Luxon beacon

The Luxon beacons are sacred relics of the Kryn Dynasty, which they believe to be fragments of the the Luxon's physical form. These relics are critical to the Dynasty's study of dunamancy and the practice of consecution.

Description
The cannonball-sized dodecahedron has golden handles on two sides, and emits a dull undulating grey glow.

When Caleb cast Identify on the object, he found the magic contained within was alien and of a level of understanding outside of what the spell could provide. As he focused deeper on it, his brain began to open up into another space of what seemed to be an expanse of an endless infinity of nothingness. When he delved further, he gained a "fragment of possibility" that functioned similar to a single luck point.

Consecution
The Luxon beacons are at the center of the Kryn Dynasty ritual known as "consecution". When a follower of The Luxon is believed worthy of consecution and claimed by one of the Dens of the Dynasty, they are then "soul-bound" to the Luxon through a ritual known as consecution. When a consecuted person dies within 100 miles of a Luxon beacon, their soul does not go on to the afterlife. Instead, the beacon draws the soul into the body of a humanoid child that has been born within range of that same beacon. When that child enters adolescence, they begin to recall memories of their past lives through visions or dreams, in a transitional stage of Kryn life known as "anamnesis", and are strongly drawn toward Xhorhas to find the answers. The Dynasty helps these children return to their respective Dens and unlock their past through guided meditation. The Kryn believe that through each rebirth, the soul grows closer to becoming an "umavi": a perfect soul who understands the true purpose of life and the Luxon.

Dunamancy
Mages of the Kryn Dynasty discovered a branch of magic called dunamancy from studying the Luxon beacons. Dunamancy focuses on manipulation of entropy, gravity, and time. The Dynasty closely guards its dunamancy spells.

The Cerberus Assembly experimented with Luxon beacons to create "dunamis fields" that had far reaching effects of slowing and speeding up people and animals around the laboratory. Working for the Assembly, Yeza Brenatto distilled one vial of dunamis using a beacon. The Assembly was working on a way to produce large amounts of the vials of dunamis to be used as weapons of war.

The Mighty Nein learned that the ancient mages of Aeor had discovered a beacon that they called "The Relic" or the "Primal Artifact." They had learned to channel some of its powers pertaining to time and potential, and believed that the manipulation of time or travel through time might be possible.

Fragment of Possibility
Focusing on a Luxon beacon for one minute while physically touching it grants a Fragment of Possibility. This fragment lasts until it is used, and if unused, disappears after eight hours. The beacon can only provide one fragment per day, and recharges at dawn. The fragment functions similarly to a Luck point; a creature with the fragment may use it to reroll a d20 roll and use the result of their choosing, or alternatively, grant or force another creature to reroll.

Prevents the Curse of Strife
Any goblinkin (goblin, hobgoblin, and bugbear) born within 100 miles of a Luxon beacon does not inherit Bane's curse, which otherwise compels them to do evil.

History
The first known Luxon beacon to be found by the Kryn Dynasty, called the "heart of consecution", was in the Underdark beneath Ghor Dranas during The Calamity. There are no records of other discovered beacons during the Age of Arcanum, and if any were found by other societies, they either did not know the purpose of the beacons or the information was lost. Aeorian experiments were found to have worked with dunamis and to be powered by what appeared to be a small replica of a Luxon beacon.

The Dynasty later discovered additional four beacons in various locations, including the Blightshore side of the Penumbra Range, and believe that there are many more scattered across all of Exandria. A small settlement deep in the Cliffkeep Mountains, Reaching Bluff, discovered a Luxon beacon around 826 PD, but still hadn't learned its nature when word started to get out about their secret artifact around ten years later.

In 833, Essek Thelyss gave two beacons to the Cerberus Assembly to research, though the Dynasty believed that they had been stolen by wizards from the Empire. At the time of the Harvest Close Festival in 835 PD, they were being kept by the Assembly in Zadash. One was eventually returned to the Dynasty by the Mighty Nein, and the other by the Empire following the successful peace negotiations ending the War of Ash and Light.

Arc 1: Come Together
Acting under the orders of the Empress of the Kryn Dynasty, Leylas Kryn, the echo knight Thuron and another drow attacked the Zauber Spire, part of the Hall of Erudition in Zadash, and stole the beacon there. The beacon was taken from him when he was killed by the Crownsguard in the Sewers. While the Crownsguard were carrying it off towards the King's Hall, Caleb, disguised as a crownsguard, lied and used the Friends spell to carry the beacon off on his own. Nott aided his efforts by creating an illusory version of it further off, which she made appear to disintegrate in midair. With their efforts combined, they managed to steal the beacon.

