My weakness: Families and bonds that transcend lifetimes

also aus. give me all the aus

I will say that despite liking the concept of soulmates and all associated tropes, I dislike how it's presented a lot of the time

Mainly because I feel like a lot of soul mate/reincarnation stories have an undertone of, hmm

There's an undercurrent that sometimes comes off as, "There is only one right way to have a relationship!" and that makes me grumpy

Also a lack of polyshipping related to soul mates because only TWO PEOPLE EVER RIGHT

And the entire idea that people only have one true love forever and ever and not that they can run into their soul mate, date, find out they don't mesh in this incarnation, and then peacefully decide to

just be friends/platonic partners and see other people.

also platonic soulmates. WHERE ARE STORIES ABOUT PLATONIC SOULMATES

Hi do you have time to talk about our lord and saviour Exalted?

SURE! Tell me about it!

It's a tabletop game, the third edition is coming out SOON™ (It was supposed to be sometime last year) and it's pretty much my favourite premise and setting ever. It's ridiculously high power and high fantasy.

Basically: Gods wanted to fight a war against the Titans, and so Exalted some humans, and the Exalted won. The Solar Exalted ruled the world, but as great heroes their flaws were just as great so the others-

rebelled and imprisoned their Exaltations aka the shining souls of superpowers. The world fell apart without its kings, but it got slowly put back together.
And now the Solars have returned.

There's a mechanic the Lunar Exalted have, which bonds them to a specific Solar through all their reincarnations, but it doesn't have to be a romantic bond, and definitely doesn't have to be monogamous then.

Ahh, tabletop games. I've only barely tried D&D, so I'm not super familiar with them. Exalted sounds interesting, though; I'm a sucker for Gods using people as pawns and high fantasy, though

Specifically because the (Celestial) Exalted aren't born Exalted. The power and memories come to them when they try something great, so they have relationships and tastes separate from their reincarnations.

So they could already have their own mates, or just not be into each other that way, y'know?

Yeah, tabletops aren't for everyone. I don't even like them that much, but Exalted's premise just clicks for me.

It reminds me a bit of SMT, if only because gods fuck with people but ends with people being able to punch them in the goddamn face because screw you, space dad.

HAHAHA, YES, that is the actual best. Dang, I should maybe look into this... Although I'm technically supposed to be studying how to DM the latest edition of D&D first, whoops