How it works
Two layers, one civilization.
RELICS has two separate on-chain layers. Understanding the difference is the whole model — and it takes under a minute.
The fungible resource you buy.
A fixed 10,000-unit token. This is what you buy on Uniswap. Holding whole units creates the capacity to awaken Relics. Buying it never mints an NFT.
The artifacts you awaken.
Living, fully on-chain artworks. You awaken them yourself from whole $RELICS. The NFT does not hold your $RELICS — your $RELICS backs it, one whole unit each.
Every claim on this page matches the deployed mainnet contracts, reproduced against them on a live fork. Buying never mints. Awakening never burns your $RELICS. Nothing here is a simplification.
01 · The resource
Buy $RELICS — the fungible resource, not an NFT.
$RELICS is the fixed-supply fungible layer of RELICS: 10,000 units on Ethereum, 18 decimals. Buying it is an ordinary ERC-20 swap — your balance goes up and nothing else happens.
Receiving $RELICS — including a swap output — performs no ERC-721 work of any kind. No NFT is created, no identity is drawn. That is the design, not a delay.
Each whole $RELICS unit is the right to awaken one Relic. Capacity counts whole units only: floor(balance ÷ 1e18). A fractional balance is real, tradeable $RELICS, but it awakens nothing until it completes a whole unit.
You can awaken up to eight Relics in a single awaken transaction. A larger position is simply a sequence of awaken transactions you sign one at a time.
02 · The artifacts
Awaken — turn capacity into a living artifact.
Awakening mints a Relic (an ERC-721) into your wallet, in a separate transaction only you can sign. It is the one and only place a Relic is created, and its recipient is always you.
Awakening does not touch the token contract. Your $RELICS is not spent, not burned, and not moved — you keep every unit. If you awaken with 10 $RELICS, you still hold 10 $RELICS afterward; you just also hold the Relic.
From that moment, one whole $RELICS unit stands behind each active Relic as its backing. The $RELICS stays in your wallet as its own balance — it is not locked inside the NFT.
Awakening is signed by the holder, for the holder. No interface, marketplace, or third party can awaken on your behalf, and an unsolicited $RELICS transfer can never force a Relic to materialise.
03 · Backing
Hold — your Relics are backed by your whole $RELICS.
Every active Relic you hold needs exactly one whole $RELICS standing behind it. While your whole-unit balance is at least your number of active Relics, everything is stable.
The $RELICS above what backs your Relics is ordinary, fully tradeable balance. Move it or sell it and your Relics are untouched.
There is no staking, no lock, no expiry. A Relic simply keeps evolving from market history while you hold it (see Evolution).
04 · Selling $RELICS
Sell — exactly what happens, in every case.
Selling $RELICS is the only place backing bites. The rule is one line: after your sale, you still need one whole $RELICS behind every active Relic. Three outcomes follow from it.
If your sale leaves your whole units at or above your active Relics, no NFT is touched at all. You simply have fewer $RELICS.
If the sale would drop you below your backing line by 16 Relics or fewer, the sale still completes — and the contract automatically returns exactly that many Relics to dormancy to keep the rest backed. It retires your most recently awakened Relics first, and the contract makes that choice (LIFO), not you. Those NFTs are burned; their identity and history are preserved and can be awakened again later.
If more than 16 Relics would have to sleep at once, the sale reverts (PreparationRequired) and nothing changes. First use Prepare to Sell — you choose which Relics go dormant, up to 16 per transaction — until the remaining shortfall is 16 or fewer, then the sale succeeds. Only you can make that choice; no marketplace or approved app can retire your Relics for you.
05 · Trading the Relics
Trade on OpenSea — 1.0 $RELICS travels with the NFT.
An awakened Relic is an ordinary ERC-721. You can list and sell it on OpenSea, or transfer it directly, with no wrapping step. One thing is unique to RELICS and worth knowing before you buy or sell one.
When a Relic changes hands — a direct transfer or an OpenSea (Seaport) sale — the buyer receives the NFT plus 1.0 $RELICS, and the seller gives up 1.0 $RELICS along with it (in addition to the sale price they receive through the marketplace).
The 1.0 $RELICS arrives with the artifact, so the new owner is backed the moment they receive it — even if they held no $RELICS beforehand.
Because the backing always travels with the Relic, you can never own an active Relic without at least 1.0 $RELICS behind it.
06 · Evolution
The art changes — two independent ways.
There is no stored image and no metadata server. A Relic's art is computed on-chain from Ethereum state every time it is read, so it is never static.
tokenURI is recomputed from the canonical Uniswap v4 pool on every read. A Relic's appearance shifts with real trading, volatility, liquidity, and holder growth — continuously, with no transaction of yours at all.
The owner can call evolve() to permanently mutate the artifact's on-chain state (scars, resonance, lineage accumulate irreversibly). Only the owner can do it — no operator or marketplace can evolve on your behalf.
Common questions
Answered from the contracts.
- What am I actually buying?
- $RELICS — a fixed-supply ERC-20 (10,000 units, 18 decimals). It is the fungible resource of the collection, not an NFT. Holding whole units gives you the capacity to awaken Relics.
- What happens when I awaken?
- A Relic (an ERC-721) is minted into your wallet, in a transaction you sign — up to eight at a time. It is the only place a Relic is created, and the recipient is always you.
- Does awakening burn my $RELICS?
- No. Your $RELICS is not spent, burned, or moved. You keep every unit; from then on, one whole unit backs each active Relic you hold.
- Does my NFT contain my $RELICS?
- No. $RELICS and Relics are two separate contracts. The Relic does not hold or wrap your $RELICS — the $RELICS stays in your wallet as its own balance and backs the Relic.
- Can I sell $RELICS after awakening?
- Yes. While your whole units stay at or above your active Relics, sell freely and nothing happens to your Relics. Sell below that line and the contract returns your newest Relics to dormancy to keep the rest backed — automatically for a shortfall of 16 or fewer, or after you Prepare to Sell for a larger one.
- Does the NFT transfer with the $RELICS?
- When you transfer or sell a Relic, exactly 1.0 $RELICS travels with it to the new owner. The seller gives up 1.0 $RELICS; the buyer receives the Relic plus 1.0 $RELICS.
- Can I buy Relics on OpenSea?
- Yes. A Relic is an ordinary ERC-721. Buying one on OpenSea delivers the NFT and 1.0 $RELICS together, so even a zero-balance buyer ends up properly backed.
- What happens if I no longer own enough $RELICS?
- Every active Relic needs one whole $RELICS behind it. If a $RELICS sale drops you below that, the contract returns your most recently awakened Relics to dormancy (newest first) to rebalance — automatically for a shortfall of 16 or fewer, or after you Prepare to Sell for a larger one. Dormant Relics keep their identity and can be re-awakened later.
- Why does the artwork change?
- The art is computed on-chain at read time from live Uniswap v4 market state, so it shifts with real trading without any transaction. Separately, the owner can call evolve() to permanently mutate it.
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