When Caleb slept in the proximity of the beacon, he had a peaceful dream of a welcoming soft hum and grayish, familiar light pulling him forward through stars of a distant night sky. He saw beacons of light coast by, and a dark sphere before him. After a flash of light, he stood holding the beacon in his hands. Looking into it for a moment, he then looked up and saw himself in endless rows, each slightly different than the next. They each began walking in different directions. Looking down again at the object and back up, they were all gone, though he saw a distant flame flickering. The more he tried to understand the beacon's ancient power and scale, being both too large and too small, the more he felt himself walking different paths all at once, in a way both scary and comforting to him. He looked up at the stars and saw that they had stopped moving. In that place, for the first time in a long time, he felt at peace as the dream ended.

The Mighty Nein later bought a lead-lined box to hide the beacon within. They stashed it inside Jester's haversack. Later, with the supervision of Nott and Jester, Caleb spent time gazing into the depths of the beacon he attempted to reveal the beacon's true nature and if it had any potential uses to the party.

As he focused and concentrated on the strange artifact his vision was drawn towards it until, although he'd not physically moved, he felt as though his body was leaning forward until suddenly he felt his consciousness within the dodecahedron. Similarly to when he had previously entered the item's depths, he saw a cosmic, starlit expanse and beyond it, a void. He continued deeper, and his vision seemed to accelerate, then slow as it reached a mote of pulsing gray light. His thoughts began to race and loop as he considered this concept of possibility.

Saying, "Father and mother, I hope I do not let you down", he reached out and touched the mote of light, pulling it into his chest. The sensation led him to believe that the future had become malleable. Jester and Nott also could see this tiny mote be pulled from the beacon into Caleb. The Mighty Nein continued to regularly use the beacon for this purpose, sharing it among the party.

Arc 2: The Bad Guys
When they encountered Twiggy, Jester showed her the dodecahedron and invited her to look at it. Twiggy felt a gravitational pull and was drawn towards it, her peripheral vision blurring and darkening. It felt as if it were no longer an object; it was like a pool of warm water. In the darkness, she saw an endless sea of stars drifting past, and little ghosted versions of herself going in different directions: some fading and some created. Two of them joined, creating a new light and going in a separate path. There was a single, glowing, warm light that as she reached out towards it, it merged with her hand, the warmth carrying through her wrist and forearm giving a warm interior hug-type sensation. As she closed her eyes and opened them again, she was back on the Squalleater.

Arc 3: The Bright Queen's Favor
While meeting with the Mighty Nein in his tower, Yussa Errenis (a powerful elven wizard) asked to see the dodecahedron. He cast a spell which Caleb recognized as Identify on the beacon, then cast another unknown spell on it. He then spent a few moments staring at the dodecahedron and got a Fragment of Possibility.

To his own surprise, Yussa knew nothing about the beacon and did not even recognize its school of magic. Whatever magic was in the beacon blended arcane and divine. He advised taking it out of Jester's haversack only for short periods of time and when absolutely necessary.

While searching the basement of Yeza Brenatto's apothecary in Felderwin, the Mighty Nein found notes of an unknown Cerberus Assembly researcher. The notes talked about using the beacon to weaponize Dunamancy for battle. The Kryn Dynasty, in Xhorhas, had the ability to use Dunamancy to manipulate gravity, entropy, and time. The Kryn had been researching its use for centuries in Ghor Dranas. It had been difficult for the Cerberus Assembly to create an object that could sustain the energy of a dunamis field. Yeza had been working with the Cerberus Assembly and managed to distill one vial of dunamis. They had plans to make more once they could remove the beacon from the process.

As the party traveled through Xhorhas, Jester noticed that Gluzzo wore a symbol of a beacon. He told her it was the symbol of The Luxon. Lady Olios's audience chamber in Asarius had an altar with an art piece of a beacon. After the Mighty Nein were granted an audience with Leylas, Empress of the Kryn Dynasty, Lythir VaSuun identified them as the group that attacked him in the Ashkeeper Peaks, and Queen ordered them arrested. Caleb called out that they had brought something for the Dynasty. He reached into Jester's haversack and showed the beacon. Shocked, Leylas Kryn ordered the Mighty Nein released. She proclaimed them heroes of the Dynasty for returning the beacon to them.

