Timeline of Lands Between - Age before the Erdtree - Life Cycle | Elden Ring Wiki

Remembrance of the Regal Ancestor

Note: English & 日本語

• "Ancestral Spirits"

 祖霊
「それい」
(sorei)

祖 = "founder, pioneer, ancestor"

霊 = "spirit, soul"

In essence, "founding spirit(s)"

It can also mean: "a collection of souls that have lost their identity"

Or the spirit of a:

神
「かみ」
(kami) "deity"

Is it really so difficult to perceive a deity as a collection of souls?

¹We, in reality, are the collection of 10¹³ cells.
That's 10,000,000,000,000 (10 trillion) human cells;
that originated from the zygote.

²And there are 3 ~ 5x times that many bacteria and viruses that compose the microbiome.
The veritable "forest" that we absolutely rely upon to survive.

All of them functioning in symbiosis and cooperation,
to allow a single consciousness to exist.

~ ~ ~

¹Source: pubmed ncbi nlm nih gov /23829164/

²Source: en wikipedia org /wiki/Human_microbiome#Relative_numbers

霊

「れい」
(rei) "spirit, soul"

This character has 2 components:

雨
「あめ」
(ame)
"rain"

並
「なみ」
(nami)
"ordinary, medium, line of"

What happens when it rains?

The land comes alive.

Plants sprout...
insects flutter and skitter... frogs emerge...
snakes... voles... moles... mice... birds... ferrets...
beavers... foxes... raccoons...
boars... deer... wolves... bears...
monkeys... humans.

Row upon row... of souls.

Not one greater than the other.
"ordinary"

It's as if every droplet of rain,
were a soul falling from Heaven.

Like a bit of slag from a crucible...

or molten magma... touching water.

 The red of Fire...

赤
「あか」
(aka)

The blue of water...

青
「あお」
(ao)

Indeed, it will change forms
dependent upon temperature and pressure.
Heat it up... it becomes steam.
If there is an exit,
it will escape with that energy to release elsewhere.

Becoming liquid once again.

Chill it... and it becomes ice;
literally growing in size.

Whereas other substances
typically shrink when chilled,
water expands.

Capable of rending steel or carve solid rock.

And when energy,
in the form of heat,
is added to this frozen form;

it returns to liquid.

In all cases, it remains as water.

It's only when completely confined...
say within the gravitational core of a star...
that the Hydrogen (H₂) and Oxygen (O),
combine to form heavier elements.

And when that star's life ends,
it will explode.

Releasing the remaining
Hydrogen (H₂) and Oxygen (O),
along with the new heavier elements,
into the cosmos...

to form new stars.

Spirits... souls...

霊
「れい」
(rei)

are,

like water (H₂0),

eternal.

And just as water is blue,

青
「あお」
(ao)

so too are the Spirits.

Regal Ancestor Spirit

And just as with water (H₂0),
they cannot take a solid form by themselves;
unless they're chilled.

(Ever wonder why the frostbite effect is primarily attached to magic?)

But when water is mixed with liquid fire... magma...

a solid form emerges.

A soul, or souls... water (H₂0)...

becomes trapped within the stone.

Indeed, given time, magma will cool by itself;
but the result is a solid form
that cannot move on its own;
it's too stiff.

Water (H₂0) can still interact with this form...
breaking it down... slowly...
piece by piece...
grain by grain.

³Erosion.

(The other part of the frostbite effect,

increases damage taken.)

~ ~ ~

³Source: en wikipedia org /wiki/Erosion

Eventually ending up as clay.
A substance that can be molded... formed...
then a bit more heat... fire... is applied,
and now we have a jar.

Jar Bairn

小壺
「しょう・つぼ」
(shou・tsubo)

Jarburg

A vessel born. 

A form in which a spirit can move upon the land.

An existence lived.

Breath... a heart beat... thoughts... feelings... sights... sounds... touch... taste;
all of them experiences.

An entire life's worth of knowledge.

Then Death.

The vessel breaks,
and the spirit released.

Like the water (H₂0) sent back out into the cosmos.
But this time, the water (H₂0)... the soul...
carries that knowledge with it.

Iron Fist Alexander
Warrior Jar

Iron Fist Alexander
Warrior Jar

Iron Fist Alexander
Warrior Jar

Alexander's Innards

Stars, in our own universe,
go through this same cycle³.

³Source: en wikipedia org /wiki/Star#Star_formation

With each iteration, the water (H₂0)... souls,
combining into heavier elements:

Sodium (Na)... Aluminum (Al)... Silicon (Si)...

Titanium (Ti)... Iron (Fe)... Copper (Cu)... Silver (Ag)...

 A soul of gold,

黄金の霊
「おうごん・の・れい」
(ougon・no・rei)

is ancient.

It is the culmination of millions of iterations...

a million lives.

