#soul sanctum snail shaman

[transmogrified-in-the-void]

Regret

[raddest-laddest]

pop off ig

[yo-i-draw]

The snail Shamans are something I always thought of as the “first spellcasters” of the world in hollow knight. I wish we would have more info about them. So what better away to cope with this then trun one of the snail that’s dead into alive character instead!

That me and my friend nicknamed Siphon.. also who is my favorite snail in the game. Aka the “3rd uncle” of the Snail shaman we actually meet!

The basic idea is instead of him exploding while screaming he falls into the floor and when coming back into the room he’s gone.. and has done his best to leave Soul sanctum. Due to what happened back there, he wouldn’t have enough of anything left to cast spells or even heal with “soul magic” as I have been gotten use to call it. (He would probably have massive beef with Soul master.)

He wouldn’t exactly be rude, just upset about what happened to him… I mean how would you feel if you had magic but then the guy who wanted to work with you hit you in the head and took it all from you… and you woke up 100 or so years later. (Small edit added after more snails were drawn)

Sorry if this is a bit out of pocket from my 2 first hollow knight post, I just felt confident enough to post this.

[littlebittyhollowbugs]

Are you still rambling about dynamics between characters? If so I kinda got an obscure pair and idk if you have thought about it. The snail shaman you find in the Soul Sanctum and Soul Tyrant.

Ooooh!! Yeah

I don't know if I've ever rambled about the soul sanctum or snail shaman characters/lore on here yet, but tbh just assume I have thought about every aspect of this game before XD

So yeah! I'll gladly share my thoughts on these two and what I hc their relationship was like.

To start, I'm on board with the theory that the shamans are void beings. I've read quite a few theories on this.

This one in particular I really like.

From the little we know about the shamans it seems that they have been around since the days of the void civilization, and after the Pale kings reign were shunned and potentially forced out of society.

At the very least their power was shunned.(Which you learn by dreamnailing the shaman mound's whispering root)

While the other shamans are located within mounds, which seem to be sacred locations, the sanctum shaman has no mound that we know of.

What we know about him from the crossroad shaman's dialouge is that he possessed the desolate dive ability, and possessed a "ferocious temper"

I hc that this shaman was upset with the way he and his people had been shunned by Hallownest society and wished to prove that their power could be used for the benefit of the kingdom.

Now about the Soul master, I hc that before the infection, he was trusted by the king and the sanctum was a place dedicated to research in regards to soul and how to best utilize it for growth and healing purposes.

After the infection began to spread, the Soul master was desperate to help in creating a cure utilizing soul, but was unsuccessful.

I also hc that the soul master was once one of the king's advisors, until he began to propose dangerous ideas.

The king forbid him from practicing any of his ideas and took away his title of royal advisor. (This is all inspired by the soul tyrant's dreamnail dialouge where we learn he used to speak directly with the king, who shut down all his plans)

After all of this transpired the soul master began going about his goals in secret, and without aid from the king himself, he quietly sought out the aid of a snail shaman.

The shaman, desiring to be accepted into hallownest society, agreed to be a partner of sorts with the master of the sanctum.

Help him and, in turn, prove his people's power could still be of use.

So yes, the master and shaman of the sanctum started out as partners and allies, granting eachother respect and working together under a unified cause.

The soul master's plan was evidently, to "attain pure focus" that is i believe, to be constantly harvesting soul from the world around you. (The same power the king's soul charm grants you.)

It seems that he and his scholars believed that power would grant them immortality and protect them from the infection, but they were never able to actually attain it.

Their experimenting with/sacrificing others in attempt to gain more soul (and eventually their desired immortality) were practices the soul master had learned from the shaman (or were at least inspired by him.)

The shamans, being born of void, were able to harvest soul from other living beings without side affects.

This doesn't apply to the average bug, as we see from the sanctum warriors, whose dreamnail dialouge suggests that taking another beings' soul into themselves can mess with their minds and memories.

The soul master himself was eventually driven to complete madness, and I believe every soul he consumed from the bugs he had captured contributed to that. (Though obviously he had become insanely desperate even before this)

I believe that most of the victims had been killed and sacrificed after the return of the infection, and after the king's disappearance. But that they had been experimenting in secret before then.

I also don't believe it was the shaman's intention for so many to be killed, he might not have intended for anyone to die at all, just have portions of their soul harvested to be used (for what he believed was the greater good.)

But after the soul master was driven to madness and had become obsessed with immortality he forced the shaman to stay and serve him until eventually turning on him too.

I like the idea that they were once allies, which makes the shamans fate a betrayal. To me that's more interesting than the soul master just capturing a random shaman and experimenting on him.

I imagine before the soul tyrant became mad with power, he and the shaman connected over their desire to prove themselves and their abilities useful to the kingdom, and genuinely wanted to help the kingdom to progress.

They connected over their frustrations, over their power and plans being shunned and denied.

