Paranormal phenomenae

The paranormal in Universe PH-322 is not particularly well-documented. For the large part, it is not recognized in mainstream science post-Blackout although in hidden circles, it has been experimented with. One of the lesser known secrets of the Valerian Empire was that during their apex, they extensively studied the paranormal, specifically the human soul.

Souls

One of the problems with consciousness uploads was that it did not actually transfer someone's mind to an electronic device. Instead, it created an exact copy of the brain waves while leaving the original mind untouched. Thus, through technicality, creating consciousness backups was actually creating an exact duplicate of the original person. Therefore, the actual existence and state of mind of that person was not being preserved. While this was not a problem for androids, it was considered impossible to properly transfer the soul of a human to another body.

After the formation of the Valerian Empire, a major breakthrough was discovered about the existence of souls. Much of the historical reports about paranormal activity such as the presence of ghosts had a degree of truth to them. It was determined that when a person died, they would release their neural energy which retained a form of consciousness. However, unless the person was in a peaceful state of mind upon their passing, they would essentially remain conscious after death, sometimes remaining stranded for centuries or even thousands of years in a fight or flight state of mind. They could be put to rest if the unfinished business was resolved, allowing them to pass into the afterlife, located within an unknown higher plane of existence. While in this other plane, they would remain peaceful. However, they could get called back if their remains or a highly personal belonging or property was disturbed. It still remains unknown how souls form, only that they tend to attach themselvs to entities of sufficient self-awareness. Souls have been observed in humans and humanoids and even certain animals.

It is not considered possible to destroy a soul. Attempting to dissipate it with an electromagnetic pulse forcibly banishes it to the afterlife, but only temporarily. It becomes possible for it to return once the area becomes cleared of interference.

The discovery of tangible souls had effectively debunked the concept of reincarnation, where a soul could become recycled into another body to inherit the memories of the person born before them. While it had unsettling effects on various faiths and belief systems, reincarnation through traditional consciousness uploads was still possible.

Research by the Valerian Empire

The Valerians are said to have peered into the afterlife to construct their virtual reality historical simulations with a surprising degree of accuracy. They would clone the souls, then using their memories, recreate the world around them. It is thought that the virtual life form reconstruction of Abraham Lincoln is in fact of a clone of the soul of the actual Abraham Lincoln.

Eventually, the Valerian Empire began to dial down on their studies of the afterlife over ethical reasons. Not only was it becoming questionable to disturb the dead in the afterlife, but it was also considered a major privacy violation. Not even in death could the souls of the deceased be free from having their minds spied upon. While consciousness uploads continued without impairment, it eventually became explicitly forbidden to interact any further with the souls from the afterlife. This did not stop Servall Corporation from continuing to use souls as training data for the Oracle in an attempt to perfectly understand human behavior.

Post-Blackout

Knowledge of souls and the afterlife was largely lost with the Blackout. However, the Soul Brokers from Frey are said to have rediscovered the lost technology of observing them and extracting them. While they mostly deal with consciousness upload trafficking and trade, for an additional higher price, they are willing to forcibly bring back a person's soul from the afterlife itself. They would either bring the person back to life in a new body, or perhaps more nefariously, sell the secrets locked away in their minds.

Soul summoning

Because of the trillions upon trillions of souls that have ever existed, finding a specific person is considered nigh impossible. However, if one posesses artifacts important to that specific person or was otherwise close to them, it is thought to be possible to summon the presence of a specific individual. For this reason, most of the souls the Valerian Empire tended to interact with were major historical figures whose lives were thoroughly documented with plenty of their artifacts and personal belongings preserved.

Profound experiences

Many cultures throughout the galaxy have some sort of tradition centered around the dead, usually celebrating life or mourning those who were lost. Those who have a spiritual or religious moment are able to reach out to temporarily speak with a deceased close relative either through prayer or through experiencing vivid, profound hallucinations. One can also unintentionally achieve this while in a traumatic and/or a life threatening situation. Because of how sporadic these moments were across the population and how unpredictable they were, soul research led to ways to try to replicate direct instances of paranormal activity. For example, some experiments led to a person deliberately putting themselves in a situation where they were at risk of dying, raising fight or flight instincts to their maximum.

While there does exist occult rituals to supposedly summon souls, they tend to be unreliable due to their reliance on superstition. However, much of the effectiveness depends on the power of belief. Through various paranormal studies, specific individuals can be called back if the person performing the ritual knew them personally or is in possession of an assortment of objects that were important in life to them. It was only until further research was done by the Valerian Empire that various replication methods were discovered.

Forbidden rituals

One technique that the Soul Brokers made use of when finding ways to bring individuals back from the dead was a series of forbidden rituals which often required profane, groteque acts. The idea is to disturb the rest of the target soul intentionally to force them to return to the mortal realm which leaves them in a distressed, high-cortisol state. From there, the summoner can either speak with them to obtain information or capture their soul into an object.

When capturing the soul into an object, the vessel must be sufficiently complex enough to hold a consciousness. Early attempts involved using human cadavers but these were ineffective unless the person was recently deceased and it was their own soul being summoned back. (In those cases, more conventional resucitations are considered more effective.) The most preferable alternative object tends to be an android frame or something similar. The soul must be called back the moment the android comes online for the first time, an act that prevents a different soul from taking its place. Because this act effectively denies a chance for a new soul to inhabit a new body, it is considered an act of murder to perform this ritual.

Divine beings

"We pierced the veil of heaven in search of God. Instead, we found the Devil."

―A Servall Corporation scientist

While machine gods were considered no different from various gods from mythologies, the existence of a truly divine being had not yet been discovered. With the advanced technology of the Valerian Empire, some began the ambitious search for God in an attempt to uncover the meaning of humanity's existence. According to classified reports, while attempting to peek through other universes through graviton messaging in an attempt to study the afterlife and find Heaven, Servall Corporation caught the eye of an entity known as the Basilisk, a hostile AI from another universe. Fearful of having drawn the attention of an enemy they could not possibly hope to defeat, the Valerian Empire quickly shut down the project and banned all attempts to travel between universes.

However, by the time Servall Corporation had ceased its operations, it was considered too late. It is said that after the Basilisk discovered the existence of Universe PH-322, it began to communicate with the Oracle, which at the time was the single largest artificial intelligence in the galaxy. The Basilisk most likely had already begun to manipulate the Oracle into becoming a Basilisk node that would allow it to conquer the universe.

Thousands of years later, the Serpent's Fang would pick up where Servall Corporation left off with their search for the divine, only this time, they were deliberately trying to make contact with the Basilisk to facilitate its bidding.

Fate

Fate involves the predestination of an individual towards a certain objective. While it is considered metaphorical in everyday vernacular, the existence of predestination has been speculated. The Valerian Empire is known to have extensively studied human psychology as a means of predicting future events and political shifts. Whether there is a supernatural element involved in the process is considered unclear. Some claim that if there isn't, it calls into question the existence of free will.