Level 2
Artifacts
Ashigaru Battle Armor (Artifact ••)
The elite ashigaru normally wear
specialized armor whose design dates back to the First Age but can still be
produced today. This lightweight armor, equal in protection to a reinforced
breastplate, is enchanted to aid the wearer in various ways. The armor sharpens
the wearer’s senses, negating penalties for darkness less than “utter
blackness” and adding two dice to all Awareness dice pools. Enchantments and
filters protect the wearer against poison and disease, adding two dice to
Resistance dice pools and completely shielding the wearer from breathed toxins
for up to an hour. Finally, the armor can camouflage its wearer, blurring her
presence and adding two dice to the wearer’s Stealth dice pool when moving or
three dice when stationary.
Mortals must spend one
temporary Willpower to activate the armor — this Willpower is treated as
committed and effectively lowers the character’s maximum temporary Willpower.
Additionally, wearers age one extra week for every
season or part of a season the armor is used. Exalts must commit 4 motes to use
this armor, but otherwise suffer no effect. Ashigaru armor is built using a
mixture of Magical Materials and First Age alloys, and Exalted wearers gain no
Magical Material bonuses. Ashigaru battle armor requires maintenance every 150
hours of operation. Every 10 hours of missed maintenance disables one power at
random.
Automaton Assassin (Artifact ••)
Automata assassins are clockwork creatures
disguised as jewelry — most often rings, earrings or
decorative belts. They take the form of small insects, spiders, snakes or other
creatures of appropriate size. Inactive, they appear to be meticulously
detailed works of art, often of great beauty.
The first automata assassins were built
before the Usurpation as part of the plan to kill the Solars and were of much
greater potency. All of these were believed destroyed in the subsequent ambush,
but they took a heavy toll on the Anathema before the devices were destroyed.
Since that time, the Exalted have found it impossible to duplicate those
earlier automata and have resorted to more subtle creations that depend more
upon stealth than raw power.
The controlling Exalt must invest 5 motes of
Essence to animate the jewelry, which unfolds and moves as a perfectly
articulated replica of the creature it resembles. For one scene, the automaton
moves according to the Exalt’s mental directions, and she can focus her senses
through the item, seeing through its eyes and hearing through its ears.
Automata carry a terrible poison of magical origin, which they can inject with
a bite, although each such bite costs the controlling Exalt 2 motes of Essence.
As usual, an Exalt who is investing Essence into an automaton not of her type
pays double the investment cost, but the bite costs only 2 motes regardless of
the automaton’s type.
Automata assassins are rare, but popular
among the Terrestrial Exalted, who often use them to
create “openings” in the ranks.
Bag Of Harvested Plagues (Artifact ••)
The illnesses that have slain the dead can,
in turn, be let loose upon the living once again. This black silk sack is three
handwidths across and is embroidered with the names of sicknesses from across
Creation with black silk thread and the hair of those who died from contagious
fevers. It has two main functions: to “trap” a disease and to “release” it. To
“trap” a disease, the bag must be held to the mouth of one of the dead who died
from such a disease, and the owner of the bag must spend a mote of Essence.
This has no effect on the dead himself. Up to five
different diseases may be held within the bag at any one time, but multiple
applications of the same disease have no effect.
To “release” a disease, the holder opens
the bag and shakes it in the direction of a living person, from a distance of
five yards or less. The victim’s player must make a separate Stamina +
Resistance check for each of the diseases in the bag, as they cannot be
released one at a time, but must all be discharged together. Should the
victim’s player fail his check against the Virulence of a particular disease,
then the victim contracts it. No other living people nearby will catch anything
from the bag, though they are at normal risk of infection from an
illness-ridden victim. This artifact cannot trap or release the Great
Contagion. Nothing less than the Well of Udr could hold such a thing, and any
attempt to trap the Great Contagion in a bag of harvested plagues will destroy
the bag.
This chain of human vertebrae, linked
together with dried human sinews, is flexible enough to be worn as a belt or
coiled around a forearm. Its true purpose, however, is to form a convenient
bridge over rivers, marshes, or gaps in the ground. The owner must attune to
it, which requires committing 5 motes of Essence, but once this is done, she
can use it freely. All that she needs to do is to cast it down in front of her,
over a river or chasm or soft ground or similar gap, and the chain of vertebrae
will grow and arch into a curved bone bridge three feet wide. The bridge can
span a gap of up to 100 yards, but no further. It will remain solid and in
place until its owner places her hand on it and wishes for it to resume its
smaller form, and she can do this from either side of the bridge — or even
while standing on it. It will then shrink, returning to being a chain of
vertebrae in her hand. If people should still be on the bridge at this point,
they will fall.
Bone Harpoon (Artifact ••)
This barbed harpoon is carved from the
bones of a dead behemoth, inlaid with soulsteel, and is paired with a soulsteel
gauntlet. Most of the time, only the gauntlet exists, but at
a moment’s notice, the wearer of the gauntlet can summon up the harpoon.
The harpoon may be used in hand-to-hand combat, and it has the statistics of a
dire lance under those circumstances. However, it has another use.
If thrown so that it strikes a target (the
throw must connect, and the target must suffer at least one level of damage),
then the user can spend a mote of Essence to invoke the harpoon’s true power. A
soulsteel chain shimmers into existence between the gauntlet and the harpoon,
and it promptly tightens, dragging the target to a mere three feet away from
the harpoon’s owner, at which point the chain vanishes, leaving the butt of the
harpoon in the owner’s gauntleted hand. The harpoon may be thrown again, or it
may be used in hand-to-hand combat, as the owner wishes.
In order to drag the target to him, the
Harpoon’s owner must oppose his Strength + Melee to the target’s Strength +
Endurance. If the player of the harpoon’s owner scores equal or more successes,
then the target is dragged across to the wielder of the harpoon, though this does
not cause additional damage. This takes a full combat turn. If the target’s
player scores more successes, then the target can remain where she is standing,
though the harpoon is still in her flesh and the chain still exists. The
harpoon’s owner may attempt to drag her to his feet again next turn, or he may
choose to let the chain vanish and retrieve the harpoon at his leisure.
Bracelets Of Passionate Artistry (Artifact
••)
These hammered soulsteel bracelets are
several inches wide, stretching halfway up the forearm, but always precisely
fit their owner, however large or small his arms. They raise the owner’s Craft,
giving him a bonus of one die to all rolls involving works of art or craft that
he creates while wearing them. If he is working in an area where he actually
has a specialization (such as Soulsteel or First Age Weapons) then he gains a
bonus of two dice, as the bracelets respond particularly well to directed and
focused passion for crafting.
The bracelets are made of soulsteel that
has been hammered from the ghosts of craftsmen and is unornamented other than
the single small soulfire crystal which is set in each bracelet. When their
owner is working, the bracelets croon in wailing occult harmony as they
remember their joy in craftwork. The bracelets can be separated, but they must
both be worn to be effective. If one is destroyed, the other immediately
shatters and falls to dust.
Bracer Of
This large bracer is made of a single piece
of clear rock crystal set with orichalcum inlays. This weapon holds two bolts
also made of enchanted rock crystal. With a thought, the wearer can fire these
bolts, and by spending 1 mote of Essence, the character can draw the bolts back
to the weapon (they actually fly to the weapon).
If either of the bolts is damaged or
broken, it will repair itself within a few hours, less for minor damage.
Committing 4 motes of Essence activates the bracer and causes it to resize to
fit the wearer and allows the wearer to fire it. It can then only be removed by
the wearer or upon her death. This bracelet has a setting for a single
Hearthstone. Bracers of crystal bolts use the Thrown Ability to attack, and
Thrown Charms can apply to attacks with them.
Bracer Of The Hawk
(Artifact ••)
This bracer
― they are rarely found in pairs, though it has occasionally been known
to happen ― has a creature of pure Essence (like a cherub) in the shape
of a hawk woven into its metal, which can be summoned and commanded to serve
the owner. The bracer of the hawk appears to be normal steel bracer of the
highest quality, with the design of a screaming bird of prey working into it in
one of the Five Magical Materials. The owner must commit 2 motes of Essence to
the bracer to attune it to himself. Once that is done, he need merely concentrate
on the bracer and command the hawk to emerge.
The hawk spirit
takes its body from the metals of the bracer: It is made of steel, with great
winds edged with orichalcum, moonsilver, jade, starmetal or soulsteel. The
magical bird has a high intelligence, though not quite at the human level, and
is capable of obeying detailed orders. If it returns safely to the owner, then
it can reenter the bracer: however, if it is slain outside the bracer, then the
bracer becomes no more than a useful piece of armor, and the hawk spirit is
lost forever.
The bracer of the
hawk has a setting for a single Hearthstone.
Candelabrum Of Remembered Kin (Artifact ••)
Sometimes, the dead wish to see how their
living kin fare. And, if they are willing to pay the price, there are ways of
doing so. This slender, five-branched candelabrum is made of soulsteel, set
with garnets and onyx from the mines of the Underworld, and it offers the dead
the chance to briefly see their families again. When candles of a certain
formulation are placed in the candelabra and lit in a certain way, the smoke
rises from the holders on the four outer arms and the innermost socket and
forms a circular window in the air. This window, which is a full yard in
diameter, will display the particular family member of whom the candle-lighter
was thinking, for as long as the candles burn, even if the family member moves
around during that period. The power of the artifact can be protected against
by countermagic or by spells that block scrying and sorcerous spying.
The candles must be made from a particular
mixture of pounded ash, juniper berries and melted wax from used funeral
candles, with wicks of linen taken from the shrouds of members of the family in
question. Another family member must light the candles and must be directly
linked by blood to the descendant (or ancestor, if still alive) who is the
target of observation. The candles will burn for a maximum of half an hour. If
blown out before that time is over, they can be relit and reused. The candelabrum
itself may be used a maximum of five times a day, assuming that the owner has
sufficient candles for his wishes. Those who are observed through it may, on a
successful Perception + Occult roll at a difficulty of 7, smell juniper and ash
in the air and see a faint shadow of smoke hovering where no smoke should be.
Chain Shirt (Artifact
••)
While most warriors prefer to go
into battle in the heaviest armor they can comfortably wear, the danger of
being shot by assassins or down by commandos has led some Exalted to use
protection that can be worn in civilian settings. Like any other form of
artifact armor, chain shirts can be made of orichalcum, moonsilver, starmetal,
jade or soulsteel. Each of these items has the same modifiers as any other
armor made from that material. Like any other chain shirt, this armor can be
discreetly worn under coats, robes or other bulky clothing.
