On Sun, 1 Jan 2017 17:20:15 -0800, Douglas Berry
<xxxxxx@gmail.com> wrote:

>A couple of suggestions.

>1. Change the sourcing of the crystals from the rather woo "only the pure
>of heart can find them" to a secretive importer who hides the source to
>maintain control of the market. This company works through a series of
>fronts, DBAs, and other tricks to avoid being pinned down. Buyers might
>also be under ferocious nondisclosure agreements.

A good idea, but I'm not sure it's the right one.

The original concept here wasn't to be all New-Age-woo-pure-of-heart
(though if that flips your switch, hey - go for it!); the intent was
more-or-less "S/he is unspeakably wealthy, but still manages to stay
out of the public eye, and projects a certain 'inner peace' on the
rare occasion when you might encounter him/her." The keyword is
'serenity' rather than 'purity', and that in a mostly
Western-(mis)understanding-of-Zen sense.

They're certainly a status symbol, but they're not the kind of status
symbol that you can Go Out And Get To Show That You Have Status. And
those who _do_ get them aren't going to be the type to brag about it.

Making it a bit more prosaic as you suggest above makes it sound like
they're provided by a particularly nasty version of DeBeers - and
where there's a definite corporate entity, someone _will_ find a way
to "break through", and find out just where South Africa or Mozambique
is. Which could be an adventure in itself...

>2. Crystal Salons would be the in amenity at Class A starports and high-end
>hotels. A soothing massage, a calming cup of groat milk tea, and a nice
>soft couch in the Crystal room.

This just doesn't feel right to me. While it's clearly not intended to
be a specifically solitary sort of thing (but neither is it
specifically shared/communal), putting together more-or-less random
strangers, even if they're all People Of A Certain Quality, in a
Crystal Salon (good name for it!) puts it in a different social space
than I'd imagined - think of this as a sort of Zen garden or other
meditiative/contemplative space. You might share it with people close
to you in certain ways, but it's not the same niche as social bathing
or hot-tubbing or Yoga meeting, where the focus seems to be the
sharing of the experience, rather than the contemplation. Public
Crystal Salons where random strangers might find themselves sharing a
session just breaks the mental space I have for them.

I'm also not sure that the kind of person that would create a "public"
Crystal Salon as an amenity in a starport or a hotel would be the kind
of person that could find Crystals to acquire in the first place...

>3. The things are addictive. Not immediately, but those who use the salons
>on a regular basis start becoming irritable and distracted when separated
>from them for any length of time. These are the customers who will pay any
>price, do anything, to get their own set.

Possibly. Certainly it's not ruled out by what I wrote. I tried to
leave a lot of space for interpretation.

>4. The crystals can reveal hidden psionic abilities in people. It's rare,
>but it happens.

Another interesting possibility.

At bottom, I agree with you about the New-Age-woo factor, but I'm not
sure how to change it and still stay within the sort of feel I was
looking for. I hope that perhaps my explanation was helpful.

>Nice thing is you could make any sort of campaign out of these.. are they a
>plot by the Perfidious Zhodani? A Megacorp addicting important people as
>part of corporate espionage and warfare? Or are the crystals harvested only
>from one place, a small gas giant moon that is an Ancient site? Or are they
>just a cool thing that someone is getting rich off of?

Which was more or less my aim in leaving them so wide open and
mysterious - maximal room for folks to grab the idea and build
adventures.

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