Haldae Coordinator Pins
Coordinators
While there is no formal leadership structure within the individual haldae settlements like the Onyx Valley Ruins, there was a need for a more broadstrokes leadership roles for the Haldae Resistance as a whole. These roles are for the people who coordinate pickup and rescue missions, as well as those who have infiltrated trade routes or mines. The people who carry these pins keep them safe and hidden at all times, even going so far as to keep them buried nearby to be retrieved later.
The structure for these coordinators is loose, but generally there are stationary members and migratory members. Stationary members stay in one location at all times, ready to receive groups of fleeing haldae, or to notify migratory members of any threats or nearby changes made to areas surrounding safe havens. Migratory members are further divided into two groups, those that do scheduled pickups in areas around their home base, and members who roam from town to town in search of haldae who may not be in a position to escape on their own.
The Pins
The pins themselves are enchanted with intracate runes carved on the back and a special glyph on the front that denotes a coordinators role. With a small drop of blood or any other input of mana the pins glow softly and a message can be sent across the vast network of members, or to individuals. The runes on the back are used to choose a recipient and their pin will glow in response, notifying the member that they have an incoming message. Messages can be held on the pins for up to a full day and listened to when most convenient. In this way the haldae have found a reliable way to communicate information quickly across the whole of Costrus.
by RandoScorpio via MidJourney
Just a heads up, I've picked up a hanger on. She's an yildae, but I've contracted her silence with a rune seal, are we clear to head back to Onyx Valley?
That's a funny looking pin? What's it do?
In the Hands of Humans
In the hands of humans the pin looks like an ornately carved stone brooch. A safety mechanism that is incorporated into each pin and kept as a stable ongoing spell through the use of a small mana stone. These runes are carved into the center of the back of each pin.
Guarded Techniques
The desire to communicate over such large distances is not a uniquely haldae one. Humans and even yildae have tried to figure out the runes and magic that would be needed to complete this goal, but only The Mage, an enigmatic haldae mage, has been able to perfect the spell. It is a closely guarded secret and The Mage has even gone so far as to isolate the spell within their own tome so that it can't be duplicated by any other mages in their disciple line. Only their direct students will ever be allowed to learn this spell, and even then it may be dependant on if that disciple is haldae or not.
I like the idea of a small, non-obstrusive way to send and receive messages.