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When a demon makes a soul pact with another being the rules are quite clear. But some creatures in the World of Darkness have the ability to steal souls and devour them OR even to switch out souls in bodies (like the moonborn).

Now looking at the rules I didn't see anything that helped me there a lot in that case.....so I'm wondering with taking the two examples:

  1. The pactees soul gets stolen and devoured
  2. The pactess soul gets switched with another's (example a rich guys and a beggars guys souls get exchanged)

How does this affect a soulpact? (thus does it get broken, does 1 the demon get still the original body if he wants to use the pact or with 2 which body does he get or is the pact broken?)

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  • \$\begingroup\$ What book are the moonborn in? \$\endgroup\$
    – user10063
    Commented Feb 23, 2018 at 20:50
  • \$\begingroup\$ @user10063 the "moonborn" are the formless creatures that are said to be born of luna. originally they were part of a night horrors book (hope the spelling is correct). Now they are in the main core rules as formless, moon banished, ...). I clal them moonborn as they are said to be born of luna in some of the fluff \$\endgroup\$
    – Thomas E.
    Commented Feb 24, 2018 at 7:30
  • \$\begingroup\$ So you mean the idigam using Forge Servant powers to tear out a soul and replace it with a spirit or another soul? \$\endgroup\$
    – user10063
    Commented Feb 24, 2018 at 19:23
  • \$\begingroup\$ yepp as an example \$\endgroup\$
    – Thomas E.
    Commented Feb 26, 2018 at 0:36

1 Answer 1

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It depends on the Pact, but the soul is the target

The core nature of a Soul Pact is where the benefits to the pact-bound are detailed, the idea that the Demon can claim the soul of the pact-bound is stated, and the document is signed in blood.

In Dark Eras, page 246-247 describes the idea of Pacts before literacy, wherein Pacts' details aren't preserved as part of the signed medium:

Modern Unchained don't use meaningless marks because it makes the mortal more suspicious and the pacts less fungible.

In other words, the idea of finely-worded pacts increases the value of the Pact to the Demon; ergo, the most cautious Demon would ensure they cover their bases.

Standard disclaimer: I am not a lawyer.

For our example, Demon Deb has a Soul Pact with Mortal Marty for his immortal soul.

  1. b)Devoured/destroyed soul

If there's nothing left of the soul, the Soul Pact's value would have the current value of Enron stock.

  1. a)Stolen soul

In this case, the ownership still transfers with a touch. It may be that the soul is not the last place it was left, but if Deb can find it, it still belongs to her , now. (It might be worthwhile to include a clause of "the pact-bound cannot, through action or inaction, assist or encourage their soul to be stolen")

  1. Soul gets swapped.

So, Deb intends to overwrite Marty and step into where he is in life and reality. Deb touches the body she think's Marty soul is in, but no dice; nothing happens. When she tracks him down, rather than a new and powerful muscle car for instance, he's now got a beat up little Smartcar.

If Deb is desperate enough for a working set of wheels, she may have no choice but to cash in. If Deb is angry enough, she may cash in anyway to obliterate Marty in revenge.

Or, if Deb discovers that Marty consented to such (perhaps to spare his family) then she could easily pursue revenge against those he cares about with little options by him to retaliate. Other than, of course, having his soul restored, in which case Deb can still replace him.


On one hand, your average Demon isn't going to know much about the moonborn or how tasty souls ares to Mummies and their ilk. On the other hand, most are fairly paranoid.

On the one hand, cramming Soul Pacts full of "and the signer shall not undertake or assist any endeavor to alter the condition of his soul, else all benefits from this pact are null and void" could mitigate the risks to the pact-bound's soul. On the other hand, Soul Pacts usually target the desperate, and phrases like that might stick out and encourage investigation once desperation wears off.

Ultimately, though, until such a time that a Demon can redeem a Soul Pact, their potential gains are in flux, and deserve at least occasional, cursory attention.

As a personal note, if something interferes with a single Soul Pact, it's probably a coinicidence and worth letting go. However, if another Soul Pact falls to "force majeure", then either disproportionately retaliate or flee.

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