Draft:Star Gem

Omega 0.90.4

Star Gem&TypeArtifactBase value (Au)10000Item level7Weight10Unidentified appearanceStrangely Glowing CrystalCursed nameStar Gem

The Star Gem is the artifact guarded by the Prime Sorceror in the Circle's demesne beyond the Astral Plane. Activating it supplies lasting illumination and returns the player to Star Peak. There, giving it to the LawBringer and destroying it serve different causes and grant different rewards.

Generation

The fifth Astral level has a translucent stairway to the Circle's demesne. The Prime created there carries the Star Gem while it has not been recorded as taken. A mansion encounter with a Prime does not receive this extra possession.

A peaceful Prime in the demesne drops his possessions and vanishes when spoken to. A Chaotic active Circle member can obtain this peaceful reception; neutral membership alone does not guarantee it. The Gem must then be collected from the floor. A hostile Prime instead requires another approach, such as successful theft or combat ending in normal death.

The initial Gem is reserved for this special source. A new demesne normally stops supplying it after acquisition. Same-date overuse of the Gem clears that taken restriction and makes its kind eligible for ordinary random generation again; this is a consequence of losing it, not a reason to discard the Gem while relying on it for escape.

Activation and return

Use A → a with the Gem in accessible inventory. It requires no mana or identification. On an available date, a curse or neutral blessing is replaced with blessing strength 10; an existing positive blessing is retained. The Gem is not consumed by that successful use.

Condition or result	Effect
Date differs from the last-use marker	Successful illumination and transport; the date is recorded
Date equals the marker	One Gem vanishes, with no return trip or fresh illumination
Illumination below the lasting-effect threshold	Raised to a lasting level that does not naturally count down
Return destination	World-map cell (61, 3), outside Star Peak; the hidden peak is revealed
Astral completion	Recorded by the successful activation, rather than by merely picking up the Gem

All copies share the date marker. It initially equals 0, so an unused Gem activated on date 0 also vanishes. New games randomize their starting date. Wait until the date differs before relying on the Gem; a second copy is not an independent daily charge.

Activating the Gem returns you to the countryside, not directly to the LawBringer. Enter Star Peak afterward for the local encounter. That successful activation also completes the Astral stage of the Oracle's sequence; simply owning or handing over the Gem is a different event.

LawBringer delivery

Give the Gem to the living LawBringer, for example by throwing it to him using the ordinary zero-damage gift behavior. Activate is not the delivery command. The gift consumes it and works through this special recipient check rather than an ordinary monster's willingness to accept valuables.

Result	Benefit
Alignment	+200 toward Law
Power	Current and maximum Power become twice the old current Power
Experience	+2,000
Imprisonment	Any positive imprisonment count is cleared
Expelled Order member	Restored to the first Order rank
Quest record	Star Gem delivery recorded for the Order's final promotion

The gift itself does not make you Justiciar. Return to the Order as a Paladin, exceed the incumbent's character level and have alignment strictly above +300 to claim that promotion.

The Power calculation can lower an old maximum if current Power is badly drained. For example, current Power 3 with maximum 20 becomes current and maximum 6. Restore drained Power before delivery when possible; conversely, an increase above the old maximum can enlarge the permanent result. This differs from Kolwynia, which doubles the old maximum.

Destruction at Star Peak

The alternative described by the Circle is to break the Gem inside Star Peak's local scene. Standing on its world-map cell is not sufficient. Use Z to bash the item; once the break succeeds, the Gem's special effect bypasses ordinary blessing or enchantment protection. A failed attempt can inflict 70 points of unstoppable damage, so this is not a harmless disposal command.

The released power kills living monsters throughout the local level through the normal death procedure, consumes the Gem and shifts alignment 200 points toward Chaos. Current Strength and Power become at least their respective maxima plus 5, preserving any already larger values. Their maxima do not increase. The blast can kill the LawBringer, preventing a later gift to him; his Crown is a separate Circle promotion objective.

Do not break the Gem elsewhere as a way to replenish it. The outside-peak destruction branch has a memory-access bug, making its result unreliable and potentially crashing the game.

Strategy

Reserve the Gem as your way out of the Astral route. The Amulet of the Planes and Sceptre are blocked there, and spending the Gem through an unavailable-date activation can leave you without their replacement. Once it returns you to Star Peak, decide between preserving its reusable travel and illumination, making the lawful delivery, or consuming it for the chaotic blast.

Collect the Mastery set before relying on a regenerated Astral visit: successful Gem activation records Astral completion, after which newly generated Astral floors no longer place the five Orb guardians.

For the lawful route, keep the LawBringer alive and restore drained Power before the gift. For a Circle Crown quest, plan around the actual kill and remains delivery; destroying the Gem is not itself the guild promotion. Both consumptive routes give up the Gem's later use. Blessing it cannot create an extra daily activation, and ordinary beneficial enchantment on an intact Gem causes artifact backlash rather than recharging it.