Chair Of Guilty Sorrows (Artifact ••)
This throne-like chair is carved from solid
black marble and ornamented with silver and white jade and starmetal. When one
of the dead sits in it, the chair glues itself to him, clinging to his legs and
buttocks and back with a supernatural strength and forcing him to remain there.
Once it has a victim trapped, serpent heads carved on the arms of the chair
open their mouths and begin to intone a list of all the victim’s crimes in
life, drawing on the victim’s own feelings of guilt and shame. Once they have
gone through a full list of all the victim’s wrongdoings, they begin again.
These “crimes” are those for which the victim actually feels personal guilt,
rather than any sort of universal moral truth. If the victim’s Essence +
Willpower is 10 or more, then the chair cannot read
his guilt and will not trap him.
In order to remove himself from the chair,
the victim either must confess to each crime as it is listed by the chair or
must be forcibly torn from it. If he confesses to all the crimes, then he can
simply get up and walk away. If he tries to rip himself loose or to have
friends rip him loose, then all those involved in the attempt may combine their
Strength + Athletics (by adding it together) and will need to score five or
more successes against a difficulty of 7. For each success less than a total of
10, the victim takes a die of lethal damage due to parts of his body remaining
stuck to the chair (natural soak only), and he always takes at least one level
of lethal damage. Sapphire or Adamant Countermagic will also break the chair’s
hold, but only for a minute. After that time, the chair attempts to reassert
its hold on the victim, and if he has not been removed, it will clasp his flesh
again.
Cloak Of Vermin (Artifact ••)
This rich cloak of black fur is, in fact,
composed of the ghosts of hundreds of plague rats, woven together by sorcery
and still metaphysically rife with malice and hunger. With a single word, the
wearer of the cloak can transform it into a seething mass of yellow-toothed
rats and set the rats on his enemies. Particularly sadistic wearers of this
cloak in the past have even pretended that the cloak was a gift to a friend or
lover and waited till it was set around the other person’s shoulders before
calling forth the rats of the cloak to devour her. The rats can be directed at
a particular target, but they only know how to attack and cannot perform any
complex maneuvers.
Treat the swarm of rats as a single
creature with the statistics of a great cat but automatically doing both biting
and clawing attack every turn to a single target. Even if the rats are slain,
the cloak will still reform at the owner’s wish and will be fully functional
again at the next dark of the moon. Only flame, sorcery or Charms can
permanently destroy it.
Compass Of Immanent Strife (Artifact ••)
This compass is forged of orichalcum and
starmetal, and once installed in a ship’s helm, infallibly points toward the
largest current battle within 50 miles. Should there not be any ongoing battles
within that distance, then the starmetal needle hangs loosely in the compass,
swaying idly with the waves. The size of a battle is gauged by the power of the
participants and then by their number. A fight between a handful of Solars and
Abyssals will trump a sea battle involving a dozen ships, though the needle
will show notable hesitation in making up its mind. Should the steersman sail
toward the battle, following the compass’ direction, then he will benefit from
a favoring wind until he reaches the battle, giving the ship an extra dot of
speed.
Courier Drone (Artifact ••)
Generally reminiscent of large metallic
dragonflies about three inches long, these automata provide one of the most
common means of delivering messages between Autochthonian cities. The drones
can only carry a quarter-pound of weight in their spindly legs, but this is
more than sufficient for bearing tiny brass scroll tubes or memory crystals.
The automata navigate by Essence, able to track the emissions of metropoli
across all of Autochthonia. Upon arrival, they follow the broadcasted neural
signals of the ancient Alchemicals to a designated drop site. Because of this
navigation system, they would be blind and confused outside the Realm of Brass
and Shadow, though new models could be designed to orient using the dragon
tracks of Gaia’s pattern-woven souls. More importantly, the automata are highly
nimble and capable of flying at a top speed of 300 miles per hour. These
automata possess Intelligence 1, Perception 3 and Wits 3, and as automata,
courier drones have no Virtues; they never fail Valor rolls and never succeed
at any other Virtue checks. Courier drones generally travel through tram veins
whenever possible, employing their small size to dodge around passing trains.
Alternately, they can flit through grates into air ducts, although these
passages are generally more dangerous and, therefore, are used only as a last
resort.
A less common version of this device exists
for exploration and military purposes (also Artifact ••). Instead of orienting
on any city, these drones can only fly back and forth between two rings. The
drones can infallibly track their target beacons in real time so long as they
are on the same plane of reality, using the best possible means of reaching the
current destination if both are within Autochthonia. Wards that block scrying
also inhibit navigation if the destination beacon is brought into a warded
area. In such cases, the drone finds a place to land and waits until it can
sense the destination to resume its journey.
All courier drones respire
living Essence through their wings in order to remain functional. If they pass
inside an Autochthonian blight zone or a shadowland during the day, their top
speed drops to 50 miles per hour. In the Underworld, they can fly at this
reduced speed for one hour, after which their flight becomes erratic and they
land, ceasing all function until they are exposed to living Essence for a full
hour. Repairing a damaged drone takes an hour of work and costs Resources ••
per health level. The technician must have an appropriate Craft (usually
Clockworks) at ••••.
Crossbows (Resources •• or •••, or Artifact ••)
These weapons have long been associated
with the followers of the Machine God, ever since the Mountain Folk developed
them in the primeval era before mankind. By the time that humans began using
weapons, the Jadeborn had long since moved on to more advanced devices, such as
Essence cannons, so the Conclave generously shared the designs for crossbows
with the early mortal followers of Autochthon. After the Primordial left
Creation and took these followers with him, the geased and weakened Mountain Folk
turned once more to using crossbows because they could no longer maintain the
glorious arsenals of the past. Much later, the Haslanti uncovered preserved
copies of the weapons from the ruins of a city once belonging to the Great
Maker’s people. They have closely guarded the designs for these weapons, so
crossbows remain extremely rare in Creation. In Autochthonia, matters are quite
different. Conventional bows are all but unknown except in exile colonies and
are viewed by military engineers as a quaint archaism. Even powerbows are
viewed with similar disdain by Alchemicals, who prefer the Essence cannons and
pneumatic bows of their own Charms or the deadly artifacts known as assault
crossbows.
In all varieties, the main advantage of
crossbows is that they do not depend on their user’s Strength for power. With a
little training, even the weakest conscripts or children may attack with the
same devastating force as archers who have spent years building their muscles.
Furthermore, the vast majority of arrows used by Autochthonians are
armor-piercing bolts (considered target arrows), extremely useful against
metal-skinned gremlins. Broadhead bolts are far less common, given how
ineffective they are against automata and rogue machine gods. Most rare of all,
Autochthonians occasionally employ a cruel form of bolt with a spring loaded
tip that opens into a three-bladed claw as the projectile leaves the bow. These
are useless against hard targets, but inflict horrible rending wounds against
flesh (same rules as frog-crotch arrows). These so-called razor bolts are
expensive and take more effort to produce, but they are sufficiently
demoralizing that sentinels favor them for policing and most cities keep a
supply on hand. Unfortunately, crossbows are slow to reload (maximum rate of 1)
and suffer from poor range compared with conventional bows. Exceptional bows
cannot improve their rate. Similarly, Archery Charms cannot overcome the rate
limitation unless they are specifically developed for that purpose.
The four main types of crossbows used in
Autochthon are personal weapons, rare wrist-mounted models favored by assassins
(often loaded with poisoned darts), siege models intended for use against large
targets and the aforementioned assault crossbows used by the Alchemicals. The
last have an attunement cost of 5 motes and generally provide the same Magical
Material bonuses as powerbows. Jade models do not add to rate, but instead,
propel their arrows like flashing thunderbolts, gaining a speed of +2 and
adding 30 yards to range.
Daiklaves (Artifact ••)
Elaborately decorated and with double-edged
blades over four feet long and six or more inches wide, daiklaves are the
traditional weapons of the Exalted. Daiklaves are forged from steel alloyed
with one of the Five Magical Materials and are far too large to be wielded by
mere mortals. However, in the hands of an Exalted, the material of the sword
resonates with the character’s anima, making the blade light and wieldy,
despite its impressive size. Each daiklave is unique, its shape partly a
product of the smith’s desires and partly dictated by complex astrological
factors. By long tradition, each is also named and treated as an honored
companion to the Exalted who wields it.
A daiklave is deadly in the hands of any
Exalted, but in the hands of one of the Exalted attuned to the Magical Material
used in its construction, it is especially deadly. Such an Exalted can use the
weapon as a conduit for her anima. The blade is not simply an extension of her
body, but an expression of her will and her divine nature.
In addition to their inherent powers, most
daiklaves have a setting for a single Hearthstone. Beyond this setting and
their inherent magic, most daiklaves bear no additional enchantment. However,
some daiklaves, normally those forged for nobles or noted heroes, are woven
with other sorceries. Such enchantments are much more common on relics of the
First Age than on modern jade-alloy daiklaves.
Dragon Sigh Wand (Artifact ••)
Carved from red jade in the likeness of an
openmouthed dragon and inlaid with a fine tracing of orichalcum, these
two-foot-long artifact firewands do not require ammunition. Instead, the jade
conducts the user’s Essence through an array of crystal lenses in the throat of
the barrel, unleashing a torrent of scarlet flame from the mouth. Attuning to a
Dragon Sigh Wand costs 5 motes, and the devices are specifically designed to
resonate with all magical beings in spite of their predominantly jade
construction. Owing to this universal design, the weapons also do not receive
the usual Magical Material bonus for jade weapons. Attuned users need only
point the wands in the direction of their enemies and spend 2 motes per blast.
Ruby capacitors in the device store up to 12 motes that the bearer can use as
an alternate power source for blasts. Recharging these artifacts requires touch
and a simple action costing 2 motes per mote restored. In addition to their
other limitations, dragon sigh wands require adjustment of their delicate
lenses after every scene in which they are fired. Failure to perform such
maintenance can result in a misfire or even a catastrophic explosion. Aligning
the crystals requires five minutes of undisturbed work and a successful
Intelligence + Craft (First Age Weapons) roll at difficulty 3.
