"Everythin' that's anythin' came from the ocean," Forehead to forehead, Sailix can see that his lover's eyes still hang onto some pain as she reminisces on the ways of her aquatic elven people, "Long ago, it's said that a spirit of the sea and a spirit of the sky fell in love. When the tide was low with the waters still, and the winds at their most calm... then and only then could they actually touch. A few seconds or a few hours—it didn' matter to them, but you know how it is—it wasn't enough, you see? So they saw the land as the place where they could be together. But this was in defiance of the Gods, see," she gives him a bit of a mischievous smile, before it turns a bit wistful, "Each had a dominion to run, you know? And they get really shitty when someone strays outside their lil' boxes. 'The moment you step foot on land, you will be bound together forever', the Gods said," her voice deepens into a mock impression of something godly, as she gives him another mischievous smile, "But the lovers didn' care. The Sky spirit willed a form and weight to themselves, extendin' a hand to greet the sea spirit. As a wave crested upon the shore, hands emerged and clung to the sand desperately while the other spirits of the sea tried to drag them back with the tide. The sky spirit gave the tide a breeze, blowing the sea's family back so their lover could stand by their side. And when they finally were able to stand side by side, to look into each others eyes? That's when the Gods had their due." "In that moment of happiness, the Gods struck down the bodies they had made n' bound 'em together in in the nacre that makes up the shells around here. Only...it's not much of a punishment, is it?" she gives another small smile as she rubs her finger lightly against the amulet." — The Vesparin, speaking to her former lover Sailix Lavendil
This except by our players details some Aquatic Elf homebrew mythology for the Pathfinder setting, and this is the very sea elf mythology that Ser Dedric Marrow, founder of the Order of The Albatross (an offshoot of the relatively loose Hellknight Order of The Torrent) learned when he founded the elite Nacre Warden division to preserve the relationship between sentient sea creatures and sentient land creatures in the coastal regions of Avistan.
Mechanically, you could expect to use nacre as a holy substance of relatively strong religious important, much like silver, but rather modest material strength. For magical items, consider nacre-crafted amulets to have the same statistics as a Channel Protection Amulet, but otherwise the system-level use for such an item would be as fit for the current game and player levels at the GM's discretion. The takeaway, for me, is that the lore and fables of the PCs matter and rather than throwing equipment at the party from random treasure hauls, you could just as easily inspire your players to create their own equipment through the flavor and backstory and using that to re-skinned existing equipment. The payout is having meaningful and memorable items that everyone at the table has a chance to help create.
This content was created for use in our Pathfinder: Age of Ashes Adventure Path playthrough. Find us on Sunday nights at 8:30PM EST (Twitch.tv/pennyforatale)