Level 1 Artifacts

 

Arc Protector (Artifact •)

Many things and places in the Machine God burn or glow so brightly that they would instantly and permanently blind any human who saw them. In answer, Luminor savants created these goggles faced with black crystal. Wearers can see in normal illumination and suffer no penalties or negative repercussions from staring at naked electrical arcs, open plasma furnaces and the like. The goggles provide no protection against magic that happens to have a visual component, such as the anima powers of the Sidereals. Furthermore, the goggles hamper vision in low-light conditions (imposing a dice penalty of one to three depending on how poor the illumination is). In the event that Autochthonians break the Seal of Eight Divinities, they issue arc protectors to everyone who goes to Creation as a precaution against the sun. Assume that any native of the Realm of Brass and Shadow must wean their eyes onto sunlight if they wish to go abroad without arc protectors, starting with the dim light near dawn and dusk and gradually increasing exposure and brightness over a week. Until they complete this weaning process, Autochthonian mortals suffer Awareness penalties for bright conditions (one die for indirect or weak sunlight up to three dice for cloudless sky at noon).

 

Armor (Artifact • through •••••)

Just as they forge weapons from steel alloyed with the Five Magical Materials, the Exalted likewise craft armor. This armor has a number of advantages — not only is it more protective than mundane armor, it can also be made lighter and more flexible through the commitment of Essence.

The armor is unmistakably magical. Most of it glitters and gleams with the color of the Magical Material used to forge it, and the heavier armors typically have fins or long, flat spikes that protrude from the back and shoulders to prevent uncomfortable Essence buildup between the plates and the wearer’s skin.

 

Autolabe (Artifact • or ••)

Autochthonia is a vast and complex world, especially in the Reaches. To aid in navigation through the maze of access ways and service tunnels, Autochthonian scientists devised this artifact. Just as a jade needle in a conventional compass points to the Elemental Pole of Earth in Creation, the gimbaled pointer in an autolabe points back to a fixed beacon. The beacon may be reset by leaving the autolabe in physical contact with a new beacon for 25 hours.

Otherwise, the compass always points back to the same marker as when it was created. Most autolabes are attuned to a beacon at the center of the city in which they are constructed, but exploration models come as part of a set with a base unit to which all the autolabes are attuned. An even rarer variant interchanges beacons between two autolabes, allowing them to always point back to one another. Because Autochthonia is a fully three-dimensional world, an autolabe’s pointer can orient in any direction with full freedom of movement inside its transparent spherical shell.

Some very sophisticated autolabes rated at Artifact •• have a secondary mode, memorizing every twist and turn of an individual’s path if she pushes a button. Pressing the button again ends the memorization, and the compass needle thereafter guides the bearer back along the remembered path. If she deviates, it guides her back to the point at which she left the path so she might continue her return journey.

Most forms of autolabes are spheres approximately three inches in diameter, although lantern-sized variants containing a small light sphere to read the instrument by are also fairly common.

 

Blood Apples (Artifact • for a single apple, •• for a tree)

The crystal blood-apple trees grow only in the Underworld or in shadowlands and must be watered weekly with blood from living creatures — humans or animals, either will do. At Calibration, they bear glass apples that smell of snow and salt. Anyone who bites into one of these apples will fall to the ground as though dead. She will cease to breathe, and her heart will stop beating. Her spirit rises from her body as a ghost and, for 12 hours, may travel the shadowlands or Underworld as a ghost would. At the end of the 12 hours, her spirit is pulled back to her body, which begins to live and breathe again.

There are certain hazards involved in this way of reaching the Underworld. If the user’s body is destroyed while she is away from it, by fire or decapitation or other such means, then she is truly dead and now a ghost indeed. Equally, if her spirit is prevented from returning to her body at the end of the 12 hours by some form of specifically targeted Sapphire or Adamant Circle magic (or its necromantic equivalent), then her body will remain intact and unchanging until her spirit can return to it or until it is destroyed. On at least one occasion, the apples have been used in this way to maintain a kind of immortality. However, this ended with the destruction of the user’s body.

Apples can be harvested at any point during Calibration but are as fragile as thin ice. They will remain in existence until the first day of the next Calibration, and if brought into Creation, they will react like soulfire crystals. Since blood-apple trees must be fed blood regularly and are as fragile as the apples themselves, only the wealthiest or most powerful of Underworld or shadowland powers can afford to maintain even one of them, let alone an orchard. Each tree bears up to five apples on each day of Calibration.

 

Bloody Ice Comb (Artifact •)

This garnet comb may be used to pin back the hair and easily goes unnoticed there. However, when it is cast to the ground with the appropriate invocation, it summons a violent storm of ice and blood, which whips across the landscape in the trail of its owner. This bloody maelstrom is the equivalent of a supernatural ice storm, spreading for a mile to either side, but its leading edge is where the comb strikes the ground, and whatever the prevailing wind, it moves back in the direction that the user has come from, thus striking any pursuers following her. The storm exists for five minutes, and does not affect the comb’s user or any of her companions, unless they deliberately retrace their steps into it. The comb itself is gone once used and cannot be retrieved.

 

Boot Grafts (Artifact •)

Boot grafts look like amorphous masses of fibrous tissue covered in tiny spines. When placed near the feet of an upright living creature, the masses expand to cover them, writhing up to the creature’s ankles before stopping. The tissue thickens and hardens, creating what look like bark-like “boots,” complete with large spines where there would normally be toes. They can be worn as ordinary boots, providing the user solid support for the feet, as well as excellent warmth in cold conditions and aeration in hot conditions. More importantly, boot grafts noticeably improve the wearer’s ability to climb sheer surfaces. The wearer gains a +2 bonus to his dice pool for all Athletics checks involving climbing or mounting an incline.

Boot grafts are photosynthetic and survive as long as they are exposed to bright sunlight for at least four hours a day. If found in the underground portions of Rathess, boot grafts will be in a dormant state, having hardened into a pancake-like object made of light tree bark. To reactivate them requires the expenditure of 1 mote of Essence, followed by four hours of exposure to direct sunlight.

 

Breather Plant (Artifact •)

This small and exceedingly leafy vine is typically found rooted in a pot designed for easy transport. Anyone can uproot the vine and wrap it around the neck of a living being no larger than a war horse. The plant grows tendrils into the wearer’s neck and allows him to breathe water. This plant allows the wearer to breathe both fresh and salt water but does not allow breathing in poisoned or extremely stagnant bodies of water.

Breather vines are somewhat delicate and must be returned to their pots periodically to remain intact. After approximately three hours of use, a breather vine slowly looses its vibrant green color and turns yellow. When it is fully yellowed, it withdraws the tendrils from the wearer’s neck and goes dormant. It must then be placed back in its pot for at least 12 hours before it can be used again.

 

Cache Egg (Artifact • to •••)

These simple vessels of jade have the texture and shape of large eggs. The size of the egg determines the artifact’s rating: • up to six inches, •• up to two feet, ••• up to four feet. Larger models probably existed, but they were never popular or widely manufactured. Attuning to a cache egg requires a number of motes equal to its Artifact rating. These devices are specifically designed to be compatible with all Exalted and do not impose the usual double mote commitment for non-Terrestrials. An attuned owner can open or close a cache egg with a touch, opening as much as half the “shell” from any desired point. The eggs are hollow, allowing storage capacity appropriate to their size. Once sealed shut, a cache egg may be banished or summoned as an automatic dice action for a cost of 1 mote. Banished eggs remain attuned to their owners indefinitely as they fade into the Essence of the world. They become unreachable by anyone save their owners, as they simultaneously exist everywhere, nowhere and Elsewhere. Celestial Exalted can sometimes recall an egg banished and lost by their previous incarnations, but this requires substantial effort, a mote of Essence and an Intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty 6). Characters may not voluntarily withdraw Essence committed to a banished cache egg.

 

Chalcedony Chamberlain’s Flutes (Artifact • for the pair)

Fashioned from a single piece of green serpent chalcedony, these drinking glasses are indistinguishable from one another. Originally crafted during the Shogunate Era, these items are highly desired within the halls of the Dragon-Blooded courts. Aside from the exquisite artistry invested in their crafting, the flutes do not appear to have any magical properties, and don’t, until an Exalted attunes to their subtle power. Once attuned to the glasses, the Exalt is unaffected by any poison or drug that fills them, including the recreational and pleasurable effects derived from alcohol or hallucinogenic elixirs. The applications of these glasses, though not as immediately grand as many of the artifacts of the First Age, are incredibly versatile — allowing the attuned character to remain sober during drunken negotiations or to poison an enemy with no great effort. Chalcedony chamberlain’s flutes require a commitment of 1 mote of Essence for the pair.

 

Cargo Preservation Spindles (Artifact • to •••, depending on size)

Keeping cargo and foodstores safe is one of the hardest jobs a crew has; water seeps into holds, rats and other vermin are a constant threat, and spoilage can ruin food on long voyages no matter how carefully stored or cured. In the First Age, crew and passengers used a variety of methods to keep their cargo and packages safe; many of these tools have survived in one fashion or another to the present day, but by far the most common are these spindles.

Cargo preservation spindles come in a set of four, ranging in size from slender spires a handbreadth high to slender pillars that stand nearly as tall as a man does. Despite their length and proportions, they are all of the same basic form: a five-sided spindle, coming to a sharp point at either end. The shorter end of the spindle is normally set into a socket carved into the decking or a specially placed holder like a candlestick for smaller spindles. One is placed in each corner of a room or hold where cargo is kept. How large a spindle is determines how much area it can protect; small spindles will cover only small room the size of a typical passenger’s cabin, while the tallest will protect a large cargo hold.

