(10-21-2015, 06:06 PM)Caspar Wrote: [ -> ]Yeah that's a good perspective, and it's changing my mind a bit on the soul gem. I prefer it that way. Perhaps the soul stone is like a Fate mage seal. It has the entire body of work a family has worked on in their many generations of occult resrarch, but it is up to the inheritor to learn how to utilize it, unless they're properly tutored.
I guess this is sort of how I've been playing Jana's SMN soul crystal. In her own words, it's not that she can suddenly use everything an Allagan Summoner of old could, but when she reads up on a ritual/spell, it's like there are hands to guide hers when she tries it out herself.
I don't.
Unless the person I'm roleplaying with mentions them, I simply reference training as a way of explaining certain skills my character has. To me, soulstones are an example of story and gameplay segregation. They exist for the player as an achievement, but have little necessity for the roleplayer. I find backstories of a character's experiences far more interesting than defaulting to "a magic stone granted me POWAH!"
Way I see it, provided you aren't breaking established lore, go about it however you like.
I see soulstones as a kind of how to manual. Though just because you have a soulstone doesn't automatically give you all the knowledge. You have to work for it and slowly have it reveal what's recorded in it by mastering skills slowly. Kind of a really fancy text book.Â
The soulstone just shows you how to do something properly. It's not very likely there were soulstones around to teach the very first black mage black magic. At least in my head they were extremely talented individuals in their field to develop these jobs which they then recorded their knowledge in stones to keep their discoveries alive.
I treat them like sparkly rocks...
All of this makes me wonder, how would one go about getting a blank soul stone to put their own experiences and memories on?
(10-22-2015, 03:29 PM)Smagon Wrote: [ -> ]All of this makes me wonder, how would one go about getting a blank soul stone to put their own experiences and memories on?
Get a very pure hunk of crystal. Die.
(10-22-2015, 03:50 PM)Vyce Wrote: [ -> ] (10-22-2015, 03:29 PM)Smagon Wrote: [ -> ]All of this makes me wonder, how would one go about getting a blank soul stone to put their own experiences and memories on?
Get a very pure hunk of crystal. Die.
HAHAHAHAHAHA
This though.
Huh, didn't know dying was a prerequisite for making one. I kinda thought it worked like the pensieve Dumbledore had in Harry Potter where you can just pick what memories go on there or something.
(10-22-2015, 04:20 PM)Smagon Wrote: [ -> ]Huh, didn't know dying was a prerequisite for making one. I kinda thought it worked like the pensieve Dumbledore had in Harry Potter where you can just pick what memories go on there or something.
Making a soul crystal was speculated to be a process very similar to making materia. THe crystal soaks up parts of the memories and experiences of the wearer, which then resonate with future bearers. ...so it's entirely possible that there could be soul crystals out there for currently unknown jobs or positions. (tinfoil hat: What if Nanamo has a "Rulers' Soul Crystal"?)
(10-22-2015, 04:20 PM)Smagon Wrote: [ -> ]Huh, didn't know dying was a prerequisite for making one.
I'm pretty sure it isn't. Soul crystals collect memories and experiences, not actual souls. Granted, someone with an interest in generating or contributing to a soul crystal would likely keep it until their death.
In most situations a soul stone is mentioned, it's usually from someone who died...
DRK guy is dead.
Ninja who gives you the soul stone--he's dead.
Black Mage person is...dead? I think? I don't remember.
I donno about Bard, Dragoon is weird as hell (but passed down from Azure Dragoons from the first, dead, Azure Dragoon)...Monk I have no clue.Â
SCH is probably dead? Not sure.
SMN are definitely dead.
uuuuh...hmmmm...no idea about PLD or WAR and WHM or AST...MCH I don't remember.
But most cases, it probably came from some dead guy...
Well, they're SOUL stones. Somebody walking around without a soul would be pretty freaky. Even if you could detach a part of yourself without dying, it probably wouldn't be advisable.
But it's an interesting thought...
(10-22-2015, 05:09 PM)Ashe Wrote: [ -> ]In most situations a soul stone is mentioned, it's usually from someone who died...
Indeed - the only exception is our Machinist crystal. That one was recently produced, had no prior owners and consequently, no knowledge. Incidentally, not a single skill you are taught during the entire questline comes from that crystal. How hard it is to produce one however is not touched upon in the questline IIRC.
How the whole process of getting the memories in there works, I have no clue. It might have something to do with the carvings. It might simply be spirit bonding. Or a combination. Or something else entirely. Someone more up to snuff with the lore might be able to help out.
(10-21-2015, 06:06 PM)Caspar Wrote: [ -> ]Yeah that's a good perspective, and it's changing my mind a bit on the soul gem. I prefer it that way. Perhaps the soul stone is like a Fate mage seal. It has the entire body of work a family has worked on in their many generations of occult resrarch, but it is up to the inheritor to learn how to utilize it, unless they're properly tutored.
This is pretty much how I view soulstones. They're sort of like personalized bicycles. Using someone else's soulstone requires relearning how to ride the bicycle from the ground up, even if you already know how to ride your own bicycle.
This..bicycle metaphor isn't really working, but you know.
While my views of soulstones are pretty much those(similar to the magic circuits of the nasuverse), I treat Leanne's bard soul gem slightly differently(because I'm a crappy snowflake), in that not only it is a 'manual' that speeds up her learning, it also reflects her state of affairs or how strong she is(or for those sappy as I am, her heart/mind/whatevs suits your fancy).
Given as she is, right now it is a rather shiny stone, reflecting her usual disposition and how bright she tends to be.
Just another method of saying that part of her soul is now imprinted into the stone, connecting her to it.