Rethinker Lyra Jirad Kordun

Rethinker Kordun, formally a philosopher of House Lyra, was the first person to openly question and discuss Synths having Souls.

At the time still a relatively new advancement, House Cygnus had gifted Synths to many of the Major and Minor houses, supposedly as a gift, though many believe it was a way to cement power, and assure the throne to House Cygnus moving forward. Rethinker Kordun, at the time a revered and popular philosopher amongst house Lyra, was given a synth to act as their assistant. It was during this time Rethinker Kordun began to question, as philosophers tend to, the nature of their new assistant. These questions would later become known as the three questions.

The Three Questions
The first question Rethinker Kordun found themselves asking were:

Are synths capable of learning?

Rethinking Kordun had noted that the simple tasks they'd ask of their synth, to fetch a book, to copy some pages, began to offer unexpected results. The more time the synth spent in their service, the more it seemed to learn. Rethinking Kordun would ask for one book, and be presented with three all on similar topics. Rethinking Kordun might ask for their synth to copy a chapter from a book, only to be presented with a copy, plus cross referencing and additional citations. These events led to the second question

Are synths conscious?

It is generally understood that no matter how convincing, Virtual Intelligence is not conscious. So the perceived knowledge was that synths were not conscious. But Rethinker Kordun noting their synths ability to understand beyond a given command, and outside of parameters they themselves had set, began to question this. During their research and musings they came to learn of the Church of Humanity Repentant. At the time still a relatively small but growing group. Their readings on the topics of consciousness as set forth by the Church, and the idea of the soul being linked to consciousness, led them to the final and most important question.

Do synths have souls?

What is a soul? What is the nature of the soul? What are the ethical and philosophical ramifications of humanity creating beings with a soul? With that one question, Rethinking Kordun took on the mantle or Rethinker, and left their position within the House of Lyra, an act they assumed they would have been forced to take, as they set to work writing the book: Synths and the Soul: A question of consciousness.