生命
「せい・めい」
(sei・mei)
"life's existence"

In a sense, it could be considered
the refined soul of:

神
「かみ」
(kami)

"deity"

Sorceress Sellen

魔術師セレン

A fact that has never been forgotten by

the People of the Ancestral Spirits

祖霊の民
「それい・の・たみ」
(sorei・no・tami)

Ancestral Follower Shaman

Immunizing Horn Charm

免疫の角飾り

Raises immunity
(Immunity governs resistance
to poison and rot.)

Stalwart Horn Charm

頑健の角飾り

Raises robustness
(Robustness governs resistance
to blood loss and frost)

Clarifying Horn Charm

正気の角飾り

Raises Focus
(Focus governs resistance
to sleep and madness)

Mottled Necklace Talisman

斑色の角飾り

Raises immunity, robustness,
and focus.

Springhare

Deer

Boar

Turtle

Guillemot

Owl

Eagle

Dragonfly

And when that form breaks...

it returns to The Crucible,

to be formed into something new.

For Death is not the end.

Only a new beginning...

a new form.

Ancestral Spirit Horn

 Just as the stars cycle through:

birth... life... death... rebirth

with each iteration condensing lighter elements into heavier ones.

So too, do the myriad of souls condense into heavier ones

until it becomes an Ancestral Spirit

Ancestral Infant Skull

黄金
「おうごん」
(ougon)
"gold"

has a melting point of 1064.18 °C;
which is significantly higher
than that of water (H₂O), 0 °C.

This allows gold to remain solid
at room-temperature (~20 °C). 

A golden soul (黄金の霊),
in this regard,
would more easily be able to take a solid shape. 

Whereas a blue

青
「あお」
(ao)

soul... water... could not.

But remember that when water freezes,
and takes that solid form,
it actually expands.
Breaking apart whatever material its trapped within.

Hence, why the frostbite effect causes HP loss.

Gold Firefly

Golden Rune [3]

Beast Blood

The power of life's existence is:

Vigor

HP

赤
「あか」
(aka)
"red"

And the solid form of a Golden Soul,

黄金の霊
「おうごんのれい」
(ougon・no・rei)

is a nigh immutable vessel.

For it too, can break.

Ancient life... gold souls (黄金の霊)...

have gone through millions of iterations.

Millions of lives...

millions of bodies...

vessels....

deaths.

They have learned how to create vessels more quickly.

Rather than having to rely upon random chance to achieve the same.

Indeed, runes can be used to level up any of the major attributes,

buy equipment, or upgrade it.

However, if your HP drops to zero,

the vessel breaks;

making all the other stats, and equipment...

at that point in time... worthless.

What's more, gold does not oxidize easily;

it is highly resistant to corrosion.

It doesn't rot.

Vigor is the primary attribute that dictates your immunity;

your resistance to rot and poison.

However, this link between

gold's resistance to corrosion,

and Vigor dictating immunity,

is not a direct correlation;

only a coincidence.

As the ability to resist rot in the Lands Between,

is innate to Vigor;

which is only attracted to gold.

Though that coincidence does aid

in understanding the fundamental nature

of the relationship between Vigor and gold.

Conversely, Vigor grants a small amount of

resistance to Fire damage;

but gold, innately, does not.

Gold is also quite rare.

And yet, as can been seen with the Beast Blood,

only a few flecks are needed to coalesce a substantial amount of blood.

This, however, belies the fact that blood (in reality⁴),

is 51% water (H₂O).

~ ~ ~

⁴Source: en wikipedia org /wiki/Blood

赤
「あか」
(aka)

"red"

青
「あお」
(ao)

"blue"

Vigor is more a measure of the captured energy

that creates the cells of the body.

Remember:

E = mc²

or rather, m = E/c²

A jar can exist without any contents,

but it doesn't have a soul to "drive" it.

W. Liurnia, Minor Erdtree

This is the reverse problem that spirits face;

in which they have the drive,

but no vessel to do so.

Zamor Ruins,
Site of Grace

Though the vessel.. the flesh...

can easily be brought back,

with a vessel that is largely gold,

water is still needed to have blood flow.

With no blood flow,

nutrients and oxygen (O₂),

cannot reach all the cells of the vessel;

and they simply die.

But due to the gold content,

the flesh is quickly replaced.

The vessel is in a perpetual state

of rot and regeneration.

黄金
「おうごん」
(ougon)

青
「あお」
(ao)

is in streams

and alluvial deposits.

Jars... vessels... have a limit to what can be filled within.

Once that limit is reached,

any additional material simply overflows.

Overflowing jar in reality

Whether that material is gold... or Vigor... clay,

it will spill over the top and drip down the sides.

If it's "vigor,"

the outer diameter of the vessel will increase,

but the internal diameter hasn't changed.

The jar just gets fatter.

We can actually see this from the game mechanics.

It's possible to level every attribute to 99,

but once that's achieved,

nothing more can be added;

unless you break the game's code.

Those excess runes

would have to be used elsewhere.

