AvatarsCampaign > AvatarsVirtualWorld > AvatarsMythos

Overview


The Diadem was once an Earthlike planet. Shattered by a titanic battle between the forces of the Sun and the Endless Night, it splintered into Shards. The Endless Night were driven back, but the Sun's armies had the greater work ahead of them now - to preserve the lives of the Diadem.

Levistones had been scattered everywhere throughout the crust of the planet. They concentrated these into the nuclei of the Shards, and used them to gather up atmosphere and life forms, both animals and humans. They set each Shard spinning slowly, so that each side would not grow too cold at night, or too hot during the day. And in the end, their powers spent, they returned to the Sun to rest, leaving behind only a few sentinels to keep watch for the return of the Endless Night.

Thousands of years have passed. The survivors have forgotten that there was ever a single great planet. They only know the worlds of the Diadem - a million shards glittering with life, with magic and treasure and secrets of the distant past.

The Temple of the Light


The Tasavar faith holds that the Spark was a divine entity who floated alone in the void; seeing nothing existed, she split herself into many pieces, so that each piece would never need to be alone. The Sun is the greatest part of the Spark, but the Worlds are small pieces of it, and the people who live on them, smaller pieces still. In doing this, however, she woke the Void, which hated the light and wanted it to go away. It attempts to extinguish these worlds.

Levistones


Levistones are crystals of various colors, depending on type, that share the common property of absorbing solar energy and being able to create a gravitational field in their proximity.

This field is not exactly the same as gravity: it is not uniform in all directions, but instead seems to be stronger on a plane, such that if you're above or below a levistone-equipped airship or a Shard, you'll feel gravity to be upward or downward, rather than directly toward the levistones. If you're at the same level as the levistones, you'll find yourself floating in the air and drifting slowly toward it, allowing you to grab hold of the airship and pull yourself back on board.

Levistones are but one of a wide variety of magic crystals, each with its own unique purpose. Some crystals, for instance, can be charged with magical energy like batteries, and drained at need later.

Other crystals radiate darkness, creating an almost palpable sense of evil. Presumably the Endless Night's forces might use such crystals to create their own artifacts.

Soul Crystals


Soul crystals are left behind by minions of Endless Night. Their exact nature and function are unknown, but they can easily be found because they sparkle; the larger the minion, the bigger and shinier their crystals are. They weigh practically nothing, they can be gathered and split apart easily, and they cannot be stolen against a person's will. They are used as one of several currencies among most shards.

The Temple on Tasavalta purchases crystals, claiming they are proof the bearer has slain creatures of Night, and redeems them for Tasavaran gold. It's rumored that they purify the crystals for use in holy weapons or artifacts of some kind.

Runes


Runes are generally etched into metals, then filled with an ink made from powdered crystals. When exposed to solar energy, they take on strength which charges the engraved object with magical power.

It's possible for PCs to take Rune Engraving as a profession. Such a PC will carry a burin and a few inkpots of fine crystal-infused inks with which they can draw runes. These runes must then be charged by sunlight, or infused with stored power, to activate them.

Alchemy


Certain plants store up solar energy. With care, they can be rendered into magical potions and elixirs. These potions do not need to be kept in the sunshine to retain their potency.
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