Crystals

Planetary crystals are large, almost three stories tall. They are placed in crystal grottoes, where smaller crystals grow around them naturally. Planetary crystals radiate a mysterious energy that the Roanians use to power pretty much everything in the Empire. The mechanism by which they do this is unknown, though it is believed they draw energy from the planet's core and its biosphere; crystals do not survive on barren worlds.

Planetary crystals are fully sentient, but think very differently to people. They do not care for being bothered and will often shoot bolts of crystal lightning at people that approach them undeferentially. The planetary crystal can communicate with anyone nearby, but usually chooses not to.

Crystals are linked together in a vast network known as crystal space.

The Father Crystal

There is one red crystal in the entire Empire, located in the grotto of Dai Yan. Smaller than the mother crystal, and far grumpier, it is responsible for the unusual proliferation of crystals on Dai Yan, with crystals even breaching the surface of the planet in some parks and other natural locations.

Snorunts

Crystals are somehow linked to a race of small, black-furred entities called Xue Tong Zhi, or 'Snorunts' by the Kadrians. These creatures appear in crystal groves, but wander off eventually, usually towards complex machinery and spaceships, where their jabbering handiness is tolerated. Dai-Yan has a large community of Snorunts. No one has yet figured out where their yellow and blue cloaks come from.

Ship Crystals

Ship Crystals are shipboard crystals paired with a Seer, a young fertile woman who provides potential life energy for the crystal to subsist on and acts as its voice and hands. Ship crystals serve the same purpose as AI and shipboard computers in barbarian vessels.

Crystal Space

Through the interaction between the Seer, the Ship Crystal, and the Crystal Lock, a ship may enter into Crystal Space, where time and space pass differently. Using the interplanetary network of crystals as a railroad, ships may pass from point to point almost instantly. Off the network, travel times increase exponentially.

Civilian ships usually make do without a seer, instead using a garden to power the crystal and a direct connection between the crystal and the ship for the crystal to speak. This is less efficient, but it still allows them to enter crystal space. Civilian crystals are very rare on the market and often have served for millennia. Without a crystal, the crystal lock only allows limited travel on the network. This is called scuttling. Ships have scuttled with a seer and a crystal lock, but no functional crystal, but this is rare and to be avoided.

Crystal space is a strange universe full of angular lines and intense radiating energy. Direct exposure to crystal space is usually horrifyingly fatal, but standard ship shields protect against the radiation.

Personal Crystals

Personal crystals come in two varieties; pair-bonded and independent. A pair-bonded crystal is one that is matched to a mortal (usually a Roanian female). This grants the Roanian various abilities, the most important of which is the chance to serve as a seer. Any crystal can be bonded to in extremis. Bonding to a crystal has effects on any humanoid; usually reduced to heightening female traits and turning hair, nails and eyes light blue. When a male bonds with a crystal, they usually become exceedingly female.

Independent crystals are used in all sorts of devices, such as computers and communicators. Larger crystals draw power from the planetary crystal and themselves power palanquins, flyers and trains. The primary source for crystals is Dai-Yan, though every planet has its own small crystal industry.

Resonance Cascade

A resonance cascade occurs when a crystal shatters. Most crystals are too small to be dangerous. They puff themselves into a chill nonexistence. Larger crystals, however, can temporarily open a portal to crystal space, which causes crystal growth across organic matter. Most famously, this occurred on Alice, when the planetary crystal was ordered destroyed. The planet was rapidly transformed into a crystal wasteland where life only survived in the oceans.

Dangerous resonance cascades are very rare. The Alice event was one of two in the past thousand years. Every ship and mode of transportation has protocols for dealing with the possibility of a resonance cascade and drills are regularly performed.