Soulsmithing

A Soulsmith makes constructs. The soulsmith’s logo is crossed hammers. There is basic soulsmithing, which is not simple and requires expertise, and advanced forging, which requires Lord-level soulfire and deep understanding.

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 called a drudge — a constructed assistant. 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)

Basic Products

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

Basic Good Soulsmiths

Lindon’s mother Wei Shi Seisha is soulsmith to the Wei clan in Sacred Valley

Fisher Gesha is chief soulsmith to the Fisher clan in the Desolate Wilds. 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, from experimentation, and from Dross. He makes a good soulsmith because his madra is pure, which conflicts with nothing when binding things together. 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. If possible, they also use 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)

Advanced Work

Many advanced weapons and other constructs are found in the Labyrinth, including the Ancestor’s Spear (books 2-4). Also, the powerful Archstone, which draws madra from the surrounding artists, was illegally retrieved by Underlord Jai Daishou (book 4 Skysworn) and used for Lindon’s prosthetic arm during his transformation to Underlord (book 6 Underlord)

Advanced Soul-Forgers

Ozmanthus Arelius, the historic clan founder and patriarch, is 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.

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

Now Lindon is becoming an advanced forger, too. He now has access to a Soul Forge, which helps him imbue his will into his working.

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. He created it using the weapon he took from Reigan Shen. However, he lost it in battle with Shen soon after (Reaper).