State of the Commonwealth - The Shard!
This is part one of an ongoing development piece on the signatory races of the Commonwealth. The Shard are more than just a signatory. They are also one of the Commonwealth founders, and the developers of the Shard Drive, the starfaring technology that enables its prosperity. Below is an overview of their appearance, biology history, and development. More will follow.
Note: the image depicts one of the Obsidian Shard, sorcerers and villains throughout the history of Surra.
The Shard
Millennia before their meeting with the first human explorers out of Pembroke, the Shard sailed between the stars. Creators of the Shard Drive, they are the acknowledged masters of interstellar travel. In the Commonwealth, and many places beyond, Shard Drives are the primary method of spanning the Void.
Description
Physically, Shard are humanoids roughly two meters in height that appear to be composed of crystalline structures, usually but not always amber, yellow or orange in color. Some Shard are bulkier, and more robust, others are more gracile. Individuals have limited semi-conscious morphic control and it is possible, over long periods, for a Shard to alter their appearance and abilities to suit a role or their current environment or situation, largely through the creation or ‘sculpting’ of the crystals that make up the majority of Shard physiology.
A cluster of sensory and other organs are arrayed similarly to a human’s on the head and face of a Shard [no doubt for many of the same evolutionary reasons]. Shard bodies are generally devoid of many of the lesser features of organics, such as fingernails or hair. Some crystal portions may develop cracks or imperfections over time, in the same way that a human would develop warts or scars.
Shard do not favor clothing for its own sake or for that of modesty. They have no external genitalia and are not particularly sensitive to many of the discomforts of softer skinned creatures. Accoutrements are generally utilitarian [belts, tools, armor, gear, etc] or decorative [jewelry, symbols of ranks]. An exception is made in extremes of wind, which can drive particulates into the organic matter that is normally safely hidden beneath crystalline epidermis. This is not merely annoying and uncomfortable, but constitutes a real threat to the health of the Shard. In such circumstances, protective clothing is preferred.
Sidenote:
In first encounters with both the Sagati and Humanity, these races understood the diversity of shard body forms to denote separate or sub-species, or racial distinctions. It took some time to come to the understanding that a single Shard might change radically over time.
Biology and Evolution
Shard lifespans are functionally about 100 years. This is the period during which the organic component [see ‘Biology and Evolution’ below] remains viable. As the end of this time approaches the crystalline structure of a Shard slows and eventually stops as the organic component ‘dies’. The crystal component of the individual remains, and portions of it are often repurposed by loved ones as a way of honoring and remembering the individual.
As silica-based life forms, Shard bodies are composed of crystalline structures bound in a matrix of organic material rich in amino acids and complex proteins. It is this organo-crystalline interplay that is responsible for Shard intellect and bodily functions. The organic component derives energy from the crystalline, and in turn can manipulate that energy. Human biologists liken the Shard metabolic process to the interplay of humans and microorganisms in the gut, microorganisms required by humanity for digestion and metabolization of food.
Shard life-scientists believe that their species originated hundreds of thousand of years ago as clusters of crystals that were ‘colonized’ by comparatively primitive organisms living in the soil of the Shard homeworld Surra. Over time, these organisms evolved, eventually acquiring the ability to manipulate the crystals with which they bonded for their own purposes. Mobility and intellect slowly developed and improved over thousands of generations of existence, eventually resulting in sentience.
Shard derive a portion of their energy from solar radiation, but also require organic food for full health, which they acquire from consuming organisms in much the same way that humans do. The dual nature of their organo-crystalline biology requires both forms of sustenance. Shard are capable of surviving wholly on solar energy for extended periods, an extremely useful adaptation, but will eventually starve without a food source for the organic portion of their metabolism.
Reproduction between Shard is conducted with little of the passion common in many organics, and takes place in a manner similar to spawning. Each member of a uniting pair [by tradition, only two may spawn] contributes a portion of their organic component into a prepared ‘spawning bed’. Not all attempts are successful, but if procreation does occur, the new Shard is cared for according to custom, which varies from place to place, but generally involves some participation from each of the ‘parents’. If Shard mating appears devoid of emotional investment, parental duties are taken quite seriously.
Historic Overview
Comprehension of their dual nature of their biology has had widespread impact on Shard history and development.
