Soul Cloisters

Very little is known about Soul Cloisters beyond that they are an essential part of Warforged physiology. Few non-Warforged individuals are even aware of the word Soul Cloister, let alone their function or nature. Like most knowledge regarding the creation of Warforged, information on Soul Cloisters has been hidden, buried, or forgotten over the ages. Individual Warforged in the modern age avoid talking about Soul Cloisters often, except when absolutely necessary such as in life-or-death scenarios. The most a non-Warforged typically knows regarding Soul Cloisters is that it contains the entire being of an individual Warforged, acting essentially as their brain, soul, and power source. Recent events and the recent discovery of the Anvil of Emptiness and Hammer of Souls have shed more light on the nature of Soul Cloisters.

Physical Description

Soul Cloisters are black semi-transparent spheres at first observation. However, upon closer inspection they are simply a hollow shell with moving internal components. Just below the semi-opaque surface, an observer can see the axial rotation of components at varying speeds. From within, a red-orange glow can be observed at times of greater activity. The glow illuminates various unknown runes on the internal components. Holding a Soul Cloister, one can feel the movement as a faint rumble; however, if the Soul Cloister is placed on a flat surface, it appears to be completely inert and stationary. Very few non-Warforged living beings have touched an active Soul Cloister with their bare hands, and even Warforged consider this action to be somewhat taboo.

Properties (According to Immolate in 9047 and Local Hearsay)

Any soul that is encased in a Soul Cloiser by the Hammer and Anvil is fully aware and sapient, containing the memories, emotions, and experiences of the one who had been used to create it. However, it was not that individual in actuality, its memories and experiences simply being a factual statement about its past. From the point of creation, the new individual would be a new entity entirely, often with a perceived emotional and spiritual distance from their "original" life. While encased in a Soul Cloister, the soul remains in a permanently energized state, never losing consciousness or degrading in mental acuity. If, for whatever reason, a Warforged body is destroyed disabled, the Soul Cloister will remain fully aware of its surroundings and conscious. However, it has been observed by modern surviving Warforged that the capacity of a Soul Cloister is not absolute, and that active memories older than 5000 years from current consciousness begin to fade and completely disappear very quickly. There is no known way to restore these memories, however any memory of having the memories remains, which causes a great deal of discomfort, disturbance, and trauma in those Warforged who experience it. Any instance of death of a soul enclosed in a Soul Cloister is irreversible by science or magic, as the soul has completely dispersed from all planes of reality. Revival spells will find no soul to return to life and thus fail. As explained by Immolate in 9047, the soul within a Soul Cloister is a construct created separate from the normal laws of life and creation, and thus cannot be bound by those laws nor benefit from the comforts of those laws.
Should a Soul Cloister be damaged in any way, the energy stored will immediately begin to dissipate until eventual death. The speed of the degradation depends on the degree of damage, ranging anywhere from a few days to mere seconds. Once the process of death begins in this way, there is no known way to halt or reverse it. Once the soul energy has fully dissipated from the Soul Cloister, "death" is final as the Soul Cloister becomes completely inert. Study of inert Soul Cloisters has always yielded inconclusive results as the material it is made of defies scientific or magical observation or study, being completely nonreactive to external stimuli. Breaking an inert Soul Cloister open always reveals a fine black powder substance and little else, with its shell taking on properties similar to that of the volcanic glass, obsidian.

History

While little is known about the origins and development of the Soul Cloisters, they have been omnipresent in points of history involving Warforged, almost all of them involving their deaths. Secondhand accounts during the War of Kerro's Ear in 2022 attest that a screeching sound could be heard from each Warforged as they committed suicide by piercing their Soul Cloisters while in captivity on Ren, each screech being of a different harmonic pitch. Another example of a historic account of a Soul Cloister was the theft of the Warforged sailor Echo's soul cloister by a bounty hunter in 3434 to stop her from delivering Warforged 2's first draft of the Consulate Constitution to the island of Crush. Apart from occasional historical secondhand accounts of Warforged deaths or near misses regarding their Soul Cloisters, general knowledge of the apparatus remained scant.
In 9047, the newly-reformed Didacy Asset Retrieval Team found the remains of Warforged 2 missing its Soul Cloister after an attack on a government function in Vortex, implying the assailants had stolen or destroyed it. Days later, they entered the Basilica of the Fallen Moon on Obsidian where they rediscovered the Anvil of Emptiness, the Hammer of Souls, and the Keeper in the Basilica's hidden tomb. While there, the Keeper explained to the agents that many Warforged and non-Warforged survivors after the war came to believe the nature of becoming encased in a Soul Cloister was a "sin" of some kind that had been delivered upon unwitting victims. In the tomb, several Warforged had been laid to rest while several dozen had their Soul Cloisters removed and placed in a chest. Didacy agents Walker and Throden opened the container which housed these "resting" Soul Cloisters. Upon picking one up, Throden saw and felt its mechanisms awaken at her touch. The Keeper, after consulting with the soul within the Soul Cloister, allowed Throden to take it with her on her adventures on the condition that she not let it fall into the hands of anyone who would misuse it. The soul within the Soul Cloister exhibited great discomfort when in immediate proximity to the Hammer of Souls. Throden created a shoulder harness for the Soul Cloister to be attached to while she traveled.
Upon returning to the Didacy, the agents informed the Warforged Immolate of the events that had transpired. He elaborated to them some of the properties of Soul Cloisters and revealed his own to the agents. Upon inspection, Immolate apparently contained two Soul Cloisters within his body. It is unknown if this is a common occurrence among Warforged or not.

Parent Technologies

• Anvil of Emptiness and Hammer of Souls

Children Technologies

• Gelgetha Walking Fortress