To use the spindles, the owner must first introduce them to the cargo to be protected. The long end of each spindle must be forced into the corresponding corner of the crates to be protected (far enough to leave a mark, not far enough to damage the crate or contents). As this is done, the contents are described in general detail; the magic allows for some variation, but radically different materials from those described won’t be protected. A smuggler can easily find the firedust he had secreted in the cargo totally ruined, surrounded by otherwise dry and intact goods.

Once this is done, the cargo is protected from almost all manner of damage that could affect it. Food will neither rot nor be infected or eaten by vermin of any kind (although food taken from its container will age and decay normally). Water, even the thickest of brines, will be unable to affect the goods in any way. Crates will stay in place under all but the heaviest seas, and even if toppled, their contents will be undamaged. The spindles will not prevent theft, but anyone touching the crates or packages protected will know immediately if anything has been taken from them. Fire will not take hold on any box or crate under the protection of the spindles. This protection is only effective as long as the cargo remains in the hold or room where the spindles are placed. A container that leaves the confines the area bounded by the four spindles is no longer protected until it is returned, although there are no other effects (food removed from their protection does not suddenly spoil, for example).

Although not as powerful as some weapons, the spindles are not easy to make. Carefully faceted prisms of each of the five types of jade are bound together with bands of orichalcum and pins of moonsilver. Each facet side is carved with the symbol of the Elemental Dragon the jade is aligned with, along with requests for the Dragon to look over and protect the contents of the warded containers. Cargo preservation spindles are not in general production today, both because of the care needed in their enchantment and manufacture and because of the difficulty in getting any kind of quantity of moonsilver or orichalcum. Large numbers of them have survived to the present day, however, and many ships, particularly those of the Realm, carry one or more sets to protect their belongings and cargo.

 

Chime Of Perfect Summoning (Artifact •)

A chime of perfect summoning appears as a small bronze bell, complete with hammer and stand. It is no more than a foot high and is always coated in a layer of verdigris that makes it appear less valuable than it is. A ghost can, if she so chooses, invest a number of motes of Essence in the chime up to her Essence rating. When the chime is struck with the hammer, a mote is expended, and the ghost, no matter where she might be in any of the worlds, hears the summons. More than one ghost can invest Essence in the chime, to a limit of 13 ghosts, each able to put in as many motes as they have points of permanent Essence.

When a ghost hears the chime, she is not compelled to return immediately, nor can the chime be struck for just one ghost’s benefit. Once all of the Essence a ghost has stored in the chime has been exhausted, she no longer hears its summons, but she can recharge it simply by touching it and spending Essence.

The sound of the chime is surprisingly deep, and the tone sustains for a single minute. It cannot be mistaken for anything else. Anyone who hears it knows exactly what it is. However, no ghost who has not invested Essence in the chime can hear it at all, even if he stands right next to it when it is struck.

 

Collar Of Dawn’s Cleansing Light (Artifact •)

This artifact comes in a variety of forms ― studded bands, chokers, collars, torcs, delicate necklaces and the like ― any piece of neck jewelry is appropriate, and these items are still quite common today. Many of the Dragon-Blooded in the Second Age own and wear them where possible, not just for their useful properties but also to show off. Being able to casually wear an artifact, even a weak one, is a powerful statement.

The purpose of the collar is to keep the wearer clean inside and out. She could spend weeks living beneath a rubbish heap and emerge at the end as if she had just spent hours preparing for a grand ball. The artifact negates all penalties to Social rolls that would be applied due to the character being dirty or unkempt. Attuning to the collar extends its powers beyond the Exalt’s clothing to her physical body. The artifact’s cleansing light adds two dice to Resistance rolls against disease or poison. All of the Five Magical Materials have been used to construct these wonders, even soulsteel, so any kind of Exalt should be able to find one to suit her tastes. The collar requires the commitment of 1 mote of Essence to become active.

 

Collar Of The Bestial Shade (Artifact •)

These collars come in several different forms, depending on the associated type of animal. Each appears as a strip of furry or feathered hide from the relevant animal, with a jade buckle, and allows a ghost to change her form to that animal for as long as she desires. Known collars include ones that allow the shape of ghost tigers, pyre hawks and savanna lions, though others may exist. By donning such a collar, the wearer gains the Physical Attributes of such a creature (even if that means lowering her own) but keeps her own Mental and (where appropriate) Social Attributes. Other members of that animal’s species will react to them as though they were natural animals of that genus.

These items do have one significant danger — or at least, a danger to some. Existing in an animal body, with all the associated animal senses, helps the ghost draw away from her political and personal preoccupations and reminds her that Lethe waits for her, offering her a new birth and a new life. For each continuous week after the first that a ghost wears one of these collars, her player must roll the ghost’s Willpower, adding one die for every dot of Fetters that she has remaining. If she does not score at least three successes, she succumbs to Lethe, and the collar is left behind once she has vanished. Removing the collar after a week and then donning it again spares the wearer from this effect. Some records suggest that the tug toward Lethe is, in fact, the original purpose of the collars and that they were first created to help ghosts remember the simple cycle of life and death and life again.

 

Cord Of Winds (Artifact •)

A relatively common artifact, produced by even mortal sorcerers. Partially discharged examples can be found on many ships, even relatively small ones, as they have been created in large numbers over the centuries. The cord of winds is normally a silken cord, usually light blue but possibly of any color, adorned with a number of knots. Each knot holds a minor air elemental bound up in it. If released, an elemental will serve for a day and a night, raising wind when asked. After its service is up, the elemental is free to depart. Any attempt to detain the elemental will be poorly received and may well bring retribution down upon the offending party at some point. Most cords will have 20 knots in them when first created, of different sizes and complexities. The smaller, simpler knots hold elementals that are little more than breezes, while the elementals bound in the larger, more complex knots are more powerful. Unraveling a knot in a hurry is an extended Wits + Sail task. The difficulty of the task depends on the power of the air elemental bound up in the knot. A simple breeze’s knot has a difficulty of 4, while the knot securing a powerful zephyr or gale might have a difficulty of 10, although such powerful elementals and spirits are only rarely bound up in a cord of winds. Most elementals or spirits bound will have a permanent Essence less than 4. Any knot can be untied given time, if one is patient enough not to cut it in half.

 

Dragonfly’s Ranging Eye (Artifact •)

This simple item looks much like a jeweler’s lens on a loop, meant to be worn over one eye. While attuned and wearing it, the user enjoys both her normal field of vision and an additional point of view located anywhere within Essence x 20 yards of her person, so long as it is within the character’s line of sight. Having two, separate points of perception is somewhat confusing, however, and all Perception rolls are made at +1 difficulty. The attunement cost for this item is 1 mote of Essence.

 

Drum Of The Living Heart (Artifact •)

For those ghosts who wish to keep watch over those mortals who are dear to them — or, alternatively, over their bitterest enemies — this artifact is a useful one. It is a small drum, surfaced and bound with human skin and strung with human sinews, barely a handspan across. To make it function, it must be anointed with a drop of the target’s blood. Once this is done, it will beat in time with the target’s heartbeat, speeding and slowing with the target’s pulse, and will cease to beat entirely when the target dies. Some of the family groups in the Underworld have whole rooms where the shelves are lined with these drums, and the whispering beats echo through the room constantly.

 

Echo Jewel (Artifact • or •••)

These crystal disks rimmed in jade serve as powerful communication devices. The portable versions have a rating of • and look like inch-diameter coins. These require 1 mote of committed Essence to attune and activate. So long as an attuned bearer maintains physical contact with the jewel, it instantaneously transmits every vocal utterance she makes to every other linked echo jewel in a half-mile radius. Above ground, these devices function far less efficiently, drastically decreasing their maximum range to 50 yards. Echo jewels broadcast received transmissions at a fraction of their original volume, generally requiring characters to hold the devices near their ears in order to hear clearly. Characters may link an attuned echo jewel to another such device by touching the two together and spending a mote. Characters may also sever all existing links by spending a mote.

Echo jewels rated at Artifact ••• are cumbersome arrays of two disks, both nearly four feet wide. They must be laid flat in the central chamber of a subterranean Manse with an Earth aspect and a rating of ••• or higher. Furthermore, the Hearthstone of that Manse must be placed in a socket at the center of the disk, so each Manse can only house of one these arrays. Anyone standing on one of these crystalline platforms can spend 1 mote per minute to transmit a real-time, life-sized image of themselves to the reception disk of an array installed in another Manse. The phantom representation appears translucent and ripples as if viewed underwater, but it otherwise perfectly captures the transmitting character’s image and voice. Platforms do not need a Hearthstone set in their socket in order to receive transmissions, provided the conversation is intended to be one way only. Activating an echo jewel platform requires an Intelligence + Lore roll at difficulty 3 to target the signal to the intended platform.

Failure indicates the character wastes a mote but may try again. A botch indicates the character transmits the signal to a different echo jewel than intended. Two characters in different Manses can simultaneously target one another using their arrays to engage in conversation. Echo jewels of this size have a maximum range of (the rating of Manse housing the array x 1,000 miles).

