I was trying to find the dialogue text for the Bard soulstone quest. Jehantel the wandering Bard emphasizes the soulstone's past, how it was carried by prior great Bards.
There are some correlations in Japanese culture.
Gods in Japan are called Kami and their power is linked to a large geographical location, movement, or thing. They can also be focused in small objects such as stones called Shintai. This line sums it up nicely:
"Kamidana shintai[sup][2][/sup] are most commonly small circular mirrors, though they can also be stones (magatama), jewels, or some other object with largely symbolic value. The kami within the shintai is often the deity of the local shrine or one particular to the house owner's profession." (Basic Terms of Shinto, Kokugakuin University, Institute for Japanese Culture and Classics, Tokyo 1985)
Many Japanese partake in ancestor veneration, which historically is linked to the idea that your ancestors stay very close to the mortal realm, even lending their power to the living, another idea that is pronounced in the Bard questline.
These ideas may not be explicit in the soulstone mechanic, but the similarities are enough that I think they played some part, even unconsciously.
There are some correlations in Japanese culture.
Gods in Japan are called Kami and their power is linked to a large geographical location, movement, or thing. They can also be focused in small objects such as stones called Shintai. This line sums it up nicely:
"Kamidana shintai[sup][2][/sup] are most commonly small circular mirrors, though they can also be stones (magatama), jewels, or some other object with largely symbolic value. The kami within the shintai is often the deity of the local shrine or one particular to the house owner's profession." (Basic Terms of Shinto, Kokugakuin University, Institute for Japanese Culture and Classics, Tokyo 1985)
Many Japanese partake in ancestor veneration, which historically is linked to the idea that your ancestors stay very close to the mortal realm, even lending their power to the living, another idea that is pronounced in the Bard questline.
These ideas may not be explicit in the soulstone mechanic, but the similarities are enough that I think they played some part, even unconsciously.
![[Image: 200.gif]](https://media2.giphy.com/media/h83ECRQ2VqU8M/200.gif)