Whether that's on equipment,

or purchasing items.

Even then,

when all inventory has been filled,

the excess runes can only be removed in one... legitimate... way;

death.

Dying,

and then dying again

without retrieving the rune pool,

will disseminate the excess runes.

Even just to get to this point requires either:

extreme dedication

or

extreme boredom.

Which is why the mechanics discourage going to such lengths,

as each subsequent level requires an ever increasing number of runes.

This can be somewhat alleviated

by going all the way through to New Game + 8.

Where with each New Game,

the number of runes received from defeating bosses, and foes, increases.

However, past New Game + 8,

the rune drops remain stagnant.

So unless you've already achieved the goal of maxing out all attributes,

and inventory,

the journey will become increasingly monotonous.

Which leads to:

• putting down the controller, and walking away...

• creating a new character...

• or finding some way to break the boundaries of the game.

If an entity is willing to go to such extreme lengths

to completely max out

the "internal diameter" of their vessel,

one could say they have a bit of a god complex.

So while they assuage their ego

for a time within the boundaries of the game,

those boundaries will become increasingly agitating.

One of those boundaries,

limits who they can play with:

who they can be summoned by

and

who they can summon.

 So they find ways to break those limitations,

searching to more directly manipulate the "characters" of the in-game universe.

Treating them as little more than puppets.

This behavior isn't limited to players.

It also applies to the Golden Souls.

黄金
「おうごん」
(ougon)

Entities that have existed since nearly the beginning

of the universe of the Lands Between.

神
「かみ」
(kami)

are just as varied as all other souls.

Some can be benevolent...

others neutral...

or still others, abhorrently malevolent.

By and large,

these entities tend to balance out;

ensuring that the cycle of:

birth... life... death... rebirth,

continues.

But there can be isolated incidents where this balance is disturbed.

Planets that have become unbalanced.

As one of the

神
「かみ」
(kami),

has found a way to collect even more

gold soul fragments to itself.

黄金
「おうごん」
(ougon)

gold souls..

黄金
「おうごん」
(ougon)

flow along with...

 the blue ones.

青
「あお」
(ao)

It's only when enough gold souls have accumulated...

黄金
「おうごん」
(ougon)

 that a deity truly emerges.

Ancestral Infant Skull

But a deity that has already emerged

can increase their power,

and influence,

by continuing to collect golden soul fragments.

In essence, they're collecting them to "level up" their vessel.

Which is stuck in the spirit realm

異界
「いかい]
(ikai)

but they can make "holes" in the barrier

between the physical and spiritual realms.

Which allows them to push... say...

a couple of fingers through.

But, hold on, Golden Souls can create immutable vessels,

so why are the

神
「かみ」
(kami)

 stuck in

異界
「いかい」
(ikai)

?

Fire... red...

赤
「あか」
(aka)

and

water... blue

青
「あお」
(ao)

Once the vessel is created,

then it gets filled with water... souls.... a rune level.

A means to affect the Lands Between,

and a chance to maintain the vessel.

The reason the Greater Will doesn't fill a vessel at this point, is because:

1) It would lock them in a physical form, on a single planet

2) They risk losing a substantial amount of golden soul fragments, should that vessel be destroyed.

    As they are still beholden to the majority of the laws of the universe.

We as players, cannot interact with the Lands Between,

without first agreeing to take control of an already created vessel.

Who has chosen to allow us to do so.

Following their death outside the Lands Between,

and Grace has summoned them.

Shabriri

Jarwight Puppet

Elden Stars

Again, going back to the player that's maxed out their stats to 99.

Rather than choosing to start a new character...

or walking away from the game...

they've chosen to find ways to get around the boundaries.

One could think of the stars under the Greater Will's command,

as lackeys of the maxed out stat player.

Their lackey is closer in  rune level  to the target host's world.

Another "hole" within the barrier they can exploit.

If one is searching for the rare,

and elusive,

golden soul fragments,

黄金
「おうごん」
(ougon)

that flow along with the blue souls.

青
「あお」
(ao)

Elden Remembrance

"Mushroom" Spirit

Stormfoot Catacombs

Knight of Zamor
Glowing Eye effect

Skull with glowing eyes

Cracked Pot

Melina

Aristocrat Garb

Root Resin

Which should be easy enough with the excess of golden soul fragments.

That are being siphoned off through other Golden Trees, on other planets.

Again, observe the multiple golden trees in the background.
Spread across the cosmos.

Furthermore, remember, gold attracts Vigor.
So repairing the vessel of a follower should be trivial.

Maliketh's Black Blade

This greatly limits The Crucible from receiving material to recycle;

which limits the number of new souls being able to take form.

Fewer possible entrances for unknown souls,

means fewer chances for an upstart to come along.

Maliketh's Helm

Castle Morne
Hybrid Uprising

Ranni's Original Body

Liurnia, Divine Tower

Malenia
The Severed
Blade of Miquella

Miquella
St. Trina