BrigandRansom/EssenceBattery
Have moved Essence Battery Stuff here, including comments.
an essence battery that gives large amounts of preripheral essence to the one attuned to it but is very dangerous.
Basically it uses Magical Materials as the metals, and a magically caustic substance as a catalyst. This would be very expensive to operate since it would destroy the magical materials used, and highly dangerous since it contains magically powerful acids. Possibly the technology was recently rediscovered and was mistaken for a way to manufacture essence bombs, but a cunning exalt would realize that the explosion only occurs when no essence is being drawn from the device and it overloads. Essence generated is determined by the materials used. Terrestrial Exalts must power the device with 2 different colors of Jade Jade (of any color? Colors dependent on DB type?), while celestials must use Jade and their own material type (or possibly the essence can only be used against an exalt of the opposite type (Example: A Solar who uses Orichachum and Jade in their Battery can only use the extra essence against dragon blooded, or a Dragon Blooded using Jade and Soulsteel can only use the essence against the dead)
The Essence Battery Device uses 2 kinds of magical materials, a Primary and a secondary. The primary type is your own type (a DB uses the appropriate color of jade, Solars use Orichalc, Sids use Starmetal, ect), and the secondary type is what you want to use the essence against (a DB Air Exalt going against a DB Earth Exalt would use White Jade and Brown Jade, a Solar Fighting a Lunar would use Orichalchum and Moonsilver, ect). Hmm. I think just any other type of material would do, since the definition of what you're using the essence for could be kind of vague.
Now, this raises a question in my own mind: Is there a Magical Material for Infernal Exalts? Would this be more powerful that the others, since Infernals are Exalted by the Primordials themselves (just as Orichalchum, Moonsilver, Starmetal and Soulsteel are more powerful than Jade)?
(checks the PG... hmm, nothing)
This is a portable device, but just barely. Once assembled, it would begin generating the essence. This means unless the character has pre-built MM Cores, a supply of the catalyst and dots in Lore he or she wouldn't be able to change essence types on-the-fly. The outer casing itself would be made of an inert material, possibly (glazed on the inside) terra cotta. The device would have health levels of course, since destroying it would release a very dangerous chemical which could melt the flesh off of the exalt carrying it. It would also have an upper limit of how much Essence it could hold before exploding, possibly rated by artifact dots the battery would cost to purchase (maybe artifact * 10, and having batteries rated 1 [10 essence] to 5 [50 essence]? Opening the device has a tendency to detonate the essence, so you have to drain it before modifying it. Possibly the batteries have a Stamina rating as well, and the device can actually overcharge up to their stamina times the batter size (so an Artifact 5 Battery with 5 Stamina can hold 50 motes normally, and can overcharge to a total of 250). Batteries generate their own artifact rating per turn to charge themselves.
Once attuned to a battery, you may draw motes of essence from it as if it were your own essence. This is at a limited range however, the power can only be drawn from the battery while it is within (your own essence) yards of you. This makes the use of Small batteries fine for combat, but the higher the rating, the larger it is. single-dot batteries are about the size of a child's fist, 2 points are about the size of a scrollcase. 3 point batteries are quite nearly too large to be carried in combat, close to the size of a small chest (think 12 volt car battery size). 4 Point batteries are the size of a man's torso and arms, and level 5 batteries are usually immovable and larger than a barrel.
Overcharge and Essence detonation: When these were rediscovered it was assumed that they were a weapon, since once they're put together it's only a matter of time until they exceed their maximum capacity and explode releasing burning essence, caustic fluid and Magical Material shrapnel. Breaking (or opening) a battery before it's at overcharge level isn't nearly as dangerous as when it's fully charge, and may be safely discharged by an exalt with Lore equal to the artifact rating of the battery. As the battery is opened, the essence surges outward and latches on to the nearest essence-active entity, causing their anima banner to flare. I'm sure there would be some sort of upper limit, an 'Essence Burn' of sorts where if you don't have enough essence yourself, you take damage from this essence arcing.
Once overcharge level is reached, these devices are highly unstable and opening one causes an immediate explosion. The radius of the explosion is equal to the battery's stamina rating, and damage.... hmm. How to work that? There would obviously be damage from the shrapnel and catalyst in addition to the essence itself.
