The Allakin Crystals: Crystals of Wonder

"'As I held one of those pink crystals in my hands, I could feel the temptation coursing through my veins. Anything I could of ever wanted, in the palm of my hand. It was a power that, if I had not already known of its curse, I may of taken advantage of.'""-Sarn Haust, Famous Explorer"

Overview
Long ago, in a time when the world was untouched by the magical taint of The Great Calamity, there was once a separation between the physical and magical world. The magical world existed on a layer unseen to the physical, and could not be accessed by a regular living being. It was known about, but unreachable by mortal minds or will. How could one harvest and use a resource if they could not control it? This question was debated for many centuries, philosophers of various ages arguing the facts. It was something that everyone wanted the answer to, but no one had the capability of providing proof for any one side. All of that would change, however, with one man. The answer would soon be discovered by a man known as Jilberd Allakin, and that answer would set the world on a course of events which would forever change it.

The First Discovery
In a search for gold and iron deposits for the city-state they owed their allegiance to, Jilberd and his mining expedition went deep into the Aniton Mountains  in search of these metals. Upon arrival, they had begun their extraction and mining efforts immediately, taking whatever they could find. They would eventually stumble upon a strange sight, one which baffled all of them. In a naturally formed underground cave, there were caverns filled with purple and pink gems which shone in the darkness like torches. They glowed with a warmth like that of fire, yet were cold to the touch. None of the men in the room had ever saw such crystals before. The crystals came in different shapes and sizes, some as small as a finger and others as big as their forearms. Jilberd would reach his hand out to touch one, and it would send a strange jolt of power and energy through his fingers. With widened eyes and a shocked stare, he ordered a small amount of varying crystals to be extracted and delivered to his tent. Upon further investigation, he discovered the strange energy which flowed through the crystal could be channeled and controlled. He channeled the power from the mineral to his hand, and discovered he could shoot fire from his fingertips on command. Amazed and starstruck, he would continue this investigation by further testing what the crystals could do. Nothing would be the same after that day, for he just did what other men could not do. He managed to, with his will, cast magic. He was going to change the world with this discovery, but at a speed he chose. Little did he know this greed would be the undoing of Samirkan itself, but that is a tale for another day.

Characteristics/Appearance
The Allakin crystals are unique in the sense that, although they were already a rare sight in Samirkan before the Calamity, they are now even rarer than before. So rare, in fact, that most living people have never seen a crystal themselves. They have heard the tales, sure, but the actual crystals are so hard to find that those that do often don’t know what they’ve discovered. Beyond that, the Allakin crystals are powerful. They can come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and so their size can impact the amount of power they hold within them. The largest crystals have the highest reserves, whereas the smallest ones have the lowest. Even the small ones, however, are capable of greatness in the right hands, or absolute devastation in the wrong ones.

Capabilities/Powers
Allakin crystals are capable of anything a human can possibly ask for, so long as it is within reason. Although they cannot break the foundations of reality, such as going back in time or changing the world on a massive scale, they can certainly bend some pillars of reality for the individual user. A crystal can allow a user to defy the laws of gravity and fly, or to teleport from location to location in the blink of an eye. They can restore sight to the blind, turn lead to gold, or even increase the life-span of a mortal by a significant amount of time. With a crystal, one could summon massive thunderstorms, cast huge fireballs, even raise large armies of the dead on command. If desired, a non-magical mortal can even ingest a crystal and gain the capability to use magic themselves without one. The only problem with this, some have discovered in the past, is that although they gain the capability to use magic they still need to gain the knowledge to actually make use of it after ingesting crystals. The crystals reshift their DNA and genetics, forever affecting their bloodline. Their descendents will have increased chances to be born as wizards, but it does not promise this. The power of a crystal is significant and incredible, so it is understandable why it is nearly impossible to find one.

What makes the crystals so much stronger than a regular focus or medium (such as a staff or an orb) is that the crystals were developed with the capability to naturally harness the power of the magic. When a magic caster uses a regular focus, such as their regular staff, the spell can only come FROM the focus. The magic caster must channel the magic, from around them, through themselves TO the focus in order to cast the spell. This channeling of magic through their own bodies provides limitations on how much they can cast and how strong they can cast the spells. A novice wizard can only cast little flings of fire at a time, for if they try something much harder they have a chance of causing harm to themselves from inexperience at channeling the volatile magic. This kind of magic takes time to practice and become good at, and that is with the use of regular focuses that are not magical. Now if the same wizard has a crystal, the risk of self-harm becomes nonexistent. Since they do not need to channel the magic from their surroundings through themselves, and can instead exert the magic directly out of the crystal with their will, this removes any chance of hurting oneself with a crystal. Even those that are not magically inclined are capable of using a crystal, and so it is why many powerful wizards and ambitious men spend their lives searching for one.