Primal Stones

Primal Stones are ancient and powerful magical artifacts that harness the power of a Primal Source.

Information

Primal Stones are powerful magical artifacts that usually hold a captured sample of the raw nature of one of the six Primal Sources within their core. A Primal Stone can be held by a mage in their hand or mounted into the head of a staff. However, Primal Stones are incredibly rare; only master mages can craft them, and the crafting rituals themselves have largely been lost to time.

A Primal Stone acts as a conduit to the Primal Source whose essence it contains, and as such, gives the mage who wields it access to the energy of that Primal Source and the ability to access its full power anywhere, anytime, even when the source itself is not immediately available - Sun magic in darkness, Earth magic at sea, and Moon magic during the day. Furthermore, since they provide the holder with primal energy, they are a means by which a human (without a connection to an arcanum) can use primal magic.

In some cases, a Primal Stone can even allow for magical feats that a mage would not be able to achieve on their own, even with an arcanum, and even if they are at the Nexus of the Primal Source in question. Aaravos and Claudia planned to invert the Moon Nexus and release all the restless and tormented spirits from the In-Between. However, they needed a Moon Primal Stone to do it, even though Aaravos could already use Moon magic.

Additionally, the energy provided by a Primal Stone can serve as a substitute for an ingredient in a dark magic spell. For example, the "Hearts of Cinder" spell, which can make a multitude of people impervious to flames. Ordinarily, the required ingredient is a human heart, but that is not necessary if the mage has a Sun Primal Stone (albeit a corrupted one).

Several known Primal Stones exist inside Xadia. The most noticeable stones are the Sun Primal Stone embedded into the staff of Queen Aditi before it is passed down to Pharos, the Sunfire High Priest of Lux Aurea, and the Moon Primal Stone embedded into the staff held by a Moonshadow Elf leader during the division of Xadia. A Sky Primal Stone that originally belonged to Viren and Claudia was later taken by Callum, but ended up destroyed in order to hatch Azymondias. Another Sky Primal Stone is embedded into Ibis's staff, which was passed down to Callum after the former's death.

Primal Stones are moderately durable; they can survive being dropped without gaining any visible scratches, but will shatter if smashed against the ground.

Kinds

Moon Primal Stone

Moon Primal Stones can resemble miniature moons, even having small craters along its surface, with one side shining white while the other is shadowed or being made of a turquoise material similar to glass which hold a captured moonbeam on their inside that appears as a silvery light between shadows. They can be used to create illusions, trick someone's mind, reveal the past, and even call across the barrier between life and death.

To create a Moon Primal Stone, one must take the skeleton of a unicorn, crush the bones into a fine powder, then melt that powder into goo. The goo is then to be molded into a sphere. No other shape will work. It is currently unknown if all Primal Stones are made from unicorn bones or if it is just the Moon.

Once the sphere is formed, it must travel all the way around the world, like a miniature Moon. A rather troublesome task; countless mages have spent years traveling across deserts, mountains, and seas, and many of them ended up dying partway through their journey.

Sky Primal Stone

Sky Primal Stones appear as glass-like spheres that contain a thunderstorm (an actual thunderstorm) or other natural weather phenomena. They can be used to cast a variety of air-based, lightning-based, and ice-based spells, and, by shattering it, the storms captured inside can be released. Because of that, they are the most dangerous Primal Stones to be wielded, but this would also provide the conditions necessary to hatch the egg of a Storm Dragon.

Sun Primal Stone

Sun Primal Stones appear as miniature suns, containing variations of the sun's flame within their cores, such as burning fire or brilliant light. They can be used to start fires, and produce heat and light. They are said to have been created by Sol Regem in the ancient days and the first one contains his fire breath.

During the fall of Lux Aurea, Aaravos corrupted a Sun Primal Stone, causing it to eclipse. Viren and Claudia were able to cast a variety of dark fire spells by wielding it. It is unknown is those same dark flames could be achieved with an uncorrupted Sun Primal Stone, but Claudia has utilized spells with the corrupted Primal Stone that appear to be regular Sun magic.

Earth Primal Stone

Earth Primal Stones are natural stones in themselves, often a multifaceted crystal or an orb of petrified wood. They contain the potential of a mighty forest or a towering peak, reflected in dendritic patterns, hairline fractures, and mica crystals. They can be used to terraform someone's surroundings.

Ocean Primal Stone

Ocean Primal Stones contain whirlpools or large amounts of ocean water in their core. They allow a user to command the tides, redirect rivers, or create floods, as well as giving them the ability to communicate with fish or breathe underwater.

Star Primal Stone

There are no known records of Star Primal Stones in the world, though they could potentially bend and warp time and space.

History

The first Primal Stones were gifted to humanity by the Startouch Elf Leola, who pitied the people of Elarion that were suffering through a merciless famine and received no help from the elves. Together with the knowledge of Ancient Draconic, the language of dragons, and the required runes to draw spells, these new artifacts allowed humanity to thrive.

1000 years after the division of Xadia, Primal Stones are still used by humans and elves. However, the knowledge of how to craft them has largely been lost to time.

A Moon Primal Stone enchanted to fly around the world on its own.

After Claudia freed Aaravos from his prison, they planned to invert the Moon Nexus and release all the tormented spirits with unfinished business from the In-Between. To do this, they would need a Moon Primal Stone. Finding one might have taken a hundred years, so they decided to make one instead. After retrieving a map from the Puzzle House, they traveled to the Garden of Innocence, the unicorns' secret graveyard, where they acquired the unicorn bones they would need to make the Primal Stone.

After the bones were melted down and molded into a sphere, Aaravos used the feather of a Shimmercrow to give the sphere a pair of wings so it could travel around the world all on its own, in under a day no less.

Trivia

• According to Claudia, the storm that was inside of her Sky Primal Stone came from the top of Mount Kalik.
• The Sky Primal Stone in Ibis's staff appears to be smaller than the one Callum took from Claudia. This suggests that Primal Stones can come in various sizes.