So how exactly are soul stones made?

[Anonymoose]

I think Enkidoh is on the right track. It seems a given that the majority of the Soul Crystal lore is utilitarian; duct-taping Final Fantasy jobs to 1.0 classes, explaining how you're learning things barely anyone remembers - quickly - and why this knowledge and power isn't readily accessible, and so on.

And it also seems a given that the lore deliberately vague so that it can be as versatile of a MacGuffin as possible. They impart knowledge and house faeries and project ghosts of your repressed feelings and malfunction when you need to go on an introspective journey to become worthy again. Your own personal pocket A WIZARD AETHER DID IT.

So I guess we take what information we can...?

I posit that they're dense, unaspected crystals that share certain qualities with aetheryte and auracite.

On one hand, they would be highly receptive to attunement, slowly becoming highly "magnetized" to the behavioral, psychological, and physiological profile of the practitioners of a given art. When the soul crystal is within the aetherial "aura" of someone who fits that profile, the crystal "resonates" with that and comes to life, creating a feedback loop of sorts that facilitates a connection between them.

On the other, there is a "vessel-like" quality to them, as well. As the aether of the owner (and sometimes their arts) flows through and interacts with the crystal, it takes on memories, spiritual impressions, and secures the essence of scholar faeries. Perhaps it's some kind of anima-based interaction.

But even Sidurgu cracks jokes like "Who knows how these even work."

[Vyrerus]

The Archangel Tyrael took pieces of the Worldstone, and then fashiong the Soul Stones from them. He bestowed responsibility of using them to contain the three Prime Evils upon the Horadrim. In their attempts to contain the Prime Evils, each Soul Stone was fragmented, and thusly required a human to play host to each stone and the evil soul contained within.

The Worldstone was a massive mountain-like artifact, once contained within Pandemonium (the scar of warped reality located at the birth of the universe). It was said to have the powers of creation, and one of its other names is, "The Heart of Creation." It is, in fact, the Eye of Anu, the first being to ever exist, who created all other beings by purging his inner evils and then fighting their manifestation, Tathamet, to the death.


Diablo references aside...

We can look at older Final Fantasies for some of the answers to the questions we have about Soul Crystals. The first Final Fantasy to make use of the crystals as job providers is Final Fantasy III on the NES/Famicom. The will of the Crystals of Light bestow upon the four chosen children the powers of Warriors of Light from the past. Each crystal provides a different set of jobs, each crystal's jobs more powerful than the last. Two powerful jobs, considered too powerful for humans, are sealed within Eureka. Those jobs were Ninja and Sage. Eureka itself was sealed beyond a dimensional gate contained in the basement of the Crystal Tower.

The next series to sport crystals giving jobs is FFV. This time the crystals each rupture, from humanity siphoning their nearly unlimited energy in order to power technology. The crystals bestow their light on the party, as well as their crystal shards, and the shards themselves contain jobs. It's revealed much later in the game that the crystals were originally born of The Void, and became the source of life for the world. There's no limit to who can equip what job, and once the abilities given by the jobs are mastered, these abilities may be used across any job(conditions apply). Learning job skills is a separate ability points based exp system, opposed to your actual level, which is the standard EXP system.


In XIV, as far as I understand it, back in 1.0 we had a physical level and a class proficiency level(rank). So your rank determined the skills you could use, while your physical level determined your attributes. Later on in 1.1 something or other, they removed physical level, and changed rank to job level, I think. I only have secondhand knowledge of 1.0.

Soul Crystals were introduced after they removed physical level though, and the jobs originally required you to have alternate jobs level half way, in order for you to unlock the jobs. Like Paladin required Gladiator 30, Conjurer 15. These requirements changed in 2.0, and they were scrapped in 4.0.

So it seems to me that Soul Crystals are something intended to impart advanced knowledge of combat related arts upon veteran fighters. The arts aren't always tied to the weapons, as is the case with classes. The better the fighter, the more memories that are imparted upon them, as Musosai tells the WoL in the Samurai questline:

"Ah, yes, in your gaze I see the stirrings of a newborn samurai. 'Tis plain the stone has already bequeathed some of its memories unto you.

Yet having the memories is one thing, mastering them quite another. We shall see how well you fare against me. Prepare yourself, young samurai, we begin as soon as you are ready.'

The stone harbors the techniques of the samurai. You must draw them forth.

To draw such strength from the stone in so short a time... You are no ordinary man."

After you satisfy Musosai, his victory prize is his mentorship in Samurai techniques. As each job proves, some techniques cannot be learned without first undergoing some form of training, despite still being contained within the stone. Basically, undergoing each Job's questline has you come to a realization about the techniques contained therein, or receive direct instruction on how to draw forth the skills.

Best example of this is actually the DRK line, where Sidurgu teaches you the level 52 and 54 skills, Salted Earth and Plunge, but for 56-60, the events of the questline have you realize the skills on your own. "Your Darkside stirs in the presence of pain..." Abyssal Drain learned!

