Book of Bone and Ebony

Forges of this sort produce the most exotic and unbelievable
wonders of craftsmanship, but must also constantly
turn out minor artifacts of weaponry and armor, so that the
Deathlord’s troops may be well-equipped in the field.
Craftsmen in service to a member of the nobility — a
lord of Stygia, perhaps, or a ruler of one of the outlying
domains of the Underworld — fall somewhere in the
middle. A crafter of true genius will not need to enter
anybody’s service (or will receive an invitation from a
Deathlord that he cannot refuse), while one with no talent
will not be sought after. This sort of crafter, therefore, is
skilled but rarely truly inspired. He will be given many
exotic materials, soulsteel, soulfire crystals of moderate size
and ancient spellbooks but will only occasionally gain the
materials necessary to create truly great artifacts. These
artisans will be allowed some free time by their sponsors to
pursue their own projects, but they will be expected to
devote much of their labor to satisfying their ruler’s whims,
whether this might mean crafting exotic fripperies, personal
weaponry or armor for his troops. Such craftsmen are
assured of rank, status and respect, though they will doubtless
be compared unfavorably to the lonely hermits who
forge wonders in secret. They may console themselves that
they live well (for ghosts) and that they can spend the rest
of eternity at their beloved pursuits. It is a safe existence,
if a confined one, and in the event of war, craftsmen of this
stature may expect to be taken captive; their skills are too
rare to waste.
SOULSTEEL
Anyone in the Underworld knows what soulsteel is
made from: hammered souls, trapped in eternal pain and
misery, wailing quietly but constantly. Nevertheless,
soulsteel items seem to have become widespread through
the Underworld in the last few decades. Of course, if a hero
or a family owns such an item, they will no doubt claim a
perfectly innocent provenance for it. It was taken from an
enemy in battle (and we really should keep it, as it would
be a waste to throw it away), or it was passed down from a
distant ancestor (and it would be improper to discuss the
things she might or might not have done), or it arrived in
some other vague but totally innocent manner. No rightminded
person is going to admit to deliberately seeking out
soulsteel or receiving it directly from the Deathlords.
This is because soulsteel is outright evil. It’s not just
casual use of something that was doomed already. It’s
deliberately sacrificing ghosts to a fate of Oblivion just so
that you can make tools out of them. It’s what spectres do.
Everyone knows that it’s produced by the Deathlords, so
openly carrying soulsteel relics is an obvious indication
that you are one of their clients (unless you have a very,
very persuasive reason as to how you happened to pick up
that soulsteel daiklave). However, given that questioning
the very powerful tends to promote a short afterlife expect-
57
CHAPTER THREE • THE WONDERS OF THE DEAD
ancy, it’s rude to openly scoff at someone’s claim that her
soulsteel relic was left to her by Grandmother just before
she passed into Lethe, however implausible the story is.
The actual distribution of soulsteel is one of the
factors by which the Deathlords increase their grasp on the
Underworld’s economy. While other major rulers could
theoretically produce it, the Deathlords and their agents
are, without a doubt, its largest manufacturers. They have
the smithies, the dark ores, the metalworkers, the spells
and, most importantly, the captive souls to spare — and
the will to destroy them. The Deathlords’ allies are armed
with soulsteel blades and soulsteel armor and soulsteel
chains, and their enemies must tremble before them. Even
if the concept of soulsteel has existed since the Malfeans
were first confined and Oblivion opened its Mouth, it has
never been mass-produced on this scale before. What is
more, the growing number of ghosts and shadowlands
means that raw material is unlikely to run short any time
soon. There will always be more ghosts to be locked into
soulsteel shackles, marched to soulsteel anvils and beaten
into soulsteel themselves with soulsteel hammers.
SOULFIRE CRYSTALS AND
ESSENCE-CONTAINING GEMS
Many artifacts in the Underworld require some form
of Essence-storage device, making soulfire crystals and
Essence-containing gems vital commodities. Soulfire crystals
have the advantage of being natural to the Underworld,
and they can be freely mined and worked, assuming that an
unexploited vein of crystal can be found. However, Essence-containing
gems are ultimately capable of storing as
much or more Essence than soulfire crystals and are therefore
much sought after. Although Essence-containing
gems are dependent on suitable gems being brought in as
grave goods and then undergoing the proper treatment,
they are far more useful and resistant than soulfire crystal.
In fact, there have been rumored cases of Deathlords or
other potentates organizing assassinations among the living,
when the targets would have valuable gems included
among their grave goods, in order to provide suitable raw
materials to create Essence-containing gems.
In practice, however, soulfire crystal is far more
commonly used, especially among the less powerful dead
or in minor artifacts. Since expeditions to dig soulfire
crystals require heavy protection against spectres and
other creatures, the location of a seam, mining equipment
and the ability to transport the crystals once mined,
any large-scale operation is likely to be under the control
of a major Underworld figure or even a Deathlord. Numerous
smaller missions to dig just a few soulfire crystals
are common, and some of them are even successful,
managing to return with most of the team still intact.
Ghosts or others in need of soulfire crystals — particularly
large ones — must decide whether to undertake a