Riloth 19th the 25th

Dear Spellbook,

This morning, before operation minions but after collecting my winnings, I gave the Bandit Report to Simon and he did something I had not expected. He called the proprietor of the Parlor over. Tilavo came and quietly conferred with Simon and then turned to me, “May I ask how you came by this information, Master Theral?”

Not having a lie prepared, I stumbled through a poor explanation, “I ah, was speaking to some refugees, urchin child refugees, last night, and they, ahh... mentioned it.”

He replied to my obvious lie, “Hmmm, I’m surprised this escaped my security team, they are very good. The best. I will take care of this personally. Let your urchin child refugee friends know the roads around Crossroads will always be safe.”

I'm a terrible liar. How does Trish lie so naturally? I need to ask her for lessons. One day my inability to lie convincingly is going to get me into trouble, or more likely fail to get me out of it.

Before heading out, Tilavo took my note from Simon’s hands and paused briefly upon touching it. Bringing it up to his nose, he gave the paper a brief sniff and looked at me raising his eyebrow. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to have a,” he paused as if considering the word, “conversation with you upon my return.” Without waiting for my reply he walked out.

I don’t know what he wanted to talk about or why he smelled that page, but I did not plan to be anywhere he could find me when he got back. After waiting a moment for Tilavo to leave, I followed out of the building to continue with my day. Outside the Parlor, I could see Tilavo was passing his way through the market on his way to the gate. When he said he would “personally” take care of the problem, I had assumed he meant that he would go send his security out personally instead of tasking that errand to Simon. It appeared that the man was going to take care of it himself. Who is he? I really don't want to be here when he gets back. Luckily, unless he has an excellent horse, that shouldn't be until tomorrow.

I wrapped up my morning routine and headed back to the Parlor for a quick breakfast. The plan for the day was to do some research on ensouled items. I had read into them a little in my childhood, hoping that I’d someday discover one and go on to be some hero out of legends, but I discovered how rare they were and lost interest. I was a pragmatic child, but now I have two. There's probably a lesson in there about giving up on your dreams.

Walking into the Parlor’s library I was welcomed by Jarreth with his customary greeting, “Welcome back Master Theral, what arcane wonders can I help you solve today?” He was enjoying the patronage of a wizard a little too much. I take it he doesn't get wizards in here often. The Tower boasts the greatest hoarded wealth of knowledge on The Continent. A Tower wizard visiting a lesser library would be like a court baker eating a hot pie from a vendor’s cart. I'd love to see it. If the Parlor's library is not worthy of a Tower wizard, how great is their collection?

Look at me and my book envy. I haven't even scratched the surface of this library and I want to find another. The wealth of knowledge on this lower floor is so vast, I wonder what mysteries lie on the second. Wonderfully curated, every topic I’ve thought to research has been covered with multiple sources, each with a unique point of view to balance the others. While there is a small fiction section, I have yet to find a book on these shelves that was not worthy of inclusion. Many libraries in my travels had been stuffed with nonsense to appear more impressive than they were; with opinion pieces, law books, journals, commentaries, and abridged versions of books of actual worth filling their shelves. One library had a whole section on pre-Flood tax law. Finding a book with useful information could feel like digging for treasure.

I returned the slightly theatrical greeting, "Good morning Jarreth, I'm looking to do a little research on ensouled items. Could you help me with that?"

His face lit up at request."Oh, I most certainly can. Are you looking to identify one you found by chance in your grand adventures? We have an original pre-flood illustrated edition of Deckard's Compendium of Ensouled Artifacts. Let's start with that." Jarreth said as he walked away searching for books. If given a topic to research the man takes off, listing names off the top of his head and finding them without referencing the catalog. The man's a wonder, but he renders much of my research experience redundant. My father loved a good librarian who knew his collection. They would have gotten along well.

