Essence Collector

An Essence Collector extracts life force from a living creature or recent corpse and condenses it into a consumable essence.

History

Legion collectors

Eryk first sees a mage use a large collector to extract life force. Damian explains that collectors can work on living beings, though their use is outlawed in the Telhian Empire except for executions. In the Legion campaigns, Castile repeatedly uses her own collector on dungeon creatures, including live beetles and spiders. Her device is a large shield-shaped plate. (Chapter 4; Chapters 17–18, 21)

Durandus’s collector

After Mage Durandus dies, Eryk finds an essence collector in the water and secretly keeps it. The object is later identified as Durandus’s collector, and Eryk uses it to harvest essences from creatures and recent corpses. The device becomes a closely guarded possession because collectors are expensive, regulated, and politically valuable. Castile also has a separate collector, which Eryk borrows for assigned work and returns to her. (Chapters 33, 36–40, 42)

Later use

Eryk continues to carry and use a collector during dungeon and field expeditions. Other mages also have collectors, and their devices differ in size and design. The narrative does not identify every collector as the same object; Eryk’s recovered collector and Castile’s collector remain distinct. (Chapters 178, 202, 311, 326, 343)

Abilities and properties

• Collectors draw aetheric life force from living creatures or recent corpses and form an essence. A living target has a higher probability of yielding an essence. (Chapters 4, 33)
• The collector must be kept level and placed over the body; a formed essence can roll off the plate if it is tilted. (Chapter 40)
• The chance of forming an essence decreases as time passes after death. (Chapter 50)
• Collectors vary in size and design. They are expensive to artifice and tightly regulated in the Empire. (Chapters 4, 19, 30)

Ownership and custody