Soul Disciples call themselves the true heirs of Reshar and the Temple of the Nine Swords. While other martial adepts merely mimic and imitate the maneuvers taught there, Soul Disciples call upon the very souls of the great blademasters of ancient times. They use a combination of martial arts and soul magic, creating powerful akasha veils by channeling the essence of the great martial adepts. Soul Disciples are very rare, and most belong to one of the three so-called Blue Cults, mystic orders that revere the ancients. There is the Sapphire Temple of Harmony, a pseudo-religious society made up primarily of lawful Soul Disciples; the Cobalt Rings, a loosely-knit order of Soul Disciples of all descriptions, found mostly in mercenary or military posts; and the Midnight Dragon School, a heretic offshoot of the Sapphire Temple that teaches only the martial arts and veilweaving techniques, forsaking any religious reverence. Soul Disciples can use powerful martial attacks and shape magical veils, and achieve even greater effects by combining the two.

Abilities
Constitution is essential, as it increases your hp and allows you to shape your veils. A high Dexterity score improves your AC and can be used with the Weapon Finesse feat to increase your attack bonus. Most Soul Disciples eschew Strength, but it is important to those who do not take Weapon Finesse. Wisdom is important for many of the Soul Disciple’s class features.

Races
Many Soul Disciples are Gamla. Among the non-akasha races, Humans and Dwarves are the most common disciples, the humans' versatility and the dwarves' hardiness making them well-suited for it.

Alignment
Soul Disciples must be of Neutral Good, Neutral Evil, Chaotic Neutral, or Lawful Neutral alignment.

Hit Die
d8

Class Skills
The Soul Disciple’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Acrobatics (Dex), Autohypnosis (Wis), Climb (Str), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Intimidate (Cha), Knowledge (Arcana) (Int), Knowledge (History) (Int), Knowledge (Local) (Int), Knowledge (Martial) (Int), Perception (Wis), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Spellcraft (Int), Stealth (Dex), Survival (Wis).

Skills per Level: 4 + Intelligence modifier

Class Features
All the following are class features of the Soul Disciple.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency
Soul Disciples are proficient with all simple and martial melee weapons, including thrown weapons, and with all medium and light armor and shields.

Maneuvers
A 1st-level Soul Disciple has knowledge of four martial maneuvers. Soul Disciples have access to the Mithral Current, Primal Fury, Radiant Dawn, and Veiled Moon disciplines. In addition, Soul Disciples have access to an additional discipline based on their alignment. Those of Neutral Good alignment gain access to the Golden Saint or Silver Crane discipline; those of Neutral Evil alignment gain access to the Dread Crown or Black Seraph discipline; those of Chaotic Neutral alignment gain access to the Kaleidoscopic Dream  or Riven Hourglass discipline; and those of Lawful Neutral alignment gain access to the Quicksilver Aegis or Eternal Guardian discipline. A Soul Disciple's initiation modifier is Wisdom.

In order to use a maneuver, you must first ready it. Your maneuvers are extraordinary abilities unless otherwise stated. Your maneuvers are not affected by spell resistance, and initiating a maneuver does not provoke attacks of opportunity. You learn additional maneuvers as you gain more levels. You must meet a maneuver’s prerequisites to learn it. At 4th level, and each subsequent even level, you can exchange one of your maneuvers known for another maneuver of any level you are capable of initiating.

You can ready your maneuvers by exercising or meditating for 10 minutes. The maneuvers you choose remain readied until you choose to ready new maneuvers. You begin an encounter with all your readied maneuvers unexpended, but once you initiate it, it is expended. Whenever you take an attack action (a standard action, full attack, or charge), you may recover one of your maneuvers per attack made. However, you cannot recover maneuvers when you make attack actions as part of a maneuver. In addition, the Bound Strike class feature allows you to recover certain maneuvers as a swift action.

Stances
A 1st-level Soul Disciple knows one stance of any discipline available to him. At the levels listed on the table you learn an additional stance. Stances do not have to be readied, and are never expended. You can enter a stance or change stances as a swift action. Stances are extraordinary abilities unless otherwise noted.

Aura (Ex)
You have a powerful aura of your alignment. The power of your aura is equal to your initiator level. Your veils radiate chaos, good, evil, or law (based on your alignment) as if they were magic items with caster level equal to your initiator level.

Warrior’s Soul (Su)
At 1st level, you gain a companion, the soul of a warrior from the ancient days of the Temple of the Nine Swords. It takes the form of an incorporeal wisp of akasha that hovers around your head. The warrior’s soul is not a creature and has no skills, but it is intelligent, with mental ability scores of 16, 14, and 12 assigned as you choose. The warrior’s soul can communicate telepathically with you. The warrior’s soul grants you a +2 insight bonus on all Perception checks. In addition, you may bind essence in the warrior’s soul as if it were a veil. Its essence capacity is one higher than normal. For every point of essence invested, the bonus on Perception checks increases by one, and you gain a +1 bonus to initiative.

In addition, the warrior’s soul can take on new forms if you bind enough essence in it. If the warrior’s soul has 3 points of essence bound in it, it transforms into a blade of akasha. It still grants you the bonuses to Perception and initiative checks, but it can also be used as a weapon. The base form of the weapon is a longsword. However, if you have bound maneuvers to your chakras with the bound strike class feature, you may change its form as a swift action into any weapon associated with one of the disciplines of your bound maneuvers. The weapon grants you a bonus to attack and damage equal to the essence you have bound in your Warrior's Soul. You cannot bind it to your chakras as you could with a normal veil.