For every five additional minutes spent
adjusting the lenses, the player adds an extra die to this roll (to a maximum
of three bonus dice). Each failed or missed maintenance roll cumulatively adds
1 to the difficulty and Essence cost of attacks made with the poorly aligned
weapon, until the third successive failure or missed repair imposes the effects
of a botch. On a botch, the weapon becomes extremely unstable. If fired, the
wand does not produce a stream of flame, but instead, unleashes a spherical
conflagration inflicting the weapon’s normal damage on everything within two
yards (including the user). The weapon itself remains unharmed by the
explosion.
Repairing a botched alignment takes an hour
of undisturbed work and increases the difficulty of the maintenance roll to 5.
Fortunately, any further failures or botched repair rolls do not make the
weapon more dangerous. A successful repair roll keeps a dragon sigh wand
functioning normally or repairs the effects of any previously failed or missed
maintenance rolls.
Smaller foot-long versions of this weapon
type exist, also rated Artifact •• for a single wand or Artifact ••• for set of
two. These models cost 4 motes to attune, 6 motes for a matched pair, and only
store 8 motes in their ruby capacitors per wand. These variants trade a
slightly reduced damage for an effectively doubled rate when used as a pair.
Dragon sigh wands of either size are
permitted as style weapons by Righteous Devil martial arts.
Dragon Tear Tiara (Artifact ••)
Another common decorative item, these
tiaras and circlets were forged from all the Magical Materials and incorporate
all the motifs of Hearthstone amulets, above. Regardless of the material from
which they’re forged, all tiaras provide the same benefits.
Each has a setting for a Hearthstone
located directly over the character’s Caste Mark. Dragon tear tiaras require
the commitment of 2 motes of Essence to activate the Hearthstone and the
tiara’s own magical powers. When activated, the tiara adds 1 die to the
character’s Perception for normal perception rolls. This bonus increases to 3
dice when the character is attempting to perform geomancy, astrology, detect
spirits or otherwise perform tasks that require occult sensitivity.
Essence Cannon (Artifact •• to •••••)
The design of the Essence cannon is very
old, possibly the oldest ranged weapon not powered by human (or Exalted)
muscle. Essence cannons are inefficient and clumsy in application — but they
are also easily maintained, easy to build and capable of great power when built
large enough. As more elegant or versatile weapons have succumbed to the
passage of time or lack of maintenance, the Seventh Legion finds itself
increasingly turning to Essence cannons.
Essence cannons are very simple in
operation — an Exalt pumps in motes, and out comes a beam of raw, focused
Essence. This blast is a concussive pulse that smashes anything it hits —
damage is bashing, but the player of any target hit must make a Stamina +
Athletics roll against difficulty 3 to have his character remain standing. If
directed against a nonliving target, the weapon inflicts half its damage as
lethal damage.
The great advantage of Essence cannons is
their rugged and simple nature — they require little maintenance beyond
cleaning and, when broken, can be repaired even during battle — the only parts
that can break are the Essence lenses, and these are easily replaced. For this
reason, most of the non-powerbow artifact ranged weapons in use in the Realm
today are Essence cannons of various types, mostly built by the Mountain Folk.
Small Essence Cannon: The small Essence cannon is
a heavy brass and steel tube lined with Essence lenses, normally mounted on a
wooden stock with crude sights. Fired over the shoulder, these weapons were
sometimes used for riot control or for capturing wanted targets without
permanently harming them. A handful of surviving First Age versions have an
Essence reservoir built into them that stores 30 motes — these are Artifact •••
and have a commitment cost of 5.
Medium Essence Cannon: Medium Essence cannons are large enough to
require a two-man team to fire — although some Exalts are strong enough to
carry them into position, they are too long to fire effectively. If individuals
try to fire the weapon, apply the same penalties as for using oversized weapons.
Some warstriders carry one mounted on one shoulder or as a handheld weapon — if
mounted, this weapon adds • to the warstrider’s Artifact rating.
Large and Very Large Essence Cannons: Normally used only as fortification
weapons, not even warstriders can use them effectively. The weapon’s blast
affects everyone within 10 feet of the impact point.
Essence Dice (Artifact ••, ••• for health
levels)
These dice have been carved out of bone,
inlaid with ebon shadow taken directly from the pupils of the eyes of helpless
ghosts and treated with Arcanoi that allow those who use them to transfer
Essence between each other through a bet. This works for both the living and
the dead. Wagers must be between the owner and another person or between two
people with the owner standing as arbiter, and the owner must state the terms
of the wager clearly before the dice are thrown. The dice absorb Essence from
those who have made the wager, using a form of Filling the Precious Vial, and
then, they restore it to the person who wins the wager. Any Essence that the
winner cannot hold is lost. The dice are found in sets of two to ten, but they
need not all be used at the same time. A maximum of 5 motes of Essence can be
wagered on any one bet.
A much rarer form of this artifact can also
hold health levels of lethal damage as part of the wager, so that ghosts can
bet their very existences in hopes of winning more Essence or healing their
wounds. A ghost who destroys herself in this way, by
gambling away all her health levels, automatically casts herself into Lethe
unless restrained with soulsteel chains or otherwise destined for Oblivion.
Essence Pulse Grenade (Artifact ••)
Some elite Warriors carry artifact grenades
constructed of jade and crystal. These reusable spheres store a charge of
elemental Essence at their core. When activated by pressing a combination of
jeweled buttons, the orbs hum with power and detonate after the desired
duration (any time from a turn to an hour) or when a squeezed button is
released without disarming (a “dead man’s” switch). The explosion does not
damage the grenade, but instead, releases its stored Essence in a deadly
spherical pulse. Recharging a grenade is a simple action costing 6 motes (these
are not committed), but this process also requires the insertion of a unique
jeweled key as a security precaution. Building a replacement key is possible,
but it’s beyond the technology of any of the Nameless Hordes. Depending on the
type of jade used, this blast manifests as an appropriate form of elemental
energy. Red yield 10L fire damage exactly as pyromantic grenades, setting
objects aflame. Blue project a stunning corona of lightning (20B, ignoring the
soak of any non-magical metallic armor). White orbs emit concussive force (20B,
all targets in blast range must resist knockdown at difficulty). Black release
a 10L damage freezing pulse that temporarily reduces the Dexterity of all
victims in range by two dots, unless their players make a reflexive Stamina +
Resistance roll (difficulty 3). Victims with zero Dexterity are frozen in place
and cannot move. Lost Dexterity returns at the rate of one
dot per hour. Green emits poison gas that inflicts no damage, but every
living being in range must test for exposure to a toxin comparable to arrow
frog venom. The conjured fumes dissipate after a single turn.
Essence Union Dart (Artifact ••)
Exploiting the connection between an Exalt
and the Essence he commits to an artifact, while perhaps unorthodox, can
certainly be effective, as these darts demonstrate. An Essence union dart is
specifically designed to forge a strong bond with whoever attunes to it — and
is barbed to maintain a different sort of strong bond with a target.
After successfully attacking with an
Essence union dart, the character may use the link between herself
and the dart to make further ranged attacks against that target with other
weapons. Such attacks ignore penalties for cover or concealment and increase
the target’s dodge difficulty by an amount equal to the attacker’s Essence.
These effects persist for a number of hours equal to the attacking character’s
permanent Essence. Essence union darts use the statistics for throwing knives
but have a base damage of 0L. It costs 2 motes of Essence to attune to an
Essence union dart.
The Enchiridion Of All Knowledge (Artifact
••)
Author: Auspicious Plume
Despite its grandiloquent title, The
Enchiridion is in fact a short work. Created through the use of supernatural
scrivenery, The Enchiridion includes far more information that its pages
should be able to contain. Much like an almanac or a large dictionary, the book
describes a wide variety of topics, from history to geography to theology, in
an extremely curt and to-the-point fashion. What the book lacks in depth (and
that is considerable), it makes up for in being an excellent primer to many
topics relating to the First Age. Anyone who wishes to know, for example, the
population of Rathess in the time of Auspicious Plume could find that
information in the pages of The Enchiridion. The book abounds with such
trivial information, being devoted to raw facts rather than anything like true
understanding.
Fingerbone Bracelet (Artifact ••)
This pale bracelet is woven from
fingerbones, which are, in turn, linked together with thin dry sinew and tanned
human skin. To make it work, the wearer puts the heel of her hand against a
lock that she wishes to open, and spends a mote of Essence. The fingerbones pry
themselves loose from the bracelet and wriggle down her hand to the lock, where
they attempt to open it. The bracelet is thwarted by magical locks, but it can
open any normal lock, from the complicated settings on a Guild strongbox to the
simple padlock on a shed door. It takes one minute to open a lock, assuming
that the artifact is not thwarted by magic, however complex the lock is. Once
the lock is open, the fingerbones return to the bracelet and cling there once
again. In the event there are several locks on the same door, multiple
applications of the bracelet will be necessary to open them all. The fingerbone
bracelet is quite a well known type of artifact, and people who openly wear
such a bracelet are often suspected of larcenous intentions automatically,
whether or not such suspicions are justified.
Face Of Discretion (Artifact ••)
Crafted for the servants who attend to the
guests at Cynis parties, these upper-face masks are intended to make the help
as unobtrusive as possible during the festivities without limiting access to
their mouths. They are unadorned and white, to be as depersonalizing and
standardized as possible.
Any rolls to perceive the identity of the
wearer of a face of discretion are made at +3 difficulty.
A face of discretion can operate for two hours before requiring 22 hours of
dormancy. This period of dormancy can be decreased to 11 hours if the face is
stored in at least one gallon of the mingled, fresh vital fluids of three or
more mortals. The blood or other material used in this process can only be used
once. These masks require no attunement.
Fire Claw (Artifact ••)
This unusual and deadly item is made in the
form of a fancy orichalcum bracelet set with a large red stone. It fits
perfectly on the wrist of one of the Dragon Kings and is not uncomfortable when
worn by an Exalt. Whenever the wearer expends 2 motes of Essence, a curving blade
of golden sunfire springs forth from the bracelet and arcs in front of the
wearer’s hand (this is a diceless reflexive action). Looking like a cross
between a narrow-bladed scimitar and a great and deadly claw, this weapon was
favored by many Dragon King cult members. The claw endures for one full scene,
and so long as the wearer expends 2 motes every scene, it can be made to exist
indefinitely. The claw is designed so that it is impossible for the wearer’s
hand to be injured by the claw curving above it. A wearer must commit 5 motes
of Essence to use this item. This item contains a setting for a single
hearthstone. The Fire Claw is used with the Melee Ability, and it cannot be
used as a claw-type weapon for the purposes of Tiger Style or Lunar natural fighting
techniques.
