Amber

**Amber** is fossilized tree resin and is highly important in the world of Fracture. It has been shown to be the key element in glitch magic, as well as having several magical properties of its own.

## **In Game Lore**

Amber was first introduced in Episode 1, as the gang walked into a preservation cavern, full of individuals who had been trapped in amber and being kept in storage in the estate of Petra Stone.

The mountains of Calladocia were revealed to be gigantic tree stumps, lined with deep veins of amber that pulsed with light every now and then. The *Tome of Kintsugi* has more information on this in a fairy-tale manner explaining that when the world was fractured into pieces, the gods needed something to hold the world together again, drawing upon the resin from every tree and plant on the planet to fill in the gaps of the broken pieces.

## **Physical Properties**

As a hardened resin, it is called a rock. Because it originates as a soft, sticky tree resin, amber sometimes contains animal and plant material as inclusions

At high temperatures it can be melted and reduced down to form shapes or fill in the gaps between wood and metal as a resin. It can also be turned into Oil of Amber, and softer forms can be eaten. It isn't tasty, however it does smell good.

## **Magical Properties**

Amber is a unique preservation mode, preserving otherwise unfossilizable parts of organisms; as such it is helpful in the reconstruction of ecosystems as well as organisms. Druids who know how to use the spell Resinate, can use the sap from trees and plants to trap living organisms inside a lump of sap that hardens into amber.

##### Amber based Spells

* **Resinate** - A spell that uses the components of wood or tree sap to trap things within a sticky resin that slowly hardens; this can be used to hold people still or act like glue. Strength save to escape.
* **Honeystuck** - A spell utilising honey, a small peice of Amber, and a consumable item, utilised as a cursed item that when eaten makes the person feel full puts them into an unwakeable sleep, that keeps them in suspended animation for an indeffinate time. The amber and honey will sit and form into a large lump of amber within the stomach. This can be undone in 2 ways: 1) HoneyUnstuck spell being used which requires the strongest alcohol available (75% vol minimum) along with drawing a spiral across the stomach to have the honey breakdown and dissipate, 2) surgery to remove the amber and honey peice.
* **Sapper -** Sometimes called 'Druidic Vampirism' Sapper targets all organic matter in the area and absorbs the lifeblood from it, withering the plants used away to dust as it gives the person temporary HP
* **Petrification -** An advanced higher level spell similar to Resinate but not only does it trap larger organisms within sticky resin, but it hardens and petrifies them quickly. The size of the creature that can be trapped and petrified varies with at what level the spell is cast. Dexterity save to escape becoming trapped.

## **Uses**

#### **Amber**

Orange amber is the most common form found in Fracture, bright orange in colour, sometimes containing organic matter such as flowers, plants, or even small animals and insects, there are deep veins of it through the Calladocian Mountains.

#### **Blue Amber**

Blue Amber is shown to have a chaotic property to it, draining magic and energy from the surrounding area and storing it. It is also shown to be useful in creating bigger and more elaborate amalgams. It also has a distinctly pleasant smell to it, making it easy to detect.

#### **Black Amber**

So far Black Amber has been mentioned but how it can be used appears to be limited and considered a waste product that has no magical properties.

## Creations with Amber

### **The Orrery**

The Orrery is a construction of a mechanical model that illustrates or predicts the relative positions and motions of the planets and worlds. The first constructed Orrery contained only four known worlds with different spheres to show and locate where in relation each is to one another. At the centre of the Orrery is a large sphere of pristine amber without any flaws or inclusions which represents a 'sun'. Surrounding this is an array of diamond prisms that alter the reflections and images of the other worlds and spheres that surround the 'sun' .

The speculation as to what it was used for leans towards, locating where different worlds are in relation to each other.

### **The Amber Spyglass**

The Amber Spyglass is a secondary creation, a smaller version of the primary purpose of the Orrery, that helps to locate certain spaces in the world that are closer to other worlds and thus easier to access through glitches. It can also be used to discern the otherworldly forms of individuals who have come into contact with glitches or who have been affected and corrupted by them in some ways.

### **The Amber Knife**

A mixture of Blue and Orange Amber surrounding a white feather at the blade end, reduced down and carved into a knife, with flowers preserved within the handle. Saracen has been shown to use this as a way to reverse the effects of glitches, however perfecting and refining this is still a work in progress as some things can be removed temporarily, and others require a lot more power.

## See Also

* Glitches
* Diamonds
* Saracen Syrah

## Trivia

* The DM has alluded to the fact that natural minerals of all types may be important such as Opal, Pearls, Coal, Diamonds.
* The classical names for amber, Latin electrum and Ancient Greek ἤλεκτρον (ēlektron), are connected to a term ἠλέκτωρ (ēlektōr) meaning "beaming Sun". According to myth, when Phaëton son of Helios (the Sun) was killed, his mourning sisters became poplar trees, and their tears became elektron, amber. The word elektron gave rise to the words electric, electricity, and their relatives because of amber's ability to bear a charge of static electricity
* The Orrery is based on a real world creation for modelling the solar system.
* The Amber Spyglass and Knife are based on items from a book series the DM has read, one with the same title. The DM has taken several themes from this series to implement them into the game. She is a book nerd. Suffer.