How the universe works

Soulmates

Soulmates are a pretty popular concept, from the little red string attached to fingers to bound by a cruse, it's not rare to come across a piece of media where the characters are "meant to be", where destiny is traced and there is absolutely no way for you to actually chose your partner. I find that concept interesting althought it does sound pretty manipulative to say that there is only one person you could be happy with and that you'll never be happy unless you find them. 

However, in the universe I created, soumates isn't the same concept. Rather than being the person you are meant to spend the rest of your life with, soumates are simply bonds between two character who will have a significant impact on a character's life. It isn't strictly a romantic bond, your worst ennemy could be your soulmate, doesn't mean you'll date them, it just means their actions will have a big impact on you, wether it's good or bad. You can have multiple soulmates but not everyone who has a big impact on your life is going to be your soulmate.

An easy exemple I have would be two clan chefs being soulmates because they are doomed to fight at a point or another, changing each other's life drastically (as they could kill or seriously injure each other). Of course your lifelong partner could still be your soulmate, so dating your soulmate isn't inherently bad luck. 

Finding your soulmate is pretty easy. The moment you get too close to your soulmate (about less than half a meter) all of your special features pop out, such as your wings, horns, tail, etc., meaning that any character hiding their features to appear human would be instantly snitched out. Same for somebody hiding their "true" powers by hiding a few features (such as clan chefs often having more features such as multiple pairs of wings or tails).

Another thing that appears when close to your soulmate is an extra little mark, either on your skin, magic limbs (wings, tail, etc.), hair or eyes. This mark appears on BOTH Here are some common exemples:

-A strand of colored hair, the color will be the same on both people

-A patch of color on the skin, the color will be the same on both people

-A birthmark with an unusual shape, the shape will be the same on both people

-One eye changes colors, the color will be the same on both people

-If both soulmates have the same magic feature, a part of this feature will have a patch of color, the same color on both people

Last detail on soulmates: If your soulmate gives you a blood transfusion, the mark will remain and so will your features, it will become impossible to hide them again using magic. It also means that you cannot lose the feature, so, if you had an amputated feature, it'll be repaired permanently. If you had an amputated feature but did not receive a blood transfusion from your soulmate, your feature will only appear when close enough to them. An amputated limb that isn't magic will NOT be healed/come back, only magical features/limbs will. 

That's pretty much all of the info I have on soulmates so far, might add more later if I forgot something. If anybody is reading this, have a wonderful day/evening/night and don't forget to eat and drink water :)