A major “gimmick” in my upcoming campaign is the existence of these tiny fragments of divinity that look like sharp gemstones (I have fun props for these when they appear) that can appear as treasure or even “manifest” from slain creatures. Those who find them can absorb these fragments into their auras, their blood, or their shadows, granting them themed powers.
My problem is that I can’t think of an organic reason why the PCs can see and/or find these divine fragments, since if the fragments have always been around (or visible) they would have all been gathered up ages ago.
Every idea I come up with ends up being a variation of “you are the Chosen Ones who alone can gather the McShiny Macguffins.” I want to avoid this…because my friends pointed out that I’ve used that trope in my last three campaigns.
What are other reasons why these divine shards are accessible to the PCs?
All suggestions are welcome!
Thanks in advance.
-CKB
If it matters: It is an urban campaign taking place in an enormous city.
In the hidden background, one god is trying to unmask the God of Wealth to reveal them as actually the God of Trickery.
Building on the ideas others mentioned, about the "maybe they're just the first to (re)discover the ritual," perhaps there are other conditions which affect this process.
For example, you've mentioned they look like just especially-pointy gemstones. Maybe, prior to the present day, folks just grabbed them up because they were shiny, and couldn't even actually tell that these things had any value. But something has changed about the world, and now a small slice of people, perhaps only a shining few, can
see which things are actually powerful and which ones are just glass in the same shape (or whatever). Maybe it has something to do with a minimum magic threshold being crossed; maybe it's that a particular deity's influence has grown or waned; maybe it's that people with the right genetic makeup didn't exist before now.
Whatever the reason, it's just pure happenstance that
these people happened to be the ones who can see it. Nobody chose them, they weren't prepared or destined to it any more than they were prepared and destined to have blue eyes or red hair or whatever. It's just a fact about their existence that
enables them to do this.
I'm drawing inspiration pretty heavily from "the Echo," one of the special powers that makes FFXIV's player character, the Warrior of Light, capable of doing all the fantastical things they do. They ARE "chosen"--but only
after this power is revealed, not before. Prior to that moment, the adventurer who would go on to become the Warrior of Light was an otherwise normal-seeming person; they were chosen
because they had awakened their Echo, not chosen
and then given the Echo.