Grave-Prison Chains (Artifact •• To •••)
The dead are notoriously difficult to keep
as prisoners, a fact which drove the Deathlords to the creation of a method to
control such unruly captives. The results were the grave-prison chains, a
dreadful set of shackles and chains whose appearance hints at the power they
contain.
Grave-prison chains normally consist of
five shackles — one each for the ankles, wrists and neck of the prisoner — but
sets have been modified to fit prisoners of inhuman form. Each shackle is
connected by chains to two other shackles, as well as to a ring designed for
attachment to leads and staples. The manacles and chains are a uniform dull
gray marked with mottled patches of rust and other stains, and there is small black
stone set into each shackle. Every set of grave-prison chains has its own
unique key, and no key will open more than one set.
Prisoners held by the chains lose more than
freedom of motion, though the shackles certainly restrict that as well. What is
more damning is that any ghost bound with the chains is no longer able to spend
Essence and, thus, cannot use any of his Arcanoi. Any attempt still extracts
the Essence cost (along with any associated Willpower or other costs), but no
effect is achieved. Careful observers may see the stones on the shackles flare
with dark light at these times, but there is no other effect, visible or
otherwise. A few rare sets (Artifact •••) will allow the prisoner contained
within to use Essence at the chains’ owner’s discretion. These sets of chains
are marked by having red, rather than black, stones on the manacles.
Unless a prisoner is released, there is
only one method of escape from grave-prison chains: Oblivion. Ghosts who are
destroyed while in grave-prison chains descend directly to Oblivion, with no
chance to accept Lethe. For this reason, they are the preferred tools of the
Deathlords. After the chains have been worn for one scene, they extract a 5
mote attunement cost from their victim. Their powers are effective even before
they attune themselves, however.
Hairpin Blade (Artifact ••)
This slender, white-jade hairpin is, on
closer inspection, an artfully carved miniature model of a full daiklave,
though a mere five inches long. If its owner commits 5 motes of Essence to it,
she can use the hairpin’s full powers and, at a moment’s notice, lay her hand
on it and expand it to a full daiklave — as such, it has all the normal
statistics for a jade daiklave, though it does not have any sockets for
Hearthstones. The hairpin blade remains at full size for the rest of the scene
or until the owner chooses to shrink it back to hairpin size again. It may also
be concealed elsewhere in the body beside the hair, if the owner so chooses, or
even carried in a piercing of the flesh.
Harrowed Daughter’s Paleskin Cowl (Artifact ••)
This morbid garment was crafted by Ledaal
Verro under the eye of Ragara Bhagwei as a tool for Ragara Bhagwei’s use. Using
shamanic principles adapted from barbarian tribes, the flesh of the previous
Shoat of the Mire was flensed from her carcass and cured in a preserving elixir
that strengthened the physical substance of the skin and awakened its latent
magical properties.
The Cowl enables it’s wearer to pass
unnoticed by ghosts, the walking dead and other denizens of the Underworld.
While wearing the cowl, its owner will be treated as if he were one of the dead
by creatures of the Underworld. Any attempt to detect the character as being
anything other than a common ghost or walking dead by such beings has its
difficulty increased by 3, and any attempts by the character to disguise
himself as a creature of the Underworld gain three automatics successes. The
mask also grants the character’s player a three-die bonus to all Social rolls
pertaining to inhabitants of the Underworld.
Neither of these bonuses apply
to Abyssals or Deathlords. Furthermore, while the Cowl is worn, the character
may perceive unmanifested ghosts. The terrifying and morbid mien of the Cowl is
unsettling to the living, however, and the character suffers a 3 dice penalty
to all Social rolls not related to intimidation while dealing with the living.
The Cowl requires a commitment of 4 motes to use.
Healing Orchid (Artifact ••)
While humans made use of the potent healing
properties of the blue and purple life flowers, the Dragon Kings created the
rare and potent healing orchid. This plant is designed to grow on living flesh
and can be used by Dragon Kings, mortal humans and Exalts. Dragon Kings and
Exalts must commit 4 motes of Essence to keep this plant healthy. However,
mortal humans must instead eat three times as much food as normal whenever this
plant is active. Normally planted on the arm of the wearer, this plant is a
finger-thick vine that encircles the wearer’s arm, bearing several dozen
thumb-sized leaves and half a dozen small emerald-green flowers. This plant allows
the wearer to heal far faster than normal. Exalts wearing this flower heal one
level of bashing damage per hour or one level of lethal damage every three
hours. This flower also allows Exalts or Dragon Kings to roll two additional
dice to resist poison, disease or infection. UnExalted humans and Dragon Kings
who wear this wear flower must have a Stamina of at
least 4 to support the plant, but it allows them to resist infection and to
heal both bashing and lethal damage as speedily as an Exalt’s normal healing
rate. So long as the wearer is alive, the plant will survive and function
normally, although it will lose its flowers in extremely cold climates.
Hearthstone Bracers (Artifact ••)
Another common survivor of the First Age
that is still manufactured by the Dragon-Blooded, Hearthstone bracers provide powerful defensive bonuses to the Exalted who
carries them. These bracers come as a pair, one of which has a setting for a single
Hearthstone and the other of which is imbued with magical power. These powers
only work for an Exalted of the appropriate type.
Hearthstone bracers require the commitment
of 4 motes of Essence to activate — 2 for each bracer. A bracer must be
worn with its mate and will not activate unless worn as a pair.
Hilt Of The Bloody Sword (Artifact ••, •••
if Hearthstone setting)
This is a hilt without a blade, a carved
masterwork of white jade veined with dark crimson. To transform the hilt into a
full sword, the wielder must dip the hilt into freshly spilled blood. The Hilt
will suck up the blood and form a blade of dark-red, shimmering crystal. This
requires a quantity of blood equal to a health level’s worth of lethal damage,
which may come from the hilt’s wielder or from any other donor, willing or
unwilling. The resultant sword has the statistics of a jade daiklave. It
returns to its normal form at the end of the scene or whenever its wielder so
desires, the blade dissolving back into blood again, leaving only the hilt.
Some of these hilts have a setting for a Hearthstone, but they are far rarer
than the normal sort.
Inkbrush Of The Heart’s Desire (Artifact
••)
This delicate, white-jade inkbrush contains
a variant on the Arcanos Extension of the Friendly Gaze. To use it, its owner
must have an uninterrupted line of sight toward the target — though she may be
at a distance of up to 100 yards away and the target need not know of her
presence — and must spend an hour painting the target on a blank surface, using
the inkbrush. The player of the painter must then roll her character’s
Perception + Craft (with any modifiers for painting) against a difficulty of
the target’s permanent Essence. The number of successes scored is the number of
the target’s Fetters that appear around him in the painting. In the event of
only some of the Fetters appearing, then the strongest appear first until the
total number of successes is reached.
The Fetters appear as they were in the
target’s memory of them, rather than as they may currently be in the world of
the living. Any clear surface may be used for this art, from expensive silk to
plain canvas or leather to the wall of a room. Once the painting is complete,
it does not change and is as durable or as fragile as the surface on which it
is painted.
Light Implosion Bow (Artifact ••, ••• if
Hearthstone or reagent powered)
These fearsome weapons are First Age relics
whose workings remain beyond the full understanding of any savant or engineer
of the present day, though their use is simple once the operator becomes
familiar with their functioning. The player of a character without prior
experience with these devices must make an Intelligence + Lore check at
difficulty 3 for his character to decipher the controls. Resembling a ballista
mounted atop a heavy gimbaled pedestal, the mechanism appears to be made of a
dark, glossy, wine-red wood, with elaborate inlays and fittings of the Five
Magical Materials and adamant (an incredibly strong, glassy material used
during the First Age).
When properly used by a character capable of
channeling Essence (any Exalted type and also Fair Folk and possibly others),
these weapons launch projectiles of pure Essence. (Characters unable to channel
Essence cannot operate these artifacts.) They are fired using Archery and have +3 accuracy, a rate of 1 and a range of 500. Before firing,
the user may select the type of damage to be done, and the amount is dependent
on how many motes of Essence the user channels into the weapon. For 1 mote, the
projectile inflicts either 7B or 5L damage (depending on the control settings)
on everything within a 10-foot radius of its target. In naval combat, these
settings allow for attacks against rigging with the weapon, and it can also be
used against units or troops. For 2 motes, the range and area of effect remain
the same, but the damage settings increase to 15B or 12L.
The weapon’s pedestal must be mounted
securely to a solid surface for it to fire, but the bow has an arc of fire
extending 360 degrees horizontally and 90 degrees vertically (30 degrees below
and 60 above horizontal).
Some versions are powered by Hearthstones,
and some by alchemical reagents. Typically, however, an implosion bow is manned
by one of the Dragon-Blooded, who powers it with his own Essence.
Light implosion bows must be maintained,
though they are less demanding that the more powerful lightning ballistae. An
implosion bow must be overhauled every 100 shots by a character with Lore •••
and Occult ••. The overhaul includes the replacement and repair of some
mechanisms made with rare components. It costs Resources •••, and the
components are unlikely to be available outside of the Realm and the largest
Threshold cities.
Lightning Box (Artifact ••)
A strange item: a sturdy glass box
containing a metallic helix within several brass armatures. The helix itself is
constructed of layer upon layer of various metals and pale-blue/purple jade,
each material gathering the ambient Essence of lightning from a one-mile radius
and shunting it into the next layer, which does the same. This process is
repeated until the ambient energy of storms is spun out through copper plates
on the back of the box and into the attuned character that bears it.
A character commits 3 motes of Essence to
attune to a lightning box and must wear it on his person or attach it to his
armor. He is immune to all electrical damage, and all lightning in a one-mile
radius will move to strike him. An Aspects of Air wearing a lightning box
recovers Essence as if he was in a meditative state, but only during electrical
storms.
Lightning Boxes require maintenance by a
character with Occult •••, Lore ••• and an appropriate Craft •• Ability after
every 90 days of daily wear. This service requires at least a professional
field toolkit with tools valued at Resources •• and consumes Resources •• worth
of trace jade and other common materials.