 

Essence-Scrying Visor (Artifact •)

These arcs of solid translucent crystal fit snugly across the eyes like goggles. Anyone wearing an Essence-scrying visor can spend 1 mote per scene to ignore all penalties for low-light conditions less severe than absolute darkness. More importantly, wearers can spend 3 motes per scene to activate Essence sight. This magical vision displays the world in dark surreal hues, with unmanifested spirits, living beings and enchanted objects (including the walking dead and automatons) glowing against the murk. Essence sight negates all visual penalties, piercing the thickest smoke and the deepest darkness, as well as adding three dice to any Awareness roll to notice illuminated beings and objects that are not magically concealed. This power is useless inside Demesnes and Manses, since the ambient Essence there leaves the user effectively blind. Worker Caste foremen overseeing jade-mining operations use these devices to check deposits for signs of unborn Mountain Folk, with higher-ranking overseers issued Artifact •• versions that require 4 motes of committed Essence to attune and activate but provide constant Essence sight without needing regular infusions.

 

Essence Capacitor (Artifact • to •••••)

These sophisticated devices take the form of elaborate polyhedral crystals an inch wide, fitted in a wire cage of alloys combining orichalcum and condensed Primordial Essence tapped from the largest veins of the Great Maker. Autochthonia lacks any Demesnes or Manses, so these jewels fill the same technological niche that Hearthstones serve in Creation and even share many of the same physical properties. First, the central jewels are virtually indestructible, requiring specialized tools or magic to shatter. If broken for any reason (even correctly), they release a devastating pulse of energy that inflicts the capacitor’s rating x 10L damage, minus 1L for every full yard away the victim is standing at the time of the blast. Deactivated capacitors (see below) only explode on a botch. By comparison, the wire lattice enveloping a capacitor is more fragile with its soak of 10L/10B. The device can suffer 10 health levels of damage before it ceases to function. Fixing a broken capacitor requires exotic materials that can only be produced in Autochthonia with a Resources value equal to the artifact’s rating (or half the rating if the lattice is only partially damaged, rounded up). Furthermore, the technician must have Occult and Lore •• and a pertinent Craft (usually Jeweler) at •••.

A working Essence capacitor may be plugged into the sockets of large or advanced artifacts in order to supply constant power, exactly as a Hearthstone. They provide less benefit when used by Alchemicals or other magical beings for Essence replenishment. Such beings must commit 1 mote to the artifact in order to harmonize its power signature to their own and only receive the capacitor’s rating in motes per hour (rather than twice its rating). Capacitors do not convey specific magical benefits as Hearthstones do, even if set into other artifacts.

The most notable difference between Hearthstones and Essence capacitors is that the former channel Essence from a self-replenishing locus of power, while the latter store and emit a focused current of ambient motes. While Hearthstones never run out of power, capacitors can only function for 25 hours before they automatically shut down for lack of motes. Any time prior, a capacitor can be turned off with a switch (this may require a secret combination code of several buttons for devices with which the Tripartite doesn’t want anyone tampering). A deactivated capacitor can be reactivated at any time, but recharges one hour of power for every two hours spent respiring Essence in Autochthonia (capacitors cannot recharge in blight zones). Although the Essence harmonics of Gaia and Autochthon are extremely similar (enough so that living Essence users can respire normally in both Creation and Autochthonia), enough divergence exists to interfere with the recharge cycle of capacitors. These artifacts must be specifically calibrated to respire in realms other than Autochthonia. This process costs nothing but requires a half hour of work from a technician qualified to repair the artifact. Theoretically, Essence capacitors could be reconfigured to recharge in the tangled and poisoned Essence of Malfeas or the necrotic currents of the Underworld or even the chaotic surges of the Wyld, but sane Autochthonians would be extremely hesitant to power any of their devices with tainted energy for fear of lingering contamination.

For large artifacts that require continuous operation, Autochthonian savants have developed the tri-socket adapter (Resources •••). This device plugs into a single power socket and houses three Essence capacitors of the same level, automatically switching between them as each runs out of power. This arrangement ensures that recharge cycles align for uninterrupted power, provided that the jewels remain in an area where they can respire Essence.

 

Fiber-Weave Bodysuit (Artifact • or ••)

This light armor uses high-quality fiber-weave material as the base, into which scientists thread a lattice of wires or embedded nodes of Magical Materials. The end result is an extremely supple and thin garment roughly equivalent to an enchanted chain shirt. Such armor requires a commitment of 3 motes and is intended for discreet or covert situations since it can be worn under normal clothes. Depending on design, fiber-weave bodysuits may just cover the torso or extend to limbs. The protection offered is generally the same regardless of the area covered, though Storytellers running a particularly gritty game may allow called shots against limbs to bypass an armored vest. In addition to their base statistics, suits of this armor type have the added power that lethal piercing attacks based on actual kinetic penetration do not halve the armor’s soak unless the raw damage is at least twice the base lethal soak of the armor (before adding Magical Material bonuses). As with most enchanted armor, fiber-weave bodysuits benefit normally from their appropriate Magical Material. The benefit for armor made from tempered Autochthonian adamant is +3L soak and a -1 reduction of the mobility penalty.

Some Alchemicals prefer more advanced versions of this armor that also incorporate all the properties of an omnimodal wardrobe unit except that artifact’s meager soak bonus. These bodysuits are considered Artifact •• but require the same attunement cost of 3 motes. With such a garment, an Alchemical is always protected by the armor regardless of what form his attire currently takes but cannot wear other armor over the toughened clothes.

 

Fire Pearl (Artifact •)

Common in the First Age, fire pearls were the standard means of lighting small fires. Fire pearls resemble large scarlet pearls and were used primarily to ignite small flammable items. The user need only press the fire pearl to the substance he wants to ignite. Though the pearl feels warm to the touch, it doesn’t get hot, even after lighting several fires in a row. Candles, tinder, dry leaves and the like can all be made to catch fire after a single turn. Dry logs, desiccated corpses and other moderately combustible substances will catch after two or three turns. Wet wood, low-quality coal, fresh corpses and other substances that are not as readily flammable require between five and ten turns to catch, but once the blaze has begun, they’ll burn steadily, barring efforts to extinguish them. Fire pearls cannot be made to burn living skin, nor do they have any effect on metal or stone.

Relatively common in the Realm and anyplace where First Age artifacts are found in abundance, fire pearls are highly prized by barbarians throughout the North, who will pay handsomely for these artifacts.

A fire pearl is typically found in small red-lacquered cube just large enough to store the pearl in. Fire pearls are reusable, but they do eventually lose their magic. After each use of the fire pearl, roll two 10-sided dice. A result of two 1s indicates that the pearl has burned out and cannot be used again. A burned out fire pearl turns stone gray and corrodes to dust within a day.

 

Fivefold Harmonic Regulator (Artifact •)

This elaborate ritualist’s kit contains a number of different styles of clasps, buckles and small samples of all the Five Magical Materials. By linking artifacts and individuals with the various samples, using the principle of sympathy, an occultist may facilitate the attunement process in cases where the resonant Material of the artifact is one other than that with which the subject can naturally work. This process effectively doubles the required time to attune to an item and, if the character’s player succeeds on an Intelligence + Occult roll, eliminates the chance of a botch on the attunement roll.

 

Flaw Scanner (Artifact •)

This disc-shaped amulet of carved amethyst is approximately an inch wide and locked in a ring of orichalcum attached to a set of artificial-leather straps. The device is worn on one hand so that the jewel is centered against the middle of the palm. When activated for a scene by the expenditure of 1 Willpower point or 2 motes, the gem hums and projects a narrow cone of soft violet light. In this radiance, pale colors eerily fluoresce. More importantly, any cracks, flaws or points of unintended stress in objects appear highlighted in a bright purple-white aura. Up to a square yard may be visually scanned under the light each turn. While the primary benefits of this artifact are narrative in scope (quickly revealing information the user would not otherwise have access to without thorough diagnostic work), any Craft rolls made to repair detected flaws also add a one-die bonus so long as the technician studies the damage for a full minute under the light.

 

Forms Of Harmony (Artifact •, •• for a set of five or more)

These musical stringed instruments are crafted from black ash, inlaid with nacre and silver and soulfire crystal dust and strung with soulsteel. When commanded by its master, the instruments will play separately or together in harmony. They can also be played like normal instruments but always have a strange, uncanny undertone. Many wealthy nobles and lords of the dead have one or more of these instruments, setting them to play during social gatherings or when receiving petitioners. Few of them have been created in recent times. They are antiques and status symbols, as far as most of the inhabitants of the Underworld are concerned.

What is less well known about these instruments is that if five or more of them are gathered together, they can soothe the emotions and lower the suspicions of those within hearing range. When they are set to play in harmony, their owner gains a bonus dice to all her player’s Social rolls against everyone within 50 yards of the instruments. (They are not created to be particularly noisy.) The instruments can continue to play for a scene but then require a day’s rest, though they can stop and start several times within that scene if their owner wishes to gesture them to silence. It is considered rude to use the powers of a set of forms of harmony against someone who knows about them. The problem, of course, is finding out whether the prospective victim knows. Deathlords and old, powerful ghosts will certainly be aware, while newly made ghosts, however powerful, may well have no idea.

 

Freshwater Pearls (Artifact •)

These pearls are the size of a child’s fist, nacreous white as the first star on a winter’s evening. If a pearl is placed in a barrel (or lesser quantity) of seawater or fouled water, it will instantly render the water as clear and fresh as that of a mountain spring. If thrown into a larger quantity of water, then it has no effect. Legends of certain Solar Exalted attempting to purify an inland sea in order to give the local inhabitants water have resulted in several diving expeditions to hunt for such pearls — and even a few successes. A Pearl works up to five times a day. If placed in a barrel of wine or other alcohol, then the pearl turns the liquid to ordinary healthy grape juice or whatever the appropriate source liquid might be. A pearl has no effect on actual poison, unfortunately.

