How do you treat soul stones ICly?

[Jana]

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.

[Cassandra]

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.

[S'imba]

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. 

 

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.

[Melphina]

I treat them like sparkly rocks...

[Smagon]

All of this makes me wonder, how would one go about getting a blank soul stone to put their own experiences and memories on?

[Larson]

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.

[Ashe]

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.

[Smagon]

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.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

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"?)

[V'aleera]

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.

[Ashe]

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. 

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...

[Garalona]

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...

[Zoya]

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.

[Nero]

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.

[Leanne]

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.

[Warren Castille]

If dying was required to create a soulstone, we can surmise something pretty important: A soulstone isn't required to become a job, otherwise there would never have been one in the first place.

 

I tend to also go with the materia-like option: Someone dedicated to learning their skills and practicing them with a sufficiently-receptive ornament leaves behind a sort of... Hm. How to put this...

 

It could work like a Bourne Identity thing: Your character just begins performing feats or stances or maneuvers that somehow seem ingrained, based on someone else's memories of having performed those same feats years prior.

 

Or, it works like a D&D skill bonus: Someone might have been able to Jump through rigorous training, but a Dragoon soul suddenly makes them pros at it.

 

Or it works like downloading new information, and you suddenly get access to new skills and mastery.

 

At the end of the day, we're really only shown one specific example of how soulstones work. The Warrior of Light's perspective: A gifted and blessed individual comes across a new stone having only barely set out in a given profession and endures specific circumstances to awaken new memories. We can't really do anything but make reasonably-safe assumptions as to the greater system.

[Leggerless]

She... probably wouldn't care too much unless you were someone with a soulstone threatening her at the time.

 

I'd imagine an example IC dialogue would go something like this below:

 

Elise: "Oh, you got a soulstone?"

 

Rando: "Yes."

 

Elise: "Dragoon?"

 

Rando: "Yep."

 

Elise: "Alright then."

 

*Elise eats away on an apple tart for a moment before speaking again*

 

Elise: "Seriously though, I need that report by this eve. No excuses."

[Caspar]

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.

Admittedly, I think some soulstones might function slightly differently.

 

The description suggests that they are sources of proficiency in some manner due to the presence of information and experiences from previous owners, but how that information is accessed might depend on the stone. In addition, they already mentioned the BLM stone acts as a safety device that protects you from self-immolation during really strong spells like Flare. So I bet that the stones, like the Mage Seal, work differently depending upon the tradition that created it. It could be a focus the user actually needs to handle to survive their new power like BLM or essentially a clean-slate database like the MCH one, which presumably, you are the originator this time and the knowledge will be passed down to later MCH who inherit it from WoL.

 

I guess then it's not impossible for the soulstone to do what Leanne mentioned and actually have its locked power somehow facilitate learning speed for the owner to "grease the gears" as it were.

 

But I don't know enough about the actual mechanics of every Job's soulstone to really say for sure.

[Unnamed Mercenary]

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.

Admittedly, I think some soulstones might function slightly differently.

 

The description suggests that they are sources of proficiency in some manner due to the presence of information and experiences from previous owners, but how that information is accessed might depend on the stone. In addition, they already mentioned the BLM stone acts as a safety device that protects you from self-immolation during really strong spells like Flare. So I bet that the stones, like the Mage Seal, work differently depending upon the tradition that created it. It could be a focus the user actually needs to handle to survive their new power like BLM or essentially a clean-slate database like the MCH one, which presumably, you are the originator this time and the knowledge will be passed down to later MCH who inherit it from WoL.

 

I guess then it's not impossible for the soulstone to do what Leanne mentioned and actually have its locked power somehow facilitate learning speed for the owner to "grease the gears" as it were.

 

But I don't know enough about the actual mechanics of every Job's soulstone to really say for sure.

 

If we go further with Nero's bike example, maybe it's something like this.

 

I know how to ride a bike!

 

*gets a soul crystal*

 

I can ride a bike with one hand now!

 

*practices some more*

 

NO HANDS!

[Branson Thorne]

If dying was required to create a soulstone, we can surmise something pretty important: A soulstone isn't required to become a job, otherwise there would never have been one in the first place.

 

I tend to also go with the materia-like option: Someone dedicated to learning their skills and practicing them with a sufficiently-receptive ornament leaves behind a sort of... Hm. How to put this...