The shaman found the acceptance he had desired a long time in the soul master, only to watch his partner dive deeper and deeper into insanity before at last betraying him. (Though, while the master did grant the shaman respect in the beginning of their relationship, and was certaintly fascinated with him and his abilities, he never saw the shaman as his equal.)

Tbh I haven't gone over their relationship very thoroughly before. But my sisters and I have discussed it.

If we come up with more hcs concerning this I'll make sure to add them!

They are interesting to think about.

[cloudyswritings]

Snail Shamans(Snamans? Shmamans? Snaimals?)

okay so I may have lied about being back, but now I actually should be(if my current cold stops obliterating my sinuses at least). Anyway here’s a thing:

So I’ve been thinking a bit about these guys, admittedly it’s been a bit since I played or like saw them, so takes this all with a grain of salt.

So I feel like it’s semi popular to think of snail shamans as like, being void. But I’ve always had something of an issues with that? Or like at least the idea they’re completely void. See the main thing hanging me up is that the shaman seems surprised when you bring your void upgraded spells to them. Like they seem to only really work with Soul as far as I can tell? At least they seem more familiar with soul based spells, and their charms are all soul based.

Okay, so what though? Like don’t they still have the whole turns into maybe void particles on death thing? And also they’re snails, probably sea snails tying in with the whole void as a sea thing. To that I’ll say sure, yeah that’s pretty true. There’s arguably even a connection to like the ammonites/nautilus fossils that make up parts of Hallownest.

The thing I find most interesting about them though, is that they seemingly can’t leave their mounds. I think this tells us a few things actually, because it reminds me a lot of how ghosts work. Given that they were likely still alive when they chose/got attached to their mounds, it makes me wonder why exactly they chose the locations they did. Now obviously the ancestral mound was you know, likely ancestral and thus there before the living shaman(and it implies interesting things about snail society maybe?) but what about the rest of them? They’re all quite close to the surface actually, with locations in crystal peaks, and fog canyon, as well as the little mausoleum thing in the resting grounds, and the poor fella who is in the soul sanctum. All of these locations are notably far out of the reach of the void.

Anyway, that was super rambly, but I don’t think they’ve got anything to do with the void except some possible staining from ancestors who WERE void related. What I do think they have a connection to however, is surprisingly, godseeker. See the shamans have a whole thing about their spiral focus, that allows them to wield soul more efficiently and make charms to focus it. The key word being focus, which is generally how soul magic is used, but may also have some connection to the “attunement” the godeseekers use. I think that the shamans and godseekers might be a similar “class” of being. Like we’ve got bugs, beasts, and gods as well as higher beings, I figure that the godseeker probably wouldn’t consider themselves a higher being(unless I’m forgetting something) but they nonetheless have significant power. Basically the shamans might have been very similar, but instead chose to attune themselves to soul magic instead of dreams(seekers) or void(vessels, arguably).

[kraymerman]

I like the idea that, prior to the arrival of the Pale King in Hallownest, there was an ongoing war between the Moth Tribe and the Snail Shamans (basically a slow, encroaching genocide because only two moths knew how to fight), and the reason the Moths turned to the Pale King was because he helped them fight back the Snail Shamans when the Radiance wouldn't.

We get the impression from the Soul Eater charm that the Snail Shamans used to be a far more dangerous people prior to the events of the game, and the fact that soul, the Snail Shamans' primary method of magic, is so staunchly banned by the Pale King implies, at least to me, that the Snail Shamans, once upon a time, were bad bad news.

My theory is that the surviving Snail Shaman, as well as the Overgrown Shaman, Crystal Shaman, and the shaman held captive in the Soul Sanctum were defectors of the Snail Shaman tribe, content to surrender to the Pale King's rule and maybe even help him combat the rest of the shamans, confining themselves to their mounds after the fact as a sign of their pacifism. This is my belief mainly because I want the Snail Shaman to be a mischievous, but ultimately kind-hearted trickster, not a confined genocider. Also it wouldn't make sense for them to have been left alive if they were the same as their kin.

In terms of whether or not they are void, I have absolutely no idea. I am inclined to believe that they are void in some way, as I have a gut feeling that they're tied to the Ancient Caste in some way, possibly being constructs created by them so they could live on past their extinction in a way ("our voices will cry out again"). I mean, the soul totum in the Ancestral Mound seems to imply, at least to me, that the Snail Shaman knew of the Shade Lord, so...

But ultimately, I think the relationship between the Shamans and void is something that was left purposefully, frustratingly vague and conflicting, so it's probably best to leave it as a mystery

[rainbow-scarab]

The Ancient Sea of Hallownest: Part 1

Hallownest is an ancient land, of many people and successive kingdoms. It has been through many changes, from the Pale King, to the Radiance, to an ancient civilization that worshipped the void at the bottom of the world.

But this is not quite the whole story. The land itself is full of history. The fossils upon fossils that fill the ground point to a much deeper history, spanning to even before the Ancient Civilization.

