Fused Amethyst

Fused amethyst is a purple crystal found on the planet Bryche, the setting of Project Aleutian. It is found primarily within the borders of Henshina. When a fused amethyst forms there is always a pair or connection with another fused amethyst. Unlike most of the crystals on Bryche whose abilities happen in their natural state, fused amethyst requires a stimulant to exercise the pairing in different ways.

One of the more traditional uses of the fused amethyst in Henshina is in what they call wanderer’s water. The large desert has very few water sources, but wanderer’s water solves that problem. When one fused amethyst is paired with your water bottle and one sunk in a trusted source, it can allow water to be instantly moved from the water source to wherever the user is on their journey.

Fused amethyst has several other uses such as allowing for linear motion in machines, lifting mechanisms, cargo transport, and sometimes long-distance written communication.

Scorching Heliodor

Scorching heliodor is a yellow crystal found on the planet Bryche, the setting of Project Aleutian. It is found primarily within the borders of Scivatan. It gets its name from the large amount of heat that it gives off, and it is a sought-after heat source for steam powered machines.  Other combustible fuel sources, such as wood and coal, are also used as a fuel source for steam engines on Bryche, but they can’t match the compactness and reliability of scorching heliodor.  

Scorching heliodor has lots of common day-to-day uses such as providing heat and light in both homes and factories as well as clocks for keeping time. It is also used to power larger steam engines on seafaring ships, airships, and locomotives.

Burnt Pyrite

Burnt pyrite is an orange crystal found on the planet Bryche, the setting of Project Aleutian. It is found primarily within the borders of Waviscia. Burnt pyrite functions as a radio transmitter and receiver.

Burnt pyrite brought about an early boom in telecommunication technologies such as wireless telegraph and radio. Wireless telegraphs were important for sending text communications between land masses and mobile sea or air ships. The cut of the crystal influenced the range of signals that could be used by the system. Signal strength is often determined by the crystal size, but performance can be improved in a variety of ways including the use of an antenna.

Living Emerald

Living Emerald is a green crystal found on the planet Bryche, the setting of Project Aleutian. It is found primarily within the borders of Seulana. Living Emerald has the unique ability of restoring broken inorganic items to a repaired or complete state.

One of the common uses of Living Emerald is in the reconstitution of pieces of artwork, manuscripts, or relics weathered by time. Typically, Exemplars use restoration wands that contain a Living Emerald crystal to accomplish this task. The true art of the Exemplar’s work is achieving a specific outcome from a reconstitution. The Exemplars describe it as melding their intent with the object’s intent, so they both achieve their final goals.

Lodelazuli

Lodelazuli is a blue crystal found on the planet Bryche, the setting of Project Aleutian. It is found primarily within the borders of Navaire. It has the unique ability of attraction and repulsion to other lodelazuli crystals.  This effect is commonly called crystal magnetism after traditional magnetism with lodestones and iron.

They have also found ways of pairing lodelazuli with fragments of other crystals to attract and repel that kind of crystal, depending on the orientation of the crystal poles. One of the more ambitious uses of this technologies has been the introduction of crystalev trains. The tracks use embedded lodelazuli to set the levatation height and ensure the train is centered on the tracks. The steam engine within the locomotive moves another set of lodelazuli to provide forward momentum.

The Map of Bryche

Over the last several weeks we’ve introduced you to the six nations on the planet Bryche that will be represented in the game Project Aleutian. The flags of those six nations will represent the card backs for their respective decks in the game.

This map gives some insight into both the geography and borders of these different nations and marks a transition point to a new series of posts.

Our next series of posts is going to focus on the different crystals used by these nations and the different technologies they are used in. The positive impacts of these crystals on the nations with access to them is just one representation of prosperity for these nations. The images of this next series will include portions of artwork planned for card fronts.

Pohuan

Pohuan is a nation on the planet Bryche, the setting of Project Aleutian, that hosts a volcanic arc along its coastline. For its known history, there have always been a few active volcanoes along the arc mixed in with their dormant cousins. While many other nations look upon the volcanoes as a source of destruction, the Pohuanans recognize the bountiful amount of life and growth that is only possible in nutrient rich volcanic soil.  The red crystals that form in Pohuan also have a mixed history associated with them. The red crystals, when stable, project energy barriers typically spherical in shape unless modified artificially. They have found uses for them in medical applications, the energy barrier being modified into a cauterizing scalpel, and scientific research, using the barrier to contain dangerous substances. However, the crystal is considered unstable when not handled properly and can cause large releases of energy that typically destroy the crystal in the process. They have found uses for this instability, such as vehicle thrusters or weaponizing the effects. Due to the inherently dangerous nature of their land and the crystals formed there, the Pohuan government has channeled a lot of resources into geology and the crystal sciences.

Henshina

Henshina is a nation whose geography is primarily dominated by one of the largest deserts on the planet Bryche, the setting of Project Aleutian. Henshinans value ability above all other traits because it has been crucial to their culture and their survival for as long as oral tradition goes back. The purple crystal present in the desert is unique because each crystal is linked to another. This can lead to different behavior when stimulated in different ways such as moving in unison, moving in opposite directions, or even swapping places. Through study they’ve been able to get swapping crystals to move objects with them of varying sizes tied to the size of the crystal. This has allowed them to move goods across vast distances in seconds. One of the original uses of this technology by the Henshinans was to transport water across the vast distances of the desert. They’ve been looking for a way to move people with this technology for generations. If there is a way, they have not found it yet.

Waviscia

Waviscia is an archipelagic nation on the planet Bryche, the setting of Project Aleutian, positioned between the nation of Navaire and the fractured continent, the origin of the stone clouds. The island chain the Waviscians call home is also the home of a unique species of whale, called glass belly whales, that played a key role in the nation’s history. As a part of the glass belly whale migration cycle, they use both forms of echolocation and radar for navigation. Through studying these whales, they discovered that the orange crystal found in their nation functions as a radio transmitter and receiver. This led to some early development of long-range communications and weather detection technologies. These crystals have become instrumental in the early detection of stone clouds and their contents.

Seulana

Seulana is a nation primarily consisting of forest and desert on the planet Bryche, the setting of Project Aleutian, making life both abundant yet sacred to the Seulanans. They work to live in harmony with nature and are very conscious of what resources they use to further their goals. The nation is rich in a green crystal which restores broken inorganic items to a repaired or complete state. However, to the Seulanans it represents a spiritual connection of the object with its soul, and restores an object to its true form. Those who are called to a life of shaping the souls of objects are called Exemplars. Exemplars use their skills for humble tasks such as common repairs for the general public, for technical marvels such as making roads that never need repair, and for historical import such as restoring manuscripts or relics weathered by time.