Overview
Malverand hearts are crystal, diamond-like essence devices created by Arcanis in ancient Malverand. A heart stores the wearer's essence instructions, can function in place of or together with a biological heart, and uses essence to regenerate injuries or reconstruct lost tissue.
The hearts made the Malverand guardians long-lived and extremely hard to kill. They also carried a cost: active hearts draw heavily on essence, weaken users with too little power to sustain them, and can reduce a wielder's available magic.
Form and Activation
A Malverand heart is a small heart-shaped crystal. To activate one, the user channels essence into it and presses it into the body. Once implanted, it embeds itself in the chest, seals the wound, and begins repairing the body. Active hearts can pulse, glow beneath the skin, or send visible lines of essence through the body.
A separated heart can survive as an artifact after the body is destroyed. If enough essence reaches the heart, it can rebuild or restore the wearer from the stored essence signature and existence. Eremion returns this way after Astrid brings his crystal heart from the Morindel vaults to Blackcrag.
Limits
Malverand-heart regeneration has limits. Repeated destruction, low reserves, sustained divine attacks, and special containment can overwhelm or suppress the heart. Raphael's vault is designed to stop a heart from regenerating its owner. Prolonged punishment can also slow or exhaust a heart's recovery.
The hearts can leave the wearer drained; Jareth carries a Malverand heart and remains ill. Exceptional power sources can strain them: the spiral shard erodes Eira's body until the Heart of Oblivion counters its destructive pressure.
History
Arcanis creates a Malverand heart after years of essence and healing research. Michael tests it by channeling essence into the crystal and letting it embed in his chest. The device works immediately, healing the wound and later repairing minor injuries. Its hunger for essence forces Michael to learn restraint.
Barachiel restricts the technology to the guardians because of its risks. The implanted hearts stop the guardians from aging, and Malverand keeps using the technology in divine-magic and restoration research. Malverand also sends god cores and Malverand hearts with the Vireen expedition to power the gates.
After Malverand begins to collapse, surviving hearts remain dangerous relics. Eliona restores Raphael from his heart, Eremion is restored in Blackcrag from the heart kept in Morindel, and Barachiel and Arcanis both leave crystalline hearts behind on Vireen. Raphael's heart becomes a strategic objective at Cyndarel, where Alistair retrieves it and presses it into his own body with Aldar's spiral shard.
Heart of Oblivion
The Heart of Oblivion keeps Eira alive after the spiral shard starts eroding her body. Deylin plants it deep in the Land of Darkness on the old mage's instructions. The heart lies in a ruined site there and responds to Eira's darkness and the shard.
After the shard nearly destroys Eira, Silas and Zal'therak activate the dormant heart and embed it in her chest. The heart restores her body and continues countering the shard's destructive pressure. Over centuries, Eira's implanted heart changes and fuses into her body.
Hearts
- Michael tests the first successful Malverand heart.
- Barachiel and Arcanis leave crystalline hearts behind on Vireen.
- Raphael, Eliona, Eremion, Thamrielle, Uriandel, and Azarion rely on Malverand-heart regeneration in combat.
- Eremion is restored from the crystal heart that passes from Morindel to Astrid.
- Eira carries the Heart of Oblivion.
- Alistair takes Raphael's heart at Cyndarel and uses it with Aldar's spiral shard.