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Harlequin Motley Mask of Vyle

The Aeldari Harlequin Troupe Master Motley holding a Spirit Stone.

A Spirit Stone, also known as a Waystone, Dreamstone, Soulstone and a Tear of Isha, is a small, seemingly precious gem carried in a variety of different aesthetically-pleasing settings on a Craftworld Aeldari's chest, used to save their souls from consumption after death within the Immaterium by Slaanesh.

Every Asuryani of the craftworlds wears a shinning gem or polished stone upon their breast. Spirit Stones are made out of psycho-receptive crystals called Waystones. The Waystone is attuned solely to the mind of its owner, at which point it becomes a Spirit Stone. At the moment of the Asuryani's death the stone acts like a "psychic trap" absorbing their psychic self -- their "soul" -- and preventing it from entering the Warp and being consumed by the great nemesis of the Aeldari species, the Chaos God of amoral pleasure, Slaanesh. As such energies carry with them a large part of an Aeldari's sense of identity, personality, and memories, it is quite correct to think of them as souls.

The Waystone can then be brought back to the Asuryani's own craftworld and embedded into its wraithbone core, where it will grow into a larger Spirit Stone. Once the stone is implanted, the individual Aeldari soul it contains can travel freely through the psychically-reactive wraithbone, mingling with other Aeldari souls and forming part of the communal spirit of the craftworld itself. All the souls within a craftworld collectively exist within the Infinity Circuit.

Once it is part of the circuit, an Aeldari soul continues to exist forever, safe from the predations of the Warp, their individual consciousness remaining as a potential within the circuit. The Infinity Circuit is therefore far more than a source of energy for the craftworld; it is a place of refuge and eternal rest, from where the dead watch over the living. Yet it is not always at peace. At the beating core of each Infinity Circuit is a wraithbone chamber containing a murder-spirit so powerful that its battle-lust infects every Asuryani soul, living or dead. This is the fragment of Khaela Mensha Khaine, the Aeldari god of war, which can be used to animate an Avatar of Khaine when the Asuryani go to war.

In times of dire need, the Asuryani are also able to retrieve the Spirit Stones of long-dead Asuryani heroes and place them into the artificial bodies of Wraithguard and Wraithlord constructs. These wraithbone constructs are then piloted by the Asuryani soul, which experiences reality in this form as a dream. This process is considered little better than necromancy in Aeldari culture and is only done as a last resort.

UlthyrEllarion

The infamous Aeldari Corsair Ulthyr Ellarion, who preys upon Imperial merchant shipping in the Calixis Sector, claims a long-lost Asuryani spirit stone.

Spirit Stones can also be placed within certain Asuryani vehicles like gravity tanks and Aeldari Titans where the stone allows the captive Aeldari's soul to control the vehicle in case its living pilots are incapacitated, similar to the way the artificially intelligent Machine Spirits found in certain Imperial vehicles like Land Raiders can take over control of the vehicle even when it is unmanned.

The Asuryani Warlocks who specialise in this process are known as Spiritseers. Iyanden is an Asuryani craftworld with a very small population following an assault by the Tyranid Hive Fleet Kraken during the Second Tyrannic War and is known for its greater use of these Aeldari "living dead" than other craftworlds.

There is one primary source of Spirit Stones: the old Aeldari Empire homeworlds that lie within the boundaries of the Eye of Terror and are now known as the Crone Worlds. Acquiring new Spirit Stones is extremely dangerous because the Crone Worlds exist within that Warp rift and are thus inhabited by Daemons and other dangerous Warp entities.

In Aeldari mythology the Spirit Stones were created by the Aeldari god of smiths, Vaul, from the tears of Isha when the goddess of nature and the harvest wept following Asuryan the Phoenix King's command that the Aeldari gods would forevermore have to be separated from the realm of mortals, Isha's children. It is for this reason that Spirit Stones are also known poetically in the Aeldari Lexicon as the "Tears of Isha."

This tale is often taken as a metaphor by the Aeldari for the crystallisation of the psychic energies of the Eye of Terror into the Waystones used to create Spirit Stones.

Ynnead

It is commonly believed that when enough Craftworld Aeldari souls have been gathered within the Infinity Circuits of the craftworlds, a new god will emerge within the Warp, the first Aeldari god to be created since the Fall of the Aeldari; Ynnead, the Aeldari god of the dead. It is hoped by many of the Farseers that this new god will be powerful enough to vanquish Slaanesh, freeing the Aeldari from their doom at the Prince of Pleasure's grasping hands.

After the formation of the Great Rift, and the partial awakening of Ynnead in the Warp, his prophet Yvraine demonstrated the ability to serve as a conduit for his power and merge recently deceased Aeldari souls with his essence. This ability affected Asuryani and Drukhari alike, meaning that the Craftworld Aeldari and Drukhari who joined the Ynnari no longer needed to rely on Spirit Stones or leeching the psychic energies of other sentient beings to prevent their souls from being consumed by Slaanesh.

The coming of the Ynnari thus represented a new hope for the dwindling species.

Notes

The graphic novel Daemonifuge features the Spirit Stones only in passing, but names them "Soul Stones" instead. However, the Aeldari codexes of every edition name them as Spirit Stones.

It is not known exactly what happens when a Spirit Stone is destroyed, but one can guess that the soul within is lost to Slaanesh within the Warp.

Also of note is that in the novel Dawn of War, a Spirit Stone is smashed by a Power Axe, resulting in an incredibly loud metallic ringing, and then an explosion that not only destroyed the Power Axe, but also sent Trythos, the Space Marine wielding it, flying a few metres away, thus indicating that Spirit Stones are a potent source of psychic energy.

Sources

  • Codex: Eldar (4th Edition), pp. 14, 20, 27, 51
  • Codex: Eldar (6th Edition), pg. 13
  • Codex: Craftworlds (8th Edition), pp. 9, 17, 22, 26-27, 38, 40, 42, 45, 48, 60, 62-65
  • Dark Heresy: Creatures Anathema (RPG), pg. 82 (Image)
  • Farseer (Novel) by William King
  • Warhammer 40,000: Wargear (4th Edition)
  • Warhammer 40,000: Compilation (1st Edition)
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