I sat at a table and waited as Jarreth brought books to me one at a time. Predating the invention of paper, Deckard's was a massive tome with thick pages of parchment that produced a loud thud when placed on a desk. I had read Deckard’s during my childhood “research” but had only read the sections that described what the weapons could do and chronicled their uses throughout history. The book had a first section full of theory and speculation I had skipped entirely.

I read through the more educational section of Deckard’s and skimmed some of the books Jarreth brought, including Eaton’s Lost Magics and surprisingly a dwarven text imaginatively titled On Weapons by Dagbit Understone. I’ll provide you with a summary of my findings as I would if my father had asked me to research something for him.

Ensouled Artifacts

Ensouled Artifacts, also known more colloquially as soul-bound items, ensouled items, bound items, or relics, are the rarest type of magical item known to Kaltis, save those created by the gods themselves. The art of making ensouled artifacts was hoarded during the Reign of the Grand Midlothian Empire and lost completely during the Flood Wars.

Though the art is lost, the general requirements of the process are still known. The first and most important component of creating an ensouled artifact is a soul stone. The exact nature of a soul stone is heavily debated. As with all discoveries that arose after the departure of the gods, there is no consensus on the greater ethical or spiritual implications of the practice. The soul stone was discovered at the end of the Age of Heroes after the gods had departed but before the world descended into war. Oan, The Enlightened Master of the Order of the Resounding Silence, discovered the practice in its original form. Through decades of study of his inner self, he discovered that he could invest his soul into the world which manifested as a stone, an inch in diameter. It was a perfectly round white sphere that seemed to glow, yet emitted no light. Exactly what he was manifesting was—and still is—up for great debate. Some speculated it was the spark of life the gods used to create the races of men, others believe it was the container of his Will. Whatever it was, the transference of it from inside him to a stone had no apparent adverse effects and Oan lived another hundred and fifty years after the feat. No mean accomplishment for a human who had already lived two hundred years.

Oan did not use his stone for anything, but at his discovery others sought to replicate the feat. Others began reporting replicating the feat through other means. They mostly cheated through the use of magic. Experiments were run by those who manifest their souls, and no loss in magical, cognitive, or physical ability was discovered. Some experiments were run to determine if distance from the stone had any adverse effects, but the researchers were loathe to part from their stones. Later, less ethical and willing experiments were performed by the Empire after they developed a method to capture the soul of an unwilling individual. They discovered that there were no adverse effects from separation, though the “participants” grew agitated when they knew their soul stones were distant from themselves.

Each soul stone appears unique and seems to reflect the personality of its originator, the first by Oan was a pure white sphere, but they can take any form from a cut diamond to a dull gray rock. All stones are of comparable strength and take great works of magic to destroy. Once destroyed, a soul stone could be remade, but subsequent stones were more difficult to create and appeared different. Diamond souls come back smaller, with fewer facets. Plain river stone souls come back rougher and less round. Each time the soul comes back further from the ideal until they are unable to be recreated. These experiments showed no impact on the subjects if they were unaware of them, but if the destructions were witnessed they were slowly driven mad.

The Empire discovered that the souls of the unwilling started less ideal than those created willingly. They also discovered that soul stones could be created shortly after a person’s death, and they were larger than those created from the unwilling but again, further from the ideal.

All in all The Empire employed some less than scrupulous researchers, but they advanced the relatively new art of soul stones further than it would have ever gone without them.

The art of creating ensouled items was discovered near the end of the Age of Heroes and was also further developed by the Empire. The first known was created by a human wizard by the name of Endalkin. Endalkin was a wizard of little renown, who was a jeweler by trade. He manifested his soul stone as a curiosity, as many did in that time, and not wanting to be parted from it, set it in gold and wore it around his neck. Throughout his life, the simple gold setting grew in ornateness until upon his death it was a massive talisman the size of his fist. By reports, we know the talisman served as a focus-enhancing device. In the years after crafting his talisman, Endalkin’s jewelry grew to be the best in the world. It was reported that he could work without sleeping or eating. He could also work without the need for a loupe or other magnifying device. At the time these were thought to be fanciful myths to describe the improved mastery of his craftsmanship, but once the reality of ensouled artifacts was discovered, this was traced back to be the first one. The abilities an ensouled item develops depend on two things, the life and interests of the originator of the soul, and the mundane item it is crafted into. Weapons gain offensive capabilities; armor and shields defensive ones; jewelry passive ones. Spellbooks, it seems, gain some magical utilities.

