Use of Souls and their use

[Arden]

If the game is using souls as a field of sorcerous energy would it be possible to craft them it say a dagger? 

[Elerond]

They have mentioned that there is ways to bind souls in objects, so it is possible to craft dagger which has soul bind to it. Although it is said that soul binding to objects isn't seen favorably by most of the world.

[Lephys]

Soylent Gear is PEOPLE! IT'S PEEEOOOOPPPLLLLEEEEE!!!

 

[PrimeJunta]

Yep, they already covered that in some detail. My favorite thing is still skein steel—drawing a soul out into copper, then alloying that with iron to create a supernaturally strong steel. Evil of course. If I was an evil overlord, I would so do that to all my enemies.

[curryinahurry]

^  Was it said to be evil?  It may not be considered to be evil in some societies.  It might be considered a great honor for, let's say an aged Glanfathan warrior to have his soul drawn into a sword or armor to continue to serve his people.

[Ark Evensong]

Regarding Skein Steel, the way I remember it, it's creation is powered by burning away a soul's memories. Not just trapping a soul into the metal. Destructive, as opposed to transformative. (Whether this burns up the entire soul, traps the remainder, or lets the remains of the soul continue on as normal, I don't know. Not sure this has been adressed.)

[curryinahurry]

From the Wiki:

 

Skein steel – equal to Durgan Steel in quality. Skein steel is made by controlling heat precisely, but it uses animancy to draw a soul’s memories out of a vessel (typically a living body) toward a copper surface, igniting the memories to produce the flame. The contraptions used to control this process allow the smith to adjust the speed of the unraveling and the heat of the flame. Because skein steel requires a steady, continuous flame, it specifically needs a living (preferably old) subject.

 

Igniting is different from burning away, but either way, not inherently evil.  Depends on how this is seen within the PoE game world.

[Ark Evensong]

Right, should've known to check the wiki. "Igniting" still sounds destructive to me, though.

 

Actually, checking out the references from that article, it IS destructive, and generally considered a Bad Thing.

Skein is equal to Durgan in quality, but it's made by literally burning a person's memories as they unravel out of their soul to power the forge's flames. It's generally "not cool" to have/use skein steel.

The memories don't end up in the steel, but are lost. Not much honor there.

 

There may be ways to infuse weapons/armor with souls or parts thereof , but the result won't be called skein steel.

[curryinahurry]

^  Ah, interesting...thanks for the quote.  That's a very western attitude towards the whole issue of souls and memories, but I guess that is what we should expect. 

[Elerond]

When people die in world of PoE their souls cycle to new bodies and these new bodies can even get some memories of past bodies that souls has been in. So when one destroys or fractures a soul to make some item, they don't only kill/harm that person whose soul they burn to make that item but also souls next recipients that can be anyones child, which is probably reason why such items aren't generally viewed favorably.

[AGX-17]

You use souls to craft correct grammar.

[Arden]

A morganti dagger in steven brust vladamir novels is illegal and destroys the soul. when pulled from the sheath it causes fear because of this. it would seem to fit in a game with this soul setting.

[Lephys]

The memories don't end up in the steel, but are lost. Not much honor there.

There could be honor in the sacrifice, depending on the circumstances. Voluntarily giving up the essence of your soul/memories in order to produce quality equipment for your co-villagers to stave off some onslaught would probably be seen as good, while someone kidnapping homeless folk and burning away their souls just so he can have pretty trophies for his wall would probably be seen as non-good. *shrug*

[Osvir]

I speculate whether or not animancy/soul magic is used in different industries, in a sort of avatar the last airbender type of way-ish-esque. Farmers who move water to sprinkle on the fields, a night patrol who lights lanterns with a flick of a finger. Like, if you have an ability to manipulate souls, then you can put that on your resumé and get a better job in the world of Eora.

These are, of course, just speculation. Nothing too common but there could be some cases where people use magic for their day-to-day tasks, you don't need to only shoot lazer beams and rain chaos in combat~

This is also partially wishful thinking and to see some basic home-usage-magic. Maybe some builders are well versed in animancy and can build buildings by using it.

Edited July 2, 2014 by Osvir

[JFSOCC]

maybe someone wants to forget, so you could have volunteers for the process