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灵魂与记忆:冥界经济学 Souls and Memories: The Economics of the Underworld***
<p>冥界几乎万事万物都是由灵魂与记忆,这二者其中之一构成。大部分的原材料都是记忆,它们是皮囊之地上那些已被销毁物品的遗物,一路穿越尸幕,被搜刮来满足冥渊贪得无厌的胃口。残垣断壁、汽车(不论损坏还是能用的)、破烂的铁轨还有废弃高速公路上的沥青,所有这些材料都自有进入冥界的途径,并且在有能之人手中发挥作用。这就是为什么死灵世界的建筑看上去像是由零碎的东西胡乱焊接而成,因为它本来就是。瞧瞧堡垒的墙壁,你可能会看见心爱学校的砖块和经历过爆炸的体育馆水泥支座还有旧造船厂的生锈钢梁好像摩肩接踵一般贴在一起。</p>
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<p>Pretty much everything in the Underworld is made of one of two things: souls or memories. The bulk of the raw materials are memories, relics of destroyed items from the Skinlands that made their way across the Shroud and were scavenged to feed Stygia’s insatiable appetite. Chunks of buildings, cars (wrecked and usable), torn-up rail lines, and the asphalt from abandoned highways, all of these find their way to the Underworld and, in capable hands, are put to use. There’s a reason wraithly architecture looks like it’s made from bits and bobs haphazardly welded together; that’s because it is. Look at the walls of a Citadel and you might see brick from a beloved schoolhouse cheek-by-jowl with concrete buttresses from an imploded stadium and steel girders from an old shipyard left to rust.
<p>这些素材或许能满足作为一般材料的需求,但却无法作为最为强韧的那些使用,这也是为什么冥渊的经济实际上依靠别的事物——灵魂以运转。通过伟大锻匠努德里(Nhudri, The Great Smith)发现的工艺,灵魂可以通过运用锤子与魂火(Soulfire)转化为惰性物体,它们是从建筑到现金等一切事物的原材料。冥币(Obolus)是冥渊的货币,它是一种由单一灵魂融化和重铸而成的,沉重的、呈石板灰色的硬币。灵魂不仅是冥渊的住民,它们也是冥渊最宝贵的资源。只要死灵渴求那些由灵魂制成的物品,锻炉就始终会喧闹着要求更多灵魂作为材料。</p>
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<p>But while they may be common materials, they’re not necessarily the strongest, which is why the economy of Stygia really runs on something else: souls. Through a process discovered by Nhudri, the Great Smith, souls can be transformed by the application of hammer and soulfire into inert objects, the raw materials of everything from construction to cash. The currency of Stygia, the obolus, is a heavy, slate-gray coin made from a single soul, melted down and reforged. Souls are not only the population of Stygia, they are also its dearest resource, and as long as wraiths hunger for the items that can be made from them, the forges are always clamoring for more. </p>
<p>为了满足这一需求,不同死灵采取的手段各有分别。一些死灵试图引入恶灵,理由是,让这些被玷污的灵魂参与抵抗湮灭的斗争总要比让它们屈服于湮灭来得更好。其他死灵则会狩猎空心灵(Drone),即那些在胎膜里驻留过久的死灵的无辜遗骸,并把它们上交来获取赏金。尽管前往大风暴捕猎的结局不是凯旋而归,就是会被吞噬殆尽,灵质体却始终是抢手的狩猎目标。而冥渊的法院则使得这情形雪上加霜,叛徒和罪犯常被判处送去锻炉,并且如果无罪释放的证据迟来,而死灵却已被送进锻炉,那么不论做什么都为时已晚。</p>
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<p>To meet this need, different wraiths take different approaches. Some try to bring in Spectres, reasoning that it’s better to impress these tainted souls into the fight against Oblivion than to allow them to succumb to it. Others hunt Drones, the mindless remains of wraiths who stayed too long in their Cauls, and turn those in for bounties. Plasmics are always fair game, though those who go fishing in the Tempest are as likely to end up devoured as they are to come home in triumph. The courts of Stygia add to the pile; traitors and criminals are often sentenced to the forge, and if later evidence exculpates a sinceforged wraith, it’s too late to do anything about it. </p>
<p>但大部分被送入锻造厂的灵魂来自于被称为采割者(Harvester)的,好斗且无德的收割者,他们为了以某种方式将新生死灵转化为物质财富而猎杀它们。奴隶制在冥界是一项蓬勃发展的行业,这并非基于肤色或者信仰,而是基于一道简单的命题:强者奴役弱者,只因它们能如此做。不幸被这种收割者抓住的死灵会被送去鬼仆市场或者魂锻炉,而他们的去处取决于哪边更有赚头。</p>
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<p>But the bulk of souls that are fed to the forges come from aggressive and amoral reapers called Harvesters, who hunt down newborn wraiths for the express purposes of transforming them into material wealth one way or another. Slavery is a booming business in the Underworld, based not on color or creed, but on the simple proposition that the strong enslave the weak simply because they can. Wraiths unlucky enough to be caught by a Reaper of this sort are marched off to the Thrall markets or the soulforges, depending on where the best profit can be made. </p>
<p>这是一项残忍的、不人道的制度,但它仍然存在,因为没有人选择对此采取任何措施。原因多种多样:那些作为材料的灵魂支持抵抗湮灭的战斗要好过最终屈服于它,这项工艺是抵抗湮灭的必须之举,魂锻能够彻底摧毁一只死灵的黯影,种种理由不胜枚举。但是无论如何,事实就是这一体系已经存在太久了,太多的死灵已经被大量地投入进去,并且也没有方便可用的替代品。所以只要锻炉能生产出武器、盔甲和其他冥渊需要用来维持自身存在的材料,它就会发出煌煌火光,继续燃烧。</p>
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<p>It is a brutal, inhumane system, and yet it persists because no one chooses to do anything about it. There are a myriad of rationales: better those souls support the fight against Oblivion than eventually succumb to it, the practice is needed to defend against Oblivion’s ravages, soulforging literally crushes the Shadow out of a wraith — the list goes on. But regardless, the truth is that the system has been in place too long; too many wraiths are too heavily invested in it and there’s no easy substitute available. And so the forges will keep burning bright as they turn out the arms, armor, and other materiel Stygia needs to sustain itself. </p>