For this theory I’ve made a four part post, going over the geological formation of Hallownest, the origin of the void, and the history of the peoples of Hallownest with a focus on the Ancient Civilization and snails.

Snail Shamans and Ancestral Power

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

<Theory Masterpost>

There is but one surviving snail we can see in Hallownest, but we can see they used to live in various areas throughout the kingdom. All the examples, living and dead, are of mysterious and powerful beings who were capable of creating spells.

The living example, known only as Snail Shaman (who I will call AMSS (Ancestral Mound Snail Shaman) for short), gives Ghost a spell, and is able to comment on any new spells and spell upgrades they get. Most of the information we know about the snails comes from these comments.

This spell commentary suggests some very interesting things to me, beyond just how spells work. Using that and other evidence, I argue that snails are a very ancient species with ties to the void, even more ancient than the so-called Ancient Civilization.

There are various forms of magic in Hollow Knight. Spells. Charms. Dreams. Marks, as I wrote about recently. Many of these have quite personal components to them. For instance, Salubra says:

Few ways a charm appears but mainly it's from final wish, a dying bug's potent desire crystallised into these gorgeous, powerful trinkets.

And when I analyzed marks, I found they were used to pass on something from one bearer of the mark to the next. The personal component to dreams and the essence from such I feel is a bit self-explanatory, carrying the thoughts and hopes of beings.

Now, how about soul and spells? The developer notes speak some of them:

Dev note “Magic”: spell is used, but magic in Hollow Knight is generally a shamanistic thing, so the words around it are more 'will' 'spirit' 'force' and emotions like 'rage' 'vengeance' 'longing' etc. Maybe magic can be used?

Dev note “Vengeful Spirit”: A desire for revenge is seared into the SOUL of those who fell in battle or were wronged in life. A Shaman can concentrate this desire and cast it out into the world to burn away whatever stands before them. - old descriptor text. Is pretty good! Should we put it in dialogue somewhere?

The dev notes are not canon, and were not intended to be public, but they may give insight into Team Cherry’s mindset. They seem to speak of a connection between emotion, soul, and spells. And from what survives in the game, names for spells like Vengeful Spirit, Howling Wraiths, and Desolate Dive carry something about emotion.

Examining the Soul Sanctum and how soul was used there can tell us something as well. The Hunter’s Journal entry on Soul Warriors:

Learned bug, wielding a refined pinblade. Enhances its combat prowess with harvested soul. Where these strange warriors go, whispers follow them. Not only are they skilled with a nail, they can also use some strange power to shift suddenly from place to place. Stay on guard.

And their dreamnail dialog:

This soul...Is it my own? ...This power...What did it cost? These skills...No training I recall...

Soul is able to store something of the knowledge of a bug, and if the dev notes are true, the emotion as well. When another being gains that soul, that knowledge can be transferred.

Now…the dialog from AMSS, on all the spells Ghost can get.

First encounter, when giving Vengeful Spirit: I'm going to give you a gift, a nasty little spell of my own creation.

With Desolate Dive: My third uncle used to possess similar abilities. He also possessed a ferocious temper! Ohohoho! What a dreadful combination.

With Howling Wraiths: Pried a spell out've my larger cousin did you? Aren't you the charming one. She's not usually the generous sort, certainly not as giving as myself, but she does have that wonderful voice! It's no surprise her spells take on such aural force.

These are all the base versions, the versions with no void component. Vengeful Spirit from the living Snail Shaman, Howling Wraiths from the one in Overgrown Mound. Desolate Dive is gained from Soul Master, but that’s not the way AMSS speaks of it—he identifies it with his uncle. A locked area of the Soul Sanctum contains a snail who looks to have been experimented on. This may well be the uncle, the true origin of the spell.

Each one of these spells is spoken of in relation to something of the personal of the snail it comes from. AMSS giving his directly, which he says he created. His cousin, who he knew to have a powerful voice, and whose dreamnail dialog indicates she wished to be heard. And the uncle, who may have expressed his anger with destructive spells.

Though soul may carry the thought and emotions of others, the snails seemed to harness their own emotions for their spells (whether or not it is enhanced or aided by any emotion in the soul itself).

What’s even more interesting to me is AMSS’s dialog when you factor in the upgraded versions:

With Descending Dark: There's another quality about you yet. You didn't perchance visit my fourth aunt? She makes her home beside that Crystal Mount. Leaves quite an impression on those that seek her out.

With Shade Soul: What's this? My vengeful gift has warped within you. You've twisted it into something... else. Ohohohoh! I knew it. My friend! You're a marvel. Your essence has melded with the spell. You must have found a powerful source to transform it in such a unique, expressive way.

With Abyss Shriek: That scream? Ooohh, distorted in such a way... It's not within the skills of us snails to do such a thing. Wherever you draw this new power from, it's not a place my kind ever thought to look.

