Soulsmithing

A Soulsmith makes constructs. The soulsmith’s logo is crossed hammers. There is traditional soulsmithing and advanced work with a soulforge. Few soulsmiths work at the level of authority and expertise demonstrated by history’s greats.

The Stuff of Souls

“Soulsmithing is blending three elements,” she said. She had given him this lecture before, but he still focused on every word. A mistake here might mean weeks of going without an arm. “You have the binding, the material of the construct itself, and the Soulsmith's madra, hm? But unlike blending physical materials, you are working with the stuff of souls. Madra lives. It changes.. . It's no good making a weapon that will turn on its owner. But even with the best drudge in the world and years of experience, we are working with living components. No two constructs are exactly the same.” (Skysworn, chapter 12)

A Soulsmith’s Madra

To be a good soulsmith one must have pure or compatible madra, because a soulsmith forges his/her own madra into the work.

From the author, Will Wight:

We touch on this in Blackflame a little bit, but you have to have madra that's compatible with a lot of other aspects. For instance, the Fishers make good Soulsmiths because they have madra that mimics gravity. So it binds two things together. Not a whole lot conflicts with that.

But if you were a Sandviper Soulsmith, every construct you made would be poisonous or acidic, so it would either hurt the person holding it, fall apart, or neutralize the madra you tried to use to build it.

Daniel: Huh so the greatest soul smith would theoretically have to have pure madra because that would conflict with nothing?

Will Wight: Not necessarily pure, just widely compatible. (Source -https://abidanarchive.com/events/1/#e870)

Basic Tools

The most essential tool for basic soulsmithing is a drudge — a constructed assistant with knowledge of madra and aura, etc. Every soulsmith has one. Dross is a drudge — perhaps the most advanced on Cradle. Soulsmiths must also have goldsteel-plated tongs. A binding is necessary, too. The binding is a crystallized technique, the heart of any construct. Without it, a construct would only have the properties of its material and whatever scripts they added on top. That would make it no better than any scripted object. (Skysworn, ch 12)

Traditional Soulsmithing

“In traditional Soulsmithing, Archlord artifacts are effectively the peak. There is no higher form of soulfire than that which Archlords produce, and spirits are usually raised past that stage artificially. Beings stronger than Archlords don’t often die and leave Remnants, you see. ” (Reaper ch 12)

Traditional Workings

Prosthetic limbs, eyes, wings, etc. (even internal organs, but that is much more difficult)

Lindon’s prosthetic arm, made with a hunger madra shard from the Ancestor’s spear:

“ Fisher Gesha floated the Shifting Skies arm into the center of the boundary field. It floated there peacefully, gleaming like glass in the light, its spiked fingertips drumming.. .Lindon reached out with his perception, sensing both the arm and the piece of hunger madra. They gave him very different impressions, but he didn't focus on that, instead pouring pure madra into combining them.” (-Skysworn, ch 12)

Exploding cannon and other bombs, created by Fisher Gesha
"purple spider legs of Forged Madra stretched out from beneath her, raising her to ordinary height" (Underlord, ch 7)
Mobile workshop (barn), moving on spidery construct legs
More advanced launcher constructs, using three or more different bindings that work together to create great power
(Some of these constructs are made possible with help from Dross

The Ancestor’s Spear (not an Archlord weapon. In contrast, the Archstone is an Archlord weapon, forged by an advanced smith, with soulfire)

Traditional Soulsmiths

A traditional soulsmith forges things together with madra. An advanced soulsmith forges things together with soulfire, which only manifests after advancing to Underlord.
Lindon’s mother Wei Shi Seisha is only an Iron, then a Jade, and yet she’s a good enough soulsmith, working for the Wei clan in Sacred Valley

Fisher Gesha is a Gold level soulsmith, so she cannot yet produce soulfire. Yet she is a well-respected traditional forger for the Fisher clan in the Desolate Wilds (Blackflame Empire), and later in Serpent’s Grave. She tutors Lindon. In the words of Will Wight, “The Fishers make good Soulsmiths because they have madra that mimics gravity. So it binds two things together. Not a whole lot conflicts with that.”

