Passion Trade

Passion crystals are used as currency in the Delirium. The crystals have innate value. For example, a crystal can be used up like a drug, infusing the user with the passion. A pleasure crystal might produce an immediate, intense peak of pleasure. However, crystals are mainly used for more essential needs on the shards, like keeping the wells full of water and providing sunlight for growing food. For some applications, certain colors are essential or more effective. For other applications, any color will do. The best example of this are the great passion furnaces in some cities. The furnaces are fed continuously by prismatic loads of assorted crystals, to supply gas and electricity to the residents. Residents are usually taxed crystals to support such public infrastructure.

The formation of crystals is somewhat predictable, based on the current location of a shard in the Delirium, the passions of the Dream Monarch, the passions and activities of the residents, and more. Hence, different shards provide fairly steady supplies of different crystals. Given the variety of crystals and their applications, the Passion Trade is a lively and essential part of life in the Delirium.

In some cases, a Monarch or his retainers may instead try to acquire a passion source. For example, they might lure a brilliant writer to move to their shard, perhaps with promises of pleasure slaves. Or they may even try to kidnap a source. Shards protect their passion sources jealousy. So sometimes a shard tries to increase or diversify its passion production by sending marauders to the First Fold.

One of the recurring issues the Conclave debates is keeping the balance of passions in the Delirium. Shards and their ambassadors routinely accuse each other of trying to create monopolies, of piracy, of crushing the spirit of a previously-productive passion source (e.g., by assassinating her husband), of which shard has the right to capture a promising passion source in the First Fold, etc.