Snail Shaman speaks of Descending Dark in a manner similar to Desolate Dive and Howling Wraiths, in that he identifies it with a particular snail. Even though this is a void version, rather than just soul. The snail in Crystallised Mound, when freed from the crystal, does explode into void particles that Ghost absorbs to upgrade the spell, but I’m not sure that’s the whole story of what’s going on here. For Desolate Dive, the unupgraded version, he speaks of the ability of his uncle, but here for the upgraded version, he just speaks of the “quality” and “impression” of his aunt. Less about the technique of the spell, and more something personal that has been imparted.

Shade Soul is gotten from the snail in Soul Sanctum, the one who very likely was the origin of the Desolate Dive spell. For this version of the spell, AMSS does not remark upon the qualities of the other snail, but instead comments on Ghost themself. Ghost’s “essence”, changing the spell into something unique.

(And, I would say, a massive point on the side of “vessels are real people with real thoughts and emotions”, for AMSS to call this transformation expressive)

This snail in Soul Sanctum, the likely uncle of AMSS, is only referred to as the “powerful source” that enables such a transformation. They scream and explode into void when Ghost interacts with the body. This snail is the only one in the game who can’t be dreamnailed. And it’s not due to void, as the one from the Crystallised Mound also explodes into void and still has dreamnail dialog.

My guess is that experimentation from the Soul Sanctum bugs tore apart everything this snail was, forcibly extracting Desolate Dive from them for Soul Master’s use, and there wasn’t much left of mind or emotion after that. Only a body left suspended in a half-dead state, who still held power but little to nothing of who they were as a person.

For Abyss Shriek, I’ll be coming back to examine it in a bit.

All these spells, as common with other forms of magic in Hollow Knight, seem to not just be about power and ability but also of personal traits. Each snail AMSS comments on was someone he knew and was able to recognize their influence in the spells. This is true even in the case of his fourth aunt, who he does not identify with the actual technique of the spell. It’s still true in the case of Shade Soul, where AMSS attributes Ghost as the source of the personal contribution, with their essence and creativity. Such a personal aspect seems critical to the creation, modification, and use of spells.

The snails in the game seem to be very concerned with relationships, especially family. AMSS is found in what is called the Ancestral Mound. When he sends you off to take care of the elder baldur in the mound, he says: “I'm sure the spirits of my ancestors will be watching over you.” Each snail he speaks of is one relative of his or another. The description of the shaman stone, which is shaped in the manner of all the snail-related charms (spirals, opening possibly representing a front-view of a snail shell), says: “Said to contain the knowledge of past generations of shaman.” The snail shamans seem to care about all family relations, whether those known personally or long dead.

Now, it’s possible some of the shamans were not snails. It’s possible some of the snails were not shamans. But the only examples we get in the game are where both “snail” and “shaman” go together. Desolate Dive was almost certainly not shared willingly with Soul Master. Vengeful Spirit was shared willingly by AMSS with Ghost, for whatever his reasons. I don’t know how uncommon such a thing was, to share with a non-snail, but I am assuming due to all the association we see in the game that the snail tradition of spells was something primarily shared among themselves. Due to this, I think the snails were primarily concerned with biological ancestors.

(It's possible AMSS shared the spell with Ghost due to both having void in them. The snails seem to be at least partially made of it. Perhaps he felt a kinship of some kind. But also, it did not seem to take anything out of AMSS to share the spell. At least, not like how it was with the snail in Soul Sanctum, who was hanging between life and death after everything that was done to them. Even if it took some energy, AMSS was still just as full of life as he was beforehand.)

The Ancestral Mound contains a whispering root. The words upon completing it:

...Soul attuned... ...Spiral focus... ...Shunned Power...

I’ve heard some people speculate on the meaning of “shunned power”. That perhaps these spells were a kind of magic that was not accepted by wider Hallownest. The words “soul attuned” I find fairly self-explanatory. Spells use soul, which the snails seemed quite adept at.

As for “spiral focus”…this is a bit more tricky. Focus, we know, is a word related to the use of soul, the name of the ability that allows Ghost to heal, and possibly related to other things.

Tablet in King’s Pass: Higher beings, these words are for you alone. Your great strength marks you amongst us. Focus your soul and you shall achieve feats of which others can only dream.

Record in Soul Sanctum: Record Aba / The mind still limits us so. / How to break past its constraints? / To attain a pure focus, is it even possible?

Snails also have spiral shells of course, and the charms associated with them are full of spirals.

But um. Spiral focus. In actuality.

I think this is a joke!

A reference!

It’s not the only time Team Cherry has put in some kind of reference. And it’s not like Hollow Knight is entirely humorless. Such a small thing as a piece of text in a whispering root is not too consequential to include a fun reference.

Strap in everyone it’s time to talk about the 2007 anime and source of memes past Gurren Lagann.

