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Movement in High Places

The Self-Styled Socialite's Stone (Ben-San)

 Fire Aspected
 Manse •
 Trigger: Setting in an artifact

While a daiklave or grimcleaver is a mark of wealth and power, it is not often acceptable in the high places of society. This problem goes away if it is set with this gem, which looks somewhat like a finely-cut ruby but on closer inspection shows to be an imitation. Setting this stone in an artifact makes the artifact appear acceptable in such social situations, but gaudy and just at the edge of good taste. While the impression this leaves will not help you improve your station in society, it can make it somewhat easier for less-graceful warriors to move in high places.

Golden River Token - Telgar

 Sidereal Aspected
 Manse ••
 Trigger: Concentration

A small golden teardrop often worn as an earring or necklace charm, the Golden River Token is only useful in the confines of Yu-Shan. When travelling upon the quicksilver canals the stone doubles the speed at which the bearer travels. When in the silver channel, the water around the bearer's boat turns golden. If using a golden channel, the water around the boat becomes pure white radience. This stone is considered perfectly legal by the Heavenly Bureaucracy and many young and absent minded Sidereals try to encourage growth of similar gems at their Manses.

Fresh-Faced Hopeful's Bauble - AntiVehicleRocket

 Air Aspected
 Manse •••
 Trigger: None (always on when worn)

The Fresh-Faced Hopeful's Bauble is a semi-translucent sphere, iridescent, with the texture of frosted glass; it is hollow and light, and it looks quite fragile, although it is as sturdy as any other Hearthstone. When worn or carried in a situationally-appropriate artifact, the bearer of the Fresh-Faced Hopeful's Bauble gives off the impression of having great potential to those above him in station; she seems eager, humble, and talented, a perfect apprentice or tool. When interacting with those of a station above her in a deferential manner, the Exalt adds four dice to all of her Bureaucracy, Socialize, Presence, and Performance rolls. Furthermore, she can never botch these rolls; all botches are treated as normal failures, as the glamour of the Bauble smooths over otherwise-disastrous social gaffes. Finally, the Bauble's influence assures that the bearer's potential patrons will remember her name and face. (This does not circumvent the Arcane Fate or other supernatural memory manipulation, but it ensures that the bearer will not be forgotten for mundane reasons.) This Hearthstone is not uncommon in the Realm and is often lent to younger members of the family hoping to secure a new job, a school admission, or an arranged marriage.

The Strange Eye Of The Sky - Sindaen

 Sidereal Aspected
 Manse ••••
 Trigger: Casting the stone up in the air outdoors

This perfectly round stone has hues that range from the deep emerald green to the light, almost silvery starry-night blue. When cast up in the sky, the stone continues to travel up, about five miles per dot of the owner´s Temperance. During that time, the user´s eyes become washed over with strange starry colors and his own vision becomes that of the stone´s perspective. When the stone loses momentum, it begins to fall at a normal speed, altough the user can make small adjustments to the angle of the fall, effectively pushing it with the force of their will. The vision is as round as the stone, alowing the user to get a good look at the surrounding territory in every direction.

Some users get disoriented or dizzy the first time they use the Strange Eye Of The Sky, and some prefer to do it seldom. Any use of this stone indoors automaticaly fails, giving only glimpses of nauseating, shifting hues for about an hour.

Oddly enough, if a blind person throws one of these flying stones enough times, a giant silvery hawk from Mount Metagalpa suddenly appears out of nowhere, devours the flying stone in mid-air and banishes. Thus far, no one has found an explanation for this strange phenomenon, altough some believe the creature can be summoned to carry the owner if the name of the flying beast is pronounced. Not many people are willing to waste a perfectly good hearthstone to prove this theory.

The Heart of Faith - willows

 Solar Aspected
 Manse •••••
 Trigger: Constant

This Hearthstone is a beating human heart made of translucent white stone. It allows the bearer to metabolize faith. Moving in this elevated state of euphoria gives the dervish a surprising resilience. If placed in a setting or surgically planted in the place of a real heart, its bearer gains as many -1 Health Levels as his Compassion, and as many -0 levels as he has Virtue Specialties in his faith, as well as an additional -0 if he is the holder of an Eternal Vow.

