Neuro-Crowns
What a Neuro-Crown is, what its tier allows, how conduction feeds a crowned exile's weapons, and why the camp never has enough of them.
A slim closed circlet
A Neuro-Crown is a slim closed circlet worn on the head. It is Glass Court work, forged from ore and Court crystal, and it does one thing: it wakes a psychic potential that its wearer already has. On the battlefield the crown is the warmest, brightest thing in sight. It flares when its wearer casts, and it dims when their Will runs low.
One crown, one discipline
Every recruit has a potential in each of the four disciplines, Shaper, Mender, Seer and Voice, from Dormant up to Zenith. A crown is attuned to one discipline when it is put on, and an exile wears one crown at a time. Someone who is a Flare Seer and a Spark Voice has to choose which of those to wake.
An exile without a crown is Uncrowned. A rare few are Awakened: their strongest talent already works without a crown, up to Spark.
Tiers
Crowns come in tiers, from Tier I to Tier III. The tier caps how far its wearer's power can go, whatever their talent or training.
| Crown | Highest rank it allows | A new camp owns |
|---|---|---|
| Tier I | Spark | 2 |
| Tier II | Flare | 1 |
| Tier III | Zenith | 0 |
An exile's working rank in a discipline is the lowest of three things: their potential, their training and the crown's cap. See progression for how training rises.
Conduction
A crowned exile's power runs into the weapons in their hands. Every primitive weapon, from a bow or sling to a crafted atlatl or flint knife, adds the crown's tier to its damage. Salvaged future weapons never do. Early on the rifle is the best gun in the squad, and later crowned primitives overtake it. A Shaper's Driving Force doubles the bonus. The numbers are on crowns, conduction and gear.
Where crowns come from
The camp starts with a few crowns taken from the Court. More come from two places. Taking the Anvil, the Court's forge city in the Iron Hills, unlocks Tier III crowns and sends another every few weeks. And the camp's own crown forge, once the right studies are done, can make Tier I crowns and re-forge them into higher tiers, slowly and at a high price in Court crystal.