In the world that I have created, there is a balance of good and evil. Therefore, because I have those who give life through their souls, I also have those who take life through the soul. Below is another glossary clip.

Ariger: The Ariger, or Soul Eaters, are said to be corrupted Aerala, for they are normal beings, also with extended lifespans. Instead of healing and giving part of their own spirit, they are constantly trying to fill their own with the spirits of their victims. Said to be the creators of the common vampire, Ariger have the characteristic pointed teeth, and they drink the blood of their victims. But while drinking their victim’s blood, they also devour their victim’s soul, killing the victim with merely one bite, while common vampires take several times. Ariger are rarer than the common vampire, and more dangerous. There are no known restrictions on Ariger, unlike common vampires, and their only physical threat are the Aerala, who can counter an Ariger’s attack if they are quick. However, evil lord usually hold the Ariger in reserve. The Ariger are more dangerous than any other vampires and can be more dangerous than even the shanshona, for they are not mere demons. The Ariger are very beautiful and often use their beauty and trick of the tongue to seduce their prey. They also have the ability to transform themselves into ravens. Ariger can be possessed by demons, and the more powerful ones usually are. When Ariger are in the physical world, they are often found among people, especially those in power. Singular: Arigeri.

Just a quick question: what do you mean by the good and evil being balanced?

A good question. I mean that for every good thing, be it creature, being, or thought, there is an equal evil that creates a balance in a fallen world. If this balance is upset, then the world will tilt to either one extreme or the other and cease to exist as it is.

so....extreme good would be...bad???

hm. that doesn't make a lot of sense. it would be...too good, and thus be a bad thing???

No, it wouldn't be bad, it would just change things, and that isn't supposed to happen, yet. Eventually, the balance will rupture and the world will change again, but for now, everything must be equal.

Sounds like the New Age. Yin Yang, etc.

This would make sense if you have a God who is keeping evil from destroying the world while biding his time before sending a savior or some other act that would destroy evil. It could even be like right now, where Jesus hasn't come back yet to destroy evil, so we must balance it out while we wait for his return. Is that the kind of balance you mean?

If Emeth is correct about your balance, then it has some inherent problems.

The most important is that evil never equals the good which it attempts to equal. Satan does not equal God, but rather Michael, and in fact only equal Michael to a certain extent. Also, Satan cannot create an evil, only manipulate something that was good and turn it into evil. Evil is lesser in every possible sense, so there can be no balance.

This sounds kind of creepy. Elestar, your creativity is awesome and this is really original, but, umm, something doesn't sound quite right here. I agree with Neil and Emeth on the Balance of Good and Evil. It sounds kind of new agey.

Maybe if instead of balancing it, you can have it look like it's balanced, but it really isn't, God really keeps it in check. Like, there are more of the Good Aerala then the evil Arigrer, and the Ariger population is kept in check by God, but they are still so numerous that it is assumed that they equal the Aerala. And then the truth comes out later, that the evil doesn't equal the good.

Does this make any sense, or am I confusing things? (I seem to be good at that)

I don't think it sounds New Agey at all! lol. (although I don't know much about New Age either. )


It's possible for good and evil to be balanced. In this world, I would actually say that without God, evil would overpower everything!

It's when you throw the supernatural into the mix, that the good becomes stronger.

(Well, I wouldn't go so far as to call it new age. They really don't believe in evil at all. It sounds more Taoism.)

The problem is that evil doesn't actually have material, intellectual, or physical substance. Evil is not a force opposed to good but rather a lack of good, just as dark is not a force opposed to good but rather a lack of light.

If evil is equal on any level with good, then who's to say whether it's actually bad, or just another force? Evil is in every way the lesser, because it is a nothing. People think of good as positive and evil as negative, but evil is actually just a lack of good.

In short, in good and evil were balanced, then evil would be something, instead of nothing, and then who could say whether it was truly bad or not?

Actually, Armorbearer hit the nail on the head. You are all making very good points, and I admit that it's quite interesting to read everything that's surfaced from this one post. My balance is based somewhat on the yin-yang idea, except that, like Armorbearer said, the balance comes from God, who is holding everything together until the opportune moment. The balance question hasn't really come out in my writing, yet, it's just an idea that I'm basing my world on, for now. I guess I should have said that, in my world, a savior has not come yet, so God is still somewhat distant from everything, and that is why there is a balance; the true holiness of God has not entered the picture yet.



Neil of Erk, you are quite right, as far as I understand the Bible. As I began to say above, God's presence is still distant, and so it is his "Angels", so to speak, that are battling my "Satan" figure, because they are on the same level. And, as to the manipulation, my "Satan" figure (whose name I am in the middle of changing, which is why I haven't said it yet) has not created anything since his fall. I will explain how creatures became evil in a later post, because I will first need to explain how creatures were created (a process with too many details to put in this already too-long post).

I hope this has cleared up some of your questions. Sorry about the confusion. It's hard to explain exactly what I mean without speaking face to face.

