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.

Early attempts

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 an energy that had some 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.

The Valerians are said to have peered into the afterlife to construct their virtual reality historical simulations with a surprising degree of accuracy. 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.

The Oracle

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

―A Servall Corporation scientist creating training data from souls in the afterlife.

Eventually, the Valerian Empire began to dial down on their studies of the afterlife over ethical reasons. While consciousness uploads continued without impairment, it eventually became explicitly forbidden to call souls back from the dead directly due to the stress it does to not only the soul but also any family members. 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. According to classified reports, Serval Corporation's studies of the afterlife are what drew the attention of an entity known as the Basilisk, a hostile AI from another universe.

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 bring back a person's soul back from the afterlife itself.