As I mentioned, these things are expensive to operate. The catalyst itself is difficult to manufacture, and the batteries destroy the magical materials put inside of them. The Catalyst is a 2-point resources purchase, but this gives you enough catalyst to power a Level 5 Battery (or several smaller ones). The catalyst is not used up by the process, so you may reuse the catalyst from battery to battery. The Magical Materials themselves must also be purchased, need to check Manacle and Coin for resource listings. The Materials need to be formed into a Core, a pair of tubes that slide into one another but do not touch. The outer tube is the appropriate MM type to the Exalt wielding it. The MMs themselves are burned up at a rate of uhh... hmm. Braindead for now, more later.
Okay, they don't just blow up once manufactured. If they are unattuned, they're basically a battery still in it's package, just waiting to be plugged in to an exalt. Attuning to a battery costs (artifact rating of battery + stamina rating of battery + 10) motes(comitted), and basically uses the Exalt's essence as a bridge from the positive to the negative. While the battery is attuned it generates power which the Exalt may use as if it were their own. The battery generates it's artifact rating in essence per turn once it's been attuned to, and any essence not used by the exalt is added to the battery's storage. Battery storage is equal to it's artifact rating *10, and has an overcharge equal to it's stamina *10. This overcharge is added to the normal capacity of the battery, so an Artifact 5 Battery with 5 Stamina would have a Storage of 50 and an Overcharge of 50, for a total of 100 possible motes in it. Once a battery reaches maximum, it's almost impossible to stop it from exploding. A battery that goes over it's overcharge continues adding motes, even surpassing the overcharge limit. However the device itself will explode in (5 minus artifact rating) turns. Any sudden jolt or movement to the battery once these turns are counting down causes the battery to detonate immediately. If enough power can be drawn from the battery to bring it back down to it's normal storage limit (not it's overcharge limit) the battery itself stabilizes and may be used noramlly.
This makes it possible to use the smaller batteries as Essence Grenades, and the larger ones can be attuned to an left in place. Even if the Exalt moves out of the Battery's range, the Attenuation holds indefinitely, or until the exalt releases it. So, you could waste your money by putting a level 5 battery somewhere, attuning to it, and running like hell before it explodes.
Hmm. Still need to figure out how long the MM cores last before eroding entirely and need replacement
More Essence battery Stuff
These Highly dangerous devices were created during the first age, but never on a massive scale. None from the first age survived, however many texts refer to these devices and recently a once-lost library was discovered that contained much of the research that was made on these devices. Their original intent seemed to be Large-scale manufacture of artifacts, even on the scale of a Gigantic machine that mass-produced simple warstriders. The research itself was never perfected, since the Researchers were too busy getting slaughtered during the Usurpation. These devices are incredibly dangerous, causing severe illness to any living creatures nearby.
Construction and Operation: Essence Batteries are composed of 4 (or 5) Parts: Housing, Catalyst, Primary Material Core and Secondary Material Core (Beyond the Lesser Battery Size you need Shielding around the battery to prevent Essence Decay Sickness). The Principles behind the construction of these devices are based around the cycle of creation itself: Nothing in the Realm is ever destroyed absolutely, it's essence just takes another form. The power provided to an exalt by the magical materials is stripped of it's alignment (no material bonus is given to an exalt attuned to a Mana battery), and the process of the release of it's energy is sped up thousands of times. The erosion of Magical Materials, which usually takes millenia is sped up to weeks or even days.
Essence batteries appear from the outside to be Jade Urns with a Pitch Cap and a Glyph of Power. The Glyph Itself is made up of 2 seperate glyphs that ring each other, neither one actually touching and cast from Orichalchum and an Experimental Material from the first age. These Glyphs actually connect to the Primary and Seconadry Material Cores, which are suspended in a powerful catalyst. The interaction between the Orichalc and the Experimental Material is sped up by the caustic chemical, destroying both materials and generating large amounts of Raw Essence.
The batteries use the Commited Essence of the Exalt to start this reaction and act as a bridge between the two parts of the Glyph. Once so connected, large amounts of essence cycle through the Exalt. This is basically an additional essence pool which acts the same way the personal essence pool does, none of the motes generated by the battery add to the anima banner (unless fueling charms that increase the banner's visibility).These batteries often generate far more essence than can be used in a single turn with charms and combos (And even the most powerful sorceries do not always use up all of the seence generated by the greates batteries).
Lesser Batteries: These urns are small enough to fit in the palm of the hand, and generate up to 15 motes of essence per turn. These were the first batteries built, and were intended to be a replacement for the Essence Containing Gems. There are also texts that show diagrams of these small urns powering first-age arbalests and other powerful ranged weaponry.
