Shard

While people in Kenos are diverse, there are some that stand out as special. Shard-Bearers are named as such because of the curious crystal they bear somewhere on their body, which, naturally, is called a Shard. While some people may have crawled out of a crystal cocoon to get their Shard before arriving in Kenos, those who come here first find theirs in the roots.
Though the Shard looks like a simple rock, it’s so much more than that. The Shard is you. A Shard is your soul made into a physical object, and as such, it bears unique properties and weaknesses. The Shard is a conduit that is exposed to the energies that swirl in Kenos and give the Shard-Bearers their unique powers and properties. Shards give their owners powers like Communion and spell casting, but having their soul in such a raw form also exposes them to the corrupting properties of Discord.

About Shards

As mentioned, your Shard is your soul, quite literally. The mechanism of how this is done is mysterious, but when a character arrives to Kenos, they find their soul crystallizing into this form. This crystal has a wide variation in appearance, with no two being the same. They can be shaped like a flower, colored like a rainbow, or as a large as a fist, but regardless, it’s said that the Shard reflects its Bearer. Whether this is true or not is up to you to decide.
Because your Shard is a part of you in an ethereal way, you're also able to interact with it in unusual ways. A Shard-Bearer can take out their own Shard and hold it, which simply phases it out of the body and leaves no mark. It feels strange to hold your soul, but not as strange as if someone else were to do it. If someone else holds your Shard, this can feel like a warm comfort if you’re extremely close to that person (wink wink), but it can also feel deeply wrong if it’s a stranger. If it’s someone you detest, it might inspire a murderous impulse in you. Along those lines, if your Shard is taken more than 10 feet/3 meters away from your body, the body will become a soulless husk. If the Shard is not returned to the body within a week, it will naturally dissipate. During this time, your consciousness simply shifts to the Shard alone, where you have a full sense of sight and sound from it, but little else. The longer you're away, the more agonizing the process feels.
While in this form, the Shard has the same properties as an average crystal. It’s semi-translucent and is a rock, but it emits a faint, comforting warmth like the perfect cup of tea in your hands. When it’s in a Shard-Bearer’s body, the Shard cannot be damaged, but when removed, it’s destroyed in the same ways a normal crystal would be. That is, it’s difficult, but not impossible. Just be careful, as if your Shard is destroyed, this is a perma-death.
Finally, to answer the most important question from the playerbase, if you lick it, you’ll find that the taste varies depending on the personality of the person it belongs to. A kind person’s Shard may taste sweet, a cruel one’s may taste bitter, et cetera. Yes, this is important.
In Kenos, the Shard is an important marker of a powerful, chosen soul. Plucked directly from Oblivion by Yima herself, the Shard-Bearers are granted great abilities because of their Shard’s ability to channel Meridian and Zenith both. The Shard allows these people to tap directly into those forces of nature and weave them into new magics ranging from simple spells to the ever-important Purification of Discord. After all, exposing your soul so directly to such force doesn’t come without detriment.