Heartshards Item in Orr | World Anvil

Heartshards

Found throughout the Nexus of Nyn, Heartshards are the physical embodiment of magic. They come in all shapes and sizes, ranging from minute slivers, to "frags" which are smaller crystals, typically no longer than half a finger length, all the way to large, cave-bound crystals 1- and 2-stories high. They're found in a variety of colors, and while each of those colored crystals can be found across all nine worlds of the Nexus, each world tends to have a greater portion of a single color than its sister worlds. Because of this, it has long been posited that the crystals are remnants of gods, or a gift sent by the gods, and therefore were dubbed "Heartshards" because they're dug from the "heart" of their world.  
Varieties

  Heartshards come in 9 dominant colors — another reason they're associated with the Nexus and with the presumed gods whom left them behind.

Color Names Attributes
Temporal Shard Manipulation of space and time; rare and hard to activate.
Render Shard Manipulation of the psyche/emotion.
Sun Shard Manipulation of heat/energy.
Bright Shard Manipulation of life; health; renewal.
Blooming Shard
(colloquially "green shard")
Manipulation of nature.
Sky Shard
(colloquially "breath of air")
Purification.
Null Shard Nullification; difficult to mine; rare and hard to activate. Due to its nature, only small shards can be transported through rifts and portals.
Spirit Shard Manipulation of spirit/ether.
Shadow Shard
(colloquially "black sun")
Combustion; explosive when combined with Sun Shards (orange).

Usage

Possession of a heartshard (or more than one) can greatly increase the possessor's ability to utilize magic, especially in the case of the Imbued. Each type of shard is also responsible for its own magical attribute. Being in possession of even one shard, any larger than a frag has benefits, but can also be detrimental to the bearer and with lasting effects.   Their crystal habit is typically 6-sided prism terminating in 6-sided pyramid formation, ranging from fine-grained, to microcrystalline, to massive. They have a hardness around 5 - 7, depending on purity of the shard, with a melting point between 1650 to 1725º C. They only reach solubility after boiling point, and left to cool. If left too long, they simply recrystallize and require reheating. They can be ground into powder and mixing them (in either state) with each other will produce new magical results. In the case of shadowshards and sunshards, a combustible combined with a catalyst, they are considered to be the elements of "Black Fire". This resource is as valuable, if not more so, than electrified dragon scales as an explosive propellant used to power certain types of technology.
Item type
Magical
Current Location


Cover image: The Myleum by JustBirch

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