 

Glory To The Ghoul King (Artifact •)

Author: Unknown

This book is in fact not a book at all — at least by human standards. It is another example of the Dragon King crystal technology, this time put to use to protect the contents of this blasphemous “tome.” Looking like a thin square of black stony material, Glory to the Ghoul King has a glass plate on one side. When infused with 3 motes of Essence, the plate lights up, displaying sigils in the High Holy Speech whose meaning is unclear even to native speakers of the language. Assuming one can fathom the hidden meaning of these sigils, the “book” can he read in scrolling text that appears on the glass pane. Glory to the Ghoul King is a religious text dedicated to the worship of Han-Tha, the Eater of the Dead. Its graphic descriptions of the rites and ceremonies of this spirit, including necrophagy, are quite loathsome, but they nevertheless provide many insights into his dark cult and its purposes.

 

Grapes Of Torment (Artifact •)

Grown from the very essence of pain and suffering through horrible commixtures of necromancy and fleshworking, these dark globes are swollen to bursting with an evil juice. When someone ingests one of them, she is filled with a sudden surge of energy and strength, but is tormented by agonizing pain that echoes through her ghostly body. She gains a bonus of two dice to all Strength-related rolls for the duration of the scene, but at the cost of a penalty of one die to all Perception-related rolls due to the pain. Some of the dead have become psychologically addicted to these grapes, despite — or, rather, because of — the pain that they bring. The grapes are found in bunches of five or less and are extremely fragile, being as easy to squash as any natural grapes. They come from vines tended by specters deep in the Labyrinth, and few would care to know what those vines are rooted in or what nourishes them.

 

Green Eyes (Artifact •)

These translucent cylindrical objects are actually tiny plants, like many pieces of Dragon King equipment. If placed onto the eyes of a living creature, they spread out very thinly, covering the entire eye in short order. For 6 hours after allowing the plants to cover his eyes, the wearer is effectively blinded. During this time, the buds are acclimating themselves to the peculiarities of their wearer and adapting their structure to provide him the maximum benefit. After this adaptation period has passed, the plants turn clear from the inside, but appear a dark green in color from the outside, making the wearer’s entire eyeball a deep jade green. The plants grant the wearer clarity of vision that enables him to see details 100 yards distant without difficulty, as well as adding one automatic success to any Awareness rolls. These benefits do not add to those granted by Awareness Charms, but neither do they interfere with those that grant benefits greater than those afforded by the green eyes.

Green eyes are usually found in small globular containers throughout Rathess. They require 1 mote of Essence per day from their wearer to operate. Otherwise, they revert to an inert state and fall from the wearer’s eyes.

 

Green Iron Dust (Artifact •)

The so-called “green iron” is actually the pollen from the hraas’kaztha plant that grows in the swamps around Rathess. The plant is known for its pungent, almost ferrous, smell and the strength of its leaves, which are sharp enough to cut through flesh if not handled properly. The plant’s pollen is similarly odiferous and hard. Herbalists in Rathess long ago discovered that the pollen could be ground to a fine powder and ingested, granting remarkable strength, although at the cost of mental acuity in the short term. Though not widely used by Dragon King soldiers, green iron dust was popular with Dragon King gladiators, thugs and cultists throughout the First Age. Now, it is largely unknown in Creation.

Ingesting green iron dust adds a dot to Strength and Stamina for a period of one scene, as well as to the Brawl, Endurance, Dodge, Melee and Resistance Abilities, at the cost of 1 dot in Wits. The loss of the dot in Wits does not affect initiative. After use, the character suffers intense mental and physical exhaustion, which causes the loss of 1 dot in Strength, Dexterity and Wits for one hour. In this case, the Wits loss affects initiative as well.

If a character knows the secret of green iron dust, her player can make a Perception + Survival roll at difficulty 3 in order for the character to gather the plant. Gathering the pollen takes a full day, a number of doses will be gathered equal to the number of successes on the roll.

Typically, green iron dust is found in containers of 100 doses. Fewer doses will naturally have a lower Artifact value, at the discretion of the Storyteller.

 

Hammerfist Bracer (Artifact •)

This bulky jade bracer fits snugly over the entire forearm and locks shut with a commitment of 4 motes. Upon donning such a device, the character’s hand involuntarily tightens into a fist, and the entire arm below the elbow transmutes into indestructible stone as hard as any Magical Material. This transformation lasts until the character removes the bracer. The petrified fist is slower and more unwieldy (speed -2), but it allows parries against lethal attacks without a stunt and inflicts massive crushing damage (+8L damage against animate targets or +10L against inanimate objects). Despite their obvious combat utility, hammerfist bracers are predominantly used as excavation tools by Worker Caste miners. Warriors do not generally consider the raw power worth the loss of a hand.

 

Hearthstone Amulet (Artifact •)

Hearthstone amulets were common in the First Age because they allowed characters to carry Hearthstones innocuously. Though forged from the Five Magical Materials, these amulets are too small to provide special benefits to their bearers based on their material.

Each Hearthstone amulet contains a setting for a single Hearthstone. A character wearing such an amulet against her skin gains the basic benefits of a Hearthstone — that is, the ability to regain Essence more quickly. However, a character can commit 1 mote of Essence to the amulet, just as if she were maintaining a Charm with a cost of 1 mote. This causes the amulet to resonate and activates the Hearthstone. If the character removes the amulet, the benefit dissipates.

 

Hearthstone Compass (Artifact •)

This three-inch-diameter sphere of jade and adamant has concentric rings that spin and move in three dimensions as if of their own volition. Attuning to this device requires the commitment of 2 motes of Essence. Hearthstone Compasses serve two functions, depending on how they are used. In their default state, they allow any attuned user with Essence sight (such as through the Charm All-Encompassing Sorcerer’s Sight or similar magic) to perceive a thread of light leading toward the central chamber of the nearest Manse. The thread ends at the exact spot where the Manse’s Hearthstone forms. Alternately, an attuned user can press the correct series of pressure plates on the compass, causing it to unfold and open. This requires an Intelligence + Lore roll at standard difficulty. Once opened, a Hearthstone may be placed inside and the device closed. The attuned user can now perceive the thread of Essence leading back to the Hearthstone’s own Manse — regardless of the distance separating the gem from its source. This function allows treasure hunters to locate abandoned and ownerless Manses if they find the “useless” Hearthstone set in the socket of an artifact.

 

Heavenly Thunder Leaves (Artifact • each)

These ornate wind-fire wheels have a speed rating of +3, an accuracy rating of +2, a damage rating of +0 and a defense rating of +5. In addition, if they are used as part of a dancing performance, they add a one-die bonus to any Performance rolls made by the owner’s player.

Heavenly thunder leaves do not appear to be standard wind-fire wheels. Instead, they look like carefully painted dancing fans. They depict a forest of flowering trees during a lightning storm. In the forest, young lovers and spirits frolic. There is a dance that tells the tale depicted on the fans, and when done properly, the dance will attract the attention of nearby spirits, moved by the beauty of the story and the talent of the dancer. Make a Dexterity + Performance dancing roll for the possessor of the fans to invoke this effect. If the check results in at least three successes, any little gods within 100 yards become aware of the dance and the dancer.

The little gods will be at least neutrally inclined toward the dancer and will move to within speaking distance of the dancer. Each success above three in the initial Performance roll grants a one-die bonus to the next Social roll made for the performer to influence the attendant spirits. The fans confer no special abilities to see or communicate with the spirits.

No bonus of any sort is gained if only one of the fans is possessed or used. It costs 2 motes of Essence to attune to each of the wheels.

 

Ivory Butterfly (Artifact •)

Carved from ivory and studded with garnets and with a wingspan two feet across, this fragile butterfly can travel across the storm-driven wastes of the Underworld, carrying small items or messages. A single butterfly can carry up to three scrolls or scroll cases or items of similar weight and size. Up to four butterflies can cooperate to carry a larger object, if necessary. Ivory butterflies move unnaturally fast (with the speed of a raiton), but they require neither food nor rest and will continue to fly until they reach their target. They have no methods of self-defense but are capable of recognizing threats and dodging or taking cover, such as by hiding in a forest.

An ivory butterfly’s owner must give it the item or items that it is to carry and tell the butterfly where to go and who to give the item to once it reaches that destination. She must impress a visual image of the target on the butterfly and name the location. If the target is not present when the butterfly arrives, then it will flutter around the place for three days and nights, before attempting to return to its mistress, bringing back any item that it was carrying with it.

 

Jade Harmony Needles (Artifact •)

These five thin, white-jade needles resonate with the energies of death and the Underworld and can be used in conjunction with a Hearthstone or a Manse to knit up wounds and restore health to one of the dead. The jade harmony needles must be inserted in a precise circle in the target’s flesh — usually around the wound that is to be healed, though in the event of general damage, they can be slid into the flesh above the heart — and then exposed to the power of a Hearthstone or left to bask in the restoring energies of a Death-aspected Manse.

If a Hearthstone is being used, then it must be Death-aspected (any other aspect will burn out the needles and destroy them), and it must be removed from any other item that it is currently powering. The victim will recover a number of health levels equal to the Hearthstone’s rating, at the rate of one health level per hour. If the target is inside a Manse, then he will heal at the same rate as above, recovering a number of health levels equal to the Manse’s level. The needles may be removed at any time, but if removed early, the restoring process will also cease. They may only be used once on any victim until he has returned to full health. If he is wounded again after that, the needles may be used on him again.

