Soul Transfer (also known as Ghost transfer or resleeving) is the transfer of a person's complete memories, personality, and consciousness to a new body or into a database.

Soul transfers are done for various reasons, including:

1. To change appearance or sex
2. To increase physical and mental abilities
3. For medical reasons, such as overcoming illnesses, genetic conditions, or severe injury
4. To bring back someone who died (respawning)
5. To avoid aging
6. For work
7. For pleasure

When we refer to “soul” we mean an individual's personality and memories.

In the Yamatai Star Empire, mind-transfer technology is restricted and found only in the military, government (including public healthcare), and selected trusted major corporations and is banned for export to other nations.

The device for carrying out a soul transfer is typically a small helmet or visor that lowers onto the patient's head. As soul backups are typically painful, the device is capable of sedating the patient to spare them the pain. However, patients can choose to remain conscious through the procedure, and people who are young or have led uneventful lives usually feel less pain. Traditional analgesics are ineffective at preventing the pain.

A scanning system like a Type 30 Mental Transfer and Backup Unit or a swarm of nanomachines are used to map and create a model of a brain's structure and an inventory of its contents.

It is common for people in dangerous occupations, such as the military, to make a backup copy of their mind in case they are killed. In the event of their death, their body is cloned and their mind recreated from the backup. The Star Army of Yamatai even has a special type of escape pod for mental backups, the Soul Savior Pod.

Artificially-created brains like those of Nekovalkyrja have a Digital Mind which allows their brains to be scanned more easily and quickly. They also include various countermeasures like encryption which makes the actual information more difficult to obtain by an unauthorized party. Digital minds resemble computers and have file-sharing capabilities and are made to easily work with wireless communication capabilities of bodies like Nekovalkyrja and Minkan.

A mind, once scanned, can be placed in various types of bodies and computers:

1. A clone of their previous body
2. Androids
   1. Biological androids (bioroids)
   2. Mechanical androids (synthmorphs)
3. Anthros
4. Clones of regular species
5. Computers (to exist as a program only, without a body; infomorphs)
6. Pets and animals can also be backed up and restored¹⁾.