(Yes, I’m going somewhere with this XD And if you’d like to avoid major spoilers for the anime, you can skip the next couple paragraphs)

Spirals feature throughout Gurren Lagann. In its universe, there’s a force called “spiral power”, which is revealed to be the power of evolution. The tone of the show can be rather silly, and spiral power is used in an utterly over the top manner, able to give the characters power-ups in real time somehow. But even so, it’s still supposed to be emblematic of the power of evolution, as symbolized by the spiral shape of the dna double helix.

(Is it worth it to mention that spiral power was considered a threat by the “anti-spirals” and humans were forced to live in hiding underground? Just as Hallownest is underground, and you might say the snails’ spiral focus was a shunned power? Sure XD Sure)

I wondered if the snails might derive some sort of power from their ancestors. Just like soul itself can hold knowledge, and the shaman stone contains ancestral knowledge. Spells, which carry something of the personality of their creators, may have been passed along—if not the individual spells, at least the knowledge of how to create and wield them. I wondered if they might practice some form of ancestor veneration, tending to their mounds. AMSS indicates that his ancestors would watch over Ghost, who perhaps reside in Ancestral Mound, or are honored from there.

(AMSS calls himself bound to the Ancestral Mound. A dev note indicates it may be by duty or possibly he's actually incapable of leaving. I have to wonder if perhaps snails found it critically important to have at least one person tending to a mound, due to the tie to ancestors and the important place they hold ancestors to have. And with so few snails left.....AMSS was the only one to be able to do so... This is just speculative though)

Further than all this, though. I had to wonder, at the thought of dna and evolution, if the snails were perhaps something very ancient indeed. Even if, yes, my thoughts going in such a direction had started at the thought of memes, I had to wonder if such a thing could arise due a real theme. I had to wonder how far back snails tracked their ancestors. How many ages they had been in Hallownest. If they could have been there so far back, they weren’t even snails anymore.

Before going further, let’s talk about Abyss Shriek.

The Abyss Shriek is obtained in the Abyss, in a room full of odd objects.

This area seems to be associated with the Ancient Civilization (discussion on Ancient Civilization architecture in the third part of the series, so for now it can just be taken as an assumption). These objects are reminiscent of the look of Howling Wraiths and Abyss Shriek, and each one looks somewhat like a soul vessel. When using the dreamnail, you get this dialog:

...Our voices... will cry out... again...

Ghost can use Howling Wraiths in this area to upgrade it to Abyss Shriek. Void pours into the room from above, before Ghost absorbs it into their body, upgrading the spell.

AMSS says:

That scream? Ooohh, distorted in such a way... It's not within the skills of us snails to do such a thing. Wherever you draw this new power from, it's not a place my kind ever thought to look.

I find this quite interesting.

I’ve seen this dialog referenced before in order to say that the snails are not associated with the Abyss, Ancient Civilization, and void.

However, I disagree with that on two counts.

I do think the snails are significantly tied to void, with bodies partially made of void. AMSS also doesn’t seem to be surprised by Ghost’s nature and calls them a shadow, so it’s possible he recognizes void in another.

I do think the snails may be tied to the Abyss, though I’ll be getting back to this.

I think what is meant here is that the snails have no ties to the Ancient Civilization.

All other examples of the spells were related to emotions and personal ties. The snail shamans seemed to draw power from their emotions and ancestors. It may not be the physical location that made AMSS comment as he did on Abyss Shriek, but instead the identity of those who enabled the upgrade.

Our voices will cry out again. Whose voices? I assume those of the Ancient Civilization, due to the architecture.

If the snails were associated with the Abyss and void, but have an origin other than the Ancient Civilization, what would this mean?

I don’t think the Ancient Civilization was the first.

I think we can find evidence of something much, much older.

In the very rock itself.

In the fossils that are found all throughout Hallownest, but change to be only one type, deeper down in the Ancient Basin and Abyss.

And in the void sea that resides there.

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

<Theory Masterpost>

[stagbells]

Written work

From: @arcane-map

To: @green-torsos

Note: Happy Holidays! You have such cool designs for your ocs! Hope you enjoy this tragic romance I wrote for the Soul Master and Kelon :) 

(Work: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dU2VS4ftjfYWBfbZjazuUs1zUoiOZ-h5xqVf5dGjHKw/edit?usp=sharing)

Written work under readmore

The Soul Master stepped out onto the balcony, taking a break from the insipid celebrations supposedly thrown in his honor. The Sanctum buzzed with visiting nobles and officials, all clamoring for his attention and favor like mindless moths to any bright light that shone their way.

He would endure them for now. Without government funding, their donations were the only thing that allowed him to continue his studies in Soul. But the fools had no vision, no capacity to appreciate his genius. None here were worthy of his time.

No one truly important had come. The Watcher had declined his invitation with a feeble excuse, and the Pale King, who had once been a patron of the Soul Sanctum, had not even deigned to acknowledge him.

No matter - soon, all would know his power.

"Soul Master," a familiar voice drawled. "Is that what they call you now?"

The Soul Master whirled around to confront the bug who had the audacity to address him so casually. 

