Seed charm

A seed charm is a type of talisman unique to Dadauar. Seed charms are generally only a few centimeters across, small but intricate forms of gold and silver and other precious materials.

There are many types of seed charm, each with a different special magical ability. The shape of a seed charm tends to by in some way indicative or at least suggestive of its function, although this isn't always the case, and even seed charms of the same type may vary considerably in shape. Whatever the shape, however, every seed charm does have a knob by which it can be attached to some sort of holder. It is the interaction between the charm and its holder that activates the charm—a charm attached to a charm amulet, for example, is activated upon removal, while a charm clock activates each charm it contains according to a particular schedule.

While seed charms may be reused, they cannot be activated arbitrarily often. After activation, a seed charm requires a period of recharging before it can be activated again. The length of this quiescent period varies by charm, but typically ranges somewhere between an hour and a day. About one in five charms can be reactivated before it is fully recharged, but at the cost of permanently expending the charm, which upon this premature activation dissolves away into dreammist.

Some of the most common types of seed charm include:

• Alert charms, which on activation mentally notify individuals they are attuned to, regardless of the distance.
• Armor charms, which encase the person activating them in a full suit of armor.
• Explosion charms, which explode in a violent burst that does not harm the charm itself.
• Globe charms, which contain objects and creatures within and release them upon activation.
• Portal charms, which create magical portals to preset destinations.
• Prison charms, which imprison creatures within them.
• Summoning charms, which bring creatures to the location of their activation.

Seed charms are very old items, believed to date back at least to the times of the Empire of Eathelal some twenty thousand years ago—and given the commerce that the Empire of Eathelal is known to have had with other worlds, it's entirely possible that the seed charms long predate it, and weren't originally created on Dadauar at all. Be that as it may, seed charms, despite their antiquity, continue to be popular items—less so in developed nations, but even there the resistance finds them useful, and even some onirarchs enjoy them. In some undeveloped nations, they are quite common, Carqan and Cselya seeming particularly fond of these items.