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Although all Oaths permanently alter a person's relationship with the Song, not all are formed in the same way.
Scholars generally divide Oaths into four major categories based on what causes the soul to change.
Oath of Patronage
"You become bound to something greater than yourself."
An Oath of Patronage is formed when an individual enters a lasting metaphysical relationship with a powerful being, organization, ideal, or force. The power granted by the Oath comes from the connection itself. The patron does not necessarily need to actively grant power. In many cases, simply establishing the bond is enough to permanently alter the soul.
Requirements
Typically requires:
- Swearing a vow
- Performing a ritual
- Being accepted by the patron
- Demonstrating loyalty or worthiness
What changes?
Your soul becomes anchored to something external.
The Song begins recognizing you as:
"A servant of X."
rather than simply:
"An individual."
The patron's influence becomes part of your soul's identity.
Example: Contractor
A Contractor swears themselves to a ministry prophet. The power does not come from learning new Mantras.
Instead:
- The prophet's influence becomes embedded in the soul.
- The Song begins associating the individual with Zi'eer's authority.
- This allows the user to access the Prophet's puppet strings.
Breaking the Oath may weaken or sever this connection entirely.
Example: Dawnwalker
A Dawnwalker binds themselves to the Radiant Tones. They do not worship a god. Instead, they devote themselves to a particular Verse of the Song until their soul permanently aligns with it.
Oath of Flesh
"You become something else."
An Oath of Flesh occurs when a person permanently alters their body, soul, or Ether through assimilation, consumption, corruption, or transformation. Unlike Patronage Oaths, no agreement is necessary. The change itself is the Oath.
Requirements
Typically involves:
- Consuming something supernatural
- Grafting a foreign power onto yourself
- Surviving a transformation
- Corrupting or rewriting your own soul
What changes?
The Song no longer recognizes you as fully human. Instead, part of your identity becomes:
- Celestial
- Depths-born
- Monstrous
- Divine
- Artificial or something similarly alien.
Example: Starkindred
A Starkindred consumes a fragment of a celestial being. No bargain occurs. No permission is granted. The celestial may not even know it happened.
However:
- Celestial matter becomes part of the person's soul.
- Ether begins flowing through celestial pathways.
- The Song starts identifying them as partially celestial.
The individual has effectively grafted a piece of the heavens onto themselves.
Oath of Instrument
"The power is the bond."
An Oath of Instrument forms when a soul becomes permanently linked to an object, mechanism, artifact, or constructed system. Unlike Patronage Oaths there is no master and there is no worship. Unlike Flesh Oaths, the object remains external. The Oath comes from the permanent connection between soul and instrument.
Requirements
Typically requires:
- Soul-binding rituals
- Ether synchronization
- Long-term integration
- Bonding with a powerful artifact
What changes?
The Song begins treating:
- User
- Instrument as a single entity.
The two can no longer be fully separated.
Example: Arcwarder
The Arc Suit is not simply armor. The suit becomes fused to the Arcwarder's soul.
The Song begins seeing:
User + Suit as one being.
This allows:
- Instant manifestation
- Ether synchronization
- Arc Modules
- Plasma generation
Without the soul-binding process, the suit would merely be equipment.
Oath of Rejection
"You define yourself by what you refuse."
An Oath of Rejection forms when a person deliberately cuts themselves off from a path that most people accept. The rejection itself becomes so absolute that the Song reshapes around the absence. Unlike other Oaths, the source of power is not what is gained. The source of power is what is denied.
Requirements
Typically involves:
- Renouncing a fundamental aspect of the world
- Refusing power
- Rejecting a path
- Extreme personal conviction
What changes?
The Song adapts to the vacuum left behind. Reality compensates for what has been removed.
Example: Silentheart
A Silentheart rejects Mantras entirely. Most people rely on the Words of the Song. A Silentheart severs that path.
The result:
- No Mantras
- No Attunements
- No conventional Ether manipulation
Yet the Song compensates by amplifying:
- Physical mastery
- Weapon skill
- Martial prowess
The power comes from the rejection itself.
Example: Oathless
The most famous paradox. An Oathless individual swears never to be bound by an Oath. The Song interprets this as a defining aspect of their identity.
Ironically:
The refusal to take an Oath becomes an Oath.
The result is increased flexibility and freedom because the Song now recognizes them as fundamentally unbound.