As for soul crystals and how they interact in deep dungeons... mmm... maybe there's something to be said for wielding weapons and armor made entirely from aether, and in POTD's case at least, being in a place that's sort of a zombie purgatory... closer to the planet core/Lifestream? Or maybe it's a function of the wards the restrict your power?

It's all wishy washy and vague intentionally so that they can have something flexible to weasel our skills around on. Also to have something that differentiates us from other people wielding the same weapon... I guess.

Edit:
As for how they're made? Uhh... My guess would be through some form of not too complex aetherochemistry, that realigns the aetherial poles of the crystal such that they resonate with particular types of aether without binding. They're the only piece of gear that doesn't spiritbond, after all. They basically compile our deeds, adding to the concept of what each job is, for future generations. Also, they strike me as the sort of thing that's intended to make it easier to replicate special forces style fighters, without having to spend months or years personally instructing the fighters.

As for how they store fairies, well aren't those just aetherial constructs made with aetherial geometry? I suppose it's as simple as their precise geometry being stored and named in the crystal.

[Rannie]

/snip

Where's my Horadrics Cube , dudes leg and a book of return portals for my Secret cow level... moo...

Anyway nothing to add to this I just want my Secret moo level

[Vyrerus]

Where's my Horadrics Cube , dudes leg and a book of return portals for my Secret cow level... moo...

Anyway nothing to add to this I just want my Secret moo level

[Random0]

What Enkidoh and Anonymoose have written seems to be right on point and appears to be supported by what’s written in the Encyclopedia Eorzea.

“Ever since the height of the Allagan Empire in the Third Astral era, the practice of using crystals to store and impart knowledge has been prevalent in Eorzea. An adornment known as a “soul crystal” is worn close to the skin, where the uncommonly clear facets of the carefully cut shard catch and transcribe the ebb and flow of a soul’s aetherial composition—effectively capturing an imperfect echo of the wearer’s memories. This arcane tool engraved with the myriad deeds of heroes from eras past was employed by many of the disciplines of yesteryear to preserve and pass on the skills of successive generations of masters.

The wisdom contained in a soul crystal, however, is not so easily drawn forth—an untrained neophyte cannot simply pick up one of these gems and expect his mind to be flooded with the knowledge of advanced spell craft or combat techniques. Without first attaining sufficient proficiency and tempering one’s soul to mirror the maturity of the crystal’s contributors, a prospective student will be denied even the slightest glimpse of enlightenment. Thus, as is the case with more contemporary disciplines, the key to mastering the secrets of a soul crystal lies in diligent study and training.”

—Soul Crystals, pg 217

[ObsidianFire]

Well, presumably someone had to figure out the techniques first in order to make the Soul Stone in the first place... Also, some Soul Stones function as "limiters" (BLM and WHM at least) and doing the those Job techniques without the Soul Stone is definetly possible, but it uses up too much ambient aether (BLM and WHM).

I see Soul Stones as a massive short-cut. While it would be possible to teach people to harness their Inner Beast, create Egi, form Fairies, channel Black Magic correctly, etc. from scratch, using a Soul Stone cuts out a lot of time and steps needed to learn how to do that. For people who have the luxury of not being in a hurry like the WoL is, they probably could figure out some of the Jobs just fine.

This might also lead to people forgetting how those techniques (some of which are very dangerous if done incorrectly) were initially done in the first place. And after enough repeated attempts at doing a Job without the Soul Stone ended in disaster (thinking of BLM and WHM in particular here) that Job would get banned all together.

[Yuriane]

Soulstones probably function essentially like brain USBs.

You have downloaded like the launcher for a game but everything else is on a USB your friend gave you. So while the USB is in you don't have to do the rest of the download. Just replace download with train, launcher with weapon, game with job, and soulstone with USB.

[Iscah]

The USB is a decent analogy, but the question then is, what happens when you remove it? Are you learning those skills permanently as you make use of them, or would you be suddenly at a disadvantage in battle if someone stole it from you? The game-mechanics answer says yes, since you can unequip it and lose all those skills entirely, but I assume it would work somewhat differently 'in reality'? If you're learning and gaining understanding from performing those actions rather than simply tapping into the stored skill without really knowing how it works.

(Could work like equipment in FF9 I guess, where you gain skills by equipping certain items and gradually 'earn' them until you've fully mastered it and can keep the skill without that gear equipped.)

[Yuriane]

It's probably pre-installed practice, like the difference between knowing it in theory and knowing it in practice.

If you didn't have a soul stone you'd like still know the how it's just you wouldn't be drawing upon the experience of your predecessors.

We've essentially got our bodies on Autopilot when using the Job Stones and using associated abilities.

That being said there are abilities that are expressly only possible with the stones.

[Rosa_Frandlia]

I see this thread talking about combat soul stones, but nothing about the crafting ones that you have to buy and then get infused and may give insight. That you get a blank soulstone, then have to have it infused for your specialty gives an idea onto the USB analogy having merit as those blank soul stones are useless until you have them imprinted for your specialist crafting.