But there, perched on the balcony railing, was Kelon. The short green dragonfly stood out dramatically from the assembled nobles dressed in pretentious reds and purples of the City.

The Soul Master straightened his own dark, sweeping cloak with an indignant huff. "It is my earned title. You would do well to use it."

"Oh, my apologies, Master. What are you doing out here, so far away from your adoring fans?"

The Soul Master scowled. "Getting some air. Their constant fawning is stifling."

"And here I thought you'd enjoy all the attention," Kelon said, eyes glinting. "The nobles hanging on your every word, the officials clamoring for your wisdom..."

"They want to save their own shell, nothing more," the Soul Master sneered. "Not one has a fraction of my intellect."

"Well, few bugs are as smart as you." Kelon laughed.

That alone was worth more than any praise from the sycophants in the Sanctum.

"Come join me for a drink in the City, just us two. They're too drunk to even notice your absence."

The Soul Master did not have time for frivolous diversions. He needed to make sure the nobles were on his side.

But this was Kelon so the Soul Master smiled, "Just one drink."

***

The ceiling of the City was leaking again. The inhabitants of the City had started calling it "the City of Tears." The Soul Master grumbled about the bleak weather and then went on to complain about life in general.

He complained about the plague creeping slowly nearer while the king did nothing. The Queen had retreated into her gardens. Their prayers had gone unanswered.The Soul Master was certain the king no longer cared for the City's struggling citizens.

"The only cure lies in my research," The Soul Master ranted. "I delve into mysteries of Soul never before explored while the narrowminded Watcher hinders me at every turn!"

"The Watcher... what's he got to do with anything?" Kelon asked.

"He's threatening to have my experiments shut down!"

Kelon looked at him evenly. "So? You don't answer to him."

The Soul Master took courage from Kelon's steadfast confidence in him. He had to continue, to keep trying.

"You're right, my friend. I'll remove anyone who stands in my way of saving Hallownest," the Soul Master said, ignoring the strange expression that passed over Kelon's face. "Nevermind. I need your help."

"Me?" Kelon brightened. "I can help?"

"There are rumors of a snail shaman hiding somewhere in the Crossroads…"

***

Watching the snail shaman disappear into the deeper parts of the Soul Sanctum, Kelon asked in a casual tone. "This is all to try and save Hallownest, right?"

"Innovation does not happen without a few risks," the Soul Master intoned.

"Look, I don't care about the snail shaman. He seems hardy enough." Kelon's brow furrowed as his gaze lingered on the Soul Master's slightly bloated form. "But what toll might this take on you?"

"Are you implying I'm unwell?"

"No–"

"Then cease your prattling!” The Soul Master snapped. “You know not of what you speak. Do not question me!"

"I'm not one of your Soul Warriors," Kelon said quietly.

The Soul Master regretted his outburst instantly at the look on Kelon's face. He explained. "This power could seem frightening, but it is Hallownest's only salvation. Have faith, and one day you will understand."

Kelon nodded slowly but his gaze lingered on the darkened hallway. "I do have faith in you."

***

The Soul Master was focusing intently on an experiment when shouting erupted outside the Sanctum doors. He growled in annoyance - likely some noble coming to beg him to save their pathetic life. Let the Soul Warriors deal with it.

"You cannot disturb the Master now! He is deep in important work!"

"We're friends!"

The Soul Master paused and recognized Kelon's voice rising above the rest, arguing loudly with the Soul Warriors barring his entry. He hesitated.

But no, his work was too important. He did not have time for his old friend when the secret to immortality was so close at hand. His specimens would expire in a few moments. 

They would have all the time in the world when they were both immortal.

The commotion was distracting, so he stilled until he heard the noise fade. The Soul Master then relaxed, returning to his work.

With the sound of glass shattering, the tiny green dragonfly crashed through the window, stumbling onto the carpet.

The snail shaman strapped to his device moaned and then fell limp.

Kelon stared silently at the scene before him.

"What?" The Soul Master snapped. He wished his friend would hurry up and say whatever he wanted to say. The snail was dead now, and its Soul had dissipated. 

What a waste.

***

"Please, we must go! The City has been locked down due to the spreading Infection," Kelon begged. "It is no longer safe here. Come with me!"

"I will not," the Soul Master declared. "I am too close to unlocking the secrets of Soul. I will not abandon my goal now."

Kelon gestured wildly around them. "What goal? Half of the City is infected! There is nothing for you here but madness and death!"

"You do not see my vision. I will explain. Once I achieve immortality, such trifles will not concern me." The Soul Master said coldly.

Kelon stared, just as he did before with the snail shaman. But he'd understand. He always did.

To the Soul Master's surprise, Kelon's eyes hardened. "You're right. I don't. I'm leaving." He turned to go.

"Where exactly do you think you're going?" the Soul Master hissed, conjuring ropes of Soul to stop Kelon in his tracks. "You are my friend. You must stay with me."

"I've had enough! I refuse to stay here while you conduct more of your crazy experiments!" Kelon struggled furiously.

