A History of Star Shards

Items of Note
While the processed shards are used for currency, the raw shards have an entirely different use.

Raw Vs Processed Star Shards

When Eniv was young and new, the Enivi who settled there didn’t have an official currency. Instead, the herds traded their goods and produce amongst themselves. This led to issues where a herd needed a resource, but was unable to trade if they didn’t have what the other party was searching for.

As time went on, one Lunaesi, Cressida, took a particular interest in the ‘Star Storms’ that overtook the night sky, and the remaining pieces left behind the following day.
Star Storms, also known as Falling Star Showers, are a seasonal event that happen most often in the summer. Large, crystalline stars streak across the sky in a fiery blaze over the course of a few days and nights. As the stars pass by they shed small pieces of themself. This leads to two occurrences, Star Dust and Star Shards.

Star Dust gently drifts from the sky during the shower. If the dust falls onto an Enivi, they’re overcome with a gentle, warm sensation as the magic infused with the Enivi themself and leaves a sprinkled dusting of glowing, color shifting speckles along their coat.

Contrary to Star Dust, touching a raw, unprocessed Star Shard can cause searing pain. The uncontrolled magic is too much for any Enivi to touch, physically or with their magic. Star Shards are much larger than Star Dust, and fall from the sky a few hours after the storm. 

This is the aspect of Star Storms Cressida researched. She began carefully collecting raw Star Shards in a large, iron pot to study in her laboratory. There, she discovered the magic could be extracted from the crystals and used to produce power for Enivi. Today, the power from raw Star Shards fuels all of Eniv, from the brilliant lights in Eventide Harbor to the great Lunae Observatory. 

Once the magic is extracted, processed Star Shards are still quite beautiful. Cressida used the sale of these Star Shards to fund her future research, while also supplying Enivi with a beautiful luxury item. As the popularity of the Star Shards grew, they became a staple in the trading system, and soon took their place as the main currency in Eniv.