Shards and Shardnets

Shards are magical gems that allow mortals to interact with the Shardscape. Think of them as mobile endpoints, like smart phones. Small shards that are split from a single, larger shard form a shardnet: a private network where each mortal holding one of these shards can communicate with each other silently and instantly, regardless of the distance between them. However, each shardnet operates as if each of the endpoints were connected by a hub. That means that everyone using the shardnet can see everyone else’s communications. Achieving privacy and security over a shardnet requires cryptomancy.