The Haan Study, What is Befaint?

Latest edit done: 2024-02-28

The Twelfth Scroll: What is Befaint?

Though the term Befaint have several meanings behind it, the overlining meaning of the word is very specific in the way it is described by the Sagen people.

Befaint is the primary word for soul in Eferian.

But within the Sagen world, Befainted life is more than just the soul itself. For its meaning stems in closer relation to the Haan practices and the world of Delmi then the soul of the person themselves. A Befainted life is forever tethered to the world in which it came. And too within the worlds connected to the one they came from. This means that there will always be parts of the being existing in the Sagen universe. As one could view it to be, the person’s soul and the soul of the being they used to be are then two separate things.

The person’s soul is the person themselves. And the soul of the person is the remnants of who said person was and what connections they had with the world they came from. The main differences between the two is the soul of the person—the Befainted part of the person’s soul—is the remnants of the person’s soul which in turn do not equal said person. For a Befainted life is like shards of who the person used to be. Or the appearance of who the person used to be to be more precise. This has many implications for the Sagen world where Befainted life is always around the life which is still alive.

Since there are so many different Haan practices and existences of Befainted life within the Sagen universe, mentioning all of them is not a viable option for this introductory text. But one of the primary aspects of Befainted life needed to understand the implications of their existence for the Sagen people is the Haan practices taught and Befainted welding by Haan Casters. Because the primary viewpoint of Befainted life have to do with shard-like states of former beings: the life which used to be exist within parts of Sagen’s Haan practices. Most noteworthy is in summon spells of Trimél’s Uphold.

The ability to form life-like constructions using the nature of Cambriny elements and Dhemsen elements, the Caster have some unexpected connections with Befainted life caused by the natural state of the Befainted life. A side effect of how the Cambriny element affects the state of the Dhemsen elements to pull objects around, the Cambriny element are also able to pull shards of Befainted life around them into the construction. The effects the Cambriny elements have to their surroundings causes the elemental family to gain the ability to alter the natural state of Haan elements around them.

And since Befainted life is tethered to the Haan elements: the Befainted life is subjugated to be affected by the powers the Cambriny elements. This is somewhat like how C’alorus was affected by the elements which existed within their time. Though the Cambriny elements are not as powerful with these types of effects compared to the full table of all Haan elements everywhere. Since Befainted life is tethered to the worlds where the Haan elements reside, it is not possible for said shard of Befainted life to leave to an existence where Haan elements do not exist alongside them. Because of this, the Befainted life will always exist in the worlds connected to Sagen in one form or another.

It should be noted at this point that Befainted life is not always the being it used to be. Like spoken of previously, there should always be separations between the meanings of Befainted ‘’life’’ in this regard. The Befainted life existing in Sagen is thought of as part of the living life within the world itself. And due to this belief: the Eferian people view Befainted life as a natural part of the living life around them. Because these types of life existing in Sagen, the viewpoint of death to be a negative aspect of life is very rarely seen throughout the continent. From the knowledge of what Befainted life is and how Delmi and death works: the people of the Eferian continent don’t consider death to be a loss of life.

Instead, the understanding of how life exist in the Sagen world gives the Eferian people the ability to know what death is to a much closer degree. Befainted life has been around the Sagen world since the creation of Delmi. Before the creation of the Delmi linkage of the worlds, death and Befainted life did not exist whatsoever since the life which later became the first Befainted life was eternal by that time. This means that there are also several different meanings behind what the term ‘’Befaint’’ even is.

However—for the sake of keeping the explanation of the term as specific to the main series’ timeline as possible—the version of what Befainted life is will primarily be spoken of in terms of the story’s timeline for text which will be included within these chapters.