Elemental Vessel Binding

Binding an elemental to a vessel is in some ways similar to, and in some ways different from, binding one to another type of item. The sheer size of a vessel requires that the process be approached differently.

The elemental to be bound must still be called and trapped within a magic circle.

The difference here is the arcane matrix to bind the elemental to is built into the hull of the vessel. The Khyber Dragonshard is housed in a special containment unit located in a vessel's engine room. Once activated, the energy of the bound elemental travels from the core of the ship, through its binding struts, and then through the matrix along the hull.

The first step in the matrix is the binding struts that force the elemental into a ring shape and give every elemental vessel its distinctive appearance. From there, the elemental continues to flow through the ship's hull, appearing as jagged, snaking lines of living energy that pulse and shift.

In the transfer process, the shak'krek may act alone, however the hevrae will require assistants. All told, the hevrae and assistants must have a combined caster level of twice the elementals challenge rating (CR).

This process takes one hour per CR of the elemental, minus one hour per caster level of the hevrae and assistants that exceeds the elemental's CR.

In this process, the assistants provide help with the necessary Charisma checks against the elemental during the transfer process.

The size of the required dragonshard depends on the weight of the vessel. In this case alone, the size of the elemental directly affects the power output of the Khyber engine, and having too small or too large an elemental has proven problematic in early artifice research on elemental vessels.