#shardtech

[writerstetris]

Shardtech

Throughout the history of The Shattered God setting, one feature has been fairly ubiquitous: Shards. These magical crystals have been present in the universe since its creation. Through the ages, the peoples of the universe have found uses for the incredible power housed inside Shards: consuming them with spells to gain incredible power for a short time, using them to fuel magical rituals, to recharge the Barriers that protect their cities, and to create and power simple, if effective magical items. At various points in history, it was discovered that Shards could be inscribed with instructions to cause them to reliably produce a consistent effect. This is the basis of Shardtech. It has taken various forms and reached different heights at different times and locales, but Shardtech is almost always present in the world to some degree; even if only as mysterious artifacts found in ancient ruins.

At the point of the setting where I am typically working, Shardtech was relatively recently rediscovered; after the Great Goblinoid Invasion five centuries ago, much knowledge was lost and had to be regained. It was only within the past 70 years that Shardtech began to rise to prominence again. Common uses for Shardtech include urban development projects, including water purification and transportation and enhancing crop yield, powering and programming advanced constructs, advanced Barrier techniques, enhancing personal abilities, and long distance communication.

By far the most important Shardtech item for adventurers is called simply a Bracer, or sometimes a Shardtech Bracer to distinguish it from the piece of armor; innumerable makes and models exist, each with their own name, but each maker will produce Adventurer’s Grade Bracers with a set of common core features:

Adventurer's Grade Shardtech Bracer

The Adventurer's Grade Shardtech Bracer consists of a rectangular, flat shard and some manner of clasp designed to keep it securely fastened to the forearm of the user. The shard has been specially enchanted to be resilient and essentially immune to damage and wear and tear. Basic Bracers have several useful features:

You may communicate with any other Bracer user who is within the same Barrier as you or that has a communication link established with your Barrier. This functionality can be used while relatively close to a Barrier, though the coverage varies based on location and topography.

You may exchange currency from secure accounts at connected financial institutions, similar to the communication feature above.

Documents, including maps, can be created, stored, and referenced; many wizards will at least partially store their spellbooks in their bracers.

Many have a camera feature, creating still or moving images that can be holographically projected; these images are obviously holographic in nature and are unlikely to be able to fool someone as a real object.

Bracers can be enchanted to grant the effects of any magical bracer item; it is not intended that Bracers conflict with magical items.

Finally, a Bracer can be used to interface with other Shardtech items and creatures (in the case of constructs) to use, program, maintain, alter, or create them.

Adventurer’s Grade Bracers have a few important advanced functions

The Bracer ambiently absorbs magical energy, empowering and refreshing the wearer. While you have this bracer equipped, you use the regular 5th Edition Resting Rules; otherwise, you are restricted to the “Gritty Realism” resting variant found in the Dungeon Master’s Guide on page 267.

The Bracer absorbs leftover magical energy from defeated foes, using this energy to further enhance the wearer. While you have this bracer equipped, you gain XP at the normal 5th Edition rate; if you do not have a bracer, you gain XP at half the normal rate.

It is expected that an Adventurer will have an Adventurer Grade Shardtech Bracer before beginning their career, and almost certainly by the time they reach third level, but this is not strictly necessary. It is strongly advised that all characters or none have a Shardtech Bracer; differentiating the XP totals and resting rules could create unnecessary friction.

[writerstetris]

About The Setting

The Shattered God is a setting intended primarily for Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. It is a high-magic magitech setting with active deities, largely unexplored territory, and at this point a long, but unwritten, history. For your players, it should be immediately familiar, but still a little strange, with an altered cosmology and (mostly cosmetic) changes to several available player races. Below the cut, you can find some general details about the setting.

Soril, the world of the Material Plane of The Shattered God setting, is a large spherical planet with several major continents. Though the planet has no moon, it does have a fairly sizeable ring system. On the continents, civilizations are few and far between, due in large part to the presence and activity of powerful monsters and dangerous animals. Civilization survives in cities, towns, and villages protected by a closely related family of magical effects simply and collectively called “Barriers.” A Barrier is created and maintained by a specially inscribed Shard; Barriers are widely believed to be the first type of Shardtech ever developed, and generally speaking, they prevent dangerous creatures from entering the protected region. Some act as physical walls, with a few carefully guarded gates allowing entry, some prevent all but specified types of creatures to enter, and so on.

Shards are magical crystals of incredible power. It is fair to describe Shards as the magical and cultural heart of the world, though precisely what they are is not well known. The most widely accepted explanation is that they are the remains of The Architect, the creator deity of the universe. It is said that The Architect could not contain within itself the strain of the dissonance of the various concepts, forces, energies, and matter that were necessary for the universe and the tension ultimately caused it to Shatter, raining Shards down upon all of the Planes. The largest of these Shards formed a deity in each plane where they landed. Though smaller Shards did not form deities, they can be found in every plane, including the Material. Indeed, a large number of these Shards can be found in Soril’s rings.

The mortal races, in an age lost to time, found that Shards can be used to fuel magical creations. Furthermore, by inscribing instructions into a Shard, it was possible to govern its function, creating reliable magical effects, from controlling the rate of flow of a water pump to forming the operating system of a construct. These advancements lead to its adaptation into technology, commonly called Shardtech. The precise knowledge of how to prepare and inscribe Shards with runes, symbols, or glyphs to control their function has resurfaced and been lost several times throughout history. During the time period in which I plan to run games in the setting, it resurfaced within the last century or so, and as such Shardtech artifacts and items are fairly commonplace, but advances in Shardtech are still made with some frequency.