 

It could work like a Bourne Identity thing: Your character just begins performing feats or stances or maneuvers that somehow seem ingrained, based on someone else's memories of having performed those same feats years prior.

 

Or, it works like a D&D skill bonus: Someone might have been able to Jump through rigorous training, but a Dragoon soul suddenly makes them pros at it.

 

Or it works like downloading new information, and you suddenly get access to new skills and mastery.

 

At the end of the day, we're really only shown one specific example of how soulstones work. The Warrior of Light's perspective: A gifted and blessed individual comes across a new stone having only barely set out in a given profession and endures specific circumstances to awaken new memories. We can't really do anything but make reasonably-safe assumptions as to the greater system.

 

I always just figured them to operate like the cyber chip in the tv series "Chuck". I chip somehow becomes implanted in his head and all of a sudden he's able to do all this cool spy stuff, but still requires some training.

[Rufus Wightman]

I'm still not 100% sure how to treat soul crystals. As I pointed out in one of the DRK threads, and something I'm sure we can ALL agree on, is how vague and non-specific the lore on Soul Crystals are. They had to be made somehow, right? But how is it someone managed to craft a crystalline - presumably - hunk of aether in such a way that it became able to give the one it's bonded to additional strength and abilities? I can't really say.

 

In my case, being a DRK, I thought it would be poignant to imagine the Soul Crystal as the coalescence of negative emotions, brought to the fore after being touched by darkness. It seemed fitting, I suppose. And perhaps a little -more- out there, I like to imagine when they call it a "soul" crystal, they literally mean that the crystal can be infused with the wielder's soul, taking residence inside their form, but can be removed at will.

 

That's just how I do it, anyway. Not to discourage anyone else, of course!

[Susanna83]

Well as I see the lore on soul stones, and seeing they are in the lore of many quests, Soulstone are a mean for the warrior of light to access abilities and memories of said job. For a normal person they would have to train in said martial progress. IN each of the stories and quests none but the warrior of light are able to truly unlock its secrets quicker then anyone else. For example in the paladin quest, when the stone only shines with you around. That does not mean you cannot be a job, because you can you have to find your way to learn such abilities. Plus like someone else said earlier on this post it is the way the warrior of light can access the other said abilities as a mechanic. In addition it can also be the power of the echo that allows you to access the abilities, a good example being that the warrior of dark have jobs assign to them. So lore wise it is the warrior of light that has the right to use the soul stones, but that does not mean a player cant be a job thru training. A good example of this is the elementals and thamaturges guarding there secrets. Nothing in lore says you cant be a job. If that was the case then there would have never been any of those in the first place.

[Cynel1]

i don't know why but i treated my PLD Soulstone as a possession that Cyn's Late foster father had once.

[Kaniko Niko]

Since this thread was resurrected by someone that wasn't me for once, I'll chime in!

 

It seems to me like the concept of a soulstone would work much better if it wasn't just a generic crystal. Cases in point would be the Gem of Shattoto and the machinst's aetherotransformer. The Black Mage quest line shows that when one pushes thaumaturgy too far, the flow of aether in and out of the body will burn you, but there are specific means of filtering that aether in a safe manner—the/a Gem of Shattoto, a heat sink in essence. Most of the Goldsmith Guild's early quests were about using materials and gems to act as aether conduits for the thaumaturges. It's all worked into the lore of the game how this artifact would work. In the instance of the MCH's soulstone, it's implied that the 'core' of the aetherotransformer—specifically how the device pulls lightning-aspect aether from your body to power your skills, is the soulstone itself. Which also makes sense because it's literally letting your essence pass through it. Spiritbinding taken to the logical conclusion.

 

Same goes with the Crafting Plaques. They're a physical representation of one's skill and notoriety in a field and can very well collect a certain 'essence' over time.

 

The problem comes in instances like Paladin. Where it was essentially: "Hey kid. Wanna be a fighter for truth and justice? Take this rock."

[Chidori]

Personally, I do not use them for IC purposes. My main is an archer with a hidden talent, which most do not know of unless they are very close to her. Talent..would also be the wrong word to use.  

 

Another character is just a lancer, another uses a gun. One is completely civilian. Suppose the only tricky one is Chidori.

 

As for others. I am not going to rain on someones RP parade. More than likely I would try to steer away from that topic if it came up as I am usually not sure how to IC'ly take it more than Ritsu being  like "Ah, that is lovely." If I was ever going to RP having one myself, I would prob keep it a close guarded thing. Only people close to her would know about it.