The Greater Craymels and the Craymel Cage
Six Primary Craymels, two Governing Craymels and two Supreme Craymels — you fight each one, then store it in a Craymel Cage to cast its artes and summon it directly.
A Greater Craymel is the most powerful physical manifestation of an element. Each has a lair, a fight and a set of artes that only exists once you have sealed it.
The three tiers
- Primary Craymels make up the basic elements of a world. Six of them, three per world.
- Governing Craymels unite a world's group and stand above the Primary spirits.
- Supreme Craymels are more powerful than either, and sit outside the world structure entirely.
The full list
| Craymel | Element | Tier | World | Weak to | Lair |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Undine | Water | Primary | Inferia | Lightning | Undine Stream |
| Sylph | Wind | Primary | Inferia | Earth | Sylph Cavern |
| Efreet | Fire | Primary | Inferia | Water | Efreet Gorge |
| Rem | Light | Governing | Inferia | Dark | Regulus Knoll (crypt) |
| Gnome | Earth | Primary | Celestia | Wind | Mine of Gnome |
| Celsius | Ice | Primary | Celestia | Fire | Mt. Celsius |
| Volt | Lightning | Primary | Celestia | Water | Ruins of Volt |
| Shadow | Darkness | Governing | Celestia | Light | Shadow Cave |
| Maxwell | Elements | Supreme | — | — | Farlos Sanctuary |
| Sekundes | Time | Supreme | — | — | Shizel's Castle |
Notice that the weakness column almost never matches the Craymel's own element. Efreet is a Fire spirit that nullifies Fire and folds to Water; Volt is Lightning and nullifies Lightning. A party built around one element will find at least two of these fights unwinnable.
How the Craymel Cage works
Craymels are sealed into Craymel Crystals, which are suspended inside a Craymel Cage — a small, tube-like device that acts as the focus for casting. The crystals work best with Orz Crystals, which is why Inferian practice is to gather spirits respectfully and repeatedly ask forgiveness for doing so.
A cage gives you two things:
- Craymel artes. The spirit's own spells become available to whichever character is carrying its cage.
- A direct summon. Once sealed, the Craymel can be called in full rather than only through its individual spells.
Greater Craymels can only enter a cage through a specific device rather than by force, so sealing one is always a story event with a physical object attached to it.
Two cultures, two uses
This is the sharpest worldbuilding in the game. Inferia treats Craymels as living beings and its mages act as intermediaries, with ceremony attached to every sealing. Celestia treats them as batteries: cages are implanted into machines and weapons to give them perpetual power, and no one there thinks about whether the Craymel minds.
Both approaches produce working technology. The game never resolves which one is right, and the party's own attitudes shift as they travel.
Combining spirits for new techniques
Sealing two Craymels of different elements is not just about having two spell lists. Combining them produces new spiritual techniques that neither provides alone, which is the mechanical reason to keep collecting past the point where you have "enough" elements. Celestian Craymel Guns exist for the mirror-image reason: a gun loaded with a cage can only focus one element unless it is specially rebuilt to hold several, which is exactly what the party's gunner has done.
