The Language of Enigma Crystals

That man’s worth a trip across the void… Maybe even a return trip.

Long before Jewels became a digital currency, Jewels were the common name for Enigma crystals when used in trade. With the crystal's ability to rip through space to other locations, and even other universes, their value was determined by how far a person could get. Different sized crystals meant further distances, which came with greater value to merchants who wished to transport goods without worrying about the dangers that came with other forms of travel. They were especially valued by the military, as large crystals allowing travel to the other universes provided an opportunity to harvest the Gold, the power that forms a basis for a majority of Elemental Society, as well as their weapons.

As such, distances being attributed to currency has left its mark on Elemental Language, with common idioms based on value colouring speech. Some examples include the following:

It wasn’t a lot, only costed a few paces down the street.

Can be used to mean that something was very cheap, as to almost being freely given away, as only very small fragments of crystals would be capable of such limited travel. Historically, such small parts of the crystals would have been nearly worthless on their own, and often not accepted for much by merchants. More recent technology, such as crystal weaves, and crystal-tech has created a use for small fragments, and therefore some value. The other use of the phrase is used to insult the value of something, or to refer to it as scraps.

I would give anything to be with her. Even a round trip across the farthest reaches of the void.

I’m sure a trip over the void is her version of a jog down the street…

Crossing over the void, the vacant space between the define borders of universes, requires incredibly large enigma crystals. Opening the opportunity to acquiring Gold, and other resources, their value is immense. Larger jumps away from Origin require even bigger crystals, but the opportunity to hopefully find a universe not yet claimed or infested only increases their worth. The largest crystals would hardly ever find themselves in the hands of civilians, and those smaller are usually limited to the greatly wealthy. Who often flaunt wealth with the ability to take causal trips to other universes.

Sure the offer might be tempting at first glance, but if you look into it any further you’ll find that it’s just a pile of scraps glued together.

A pile of repeated lies does not create a truth. Lies only have power in the darkness, for within the light it is clear that they create only a fractured image and not a whole.

While not related to distance, these sayings come from the forgery of crystals to appear far larger than they truly are. Since Enigma crystals only have the power of their original size, while it is possible to use a clear substance to put multiple smaller fragments together, each would still be activated individually, or even worse all at once to provide a single trip down a street. It is often used to refer to scams and propaganda, since these counterfeit crystals were often sold in dim light to prevent the obvious broken image that occurs when the light is bent through the crystal. As Enigma crystals bend both light and Elemental magic to reflect a different possibility of reality, a counterfeit would show hundreds if not thousands of different possibilities.