 

Labyrinth Doorknocker (Artifact •)

Sometimes an emissary of the Underworld may need to enter the Labyrinth on short notice — possibly because he is in haste to speak to his masters or possibly because he has a circle of Solars in hot pursuit. A Labyrinth doorknocker, reputedly invested with power by the Deathlords themselves, can help such an individual. It is the size of a man’s fist, shaped from dark soulsteel, and looks precisely like an ornate doorknocker. When it is soaked with freshly spilled blood from a living being and placed against a flat surface of earth or stone, it pulsates rhythmically, and there is the sound of someone knocking on a distant door three times. The outline of a door then forms around the doorknocker, making it possible for its owner to take hold of the knocker and pull the door open. Beyond lies a passage to somewhere in the Labyrinth — somewhere in the territory of the Deathlord who empowered the item, though it may be on the very edge of that territory, and the holder will have no other guide once he enters.

The doorknocker cannot be removed from the newly created door. Once the item’s owner has entered the door, it will automatically close behind him unless he holds it open. When he lets the door close, it will remain in existence for 10 minutes longer before crumbling into dust, and then, the doorknocker itself will rust and disintegrate with a wailing of destroyed souls.

 

Lotus Blossom Cup (Artifact •)

This beautiful goblet is carved from translucent white jade in the shape of an unfolding lotus blossom atop a thick stem for the cup’s foot. Any liquid poured into the cup is immediately and completely purified of any toxins or other harmful agents. Even strong acid or pure venom would become nothing more than clean water. Thus, any liquid in the lotus blossom cup is automatically safe to drink. Such cups are often used by those who fear assassination through poison or in diplomatic situations to assuage any fears that poison or drugs will be used.

 

Knife Spores (Artifact •)

Knife spores are tiny ambulatory plants native to the subterranean regions surrounding Rathess. Almost imperceptible to the unaided eye, the spores are characterized by their flat body shape and the sharp filaments that cover their surface. The Dragon Kings considered knife spores pests for the most part, but certain warrior cults within their society viewed them with greater respect. These cultists saw the spores as servants of the goddess Leeayta. Indeed, these cults looked upon the minuscule plants as gifts from their mistress, which they incorporated into their martial-arts techniques.

If a living creature allows a colony of knife spores to infest his body (at the cost of one lethal health level per day), the spores will enhance his combat capability. When used under combat conditions, which is to say, given momentum through punches and kicks, the surfaces can inflict considerable damage. An infested character gains the ability to inflict lethal rather than bashing damage with his blows. Unfortunately, extended use of knife spores in combat kills them. After 10 successful blows while wearing them, the spores die in large enough numbers as to be ineffectual.

Knife spores still exist in Rathess today, but few know of their usefulness, unless they have read tomes associated with the cult of Leeayta. Even then, collecting the spores is a difficult endeavor, requiring the discovery of a sufficiently large conglomeration of the spores (Storyteller’s discretion) and the commitment of a mote of Essence to “herd” them on to the character’s skin.

 

Light Amplification Visor (Artifact • or ••)

These devices appear as goggles with a pair of narrow lenses or a single curved lens that extends across both of the wearer’s eyes. Anyone wearing them constantly receives the benefits and drawbacks provided by the light-intensification filters submodule of the Optical Enhancement Charm. As a permanent alternative, some mortals have small versions of these lenses surgically implanted into their eyes, giving their irises and pupils a distinctive metallic shine. The necessary surgery takes three hours to perform and requires an array of specialized medical and thaumaturgical tools. Roll the surgeon’s Intelligence + Medicine (difficulty 5). Failure leaves the patient permanently blinded. Mortals with light-intensifying implants suffer none of the effects of over-stimulation or receive the benefit of their superior vision while wearing arc protectors (the two artifacts effectively cancel out when used together).

Superior versions of this artifact rated at Artifact •• also exist, and these may be worn or implanted as normal. In addition to providing the above benefits, they can provide thermal vision when powered (1 Willpower point charges the lenses for two hours, while a mote charges the artifact for a single hour). The character’s perception of heat is identical to that granted by the thermal vision submodule of the Optical Enhancement Charm.

Alchemicals cannot have these artifacts implanted, although other varieties of Exalted may.

 

Light Sphere (Artifact •)

The Realm of Brass and Shadow is well named, as it’s a sunless world where light is a rare and precious commodity. Large light sources typically use electrical arcs, burning gas flames or glowing crystals to furnish illumination. In the darkened tunnels and industrial caverns, Alchemicals use their animas to see, but mortals must generally make do with variants of this artifact. Formed of brass and tempered glass, these three-inch-wide globes contain a treated orichalcum catalyst and an adjoining socket for inserting coin-sized discs of low-quality jade. The catalyst causes the jade to sublime away in a slow incandescent display with the radiance of a torch, yet without heat or smoke. Such illumination is harsh and cold and makes skin appear sallow and sickly. Each disc of jade fuel is worth Resources • in Autochthonia or Yu-Shan (•• elsewhere) and produces light for a full week before being consumed by the reaction. Higher-quality discs exist that can fluoresce for a month (Resources •• everywhere), while a tiny handful of perfectly calibrated fuel coins last a full year (Resources ••• everywhere). The latter are usually fortuitous accidents of the factories and are not mass-produced. Toward the end of its life, fuel discs emits a fitful, flickering light, and the sphere can often be heard to hum or buzz. To conserve power, most light spheres have a switch that breaks or reestablishes the connection between jade and catalyst when pressed. Rarer models of these artifacts (also Artifact •) have a crystal skin that is opaque on the outside and mirrored on the inside, with an articulated iris shutter controlled by a lever. A second switch slides any of three colored glass filters across the iris, typically used for signaling purposes or to lure in/avoid gremlins attracted to certain colors. Some heretics and dissident cells within Autochthonia relay messages to one another using secret optical languages of flashing lights, not realizing how adept sentinels are at cracking these primitive codes. Shutter-equipped models only produce light in one direction as a narrow cone out of their iris but triple the distance of illumination. All light spheres come with metal loops on top for hanging the globes from a cord, as well as a tripod for setting them down without rolling. Both of these features are retractable.

 

Mask Of Pure Breath (Artifact •)

These flattened domes of blue jade and other magical alloys fit snugly over the mouth and nose of a human or Mountain Folk, resembling a stylized sea-shell with a vertical grill of etched grooves. The device automatically affixes to its wearer’s flesh and activates with an expenditure of 1 mote, remaining firmly locked in place until voluntarily removed or until the wearer dies. The mask absorbs and cleanses air for the wearer, providing complete protection against toxin gases, smoke inhalation and other airborne environmental hazards. In environments with little or no atmosphere, the wearer can spend 2 motes per hour to synthesize stale (if breathable) air, but this completely mutes the character’s sense of smell for the duration of the effect. Finally, the mask of pure breath distorts its wearer’s voice, adding a deeper and more menacing resonance. This distortion adds one die to any intimidation-based Presence roll involving speech and adds 2 to the difficulty of identifying the speaker if the listener has only heard her normal voice.

 

Mirror Of Life (Artifact •)

This comparatively simple artifact can come in various sizes, from full-length sheets of obsidian to small hand-mirrors edged in silver and inlaid with cool white jade. When any ghost looks into one, he sees his face and form reflected as they were in life, with none of the stigma or shades of death: ruddy cheeks, bright eyes and body full of health and vigor. Abyssals are reflected as they were before they were Exalted — and in the case of former Solars, unlikely as it may be that they will come in contact with such a mirror, they are shown with their former Caste Marks and animas.

While simply owning or using this tool has no deleterious effects, it can encourage obsession among those already fascinated with their past lives (Temperance check for each hour spent looking into one). Some kings and queens of the Underworld have had rooms entirely paneled with such mirrors, so that they can be surrounded with images of their living selves. Such fancies can lead to a yearning to live again, dark bargains with the Deathlords or spectres and similar unfortunate character traits.

 

Mundane Box (Artifact •)

These common items, while made from a wide variety of materials, all appear to be completely mundane storage boxes. The boxes are, in fact, designed to seem mundane: deliberately, magically mundane. Efforts to locate any object stored in a mundane box are at a +2 difficulty, and the box itself does not appear magical to sorcerous vision such as All-Encompassing Sorcerer’s Sight and Pulse of the Invisible.

 

Omnimodal Wardrobe Unit (Artifact •)

Essence 2-5 Alchemical Exalted normally wear clothing as mortals do, albeit oversized for those of greater power and tailored to adjust for odd protrusions of Charms. Older Alchemicals often dispense with humanoid forms entirely, and even those who retain a semblance of their original shape cover themselves in integrated armor plating rather than anything resembling conventional clothing. Regardless, Exalted who still require attire often requisition one of these artifacts, effectively compressing an entire wardrobe into a single item.

By default, an omnimodal wardrobe unit appears as a basic citizen uniform of artificial silk, save that it is unusually light, glossy oil black in color and faintly iridescent under indirect lighting. Close examination reveals an extremely fine lattice of moonsilver wires woven directly into the material. Once an owner attunes to the garment (for a committed cost of 1 mote), she may direct it to change form with a thought. Each change is a reflexive action costing 1 mote, and the process is both unsettling and spectacular for those unused to it. The suit’s entire substance systematically unravels, threads whipping around the wearer like an undulating aura. Simultaneously, hundreds of thumbnail-sized spider automata revealed by the unraveling come to life, scuttling without regard for gravity as they weave and transmute the proto-fibers into the new template. The entire process only takes a single turn. As an additional side effect, reweaving cleans and repairs any damage done to the suit, whether by tearing, burns or any other cause. Exalted may designate that a garment heal or clean itself for 1 mote without initiating a full change, in which case the spider drones skitter out of the damaged or soiled areas and restore the fiber back to spotless perfection.

