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eggnogis · 1 month ago

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Since Endwalker is there still no way to cast black magic without a soul stone? Argument with a friend. Sadu and Y'shtola seem to be able to use black magic without one?

I'll answer both since I talk about this on discord a lot, so I'd like to talk about it here too.

First, to quickly clear up a small misconception, neither Y'shtola nor Sadu are Black Mages. Y'shtola is a thaumaturge and Sadu is a practitioner of a type of magic unique to the Xaela tribes of the Steppe. The game mechanically treats them like BLMs sometimes, but that's game limitations not so much in line with their lore.

Y'shtola: “I never did tell you why I chose to take up thaumaturgy, did I? As you will no doubt have noticed, life here in the First can be exceedingly unforgiving. Brutal, in a word. I had not long been in Norvrandt when I realized my mastery of conjuring magicks would not suffice to protect the people. 'Twas a struggle at first to embrace the change, but I confess the path of the thaumaturge suits me rather well... Lest you worry, I’ve not forgotten my healing spells. Be it restoration or destruction, this sorceress can command whatever magicks the situation requires.”

Encyclopedia Eorzea II - Eldritch Secrets of the Au Ra: “Among the Xaela of the Azim Steppe, there is a multitude of tribes who have preserved the ways of ancient magicks. In typical Xaela fashion, the manner of their teaching, not to mention the content of the lesson itself, varies wildly from tribe to tribe. There are shamans who claim to hear the voice of the gods themselves, while yet others boast the ability to see into the future. Whilst research into these magicks of eld has progressed but little, a respected aetherologist has documented instances of other phenomenon - blasts of fire, curative touches, and the like - which prove the Xaela capable of casting the equivalent of most rudimentary spells. Distinct amongst their knowledge, however, is a rite wherein pattern engraved into specially prepared stone result in a biddable golem. These stone faces, or ‘khun chuluu’ in the Xaela’s native tongue, can serve as a focus which amplifies arcane energies, enabling the manifestation of falling comets and other such spells of devastation and ruin.”

To quickly answer the second question: Yes, there are many disciplines of magic which utilize external aether: Black Magic and White Magic, Blue Magic, Conjury, Astromancy, and Geomancy.

You can learn more about how all of the magic classes work, here! You can learn more about the history of Black Mage, here! There's even a section about BLMs in the modern day at the bottom.

Soul Crystals & Roleplay

tl;dr - Can I RP a job without a soul crystal? Absolutely! *But, there's no need to do so unless not having a soul crystal is somehow important narratively to your character.

More in depth talk below the cut!

No soul crystal should be more difficult to obtain than it is for your character to learn about that job's existence.

In every job quest scenario, the WoL bumblefucks their way into obtaining a soul crystal almost immediately in the first quest. There's not an instance where they don't. And detractors will likely say: "Yeah but they're the WoL! They're special!" Sure, but in none of those aforementioned questlines does the WoL get handed a soul crystal because they're the WoL. Circumstances just happens. And they can for your characters just as easily too.

I've noticed a lot of people in the community seem to think these soul crystals are rare or nigh-unobtainable (I can only assume it has to do with the half-dozen Job Tier Lists floating around that I just cannot in good conscience recommend), but that just isn't the case. Soul crystals have been in use for at least the last 6,000 years. Nearly every known civilization on Hydaelyn has made and used soul crystals. Even in the modern day, it is known how to craft new, blank ones. It's never imparted how to us, the players, but its known how in universe. Both Stephanivien (MCH) and Martyn (BLU) mass produce blank ones, two characters from wildly different economic means.

Here's a few suggestions you can tailor to yours or any character:

Passed down as a family heirloom. Maybe for generations, waiting for the right person to come along.

It belonged to your character's parent and they gave it to your character (like Alphinaud).

Bought it on the black market.

Looted off a corpse (on the battlefield, in the belly of a beast you killed, in the slums, on the front doorstep of the Supreme Sacred Tribunal of Halonic Inquisitory Doctrine...).

Pickpocketed off of an adventurer.

Found in a river / dumpster / attic / treasure chest / dungeon crawl / new FC house.

Won as a prize from a tournament or RP event!

From an RP partner who is also that job. If they teach you about the job also just have them give you a soul crystal too.

Make an RP event out of it! Do a dungeon crawl (say U'Ghamaro) and at the end find a soul crystal (on a dead padjal far from home).

Make a blank soul crystal! It may not contain knowledge of past wielders, but it will satisfy that "requires soul crystal" requirement.

Or, you can ignore all of that and just not have one if you really don't want one. There's no real reason not to have one, unless your not having one is part of some specific narrative, but that option is on the table for you.

