Artifacts/CropInfusingEssenceWeb
Crop Infusing Essence Web
Artefact ••••
The name of this fairly obscure artefact belies the subtleness of its effect, but not, in the right hands, its usefulness. Inactive, a Crop Infusing Essence Web appears to be little more than an obscure piece of First Age sculpture - a low pentagonal table formed carved from marble, inlaid with green and white jade in the patterns prescribed by Pasiap and Sextes Jylis long ago for their use. At the centre of the table is a small orichalcum dome, while at each of the corners stands a small jade statuette representing Aratas, God of the Harvest. If one of the Exalted touches the dome at the centre then it rotates around revealing a Hearthstone socket hidden within which, if a Hearthstone is placed within, causes the entire surface of the table to glow faintly.
Once placed a second touch to the dome causes it to close and the glow to fade and from that point on, the magic of the artefact takes hold - flooding into the land, encouraging the growth of crops and reducing the effect of pests and blights. For every level of the Hearthstone mounted within the Crop Infusing Essence Web this effect extends for 500 yards, and within this area properly tended crops will grow plentifully and well, giving yields 50-100% greater than normal. The true effect of the artefact reaches beyond this, however - for if the crops planted within the area of effect are of a sort that are useful for creating clothing (i.e.: cotton, flax or hemp) then clothing made from these plants have Essence worked into them at the deepest level. This makes clothing that is extremely durable, holds vivid colours easily and well without fading and is exceptionally easy to cut into almost anything that a tailor might desire. This Essence matches that of the Hearthstone, which remain within the Crop Infusing Essence Web for the entire duration of the crop's growth. Recent experimentation has found that the artefact also affects the cocoons of silkworms, giving those Guild-run silk farms that have access to this artefact a massive financial boost.
The effects that Essence-infused textiles can grant to their wearers are extremely subtle and, more often than not, entirely unnoticed. None of the effects listed below are compatible with Charms, sorcery or other magic, they are simply too minor to be able to compete with these flashier, stronger forces. This does not mean that they are entirely without use – the estate of Cathak Dion on the western Blessed Isle has gained great wealth because the peasants within its bounds are able to work longer and harder than those elsewhere thanks to Earth-infused clothing. Any particular character can only be affected by one of the effects below, simply because the majority of the clothing that they are wearing must be infused with the same kind of Essence in order for the effect to occur.
- Air
- The fabric infused with the Essence of Air is eternally slightly below ambient temperature, keeping its wearer cool in all but the most extreme climates. This provides the wearer with a +1 die bonus to all tests for resisting cold.
- Earth
- Cloth that has been interwoven with threads of Earth Essence impart some of the tirelessness of Earth into the wearer, who is able to exert himself for longer than would otherwise be the case. This grants the wearer a +1 die bonus to all tests to resist fatigue, tiredness, etc…
- Fire
- The clothing that has had the nature of Fire imparted is always slightly warm to the touch, and wards off the worst of the depredations of a chill wind or icy rain. This gives the character wearing it a +1 die bonus to resist extreme heat.
- Water
- The shimmering of sunlight on Water has been granted to the fabric, giving it an almost unnoticeable sheen that can distract or enchant those that the wearer interacts with. This grants a +1 die bonus to all Social rolls involving one-on-one interaction.
- Wood
- Some of the resilience and toughness of the Wood Dragon has been infused into the clothing, which grants the wearer a +1 modifier to his Lethal and Bashing soaks.
- Lunar
- The changeable nature of Lunar Essence writhes through the cloth, creating shifting patterns of light and shadow as the clothing crumples and folds. This breaks up the outline of the wearer, granting him a +1 die bonus to all Stealth checks in a rural or outdoors environment.
- Sidereal
- The Fate-altering power of the Maidens runs deeply, and their influence is perhaps the subtlest of all, giving the laws of probability a slight push in favour of the wearer. The character gains a +1 bonus to all rolls regarding games of chance.
- Solar
- Solar Essence, albeit in a highly diluted form, floods through the very weave of the clothes, envigoriating the wearer, bolstering his health. He gains a +1 bonus to all attempts to resist disease of infection.
- Abyssal
- The Essence of the Void, chill and dark, creeps into the flesh of the one who wears these clothes, which tailors feel compelled to cut into funereal robes and burial cerements. The character gains a +1 bonus to all Social tests to affect the ghosts and the undead.