The Loom Of Cobwebs (Artifact ••)
Though the Sidereals would deny it, this
loom surely owes something to the pattern spiders. The frame of the Loom of
Cobwebs is carved from ivory and inlaid with chips of human bone, and the
shuttles — which move by themselves, on command — are ebony spiders with deep
garnet eyes. When fed with bobbins of raw silk and human hair taken from
corpses, the Loom produces a tapestry showing the future of a given target, who
must be either dead or an Abyssal. It depicts an event from the target’s
future, which will occur within a year. The owner of the Loom has no control
over when or where the event will be, and if he attempts to read the same
target’s future again, he may receive the same tapestry as a result or a
complete different one.
The Loom does not require too much in the
way of ingredients, and a single head’s worth of hair is sufficient for one
tapestry. The resulting tapestries can be removed from the Loom and may be kept
for as long as the owner wishes, though they are as fragile, as one would
expect items woven of hair and silk to be, and are extremely flammable. The
Loom takes a whole day to weave a tapestry, but it may be used continuously if
the owner has sufficient raw materials. Incidentally, Abyssals react rather
poorly to having other people attempt to divine their futures without
permission, even using so simple a tool as the Loom of Cobwebs, and investigate
rumors of such artifacts with extreme prejudice.
Mask (Artifact ••)
These seemingly plain ivory face masks have
played an important part in Exalted political and emotional intrigues since the
First Age. A mask can allow an Exalt to alter her appearance to look like anyone
she wishes and to completely control the emotions that her face shows. This has
the effect of adding four dice to her Intelligence + Larceny pool for any
attempt at disguise. However, the artifact must be attuned to in order to take
advantage of its powers, and this costs the normal 5 motes for a Level •• item.
When attuned, the mask also grants an extra four dice to any attempt to
misdirect another as regards to the wearer’s true motives, such as during
certain Presence, Socialize and Bureaucracy rolls.
Morning Star Guide (Artifact ••)
One of the rarest and most invaluable
things one can find in the lands of the dead is a truly reliable guide. Wracked
by monstrous storms, largely uninhabited and tied to the ever-changing
Labyrinth, the Underworld is a very easy place to get lost in. This, then, is
why morning star guides are so highly prized among the dead and why those who
bear them are among the most sought-after guides in the Underworld.
In appearance, a morning star guide is
unremarkable — simply a wrought-iron lantern with an oddly shaped crystal
inside. The lantern is strangely light, however, and always feels warm to the
touch. But these are but minor properties of a greater wonder. The true power
of the artifact comes from the crystal, which grows only in the deepest pits of
the Labyrinth. Many are mined by the Deathlords or the nephwracks and shaped by
skilled ghosts enthralled into their service.
A morning star guide costs 7 motes of
committed Essence to attune to. To use it, the character must hold it up and
spend a single mote of Essence. Once it is activated, the owner merely
concentrates on his destination. Once he’s firmly fixed it in his mind, the
morning star guide will shine brightest when held in the direction of that goal
and grow steadily dimmer if turned away from it. Once a destination is locked
in, its sense of direction is infallible, and it takes another mote to reset it
to a new one. The morning star guide always illuminates the shortest path, not
necessarily the safest. It may point across pits, bogs, pyre flame eruptions or
other hazards, unconcerned for the safety of the one using it.
Note that morning star guides cannot be
dimmed, but they can be hooded. However, the searing brightness they produce
carries for a long way in the gloom of the Underworld and can serve as beacons
for brigands, hungry ghosts and worse. Most morning star guides can’t be used
for navigation to anything other than a fixed location, but a very rare few
(Artifact ••••) can find individuals and objects.
Onyx Soul Window (Artifact ••)
Carved from obsidian and bound in place
with crimson ribbons, this circular lens is set in front of either the left or
the right eye, and requires a commitment of 5 motes of Essence for attunement.
Once it is set in place and attuned to, it provides automatic and constant use
of the Spirit-Catching Eye Technique Arcanos
and use at will of the Sensing the Delicate Strands Arcanos at the usual
price for that Arcanos. Wearers often choose to conceal it, while keeping it at
hand for quick use, by wearing an eyepatch over it. This artifact does have one
important flaw, however. Its wearer will always be visible to other ghosts as
though they were using Spirit-Catching Eye Technique, however much he tries to
conceal himself. The only way of preventing this is for the wearer to remove
the onyx soul window from his eye. Even though he remains attuned to it, he can
now go unseen.
Patch Hide Armor (Artifact ••, ••• for no
loss of Appearance)
There are many ways for a ghost to armor
herself in the Underworld, and this is one of them. The wearer has the skin
peeled from parts of her body, and raw hide torn from spectres deep in the
Labyrinth is fastened in its place with soulsteel rivets that pattern their way
across her body. This process may render the ghost surprisingly attractive, if
the hide was taken from a pallid alabaster-skinned spectre, or it may make her
vile and unappealing, if it came from some scaled, rotting creature of
foulness. In either case, it makes her tougher. In return for a permanent
commitment of 3 motes of Essence, and a great deal of pain, the ghost gains a
bonus of 6L/4B to any other soak she may have. It also most often results in an
Appearance penalty of -2, due to the abhorrent resulting patchwork appearance. Versions
without the Appearance penalty are Artifact •••.
Powerbows (Artifact •• or •••)
Beautifully ornate weapons, powerbows are
to bows what daiklaves are to swords. These weapons are made from a laminate of
horn, rare woods and the Five Magical Materials. Crafted by the Exalted for
their own hands, these baroque and ornate bows far overmatch any merely mortal
weapon. But, like the daiklaves, powerbows must be invested with Essence to
function — otherwise their mighty limbs are too stiff for even the mightiest of
the
Unlike normal bows, powerbows do not have a
maximum Strength. They are linked with the Essence of the firing character, and
their construction is such that they yield to those who are weak and stiffen
when their wielder is mighty. Instead, they add to the user’s Strength for
the purposes of determining damage.
Reaper Daiklave (Artifact ••)
Where the reaver daiklave, with its great
chopping blade, favors striking power, the reaper daiklave favors speed and
defense. The reaper daiklave is a great slashing sword — a perfectly balanced,
four-foot-long, four-inch-wide, inch-thick, gently curved razor, ground to a
fine point. Favored by those Exalts who prefer finesse
and speed over raw striking power, the reaper epitomizes the ideal that the
warrior who hits first rarely has to worry about how hard his opponent is going
to hit him. A reaper daiklave requires 5 motes to attune. Reaper daiklaves are
popular amongst the Dragon-Blooded of Lookshy, who prefer the elegance and
speed of the blade over the more common reaver or grand daiklaves.
Reaver Daiklaves (Artifact ••)
Daiklaves are dual-edged weapons, and
despite their size, they are agile in the hand and lighting swift. Yet, some
Exalted are disinterested in fast and nimble blades, preferring instead raw
killing power. The weapons favored by these Exalted are cleaver-like
single-edged blades, four-feet long and, in some cases, a foot wide, with
square or angled tips. Slow and clumsy compared to normal daiklaves, these
weapons are brutally powerful, capable of shearing through even the heaviest
armor. Like normal daiklaves, reaver daiklaves typically have a setting for a
single Hearthstone. During the First Age, reaver daiklaves were most popular
among the Dragon-Blooded and the Lunar Exalted and remain favored weapons among
these groups to this day.
Ring Of Flies (Artifact ••)
This chased garnet band is, on closer
inspection, carved with the tiny figures of thousands of blowflies crawling
over one another. By spending 5 motes of Essence, the wearer of the ring can
manifest in a shadowland, or even in Creation itself, as a throbbing swarm of
blowflies. While this swarm can use Arcanoi or spells, it has no solid
substance and cannot make any physical attacks or use any weapons. It can,
however, travel freely and rapidly, moving at the speed of a fast horse and can
deform its shape sufficiently to enter under a door or through a partly open
window or anywhere else that flies can travel. It can also speak with a droning
voice composed of the buzzing of its members.
This manifestation is extremely weak. The
mass of flies is treated as having the normal Strength, Dexterity, Stamina and
Dodge of the character, but if a single blow connects with the swarm, the flies
will be scattered and the ring’s effect broken. Sorcery, fire or Charms
connecting with the swarm will also break it asunder. Normal winds are
insufficient to scatter the blowflies, but gale-force winds will do so, unless
the swarm can find cover first. When the ring’s effect is broken, the wearer is
forced to return to his natural state as a ghost. If currently in a shadowland,
he is safe enough, but if in a living part of Creation, he is cast into the
corresponding part of the Underworld and cannot use the ring again until the
next dark of the moon.
Sacrificial Gem (Artifact ••)
Sometimes, the dead wish to intervene to
aid the living, especially when they see their living kin or lovers suffering
from the resentments of little gods. One of these gems will allow a ghost to
bear some form of minor curse or spell that has been directed at a living
person whom he wishes to protect. The effect cannot be more than a single dice
roll’s worth of penalty in a particular area or the persistent loss of a single
Attribute point. The ghost who is using the Gem suffers all the effects of the
penalty that would otherwise be inflicted on its natural victim. This ceases if
the ghost chooses to restore the curse to its natural owner (though he cannot
then sacrifice himself a second time) or if the curse or magical effect is
somehow lifted from the original victim, such as by the little god
forgiving her for her offense.
Sacrificial gems are faceted gems the
length of a woman’s finger, clear when not in effect and obsidian-dark when
working. They are usually set in some form of jewelry, such as a bracelet or
necklace or belt buckle. To take effect, they require an arcane link to the
person currently suffering from the magical effect in question, an emotional or
familial link of some sort between the ghost and the victim — a ghost cannot
sacrifice herself for a target for whom she knows or feels nothing — and full
knowledge of the curse that is currently affecting the target. If the curse is
too serious for the gem to transfer, then nothing happens.
Sailcutter Chakram (Artifact ••)
Crafted of cold wrought iron with an edge of
the Magical Materials, these paired chakram are, in the hands of a skilled
thrower, the bane of ship captains everywhere. When used against living
opponents, the sailcutter chakram are merely highly effective weapons of their
kind. However, their true power is displayed when used against the rigging of a
sailing vessel. Against the sailcutter chakram, rigging has no soak, and each
success adds two additional dice of damage when used versus rigging. Like most
artifact thrown weapons, a sailcutter chakram returns to the wielder’s hand
after use. It costs 3 motes to attune to each of a pair, and these weapons must
be used paired, for a total attunement cost of 6.
Seed Of The
Immaculate Blood (Artifact ••, ••• for red seeds)
When Sextes Jylis,
the Immaculate of Wood, was walking the Realm and replanting the stricken
forests, he is said to have stepped upon the discarded daiklave of an Anathema.
Twisted by the malice of its departed owner, it cut his foot to the bone, and
he shed three drops of blood, which gave birth to a new variety of fern. Even
today, the seeds of this fern are sought after by sorcerers and savants who
know its rare properties.
If a Seed of the
Immaculate Blood is sown and carefully tended, it will grow into a pale fern
that seeds twice a year, in spring and autumn. These seeds are dull green and
sterile but may be compounded to create an ointment that restores five health
levels when applied, even if the damage is aggravated. Once a century, on the
last day of Calibration, the fern will give an out-of-season scarlet seed,
which may be replanted to grow another fern with the same properties. This
scarlet seed may also be dried and ground up with the seeds of 25 other types
of plants. This process produces a small ball of dark thick sap, which smells of
fresh woodlands. If this ball of sap is planted in fresh earth, a forest
composed of all the plants that hand their seeds mingled together will spring
up instantly for a half-mile around the spot. Buildings will be toppled or
shattered, human and animals will be thrown aside, and elementals of Wood will
flock to the spot, drawn by the natural power of their element.
Seven-Jeweled
Peacock Fans (Artifact ••)
These fine folding
war-fans have leaves of orichalcum inlaid with gem-work in seven brilliant
colors and engraved with fine traceries. The fans must be wielded together as a
pair. They have the same statistics as wind-fire wheels and require the same
Abilities to wield them. Their construction grants them +1 to Speed, Accuracy
and Defense. Characters must commit 2 motes of Essence to attune the fans to themselves.
Shadow Gloves (Artifact ••)
These gloves are of thin black leather,
strangely warm to the touch. When donned, their wearer can use them to shape
shadow itself into a solid form. While what the gloves produce will only last
for a short time, it may remain whole for long enough to be of crucial value in
a crisis. The elegance of the object produced depends on the wearer’s
abilities, but crudely functional items are easy to shape — assuming that there’s
shadow in the vicinity.
If the wearer wishes to use the gloves, he
must be wearing them, and he must spend 3 motes of Essence for any object that
he wishes to create. He then reaches into the most convenient area of shadow
and pulls out a length of darkness as though it were clay. His skill in
producing the desired result depends on the number of successes his player
garners on a Perception + Craft roll against a difficulty of 5, but the
character cannot benefit from more successes than he has points of permanent
Essence. The number of successes required for whatever the user wishes to
create is up to the Storyteller. A single success creates a rough bar of iron,
a shapeless mass of dark cotton or a plain clay urn. Three successes create a
well-balanced weapon, a helm or cuirass of dark iron or a necklace of onyx
gems. Five or more successes could create perfectly crafted steel weapons,
armor that kings among the living would beg to wear or a statue so beautiful
that scholars would marvel at the artist’s skill. Items of up to the user’s
size may be created of any material (except the Five Magical Materials), so long as they are black. All items vanish after 24 hours,
whatever is done to preserve them.
Shadow Peacock Earring (Artifact ••)
When a ghost wants to influence others, he
frequently wishes to do so without obviously using any artifacts or employing
Arcanoi to change their way of thinking. One of these earrings — an inch-wide
black opal disc, in a pale silver setting — can be worn and used inconspicuously,
but has impressive effects on a victim.
When the wearer chooses to spend 2 motes of
Essence, the earring begins to sparkle darkly and hypnotically, with shadows
like eyes flickering inside the gem. It imperceptibly draws the attention of
the person to whom the wearer is speaking and lulls him into a vague and
suggestible state, making whatever the wearer says sound very reasonable.
Plausible suggestions, such as, “We’re private emissaries here to see the
Deathlord,” will be accepted, as will statements such as, “We’re not the
fugitives. They must have gone that way.” The victim’s player should make a
Willpower roll against a difficulty of 5 each turn, gaining a +1 for each turn
of exposure to the effect. If the player gains 10 cumulative successes, then on
the next turn, his character’s Willpower returns to normal, and the earring
loses its influence. He will remember what the wearer of the earring told him
as being the truth, assuming that it is not inherently implausible or
contradictory. Bystanders will probably not notice any sorcery in progress
(requires five successes on a Perception + Occult roll against a difficulty of
4 to notice that the earring is sparkling oddly) but may notice that the victim
is behaving in an oddly suggestible fashion. What they choose to do about it
may depend on the situation — soldiers on patrol are unlikely to directly
question their captain, for instance.
Shield Bracer (Artifact
••)
Made as a single
ornamented bracer, this item protects the wearer by guiding her arm to block
missile and melee attacks. When activated, the bracer provides protection
equivalent to a tower shield, reducing the number of successes from all melee
attacks on the wearer by -1 and all missile attacks by -2. Anyone wearing this
artifact cannot wear any other form of bracer. However, the user is not
encumbered in any other fashion. Shield bracers contain a setting for a single
Hearthstone. They require the commitment of 3 motes of Essence to activate the
Hearthstone and trigger the bracer’s own magical powers.
Shieldstone Gauntlet (Artifact •• or •••)
This strange device looks like a web of
straps and flexible articulated plates that fits over one hand like a
fingerless glove. A larger plate covers the back of the hand, into which is set
a large hemispherical ruby. A smaller, disk-shaped ruby sits in the center of
the palm, surrounded by a ring of jade inscribed with runes. A shieldstone
gauntlet is extremely light and unobtrusive, deliberately designed to
accommodate any movement or use of the hand bearing it. At any time, an attuned
wearer can use a normal dice action to hold up her palm or the back of her hand
and activate the device. Whichever stone the character presents away from her
body glows brightly, projecting a circular barrier of luminous force that
expands into the shape of a shield. This barrier increases the difficulty of
all attacks against the character by +2 and provides illumination about a third
as bright as a torch. Deactivating this shield is a reflexive action.
The Artifact ••• version of the shieldstone
gauntlet has all the above powers, but it also allows the character to devote a
simple action to create a freestanding wall of raw Essence. The character
points the palm stone at the area where she wants to create the barrier, while
her player spends 1 Willpower point and a variable quantity of Essence. These
immovable, two-way walls of translucent force have a soak of 3B/2L per mote
spent and may cover a maximum area in square yards equal to half their lethal
soak. Such constructs are considered inanimate objects for the purposes of
Charms, save that damage against them is rolled rather than directly applied.
For every level of damage sustained (or hour that passes), the barrier loses
1B/1L from its soak. When the lethal soak reaches zero or the creator desires,
the barrier disintegrates into wisps of energy. Characters can shape a wall of
force into any geometric configuration they can imagine, from simple walls to
cages, but at least one point on the surface must be within a yard of the
creator when the wall first materializes. A shieldstone gauntlet can only
produce one force barrier at a time, whether a single wall or a shield.
Both versions of this artifact cost users 4
motes of committed Essence to attune to them and do not count as jade artifacts
for the purposes of attunement.
Shock Pike (Artifact ••)
Shock pikes date from the Dragon-Blooded
Shogunate and are still produced in limited numbers. Designed for mortal
soldiers, they can smash enemy lines long before contact is made. A shock pike
resembles a conventional, if somewhat short, spear. The staff is normally made
of ebony or ironwood, and plackets of green jade, often in the shape of leaves,
are inset into the staff at regular points along its length. When used in combat,
the spear’s superlative balance and strength make it an excellent melee weapon,
but its real purpose is as a ranged weapon.
At the cost of 2 motes of Essence, the
shock pike can make an attack at range, exactly as if it had been used in close
combat — this attack is normally a stab or a thrust, but it can be any attack
that can be made with a spear (including stunts). This attack uses Melee +
Dexterity, follows all the normal rules for melee attacks and is compatible
with Melee Charms. The attack can be parried, but a parry attempt is at
+2 difficulty because of the problems parrying an
invisible attack.
Shock pikes store motes of Essence to power
their use. A standard shock pike can hold 16 motes, although versions that hold
10 or 20 are known to exist, and a handful hold more than 20. Those holding
more than 20 motes are Artifact •••, and none are known to hold more than 40
motes.
There exists a shock pike version intended
for Exalts — this version doesn’t store motes, but is a generally more powerful
weapon, with a range of ([permanent Essence x 10] + 50) yards. The Exalted
shock pike has a commitment cost of 5 motes.
Skin-Mount Amulet (Artifact ••)
This artifact of Mountain Folk design often
takes the form of a delicate ring of jade surgically implanted in the wearer’s
flesh, although other Magical Materials can be used. The amulet serves as an
enhanced form of Hearthstone socket, allowing the wearer to use such gems more
efficiently than external artifacts allow. In addition to receiving the mystical
benefit and increased Essence recovery for the Hearthstone, the wearer also
adds a number of additional motes of capacity to his Peripheral Essence pool
equal to the (rating of the Hearthstone x 2). Besides Exalted, only God-Blooded
characters capable of channeling Essence and attuning to Manses may use
skin-mount amulets. Neither type of character needs to pay any motes to commit
to the device, as the surgical implantation bypasses conventional attunement.
Rarer forms of skin-mount amulets (also
Artifact ••) permit a mortal to attune to a Manse and to receive the benefits
of a Hearthstone set in the socket. Such characters even gain a tiny Personal
Essence pool equal to twice the stone’s rating that they can use to attune to
other artifacts (but not for any other purpose). An apocryphal legend in
Lookshy speaks of a legendary Gunzosha warrior named Kan-Hai who was allowed to
live a full lifespan through the use of a powerful skin-mount amulet, though it
seems unlikely that the Seventh Legion would waste geomantic resources on any
mortal, however heroic. Non-invasive Hearthstone amulets capable of being worn
by mortals without attunement are extremely rare and almost unheard of in the
Second Age (Artifact •••), as the knowledge of how to build these extraordinary
devices was regrettably lost in the Great Contagion. The Dragon Fakharu owns at
least one copy of such a wonder for his mortal lover’s use.
Implanting a skin-mount amulet requires
complex surgery lasting at least an hour. Roll the surgeon’s Dexterity +
Medicine (difficulty 7 - the patient’s permanent Essence). A botch kills a
mortal patient or inflicts the effects of a normal failure to Exalted or
God-Blooded. Failure inflicts one level of unsoakable lethal damage for every
success by which the roll fell short of the difficulty. Removing the artifact
requires the same procedure and imposes the same dire consequences for failure.
A character can remove and exchange Hearthstones from an implanted amulet as
easily as with any other setting.