An omnimodal wardrobe unit remembers every form it has previously assumed and shifts to those without any possibility of error. When the wearer commands the garment to take an unfamiliar shape, she must concentrate to remember clothing she has previously seen (represented by a Wits + Awareness roll) or design the pattern on the spot using Wits + Craft (Textiles). Both rolls are made at difficulty 2, with failure indicating the end result isn’t quite what the wearer had in mind. Changing the suit into a new form is a simple action rather than reflexive.

Omnimodal wardrobe units can change into any clothing type or combination from a single glove all the way to full outfits such as a trenchcoat, tunic, pants, boots, belt and hat, and forms can have any coloration, texture or apparent material. In all forms, these items are unusually durable (+1L soak, not considered armor or natural soak and cumulative with armor), but they can only become clothes, not actual armor. The Storyteller should veto any attempts to circumvent this limitation.

 

Pillow Of Grass (Artifact •)

This pillow is made from woven grass, stuffed with the down of pyre hawks and embroidered with silk taken from graveclothes. When a ghost lies down with his head on the pillow, as though composing himself to sleep, he can spend Essence in order to hear what is happening near where his dead body lies (or where it lay before the elements reclaimed it). A single mote of Essence lets the user hear what is happening within earshot of his grave, and 2 motes let him hear everything that is going on within a mile of his grave, while 3 motes let him hear what is going on within five miles of his grave. The effect lasts for a maximum of an hour, and the pillow must be left for a day before anyone can use it again.

Not all the dead have been given proper burials. Fortunately for such ghosts, the pillow can function even in these cases, focusing on the spot where the body in question was left to rot unburied. In the event of multiple conversations or noises occurring in the area of effect, the player of the pillow’s user must make a Perception + Awareness roll, difficulty 5, for his character to filter out any one particular conversation, which he can listen to for (the number of successes scored x 10) minutes. Some ghosts who are paranoid about grave robbers use these pillows constantly, unwilling to risk leaving their gravesites unattended.

 

Player’s Mask (Artifact •)

Often ornate, these theatrical masks were used by Exalted actors in certain highly stylized styles of amphitheater performance in the First Age. When attuned and worn, a player’s mask can switch between comedy or tragedy mask at will. Some are also able to become an expressionless face and to vanish and reappear as the wearer wishes. The real power of these masks is in concealing the identity of the wearer, so that an audience sees only the role and not the actor.

The character must commit 1 mote to activate the player’s mask. The mask adds two the difficulty of rolls to discern the identity or motives of the wearer.

 

Portable Nutriment Recycling Engine (Artifact •)

Designed for battlefield or exploration use, this device normally appears as an odd assembly of pipes, wires and box-shaped compartments centered around a clockwork power cell and a foot wide intake chute on top. In all, the machine is approximately the size of a person and quite ungainly-looking, though the ultralight alloys used in its construction cause it to weigh a mere 30 pounds. Pressing a button causes the device to collapse and retract components until it is nothing more than a rectangular steel box with smoothly rounded edges and corners. In this travel mode, a portable nutriment recycling engine (often abbreviated as ponre) fits in a backpack and may be comfortably carried by a single person. The machine may be set on the ground and redeployed at any time, and transforming between modes takes one minute.

In its expanded mode, the ponre’s spring-driven mechanisms must be wound with a crank (five minutes of winding produces an hour of operation). Once activated, the device makes a distinctive slurping noise as spinning blades “chew” any organic material fed into the intake chute. Absorbed matter passes through a number of mercifully opaque veins and baffles, undergoing transmogrification and sterilization marked by undefinable pops and crunches. Every two pounds of organic substance takes one minute to process, ultimately resulting in a thumbnail-sized white pellet that drops into a catch basin. The pellets taste like chalk and have the consistency of dried mushrooms, but they cannot spoil and provide the same nourishment as a full meal. All toxins and diseases present in matter fed into the machine are removed long before the pellets emerge, so they are always completely safe unless magically contaminated. Ten of these pellets are a Resources •• item in Autochthonia and generally impossible to obtain elsewhere. Of course, given the imperishable nature of the pellets, hidden vaults in Creation may hold nutriment caches preserved from the beginning of the First Age or even earlier.

 

Razor Claws (Artifact •)

Useable with either Brawling or Martial Arts, this pair of deadly weapons is a set of razor-sharp claws that strap onto the wearer’s hands. Although wearing them does not impair the user’s manual dexterity, they are normally only worn for battle. Few people wish to shake hands with someone whose hands are encased in lethal steel. Razor Claws always come in pairs and consist of fingerless leather gloves fitted with three slightly curved blades. Each blade extends three inches beyond the wearer’s knuckles. In addition to causing horrific rending wounds, these claws also add 2 dice to all climbing rolls made by the wearer. Razor Claws can be made from orichalcum, moonsilver, jade, starmetal or soulsteel and gain the same benefits as every other weapon made from these materials. Using a set of razor claws requires the wearer to commit 2 motes of Essence to them. Razor claws count as tiger claws for the purposes of practicing Tiger-Style martial arts.

 

Reading Crystal (Artifact •)

This is a clear, flat, rectangular crystal eight inches on a side and an eighth of an inch thick. When placed over any piece of text and infused with 5 motes of Essence, this crystal copies the text. Once activated, the crystal remains active for a full scene. The crystal copies each page of text in an instant, allowing the user to copy one page every turn. Users who are not interrupted can copy a 1,000-page tome in an hour (three scenes). This device reproduces the text exactly as it is on the page, except that it is sensitive enough that it renders worn, faded or partially erased text as if it were newly written. So long as the original page is intact and some trace of the writing remains, the reading crystal can reproduce it. Also, if the user wishes, she can instead spend 3 motes of Essence and write on the surface of the crystal. The device will then record her writing within it for the next full scene. To avoid marking the crystal with ink, most users write on it with a dry pen or brush. Each reading crystal can hold several thousand pages of text. To read this text, the user need only spend 1 mote of Essence to activate the device for a scene. The user can then cause the text to scroll down by merely touching the device and willing it. Although many are blank, some ancient reading crystals contain text recorded many thousands of years before that may exist nowhere else.

 

Respirator Module (Artifact •)

These devices appear as more sophisticated models of filter masks, designed with a central nodule of blue jade surrounded by wires of mystical alloys. The artifacts may be used as filter masks without any cleaning or upkeep requirements. In addition, anyone wearing such a module can flip a switch with their tongue, causing the device to seal and synthesize air out of Essence. In this state, the user is completely protected against harmful airborne effects and may travel underwater or through a vacuum without asphyxiating. Respirator modules require chips of crystallized thaumaturgical reagents to operate (Resources •• for a batch of 10; Resources ••• per batch to make outside of Autochthon). Each chip provides an hour of air, and the module vibrates when it is about to run out of power. Alternately, beings capable of channeling Essence may reflexively spend a mote to power the module for an hour.

 

Robe Of Life (Artifact •)

This simple white robe is woven from plain linen, rather than costly silks, and smells of spring breezes and fresh rain rather than funeral incense and grave dust. When donned, it causes its wearer to appear as she did while alive and in the flush of youth, removing all evidence of her method of death and even effacing the stains of the Great Contagion. This effect only lasts for as long as the wearer keeps the robe on. Once she removes it, all her marks of death and age reappear. This robe does not affect artificial post-death changes in the ghost’s form, nor will it restore soulsteel.

 

Scroll Of Unending Stories (Artifact •)

In the silence of the Underworld, tales and legends can be all that hold a ghost back from the final long plunge into Oblivion. By concentrating on one of these scrolls and spending a mote of Essence, its holder can imprint a story on it and have it permanently recorded there, though at the cost of losing it from his own memory — he will not remember the events which took place, if it was a real event that happened to him, or the facts of the tale, if it was imaginary. The story, however, remains imprinted on the scroll for as long as the scroll survives.

When unrolled, the scroll is a simple piece of blank, ivory-tanned leather, detectable to aficionados as dried human skin. The holder (who must be attuned to it) must know the subject of the story that he wishes to call up. If so, it will appear in dark brown lettering on the scroll, and as the scroll is unrolled further, the story continues down it until its end. There is no practical limit to what a scroll of unending stories may contain, though when they include multiple different versions of the same story, it takes that much more time and effort to find a particular one.

While these artifacts may seem purely for entertainment, spies have used them to carry secret messages, by embedding such a message within a story and then recording it in the scroll. As the messenger is then left with no memory of what the message was, this method can be very effective. There have also been cases where very old scrolls contained stories that had factual accounts of First Age devices, Charms or spells. For this reason, the Deathlords themselves have been known to collect these scrolls for research purposes. Their truest value, however, is to isolated communities of ghosts, desperate for some break in the endless monotony of eternity, for stories that will give them some emotions to experience once again.

 

Six-And-Finger Staff (Artifact •)

The final link in this seven-section staff is the skeletal remains of one of Valentin’s fingers, its bones locked together by knuckles forged from blue jade. After Rurik killed Valentin, the Forest Witches forced him to craft eight of these staves, suffering a beating from each. The power in these staves does not improve their combat effectiveness (although they are invariably exceptional weapons with a bonus to their speed, accuracy and damage). However, Presence rolls that would affect a character who has a six-and-finger staff in hand, including those for Charms such as Unbearable Taunt Technique, subtract two dice from their pools.

Once during the existence of a given six-and-finger staff, a victim struck by it will fall hopelessly in love. The wielder cannot control when this happens but is instantly aware of it when it does. This last virtue of the staves derives not from Rurik’s desires, but from the Essence of dead Valentin’s bones.

