Crystals

ᚲᚱᛁᛊᛏᚨᛚᛊ

Born in the raging hearts of aetherfloods, crystals are a form of solidified aether. Like coal becomes diamond given heat and pressure, so too does aether form into crystal when ambient aether overflows. Despite the countless dangers associated with gathering them, crystals find high demand throughout the land—for with but a fragment, even the simplest farmer can wield magicks.

Crystals are rare, but so are normal gemstones. Most people do not own crystals, but everyone has seen one, and most have used them before. All but the poorest of villages have at least an earth or water shard tucked away for use in an emergency. (Well, barring the people of the Vromid Orthodoxy, who regard them as unholy corruptions and destroy all crystals on sight.)

Many territories have laws allowing the guard and military to expropriate crystals without recompense, when the need exists.

Aspects and sizes

Crystals come in varying shapes and sizes, as well as elemental aspects. The aspect of a crystal generally matches that of the aetherflood in which it formed, with one caveat. Entirely unaspected crystals are exceedingly rare, despite the fact that unaspected floods are the most common kind. Instead, unaspected floods tend to create clusters of single-aspected crystals of particular, often opposing, elements. Fire shards form in one corner of a cave, ice shards in the opposite one, for example.

There are three general size categories for crystals: fragments, shards, and clusters. Fragments are about the size of a thumb, shards fit neatly in one hand, and clusters require two (or more) hands to carry. Larger crystals hold more aether, and can be used to weave mightier magicks.

Magicks

Crystals hold a number of charges depending on their size. When holding a crystal in hand, you can expend one or more charges to cast a spell in accordance with its aspect. You use your own spellcasting ability for spells cast using crystals. If you don’t have a spellcasting ability, your spellcasting ability modifier is +0, and your proficiency bonus applies. Instead of its normal spellcasting components, the spell is cast using only the crystal as a material component.

The spells a crystal can cast depends on its size. Larger crystals can also cast those spells available to smaller sizes. As a crystal’s charges are used and aether expended, it gradually becomes dull and lifeless. When a crystal’s charges have all been spent, it crumbles to dust, the aether that formed it depleted.

A crystal’s current level of charge can be estimated by inspecting it as an action. Make an Intelligence (Arcana) check. On an 18 or higher, you learn its exact charge level. On a 12 or higher, you learn whether it is mostly empty (less than 1/3), moderately charged (between 1/3 and 2/3), or nearly full (above 2/3). The identify spell reveals a crystal’s exact level of charge.

Charges by crystal size

A light shard is used to light a street lamp.

Dark crystals

Dark crystals appear like dark glass, permeated by deathly green cracks, pulsating as if the crystal’s core was a slowly beating heart. Lacking practical uses beyond killing, most people abhor them; in some lands they are contraband, confiscated or destroyed upon sight.

They can cast the following spells:

Light crystals

Crystals of light are pale gold in color, with blue motes of light floating inside, as if suspended in water. Many large cities (or at least their richer districts) have street lights powered by these crystals.

They can cast the following spells:

Life crystals

Life crystals are a vibrant red, filled with a constant shimmering in shades of blue and green, like the feathers on a bird shifting in the wind. Their healing powers make them extremely valuable, and most are claimed for military use immediately upon discovery.

They can cast the following spells:

Death crystals

Death crystals appear much like dark glass filled with a blood-red gloom, within which coiling smoke-like tendrils of deepest black slowly shift. Fragments are mostly relegated to military use, or occasional pest control. Shards and clusters are occasionally found in the hands of authorities in order to dispel magicks, but again, most are used in the military.

They can cast the following spells:

Fire crystals

Always warm to the touch, and sometimes nearly scorching hot, fire crystals range from deep, magmatic red, to fiery yellow. Light flickers within like that from a bonfire. Most fragments are used to provide illumination and to light fires. Upscale blacksmiths often use fire crystals to fuel their furnaces, burning hotter and cleaner than coal.

They can cast the following spells:

Earth crystals

Earth crystals are generally brown or dark amber in colour, and feel much weightier than they truly are. The few they can afford are treasured by farmers, and many are found in the hands of druid groves.

They can cast the following spells:

Wind crystals

Bright green in colour, wind crystals seem to emit a minor yet ceaseless breeze, a fact that leads to many finding their way to the nightstands of the nobility. Their abilities of flight and illusion are occasionally used in theatres and operahouses.

They can cast the following spells:

Water crystals

Water crystals have a deep blue colour, and feel wet to the touch. Larger shards occasionally drip with water, and they are considered to have a cleansing effect on any water they are submerged in. As such, wells in richer townships often have water crystals installed in them both to improve the quality and for use during emergencies.

They can cast the following spells:

Ice crystals

Ice crystals are a clear light blue, and emanate an unceasing chill. They are commonly used to make iceboxes, though few can afford such luxuries.

They can cast the following spells:

Lightning crystals

Lightning crystals are a bright purple color, with strokes of lightning occasionally crackling within them. Holding one makes your hair stand on edge. Aside from their use in the military and for divination, they are occasionally used to power clockwork mechanisms—but such devices fetch mighty high prices indeed.

They can cast the following spells: