Thus Spake Zarataylor/AmethystWeapon

izzylobo - 02/25/2004 20:33:27

>Xyskalla>"The Outcaste mentions one of Lookshy's wmd's from the first age at the Gunzota Redoubt, an object that transmutes every person within a 2 mile radius into amethyst. It was detonated just over 150 years ago, and it's still turning people into amethyst to this day if they come within 2 miles of it."

Yup

"Tattooed Lunars would obviously be immune."

This I'm not sure about.

While they can't be turned into Amethyst (because they have a Perfect defense against involuntary shifting), the Essence drain would be another matter (this is also what prevents a Deathlord from walking in and wandering off with the device, or any of the other weapons stored there - the text suggests that anything material enough to touch anything in the area is material enough to be shanked by the device).

It certainly wouldn't be a pleasant experience - but a sufficiently motivated Lunar might be able to get in.

"Then I realized that a Lunar can carry this wmd out of the Gunzota Redoubt and destroy the great cities of Creation. Since no one can come within 2 miles of the Lunar, and automata shut down from its Essence drain, how could you stop it from destroying civilization? How would you even know the threat was coming and where it was coming from?"

Nope. Didn't work like that. While it's a continuous effect while activated, the device, as I was writing it, at least, was not something you could pick up and move around - you activated it, it went off, everything turned to amethyst, and it was stuck there - assume that Essence eddies, or what not, hold it in place until deactivated.

The device is (nearly) the ultimate area-denial weapon - you set it off in the center of some place you don't want anyone else using, ever again, and then step the fuck back. I'm not even sure, if turned off, if it would work again - it's entirely possible it was never intended to *be* turned off once set in place.

Now, if you want to change that, you can feel free, of course - but if you *could* move it around, the question becomes - why in hell didn't the Solar who originally made it use it in just such a fashion, when the Usurpation came around? An Essence 8 Solar undoubtedly has a "Immune to Bloody Everything Prana" Charm he can activate, or some ring of amethyst that renders him immune, or whatever - bounce it on, set off the device, and wander around the battlefield for a scene until all your foes are nice and glittery, lather, rinse, repeat.

If I *were* to use this in a story, it would be in one of two ways -

One, assume the device can be shut down, and reactivated elsewhere. Of course, when Coral Whispers shuts it down, all sorts of alarms at Nasaru Redoubt (where they are, of course, monitoring the flows of Essence around Gunzota *very* carefully) go off, alerting the Seventh Legion about the same time three different Rangers go "uuhhhh... guys - that crazy Lunar just came wandering out of Gunzota - with a shit-eating grin on her face, and something in her hands" using some charm or artifact.

The game then becomes a race against time and madness, as a psycho-bitch Lunar Anathema races to try and reach major cities and turn them into statuary, and the Seventh tries to put the El Kabong on her before she manages to reach anywhere major - possibly with assistance along the way (from saner Lunars, Solars - hell, damn near everyone else except the more psychotic Yozis, like She Who Lives In Her Name, and the Malfeans).

Two - same premise, except the players are Lunars - who have to come to grips with the power Coral Whispers has, and deal with it - either by helping her, or by killing her and burying the damn thing so deep it isn't funny (note that, as written, the amethyst widget really *isn't* a very Lunar weapon, imho - it slays the strong, the weak, the infirm, and the mighty without discrimination or chance - if you're in the radius, you're lawn sculpture - it takes no skill, and no bravery to use, it confers no honor at all - using this thing is sheer slaughter, and slaughter alone, especially aimed at a major city).

It is a very nice little bit of fiction, however, and a beautiful description of the weapon - I can't say that it's canon (since some other writer might get the order some day to write it up), but it's likely the one *I* would use, if I ever need to describe the Widget.

Scott Taylor

The "very nice little bit of fiction" in question (not by Scott Taylor):

Xyskalla - 02/24/2004 17:52:47 - shadarlogoth@mindspring.com

Sorry, I'm not much of a writer, but...

The air in the dark chamber smelled stale. The sound of Coral Whisper's footsteps broke a silence that had lasted for over 150 years. Her eyes darted around briefly, and finally settled on something near the center of the room.

"There it is," she said. "The object of my desire."

She walked closer to her goal, until she was near enough to touch it. She stared at it for several minutes, examining it from various angles. It wasn't because she was looking for potential traps. At least that wasn't the only reason. The statues were partially in the way, too.

"One long-term mystery solved," she said. "Those conspiracy theorists were right after all. It wasn't an accident." For a moment, she wished there was someone else here that she could share her discovery with, but she knew that was impossible. She wasn't about to share the glory of what she was about to do with another Lunar, and nobody besides a Lunar could survive here. She had been using this region as a refuge for years, since nobody could follow her in here, but she had never found this room before today.

It wasn't a refuge any more. Today, she had another purpose in mind.

The object she was looking at was a sphere almost a foot in diameter. More accurately, it was two hemispheres connected by three tubes, but the halves could slide together to form a sphere. It was made of orichalcum, with intricate etchings inlaid with jade and amethyst. Several sliding buttons made of starmetal were on one of the hemispheres. Starmetal catches emerging from the other hemisphere looked like they were meant to lock the two halves together. The connecting tubes were made of moonsilver.

It was resting in the hands of two of the statues. They were statues of men posed to look like they had just pulled the two halves apart.

From the looks of things, both here and just outside this room, there had been a desperate struggle to keep the object away from those who had finally used it. Dozens of amethyst statues were frozen in combat poses. A broken statue lying on the floor looked as if the man had been lunging for the globe an instant before he was transmuted into amethyst.

"It's smaller than I expected," Coral Whisper observed. "So much power contained here." She stared for another moment before adding, "Such a beautiful object. I think it's about time somebody shared this with the rest of the world."

She took the object out of the hands of the statues. "I wonder how much face I'll gain when I single-handedly destroy civilization. Should I head west along the Yellow? I'd like to take this back to where it came from, and I can hit Great Forks, Nexus, and every other city along the way. But I half think I should visit Greyfalls first, while I'm in the area."

She mused over her options as she walked out of the armory of the Gunzota Redoubt.