 

Skirmish Pike (Artifact •)

Standard issue to all Mountain Folk infantry, these four-foot long spears boast a haft of jade and magical alloys tipped with a 15-inch crystal spike. Once per turn, an attuned bearer can collapse a skirmish pike from its full length to a blunt, 18-inch baton or telescope it back to its former length as a reflexive action. Though not as impressive or as devastating as a dire lance, the slender points of these weapons are especially effective as puncturing armor. The mixed alloys used in the construction of these weapons prevents them from providing any Magical Material benefit, but they also allow any magical being to commit 5 motes of Essence to attune the weapons. Skirmish Pikes do not have any settings for Hearthstones.

A few skirmish pikes have additional features built in, although Mountain Folk reserve these superior artifacts for officers or for specific missions that call for their use. Adding one feature raises the Artifact rating to ••, while spears with all three of these functions are rated at •••.

Stun Point: Upon striking an enemy with the spear, the bearer can spend 2 motes to discharge a jolt of electricity and force from the tip. This doubles the raw damage of the weapon and converts the type of injury to bashing, forfeiting the usual piercing bonus. Additionally, any victim who suffers actual levels of damage from the attack is automatically stunned unless her player makes a successful Stamina + Resistance roll at difficulty 3.

Shock Pulse: As an alternative to thrusting with the spear, the bearer can spend 1 mote to fire a bolt of glowing Essence from the tip. The player rolls Dexterity + Melee to hit as normal, but the pulse has accuracy +0, rate 1, a range of 30 yards and inflicts a base damage of 4L plus attack successes. These focused bolts of force inflict piercing damage like target arrows.

Essence Capacitor: The spear has a dimly glowing gem set in its haft, storing an additional 20 motes that may only be used to power the other features of the weapon. The only way to recharge this crystal is for a being with an Essence pool to touch the jewel and spend 2 motes per mote restored to its reserve. Recharging a crystal is a simple action. Mortals can attune to skirmish pikes equipped with this feature by committing 2 Willpower points, but they must rely solely on the reserves of the crystal to power any features that cost Essence. As a final benefit, anyone carrying a skirmish pike in extended mode with an Essence capacitor can spend 1 mote to make the crystal spike glow as brightly as a torch for one scene. Additional motes extend the duration of illumination accordingly.

 

Silver Quill (Artifact •)

These items are writing implements of silver in the form of feathered quills so finely crafted that the “plumage” of the feather has the consistency of a stiff-bristled brush. A silver quill can write without any need for ink, in any color its writer wishes, and its number never wears down. Its markings are waterproof like fine ink and dry instantly. The quill can write on any surface that a normal writing quill can. There are some known silver quills (Artifact ••) that are also capable of writing on their own at the direction of their owner, copying down the words of the owner or another designated person or persons with great speed and accuracy.

 

Sling Of Deadly Prowess (Artifact •)

While many Exalts enjoy using flashy weapons such as powerbows and daiklaves, others prefer having more subtle armaments that can be easily hidden in a pocket or the side of a boot. This sling consists of a cord and pouch that appear to have been exquisitely carved or forged from a single piece of one of the Five Magical Materials. Unless it is attuned to someone, this sling is solid and completely inflexible. If the character spends 3 motes of Essence to attune herself to this item, it becomes ready to use. The bonus provided by Magical Martial is the same as for powerbows.

 

Solar Seal (Artifact •)

This seal is crafted from orichalcum, either as a small stamp or a signet ring. It bears the mark of the Eclipse Caste, but it can transform to display any seal its owner is rightly entitled to. When used to seal a document, a Solar seal ensures its security. If the sealed document is opened by anyone other than the sender or the intended recipient, its pages become completely blank and can only be restored by the touch of the seal to the pages once more. Solar seals were used in the First Age to protect the contents of important documents and some are still in use.

 

Soul-Heart (Artifact •)

No mortal knows what lies or lives in the endless groves at the Eastern edge of the world. Some tales speak of woods so magical that every tree is a Manse and every blooming flower a living gem of the purest Essence. Perhaps these are only fables shared by hopeful or greedy sorcerers or lies spread by the Fair Folk. But then, who can explain the soul-hearts? Each a rough orb of perfect amber the size of a child’s fist, soul-hearts glow the faint gold of sunlight dappled through leaves. Their light and the faint warmth it provides brings cannot be extinguished without breaking the stone. But that is not their most wondrous property. Those who place a soul-heart beside them as they sleep awaken to find the gem changed, sculpted to the likeness of any one thing they desire. The shape may be literal or figurative, simple or complex — but it is always breathtakingly beautiful. Only the Fair Folk and those left soul-dead by the fey cannot change a soul-heart through slumber, for they have no dreams of their own.

The gems return to their original form one day after their transformation and may subsequently be reshaped. Anyone may study a shaped soul-heart to understand the one who shaped it. This requires a Wits + Lore roll at a difficulty determined by the Storyteller. Simple wants are standard difficulty, while the complicated passions of complicated people may be as high as difficulty 5. Success reveals the Nature of the being studied and the specifics of her desire.

 

Stallion-Thrashing Whip (Artifact •)

This whip must be prepared with hide taken from a dead stallion, a lash woven from his mane and a haft reinforced with bones from the stallion’s body. When properly prepared and ensorcelled, a single crack from the whip will summon the stallion’s ghost to serve the owner. The horse rises from the ground in a crack of thunder, its mane and tail streaming and its eyes bright with rage and bloodlust, eager to be racing into battle.

The stallion has the statistics of a noble horse, though it lacks the full intelligence of the latter. It may only be summoned by the whip that was crafted from its body, and if that whip is destroyed, the ghost passes into Lethe. Unlike those ghosts who follow their masters after being sacrificed as part of their funeral rites, the stallion has no allegiance to anyone except the person who currently holds the whip, and it will obey that person’s verbal commands or physical directions unhesitatingly. If slain, it fades away into shadows and may be resummoned by cracking the whip at the next dark of the moon.

 

Steel Pen Of Refinement (Artifact •)

Parts of the Underworld have their bureaucratic aspects, just as do many parts of Creation, and not every soul learned how to express written requests politely during life, let alone with the touch of elegance and authority that can catch a superior’s eye. This quill is modeled on a pyre hawk’s plume, cast in soulsteel, and it must be fed with a drop of blood and a mote of Essence to function. Once this is done, the owner of a steel pen of refinement gains a bonus dice to all Bureaucracy, Performance and Craft rolls involving writing (with the steel pen of refinement) until the end of the scene. His handwriting flows more beautifully, his prose is terse yet stylish, elegant yet not overly presumptuous, and his poetry displays a knowledgeable refinement.

 

Stone Of Ten Thousand Tears (Artifact •)

By capturing the strong emotions of the living in specially prepared crystals, the dead can experience those emotions and feel briefly as though they were living again. A stone of this sort can hold a single memory, taken from a living person, which must be associated with strong passions — possibly love or joy, but more usually, grief, pain and/or hatred. To fill the stone, the living subject must place it against her forehead and willingly recall the memory in question. The memory rushes into the stone in a flurry of colors, causing the stone to glow with strange shades of nacre and crimson, and leaves the living donor forever. She will no longer be able to recall the event, even if she is reminded that it happened to her, but neither will she suffer any emotional trauma from it. For this reason, there are always people willing to sacrifice their own memories to these stones, to be free of them once and for all.

If a ghost wishes to use one of these stones, she places it against her own forehead and promptly relives the event in question, feeling all the panic, the passion and the pain associated with it. While happy and positive emotions are briefly sweet, the letdown afterward makes most ghosts avoid them. Most ghosts prefer memories of torture, near-death and tragedy. Once used, a stone is wiped clean and may have a new memory implanted in it. A living person can also use one of these stones and will experience the memory just as a ghost would. If the original memory donor uses the stone, she will regain her memory of the event.

A thriving trade in these stones has sprung up among the dead, and many unscrupulous dealers go so far as to secretly haunt, torture or kill the families of potential memory donors, before approaching them with the offer of removing their tragic memories. In some areas, such as the lands of the Bodhisattva Anointed by Dark Waters, placing memories in these stones is considered just another duty that the living owe the dead. The living willingly sacrifice their memories and their associated passions, leaving themselves blandly happy and void of painful thoughts that might disturb them.

 

Storm-Running Boots (Artifact •)

These boots were made to take advantage of the storms that sweep across the Underworld. Sewn from savanna lion skin and set with soulsteel rivets, they draw on the raw energies of the tempests, and give the wearer the ability to run through a storm while not being affected by it, so long as he travels with the storm and does not stop.

The wearer of the storm-running boots must first commit 3 motes of Essence to attune himself to them. Once this is done, if he is within an area of the Underworld that is currently being hit by a storm, he may run at full speed without growing tired and without being in any way affected by the weather. This effect only works for as long as he is actually moving (walking round in small circles won’t work) and within the storm. If he reaches a calm area, or if he stops, the enchantment ceases, and all travel is as it would normally be.

Someone wearing storm-running boots can carry another person, assuming he is physically capable of lifting her, but he cannot share the enchantment with other people next to him or holding his hands. Such fellow travelers will grow tired and suffer all the inconveniences of Underworld storms. The weather itself is left to the Storyteller’s discretion, and the storm may not always be blown across the plains of the Underworld in the direction that the character might desire.

 

Storm-Warding Parasol (Artifact •, •• for the large version)

This parasol of black silk is set on an ebony frame and embroidered with human hair and soulsteel thread. When raised, it protects its owner from the storms that wrack the Underworld, shielding her from rain and blood and hail and bone alike. She will hear the pattering of whatever substance the storm is composed of against the parasol and observe it raining down around her, but she will not feel any impact other than that of a gentle rain against the black silk.

