Conduits

Just as any intelligent mortal creature can be born a mage, there are also those called conduits, born with uniquely powerful souls and connections to the souls of others. They are sometimes referred to as "hellhounds" due to their connections between realms. As rare as those born with Arcane power, conduits represent another phenomenon that remains shrouded in mystery. To all except a select few with ancient knowledge collected during the time of Ildrius, such as the Inquisition, conduits are a nameless fable of a raving madman hearing voices, or a witch too attuned to the emotions and thoughts of others.

Abilities

Conduits bear a number of abilities, nearly all of which remain largely unknown. The scope of those that are known also remains in question.

Hosting Souls

Perhaps the least known and least understood ability possessed by the Conduits is the ability to "host" other souls, or so some ancient sources have claimed. The Inquisition remains the only organization today with any knowledge of such abilities, and even then only the highest ranking Inquisitors are allowed access to the tomes - written during the days of Ildrius - that speak of such rituals that could bind a soul, or pieces of a soul, into a living Conduit. Therefore, any information on how this process works, how it is performed, and what sort of effects it has on the host Conduit or the soul or souls involved, remains entirely shrouded in mystery. It is claimed Ildrius himself took great interest in these arts.

Sensing Emotions

One of the strongest abilities of a Conduit is sensing the souls of others, specifically the soul's emotions. To hone this ability to the pinpoint accuracy often required to realize who and what is casting emotions and when is thought to require great focus and discipline, as the Conduit is constantly bombarded by voices, emotions, and senses from all sides. The Inquisition still searches desperately for further information about these abilities.

Other

The true range of powers that Conduits possess remain unknown. It seemed that Ildrius and his people could not learn of Conduits extensively enough to catalogue accurate information regarding their abilities, regardless of considerable experimentation, perhaps due to the frequent deaths of the Conduits involved. However, it is known that Conduits possess at least some ability to communicate with, or at least hear, the voices of those beyond the veil. Souls and spirits trapped between life and death, as well as those existing in other planes - indeed, this is perhaps their most noteworthy trait, as a literal conduit between realms. This is what results in a Conduit "hearing voices" and sensing auras around locations: past memories, past emotions, and even feeling the touch of what remains of recently passed souls. It is also speculated that a Conduit holds even closer ties to their elemental affinity than do the mundane, and some speculate they have some ability to read minds. Some even claim that oracles are some form of Conduits. How true any of these countless claims of powers such individuals may have cannot be proven or disproven.

Hellhound claims

Some Inquisitors speculate that Conduits are related to legends of hellhounds, supposed Fay creatures that guard and maintain gateways between realms, specifically those between the mortal realm and the spirit realm. Hellhounds are meant to protect the separation of worlds, and Inquisitors claim that some Conduits are drawn to do the same. This concept remains widely disputed, causing particular strife between the Inquisition and the Venatori, who insist hellhounds are Fay creatures of their own and quite different from any Man.

Insanity

It remains unknown whether all Conduits are born insane or become insane over the course of their cursed lives. However, most are indeed utterly mad by the time someone discovers them and their abilities. The luckiest of Conduits will spend the majority of their lives locked away somewhere, by the Inquisition or otherwise. However, most end up dead in the hands of the panicking and the suspicious, feared for their abilities and often believing them to be possessed by a demon - which, perhaps, some of them are.

Conduits and the Inquisition

In the eyes of the Imperial Inquisition, Conduits need to be sheltered from others as much as others need to be sheltered from them. True they hold no destructive power like mages - or at least, they are not known to - but their very existence is too strange and mysterious to be trusted. Therefore, the Inquisition makes it part of its mission to find Conduits where possible and remove them from society.