Source Crystals

Sources crystals are living chunks of focused elemental energy which keep the Fractured Skies afloat. Each crystal radiates one of the four elements, altering the geography and ecology of the island, as well as the morphology and psychology of the people who live upon it. Crystals come in varying sizes, some being only five to size meters in diameter, while others sit around 30 to 50 meters. A single island can have multiple crystals on it, but rarely does a single island have more than three. An island with four crystals is incredibly rare, while islands with single crystals are comparatively common. There is only one island known to have four source crystals, each of a different attunement: Dovin Prime.

Islands are shaped by their Source Crystals. Islands shaped by earth crystals are generally larger, as the crystal has caused it to slowly expand over the course of the last thousand years. Islands shaped by water crystals are covered in bodies of water, as it is ever produced and maintained by the crystal itself. Islands shaped by air feature hollow segments, or are otherwise broken and drift with each other in a loose orbit. Islands shaped by fire noticeably hotter, and are generally more inhospitable environments.

Most islands fit for large-scale habitation have multiple crystals which compliment each other. Islands with earth and water crystals are ever fertile and are generally suited to farming, while islands which fire and air crystals are turbulent chunks of rock propelled by hot steam vents. Islands with only a single crystal are often uninhabitable, as they are often barren dregs of dirt, burned out husks of rock, a violent asteroid belt of shrapnel, or a globe of water too small to support anything but a meager population of fish.

Each Source Crystal is guarded by a Source Dragon which appears whenever the crystal sustains a large amount of damage. The beast is eternally tied to its crystal, its island, and the beings who live upon it. Some Source Dragons are seen gentle protectors of their islands, while others are beasts of terror and destruction.

Properties

Material Characteristics

Each Source Crystal is unique, but generally have characteristics which coincide with both their elemental attunement and the nature of their island. Earth crystals are larger, more angular, have wider planes of cleavage, and are grey, white, or brown in color. Air crystals are thinner, covered in sharp angles, and are clear in color. Fire crystals are spiky, burning hot to the touch, and are red, orange, or light blue in color. Water crystals are smooth or ribbed, clear or foggy, and are dark blue or green in color.

Physical & Chemical Properties

Fire and earth crystals are warm to the touch, while water and wind crystals are chilled or sometimes freezing. Each crystal also emits a faint light similar to its coloration, and a faint smell relating to the element it represents. Fire crystals smell like freshly charred coal, air crystals smell like ozone, water crystals are scentless, and earth crystals smell like dust.

Geology & Geography

On islands with only one crystal, the Source can usually be found around the center of the landmass. On islands with multiple crystals, the Sources are placed irregularly. Rarely can two crystals, especially two attuned to different elements, be found anywhere near each other. On inhabited islands, the places where crystal are located are generally the centers of cities, under intense guard, or venerated as holy sites.

Origin & Source

Source Crystals are the direct result of the actions of The Four Titans roughly 500 years ago. Each crystal is believed to be somehow connected to the titan to which it shares an attainment. Scholars, both academic and theological, disagree over whether or not the creation of crystals and the subsequent raising of the Fractured Skies was an intentional action carried out by the Titans, or if it was simply a byproduct of some natural cycle acting on a titanic scale. The specifics of how the crystals were created is likewise unknown, but a few islands have stories which range from the mundane to the mythical.

Life & Expiration

The main body of the crystal seems to have an infinite supply of elemental power, or at least no known crystal has lost its charge for any reason but external ones. However, portions broken off of the main body of the crystal do start to decay and lose their elemental energy over time. The rate of decay is different for every shard and is influenced by a number of factors such as its size, how much is it being used, or what attunement it carries. For context, a moderately sized crystal shard (roughly 0.5 meters in diameter) can power a standard sized sky ship for a number of months before requiring replacement or a recharge.
Decay by element, quickest to slowest:

1. Fire.
2. Air.
3. Water.
4. Earth.

A crystal shard that is not yet fulled drained can be recharged by placing it in close proximity to a Source Crystal that shares its elemental attunement. The rate at which it recharges is again decided by many factors, but generally, the above list provides a fair illustration at how quickly it recharges based on its attunement.

History & Usage

Cultural Significance and Usage

Several groups across the Skies ascribe religious or spiritual significance to Source Crystals. Most are comfortable with at least some level of shaving, but some view the act as a sacrilegious act and actively resist any crystal based technology. The Children of Ves from Coral Bay are a particularly apt example of the later, a group of Luddites who have taken control of the island from its previous rulers.

Industrial Use

Industrially, crystal shards are used to power all manner of machines. In the more urban and modern nations such as Skyhome, Davin Prime, and Molten Heart, they power all kinds of machines used for agriculture, construction, production, and transportation. But by far the most common use for crystal shards is to power the sky ships which allow movement from island to island. Each sky ship uses at least one shard to power its momentum, and without ships to move resources and people from one land mass to another, life simply would not be sustainable on many islands.

Manufacturing & Products

The most common use of Source Crystals across the Skies is the slow and methodical shaving process used to generate shards both for industrial and monetary use. Source Crystals grow at a fairly regular rate, so they can be shaved slowly without fear of causing any lasting damage. Taking too much too quickly is a potentially cataclysmic mistake for anyone harvesting a crystal, so most nations tend to err on the side of caution. Most, but not all.

Byproducts & Sideproducts

A byproduct of shaving is the production of the main currency of the Fractured Skies, Slivers. Slivers are measured in wight, and their value is determined primarily by their color which indicates their rarity. Slivers are so small that they have no remaining elemental attunement and are worthless save for their agreed upon value. Different islands value colors of Slivers differently, and so wise traders keep track of which islands tend to value the most.

"This isn't possible. It can't be making something out of nothing."
"What do you mean? It's magic, same as what I do."
"No, what you do is different. You've got your Fire, right? It's a part of you."
"Yeah? So?"
"So when you use magic, you're not making something out of nothing. What you're doing is cutting off a little piece of your Fire and using that to bypass some of, what the ancients called, "the Laws of Physics." The first of those laws being that you can't make something out of nothing. When you use your magic, you're just using new laws to get around some of the old ones. New laws that the ancients could never have accounted for. But nothing, not even magic, can get around that first law. It's just not possible, at least it shouldn't be."
"Okay...?"
"What you use to do the things you do.. there's still that basic exchange. And you can get more Fire, just by recovering over time and letting your tank refill. You have a limited amount of Fire to give in exchange for your magic. These crystals... don't. They just radiate an endless stream of elemental magic. They produce new matter at a constant rate. They don't "recharge", they just "do"."
"Alright, you're throwing around a lot of words here, but I think I get what you're driving at. So what does it mean? How do they break the first law, if nothing is supposed to be able to do that?"
"..."
"Well?"
"I think it's a gate."
"You think the rock is a door?"
"Not a door, a gate. One that connects one point to another. Maybe it's not "producing" anything. Maybe it's just pulling it from somewhere else."
"Well, if the rock is a door-"
"Gate."
"Well, if the rock is a "gate", what's on the other side?"
"That's... that's a good question."