Geomantic Core

Geomantic Cores, known to the Barbarian Tribes and the Lunar Exalted as Groundstones, are Exotic Components used in Artifact Creation.

On the outside, they appear to be solid rods, but their internal composition is far different, made from compressing a carefully-arranged selection of plants and stones taken from the Dragon Lines of a Demesne. The arrangement and compression are done according to geomantic principles, the same as those employed in the construction of Manses.

A completed Core shares some properties with a Hearthstone, channeling the energies of Creation, touched by the character of the Demesne, a useful thing when used as the core of an artifact. It does not, however, provide motes and powers akin to a Hearthstone, nor does it cap the Demesne: such areas are perhaps slightly calmed, but their essence remains wild and dangerous. Yet this loose connection means that unlike a hearthstone it is very difficult to disrupt a Core’s connection with the land’s flows of essence: raising Manses and floods of the Wyld have little effect, though major destruction of the Ley Lines themselves (such as by a Thousand-Forged Dragon) will cause them to crumble into dirt and pebbles.

In the Scarlet Empire and Scavenger Lands (and within the Shogunate before them), Geomantic Cores are considered wasteful and primitive, study of their production ignored in favour of building true Manses. It is towards the peripheries of Creation that the simplicity of the geomancy involved, and the robust nature of the groundstones, make them useful in the artifice of barbarians, and amongst the Lunar Exalted of the Silver Pact who often consider these Exotic Components to bind their artifacts to Creation, balancing out the stranger components recovered in their journeys past Creation’s edges.