Comments

Fire aspect was the best I could think of for it. Sidereal would fit with the nature of the effect but not the "common" style of the stone. -Ben-San

Just out of curiosity, why is the Golden River Token explicitly legal? -Will

I'm fond of the Self-Styled Socialite's Stone, but the Golden River Token gives me pause. It doesn't fit well for me as a level 2 stone -- maybe just because it's really quite narrow in application, especially since many Sidereals have other ways to travel anyway. I approve of a Yu-Shan navigation Hearthstone, but I'm not fond of this one. (Also, why is this legal? The possibility of accidents and breaches of courtesy looms large.) Anyway, I'm not sure if the Fresh-Faced Hopeful's Bauble is appropriate for a level 3 stone, and in some ways I'd be more comfortable with it at 2, but I think it has its uses. -- AntiVehicleRocket

Sidereals may have other ways to travel, but most of them are time-consuming or restricted. This stone is not. I'd happily broaden it to allow double-movement at all times in Yu-Shan, but that takes it beyond level 2. AVR's seems solidly level 3, so we can't swap places. Also, its explicity legal because otherwise regulation-happy ST's might lay the smackdown on an over-speedy Sidereal for using something they paid for. That always pisses me off, its a "be nice damnit" safeguard :) - Telgar

See, I feel like building in "safeguards" on the assumption that STs are going to arbitrarily be cruel to players for no reason should not something intrinsic to the system -- hell, even the "stunts cannot actively hurt you" rule is only implied. Rules should be written to assume that neither the ST nor the player is actively hateful to the other. If you're playing under an ST devoted to making you hurt for your Backgrounds, why are you still playing under that ST? Anyway -- I think there are several excellent reasons that this wouldn't be explicitly legal. There are a lot of possibilities for traffic jams and collisions, for example, especially since these sound like they're most common amoung young Sidereals; it's like handing a 16-year-old new driver the keys to a Ferrari and letting them loose on the freeway. (Possibly even worse, since the rest of the canal traffic is fixed-rate.) Also, why would this be a desired effect by the Celestial Bureaucracy, especially since they can't regulate who has the stones and why? It seems to badly circumvent the distinction between silver and gold canals. -- AntiVehicleRocket

Being legal is part of the Hearthstone's power. It's so darn nifty, no one minds it. And there really isnt a chance of "traffic jams" in the canals. That'd be silly. A Heavenly traffic jam. How un-cool. - Telgar

I must disagree, there. A traffic-jam in Heaven could be very cool under the right circumstances. Put someone with major Social-Fu in charge of 'The Great Games Robbery' of 791. The get away chase scene through the crowded canals, all of a sudden, crowded becomes congested becomes immobilised as the red-tape of the Heavenly Bureaucracy goes haywire from 'Bureaucratic bombs' set in motion three weeks earlier (maybe three hours earlier, if we're talking Solar Social-Fu!)... but maybe that's just me... B-) - Nikink

Besides which, it's not as if Yu-Shan actually operates perfectly. The reason there are no traffic jams is because every vehicle in a given lane moves at the exact same speed, not some kind of heavenly immunity to muckups. Personally I would call use of such stones a "slap-on-the-wrist" offense; not something that will be prosecuted for agents giving good service, but the kind of thing that can be used as a pretext for an otherwise-motivated investigation. -Ben-San

On "The Strange Eye Of The Sky": I used that name, because I have the feeling the name "The Eye Of The Sky" has been used a dozen times befor for magic artifacts in roleplaying games. I know the stone doesn´t sound like a "Movement In High Places" type, but that´s because it´s true utility, calling a great silver winged Metagalpan Spirit, has become lost in the tumult of the second age. I´m not even sure how this would work mechanicaly speaking, I mean, calling a winged spirit with the stone requires this to be a Manse 5+ stone, but the real utility makes it one level lower (maybe more). Also, wasting a perfecly good stone in calling a winged spirit doesn´t seem like a good deal, only if the silvery hawk transports you somewhere otherwise unreacheable - Like Malfeas, Yu-Shan and / or Lost cities of the First Age etc. And theres the --stone recovery-- problem. I believe the hawk should have means to regurgitate the stone or to give one of his eyes to the owner, so he can call him again. Just some toughts. Sindaen

I´m no native english speaker. Please feel free to correct spelling errors in my posts so the Crunch Relay looks nicer. Thanks!- Sindaen

Nice stone! I proofread for you. - willows

Maybe I'm missing something, but how is the last stone about "movement in high places"? -Ben-San, who is probably missing a metaphor.

You're totally not missing something, man. I accidentally left out the line that explains the metaphor; I'll add it when I get to the computer where it's written out properly. - willows

The suspense is killing me! --TedPro