Perfidia - Nature of the soul

Desires. Dreams. Wishes. These were the wares all devils peddled one way or another. Things human nature craved but God's corrupted Earth denied them: Wealth, power, love, freedom. All devils required in exchange for these human cravings was Humanity. The soul, some called it, but Hell's official position was that the soul did not exist and no human went to Heaven upon death—merely a fairy tale God sprinkled for good behavior. But humans did have an essence, a je ne sais quoi that made them human. Usually Perfidia would explain this aloud, altering intonation and gesture to match her mark, but she suspected this guy, Jay Waringcrane, didn't give a shit.

***

"So the essence of being human is called Humanity. Capital-H. I'm not saying that in a literary sense: Humanity is measurable and quantifiable. The amount each human's got varies, but generally people with more Humanity make a bigger impact on the world. So for instance, Napoleon Bonaparte—you know Napoleon right?—Napoleon commands a country, conquers a continent, wages wars that impact millions. He's gonna have a lot of Humanity, let's say 10,000 Humanity for the sake of example. Compare that to a French peasant, same time period. Born on a farm, dies on a farm, goes nowhere his entire life except the nearest village. That guy might have, let's say, 1 Humanity. No human's got less than 1. Following?"


***

[1] Spirit of Eternal Negation