Stones and Equipment can feel, too!

The Skill system in Final Fantasy XI relies on characters equipping items that have certain skills, and gaining enough AP (Ability Points), to learn the new skills. Essentially, these items know certain skills, and teach them to the user through equipping them. Similar to Materia, these items have memories and knowledge, that is used to teach, and falls back on some Native American thoughts and beliefs that everything in the world has a soul, from stones to trees.

Similarly, certain items named after precious gems, hold special abilities that are Summon abilities, that call forth a powerful ally from within the stone and to perform special abilities, and, over time, these creatures become one with the summoner, such that these Stones have souls. Another fact that reinforces this is that one of the Summoners, Garnet, own name is from a stone, and, as a person, is thought of having a soul within the game.