Sky-Cutter (Artifact ••)
Virtually unknown outside the
Slayer Khatar (Artifact ••)
Forged with the aid of earth elementals and
made of steel alloyed with yellow jade and orichalcum, the slayer khatar is the
ultimate destructive weapon. These weapons require no commitment of Essence
and, indeed, can be used by any being, mortal or Exalted. However, it is in the
hands of an Exalted that their powers truly blossom. They have no more effect
on characters, even armored ones, than normal khatars. However, when wielded
against objects, these weapons shatter and destroy them. All damage inflicted
by a character wielding a slayer khatar against inanimate objects is doubled.
This effect is compatible with abilities such as the Brawl Charm Sledgehammer
Fist Punch.
Soulfire Mask (Artifact ••)
This is the most common type of defensive
mask worn by the dead, and it can be found in many different shapes and
versions all across the Underworld. Weaker and stronger versions exist, and
masks of similar concept can be found ranging from Artifact • to N/A.
Regardless of its appearance, this example has two universal stone mounts on
it. If the character does not have any better stones for them, the mask comes
equipped with two six-point soulfire crystals set in it.
By expending 3 motes of the mask’s Essence,
the character may conjure up a crackling nimbus of energy that reflexively
increases his soak by 4L/6B against a single attack. This may be done more than
once for a given attack. By spending 4 motes, he can unleash the same
blue-white arc against targets up to 20 yards away. The attack uses Dexterity +
the Thrown or the Athletics Ability, whichever the wielder prefers. It has +2 Accuracy, a Rate of 1 and does 7L plus extra successes on
the attack.
A ghost must commit 7 motes to attune to a
soulfire mask. The mask has no inherent energy capacity,
it must be set with soulfire or Essence-containing gems in order to function.
Soulgem (Artifact ••)
Every citizen of the Eight Nations receives
one of these artifacts within a week of birth, by immutable and unanimous
decree of the Tripartite. The procedure is agonizing but mercifully simple and
swift to perform. A pair of needle-sharp soulsteel posts
drive into the center of the infant’s forehead, piercing the skull and
outermost edge of her brain. The pain is so intense that it does not immediately
register, and during this moment of surreal calm, the surgeon applies the
actual soulgem and touches it with a living nerve of the Great Maker. An
Essence jolt leaps from the wire, fusing gem and posts and patient together.
This point is the one at which she finally realizes her agony and loudly
screams before blacking out. The scream of soulgem implantation is a distinct
sound, at once feral and mechanical. According to the inquisitors of the Soulsteel
Caste, no other form of pain they have yet devised triggers the same response.
Placing a soulgem in an older mortal is also possible, with the only difference
being that the individual remembers the surgery in vague nightmares for the
rest of her life. Adult implantation is only done in Autochthonia in the case
of the capture of second-generation exiles bred in the Reaches. Alchemical
retrieval teams regularly raid colonies of their children, bringing the captives
back to civilization so they can become productive members of the Populat
rather than living in the squalor faced by their criminal parents.
After the breaking of the Seal of Eight
Divinities, the Sodalities experiments on captured mortals in a variety of ways,
including numerous attempts at soulgem implantation. All of these initial
experiments kill the patients, an unfortunate side effect of the souls
belonging to the Tapestry of Creation rather the Design of Autochthon. After
hundreds of lethal failures, they finally perfect the process.
The function of a soulgem is very simple.
When its bearer dies, the jewel absorbs her still-fused higher and lower soul
and stores it until the spirit can be recycled. The Essence of a Celestial
Exalt cannot be captured. Soulgems are as durable as Hearthstones, so even the
worst industrial accidents cannot crack them or release their contents.
Deliberately breaking one is a capital crime throughout all of Autochthonia.
The Glorious Luminors of the Brilliant Rapture have more sophisticated
artifacts and thaumaturgical rituals enabling them to extract souls from
soulgems and feed them back into the Radiant Amphora. Autochthon returns these
souls with each new birth, still “tagged” with the Essence signature of the
last soulgem used to house them. This allows savants to track the lineage of
each soul through successive incarnations.
To a lesser extent, soulgems also serve as
visible status symbols in Autochthonian society. Exiles have their gems
forcibly removed, leaving a terrible scar in their foreheads — and condemning
their souls to Oblivion upon death, at least according to Luminor doctrine. In
actuality, Autochthon recycles all souls released within him, as the highest
echelons of the Luminors well know. When the souls of former exiles incarnate
anew, they are made Populat with a falsified soul genealogy number but secretly
watched throughout their lives for signs of repeated dissidence. Only after
three lifetimes of good behavior is their file closed. Outcasts have concentric
rings tattooed around their gems, indicating their crimes, though the type of
gem depends on their social caste prior to becoming outcasts. Members of the
Populat have round, polished onyx soulgems. Those of the Olgotary have
rectangular orange topaz jewels. Theomachrats bear square sapphire stones.
Sodalts wear diamond-shaped amethyst gems.
Unlike those implanted in mortals,
Alchemical soulgems are flawless, many-faceted diamonds. The souls in these
stones are never returned to Autochthon after death, but instead wait until
their gems are placed in new Alchemicals to live again. In extremely rare
circumstances, the Luminors transfer a mortal hero’s soul into a new Alchemical
gem rather than feeding it to Autochthon. The process doesn’t always work, and
failure confuses the genealogy tags, so the Luminors are loathe to do this
except when absolutely necessary. Should some horrible tragedy break an
Alchemical soulgem, the soul returns to the Radiant Amphora and is reborn in an
infant. On such occasions, the Luminors have instruments to detect the presence
of the hero among the nurseries. Once they find the child, he is immediately
implanted with a standard gem (if this has not already happened), and he is
painlessly euthanized. The gem is taken to Sodality laboratories where
technicians ritually transfer the Alchemical soul to a new diamond soulgem that
becomes its home.
Players do not need to spend Background
points for Autochthonian characters to have soulgems. It is automatically
assumed that everyone has one.
The Speaking Dagger (Artifact ••)
This dagger is soulsteel work, with all
that that implies. It is set with a star ruby in the hilt and forged so that
the crossguard is shaped like a closed mouth. It can be used to steal the voice
from a dying enemy and then to speak with it. To use it, the wielder must slay
the target (or at least deliver the fatal blow) with the Speaking Dagger, and
then place the dagger in his victim’s mouth. The Speaking Dagger will devour
the victim’s tongue and, together with it, the knowledge that the victim held
in his dying moments. It cannot devour the tongue and knowledge of a being who
had Essence •••• or greater.
At any point afterward, the Speaking
Dagger’s holder may feed it with his own blood or ghostly plasm (one level of
lethal damage) and 5 motes of Essence and command it to speak. The lips on the
dagger’s crossguard will open, and it will truthfully answer any question that
it may be asked, based on the victim’s knowledge and opinions, to a maximum of
three questions. After that, the Speaking Dagger falls silent and cannot be
questioned about that particular victim again. The Speaking Dagger can only
hold one person’s tongue at any given time but can hold it for an indefinite
period. If ordered to devour a new tongue, any previous knowledge that it held
is discarded. If simply used in battle, it has the normal statistics for a
dagger forged from soulsteel.
Spider Grippers (Artifact
••)
This item consists
of a set of boots, gloves, elbow pads and kneepads that allow a character to
cling to walls and other surfaces like a spider. The character can walk up a
wall at (Dexterity + 12)/2 yards a turn. She can even climb sheer slick
surfaces such as the ancient glass towers of Chiaroscuro. These items also
allow the character to walk on narrow or slick surfaces such as wet mossy rocks
or tightropes without risk of falling or to jump onto a rain slick ledge
without risk of slipping. The character’s hands, feet, knees and elbows adhere
to the surface being traversed unless she desires them to release. While using
this item, a character can fight without penalty, even while clinging to a
wall. Also, the character can safely climb while carrying any weight she could
normally carry. While the pieces can be from various expensive materials, they
are most commonly made as a set of black leather boots, gloves, elbow pads and
kneepads constructed with a small amount of the Five Magical Materials, which
automatically alter their size to fit the wearer. To use this item, or even to
cause it to resize, the wearer must commit 3 motes of Essence to the gear.
Stamp Of Ultimate Authority (Artifact ••)
This stamp seal is made from all five
colors of jade and is a favorite of both devious bureaucrats and con artists.
This item can duplicate both the signature and any associated stamps, seals or
similar marking that the user has ever seen. Although this artifact cannot
reproduce the power inherent in magical seals or stamps such as the mark the
Perfect of Paragon uses to control and monitor his subjects, it can exactly
reproduce any purely mundane seal and can also create non-magical duplicates of
magical seals or stamps. To reproduce a signature, seal or stamp, all the
characters needs to do is commit 5 motes of Essence to the stamp, touch it to
the document to be signed or stamped and spend 1 mote of Essence. The stamp
then produces the desired mark in an instant.
Steelsilk Sails (Artifact ••)
Highly sought after by
those who favor speed and agility in the wind and durability in battle, these
rare sails were supposedly made out of the silk of wood spiders or other spider
spirits. Gossamer fine
and light but strong as metal, steelsilk is nonetheless very stiff and makes
poor armor. The art of manufacturing steelsilk sails has been lost, and those
who possess examples of it guard them highly, often keeping them locked up
except when the ship needs speed above all else. Steelsilk sails are most
renowned for their ability to withstand punishment. Storms that will leave silk
sails in tatters, fires that will turn wet canvas sails into ash and weapons
that would cut even reinforced canvas into ribbons all fail to damage
steelsilk. Steelsilk sails add +1 to all Sail rolls for keeping control of the
ship in a storm or for gaining or losing speed, and they allow a ship to sail
two points closer to the wind and are all but impenetrable to mundane weapons.
A ballista might punch a hole in a steelsilk sail, but arrows, knives, javelins
and other weapons are turned. Sails made of steelsilk have 15B/10L soak, take 20
health levels to damage and 40 to destroy. The sails take only half damage from
wind, waves and fire. Repairing steelsilk sails requires a Charm such as
Crack-Mending Technique. No other way is known today to mend steelsilk once it
is damaged.
Storm Sapphire (Artifact ••• for lesser
stones or •••• for the black stones)
Storm sapphires are giant sapphires, most
the size of a man’s fist or larger. The most powerful storm sapphires are
black, but they come in all colors, with green sapphires (the least powerful)
being the most common.
Storm sapphires have the power to quell
storms, calming the sea and sky under even the most savage conditions. This
power does not come without a cost, however. To stop a storm, an Exalt must
power the sapphire with her own life force. Each use of a sapphire costs the
user motes of Essence, Willpower and health levels as shown on the chart below.
