Soul Crystals

Soul crystals are Azura’s response to Katharsos’s burning of souls. To keep the dead out of the grasp of his Vortex of Souls Azura has found a way to make the souls solid, granting them the mass to defy the vortex’s metaphysical pull. This solidification process creates a unique crystal structure with the hardness of diamond that come in a myriad of colours. The size of a Crystal correlates to the size of its body in life (generally about 2% of its former volume), while its density is a reflection of the level of intelligence the souls mind exhibits. As an example a human’s crystal would be roughly 5 cm while having twice the density of Gold while an ant’s would be a few mm in size and as light as a feather.
Soul Crystals require some energy to sustain themselves which they gain by drawing in heat from their surroundings, resulting in them feeling cold to the touch. In large numbers they can also noticeably drop the ambient temperature of their surroundings. They can also absorbs more energy than is necessary, allowing them to be used as power sources for things like golems, future magic systems or ghostly manifestations. Crystals have reservoirs of power as well that can be depleted as part of a personal or forced sacrifice to gain significant burst of energy at once.
Soul crystals have number of weaknesses. While very resistant to mortal weapons those of divine origin or with diamond or soul crystal tips can still shattered the souls made physical. They also have no protection from Katharsos’s fires if they are brought to them. Finally, and most importantly, a soul crystals need to physically grow to change, a lengthy process that prevents the kind of rapid personal growth or learning that a ethereal soul is capable of. They are also incapable of committing anything to long term memory without consciously growing new crystal growths to store those memories (an energy intensive process), or overwriting old ones. As a result even if a soul crystal is given a body to control it won't be the same as if it was a ethereal soul. Not only will the soul struggle with the aforementioned rapid adaptation or long term memory problems, it is also less attuned to its body as it is physically joined to that body at a single point rather than occupying it in its entirety, leading to a feeling of disembodiment. All of this combined makes a soul crystal akin to a static AI rather than a living person. A memory or archive of a life rather than a continuation of it.
Soul crystals have been used in the creation of Curators and are currently stored in the Vault of Souls.
Category:Materials
Category:Magic