Philosophically, Shard have traditionally had a dualistic approach to religion and metaphysics, with the organic portion of the body representing the physical and the crystalline portion representing the spiritual. For most of recorded Shard history, which stretches back nearly an aeon in time, the Shard who considered such matters stressed the purity of the crystalline, sometimes including an afterlife basking in a universe of ‘higher’ energy. It was believed that the ‘soul’ of the individual resided in the crystal, and the animating ‘physical’ power of the body was resident in the organic component.
The finer points of this doctrine were, to say the least, fiercely debated. For a two thousand year period that has come to be known as ‘The Age of the Warring Kings’, countless battles were fought over how the current life should be spent, and who shall attain the future one. Prophets and teachers, warlords and kings rose and fell, struggled to assert their views upon the people over whom they held sway. No single authority maintained superiority for long, but the doctrinal span grew narrower and narrower over time, until something like a metaphysical consensus was reached. Sadly, this did nothing to abate the hostilities.
But war drives advancement in technology more easily than in doctrine or philosophy. These two millennia saw the Shard develop their unique understanding of crystalline biotechnology. At first it was simple, applying morphic techniques to manufacture tough sharp crystal for the relatively straightforward goal of creating stronger better weapons. Integral blades, swords, axes and mauls of this period are considered masterpieces of archaic weaponry across the Commonwealth today. But the pressure to survive and thrive throughout centuries of strife spurred new modes of thought, channeling the energy that is metabolized by the Shard crystaloform into destructive bursts far more powerful and far reaching than the comparative primitive ballistic and melee options then available.
The legendary discoverer of energy projection biotechnology was Zoghir Lu Tathmet. His process has been refined over time, leading naturally to greater and greater destructive power. But, it must be acknowledged that it also led inevitably [thought hundreds of years in Zoghir’s future] to the Shard Drive, perhaps the most powerful, and certainly the most impressive, application of this simple principle. [details on the Shard Drive will be available in a future post, and of course, in the full Knights-Marshal of the Commonwealth setting from Skirmisher Publishing].
The Rise of the Obsidian
Crystal Channeling was not the only new thing to have arisen in the Time of the Warring Kings. It was during this period that the first Obsidian Shard are known to have appeared. Obsidian Shard are smoky grey-black Shard, masters of the sorcery which bears their name. Their origins are not known, but that they arose in the troubled Age of Warring Kings is undeniable. Whether they were involved in the creation of crystal channeling or not is debated, but they certainly were considered to be early masters of its application though a process they share with no one – Obisidian Sorcery.
Shard historians claim that the Obsidian are responsible for the eventual end of two millennia of apocalyptic warfare. The Obsidian Shard accomplished this, not by a devising a new doctrine or mode of thought, nor though teachings of peace. They did it by making the war so costly in terms of life and civilization that those who fought were unable to continue. Obsidian Sorcery perfected the art of killing Shard. Obsidian sorcerers became mercenaries, viziers, generals and wizards to warlords and causes across Surra, spreading slaughter wherever they went.
And when the war ground to a halt upon a mountain made of the corpses of dozens of generations of Shard, the Obsidian stepped forward to claim power for themselves. So weak were the surviving factions that, even banding together to face the usurpers proved futile.
The Obsidian Age had begun.
The first order of the new regime was to overturn the basic understanding of the nature of what it was to be Shard. Obsidian viziers provided incontrovertible proof of the absolute necessity of the Organic to soul of the Shard. In fact, it was readily demonstrable that without the organic portion, the soul of the shard was lessened considerably. The repercussions of this revelation threatened to reorder a society that had endured for nearly ten thousand years.
Soon, war loomed once more. But the proof appeared absolute, and no Shard had ever been able to ignore an unalterable fact for long. Tensions simmered, Obsidian were assassinated, Shard populations razed, rebellious tempers burned. And all the while the Obsidian Shard were working in secret to harness a power undreamt on the rest of Surra.
Little is known of internal workings of Obsidian government, so we cannot know the details of manufacture, but that the first Shard Drives were under construction in those days is beyond rebuttal. If nothing else, the terrible devastation wrought putting down the Bright Rebellion hints that significant strides toward unleashing the awesome power of the Shard Drive had already been made.
Unknown to the rest of Surra, the Obsidian had crafted vessels capable of travel to nearby celestial bodies. Such things had been attempted in the early days of the Warring Kings, but internecine strife had put an end to such efforts. Obsidian ships demonstrated the technological sophistication of their ships and their engineering however, when they ventured beyond Surran atmosphere and triggered a primitive Shard Drive, causing global devastation.
