Soulstones

A Soulstone is the universal account-bound skill-transfer item — store one skill from a character, then claim it onto a different character on the same account. Soulstones revolutionized template flexibility when introduced with the Samurai Empire pre-order in 2004, letting an account hot-swap skills between characters and giving every player the ability to maintain multi-template builds without rebuilding from scratch.

How a Soulstone works

A Soulstone holds one skill at a time. The mechanic has three operations:

The character storing or claiming must be in a safe log-out location — an inn or a player-owned/co-owned house. The character must also be out of combat for a brief cooldown before the stone can be used.

The cap restriction

A character can only claim a stored skill if the stored value does not exceed the character's current skill cap for that line. A 120 Magery skill stored in a Soulstone cannot be claimed onto a character whose Magery cap is 100 (no Power Scroll consumed yet) — the stone refuses the operation.

The skill remains in the stone until either:

1. The character's cap is raised (via Power Scroll consumption) to accept the value.
2. The skill is flushed.
3. A different character is used as the destination.

Before a high-skill transfer, always raise the destination character's cap first — burning a 120 Power Scroll on a character then storing the skill into a stone for an un-scrolled character is a costly mistake.

Account binding

A Soulstone, once redeemed, binds permanently to the first account that uses it. After binding:

• The stone cannot be transferred to a different account.
• All skill operations work only between characters on the bound account.
• Selling or trading the stone post-redemption is impossible.

This is the central design constraint — Soulstones are an account-internal flexibility tool, not a cross-account skill market. The pre-redemption tokens (Green and Blue varieties) could be traded; once a token was used to produce the stone itself, the binding fired.

Variants

Three colored Soulstone variants exist, all functionally identical (multi-use, unlimited charge), with slightly different acquisition paths:

Green Soulstone

The original. Distributed with the Samurai Empire pre-order in 2004, then redistributed as a Legacy Token reward option. The Green Soulstone is by far the most common in circulation.

Blue Soulstone

A promotional pre-order item for The Eighth Age (released 2006). Tokens were distributed via promo code until January 28, 2006; redeemed tokens still produce usable stones today.

Red Soulstone

Awarded as a First-Year Veteran Reward choice. Unlike Green and Blue, Red Soulstones are not distributed as tokens — they are awarded directly to the character claiming the veteran reward, so they cannot be traded before redemption. The binding is immediate to the claiming account.

Soulstone Fragments

A Soulstone Fragment is a partial-charge variant — a Soulstone with a limited number of uses rather than unlimited. Two sources:

Promotional Fragments

• Distributed via promo codes in the Samurai Empire retail upgrade box and Direct2Drive new account purchases (after the original Green Soulstone promotion ended).
• 5 charges, non-renewable.
• Function identically to a full Soulstone for those 5 uses, then become a decorative item.

Crafted Fragments

• Crafted by GM Alchemists who also have Glassblowing and the Stygian Abyss expansion.
• Recipe: 2 Void Essence + 2 Crystal Granules.
• Single-use — one store-claim cycle, then the fragment becomes decorative.
• Tradeable until first use; after a skill is stored, only the storing account can reclaim it.

The crafted fragment route is the modern in-game economy — anyone with a high-skill alchemist friend can produce single-use fragments on demand. Bulk fragment crafting is a viable part-time alchemist economy on production shards.

Color collection

Soulstone Fragments come in 9 different colorations as collectible decoration. Once spent, they remain as visual decor in the player's house. Some collectors deliberately spend fragments solely to acquire the full color spectrum.

Unlike full Soulstones, fragments do not glow when a skill is stored.

The "any/any token" loop

The Soulstone system creates a recognized template-pivot pattern:

1. Character A is built with skills X, Y, Z. Wants to swap X for skill W (stored on Character B).
2. Character B stores W into a Soulstone. B's W drops to 0.
3. Character A stores X into a different Soulstone. A's X drops to 0.
4. Character A claims W from B's stone (must own a stone holding W). A now has W instead of X.
5. Character B claims X from A's stone, regaining the swap.

This dual-stone shuffle is how players maintain multi-character template flexibility. A common configuration:

• One character with combat skills + Mining, supports the smith side.
• One character with Magery + Imbuing + Tinkering.
• Soulstones holding Resisting Spells, Hiding, Stealth, Forensic Eval — to be claimed onto the active character based on the day's content.

A 4-soulstone account effectively triples the skill pool available to the player without owning more characters.

Strategy notes

• One stone, one skill. Plan the skill-storage layout before purchasing/crafting fragments. A common starter set: one stone for Resisting Spells, one for Hiding, one for Stealth, one for a tertiary craft skill.
• Bind safely. First-redemption binding is permanent. Don't redeem a Green Soulstone token onto a brand-new account expected to be deleted; the stone is locked to that account forever.
• Crafted fragments are bulk-cheap. A GM Alchemist with Glassblowing can produce dozens of single-use fragments per hour. The Void Essence + Crystal Granules cost is the limiting factor; both are imbuing-grade resources.
• Cap before claim. Burn the destination character's Power Scrolls before claiming a stored skill that exceeds 100. A 120 Magery store + 100-cap claim destination = wasted Power Scrolls when the destination later trains up and finds the stone empty.
• Veteran Reward Red Soulstone. First-year veterans should pick the Red Soulstone over the alternatives if no other Soulstone has been claimed on the account — even a single full Soulstone is a permanent build-flexibility upgrade.
• Holiday gifts. Soulstone Fragments were given to players as part of Holiday 2005 (deliberately) and Holiday 2006 (accidentally). Some accounts retain unused holiday fragments years later.

See also

Skill, Skill Cap, Power Scrolls, Samurai Empire, Eighth Age, Stygian Abyss, Veteran Reward, Legacy Token, Glassblowing, Alchemy, Void Essence, Crystal Granules, House, Inn, Holiday 2005, Red Soulstone, Soulstone Fragment, Skill Transfer.