Echo Crystal

*"This is the Echo Stone. It helps us stay in communication around the island. The more people that attune to it, the farther our range becomes! magnificent!! Even still, I can't believe how cool Echo Stones are! If you're interested, I sell echo shards at my stall. I can even style them into necklaces, bracelets and other accessories for you if you'd like!"* **-Echo Stone Enthusiast**

### Echo Stones

Echo stones are huge crystals made up of hardened pure aetheric energy from the planet. These large stones were planted on the world by Nom'ani, the goddess of Light and creation, providing a direct connection to her energy. One's very soul aether, or "essence", can pass through these huge crystals, allowing mortal creatures who have attuned to them, to recover their essence if they been downed in combat. However there is a sickness involved in this, repeated echoing of one's soul back to the mortal plane can have detrimental effects on a person over time if compounded, usually referred to as "resurrection sickness". Malmians have dubbed these huge crystals as "Echo Stones" due to their recall and communication abilities. They also function as "repeaters" to Echo Crystal networks, and can expand their range of communication to much larger areas, if enough are linked together in a network. There exist certain artifact items, or spells that can prevent the usage of echo network services, or even outright cripple and destroy an Echo Stone, such as; magickal wards, barriers, moving into deep areas with no Echo Stones nearby, or simply moving out of range of a networked area.

### Echo Crystals

Echo Crystals are personal magickal devices that allow adventurers, or entire groups of adventurers, to communicate over long distances. Echo Crystals are shards of the large Echo Stones like the ones found in town. Echo Crystals are natural, and can be made with just a simple spell. Echo Crystals are a common item that your character may enter the sim with. Most people commonly carry Echo Crystals in everyday Malmian life, even primitive Monsterkin utilize them. Crystal range in size from that of a golf ball, to the size of a small marble. Adventurers may attune each other's Echo Crystals to form a private line of communication with one another, or an entire private network, for guild or faction communications. There exist several public networks that anyone can join, but private networks require the administer of the network to invite and attune someone new into the network. Attuning consists of two or more individuals tapping their crystals together. To attune to a Echo Stone in town, you must make contact with that stone at it's plaza.

### Telepathic Communication and Memory Sharing

Echo Crystals link directly to one's mind, and form a near telepathic link to others who the user has attuned to. Echo crystals can also be imprinted with images, one's dreams, experiences, or memories, and may be shared with others. However this is extremely difficult, and is subject to faulty memories or interpretations. For all intents and purposes, one could theoretically have someone else experience something they have experienced through the echo, as if they had the same dream or experience. This process requires an intense amount of concentration on both parties.

### Personal Bond and Usage

Echo Crystals are magickally bound to their user, and only that person may use it. It simply will not work if another person acquires someone else's crystal. Some people speak audibly into them to a receiver, while more adept users can think into them, or share their thoughts with another from afar. Only the intended receiver(s) can hear the message or thoughts, and is not audible to others around. Images and experiences are felt in the mind, as if the receiver was having a dream or thought. Even though the message is always received mentally or telepathically, It would be heard as audible speech to the receiver, as if the sender was speaking aloud to the receiver in the same vicinity. Some adventurers actually have to hold their hands to their ears in loud areas, suggesting that some choose to insert the crystal into the ear canal, like an ear piece, while others wear them in earrings and other jewelry.

### Echo Crystal Jewelry

Echo Crystals are commonly shaped, dyed, decorated, and embedded in jewelry, which is readily available in many merchant shops. Some crystals are small enough to be placed or worn in the ear, while others are worn as chokers or bracelets, allowing users to tap the device to speak, akin to a throat mic. The jewelry serves as both a fashion statement and a means of communication.

### Ability Stones

Because of their excellent recall and memory storing traits, some Echo Crystals are modified into "Ability Stones". They no longer function as normal Echo Crystals, and have no ability to function as a communication device, because of the modification made to them. The Mage's Guild recently pioneered this technique in an attempt to store and archive knowledge of abilities, techniques, and spells, so that they would never be lost to time, and as a means to fast track teaching. Very dangerous knowledge and high level abilities stones are kept inside the Mage Guild's special "Arcane Sanctuary", a giant warded vault of arcane knowledge, meant to keep those who would abuse such spells out. Ability stones are utilized by channeling one's own aether into them, and accessing the latent knowledge of the ability imbued inside. Ability Stones are generally the size of a ping-pong ball, and are color coded to the type of elemental ability inside of them. Their Aetheric element is what gives them all unique colors, for example, all fire based ability stones are always a gleaming red color. Magicks and Abilities do not exclusively rely on Ability Stones however. These modified Echo Crystals are a means of preforming and mastering abilities faster, as they store the knowledge directly from a master. They also are primarily used to conjure magicks in an area where Aether levels are very low. Magicks and Abilities can be preformed without the use of Ability Stones.

### OOC regulations

* Attuning to someone's Crystal or network requires a tap in person.
* You may only have one Echo Crystal at a time, unless specified otherwise by a GM.
* Being separated from your Crystal means you can't use it.
* You must give a visual indication that you are using your stone, even if you are speaking mentally into it, visible indication and an attempt must be worked into your RP post, so if and when in combat occurs, someone can try to attempt to stop it.
* Always attempt making a reinforcements call with a roll and a IC post, so other players can attempt to stop your call. When players are sending messages over their echo channels. Please be sure to check over joining a scene in progress rules in the main rules page here.
* You can't force someone to attune with your stone. It must be willful.
* it is proper roleplay etiquette to put a "[ECHO - yourname]: yourmessagehere" or \*Y*our Echo Crystal vibrates with a message*\* when pinging people.
* No voice changing. People recognize your signal. No ???? Echoes either. You need GM permission to do anonymous posting.
* All other channels are invite only. Higher ups in a invite-only channel must roleplay out inviting and "attuning" their stone with the person they are inviting.
* At any time, the authorities of a Echo Network can and may sever a person's communication line with a certain network, such as the faction or guild leaders of the group. Only a GM can sanction a character to can sever lines to Public Networks however. When it is declared that a player character is severed from a specified echo line, they may no longer access, listen, or join that network, even in the case if a new echo stone is obtained, unless they are willingly invited and attuned back by the appropriate authority.
* Spying and other espionage actions must be approved by the GM and relevant FL before happening.
* You may not metagame information from Echo Networks that your current character would not be able to hear. For example, if you have multiple characters spread across multiple groups, you may not roleplay hearing or acting upon anything spoken about in a echo line that your current character is not invited to, or currently apart of.
* You may not freely kill/defeat yourself to teleport back to the echo stone's save point to avoid consequences, such as getting out of jail. See rules of roleplay etiquette on the main rules page here
* If you are downed in PVP, You cannot return to the area where you were downed or engage the person who downed you for at least 1 day's time. Your character must also forget any roleplay information that is relevant to your death. You do not "remember" who killed you or why. Eventually after a day, the memory can be roleplayed as returning to you. This is to prevent PVP harassment and spam.

### Echo Stone Purpose and Origin

Echo Stones were strategically planted across the land of Malm by Nom'ani, serving as a self-maintaining mechanism for the creation and recycling of souls. These crystals played a fundamental role in the formation of life itself and the birth of the first races. Once an individual is born, the Echo Stones fulfill the task of imbuing them with the essence of life, known as 'soul aether.' When a person passes away, their soul returns to the crystal, ready to be recycled until the crystal's aether or soul capacity is depleted. However, this only occurs if souls are unable to return to their respective crystals for various reasons."