These health levels cannot be soaked or reduced if the stone is to work
properly, although they can be healed normally.
The user of a storm sapphire can attempt to
judge how strong the storm is going to be (a Perception + Occult roll) before
trying to stop it. The difficulty of this task depends on the intensity of the
storm, how quickly it springs up and whether or not the storm has magical
foundations (difficulty starts at 2 and ranges up to as high as 5 for an
extremely fast moving, powerful storm that comes upon the user unawares).
Magically summoned or influenced storms are actually easier to predict and
control using the sapphire. Reduce the severity of the storm by one level for
purposes of determining how much it will cost to dissipate it, and reduce the
difficulty of judging the storm by 2 (minimum difficulty of 2).
Lesser stones (green through light blue)
can disperse most storms but can do nothing against the strongest ones. The
power of a storm sapphire either works or does not. The darkest blue stones and
black stones can disperse any storm, but the cost in life force is dependent on
the storm — and the Exalted, spirit or God-Blooded using the sapphire will not
know how much of her existence she will have to devote before choosing to
battle the storm.
The creation of a storm sapphire involves
the sapphire itself (which must be utterly without flaw), the blood of a Storm
Mother and a wind spirit that has never seen a mortal before being captured.
The enchantment takes a year and a day and must be performed on a ship floating
in the clear waters of the uttermost West, out of sight of any land. Naturally,
there are few in existence, and they are highly prized and sought after by
Exalted ship captains and fleet admirals.
Veil Of The Anointed (Artifact ••)
When pressed against someone’s face, these
thin, nearly transparent veils cling of their own volition. This does not
interfere with breath or with sight, but others can no longer see the wearer’s
eyes — instead of eyes, orbs of brilliant light now seem set in that person’s
skull. A character who holds a veil for a day and commits 1 mote to it can
remove it from others at will. He need only gesture, and it will fly to his
hand, folding itself neatly on the way. Others must succeed at a Willpower roll
or spend a temporary Willpower point in order to remove the veil from another’s
face or from their own.
Anyone wearing a veil of the anointed
perceives the perfected vision of Creation found in the
Creating one of these veils requires that a
mortal willingly give the crafter both of her eyes. The artificer then uses a
loom of white jade to weave them together with water from the forest pool, the
womb of an old man, the teeth of a mayfly and the spittle of a toad born in the
sky. Arranging for these ingredients to exist requires some effort, but the
remainder of the work is essentially mundane, and the Forest Witches produce a modest
number of these artifacts for sale (or, more properly, as advertising) in
regions not yet reasonable targets for banditry.
Visage-Distorting Mask (Artifact ••)
Some ghosts are able to change their
appearance at will. The rest use a visage-distorting mask. Appearing as a
simple clay mask crudely painted with a set of facial features, the mask looks
to be nothing more than the work of a child. Once placed on a ghost’s face,
however, the mask goes to work, melding with its wearer’s features and rendering
him unrecognizable. Even players of ghosts who know the mask-bearer well must
make a Perception + Awareness roll (difficulty 2) for their characters to
recognize the ghost once they see her, while others stand no chance at all.
The mask’s effects last so long as the
ghost wears the device. Generally, it can be worn for up to a week at a time,
during which time the ghost can speak and otherwise act normally. Once the
mask’s time span is up — or the ghost wishes to be rid of it — it simply pops
off, looking a little the worse for wear. Each visage-distorting mask has
between three and thirteen uses, no more, and can never be recharged. Once a
mask has exhausted all of its uses, it shatters, and the broken shards rapidly
crumble to dust. No two masks can bear the same set of features. Each is
unique, and attempts to replicate older visage-distorting masks have always
ended in twisted, monstrous disaster.
Attuning a visage-distorting mask requires
simply lifting it to one’s face for an instant. That, and 3
motes of Essence, are all that is required.
Warstrider Implosion Bow (Artifact ••)
Warstrider implosion bows are lightweight,
semi-portable versions of the light implosion bow mounted on First Age warships
and skycraft. The warstrider implosion bow is built in two parts — a
backpack-like device that holds Essence accumulators, reagent canisters and
other mechanisms, and the implosion bow itself. The bow is connected to the
backpack by a pair of flexible emerald cables that are as strong as steel (and
as difficult to sever). The warstrider implosion bow has the same statistics as
a normal light implosion bow, but it fires less often at high charges.
Wave-Stepping Boots (Artifact ••)
Footwear of this sort has been seen in
various different forms — elegant sandals, silk slippers, polished half-boots,
thigh-high leather with high heels — but always sizes itself to fit its latest
wearer perfectly. While wearing them, the Exalt may walk upon seawater as
though it was solid ground. This protection extends to the whole of his body.
He literally cannot sink into the water or be pulled into it, though he can
certainly fire missiles into the water or plunge a daiklave into it.
Wave-stepping boots can occasionally be dangerous. Since the Exalt’s body will
not sink into water, falling from a height onto the surface of the ocean risks
damage as though the Exalt had fallen onto solid earth from a similar height.
The Lintha have a somewhat similar, nonmagical item
Wavecleaver Daiklave (Artifact ••)
Wavecleavers are uncommon weapons, wielded
mostly by Terrestrials of House V’neef and House Peleps, although most houses
have a small number of them. Perhaps the shortest of daiklaves, rarely
exceeding three feet in blade length, wavecleavers are perfect for work below
decks where cramped quarters and low ceilings are the norm. Their thick blades
and strong edges make them useful tools as well as weapons; even steel cables
or chains will rarely withstand more than a single hack from the curved blade
of a wavecleaver. Wavecleavers typically have sockets for two Hearthstones, as
Exalted on the water are more likely to rely on the gem-like talismans for
survival.
Whispering Fan (Artifact ••)
Made of charcoal and red feathers, with
etched soulsteel struts, this fan can be used to send messages across the
Underworld. Its holder raises it to his lips, unfolds it, murmurs a name to it
followed by a message of 13 words or less and then waves the fan away from him.
The message will speed the length and breadth of the Underworld and will be whispered
into the ear of the recipient, who will hear it at that moment as clearly as
though the whispering fan’s holder were standing beside him.
Unfortunately, while several of these fans
exist, they are limited in power. Any sort of magical protection surrounding
the person for whom the message is destined will prevent the message from
reaching him, whether it is centered on him or merely around his vicinity.
These fans can also only be used three times a day, and after the third use,
they will shut themselves with a click and cannot be reopened until the next
dusk. They will carry a message to someone who is currently in a shadowland if
it is night in Creation and will work anywhere during Calibration. The feathers
that compose these fans are taken from pyre hawks, who
will attack anybody seen bearing a fan unless prevented from doing so by some
other means.
Whistle Of Ghost
Summoning (Artifact ••)
This whistle of
silver and chased ivory (or some rarer bone) can be blown to summon local
ghosts and require their presence. It can only be blown between the hours of
sunset and dawn: If someone attempts to sound it during the day, it is totally
silent. If it is blown once during the hours of darkness, it gives a delicate
thin tone, signaling to all ghosts within a league’s radius that the holder of
the whistle requests their presence. While the ghosts are not obliged to
attend, many will come out of curiosity or respect for the holder of the
whistle. If it is blown a second time the same night, the tone is a peremptory
note like a military fie, signaling that the presence of all ghosts within a
league is urgently required. This sound is uncomfortable to ghosts, and while
it may draw their attention, it may also cause them to arrive in a less than
friendly mood.
If it is blown a
third time that night, it will shudder and quake in the hand of the bearer,
then give a high pealing note like the sound of a trumpet of ice and steel that
causes active pain to all ghosts within a league. This will usually bring any
ghosts that have not already arrived, though they will be less than pleased. If
used thrice in a night, then the whistle may not be sounded again for another
10 days. The whistle cannot break a binding that holds a ghost in a particular
location. As the whistle confers no protection against the attacks of ghosts,
the holder may wish to have some form of warding ready. Abyssal Exalted greatly
prize such whistles and will do much to obtain them.
Windwall Terminal (Artifact ••)
Commonly used in First Age crowd control,
these defensive devices have seen extensive use by both the legions and navies
of the Realm. They allow for the creation and direction of a wall of intense
winds, controlled by the manipulation of the small orrery-like device mounted
on top of the blue jade-alloy pedestal that comprises the terminal.
The wind wall can be 20 yards long and up
to five yards high and can be formed anywhere within 200 yards of the terminal.
It can be shaped into a shallow arc both vertically and horizontally, but
cannot form complex shapes. Any ranged attacks with a physical component that
pass through the windwall are made at a +2 difficulty. Activating,
deactivating, reshaping and moving the windwall requires a Wits + Lore roll and
counts as a character’s dice action for the turn.
These devices cannot be used where there is no wind, such as indoors or
underground. The winds are not of constant direction and are incapable of
driving ships. Windwall terminals require maintenance by a character with
Occult •••, Lore ••• and an appropriate Craft ••• Ability after every 100 turns
of active use. This service requires at least a professional-grade field
workshop with tools valued at Resources ••• and consumes Resources •• worth of
jade and other common materials.
Worm-Ridden Veil (Artifact ••)
This item, much in demand among those of
the dead who wish to disguise themselves, appears to be a simple length of
rotting gray silk, fraying at the edges and with its white embroidery stained
and dirty from wear. However, when it is wrapped around the face and body and
the wearer spends 3 motes of Essence, the veil swells and billows to become a
draping shroud that manages to conceal the wearer from head to foot. The cloth
itself, though smeared with cobwebs and apparently alive with grave-worms,
somehow always falls at just the right angles to conceal the face and hands and
any weapons smaller than a dire lance or a grand daiklave.
All that the onlooker can tell is that the
person before him is roughly large, small or of medium size — everything else
is hidden in the wind-blown folds of shadowy silk. The wearer’s voice is also
modulated by the worm-ridden veil, distorted to a rasping hiss like the voice
of a spectre. While Charms or sorcery can pierce the veil’s concealment, no
mere mortal vision can do so. However, if the wearer of the veil launches an
attack on someone or directs sorcery at anyone other than herself, then the
enchantment is broken. On the turn after the attack, the veil shrinks and falls
away to the ground, leaving the wearer as he would appear normally. If not
dispelled by an attack, removed by force or deactivated by the owner’s own
desire, the veil resumes its normal state at the end of the scene.