Dissero
Breaking Even
Image Source: Beautiful Realizations Wordpress.
Intent: To add interesting lore and artifacts to the Chaos galaxy that can be stolen, lost, found, used and misused by PC characters. To codify a tool created by Dissero with the most rudimentary of intentions for use.
Development Thread:
Athelas - The stones are first introduced here in a single post.
These are a Few of My Favorite Things - Starting at post 25, Dissero explains the stones to his sister and gives her a chance to test them out by communing with [member="Micah Talith"] at another shop location.
Manufacturer: Dissero
Model: N/A
Affiliation: Dissero, Marrow & Illskins
Modularity: N/A
Production: Semi-Unique - Only 13 stones were ever made.
Material: Alchemized Aur Diamond
Strengths:
- Provides a means of private communication between stones that cannot be intercepted by technology.
- Provides a clean, uninterrupted means of communication from one user to the other, no matter the distance.
- Provides a means of empathic communication by transmitting given energies and emotions from one user to the other - something that holographic and telephonic communication sorely lacks.
- Provides vigilance through stones with an ability to “see” and witness the immediate surroundings of other stones, earning them also the nickname “Seeing Stones”
- Due to the nature of their alchemization, Auracle Stones are nigh indestructible excepting in the case of damage made by items specifically designed to undo alchemized properties. Throwing them into a sun may also provide destructive results.
Weaknesses:
- Physical contact with bare skin is required for use of the Auracle Stones.
- Auracle Stones can only be activated by Force Users (of any alignment). Non-Force Sensitives cannot activate or commence communication on their own, but can connect into an open commune already started by an FU.
- Communication between stones is open along all Auracle Stones. Even private discussions can be interrupted by another user with another stone, though this cannot be done secretively as the presence of each user can always be felt by all other users, though not necessarily identified unless personal familiarity already exists.
- To use the Auracle Stone is to create an open bridge into one’s mind. One cannot use the stone when their mind is shut. This bridge can be used to the advantage of users with ill intentions, woe to the recipient of said intentions.
- A “covered” Auracle Stone cannot be used for Seeing. Covering a stone is as simple as placing it in a box or throwing a length of material over top. Covered Auracle Stones can still transmit latent energies of other users attempting to commune.
Source: Lord of the Rings film - Auracle Stones sitting within the sphere of an ysalamir are rendered temporarily inert until removed from the creature’s Force-null field.
- Auracle Stones kept within containers lined by Velokite or High Grade Nullification Resin cannot be connected with nor used for Seeing.
- Auracle Stones do not enhance the powers of a user in any way. They do transmit emotional energies during commune between users as an inherent side-effect of the mental link formed between them. This will render, temporarily, users with empathic abilities they might not possess otherwise only during said commune.
- Nearby powerful Force artifacts, nexi or high grade alchemized objects with an invasive aura can cause varying levels of interference and noise within open communes.
- An Auracle Stone must be cleansed after each use by either submerging it or rinsing it in clean, cold water, to wash away latent energies remaining from prior commune and return the stone to a neutral state of energy. Dissero exercises a mandatory cleansing for every active stone once every galactic standard week. Uncleansed Auracle Stones can begin to retain those latent energies, making commune and Seeing more and more difficult as they build up. The stones will physically develop a fog within them as this happens. Minor fogging can be fixed through extensive cleansing, major fogging will render the stone inert after a time.
- Due to the specific nature of the crafting and alchemizing of the stones, destroyed or inert stones cannot be replaced and utilized within the same line of commune as the originals. The connection between the stones is unique and cannot be replicated - an entire new set of stones, however, could be crafted.
- The stones are quite heavy despite their size. Burdensome, even, to be carried for extended periods of time.
Description:
Size: 200mm, roughly 8’’ in diameter
Weight: 28lbs each
Ever a fan of the traditional and arcane, Dissero’s long years spent studying the knowledge and artifacts of those who came before him have exposed him to, perhaps, an unhealthy variety of mystical means. Having possessed the Sith Oracle Stone through his inheritance of the Sith Empires archives and vaults following the Great Rudrig Heist, his dabbling in the Stone’s use was limited and fractional in comparison to the Oracle Stone’s abilities. He never explored the full breadth of its powers, but he held an understanding of the uses it had seen in ancient history. Namely in the ability to be used as a Seeing Stone under the care of Darth Lumiya whose utilization of the artifact allowed her to watch events across the known galaxy through the extension of her own skills. Dissero had very little personal need for such things, and aside from its mystery gave the item little attention beyond his initial research.
