What is left to find
When you are but a shade?
A little peace of mind?
A cause to be afraid?
With cloudy, faded hands,
You grab for precious stones,
Knowing fate demands
That they must slip right through your bones.
Spirit Miner
Splinter - Mortis, The Burning Lands
Set - Reward
Class - Magic Attack
Size - The Spirit Miner is rather tall for a Dwarf, even though he is now only a spirit. The story of his unusual height goes back to his physical years, when he was so ambitious to find exotic treasures that he could not stand to be weighed down by the heaviness of a Dwarf. Seeking the help of powerful Goblin Sorcerers, he was able to have his weight significantly reduced through magic. This allowed him to travel on ships, which is impossible for most Dwarves, but it also stretched out his body, making him the tallest Dwarf in the Splinterlands. As a spirit, the Miner no longer has any weight, and he can travel wherever he pleases.
Lifespan - The Spirit Miner is in midst of his second life. The first was that of a normal Dwarf, albeit a greedy and adventurous one. The second began with his transformation, following the fateful duel with the Drake of Malaby, deep underground. In his first life, the Miner was already well past middle-aged when the change came. To his life as the Spirit Miner, he sees no end. It has been years and years since he stumbled onto the ancient cave in Mortis Deep, the cave from which he should have run the other way.
Weapon - While the Spirit Miner cannot attack with any measurable physical force, his magic projectiles always do significant damage. The source of this magic is the shadow that remains of his legendary pickaxe, Vultoperus, which the Miner always carries. Once upon a time, Vultoperus cleaved stones and uncovered treasures of immeasurable wonder. Now it cleaves through the defenses of enemies, and though it cannot be wielded by anyone except the Spirit Miner, it is one of the most powerful weapons in the Splinterlands.
Habitat - The Spirit Miner has no home, but wanders the foggy and dusty places of the world. People who have sighted him in the wild say that he has the appearance of someone desperately looking for something that has been lost for many years. Because of his great lasting fear of the underground, he is never seen in the caves, so the Miner is a stranger to all Dwarfkind. He is also spotted more commonly in the foothills of Mortis’s Raysco Range than in the Burning Lands, which was once his home.
Diet - While he longs to be able to taste food again, the Spirit Miner is unable to manifest himself enough in this realm to successfully eat. Sometimes the Miner simply sits for hours in a field of melons concentrating, but he is barely able to pick the melons without phasing through them, let alone eat and enjoy them. The Spirit Miner still believes that one day he will eat again.
Allies - The Spirit Miner is a friend to nearly all those who practice magic, with special attention to those who use magic of the soul. Since he can go wherever he pleases, the Spirit Miner prefers the company of those who understand his condition. It is rumored that he often visits the Dark Enchantress in her chambers and that she has agreed to attempt to help him regain his physical form. Luckily for both of them, the Lord of Darkness has not yet heard of this rumor.
Enemies - The greatest enemies of the Spirit Miner are ironically his own kind, the Dwarves of the Burning Lands. The Dwarves of Molten Mountain tell their children stories of the Spirit Miner, but in their stories he is a ruthless thief, a ghostly plunderer of precious Dwarven treasures. Also, because his body was stretched and stands the height of a Human, Dwarves see him as a traitor to their kind.
Pastimes - The Spirit Miner has nothing but time, and though he still craves the satisfaction of finding treasure, precious worldly items no longer hold value for him. The Miner always enjoys a good conversation, often offering to pay priceless jewels for a lengthy chat with a new friend. He also spends a great deal of time observing the Mount Mox tournaments. He participates, but when he is not himself being summoned, the Miner can usually be seen atop the great hill that overlooks the eastern walls of the arena, standing like a statue, watching the action from a distance.
The True Story of Splinterlands
Once upon a time your game purchase meant something. You could go to the store and purchase a game, after which you would simply own that game. You could play as often as you'd like, because it was your game. As the game companies were one by one swallowed up by larger and larger game companies, a terrible thing happened to the gaming world. While the games themselves were always making improvements, the players were always throwing more and more of their hard-earned money into a corporate black hole from which they reaped no rewards.
How did the corporations convince the players to pay this money? Loot. They showered the players with in-game riches designed to create a sense of accomplishment, but with no real value. Not only are these in-game "assets" entirely subject to the whims of corporate overlords who rarely (if ever) have the player's interests at heart, but they never really belong to the player at all. They belong exclusively to the game for which they were created. If a player wants to quit playing the game, they must also abandon their in-game treasures.
Blockchains are giving power and ownership back to the players, and it's about time. In this incredible and rapidly expanding world of technology it seems like such an outdated argument to be making, but the players (not the company) should own their gaming rewards. Blockchain, non-fungible tokens and games like Splinterlands are now making that possible.
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