By the way, what is Taoism? I don't think I've ever heard of it.


Elestar

It did clear up a lot! I think that you may want to avoid the term 'balance' if you can find something that will carry the same meaning, as it has been clearly demonstrated here that 'balance' makes most of us think of far-east superstition. Perhaps you might say "opposed".

Taoism is essentially the ying-yang superstition. My understand is that rather than good vs. evil and has equally balanced light vs. dark, neither being "bad" or "good" but simply opposed impersonal forces.

Oh, good! Thank you for helping me settle this. I think changing 'balance' to something else is a really good idea, thanks. So that's Taoism. No, I don't think that's what I was going for. Thanks again.

I'm wondering, in your mind, do Ariger actually add a victims soul to their own, or do they consume the life force?

If they add the soul of the victim to their own, then is it something like the demons in Screwtape, who use the life force, knowledge, etc. of those who go to hell, while maintaining that person's ultimate soul as an entity capable of thought separate from the demon which has consumed it?

I think your take is that they just consume the life force of the victim, prolonging their life? Or is this one of the things that even the author doesn't understand?

Well, right now it's something the author doesn't understand. Mostly because I hadn't thought about it. It's a very good question. I think the way I originally developed it, it was more of the "suck out the life force" rather than add the soul to their own. OH!!!!!!!! I have it! I remember what I'd done! Okay. It has to do with my idea of "spirits versus souls", which I don't think I've talked about yet. But, I have an idea--oh, wait, that doesn't work. Hhhmmm. I just ran into another tangled thread of thought, so let me think about it and I'll get back to you on that question.

Since you mentioned "spirits verses souls" I came up with an idea.

I'm assuming that by "spirit" you mean the so-called "human spirit" by which we mean ingenuity, talents, the ability to reason, etc. Things that make us human but aren't necessarily parts of our eternal soul.

In this case, I suppose the Ariger could simply consume a persons "spirit" adding it to their own. This works Aerala too. They simply give (or is it more sharing?) a part of their "spirit" to the person they are healing. Because you describe the "donee" possibly even developing a psychic link with the "donor", this makes even more sense. They essentially begin to share parts of their "spirit" while remaining separate souls.

Is that what you were going for?

It actually wasn't. Sorry, that was my fault. I tend to get a little incoherent when I start thinking about my stories. I really do like that idea, though...
Actually, what I mentioned was an idea that I was toying with. Now, before I state it, let me just say that I'm only considering it at this point, I haven't done many revisions, and it is not supposed to be allegorical of anything in the Bible. It's something I've come up with.
With that said, the "spirits vs. souls" is something that's intrigued me for a while. The idea I have, is that a spirit is what we think of as a soul or spirit, the immortal part of a human. A soul is the perfect, immortal body that each spirit enters once the physical body dies and the spirit goes to what is essentially Heaven. I have this idea that, in Heaven, there is a Valley of Souls, which is a beautiful valley filled with the perfect, immortal bodies that are called souls. I envision them all sleeping under trees, etc., waiting for the immortal spirits.
This is why having the Ariger actually devour the spirits doesn't work, since the spirits are immortal. However, I'm really liking your idea of them devouring what I would all the essence of a person. Yes...the more I think about it, the more I like it. May I use it?

I hope this explains better than my last post did. Again, I apologize for it. I have been known to walk away in the middle of a conversation (usually with my dear sister) if an idea strikes me.

You may use it. Actually, the idea isn't entirely original. It's been used in The Screwtape Letters and other stories, but I think that incorporating that idea into the idea of "soul eaters" and "soul givers" is an entirely new concept. Besides, I just took it directly out of my understanding of the Ariger and Aerala. I think that it's more than unique enough to use in your stories.

You did explain it better in this post. I'm glad I understand what you were thinking. The concept of the "soul" actually being a body intended to house the "spirit" is really remarkable. So, to reconcile the idea to your story, the Ariger consume the "essence" of a person, which is a part (though not necessary and very replaceable) of the "spirit" of a person, which is currently housed in the body but will eventually by housed in the "soul". Does that sound correct?

Wow. The Ariger are starting to sound really creepy. If an Ariger could consume a specific part of a person's essences-memories, for instance-then they could be the ultimate torturer. They could remove speech, a specific character trait, and they could consume an entire essence (physically killing the person) which would allow them to know everything the person knew and actually impersonate that person!

Yeah. Creepy.

Oh, Wow, Neil.

That is just totally creepy. Worse than the Ra'zac, (Eragon) which were some of the creepiest things I'd read up until this point.

Eek.

Thank you. Yes, that's what it's developed to, so far. And to add to it, the corpses of the people killed by Ariger are usually possessed by demons, creating vampires (which are complete evil in my world).
Thanks again, Neil.

I like that idea, but, unfortunately, J.K. Rowling did that with her "Dementors". (I think that's how it's spelled. I only listened to the books.)

I think that would be awesome. They wouldn't be feeding off the soul, but off of his emotions, especially fear and agony.