Revision as of 00:36, 6 April 2010

Hearthstone Relay

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Grieving

Mourner's Orb (Ikselam)

Water Aspect
Manse •

This translucent blue sphere is wet with a thin film of salty water. When attuned, it causes its owner's bodily fluids to become saturated with her feelings of grief and loss, to such a degree that exposure can placate unhappy spirits. If she spills tears or blood on the corpse or fresh grave of a person whose Conviction is less than or equal to her Compassion, that person's lower soul will not rise as a hungry ghost. The disposition of the higher soul is unaffected.

In addition, Ghosts or Abyssal Exalted who taste her blood (or tears, etc.) find it even more delicious than usual, and gain a number of motes equal to her Compassion, but only once per scene.

Iron Widow Stone (Quendalon)

Water Aspect
Manse ••

This small, round gem is a dead flat black. Under the night sky, however, it glimmers with a thousand starry reflections. A character attuned to this Hearthstone draws strength from her own sorrow for the pain of others. Whenever she succeeds with a Compassion check, she immediately regains a point of temporary Willpower. This can bring her total past her permanent Willpower, though not above 10 in any event.

Eye-for-an-Eye Gem (Ikselam)

Earth Aspect
Manse •••

This round, mostly-white hearthstone bears markings which make it look like a stone eyeball. When attuned, it helps its bearer gain redress for her grievances. If she activates a Virtue to aid any roll directly related to taking revenge against an individual who has personally wronged her, she adds a number of extra successes equal to the Virtue's rating, rather than dice. This counts toward the per-story limit for Virtue activation. When the target of the character's ire has suffered roughly as much grief as he inflicted upon her (determined by the Storyteller), the stone's power can no longer be used against him.

Gravestone of Whispers (Charlequin)

Abyssal Aspect
Manse ••••

This stone is a thick oval; its color is gray at the edges, where light seeps through, fading to deepest black in its very center. The stone's true purpose is revealed only when its possessor loses something she greatly treasures. The character may whisper the name of someone she blames for the loss into the stone, and bury it six feet under the earth. When she does so, if the target's Permanent Essence is equal to or less than her own, he is struck silent. For a year and a day, he is incapable of communicating with others in any way, whether through speech, writing, or gesture, though he can still understand the words of others. He may escape this curse by finding the stone where it is buried and unearthing it, which will cause it to shatter and end the curse. All the while the target suffers from this, he hears the words whispered into the stone just above the level of silence. If they do not drive him mad, he may be able to follow them back to the source.

Stone of Bereaved Prayers (Telgar)

 Abyssal Aspect
 Manse •••••

A perfect cube of ivory is either white, grey or black depending on the time. This Hearthstone forms only in the Underworld, never in Creation-bound Abyssal Manses or even those in Shadowlands. Through its power, it can allow its master to skip the most vital step in the economy of prayer: praying. Instead of waiting for prayers of the grieving family to arrive, the holder of this Stone benefits simply from grief itself. Every 10 mourners within 100 miles of the Creation-mirror of the Stone's location contribute 1/100th of a dot of Resources. The grief is drawn into the stone, causing it to turn black. When 1 full dot has been accumulated the stone turns ebony black and the grief collected inside the stone is purged, returning the stone to pristine white. In the purging, a Grave Goods offering worth 1 dot of Resources is created. This offering can take any shape the owner desires. It is possible to wait for further grief to accumulate by simply spending a willpower when the stone is black. This causes it to wait to release the grief, causing the final release to be equal in value to the number of 'saved' dots. This number can not exceed 5. It takes about a week for 1 dot of Resources to accumulate.

Comments

The Eye-for-an-Eye Gem is obviously less about grieving than it is about being a griefer. ~_^ _Ikselam

Does the magical silence imposed by the Gravestone of Whispers affect magical communication (e.g., Poetic Expression Style)? Is there / should there be a crunchy mechanism for the insanity thing? _Ikselam thinks of that Whisperers in the Mirror spell.

Stone of Bereaved Prayers: one dot of Resources is pretty weak. Unless the ability to keep grief accumulating allows you to get higher-Resources grave goods (and if so, it needs to be made explicit), it's definitely not worth level 5. - Quendalon

Indeed, it allows you to 'save up' for bigger gain. Added that. - Telgar

So in two and a half months, I could have Resources 10, which probably means I could just buy the Underworld from the Deathlords? _Ikselam

Well no. That'd be Resources N/A. :) - Telgar

So what's Resources 10? Resources 5 is already, if not beyond, at least approaching the wildest dreams of avarice. _Ikselam

Mmm. Yeah. Well, whats a level 8 Artifact that Abyssals can get? Dunno! Same thing. Or just call it unlimited Resource 5 Purchases, like high-level Salary. - Telgar

I personally believe that the "no cap on Artifact level" thing in the Abyssal Artifact background just means that you can have as many level fives as you can afford; note that Artifact 3 for Abyssals is capped at level 4, and then Artifact 4 says "no limit." I don't think they have to say "none above level 5" because the only artifacts above level 5 are N/A. I have seen nothing anywhere which makes me think that level 6 artifacts actually exist. _Ikselam

Is there any mechanical reason why one should buy Resources 5 at character creation, rather than Manse 5 and a Stone of Bereaved Prayers? The Stone seems superior in every way. - Quendalon (and yes, you can use ninja redecorating on the Manse, but you can also use ninja accounting against the Resources)

Because actual resources don't rely on being in the Underworld for their use. They work in both worlds. Limited the stone to 5 dots, anyway. - Telgar

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