Scumbag_Brain wrote:Concept: Ley stones are a crystalline ore that is found in rare veins throughout the world. It is refined into pure ley crystals through a secret process known only to a handful of noble Houses. Enchanting is the process of storing a spell in such a crystal through resonance. Crystals are particular and finding the right one to resonate with the chosen spell or altering the spell slightly to create the desired resonance is an art in and of itself.
Once the spell is bound in the crystal, its effects will remain so long as the spell's energy persists. Crystals can be recharged only by a sorcerer of the same bloodline of the one who made the spell.
Adaptations: Crystals are only used for the most potent enchantments and many lesser spells are bound by using inks laced with powdered ley stone. These inks are cheap because they can be made with low quality ley ore and adaptable for they can be painted on any surface or even tatooed into the skin as is the case with the Marked.
Details
-Ley Crystals are delicate and prone to shattering, thus enchantment is an art that requires profound concentration on the part of the sorcerer.
-Ley crystals can only be charged by sorcerers. Alchemists who have attempted to charge them have, more often than not, wound up lacerated by crystal shrapnel.
-Enchanted weapons and armors are usually socketed with ley crystals, but some extremely expensive and powerful items have the crystal threaded into the very metal.
-All the derivatives of ley ore, crystals, inks, and alloys, are proscribed and possession of them by the unblooded without documentation is punishable by prison terms or, in the case of some more ruthless Houses, death. The Marked are punished in the same fashion if they attempt to flee their masters, for they are seen as enchanted property.