TheWadehart Posted September 23, 2017 Report Share Posted September 23, 2017 Are Soulcasters actually 'dead' spren? Are they like Shardblade but ones that belonged to lightweavers and elsecallers? Did Shallan touch her father's soulcaster AFTER she rebounded Pattern? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yezrien Posted September 23, 2017 Report Share Posted September 23, 2017 A soulcaster is a fabrial, a metallic device powered by a living spren trapped inside a gemstone. See here for more information. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheWadehart Posted September 23, 2017 Author Report Share Posted September 23, 2017 Well that goes to my original question. Modern Roshar considers them to be holy RELICS. "A greater one, like Jasnah’s, could effectuate any transformation. Literally turn any substance into any other one. How it must grate on the ardents that such a powerful, holy relic was in the hands of someone outside the ardentia." WoK pg 91. They are thought to be fabrials, but just like shardplate and Shardblades, no one has been able to create new ones. Thus my premise, they were not created. They are actually dead spren. However, since modern Radiants hear the dead spren screaming when they touch Shardblades would the same happen when they touch Soulcasters? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yezrien Posted September 23, 2017 Report Share Posted September 23, 2017 It's an interesting theory, but I think you've answered your own question: Shallan has touched a soulcaster without hearing screams. And we know she's had a nahel bond since long before that. So at the very least we can conclude that soulcasters are not the same as shardblades. They could be similar to shardplate, but we don't yet know what that means. They're considered holy relics because they're ancient and unexplained. Until the relatively recent (re)discovery of fabrial science, they were indistinguishable from magic. It makes sense that they'd get a semi-divine reputation. But, in all likelihood, the reason they can't be replicated is because modern fabrial science is still in its infancy. Soulcasters are remnants of a much more advanced era, when the Knights Radiant could build things like Oathgates. But, as Navani tells us, artifabrians have just scratched the surface of what's possible. That's the logical answer, anyway. Truth be told, we know very little about soulcasters. We've never actually seen one work, and ardentia soulcasting remains very mysterious. Maybe you're right; maybe soulcasters are some kind of mystical spren-construct, and modern people just assumed they were fabrials because they haven't yet heard of more fantastical things. But, for the time being, there isn't much evidence of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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