Purposes of cerulite crystal

I will show here in brief of the purposes of cerulite crystals in magical systems and technologies based on the categories of the five great powers in Cerulea:

Arcliners of the Aeronavis Company
An arcliner is powered by a cerulite engine. A crystal is positioned within the engine and transform the ambient energy into kinetic energy. An arcliner is a massive engineering structure, the size of a city and has the capacity to support 1 million passengers and thousand tons of cargo. Despite its immensity, an arcliner travels by means of teleportation, necessary to traverse the vast distances between the major populations in the blink of an eye. However, a crystal is exhausted in every jump, so the arcliner only travel to the next Company port where there is the necessary facility to replace the crystal. The Company guards the technology jealously and is allowed to silence anyone who jeopardize their operations as provided by the Grand Convention signed by the Great Powers. To date, the Company has 23 arcliners in operation facilitating the vital cerulite economy. The Company charge expensively for transportation of armed forces to deter conflict in the Known Skies.

Albean magic
Albean mages source their power from cerulite. The purer the cerulite, the higher the concentration of mage (ambient) energy. Some of the purest cerulites are found in the Holy Isles of the Nagas, and they grew rich from its trade. It is not to say the rest of Cerulea has no discovery of pure cerulites, but it is simply that they are rare. Albean mages extract power from cerulite through various methods, depending on the tradition of the mage order they belonged to. Here are some examples:

1. Cerulite meditation - the slowest and most tedious method, a mage holds a cerulite and focus his mind in allowing power to flow into his body. Some of the wealthier mage guilds constructed entire basements out of cerulite to speed up transference;
   
2. Oral consumption - a dangerously addictive method, a liquid or living thing that soaked the cerulite of its power, which is consumed by the mage. Blood is the best and quickest medium of transference as discovered by some malign sects;
   
3. Cerulite host - the most dangerous method, an extremely pure and aged cerulite would develop sentience and would use a mage as host. Depending on the environment and emotions that the cerulite sentience had grew from, it could be good or malign. A good cerulite would be more than happy to coexist with its host. A malign cerulite would snuff the consciousness of its host and override control completely.

Akeean technology
Akeean technology is heavily based on cerulite energy. The principle is the same in all their devices in that cerulite ambient energy is harnessed to become kinetic energy or electricity. The Akeeans have become so efficient that a fist-sized cerulite could power a small city. Transformed cerulite energy could be stored in cells for transportation. Although Aeronavis shipyards are located in the Akeean Federation, the Company did not share arcliner technology with the Akeeans as agreed in the Grand Convention in which the Akeeans are a signatory. The Convention also disallowed all research and development in teleportation technology and arcliner-sized vessels. So the Akeeans commit all their resources in anti-mage shields to protect their cities, portable weaponry and computer sciences. The Akeeans prosper from trading their cerulite cells, gadgets and weapons.

Garrish magic
Similar to the Albean mages, the mages of the Garr gain their powers from cerulite. The Garr is an impatient and violent people, so their favorite method is drinking the blood that bathed a crystal. Their victims are usually planteaters from nations that are subject to their oppression. Their pride leaders are usually battle mages with the biggest appetite for blood. It also means the addiction becomes their leaders' only weakness, the disorganization of their tribal society aside. The cerulite-infused blood beverage gives the battle mages superhuman strength, and, under the guidance of the few Garrish mage schools, they learned to use their unholy powers in structured ways like calling up storms, direct lightning, conjuring fire and petrifying groups of enemies.

Naga technology
Naga technology is too based on cerulite, but magic would be a better label, if not for their dependence on mechanical devices. Several thousands of years ago, a humanoid naga was transported through the shears and became an involuntary host to a sentient cerulite. The name of the host was forgotten but the new being was remembered in Naga records as Vijaya the Victorious. With his incredible powers, he built upon the flesh with minerals and such to become a walking winged giant that breathed blue fire. While Vijaya is missing to these days, he is deified by his people and they purposed to emulate his ways by enduring the pain of continuous surgery to equip their bodies with mechanical parts.

The obsession culminated into the creation of the Chakra-walkers, or Holy Pilgrims, as the Nagas would call them, which are Nagas that had their brains and nervous systems surgically removed and placed in cerulite-powered mechanical armors. The Walkers dealt the most casualties in the Great Battle of Cerulea. Out of the Battle, of the 100 Walkers, only 3 remained to rule the Nagas as god-kings. Their priests are scientists and surgeons and practiced their professions and surgeries with ritualistic vigor. The veterans of the Naga armed forces are so heavily disfigured from the surgeries, they look hardly humanoid and more like monstrosities of tortured flesh with clumsy mechanical limbs. The deadliest weapon of the remaining 3 Walkers are the Reedians, their personal guards with psionic abilities granted to them with mind-links to their Walker masters. They are able to perform telepathy, telekinesis, mass hypnosis and mind control. Their psionic abilities aside, Reedians are extremely agile with their minimal enhancements in contrast to the disfigured veterans of the Naga army.

As I look to develop the Shrewds in Araneus, what do you think of Implantation as a method of cerulite extraction? The earliest Shrewd mages discovered that merely keeping a small crystal close to the skin seemed to give some benefits, and later developed the habit of implanting a crystal just below the skin into fatty tissue. Over time the mana leached from the crystal into the body. And yes, addiction is a very real danger!

Subcutaneous cerulite implants are absolutely doable. I have managed to invite another player with a character, who would wear a cerulite pendant, granting the character demonic agility and speeds.

