Soul of Radiance
Method
Artifact History
The Soul of Radiance is a talisman created by the Dreamsmiths of Radiance before the Great Loss which is able to "host" living souls within it. These souls are the souls of prominent and honorable Protectors of the past who have sacrificed their dreaming to be a part of the Soul of Radiance. These souls are what make the Soul of Radiance work; mare essence processed through the artifact are in effect "cleansed" of the chaos of the mares and then Banished out of the dream in the form of pure essence, rather than chaos forces. It is the sentient souls within the Soul of Radiance which perform this work.
The original Soul was destroyed in The Great Loss... its very nature made it susceptible to the damage caused by the tide of chaos.
When I returned to the Dream after The Great Loss, I found my comrades all dead, the Soul destroyed, and the souls that had rested inside it scattered throughout the house. Therefor I meditated within the house for a time without measure and made contact with those souls. With no Soul of Radiance to contain my comrades' dying essence, I was able to draw them all into my own avatar, in effect using my avatar instead of the Soul of Radiance to protect and host them. However, I was still unable to Banish.
This is the point where I returned to the Dream.
As the house grew and brought in essence, I would pick them up and store them within my very avatar. The Souls within me could contain and purify them but not Banish them. However I continued to use my avatar in this fashion, for I wanted the Crusade for the Unawakened to proceed immediately! Eventually the pulsing energies became too much, and I developed a wound in the chest of my avatar where the energies threatened to burst it. As work proceeded in the house my avatar gradually became crippled with this condition, to the point where I could barely lift my spear.
A few weeks after appointing the Circle of Rulers (all 9 of them at once so they would rule the Protector-ship completely and as equals) I went into a complete state of arrest. My wife, Sabra, came to the house and to my side. The noble souls of radiance which I had absorbed and saved after the Great Loss whispered what I must do for the Crusade, and so at that moment I gave up my avatar and allowed them to remake it into the new Soul of Radiance. In so doing I passed from coherence and was believed dead.
However my soul, like the noble community of souls which I am a part of, still exists, and I thrive within the walls of my house and can manage short visits into the Valley itself for very short periods. I watch the activity of my fellow Protectors... the new Protectors which now man the battlements my contemporaries once occupied so proudly and with so much faith and conviction... and I am pleased. It is a new breed I find myself surrounded by these days, and I find them in every way as worthy as they who I served with in The Nightmare Wars.
This is my sworn testimony! LET THE RADIANCE SHINE FORTH!!!
Tybarian Ruler of Protectors
36th Captain of the Radiant Brigade
