#consecution

We've all assumed that consecution is a ritual by which one binds themselves to the beacons and the luxon. BUT if reincarnation existed BEFORE the gods arrived and started sorting souls into their own realms...

Athodan may have been consecuted.

the relic Athodan found was a Luxon beacon, and upon "weaving of necromantic glyph work [Athodan] revealed unique arcane properties" of the beacon. this may have been the ritual of consecution.

if this is the case, Athodan could have been killed in the crash of Aeor caused by the gods but was later reborn

as an elf of Molaesmyr.

the same elf that would survive the fall of Molaesmyr and go on to join a cabal of mages called the Cerberus Assembly, the same name as a cabal of mages from the Age of Arcanum in the Dwendalian Empire

Ludinus Da'leth.

as long as there was a beacon—any beacon—within 100 miles of Molaesmyr during Ludinus's birth, this is entirely possible.

we know Aeor had a beacon and that the elves of Molaesmyr were studying Aeorian artifacts. there is a possibility one of the artifacts brought back to Molaesmyr was a beacon (if there wasn't one already present within the necessary radius).

Ludinus was said to have been one of the mages studying Aeorian artifacts in Molaesmyr before its destruction.

was his interest due, in part, to the memories recovered during his anamnesis as a younger elf? was he compelled to join the Cerberus Assembly because of its shared name with the mage group from the Age of Arcanum?

if Athodan was killed in the crash of Aeor, they would have died close to the beacon they were studying. if Athodan survived the crash, there is a chance their study of the beacon yielded an elongated lifespan that allowed them to simply weather the Calamity before dying near the Aeorian beacon.

this latter possibility is only necessary to ponder due to the potential rate of reincarnation facilitated by the presence of Luxon beacons. there are supposedly thousands of souls inside the beacons, and who knows how quickly those souls reappear in humanoids born within range.

there is also the possibility Athodan was in a stasis bubble like the ones encountered by the Mighty Nein, and the elves of Molaesmyr dispelled it. that killed Athodan, but due to their consecution, their soul was pulled into the beacon, which was then transported to Molaesmyr, where Ludinus was later born.

Ludinus being a reincarnated Athodan also explains why he was able to manipulate the abilities of the beacon in the malleus key in the Hellcatch to bring the solstice to them. Athodan had intimate knowledge of the workings of the Luxon beacons, and therefore, Ludinus knows how to influence some amount of control over the temporal capabilities of the beacons.

Waaayyyyy back at the beginning of the Mighty Nein, when they first got the first stolen Beacon (c2e12-13! SO EARLY OMG), the two Kryn soldiers who sneak into the Empire — they both die, one first being caught, the other after encountering TM9 in the sewers where they tussle over the d12.

But that means... both of those soldiers die comfortably within the range of a Beacon.

So that means, roughly 13-16 years after that incident, if either of those two soldiers was consecuted, they'd be awakened in a new body — but of course, depending on when the soul left the Beacon, it might be a person (re)born in either nation. And they would eventually remember dying in Zadash... and maybe even TM9.

Imagine them eventually learning some of the story that unfolded after they died. The Beacon being returned to Xhorhas. TM9 becoming "heroes of the Dynasty." The war ending. The Shadowhand of the Bright Queen going "missing and presumed dead" in Eiselcross. More, even.

I’ve seen a lot of posts that say “Trent is lying about releasing Bren from the asylum. It makes no sense why he would wait 11 years so therefore he’s lying.”

But we know that Matt plays Trent as one who wields the truth like a weapon. So, what changes if all those things he said at dinner were true? What pieces are we missing from this puzzle? (Side note: Using the name “Bren” because it pertains to the boy he was before “Caleb” existed.)

1. Bren was special above the other two. Maybe they started as equals and Trent saw something more in Bren. Or maybe Bren had that spark from day one.

2. Trent is personally invested in Bren’s growth and wants him as a successor. And it’s no secret—Trent’s right and left hand Scourgers (who have served faithfully for 17yrs after witnessing the fall of their classmate into madness, his 11 year internment at an asylum, and his return 5 years later with a group of weirdo outsiders demanding peace talks) are willing to drop their own ambitions and follow Bren’s leadership. Like, in what work place is that normal advancement? Stupid question, sorry. But these three were groomed, and then Bren was groomed more.

3. It took 11 years before Trent deemed Bren ready for “release,” then orchestrated a “Truman Show”-level farce for his escape. Bren wasn’t left forgotten in a room for over a decade. He was kept in a research facility specializing in the Beacons and human experimentation. “Breaking” was a necessary part of the process. But to what end?

Theories

1. Consecuted Caleb. My personal favorite theory that I’ve been clutching to my chest since we learned the word—Bren is a Consecuted soul. Maybe Trent/Soltryce/Cerberus is finding children that show signs of amnesis in areas of known conflicts with Kryn soldiers and tells the parents they’re potential magic prodigies. Or maybe Trent got lucky and realized Bren alone was Consecuted based on the boy’s reaction to the Beacon.

Matt is almost aggressive in pointing out Caleb’s immediate feelings of familiarity to the Beacon when they first find it—even gave Caleb a dream that required everyone else to leave the table. And the sanitarium is drenched in that same feeling of dunamancy. Whether this is because Caleb is a Consecuted soul or because Trent experimented on Bren with the Beacon during those 11 years I think it’s clear that he’s intimately tied to the Beacon since pre-stream.

2. Bren, the Soul Jar. An excellent theory that is possibly more likely than the first—Trent has done something to Bren that will allow him to take over the young man’s body as his own in the future. Possibly as a contingency plan against assassination. Or maybe it’s the goal all along. Trent’s personal form of Consecution where he picks the body ahead of time. Like Halas building clones except he’d be taking a used body with a soul. The old dude ain’t gettin any younger...

Connecting with a beacon is what trips the process. The rest is window dressing, but the Kryn have either forgotten that or chosen to hide it because, under normal circumstances, they only let someone connect with the beacons if they're getting consecuted or already have been. It just takes connection. So decades and decades after C2, several young people scattered across Wildmount have visions—memories—of their past lives with the Mighty Nein. Memories of found family, and danger, and fire and fear and so much love.

Basically, that gender and sexuality don't matter. I mean, they do, to individuals, but to society as a whole? Nope. Because with the nature of consecution, there is no way of guaranteeing you and/or your partner will come back as the same race, let alone gender. So things like two women/two men/individuals of other genders being together? Isn't a concern, because it's about the soul, not the body.

And it's the same thing with gender. I'd imagine they'd have a distinction like "bodies with a womb/bodies without a womb" because of, like, menstruation and childbirth and stuff like that, the healthcare for the types of bodies are different, but that doesn't define if you're male or female or otherwise. Once again, it's about what the soul is, even for new souls. I just feel like body wouldn't equate with gender for those who are from the Dynasty.

I don't know if I expressed this all right, but I've been thinking about it a lot, especially because I've been reading fanfics where Essek is a trans man who doesn't experience dysphoria, and I think if he were trans in the Dynasty, he wouldn't, necessarily. Because he's not been raised in a society where body "equals" gender (I know it doesn't in any society, but I'm talking about societal norms and how people are viewed and transphobic assholes).

And we've kind of touched on this with the Beacons and the fact that consecuted souls get reborn into a baby in the vicinity of a beacon: what happens to the soul that was "supposed" to occupy that body? Is a soul something inherent to being a person?