I have an idea about cerulite that they are a kind of semi-living thing. In that if a mage burn out all a crystal's reserve, the cerulite will become dead. However, if a mage is thrift, leaving a minimum amount of energy to the crystal, the cerulite will regenerate. However, it will only regenerate if placed on an island soil or attached to living things. A kind of crystal-organism symbiosis; wherein the host/crystal holder would gain mage powers, while the crystal gains nutrition simply through dermal contact to regenerate its reserves and increase in purity in return. However, most organisms would not live long enough to see its crystal to achieve the level of purity for it to achieve sentience.

Obviously, natural regeneration will take some time. Meditation would increase the rate of regeneration, while sleep and eating are the next best things. Instant recharge would be through contact with another piece of untapped cerulite.

Yes, cerulite addiction is dangerous, so most mage orders/guilds/schools address the problem by prescribing rigorous disciplines and meditation techniques for their novices. Master mages (graduates) usually have no addiction problem, otherwise the organization will not grant the status. The Garr battle mages are an exception due to their crueler method. I am thinking we should start another thread about Albean mage schools.

Of course, machines are not living things, so the crystals will simply burn out after every use. The Akeeans, the tech raptors, will refuse to believe cerulite is alive.

because of its sentient qualities, is it possible to use cerulite as a connector of sort to create a 'hive-mind'? (i wrote about it under Society & Culture development for the Naga community.)

it could also be a substance that when fused with other materials can result in an almost indestructible substance, or a highly volatile one.

increasing strenght & stamina might be another property; the side effect of this, however, might be a shortening of one's lifespan because of the usage of your body as a host. (The cerulite addiction/abuse mentioned earlier could yield a similar effect.)

By the way, would there be any interesting effects if a body were allowed to die with cerulite still implanted inside? Should any traces be extracted from the body before it is disposed of/buried/etc? And what would happen if they were not?

Red Aliss wrote:

because of its sentient qualities, is it possible to use cerulite as a connector of sort to create a 'hive-mind'? (i wrote about it under Society & Culture development for the Naga community.)

You can still run a hivemind nation/state without implanting cerulite nodes in its subject. A Naga priest drawing its powers from high purity, non-sentient cerulites could affect mass hypnosis easily. Mass hypnosis wouldn't even be necessary. According to the Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli, an ecclesiastic state commands unwavering loyalty from its subject. In other words, a religious state draws its authority from fanaticism and fanatics breed easily from regular shows of divine miracles (cerulite magic). The Holy Isles are ran by dogma, and so that could be used.

Red Aliss wrote:

it could also be a substance that when fused with other materials can result in an almost indestructible substance, or a highly volatile one.

A very rare, high purity cerulite (non-sentient) could easily grant the user impenetrable mage shielding, if the mage is trained, or the power to manipulate atoms to form nearly indestructible armor. In my mind, cerulite crystals are just that; crystals, but serving as vessels to seeds of sentience. Hey, they are pretty much like viruses; DNA materials covered with protein membrane. Besides, fusing cerulite molecules with other minerals means breaking the cerulite, which kills it basically. Think of them as oysters and the energy as the pearl; you rear them to harvest the energy periodically.

Red Aliss wrote:

increasing strenght & stamina might be another property; the side effect of this, however, might be a shortening of one's lifespan because of the usage of your body as a host. (The cerulite addiction/abuse mentioned earlier could yield a similar effect.)

In my mind, cerulite use prolongs life and youth. Think qi in fantasy wushu films. Cerulite energy is meant to replace qi. The higher the purity of a cerulite consumed, the longer the life and the better the youth. So cerulite use is really, very expensive, even if you could find a steady source! The rarity and astronomical price help to keep the number of mages very, very small. And a thrift mage would be wise to keep his small piece alive and regenerative.

Red Aliss wrote:

By the way, would there be any interesting effects if a body were allowed to die with cerulite still implanted inside? Should any traces be extracted from the body before it is disposed of/buried/etc? And what would happen if they were not?

I think your exact question is what would happen if a cerulite is not extracted from a corpse. Cricetus invented the implantation method, so he would know better what practices the Aranean mages would adhere to concerning cerulites in dead mages. However, given the rarity and costliness of any small piece of cerulite, all mage guilds would extract the cerulite implants immediately. In occasions when the corpse of a mage carrying a cerulite implant (assuming the crystal is not burned out) could not be retrieved, I suggest the cerulite could keep the corpse fresh for some period of time that is if the corpse is located on the ground of an island, where the cerulite piece could draw power from. Eventually, scavengers would pick the corpse clean, and left the cerulite buried in the remains and soil, undisturbed and slowly regenerate and grow in purity through the millenia.

If you are thinking of creating undead creatures, yes, you are allowed to! A necromancer consuming cerulites could work spells over corpses and carcasses. A necromancer would not let her undead minions wear cerulites though. A grain-sized cerulite is worth a spell of 500 animated corpses.

All in all, when it comes to cerulite crystal consumption, you must always bear in mind the economy behind it. It is extremely rare, friggin' expensive, and very hard to come by. This means only the very, very, very privileged could have access to the stockpile, and to the knowledge and training to use it. An undead minion wouldn't know the first thing of how to channel cerulite power into its veins or in keeping the power balanced in its body's circulation. In the hands of a child, it might as well be another lump of rock (except for the improved senses, agility and reflex).

I haven't gone very far down the various rites and practices of the Shrewd Mages in this regard, although I would speculate that cerulite implants that were removed would be held ion very high esteem, and possibly even thought of as carrying something of the soul/essence of their former host, possibly only being used for the most notable spells the host knew.

As an indirect consequence of cerulite implantation, in this case the accidental implantation of cerulite shards in the line of work see the story of Monty.

EDIT: although it's none to clear that "Monty" is a link!

How about using these Cerulites in weaponry such as guns and swords?