The Bright Queen then revealed that the Luxon beacons are actually the physical remains of The Luxon's body. According to the Kryn Dynasty'sreligious beliefs, before the Founding, the Luxon (known as the "First Light") came to Exandria while it was still cold and dark. Alone and not fully understanding its own divinity the Luxon discovered this lifeless rock as lonely as the Luxon was and embraced it. In doing so, the Luxon scattered itself across the world to bring it fire and life. The beacons are these parts of itself, and remain buried within Exandria. Since the founding of the Dynasty, the Kryn have recovered four beacons. Empress Kryn was convinced that there are many more out there that have yet to be discovered. She also revealed that two beacons were lost when they were stolen by the Dwendalian Empire. Thanks to Caleb returning the Mighty Nein's beacon, the Kryn Dynasty now had three beacons in their possession. Skysibil Abrianna Mirimm emphasized that the loss of a beacon is a loss of a source of the Kryn cycle of rebirth.

Arc 4: Swords and Angels
When the Mighty Nein visited Rexxentrum and were tasked to broker peace with the Dynasty, at their request, Ludinus Da'leth took the Mighty Nein to the Vergessen Sanatorium, where Trent Ikithon was experimenting on that beacon. Yudala Fon soon after confirmed to Beauregard Lionett that in an excavation of Shattengrod the Cerberus Assembly had only three weeks earlier discovered and acquired a Luxon beacon.

Arc 5: Family Ties
Leading up to the peace the Mighty Nein brokered between the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty, Caleb discovered that Essek had been working with the Cerberus Assembly. After being taken onto the ship by the Mighty Nein, Essek revealed that he was the traitor who had given the two stolen beacons to the Cerberus Assembly for research purposes. One of them was the beacon that had fallen into the hands of the Mighty Nein in Zadash, which they returned to the Dynasty. The Assembly told Essek they would keep the beacon discovered in Shattengrod for research, and those who had collaborated with Essek would continue corresponding with him. As part of the peace negotiations, the second beacon given to the Empire by Essek was returned to the Kryn Dynasty.

Arc 6: Weird Magic
At the Vurmas outpost, Essek revealed to the Mighty Nein that in some of the early Aeorian excavations, the Dynasty had found iconography resembling a Luxon beacon, indicating the Aeorians, long before the founding of the Kryn Dynasty, were aware of the beacons. The excavators had also uncovered writings about a beacon's design, as well as research into dunamantic magic. Essek believed it was possible that the Aeorians had found many beacons, which, if rediscovered, could hasten the Dynasty's goal to piece back together the Luxon.

Within the ruins of Aeor, Essek found that the rejuvenation machine they encountered was powered by something that appeared to be a small replica of a Luxon beacon. He took the beacon from the machine, which destroyed the machine. Along with Caleb, he later used this beacon to grant the party the effects of a long rest within an instant. The beacon was destroyed in the process.

Campaign 3: Bells Hells
As Ludinus Da'leth and the Ruby Vanguard began to activate the Malleus Key intended to free Predathos, Liliana Temult opened the device. Bells Hells noticed a gold-rimmed, gray dodecahedron within it. Ludinus used this to accelerate time.

The Tales of Exandria: The Bright Queen
As the framing device of the story, Abrianna Mirimm tells an unnamed ward the history of the Luxon and its beacons, as well as a recounting of Leylas and Quana Kryn's attempt to recover a beacon found in the Ghostlands. At that time, the Dynasty had five beacons, and this would become its sixth.

Trivia

 * CritRole Stats has a page dedicated to gazes into the dodecahedron and uses of Fragments of Possibility.
 * It is possible that the dodecahedron's shape recalls the fifth Platonic solid, also known as ether, used by the gods "for arranging the constellations on the whole heaven." This substance was believed by alchemists to be the key element to achieve the Philosopher's Stone.
 * The beacon's dodecahedral shape possibly also references the proposal that the shape of the universe is a finite dodecahedron, specifically a Poincaré homology sphere.
 * There is a 4-dimensional geometric shape known as a dodecaplex, which is made from 120 dodecahedra. Given that each beacon is thought to be a fragment of the Luxon's physical form, it is entirely possible that this original form was one such dodecaplex. If this is true, it would seem to suggest that there are exactly 120 beacons in existence.
 * While it's specified that the souls in a Luxon beacon only incarnate in humanoid babies, said limitation isn't applied to the creatures that can be consecuted, and non-humanoid beings like ogres (which are considered Giants) are a part of the Kryn Dynasty.
 * It is possible that the limitation of humanoids in the process of rebirth was established, rule-wise, because back then there weren't official playable races that weren't humanoid.