Flamepunk:Flamebinding
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Introduction[edit]
The culture and society of (Name of World) centers around one essential act: the control of elemental fire. This has spawned a massive technological infrastructure based entirely on applications of that ability, most importantly the derived technology of flamebinding - the embedding of an elemental flame into an object, which can then later be activated to tap the elemental's power.
There are those who say that this technology - the very heart of (Name of World)-ian society - threatens to bring about the end of the world. They might be right.
But the end of the world is far away, and you've got problems right now.
How Flamebinding Works[edit]
At its heart each flame-bound effect has a small rune-scribed object as its anchor in our reality: a gem, a small stone or a bit of metal. These are commonly referred to as pathstones or (in this post anyway) cores. As a side effect of the elemental binding process, using a core can make it very hot, slowly burning (or melting) away the runes, reducing efficiency until the elemental can no longer remain on this plane and the dead core is thrown away. Thus cheaper cores do not last as long, and are not as robust as more expensive, more heat-resistant core material. To make matters worse. If you damage the runes on a core there is the danger of the core spontaneously bursting into flame, thus combusting or exploding, as the confused elemental is released.
For the most part flame-binding is used as a source of energy and light that, unlike real fire, doesn't require the use of fuel (wood, coal, oil). Your house uses a bound blaze-class elemental core (dumb but moderately hot) in the cellar to heat the place and you have a couple of glow-class cores (really small and really dumb) in each room as a source of light.
Fire also works well as a weapon; hellswords, fire-arrows, Molotov-cores (inscribed on glass or ceramic plates so they break and explode when thrown), walking tank golem-class elementals, etc.
Other cores allow the storage of information in an easily portable object; a a cipher-class elemental (small but moderately bright) that creates full-color editable illusions in the air or that can repeat anything they are told to remember perfectly. Faster, though short-lived spark-class elementals (that require no core because of their minutes-long life-span) can track down a specific individual's personal cipher core and perfectly transmit a message to it. Users can see a visible series of sparks actually traveling through the air from sender to recipient as they hold a "talk by post" via an AIM or IRC-style conversation. Guild offices are literally surrounded with clouds of moving sparks, making the cities glow brightly enough to blot out the stars.
Yet more elementals are used for transportation, typically as flaming steeds that pull glowing chariots or carriages with burning wheels through the sky.
Most people simply wear their cores around as jewelry (necklaces, rings and such), or build them into their houses and carriages, the way IRL people carry cellular phones and handguns, but these cores have the disadvantage of having to be spoken to, and they tend to take their orders very literally.
However, there are those who actually risk the danger of combustion to add the flame to their very flesh. These fire-eaters are easily identified by the flame-binding tattoos they require to bind the flames to their will, turning them into walking cores. These enhancements typically cost more than most people make in a year, however the elementals thus tied into a fire-eater's very being respond to their thoughts and emotions. Most enhancements increase an attribute in some way: muscle-burn, explosive-speed, plasma-plating; however, others work as built-in weapons (knuckle-dusters), protective measures (smokers-lung) or as sensory enhancement (dark-fire). The major danger of a flame-tattoo is if the scribed runes are damaged their bodies may overheat and combust the way any broken core would.
Flame-speakers are those who, through study and natural skill, can force the elemental fire into the pattern they desire. Flame-speakers are the ones who have truly plumbed the mysteries of elemental flame and can accurately speak its language. Depending on their skill spread they can scribe a new flame-bound core, emplace tattoos on a prospective fire-eaters, or repair a damaged or malfunctioning core.
However, the best speakers are able to actually become one with the flame for a short time. Called flame-runners, they have the ability to bend the core of an unwilling elemental to do their bidding. Flame-runners can trick sparks into repeating their messages to the wrong cipher, they can beguile a cipher into believing the flame-runner is its bound owner, and they can even temporarily entrance a golem into ignoring potential targets.