If the warrior’s soul has 4 points of essence bound it, it also extends an armored shell of akasha around you, while retaining its weapon form. This grants you a +6 armor bonus to AC. You are treated as wearing light armor, but take no armor check penalty and there is no maximum Dexterity bonus. You may choose not to form it into armor when binding essence.

If the warrior’s soul has 5 points of essence bound in it, the armored shell becomes a veritable carapace. The armor bonus to AC increases to +10 and you gain damage reduction 5/—. You are treated as wearing heavy armor, but take no armor check penalty and there is no maximum Dexterity bonus. You may choose not to form it into armor when binding essence.

Veil Shaping
At 2nd level the Soul Disciple develops the ability to shape the magical power known as akasha into powerful veils, which are drawn from the Guru veil list. She knows and can shape any veil from this list. The DC for a saving throw against a veil's abilities is 10 + the number of points of essence invested in the veil + your Wisdom modifier. She can only shape a certain number of veils per day (see table above). Veils are constructs of pure magic and are suppressed while in the area of an Antimagic Field or similar phenomena.

At 3rd level she also gains access to her own personal pool of essence, which can be invested into veils to increase their power. The pool of available essence is listed in the table above; the Soul Disciple's character level, as noted in Akashic Mysteries, determines the maximum quantity of essence she can invest in any single veil. As a swift action she can reallocate her essence investments into her veils every round. A Soul Disciple does not study or prepare veils in advance, but must have a good night's rest and must meditate for one hour to prepare her veils for the day.

Chakra Binds
At 2nd level and every three levels thereafter you gain the ability to bind veils directly to your chakras, unlocking potent abilities. You gain the ability to bind to slots in the following order: Hands, Feet, Head, Headband, Neck, Belt, Body. You can later bind strikes and stances to these chakras as well (see below), which is in addition to binding veils.

Bound Strike (Su)
At 6th level, you can bind your martial maneuvers to your chakras, gaining benefits based on the chakra chosen. Only strikes can be bound to chakras. You determine which maneuvers to bind to your chakras when you ready your maneuvers, and you cannot change them until the next time you ready maneuvers. Using the Adaptive Style feat to change your readied maneuvers does not let you change your bound maneuvers, but if you change them so that a bound maneuver is no longer readied, its chakra bind is removed. 

When you use a bound maneuver, any attack made as part of it is treated as being made with a magic weapon. As a swift action, you may recover any one of your expended bound maneuvers, though you cannot initiate that maneuver in the same round you do so. In addition, whenever you initiate a bound maneuver, you gain bonuses based on the chakra it is bound to:

Belt: An enemy damaged by the maneuver must make a Fortitude save, DC 10 + the maneuver’s level + your Wisdom modifier, or be stunned for 1 round.

Body: Whenever you make an attack as part of the maneuver, you may then make another attack at your highest base attack bonus minus 5, with the full benefits of the maneuver. If the maneuver allows you to make multiple attacks, you instead make a single additional attack, at your highest base attack bonus.

Feet: After you initiate the maneuver, you may take a 5-ft. step as a free action. It does not count as your 5-ft. step for the round. 

Hands: You gain an insight bonus equal to your Wisdom modifier on all attack rolls made as part of the maneuver.

Head: You ignore any miss chance for attacks made as part of the maneuver, including magical effects such as mirror image.

Headband: You gain an insight bonus equal to your Wisdom modifier on all damage rolls for the maneuver.

Neck: All additional damage dealt as part of the strike is increased by one-half.

Stalwart (Ex)
At 9th level, your mind and body have been hardened through training and testing. If you make a successful Fortitude or Will save against an effect that allows a save for half or partial effect, that effect is instead negated.

Warrior's Memories (Su)
At 10th level, you gain the ability to tap the memories of ancient swordsman, drawing on their techniques. Once per encounter, you may draw on the knowledge of your warrior's soul companion. As a swift action, you may ready a single maneuver. The maneuver does not have to be among your maneuvers known, nor does it even have to be from a discipline you have access to, but you must still meet any prerequisites. Once readied, you can use the maneuver normally, but once expended, it cannot be recovered.

Bound Stance (Su)
At 12th level, you gain the ability to bind martial stances to your chakras, gaining bonuses based on the chakra you choose while in that stance. You determine which stances to bind to your chakras when you ready your maneuvers, and you cannot change them until the next time you ready maneuvers. Using the Adaptive Style feat to change your readied maneuvers does not let you change your bound stances. While you are in the bound stance, you gain benefits based on the chakra you bound it to: 

Belt: You ignore difficult terrain, and may take a 10-ft. step each round instead of a 5-ft. step.

Body: You gain immunity to death effects.

Feet: You gain a +5 ft. bonus to your base land speed for every point of your Wisdom modifier, minimum +5 ft.

Hands: You gain an insight bonus equal to your Wisdom modifier on all Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution checks, and on all skill checks based on those ability scores.

Head: You gain the uncanny dodge class feature. If the stance’s level is 4th or higher, you instead gain the improved uncanny dodge class feature.

Headband: You gain the slippery mind class feature. 

Neck: You gain a +4 insight bonus to saves against all mind-affecting spells and abilities.

Improved Stalwart (Ex)
At 17th level, your mind and body are impervious to harm. Even if you fail a Fortitude or Will save against an effect that allows a save for half or partial effect, you still only suffer the reduced effect.

Azure Wrath (Su)
At 20th level, you can initiate one of your bound maneuvers as a swift action by binding two points of essence in this class feature. If the bound maneuver's initiation time is greater than one standard action, you may instead use it as a standard action.