This device was once one of the most powerful weapons of the ancient Xan. It was capable of unleashing a great wave of mental energy that could drive vast numbers of enemies insane. Unfortunately as with all weapons of great power the soulcatcher had two major drawbacks. Firstly it required the spiritual energy of fallen comrades to charge it. If a soulcatcher was nearby when an ally fell in battle, your allies soul would be captured by the device. It had to be an honorable death in battle else the soulcatcher was said to ignore the spirits so it was impossible to trick the soulcatcher with sacrificial killing. This meant it was useless as a first strike weapon since it required large number of your own forces to have died before it was useful.

Secondly insanity itself is not predictable and the ancient Xan often found that when they did use the Soulcatcher its victims often drew strength from their insanity in combat and whilst their tactics may suffer it was often found that their zeal for battle increased. As such the Soulcatcher was seen very much as a weapon of the last resort.