Wei Shi Lindon Arelius began as an apprentice but has been steadily learning more from his mother and his two mentors (Fisher Gesha and Eithan ), from study and experimentation, and from Dross. He makes a good soulsmith because his madra is pure, which conflicts with nothing when binding things together. He eventually advances to Lord level and creates advanced constructs with his soulfire. See more about Lindon below.

Advanced Soul Forging

An advanced soulsmithing technique uses a soul forge with a wintersteel anvil, soulfire, and a soulforged hammer. A smith uses a soulforged hammer to imbue their will into the object. They burn significant objects, imbued with power, authority, and/or history, like a treasured set of pearls worn at an important event, or a monarch’s signet ring. Finally, the result is even better if they work the forge at a relevant location, meaningful to the objective. (Reaper)

Eithan swept his arms around the Soulforge. “If you really want to perform Soulsmithing on a higher level, you need a way to imbue the authority and willpower of a greater existence into the item. That requires tools and locations on a superior tier of existence, which are few and far between. If you wanted to forge a Monarch a sword, for instance, you would want to do it on a battlefield in which Monarchs died, of which there are surpassingly few.” (Reaper, ch 12)

Advanced Work

If you want something greater than Archlord-level weapons and devices, such as those found in the Labyrinth, including the powerful Archstone, which draws madra from surrounding artists (book 4 Skysworn). It was used to upgrade Lindon’s prosthetic arm during his transformation to Underlord (book 6 Underlord). Creating a memory tablet or dream tablet — or a Dross— also requires advanced work.

Advanced Soul-Forgers

Over the millennia, some truly great soulsmiths forged their wonders down in the labyrinth. “This labyrinth contains tools from some of the greatest Soulsmiths of all time,” -Reaper, ch 8

Ozmanthus Arelius, the historic House Arelius founder and patriarch, was one of history’s greatest soulforgers. He learned by genius insight and by studying the notes of the first court of Abidan, left behind in their Labyrinth.

“Ozmanthus Arelius, the original Patriarch of our clan, was known as the greatest Soulsmith of his day,” Eithan explained. “Perhaps in history.” (Reaper, ch 9)

Reigan Shen, Monarch, is a master smith too, if not as insightful as the true greats. He has (had) his own mobile soulforge, stored in a void space. However, Eithan traded him for it in exchange for throwing the tournament (see Wintersteel) and gave it to Lindon (see Reaper).

Wei Shi Lindon Arelius is becoming an advanced soulsmith, too. In book 10, Reaper, he is a Lord, so he produces soulfire. Eithan gives him Shen’s soulforge, and with Eithan’s instructions he forges his hammer Genesis. Creation and destruction. The hammer should enable him to imbue his will into his working — of course, he’ll also need to burn a significant object in the soulfire beneath the anvil. (Reaper, ch 18).

Lindon’s Forging

In book 10, Reaper, Eithan taught Lindon how to use the soul forge he traded from the lion king. With Eithan’s guidance, Lindon forged a hammer and a spear. He did this work in the powerful and ancient Labyrinth, which adds to the power of his forged construct.
Genesis is the name bestowed upon the hammer Lindon created in the Labyrinth in book 10, Reaper. It has two sides. One side is a claw hammer, created with destructive black flame madra. The other is rounded and blue-white, created with pure madra. One side for building, the other for destroying, perhaps.
Lindon immediately used his shiny new hammer (Genesis) to forge another construct, dubbed Midnight, Cursed Spear of the Destroyer

Hydra Binding in Midnight

In the Labyrinth, Lindon dissected an altered dreadbeast — a Hydra he dubbed a “baby Dreadgod” — to examine its core binding:

.. .lines burned with the pale, spectral green of death madra, running in veins all through the Hydra’s flesh. “This is.. .” Lindon had dissected his share of dreadbeasts, and it was hard to put into words how shocked he was by this sight. “. ..it’s so organized. This looks like a real set of madra channels. And how can death madra, of all things, possibly exist alongside real, living flesh?” (Reaper, ch 11)

Later, Lindon used the pulsing hydra binding when soulsmithing Reigan Shen’s broken death trident into a weapon: Midnight, Cursed Spear of the Destroyer. He also used “the bone ring set with the ruby, the object that had once given birth to the Bleeding Phoenix. He felt its weight on the world” (Reaper, ch 18) Later, he lost his new Midnight to Shen, who promptly stored it in his void space.