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Soulcrafting 103

🕑 Added 2022-01-15 20:21:36 +0000 UTC

Comments

Sarah Lin

Yeah, you have exactly the right idea. A few really powerful books, then other books to support them and complete the library. Later on you'll see both entirely mixed libraries as well as themed book rooms.

Corwin

So you could build a library with as many or as little as possible. Is the effect better with mixing quality? Such as basic knowledge in crafts and sublime materials in the world maybe a few journals and dairies. With a few better books on crafting and other books of higher quality that could go on a desk or pedestals in the room

Sarah Lin

Like most materials, sublime books vary in quality. There are some you can buy by the foot, but those are the lowest quality, only good for filling in a room. Others are designed to be a centerpiece of an entire chamber and would be placed alone on a pedestal. But my most interesting ideas for libraries involve those in the middle: a collection of a dozen books or so can be a very potent part of a room.

Corwin

On libraries how many books are required to actually make that a room? Like I have like 3 or 4 thousand books in my library room at home. Granted they aren't sublime books. But could enough maybe enough sublime created books generate a reasonable amount of cantea for it to function? Or would I need 3 or 4 real sublime books to make it work?

Sarah Lin

Yes, they generally do. The ascension process reinforces everything you've already built, which is part of how bad design decisions can become embedded and hard to fix. There will be lots more information about this as the characters ascend. The armament chamber will be boosted, but the physical armament in the real world will not. If you have an Archcrafter-tier armament, the stronger chamber might make it usable for another tier or two, but you'll outgrow it eventually.

Orthes

This would be better served on the Ascension one, but I'll post it here as other folks will have a better shot at reading it. :) Are materials ascended along with you? IE are the solarstone bricks on theo's base floor now "ruler tier" materials? Or somewhere between? And, assuming you have an armament chamber, is the armament similarly boosted upon ascension? Or is there a loss in efficiency somewhere.

Sarah Lin

I've mentioned quite a few elements that haven't been explained in the books yet, but you can safely assume that the highly advanced soulcrafters in the story are using many of these advanced techniques. I've tried to include some little allusions to them, so the story will feel cohesive without throwing too many exposition dumps at the reader.

Nathan Rice

Very cool! Have we had people "on screen" using those abilities? Like the Nanjuma or one of the other more potent soulcrafters that we met?

Sarah Lin

Most definitely! There's been info about this in the past, scattered across soulcrafting posts and comment replies, but if you look at other posts with the "Soulcrafting Tutorials" tag, you'll find them mentioned a few times.

Nathan Rice

I wonder if you can have a soulhome library. Something to improve your thinking speed, memory, skills, etc.

Sarah Lin

That's possible, but changes like that (to the nature of your soul, instead of building on it) are very high level soulcrafting.

Corwin

So could you create a fake weather pattern for your soulhome? Artificial rain and wind. Studies have shown that wind is a necessary component for trees to survive and grow tall. https://www.naturalawakenings.com/2015/03/31/274262/strong-winds-strong-roots-what-trees-teach-us-about-life Rain is mostly to save time from watering.

Sarah Lin

As a normal aspect of their soulhomes just existing? No, they tend to be stable, so the equivalents of weather would come from exterior forces. That said, Siatan soulhomes are closest.

Corwin

Are any of the Nine Worlds known for having weather patterns with their soulhomes?

Sarah Lin

Soulhomes don't generally have weather, except during ascensions, which are akin to pretty intense storms. The main difficulty I meant is that the plants simply won't grow if they aren't given the right kinds of energy.

Corwin

Yeah gardening doesn't seem to be Theo's strong suit. I take it that's part of the problem Theo had in book 1. His lack of gardening experience made it more difficult for his trees to grow. Which would make Nauda more helpful in this instance. Do soulhomes have seasons? Exotic plants and animals generally have ideal settings but without plants having to contend with weather I am having a harder time seeing how picky they can be? Pruning, weeding are fairly basic and common. Watering might be harder since we haven't heard of a sublime material that would create gallons of water. Though if you need a plant for ascension that would be a desirable tool/material. Though if you need to pollinate a tree or plant that can be tricky. Fertilizer and irrigate the soil are still basic though. But if soulhomes had some weather patterns I could see that being more of an issue. Or if you had beasts and people walking around before Stronghold. Though if Bondsfungi can enter without your knowledge maybe other invasive plant life can as well...maybe Theo mentions it in later books. But with current knowledge gardening seems easier in soulhomes. No frost damage and other invasive bugs and plants to truly deal with

Sarah Lin

I never want soulcrafting to get too far from intuitive logic, so you could definitely create fertilizer from normal (sublime) materials. However, many sublime plants are more exotic than normal ones, so they can be extremely picky about the materials that make them grow best. Theo will actually have trouble with that in this book, so look forward to more info in future chapters.

Corwin

So not every beast can be turned into fertilizer? Or it depends more on the person producing it. Like generally I mix mine with all the plant matter I have in my yard and the various leftovers like rinds and such. Usually I don't have a ton of animals to be using them in my compost. Though I am aware that it's viable to mix it in since it's better for the soil

Sarah Lin

Yes, it's possible. Think of it as another discipline that requires some different knowledge and kinds of work, but it's a completely viable one. Demons are bad materials for the majority of purposes, especially fertilizer. Sublime beasts could relate to or produce sublime fertilizer, though you'd need to find appropriate ones for synergy.

Corwin

So it's possible to make a soulhome all the way to Dominion using that method if you are willing to put in the time. Could I use demons as fertilizer and various sublime beast, with the clippings to make my own compost and fertilizer? To make a stronger synergy between everything to start or would I need to build up to that

Sarah Lin

The general rule of thumb is that living materials are stronger but more maintenance-intensive, because they require sublime water/fertilizer/etc to grow stronger. However, there are plants that break these rules, particularly in worlds like Aathal. Many Aathali use plants that are much more static in their strength for elements meant to be stable, such as walls.

Corwin

Is it possible to make a living soulhome with trees and plants? For example making various trees, hedges the outside walls. Branches interweaving hedges and vines for the interior. To remove some of the inefficient cantea flow since trees and plants can generate and increase cantea

Corwin

Not sure if the books state that he had them on those floors. But no rush in this bud. This is probably never going to end on tutorials and updates

Lamsey

Some of the earlier blueprints I produced don't have all of Theo's windows marked, since I didn't know about them at the time. Fixing the older blueprints is on my ever-growing to-do list...

Corwin

On Theo's second floor and even on his third. Shouldn't he have windows as well? I am assuming that windows with Glass and shutters would help in keeping Cantea from escaping and allow one to be more proficient with various techniques