Charm

A Charm (sometimes known as a "Friendship Charm" or "Buddy Charm") is a device humans created to capture Buddymon. Alongside containing Buddymon, Charms are also an important device used to bond closer with the creatures, and as such, it's become an important icon in the world of Buddymon. Charms and their symbolism are strongly associated and tied to "Buddymon”, "Friendship", "Bonds", and "Buddymon Battling".

## History

### Origin

In the ancient past, many tribes lived in harmony with nature and Buddymon. Much like in the present day, humans and Buddymon worked and played together, and their relationship fell into somewhere much closer than just a pet and an owner.

For the tribe members who had bonded with a Buddymon so much that both their soul and their partner creatures' were "in tune", a special ceremony would be held in their honor. In the ceremony, they would receive a special tattoo made from a magical ink, and then their soul and their Buddymon's would be bonded together via the tattoo's insignia. Symbolically, for early civilizations, the idea of a human's and Buddymon's souls aligning and supporting each other so much that you adorn yourself with a marking that embodies them was a very important experience.

As part of this process, it was said that both souls "acting as one" made their power unlimited. As for more immediate benefits, a "bonded tattoo" could store and summon the Buddymon that was bonded with it at will.

Though "Buddy Tattoo's" aren't as common nowadays as they were in the ancient past (some Charms are still made from the tattoo resin while some elderly trainers cling to the old ways of tattoos), the history and legacy around them definitely helped shape the Buddymon worlds culture and way of expressing their love of Buddymon.

### The creation of contemporary Charms

At an unknown point towards the end of the "Ancient Era" (10,000 BCE), a physical Charm that could capture and bond with Buddymon was created. There are many conflicting reports on where, when, and how the first proto-Charm was made, though ancient literary documents shed some light on how much of a paradigm shift Charms brought to the world. Without the need for permanent tattoos, more people than ever started bonding with and raising Buddymon. In fact, with Buddymon now being contained in specific objects, people could now trade Buddymon with one another and engage in commerce over buying and selling Charms.

One of the questions Charmsmiths found themselves pondering was what exactly denotes a Charm. Can any object be a Charm? Does it need a specific symbol ingrained in it or material within it? Nobody quite knows, and there's been many methods to making Charms that have worked. Some Charms are simply small objects that have the "Charm Diamond" symbol engraved into them. Others have special resin or materials that ensure they work properly while not having any kind of logo in them. It's a bit of an open bag on how Charms are denoted and work, though one thing people have noticed is that there needs to be some kind of human touch to "activate" one.

Another puzzle that Charm makers have tried to make sense of is where a Buddymon goes when it "enters" a Charm. While nobody can say definitively, ancient cave art discovered in the Orelon Desert may provide insight into it The art depicts what seems to be both a human and Buddymon offering up a part of their "essence" to make some kind of energy or power. The art dates back to an era before Charms when tattoos were prevalent, but many historians theorize that this could have some bearing on how Charms work in the modern-day. A trainer who throws the Charm, and a Buddymon who gets captured, both offer up a part of their soul to create some kind of "energy realm" where it is stored.

### Modern-Day Use

Charms are used frequently by many people for many different reasons. Trainers use a wide variety of Charms as they travel a region and capture Buddymon, companies or employers will have dedicated "workforce Buddymon" that their employees use in their daily jobs, and of course, people who just want a companion often find themselves buying a Charm to house their Buddymon in.

An important note about Charms is that 99.9% of people don't know about their spiritual or magical connections. Most assume they're purely technological, matching so much of the tech they see daily, and because of that misconception, Charms feel somewhat "normal" or "mundane" to people.

## Manufacturing and Design

Charms come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials. The standard Charm used most commonly is a small diamond shape with a diamond indent in the center of it. It's very lightweight and is made in sizes from a guitar pick to a baseball.

While most Charms don't have any kind of added effect when attempting to capture a Buddymon, some of them can provide extra help in snagging difficult-to-catch Buddymon. With the rise of Buddymon training for sport, new Charms that can catch Buddymon with specific attributes like being of a specific type or size, have seen a rise in popularity.

It's believed that the Charm symbol (the diamond within a diamond) is the most important marking to denote a Charm and make it work, but many Charms lack that specific symbol and still function like normal. Some have devoted their entire lives to trying to figure out how exactly a Charm functions.

While there's technically no limit to how big or small a Charm can be, people try to make sure Charms are generally between 1-6 inches. If a Charm is too big then a trainer carrying 6 of them at a time would be exhausted, and if a Charm is too small, then you could lose it easily. That's why 1-6 inches is generally what people aim for.

Making Charms is not something anybody can do. It generally requires either a large manufacturing plant or a dedicated workman who has spent their entire life perfecting their craft. Many inexperienced or younger trainers have tried making Charms when they find themselves in a bind, and it has never worked out for them in the end.

## Capturing Buddymon

Upon making contact with a Buddymon, a Charm attempts to contain the creature within. On the surface, it appears that the Buddymon is merely "translated" into some kind of magical energy that is stored, but ancient texts from early civilizations have detailed possible explanations for what happens, the most prominent of which involves the Trainer who threw the Charm and the Buddymon they're attempting to capture, each offering a sliver of their soul (or essence) to forge a bond and create a pocket dimension tied to the Charm. Supposedly this is where the Buddymon goes when "inside" the Charm, though scientists haven't been able to confirm nor deny this.

Particularly hard-headed Buddymon can resist being captured. They can break free from a Charm in the middle of the capture process (thus breaking the Charm into pieces), and some of the more obstinate creatures can avoid the capture process entirely by deflecting or hitting Charms away from them.

Non-living objects cannot be captured by Charms. Rumors have circulated for millennia that living things (or things with a "soul", such as humans) can be captured, but any attempts to do so in the modern era have failed. It's often thought that if something can show friendship (tying back into the name "Buddymon"), then it can be captured/bonded with. This is also why Eldritch Buddymon cannot be captured. Friendship is too foreign to them (and it's up in the air if they have a "soul".)

In the case of a Trainer passing on while their Buddymon is still a Charm, they are automatically released. Whether this is because the bond between them has been severed in death, or if the magical nature of a Charm can "sense" that the Buddymon needs to be released, is unknown.

In some cases, if a Buddymon's will is strong enough, it can call itself out of a Charm without its trainer’s orders. This is a rare sight to see and only happens with Buddymon and trainers whose bond is at the upper limits, or if a Buddymon feels incredibly strongly it needs to be called out (i.e: it will release itself to save its trainer from harm). Tying into that, studies have shown that Humans and Buddymon that have bonded long enough with one another can sense what the other is feeling, even if the Buddymon is in a Charm.

A Buddymon that has already bonded to a Charm cannot be captured by someone else. Also, only one Buddymon can be bonded to a single Charm at a time.