claim the power of a Soulless—the perfect instrument to harvest other souls and feed our Armies?”
It’s the lesser questions that are more difficult: “What about my cares and worries? Will I never experience love, or what of loved ones? Can I properly reason without feeling? If I am harboring a past vendetta that drives me, will I lose that drive?” These pesky notions are the ones that make answering the ultimate inquiry trying.
Of course, there are arguments on both sides of the matter to be made; each answer to the inquiry can be well-argued. What is correct for one Reaper may indeed be folly for the next. What I say next is merely to help answer that inquiry, based on the personal encounters I have had with those on either side of the debate.
The Soulless
There is very clear merit to this Reaper’s path. Power, obviously; a surplus of raw strength. Focus, such as the kind one gets when they disassociate themselves with emotional discontent—and truly this is a boon that only the Soulless shall ever fully comprehend.
The way of the Soulless is a unique, individualistic blessing bestowed upon us by Death. And for that reason there is is also a natural inclination for Reapers to flirt with the Soulless calling.
To illustrate, while the Temples of Death and War both have powerful armies, the Immortal of Death offers us this divine ritual, to free us of our mortal souls, as His commanders. That we may be born anew as vessels of macabre beauty, should we choose. By contrast, this is something the Immortal of War does not do (at least by my research). More, the ritual is something that at least one of the Warlord’s precious Blades advised me without hesitation he would endure “so long as it furthered his service [to his cause]”. Who are we to deny ourselves, our Lord, our Purpose, this measure to further that shared agenda?
For all that it is certain that this ritual to make one Soulless does imbue that one with the necessary ability and convictions to flawlessly carry out our respective motives in furtherance of Death, the uncertainty and apprehension of ones own soul departing is not lost among Reapers. It is this dread of the unknown, this ability to opine but never truly comprehend until the ultimate inquiry is affirmatively answered, that has spawned an unremitting swell of reservations to the Soulless path.
The path of the Soulless is therefore not for all Reapers, despite wearing its merits very plainly on the surface.
The Souled
That is not to say that the Souled are by any way a less attractive alternative or inferior path for the Reaper of Death. These are people of tremendous conviction as well. For, those as having not performed the ritual, indeed those who have kept their souls, are largely assured of their reasons. Generally speaking, a Reaper with their soul unmolested will be able to advise you exactly why it remains in tact.
What lack of emotions can be supplied to the Soulless make for a thoughtful temperament and deliberate mentality on the side of the Souled. For example, many leaders of Death have opted to keep their soul out of necessity; that is, such as when comprehending the emotional responses for the sake of political posturing becomes necessary. Some involved and delicate circumstances require the preservation of such sensibilities in order to benefit the Temple of Death as a whole.
To opine for a moment, the Souled in my experience tend to be self-aware people. I do not imply the Soulless are (or were) lacking self-awareness, they simply seem apathetic to the philosophy. The Souled comprehend very much the benefits of the Soulless and weigh those gifts against the loss of their soul—which for subjective reasons they have opted to keep.
So too have I heard arguments against the practicality of reaping when one is an empty vessel; that is, the notion that one "is what they reap", as some Souled perceive the Soulless. There is some rational thought supporting this, as we know that the Soulless largely take on, even sometimes thrive on, the torment and past experience of those harvested.
It is unclear whether or not this path is favored or disfavored by the Keeper over His Soulless. However, it is perceived that they are a necessary part of the working order for many reasons. Each of those still possessing their soul seem to have a meaningful purpose for doing so.
Souled vs. Soulless: A Philosophical Treatise
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