The Empire performed experiments and discovered the destruction of an ensouled artifact resulted in further degradation in the recreated soul stone. Soul stones recreated and put into new items exhibited abilities in line with their original items. A soul that in an amulet would grant improved senses would in a sword or armor grant the bearer an uncanny awareness of their surroundings, allowing them to sense through their equipment.

Eventually, Endalkin was murdered for his talisman, and it was lost to history. From what was later learned about ensouled items, it is likely the talisman was useless to his murderer. Ensouled items, upon their bearer’s death, revert to their original crafted form. To unlock the powers of an ensouled item, its bearer must use it and grow a connection with it. If the item accepts its bearer, it slowly unlocks its abilities and grows in appearance. When wielding a weapon crafted from your own soul, regardless of who crafted it, its full potential is quickly unlocked. When wielding a weapon crafted from another’s soul the rate the abilities are made available to you, and the extent of its full potential you are able to unlock is based on your affinity to the stone.

Affinity is a nebulous concept at best. Familial relation with the stone’s originator seems to be a major component, but close friends have been known to unlock a stone’s potential as rapidly and fully as children of the originator. Conversely, items taken through murder rarely bestow any abilities to the murderer, except for some notable exceptions where the stones’ originator were particular unsavory characters. Some famous items revealed that powerful affinity could be achieved if the new bearer has a similar purpose or personality to that of the originator. The most famous example of this is the Sword of Igan, crafted from the soul stone of one of Waas’ Champions. It has been passed through Waas’ followers for hundreds of years, and its potential is fully and quickly unlocked by any of Waas’ faithful who wield it.

Many ensouled items are carefully guarded treasures, passed down through families, organizations, or governments. Countless more are lost to time. Because they return to the state of their original crafting upon the bearer’s death, they are often indistinguishable from mundane items. Most of the legends and tales surrounding them I read growing up started with a child finding a mundane or plain-looking sword in a tinker’s cart and finding out it is a sword out of legend.

The quality of the soul used to create a magic item matters as well. The further from the ideal the soul stone is, the less powerful the item it creates can become. Size also correlates to power. Aside from the torture of the Empire, stones can be less ideal for many reasons. Improper creation and unwilling creation will cause this, but the sick or mentally ill also tend to produce less ideal stones. On the other hand, the powerful tend to produce more ideal and larger stones. Casters, Blessed, Chosen, Champions, all produce the largest stones and closest to the ideal. It may be that access to magic makes these stones better. It is theorized that there may instead be some quality to these greater souls that grants them power and attracts the gods to bestow their gifts; a common cause for the two instead of cause and effect.

Soul stones can be taken from the non-sentient races, but the items created from them are of lower quality and scale of power. They never change in appearance and accept any bearer. For some frame of reference, a manticore’s soul stone taken on its death put into a sword will result in a weapon that creates wounds that quickly fester.

So Spellbook, the question is, whose soul are you? Were you some wizard? Some spymaster? A researcher? Where is your soul stone?

I think I found it. On your cover, there are three overlapping rings with a circle in the center. The rings are each a different metal, but the center one looks to be a disk of ruby covered in some coating. The coating is spider-webbed with cracks and the ruby shines through it. I never noticed the ruby in the cracks before, it's hidden unless the light strikes it perfectly. Let me just draw it.

Oh no, Tilavo is here, I see him through the stacks talking to Jarreth. I need to see if I can sneak out of the back.