The Soul Master tightened the bonds, causing Kelon to cry out in pain. "You do not understand. I will make you understand. You will stay, and you will witness the full glory of my achievements."

Ignoring Kelon's continued protests, the Soul Master dragged him back towards his latest invention. Soon, very soon, the secrets of Soul would be unlocked. And Kelon would be by his side. Forever.

***

Amidst the unrelenting rain, a little knight wandered alone through the halls stained with horrors past. The drone of sentries and Soul Twisters and sentries on patrol were the only sounds piercing the heavy atmosphere. They had tried many times to enter the Soul Sanctum but always retreated back to this bench. It was too difficult.

Then, a softly glowing ghost appeared before them, barely taller than the little knight.

"Hey, kid," Kelon said lightly. "Come to take on the Soul Master, have you?"

The little knight nodded, gripping their map tight. They needed to free their sibling. But there were so many Soul Twisters, and they couldn't get past the Soul Warrior.

"Yeah, the Soul Warriors are the worst." Kelon chuckled. "But I know a shortcut. You see that wall?"

The little knight broke down the wall to reveal a hidden way to an elevator. Gripping their nail tightly, the knight steeled themself and continued onwards. Kelon's ghost watched them leave.

"Nearly there, kid," he murmured. "End this so we may both rest."

[thewackypegasus]

i ramble about soul-based magic in ye olde hallownest

alrighty so i've been thinking about the state of magic before the fall of hallownest, because while spellcasting is a significant part of the game and the knight's journey, it's also not... super common among other characters? the only other characters who seem to practice it (unless i'm forgetting someone) are the snail shamans and the mages at the soul sanctum. it's also not a significant part of the infrastructure of the kingdom (except for the soul totems, which i'll get to later because i forgot they existed until just now). and i think this sort of makes sense, since the easiest and most plentiful way to gather soul is to wound and/or kill other creatures. when most of the creatures around you are infected husks, this isn't so bad, but when most of the other creatures around you are alive and sapient bugs, murder becomes a whole lot more iffy.

now, i do think it's possible that mages in ye olde hallownest farmed or hunted non-sapient bugs (like vengeflies, baldurs, crawlids, et cetera) for soul to use for spellcasting. i think this is especially likely for the snail shamans, as a.) when you go to their mounds in the game, they are filled with non-sapient bugs who can be fought for soul, and b.) i feel like if the snail shamans were murdering people en masse, we as players would know about it.

why, then, would the soul master decide to use sapient hallownest citizens for his experiments? two reasons: 1.) he's a fucked-up bastard, and 2.) sapient bugs produce more soul. i think it is plausible that sapient bugs produce more soul than non-sapient bugs because many of the non-husk sapient enemies in the game (moss knights, mantises, denizens of the hive) take more hits to kill than husks or minor non-sapient enemies like vengeflies, and therefore give more soul in total if you fight them to the death. there are, however, regular mosskin who take just as many hits to kill as husks, who are outliers here, and it is also plausible that the other sapient enemies take more hits to kill because they are more trained in combat.

back to soul farming—and not the kind the soul master did where he murdered countless innocent bugs! if creatures could be raised as livestock to farm soul, that begs the question: why didn't the bugs of hallownest do this? i mean, first of all, there's just the fact that there isn't much evidence of farming in hallownest in general aside from the hive. i also imagine soul farming was just impractical compared to the other resources the denizens of hallownest had at their disposal. i mean, the pale king was literally a god, and both his innovation and the innovation of the bugs he granted sapience begot elevators and trams and mining equipment and whatnot, which seem to run reliably without needing a power source as difficult to gather as soul. soul totems do exist, but there are a relatively small number of them, and most of them have a limited output before they presumably need to refill. farming soul would require a lot of labor for a power source that is not nearly as reliable as the power that already runs most of the tech in hallownest.

i do wonder exactly how many bugs practiced soul-based magic in ye olde hallownest. it seems to be a significant tradition among snails, as evidenced by the fact that most of the magic practitioners we findin hallownest are the snail shamans. however, the existence of the soul sanctum implies that other bugs studied soul-based magic as well, and the snail shaman at the burial mound seems happy to share his knowledge in exchange for some basic pest removal. it may not have been commonly used by most bugs in everyday life, but there is evidence for it being accessible to those interested in seeking it out.

tl;dr: i think raising livestock for soul in ye olde hallownest would have been possible but not necessarily practical for large-scale projects, and overall it doesn't seem like soul-based magic played that big of a role in the life of the average bug before hallownest's fall, but it definitely did exist as a tradition that is cool to think about

[novaloo]

@littlebittyhollowbugs

Uh. Hi. Sorry for being annoying.

First of all, HHHHHHHH I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY TYTYTYTY

I know it's been really long but I was making stuff

Okay. Back with the "everyone is alive" au.

