| Essence Mark | |
|---|---|
| Creators | Forgers |
| World of Origin | Sel |
| Universe | Cosmere |
An Essence Mark is a particular type of soulstamp that is designed to Forge a person's memories, history, and soul for a brief period of time.[1] Essence Marks are among the most powerful and most complex soulstamps a Forger can create.[1] In realmatic terms, an Essence Mark reforges the spiritual aspect of an individual to match the new history.[2]
Essence Marks are considered blasphemy by a number of cultures, including the Grands of the Rose Empire, the Mulla'dil Strikers, and the Dzhamarians.[3][4]
Construction & Use
Essence Marks are the most difficult type of soulstamps to create, typically requiring years worth of development and construction, and are required to be attuned to a specific individual in order to function.[1] When a human is soulstamped, the transformation lasts a relatively short period of time, and the best crafted stamps last approximately a day. This is due to the fact that the identity of a person, as opposed to an object, is constantly growing, changing and shifting.[3] It may also be due to the fact that all humans are naturally invested with a small amount of investiture[5], and soulstamping utilizes relatively small amounts of investiture to work.[2][6] According to realmatic theory, reinvesting an invested object requires enough investiture to overcome the initial amount, plus enough extra to effect the change.[citation needed]
To create an Essence Mark, one must make hundreds of stamps, each one representing a small portion of the history or personality which you would wish to change.[1] These stamps must be tested individually to make sure that each will take, and then networked together into a lattice on some external object. The lattice will be connected to the final stamp, which will act as a keystone for the other stamps, and will be the only one necessary to stamp. The lattice must maintain in contact with the skin of an individual to maintain it's effects.[7] A deep knowledge of the individual and the new history you wish to write is necessary to create the stamps for an Essence Mark.[1] Augurs (gold mistings) can make essence marks for themselves more quickly because of their abilities.[citation needed]