Soul Cleaving

What stood out to me the most were the eyes. Black, lifeless eyes stared back at me from a body that I knew all too well. This....creature smiled at me, called me "papa", even laughed in that same familiar voice, but the eyes were a constant reminder that this was no longer my son. When I hugged him, his body even felt warm, but it was like holding a stone that had been left out in the sun. The warmth didn't feel human. This was what I had asked for--a cure for a broken body. His body would trouble him no more, that much was sure. But the black ichor that filled his veins gave him an uncanny pallor. He moved and spoke like my son! He should have been my son! But all I could see was a monster of my creation where my son used to be.

— Nerin Corfenan

Origin

The idea for soul cleaving came to me in a dream. I understood well the connections between body, soul, and divine wisdom. In fact, the process would be better regarded as body cleaving, but that gives entirely the wrong idea. The divine wisdom or therimos acts like the glue that holds the soul and body together. And so, it must be possible to separate the soul and glue from the body. After all, the demigods are beings that were once three but then lost the body, so it must be possible. All one would need is a thin enough blade to sever the connection while it was already weakened. The body could then be magically enhanced while the eternal soul was magically rebonded to the body. It would be an immortal being.   I was already quite adept at placing souls in phylacteries. These magical containers were useful for all sorts of things, and they prevented the soul from returning to the god it came from. The body would be enhanced with ichor. It took many cycles of experimenting before I stumbled upon combining the living blood with the soot from offerings to Ril. The hardest part was the knife. Flaying skin off a live fish was easier than this because I needed a perfectly clean cut between the soul and therimos and the body. There was the added complication that dead blood was functionally worthless. So the ichor had to be made while the person was still alive. But, that ended up being the final piece in the puzzle. The blood would be drained and mixed into ichor, and at the moment before death, I could make my cut when the bond was weakest. The knife was made from an extremely rare metal found deep within the Deeplands. I forged it in fires that burned charcoal from Boneyard Trees to amplify its power. And of course, being a Speaker of Ril gave me an unparalleled connection to the border of life and death. Lesser mages couldn't have accomplished this. My first successful creation came from a young man who was dying, and it was his father's last wish to cure him. He didn't care how, and if he died, well, it only meant the inevitable came sooner.

— Setralis Blacklung

Process

I doubt anyone is actually interested in creating one of these people. Well, if you can call them people. It requires extremely advanced necromancy, and it can only be done during specific days of the year. It's a brutal procedure, and no one is really missing out on any experience by not performing the ritual.

Phylactery

The phylactery holds the soul and therimos inside the body. It becomes the heart of the soul cleaved creature and magically sustains it until the phylactery is destroyed. It's created from dragon glass, though lava glass is a suitable substitute. The incantation is etched into Rilitine which serves as the casing for the phylactery. The final panel is magically sealed once the soul has been cleaved to trap it inside.

Black Ichor

Ichor is the lifeblood for the creature to keep it alive and from decaying. The remaining soot from burnt offerings at a temple is mixed with living blood, that is, the blood of the individual to be cleaved while still breathing. It must be mixed thoroughly at the particulate level and then injected back into the body. It's best to have this set up prior because I can assure you, you will be quite preoccupied during the ritual.

Soul Cleaver

Unfortunately, no one knows exactly how to create a soul cleaver. The metal and spells used were never written down, and it's suspected that it's made from whatever metal the Dread Crown is made of. There were only six knives ever created, so one must be obtained first. Any one will do once obtained. The cleaver is what allows the body to be separated from the soul and therimos.

Soul Cleaving

While Setralis was able to perform the ritual on any day, for the rest of us, we must wait until a night when the full moon and new moon line up. The sacrifice should be strapped down securely for the process is extremely painful. Set the phylactery close at hand, and when ready, begin draining the living blood to create black ichor. Recite the spells while cutting down with the soul cleaver starting where the neck meets the torso and ending below the sternum. The bond between soul and body weakens the closer the sacrifice comes to death, and the knife can feel that bond. Carefully cut with the blade angled towards the body for a perfect separation. If the sacrifice dies, then it's likely that a piece of the therimos remained attached to the body.   Once the soul has been separated, place it in the phylactery and seal it. Place the phylactery inside the cavity you just created and bind it back to the body. Seal the chest back up and wait until sunrise. If done correctly, the soul cleaved individual will awaken. Bear in mind, the memories and personality remain, and the creature is capable of recognizing people from their past. It can be inconvenient if one chooses poorly.

History

Soul Cleaving was first discovered and created by the half-elf Speaker Setralis in 912 EDK. He was an outcast and had a unique talent for necromancy due in large part to being a Speaker of Ril. But, he was also known as a healer, albeit a fairly unorthodox one. And he had the unique talent of being able to bind souls to bodies to keep people alive for a little while longer. He only performed the process successfully twice in his entire life. The first time was at the request of Nerin Corfenan who begged for a way to save his son and agreed to let him be the test subject for Setralis' experiment. Though rejected by Nerin, the mage kept his new assistant around and offered him an easy life in service until Setralis died. His final spell was to break the phylactery and let the man pass in peace. The second instance was at the request of Enkir vol'Demel, a dragon lord whose wife was badly injured and nearly dying. He'd heard of the process from Nerin, and he begged Setralis to take pity on him. The dragon lord's wife was soul cleaved and sent back to live as a trophy in the house. Her fate remains unknown.

Use in Necromancy War

Despite the originally benign intentions, Soul Cleaving was shown at its worst during the Necromancy War. Orano Tesclaho was a descendant of Setralis and inherited one of the soul cleavers. He was a gifted Necromancer and took on several students in his lifetime. During the war, he studied the forgotten ritual for soul cleaving, but unlike his ancestor, he relied on the phases of the moons to be able to perform such advanced magic.   Following the deaths of his students, Tesclahu drugged and abducted family members of known nobles and military leaders. He performed the ritual on them before sending them back to their families. Unknown to everyone, he placed magical bombs inside of them next to the phylactery. At his command, the bombs detonated killing both the host and those nearby. He took on the moniker "Black-Eyed Bomber" for the characteristic black eyes of the soul cleaved victims.   By the time the war ended, Tesclahu was branded a war criminal. Part of the peace negotiations required that he was turned over to the government for trial and execution. Many necromancers abhorred his practices and were more than glad to distance themselves from him.

Ban

Following the Necromancy War, the emperor placed a strict ban on both the practice of necromancy and soul cleaving in particular. All documents containing the process for soul cleaving were burned, and Mage Hunters ruthlessly killed anyone in possession of or suspected of practicing the forbidden art. The victims had their phylacteries smashed and bodies ritually cleansed so that they could be buried by the families. It's rumored that a few texts still exist outside of the empire, but no one is foolish enough to speak of them.