Every character begins with one Tier 1 Relic for each slot their class carries, and chooses between two options at creation. The choice is permanent — but every starting Relic is ordinary on purpose. What makes it worth reading is the trait it carries from the moment you pick it up.
Nothing here is better than a market weapon. It is simply capable of advancing once.
One shield makes you harder to hurt. The other makes the person behind you harder to reach.
One weapon has a point. The other has a point, an edge, and a hook.
A flat, unconditional blade, or one that bills you at the moment it pays. Then a pair that rewards commitment.
One bow shoots better than anything in its class and breaks if you swing it. The other survives everything.
A kit that reads the world, or one that moves faster in it — and a sidearm that buys the turrets one more turn.
Thrown and poor up close, or a fighting knife that throws badly. Then a choice of what you want them to be afterward.
One weapon makes them let go of you. The other stops them reaching you at all — plus a launcher choice that's pure economics.
Choosing the instrument means choosing the city — as large a decision as any drone.
Two marks, and they mean different things. A ◇ trait is physical — built into the object, and available from the moment it's Dormant. A ◆ property is resonance — asleep until one Calibration Event wakes it, with nothing to select and no choice at that moment. It simply turns on.
Every Tier 1 Relic caps at Calibrated. One property, no rider slot, no further advancement. Players should feel that ceiling around levels five to six — that pressure is the game asking them to look outward. A natural 1 always overrides; no Relic property at any tier prevents the consequences of a critical miss.