Artifact & Soulstone Mechanics
in Welcome to Obsidian Wings!Introduction to Soulstones and Artifact Stones
In Obsidian Wings, all magic flows from the Aetherium, a realm of pure potential accessed through a sacred organ known as the soulstone. Every being is born with one. Most never awaken it. But for the rare few who do—or the rarer still who are born with blue stones, known as Champions—the soulstone becomes more than a conduit. It becomes destiny.
Yet there is a darker reflection: when a soulstone is corrupted, it transforms into a Sentient Stone—a relic that thinks, hungers, and remembers. These stones are the backbone of demonic weaponry and divine ruin.
Understanding soulstones is to understand magic, divinity, and the thin line between the two. It is the secret that sustains the world—and the spark that may one day undo it.
I. Soulstones – The Internal Locus
Every living being is born with a soulstone—a metaphysical organ, typically white, embedded deep within the self. To the world, it is myth. To those who understand it, it is the key to Aetherium—the source of all structured magic.
Function
- The soulstone is a tuning fork to the Aetherium, the creative realm from which magic flows.
- To cast magic, one must attune their soulstone, aligning their will with Aetherium's pattern.
- This attunement rarely occurs before age 40, making youthful magic use virtually unheard of outside of anomaly cases.
Mechanics
- Attuned Soulstone = Focused will + access to magic.
- Unattuned Soulstone = Dormant; inert despite potential.
- Magical foci (external soulstones or crafted relics) serve as keys to Aetherium's power—channeling magic for those not yet internally aligned.
II. Champions and Blue Soulstones – The Divine Deviants
Some few are born with blue soulstones, marking them as Champions—humans with preordained prodigal potential.
- Their gifts align with their natural class:
- A blue-stoned ranger might pierce a coin from a mile.
- A blue-stoned knight might move with inhuman grace.
- Speer is unprecedented: the first blue-stoned Champion attuned to magic—an anomaly that breaks the spiritual architecture.
Her mere existence is a breach in the pattern. Her power is not permissioned—it is proof of imbalance.
IV. The Cycle of Divinity
This entire system of soulstones exists within a greater metaphysical loop:
- A mortal Champion, if divinely chosen, may ascend to godhood through belief.
- When belief dies, the god falls, becoming a demon—a being defined by the absence of worship.
- Some demons carry traces of their divine past—wounded echoes of forgotten faith.
Godhood is not a birthright. It is a performance sustained by others.
To be divine is to be believed in.
To be forgotten is to fall.
III. Artifact Stones – The Corrupted Counterpart
When a demon’s soulstone is corrupted, it becomes a Sentient Stone—binding awareness, malice, and metaphysical weight into a crystalline form.
Origin
- During the First Demon War, demons discovered how to corrupt one another’s soulstones.
- These corrupted remnants became the seed of Sentient Weapons—blades that whisper, bows that dream, relics that hunger.
Function
- A Sentient Stone carries a will—it is not wielded, it collaborates or consumes.
- These weapons often grant tremendous power at the cost of psychic influence, memory erosion, or personality fragmentation.
- Some Sentient Weapons are fragments of fallen gods, seeking to be remembered, feared, or reborn.