Lore: Ascended from Sourcestone

Reborn into the Life Factory, Ascended begin their second lives as the new saviours of Telara.  As with every Defiant Eldritch machine, the first, and most important building block is sourcestone, but what else happens to bring a Defiant back to Telara?

Defiant Ascension Images - See Life Factory (9)

 

There are several items of interest around the Life Factory that show different aspects required to understand Defiant Ascension.  The first, and most interesting fact, is that Defiant Ascended are called by name the moment they step out of their forge, the technicians on hand show concern that the process may be disorienting or confusing, and Sylver Valis asks "how does it feel to be alive again?" All of these items show the Defiants who are created were once residents of Telara.  The Defiant Ascended, provided there is no memory loss or unknown effect of the souls stream, should remember their original life.

At the same time, Sylver Valis asks "is your new body to your satisfaction?" leading to the conclusion that it is the consciousness, or soul, that has been reborn, whereas the Defiant's body has simply been reconstructed.  They are not reanimating a deceased body.  This makes logical sense given that the soul specialists pull ancient souls from the soul stream, souls whose bodies would have long since returned to the earth.  This also gives further understanding to the rejection of Guardian souls discussed in the previous Soul analysis.  If a Defiant form is created by, and has the memories and personality of, the chosen soul, it makes sense for the Guardian souls to be rejected to prevent an unacceptable, or unwilling, Defiant soldier. 

Knowing it is the body that is regenerated gives light to the information provided by the Knowledge Collective.

Protocols for Proper Regeneration

1) Never use a skull, pelvis, or any other large bone to begin the regeneration process. Instead, choose a small bone, so that if there is a slight mismatch with the subject's original skeleton it does not end up a fatal problem. For example, a phalanx from the hand is ideal, for a finger of slightly shorter or longer length will not cause the subject many problems on return.

2) An exact balance of sourcestone must be achieved. There can be no substitutions, or the body will collapse.

3) Do not eat or drink near the Resurrection Forges.

4) A soul must rate at least a 5.0 on the Valis-Farwind scale to be deemed worthy of regeneration.

Humor aside, the Knowledge Collective shows, through point one, that a bone must be used to begin the process.  It does not appear that the bone must be from the original body of the soul in question, but rather any small bone from a similar species. 

Point two from the Knowledge Collective brings the aspect of sourcestone into the process.  By listening to the chatter among the many technicians working the process can be further understood.

The following is overheard in the first chamber:

"The sourcestone matrix is excellently formed. This is going to be a strong one."

"This Ascended is nearly complete. The soul has coupled with the sourcestone nicely to regenerate a new form."

Their comments are straight forward and nicely simplified.  Added to the information previously discussed and this gives a fairly accurate picture of the Defiant Ascension Process.

Stage one: A bone is chosen, preferably a small bone of the hand, and a sourcestone matrix is constructed within the forge
Stage two: The chosen soul is then implanted into this matrix developing it into the form of the souls original body.  The sourcestone forms the skeleton around the small bone chosen to begin the process.