Source Player Core pg. 282
"Magic" in Starfall is rarely clean. It’s either dug out of the Rift-scarred earth or forced into existence by a corporate lab bench.
Rift-Salvage: The most potent items are often "Relics"—scraps of pre-Cataclysm technology or objects twisted by the Riftstorm into something new. These are dirty, erratic, and hum with a sound that makes your teeth ache. Scavengers find them in the exclusion zones, and they sell for a fortune on the black market.
Corporate Magitech: Companies like the Concord and Fabrico mass-produce "safe" magic. These are the Orbiting Crystals (sanitized Aeon Stones) and Hardlight Modules you see in storefronts. They are reliable, sleek, and lack the "soul" (and dangerous radiation) of true Relics.
Hybrid Tech: The sweet spot. An engineer takes a Rift-touched crystal and wires it into a standard laser pistol. It’s ugly, it overheats, but it shoots beams that curve around corners. This is the "Magitech" of the streets.
Magic Items
From orbiting crystals imbued with power to gravity-defying equipment and hardlight devices, magic items are popular accessories for adventurers and collectors. Engineers have developed fascinating new fusions of magic and technology, often referred to as magitech or hybrid technology, while artisans have revived ancient magical crafting techniques from eras long past. Shopping for new magic gear is as simple as searching the infosphere, visiting a corporate storefront, or browsing an antique mall. Curiosity shops and flea markets are full of everything from knockoffs of the latest cutting-edge inventions to precious relics preserved from the ancient past, if you know where to look.
Technology and magic are everywhere in the galaxy. While some magic equipment have gone unchanged for thousands of years, the integration of technology to improve the functionality or cost of many popular items has given rise to hybrid items, which have both the magical and tech traits.
Investing Magic Items
Certain magic and hybrid items convey their benefits only when worn and invested using the Invest an Item activity, connecting them to a specific PC. A PC can benefit from no more than 10 invested magic items each day. A PC can still gain the mundane benefits of a magic item without investiture.
Invest an Item
You invest your energy in an item with the invested trait as you don it. This process requires 1 or more Interact actions, usually taking the same amount of time it takes to don the item. Once you've invested the Item, you benefit from its constant magical abilities as long as you meet its other requirements (for most invested items, the only other requirement is that you must be wearing the item). This investiture lasts until the item is removed.
You can invest no more than 10 items per day. If you remove an invested item, it loses its investiture. The item still counts against your daily limit after it loses its investiture. You reset the limit during your daily preparations, at which point you Invest your Items anew. If you're still wearing items you had invested the previous day, you can typically keep them invested on the new day, but they still count against your limit.
Activating Items
While some items function automatically and grant constant benefits, others produce effects only when properly used. An activation lists the number of actions it takes and any traits of the activation and its effect. This information appears in the item's Activate entry.
Activating Invested Items
You can Activate an Item with the invested trait only if you invest it.
Manipulate Activations
If the activation entry for an item has the manipulate trait, you can activate it only if you're holding the item or touching it with a free hand.
Limited Activations
Some items can be activated only a certain number of times per day, resetting during your daily preparations. You retain the constant benefits of these items even when the activation requirements of these items can no longer be met.
Cast a Spell
If the activation entry for an item lists “Cast a Spell” after “Activate”, you must use the same action as casting the spell to Activate the Item, unless noted otherwise. You must have a spellcasting class feature to Activate an Item with this activation. All the normal traits of the spell apply when you cast it by Activating an Item.
Magic Items
Non-Combat Applications
Social Signaling: Wearing verified Pre-Cataclysm relics is a massive flex in high society and the Guilds. A Ring of Sustenance isn't just useful; it says, "I have access to the old world."
Exploration: Hardlight Grapplers and Grav-Levitators are standard kit for "Verticals"—urban explorers who map the megastructure spires.
Trade: Magic items are a stable alternative currency. A crate of Healing Serums (often rebranded as "Bio-Mends") holds value better than Yoms in the outer systems.
Societal Impact
The "Attunement" Sickness: There’s a street rumor that investing in too many Rift-salvaged items causes "The Jitters"—a mild form of temporal sickness. It’s why most seasoned mercs limit themselves to a few trusted pieces (the "Rule of Ten").
Counterfeit Magic: The market is flooded with "Faux-Mag." That Cloak of Elvenkind might just be a poncho with a cheap optical camo circuit that fails when it gets wet. Buyer beware.
Adventure Hooks
The Recall: A corporation issues a silent recall on a batch of Holographic Amulets that have started whispering the user's darkest secrets to everyone nearby. The players are hired to retrieve them before the PR disaster hits.
The Dead Drop: A scavenger finds a Bag of Holding (a "Void-Pocket") that contains the severed hand of a Guildmaster... and it’s still twitching.
The Auction: A legendary, unstable relic is up for auction in a neutral zone. The players need to acquire it, steal it, or ensure it doesn't fall into the hands of the Ebon Syndicate.
Conclusion
Whether it's a rusted lucky charm that stops bullets or a corporate-issue hardlight shield, magic items in Starfall are tools of survival, proving that in this galaxy, even miracles have a price tag.
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