It is possible to obtain larger versions of this artifact (Artifact ••) that seem the normal size at first but expand to a circle five yards wide when raised and can thus shelter several people at once. Again, all those beneath the shelter of the storm-warding parasol remain dry and safe from the weather, however vicious and dangerous it may be beyond the area magically protected by the parasol. It bears noting that a storm-warding parasol does not protect its user against dangers of the landscape. If torrential rain causes a flood or a landslide, then the parasol’s user must deal with that herself.

 

Sun Crystal (Artifact •)

These small, regularly shaped crystals occur naturally in Southern lands, where they are often found underground or on the surface as the result of volcanic eruptions. Sorcerers of the First Age, both Dragon King and Exalted, learned how to infuse them with small amounts of power in order to use them for illumination. With the expenditure of 1 mote of Essence, a character can ignite a sun crystal, causing it to glow brightly and clearly for 1,001 days before the mote is consumed. The crystal sheds enough light to illuminate an area 90 feet in diameter. With the expenditure of an additional mote of Essence, the character may increase the light’s radius to 150 feet. Expending any more Essence will overload the crystal, which will shatter in an impressive (though harmless) pyrotechnic display.

Unsurprisingly, sun crystals proved very popular during the First Age, especially in underground cities and other areas where natural light was scarce. The sorcerers of that time learned how to yoke several sun crystals together in a hank in order to create large sources of artificial illumination and how to feed them with accumulators that harnessed the ambient Essence flows and to command the hanks to turn them on and off at will. Examples of these hanks, most inactive, still exist within the underground levels of Rathess and unyoked sun crystals are even more common, many of which are still capable of accepting Essence.

 

Swordstick (Artifact •)

This deadly weapon consists of a long, flat club of semi-living wood. Along either side, just like the teeth in jaws of a sawfish, a single row of iron-hard thorns as long as a woman’s palm transform this club into an extremely deadly weapon. Swordsticks are the ultimate expression of one of the Dragon Kings’ oldest weapons. The first swordsticks were simply branches of ironthorn wood cut to an appropriate length. However, the Dragon King’s vegetative technology allows them to grow low bushes that produce a cluster of three or four swordsticks every two years. Unfortunately, all efforts to grow the bushes outside of Rathess have failed.

When empowered with 4 motes of committed Essence, the swordstick comes to life. At this point, the thorns ooze a sap that causes all wounds to be exceptionally painful, and the club-like blade bends itself to the user’s will, aiding him in his attacks.

 

Talisman Of Suspended Evocation (Artifact • to •••••)

These artificial gems resemble a layered fusion of diamond and opal, with iridescent motes of shifting colors inside the core of a clear crystal. The artificial jewels always appear as regular polyhedrons, with the total number of facets indicating their overall power. In ascending order of might and rarity, they are tetrahedron (•), cube (••), octahedron (•••), dodecahedron (••••) and icosahedron (•••••). More than just pretty baubles, talismans of suspended evocation store Mountain Folk Charms, allowing a bearer to use the stored magic at a later time without spending Essence. In order to charge one of these gems with a Charm, the bearer must concentrate as a simple action and pay all the costs for the Charm plus 1 additional point of Willpower. In the case of Charms with a flexible cost, the stored Charm will take effect exactly according to the number of motes spent. No part of the cost remains committed. Talismans can only hold a number of Charms with a total minimum Essence of double their Artifact rating. For example, an Artifact •• stone can hold one Essence 4 Charm, two Essence 2 Charms, four Essence 1 Charms or one Essence 3 Charm and one Essence 1 Charm. Activating a talisman of suspended evocation occurs on the appropriate timing for the stored Charm, exactly as if the bearer knew and had used the Charm in question. This counts as a Charm use and cannot be part of a Combo. The jewel must be in physical contact with the character or touching an artifact to which the bearer is attuned. Furthermore, the character must actually know what Charm he intends to use. Each Charm leaves a distinctive shade of light in the crystal, which any Jadeborn can recognize with a successful Intelligence + Occult roll (difficulty of the Charm’s minimum Essence). Once a character learns a specific Charm’s light, she will always recognize it. Only Mountain Folk can use these devices.

 

Thirst-Quenching Pitcher (Artifact •)

When fed with the blood of the living, this pitcher pours forth any drink that the holder has tasted and can remember, from the finest wines to grace the Empress’ table to bitter ales from the Far North. It cannot produce poisons or drinks that are poisoned, but it will replicate high-quality alcohol that will allow the dead to forget their woes for a little while. A single health level of lethal damage will provide enough blood for one glass of the pourer’s choice of beverage. She must place the blood in the pitcher and then pour it out while concentrating on whatever type of drink she wants. Dried blood is ineffective, and blood more than a day old will produce a drink that has a faint patina of age and no longer tastes wholly fresh.

Thirst-quenching pitchers come in many different shapes and sizes, from small porcelain jugs that will fill a single glass to large onyx urns that can provide drink for a dozen feasters. In some mighty households, it is as important to have a servant or chamberlain who has sampled numerous vintages as it is to have a pitcher, so that a sufficient variety of drinks is available. To drink blood from a pitcher without bothering to change it to some other liquid is seen as either gauche, or as making a daring statement of personal fashion, depending on the social position of the person doing so.

 

The Tongue-Binder (Artifact •)

When donned, this thin soulsteel chain lies closely around its wearer’s throat and seems no more or less than any other necklace, and the pendant hanging from it is merely an elegant, inch-long, stylized representation of a snake. However, the tongue-binder’s true potency comes into effect when it is invoked by its owner to bear witness that she speaks the truth. The serpent-pendant begins to slowly writhe, and the chain wriggles against her flesh. If its wearer knowingly tells a lie of any degree, the serpent breaks loose from its chain, digs into the flesh of her neck, wriggles up inside her throat and bites off her tongue. This will cause a level of lethal damage to the wearer and is also immensely obvious to any onlookers.

Nothing stops the wearer from removing this necklace. However, in the treacherous world of the dead, it is often worn by ghosts and humans living in shadowlands so that they can prove that they are speaking the truth. It must be deliberately invoked in the name of Oblivion to cause it to function, and it will only work if the wearer knowingly lies. If she honestly recounts a fact that she does not know to be false, the serpent will not react, and she will not be harmed.

 

Veil Of Privacy (Artifact •)

A favorite artifact of those who, by choice or circumstances, find themselves often dealing with sensitive matters in social environments, veils of privacy are made from a variety of materials and in a variety of styles, and they periodically go in and out of fashion. In addition to the mundane effect of foiling lip-readers, veils of privacy put any who would spy or eavesdrop on the character at a + 2 difficulty to do so. It costs 1 mote of Essence to attune to a veil.

 

Vine Klave (Artifact •)

This peculiar-looking weapon measures five feet long, with a handle approximately two feet long and a blade approximately three feet in length. When active, the weapon bears a resemblance to a short daiklave. Its construction, however, is nothing like any other examples of those mighty weapons. Instead, the vine klave lives up to its name. The haft is a gnarly woody shaft, and the blade is a vine specially bred to be as tough as fine steel. When the weapon is inactive, the weapon’s fibrous blade becomes flexible and coils along the length of the haft. On the underside of this part, there are what look like small, sharp spines. If placed against the flesh of a living thing, these thorns extend and coil around the wielder’s arm and dig into it, causing a short, piercing pain and unsoakably draining two health levels, which cannot be recovered until the weapon is detached. With the klave so attached, the wearer may wield it as a weapon. The vine klave has the advantage of functioning as part of the wearer’s body for as long as he wears it. Consequently, he cannot be disarmed or drop his weapon. Likewise, while the wearer has a limited grip (+1 difficulty on all rolls involving the physical dexterity of that hand), the length of the vine klave prevents the wearer from picking other things up while wielding the weapon. The vine klave was a popular weapon among Dragon Kings who served the god Han-Tha. Spirits associated with that dread god often possessed these warriors. Anyone who uses one of these weapons in the Second Age of Man likewise runs the risk of attracting the attention of spirits once associated with their use.

 

Whip Of The Dead (Artifact •)

This whip is made from leather flayed from the corpse of a leviathan, with soulsteel barbs on the end and soulsteel wire wound around the butt. Any ghost or animal creature of the Underworld will instinctively fear it and will make an extra effort to please its wielder and fulfill his wishes. Carrying this whip gives an extra dice on all Ride rolls, while actively using it on one’s steed gives the rider two extra dice for that particular Ride roll but inflicts a level of bashing damage to his steed.

 

Windslave Disk (Artifact •)

A common First Age item, these flat, jade-alloy disks are still in common use all over the Realm and manufactured in limited numbers even in the modern day. By attaching a disk to a non-living object and committing 3 motes of Essence, the disk invests the object with Essence resonant of air, effectively making the object lighter. A windslave disk reduces the weight of an object by half or by 500 pounds, whichever is lesser. Attaching multiple windslave disks to an object has no effect.

 

Winterbreath Jar (Artifact •)

A winterbreath jar is an urn or carafe enchanted with the power of elemental air to keep its contents cold or possessed of a sealed area inside that’s filled with unmelting snow or ice from the Far North. All winterbreath jars are typically crafted of blue jade and are of excellent craftsmanship. Common themes of one’s construction include handles shaped like air dragons and clouds or glaciers engraved into the body of the jar. A winterbreath jar will keep its contents at a constant temperature of about 45 degrees, cold enough to keep perishables fresh or wine chilled. Winterbreath jars vary in size but rarely hold more than a gallon of liquid or a small watermelon. Winterbreath jars need not be attuned to their users.