↓

I think that after coming back from the dead (waking up) Monomon would want her mask back, so Quirrel asked Mask Maker for a replica. I'm assuming she's alive since one doesn't need to kill the dreamers for the Godhome ending.

Also you said that you'd keep all the ghosts etc dead, and that's fine. BUT.

What if the Shamans were ghosts.

This paper has been through a lot so sorry if some elements look kinda off. Also sorry for the lighting.

Idk, family reunion.

Figuring out how to draw the dream particles was a pain but I did it YIPPEEEE

The text is probably illegible so. I think the snails from Soul Sanctum and Queen's Gardens are actually father and daughter. I mean, I think it'd fit. Similar tempers and all. Like father like daughter, amiright?

I still have no idea who the snail from Resting Grounds could be tho.

Completely unrelated but I like to think that with enough lifeblood even ressurrection is possible. Let's take Markoth for example since we've seen his corpse. With enough lifeblood one could bring him back to the world of the living.

Wow I guess it turned into a headcanon dump huh. Oh well. Sorry for bothering you once again. I'd draw more stuff but this already took long enough.

[knightofgreatrenown]

Opinion on Magic users? (Such as the Soul Sanctum, Snail Shamans, etc)

I consider magic the same as any craft one could hone. The way the energy is molded is similar to the manner in which one would shape a physical weapon such as a nail or club.

I am disinterested in pursuing the skill myself, as no magic could ever beat the strike of a nail, and certainly could not stand up to the likes of Life-Ender... But I am unbothered by other bugs choosing to practice such things.

For why should I busy myself with what another bug chooses to wield unless they are directly opposing me? I can cut them down if threatened all the same!

[hollypies]

HK lore ask!

What do you think of the snail shamans? Do you think they're from the ancient civilization that worshipped Void? Do you think they're made of Void? I wanna hear your theories/headcanons :)

Hi windy!! Hi!!!

So, snail shamans are kinda weird. I dont think they're made of Void, but they might be tied to the Abyss in some form.

See, the ancient civilization created SOUL totems, and had a much greater understanding of SOUL than any other bug. I wouldn't be surprised if they knew how to use spells. Infact, they probably did, considering we upgrade our shriek in the Abyss.

We've seen that normal bugs can't use SOUL normally, and when they do they kinda... wellll just look at the Soul Sanctum. Their minds swelled, and they were more susceptible to madness. They weren't naturally attuned to SOUL like the Snail Shamans. Which is most likely why they captured one of the shamans. This Shaman literally explodes upon inspection.

The Soul Tyrant was most likely studying how these Shamans were able to use SOUL, and clearly learned something from it. Idk what, but they did learn.. something. But I think this Shaman exploding is not indicating that they're void, but more over this Shaman was granting Ghost its knowledge of SOUL to them before they died. Ghost literally exorbed its knowledge.

By the time Ghost enters Hallownest, there's only one Snail Shamman left alive. The first one we meet. I'd also like to point out that the places we find the other Snail shamans are all Ancestral Mounds. Just untended due to their deaths and overgrown.

Again, due to their manipulation of SOUL, I think they may be descendants of the ancient civilization of some sort, but they don't worship the void like they're ancestors. I think they just retained their knowledge of SOUL and SOUL manipulation, but little else. It also seems that each Shaman can only use one spell, ans most likely can't heal like the Knight can. That's why the Snail Shaman makes us kill the Baulder instead of dealing with it themself.

There might also be only a few spells that were ever mastered, and those spells are the ones the Knight uses. Of course, there could be a fourth, due to the dead Snail Shamman in the gravesite, but I believe that Snail Shaman has been dead a long time, and was most likely just good at collecting and understanding SOUL, due to the charm we find with them.

Tldr, Snail Shamans are funky lil guys who might be tied to the ancient civilization, but they don't worship Void. They simply study and use SOUL in ways that normal bugs, probably due to their ancestors.

[vinehasnohopeleft]

i just think they are neat.

[yo-i-draw]

After last time drawing the soul sanctum snail (Siphon) I decided, why not draw all the snails! And give them names! Add them a little character. Like a nice family tree, snail family!

Reference from the actual game… except they’re not really dead… sooo- um

Family tree already in the game has my brain dead, so I’m gonna try to explain this. Shaman and Hanna are cousins(?) Jemmi is the 3rd aunt what makes Siphon (the 3rd uncle) siblings with Jemmi.. and I have no idea where the old snail Ancit would fit.. maybe they’re an elder. I also just wanted to give some of them nice clothes because I feel like it would fit, also this time I played more with the colors and design.

(The drawing of Siphon in this is away before soul master and so on. And for design reasons, they’re all alive in this.)

Bonus doodle: I drew the designs for the snails for 5 hours and 35 minutes…

[writing-frenzy]

#[ prompt: I'll give you every heart of the hundred souls you can be the fire to kill the cold. ]

Holy shit, what a quote to hide in the tags 😯

offer refused.

[fly-sky-high-bug-games]

Day 6: Soul