Soulight

'Nothing but the light of a life can banish the decay of the outsiders. Created from the ultimate sacrifice we all must make.' - Runes across Soulight weapons

Soulight is a fluid collected from the souls of the fey. Depending on its source it appears differently. Soulight collected from the fey of Summer shimmers and shines like golden mercury emitting a light of its own that some can find dazzling. The Soulight from the Winter fey is a blue-silver liquid with a constant film of steam or ice rising from it.

Physical Characteristics

Soulight is an incredibly valuable material with varying properties, depending on where it is collected from. Though all Soulight is liquid upon collection and will remain that way unless handled. It will burn the skin, or even soul, of any being that touches its raw form and must be handled with magic in this state. Infusing it with magic and adding other special fey materials (like 'bark of an elder tree', 'a lovers promise' or 'black ice'), depending on the type causes it to bond and coalesce into something solid. It has no scent, but sniffing it evokes memories not your own, but of the original soul. If Soulight is taken into the material realm in its raw form it evaporates as the soul makes its way towards its prospective afterlife. This can be prevented with incredibly powerful magic and crafting to keep it, but it must be bonded to something solid.

Properties

The powerful material again has different states depending on its origin, though both combat decay and the outsiders. Bonding it to weapons or items allows it to emit light and repel decay. Those of summer origin emit yellow light and burn away decayed areas, creatures or plants before causing them to blossom anew or be born again. Those of winter emit a cold blue light that spreads frost and ice across the floor, freezing decayed animals or plants entirely and causing them to shatter into thousands of pieces and reform from the water before taking life again.

Against the outsiders they have similar effects with summer Soulight burning their skin and blinding them while near, allowing soldiers to take advantage of their temporary weakness. The winter Soulight freezes them, chilling their joints and movements, slowing them, and each strike freezes their bodies, turning the hardest of armour to ice before shattering it completely.

A Dark Origin

Soulight is no material found, mined or created naturally. It exists only in death, and can only be harvested from dying fey creatures. It is only logical that the power of life can combat the decay of the outsiders, these beings of unlife and decay. And the greatest source of life comes from the rich realm of fey and the creatures there.

The story says that when the outsiders first encroached upon the fey realm, all things were consumed. Creatures fought and died in defence of their realm, but little seemed to slow them and their weapons seemed ineffective. Only magic kept the creatures and bay. The fey soldiers of the Season courts knew each of them held magic in their hearts, and if they were to die, they would do so defiantly. The soldiers bleed their souls into their hands. It oozed from their eyes, nose and mouth like luminous blood and with it coated their weapons. So powerful in life were the weapons that even a knick would eradicate an outsider. Not merely banish it back to their realm as normal weapons did, but obliterate it beyond the ability to reform for decades. The soldiers were triumphant, expelling the outsiders and their decay from the realm, but it wasn't long till the warriors fell, dying as their souls were extinguished. 

It was this moment that the fey knew the power of soulight, but to harvest it was to cause such despair amongst their own. So now it is given willingly by those soon to die, the irredeemable and the injured. A gift given to save the realms from decay.

A Tale of Venya

Learn more about the world, its history and the factions here.

The Court of Flame & Frost 

Soulight is used almost exclusively by the Court of Flame & Frost in its mission to eradicate the decay of outsiders and their magic. They mould soulight into weapons and armour useful in the battle against the horrors of the outer realms and with such things can slay the creatures. These weapons are powerful beyond belief, but cannot exist in the mortal realm without dissipating into nothing.

Obelisks of Khurilos

The largest Soulight structures in the mortal realm. Great pillars of soulight exist inside the obelisks, which were created by the great fey druids and Tiandra, The Summer Queen herself to keep the material in the mortal world. These Obelisks protect the Elyswer from decay and otherworldly horrors, as well as anchor the fey Summer Court in the material plane. Their destruction would be an incredible blow to the forces of good.