That was until many years later he opened up shop. Several shops, in fact; six little alchemy shoppes across the galaxy quietly nestled away or hiding within plain sight. Concerned for the continued anonymity of the shops, the noted rarity and value of items carried, and the delicate nature of his involvement therein, Dissero set to work devising a way to set up communique between the shops that could not be intercepted by nosy neighbors. As well, he needed a means to keep tabs on the shops since not even Dissero himself could be in two places at once. The idea did not present itself immediately, nor even for nearly a year after opening M&I. Inspiration is ever a fickle Mistress.
The idea came through other means of toil and artistry: The Twin Rings of Erebos.
Through the crafting of the rings and the process of alchemizing the twin Aur diamonds, Dissero recognized the bond created between the two stones. Despite the malicious intent behind the rings themselves, he could not help but marvel at the enduring connection they had. He would later put together this very same process and piecemeal together the combined uses of the Twin Rings of Erebos and that of the Sith Oracle Stone to create a full set of Commune Stones from a single massive asteroid found at the outskirts of the Aur system. A remnant of a historical astrological impact, the asteroid turned out to be a massive chunk of one of the Aur planets themselves presenting itself as a geode disguised by a crust of space dirt and debris.
The 13 stones were cut from the massive aur diamond crystal found within this space-fairing geode. Married through the same alchemical processing from the crafting of the Twin Rings of Erebos, the stones have an unbreakable and irreplicable bond to one another - sibling stones from one parent crystal predisposed to connecting to one another when empowered by means of the Force. Crafted through neutral means, the stones can be used by any Force User of any alignment or disposition - all one simply must do is touch the stone and focus their energy into it. This in turn will reflect within each of the 13 stones by making them glow, so long as they are not kept within a container that might otherwise halt the connection. The light and color of the glow often reflects the energies channeled through during commune and will also reflect images and "visions" directly relevant to the discussion at hand at the user's whim. It will also very simply reflect a live image of the user to those they are in commune with.
Source: Lord of the Rings Film
The glowing stones alert the shopkeepers within Marrow & Illskins or keepers of other stones to the awaiting commune, upon which they can then “answer the call” by connecting into it by touching their respective stone. Though the communication between stones is by means of mental connection, one does not have to be proficient or even capable of telepathy to use this. Users can speak verbally or within their mind, the resulting discussion will be the same. While Non-Force Sensitives cannot start their own commune, they can dial in on an existing commune by making their own physical connection. A single stone can also be connected to by multiple users at once, so long as each user is physically touching the stone. Due to the inherent mental connection during commune, emotional energies translate through as well, giving the users a “real life” experience of discussion in a way that holographic or telephonic communication cannot.
Another use of the stones was for Seeing. A user could connect with their own stone and meditate, focusing on each of the other 12 stones in kind and choosing which one to See through. This allows the User to see and witness the immediate surroundings of the other stones - in essence, granting them the ability to “spy” and “eavesdrop” in at the other stone locations. This cannot be done with a stone that is presently being used for Communing and is more difficult to do if a Commune is taking place between the other stones. The commune essentially creates interference and noise for the meditating Seer.
Dissero’s sister is actually the one who coined the name “Auracle Stones” given their relation to Sith Oracle Stone. She was also the one who taught Dissero the error of his ways when he was not cleansing the stones after use. While Dissero held more knowledge about the uses and powers of various crystals around the galaxy, Amore was educated in the more occult and esoteric nature of natural crystals. Diamonds especially were known basins for energy, and if not cleansed regularly could become saturated by those latent energies. She’d noted upon her own introduction to the Stones that the one in use at the Varunda shop was cloudy and needed cleansing.
There are 13 stones all together, though not every stone is actively in use. Though every stone was cut from the same massive crystal, they all have their own unique appearance. The stones were named after their respective locations, and documented for identification purposes. The first six were assigned to a Marrow & Illskins shop each. The seventh at Dissero’s home on the third moon of Vassek; the Castle of Grievous. The eighth was given to one of M&I’s trusted suppliers for Ankarres products [member="Gabriel Sionoma"] to keep at the Katarn Homestead. The ninth was placed at the new home of Dissero and [member="Verie Lacroix"] on Rudrig. The remaining four are currently in storage, each within its own wooden chest lined with high-grade nullification resin, named in honor of certain people in Dissero’s life, past and present. He may or may not be able to personally account for their current whereabouts as he's moved quite a few of his things in the last several years...
Source: Lord of the Rings Film
Corusca - Coruscant Shop
Roona - Roon Shop
Annaja - Annaj Shop
Mandala - Mandalore Shop
Fondora - Fondor Shop
Varunda - Varunda IX Shop
Vassa - Castle of Grievous
Kata - Katarn Homestead
Rudra - Rudrig Darke Homestead
Ashia - Inactive
Jacoba - Inactive
Merrilla - Inactive
Sarava - Inactive
Primary Source: N/A
