Haliori Mana-Crystal Focus

Crown-cut Haliori crystal hangs inside white gold and living silver, clear as frozen breath until a hand closes around the cage. Violet fractures then spread in time with the pulse, anticipating the next magical gesture by half a heartbeat. The focus is not decorative, though Spire buyers wear it that way. Attunement requires fasting, a salt bath, and the surrender of one private name to the crystal; afterward difficult workings feel indecently easy. The cage must be fed silver solution each week and exposed to natural mana between uses. Neglect makes the living metal bite. Solaris prohibits private possession, while Haliori diplomats recognize Crown cutting at a glance and ask questions with treaties behind them. Owners become dependent on the focus's responsiveness, then find unaided spellwork clumsy and humiliating. Forty-five thousand credits buys the artifact, forged provenance, and perhaps one season before somebody notices. Display earns awe among decadent magicians. Among legitimate Haliori company, it marks the wearer as thief, fool, or evidence.