Glassmind

Glassminds are a form of collective personality, entities formed of shared memories that, through their number and complexity, have been given sapience. Often considered the pinnacle of the memory magic developed by the ancient elves of Eita, in its heyday glassminds were used to unite entire communities by gathering together the shared experiences of their inhabitants and from that bringing new lives into existence to serve as their historians, advisors, and, at times, leaders.

Physically glassminds are not restricted to any particular form, though most historically were first created into simple glass spheres, usually one or two feet in diameter. As beings of pure consciousness, however, they were not bound to these, and frequently chose to take other shapes, whether that be embedding themselves in constructs to grant themselves locomotion, inhabiting objects more to their preference, or even eschewing a physical form entirely, though this last option tended be dangerous and temporary as they risked disintegration by remaining in such a state.

The process to create a glassmind was long and complex. Each initial form served as the locus for an elaborate series of rituals, only known at the time to a select group of Eitan scholar-nobility, which imbued it with magic that allowed it to store the memories of those who touched it. From that point on, for anywhere from the next ten years to the next century, all members of a community regularly donated parts of their memories to the nascent glassmind, losing these themselves but preserving them in pooled, public form. From this the glassmind was able to gradually grow, transforming from a mere nexus of memory and repository of thought to something that could synthesize and form new concepts of its own. Even in its complete form, however, a glassmind was able to constantly grow and learn, as through its psychic links with those surrounding it could share in their senses, seeing and feeling as they did. It was not unusual for elves to regularly commune with their local glassmind in order to seek its wisdom or share in its collective memories.

Though the degree of their abilities depended heavily on the age and "depth", or number of shared memories, of the glassmind, all possessed significant psychic abilities, including telepathy, clairvoyance, retrocognition, and limited teleportation. Many became skilled spellcasters.

As fully sapient beings, glassminds have their own desires, personalities, and goals, though these tend to be inextricably linked with those of the people who shaped it. In the modern day the slowly dwindling number of glassminds, never high to begin with, continue to serve in the same types of roles as they previously did under Eitan rule; multiple, for example, act as sages and history-keepers for Marcher elven tribes. They generally prefer not to travel far from their places of creation, and therefore are effectively unknown elsewhere in the world.

Most glassminds were created from the elite communities around Eitan scholar-halls on the Cradle, but considerably smaller numbers were brought forth in Brightmarch and Hinthial, where nearly all of the few surviving glassminds are now known to exist.

In Eitan law destruction of a glassmind was one of the highest crimes one could commit, punishable with Erasure.