Crafting
Essence crystals are left behind by fallen enemies and/or found in dangerous wilderness. They can be crafted into powerful artifacts, such as essence amulets and imbued banners.
Essence Amulets
To craft an essence amulet, create a beaded charm with at least 3" of beads featuring at least 1 essence crystal to create an amulet that stores 1
essence. Create a beaded charm of at least 6" length featuring at least 3
essence crystals for an amulet that stores 2 essence.
Amulets do not function well in close proximity to each other; a person may only benefit from one amulet at a time. Any person with access to the requisite physical items may craft an amulet. Essence may be freely retrieved from and stored in an amulet by the wearer, enabling the wearer to have access to more essence than their usual max. To be attuned to a new wearer, an amulet must be worn for an hour.
Each amulet is only active during the cycle in which it is created. Each cycle is associated with a color of amulet, so it is easy to tell which amulets are currently active.
Amulet Components
Cycle-Color Beads: These are freely available. You may bring your own beads of natural materials to use in your crafting and/or donate to Aeternia. Your amulet must be at least 70% cycle-color beads. (The remaining 30% may be metallic beads if you have obtained that many.)
Metallic Beads: These will be brought into game by NPCs or given as a reward by staff for being helpful. Please do not bring your own to Aeternia (except to donate) as that is cheating and makes them less special, both for you and everyone else. Metallic beads have no mechanical effects but are culturally perceived as being associated with wealth, combat prowess, magical prowess, and high social status.
Charms: Some NPCs have unique charms that they will give to PCs who help them. You are encouraged bring charms to game for your PC to give away to other PCs as a token of thanks, honor, friendship, etc. Your charms should ideally be distinct from other characters' charms and related to your character's personality, history, interests, etc., in some way that makes people think of your character when they see them. Charms do not have any mechanical effect but culturally signify great deeds and social ties.
Essence Crystals: Essence
crystals will be dropped by monsters or given by some NPCs. Please do not
bring your own to Aeternia (except to donate) as that is cheating and makes
discovering essence crystals in game less fun. The number of essence crystals
on an amulet dictates its level and thus how much essence it can
store.
Friendship Bracelets
Some individuals symbolize deep friendship by exchanging friendship bracelets. Friendship bracelets are bracelets with at least 5" of beads; they can be longer. They must be at least 70% cycle-color beads. They do not require an essence crystal but they do require a charm that symbolizes the caster or the wearer or the relationship between the two.
Friendship bracelets must be crafted by two people, the wearer and the caster. Both must physically contribute to creating the bracelet. After creation, the caster may store one spell they know in the bracelet by paying the essence cost as if they were casting the spell while touching the bracelet and saying something earnest and heartwarming to the wearer.
The wearer may cast the spell at any time without spending essence. It has the same thematics as the caster does; if someone stores Invoke Pin with a plant theme in your bracelet, you must cast it with a plant theme. If casting the spell would normally require gesturing (e.g., Slow Heal), the wearer is not required to do the requisite gesturing while casting the spell. A stored spell is not expended until successfully cast. You may not upgrade a stored spell to "sound of voice" range. However, you may store a "sound of voice" casting of a spell in a friendship bracelet; this consumes your once-per-game sound of voice upgrade.
You may create and wear as many friendship bracelets as you like, but each must have a unique charm and you may only have a stored spell in one friendship bracelet you are wearing at a time. If a spell is cast into a friendship bracelet you are wearing, any spell currently stored in another bracelet expires. Spells stored in bracelets expire at the end of game if not used before then. Once you have cast the spell stored in your friendship bracelet, a spell can be stored in another one of your bracelets immediately.
No matter how many friendship bracelets you crafted with others, you may only cast a spell into a friendship bracelet once per game total. This is not per bracelet or per spell; once per game, you may cast a spell into a bracelet. You then may not cast any spells into any friendship bracelets for the remainder of that game.
Faction Banners
A faction banner is a banner that is, at minimum, a 2'x3' or larger section of fabric or leather that is decorated in some way with the symbol of a faction, has with at least a 2" wide border in the cycle color all the way around, and is affixed to some kind of pole or holder such that it flies in the wind (as opposed to being draped unceremoniously over a piece of furniture).
Banners from previous cycles are encouraged to be used as decor but have no mechanical effect. Retired banners should have a series of Xs in a contrasting color added to the cycle-colored border to assist colorblind players in distinguishing them from active banners.
Crafting a Faction Banner
A banner should be mostly or entirely crafted in-game and in-character. For example, if you want to cut and hem the fabric at home that is fine, but you should not bring a stack of completed banners to game. Banners may use any material and have any manner of non-offensive decoration; the more elaborate, the better. Hanging metallic beads from the bottom of your banner or incorporating them into the design in some other way is a show of the wealth and power of your faction.
You may bring any material you want out of which to craft and decorate your banner (aside from metallic beads and essence crystals, which you must acquire in-game). It is encouraged to involve as many members of the faction as possible in crafting the banner. There is no minimum time required to craft a banner; don't be the reason a minimum crafting time needs to be added to the rules.
Anyone with a sewing needle or a wet paintbrush in their hand should be considered a non-combatant.
Basic Banner Mechanics
After spending approximately 10 minutes within roughly 10 feet of your faction's banner, you regain 1 essence. A faction may have multiple banners for the current cycle. Banner effects do not stack, but having multiple banners can create larger or additional areas of essence regeneration for faction members. Areas of effect from multiple factions' banners can overlap. Banners are portable. A banner can be carried into battle.
Imbued Banners
Affixing an essence crystal to a banner will turn it into an imbued banner and endow it with a single ability (in addition to the essence recharge described above). A faction may only possess one imbued banner with each ability at any given time. It is encouraged to equip your banner with some kind of physical marker you can toggle to show whether its ability has been used that day, such as a reversible band attached to the banner pole. Each imbued banner should be marked with the symbol that indicates the type of ability it grants.
Banner of Healing: Once per
day, a member of the faction who is physically touching the banner may spend
one essence to use the call, "All [members of my faction] within the sound of
my voice, be healed [in some flavorful way relevant to the
faction]." For example, "All acolytes of One Blood within the sound of my voice, be healed as the Blood Mother's power seals your wounds!"
Banner of Valor: Once per day, a member of the faction who is physically touching the banner
may spend one essence to use the call, "All enemies within the sound of my
voice, I command you to only attack those [wearing the symbol of my faction
/ shouting my faction battle cry]." For example, "All enemies within the sound of my voice, I command you to only attack those shouting 'death to tyrants!'"
Banner of Power: Once per day, a member of the faction who is physically touching the banner may spend one essence to use the call, "All [members of my faction] within the sound of my voice, regain one essence [in some flavorful way relevant to the faction]." For example, "All Coveners of Whispers within the sound of my voice, regain one essence as the strength of nature courses through your veins!"