Doesn't this job say I need one or else I'll explode!? No. Here's what Dozol posits:

Dozol Meloc: “But these wounds… Perhaps Dozol has an explanation. These men did not have the Gem of Shatotto! Squaaawk! Dozol thinks that is why they died. Gem is proof that Sounsyy is true black mage. Gem brims with magical power. Without the Gem of Shatotto, impossible to control, the most powerful black magic is! Squaaawk! Lost control, these mages did. Aether within their own bodies ignited! Burned alive from the inside. Painful way to die, it is.”

Now this is a theory that's never actually proven or challenged in any way, it's just sort of taken as fact. But that's fine. Magic, particularly old magic techniques, are quite dangerous so this isn't too out there:

Encyclopedia Eorzea II - Tomes of Summoning: “Once mages learned which symbols held the most power, and which were irrelevant, summoning circles were radically simplified. Space no longer an issue, more diagrams could be fit into a tome, along with their incantations. No more were mages burdened with the memorization of the complex invocations required to power their spells, and accidental deaths resulting from miscasts dropped significantly.”

All Dozol is essentially implying here is that attempting to cast spells that are above your skill level or ability is dangerous, deadly even without the potential aid of a soul crystal. This quote is not saying that you NEED a soul crystal or you will automatically combust. It's saying that without a soul crystal, if you fuck around with magic you don't understand, you may find out.

There are some job quests that will say a soul crystal is required. (SMN, AST, etc) Or in many cases, that soul crystals have a secondary function that serves the wielder in some way (this makes sense because these jobs were invented with soul crystal use in mind). Like a SCH faerie's memories being stored inside the crystal, or a MCH's aetherotransformer being powered by your soul crystal, etc.

You can choose to ignore that, of course, but there's no real need to. You can just say you have a soul crystal. As a given. You can just do that! No explanation needed.

So what does a soul crystal actually do for you? It's a means of learning an art which no longer has any living practitioners. Or just any practitioners in your part of the world. It teaches you through the memories of past practitioners, helping your own journey. Sometimes it aids you in performing that art.

Some might see this as a short cut or speedrunning the process of learning these jobs. But I feel like it must be said that you, the roleplayer, ultimately and always have control on how fast your character learns something. Instead, ask how quick of a learner is your character? How gifted are they with magic? Are they a neophyte caster? Then having a black magic soul crystal probably won't do much for them, if anything. What's their access to education, books, research materials, tutors, foci and other materials necessary to preform the job in question? All of these things can drastically affect how quickly your character learns a new skill. And they're all under your control! Whether you choose to learn a job like black mage from a soul crystal, a tutor, or from ancient tomes sealed away in a forbidden library you ultimately decide how fast and how well your character learns or masters something.

Consider also: no two soul crystals - even for the same job - should be exactly alike. They can only pass on what past wielders put in. This is an easy way to justify alternative spells and fighting styles beyond what the game shows you. Try playing around with this concept, whether it be a boon or a limitation for your character. Much like imagining what your "Azem" for your WoL was like, maybe think about who the previous owner(s) of your soul crystal(s) were like.

Aren't soul crystals SUPER rare? Not as much as people seem to think they are. Miqo'te and Viera are "rare" in Eorzean lore, but we ignore that don't we. So why do we fanatically gatekeep a soul crystal's rarity? Sure, Samurai might be hard to come by in Eorzea, but if your character is from Far Eastern Doma or Hingashi they and their crystals are likely a dime-a-dozen.

Where could I find a black mage soul crystal? Where couldn't you? Mhach was a nation full of black magic practitioners. Shatotto, the first BLM, its inventor, had a soul crystal. It's safe to assume they (successive black mages) all or most all did. Why wouldn't they? We've established they're simple to mass produce.

In Amdapor in fact - Mhach's contemporary - the famous red and white robes of the WHM were only worn by those who had a soul crystal. There were armies of these white magic practitioners! That's potentially hundreds of soul crystals forgotten on ancient battlefields across Eorzea.

Encyclopedia Eorzea II - A White Mage’s Panoply: "Together, the two colors were meant to represent a white mage’s duty: to cleanse and heal. The Amdapori took this seriously - only those who had endured intense training, been recognized by the Council of Magi for their ability, and been officially granted a soul crystal were permitted to wear the white and red."

Mhach meanwhile conquered a good portion of Eorzea, and waged war on the places they hadn't conquered. Mhachi survivors fled to Gyr Abania where they lived and continued to speak Mhachi until the 10th century 6AE. Mhachi descendants wandered the southern half of Eorzea for nigh 700 years before founding Belah'dia keeping Mhachi traditions like their magic and forehead gems alive. There's a lot of fertile ground in the lore for creative ideas, don't be too afraid of community stigmas to try.

I don't like the idea that people should be gatekept from roleplaying what they want because someone deemed a bit of crystal hard to get in a Final Fantasy game. By all means, roleplay jobs as having the gravitas and obscurity their lore suggests, but "rarity" is subjective and a fake community construct that has little bearing on one's roleplay.

#xivlore

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