World
Shardlings
A shard that falls takes on the nature of the place where it lands and wakes as a Shardling. Shardlings look like animals built from large facets of crystal.
There are four kinds. Ember Shardlings from the volcanic Cinder Chain are foxes, hounds and wolves, fast and hot-tempered. Root Shardlings from the hanging forests of the Green Reach are fawns, stags and moss creatures that mend. Mist Shardlings from the fog of the Veil Isles are owls, moths and mantises, clever and tricky. Iron Shardlings from the Anvil Heights are armoured beasts, rams and machine-like hounds, stubborn and hard to move.
Shardlings change twice: base form, second stage, third stage. Every change makes them finer and more lifelike. In the card game this is evolving: a Stage 2 card is played onto its base, a Stage 3 onto its Stage 2.
A Shardling cannot die in a fight. Beaten, it folds back into its stone and sleeps until it has recovered. Binders call this “gone to stone”.