Greater Batteries: These Packpack-Sized Jade Cases are mentioned only briefly in the texts, and were apparently part of a new design of Warstrider. These Batteries generate up to 30 essence per round, but it was here that the designers ran into their first stumbling block. These decay that generated the Essence could not be held back, not could such incredible amounts of Magical Energy. The design was improved upon using a material that is not properly identified in the surviving diagrams, and the addition of a layer of this material seemed to keep the essence held back and kept the people around it from withering away.
Greatest Batteries: These monstrosities could generate up to 50 motes per round, but they required huge amounts of Shielding or they would cause anyone nearby to wither and die in seconds. These are records that state that two of these devices were built, but there is nothing stating what use they were put to. Some savants theorize that they were used to power massive machines that made warstriders, but these are nothing more than projections.
Mechanics: Lesser Batteries Lore 4, access to a library containing the requisite texts, lotsa research Resources 1 to manufacture per stamina level, process takes 1 week per stamina level These devices generate 15 motes of essence per round once attuned. This essence resonates with the Exalt's Anima, whether it is visible or not. Any essence not used by the next round go into the Charge Pool, which is equal to the Battery's Sta*3. If the charge pool is exceeded the battery immediately becomes unstable and explosive. Any time the battery is moved while unstable the character attuned to it rolls his essence to attempt to stabilize it, with the difficulty equal to 6 minus the Battery's stamina. If the battery explodes the attuned Exalt takes ... hokay, tired now. I'll do some more tomorrow =)
Comments
Well, since you asked, here's some comments. The canon "Essence Batteries" (Essence Containing Gem) are much lower powered than the thing you've written up. The biggest one (lvl 5) holds only 15 motes, if I recall correctly, so the large volume of juice you're talking about is a lot. More importantly, such a large battery (anything over about 20 motes) is a really powerful thing in the hands of a sorceror, who can now much more easily summon demons, due to the large die-pool reductions one can do with all that Essence. Even if it takes one month to regenerate that juice, who cares, as you can only summon 2nd circle demons once a month. I'd say the concept of a dangerous essence battery is sound, but it's gotta be much smaller, and perhaps with more 'personal' drawbacks, other than a simple high consumption of MM. ~ GregLink
The Essence Batteries I Will admit, are overpowered. That's kind of the feeling I'm going for. But you are right, they're way overboard. I may not reduce the amounts of essence that much, since a powermad sorcerer with 100 essence just sitting there could be a great story Hook. I'll probably make the batteries far more expensive, possibly a resources 5 expenditure to get enough catalyst for a level 1 battery. Any ideas for personal drawbacks? Possibly all essence expenditures while attuned to the battery are peripheral whether you use periph or personal essence (basically Beacon Of Power flaw)... Ooh, or Essence Sickness, that much essence gathered in one place will start giving the person attuned to it symptoms similar to radiation sickness. First Age Technology, but it never got beyond the testing phases before the Usurpation and Contagion hit. I still need to figure out MM consumption, and damages and radiuses and stuff. Damage for one of these things exploding would be immense, considering the Flying acid, MM shrapnel and arcs of raw unchanneled essence flying everywhere ~ BrigandRansom
Hokay, there's some thoughts on the Essence Batteries that are slightly more focused. Not doneyet, not by a longshot. The lesser essence batteries most definitely still leak essence radiation, but Exalts are made of sterner stuff than mortals. It's not mentioned in the texts that mortals exposed to the radiation from lesser batteries often show signs similar to radiation sickness. The Materials required are Orichalcum, and the Experimental material? Soulsteel. And the Shielding was Starmetal on the Greater and Greatest Batteries. ~ BrigandRansom
Since I'm here... I'd say definitely go with Radiation burns for everyone, regardless of battery level. Otherwise the higher-level ones just become that much more appealing. Perhaps a different way of doing it would be to make them also a bit more expensive, in that you 'power' them with a hearthstone, and they are just batteries, not Essence Generators (or, canonically, Essence Accumulators). Unlike Essence containing gems, these devices have a very large capacity, at the cost of ease of recharging them. The battery recharges slowly, absorbing the stone's level in motes every 6 hours. A given battery can hold 15m+10m/level, giving ranges from 25m to 65m. All essence used through the battery counts as peripheral. That'd give you recharge times on the order of 5 days for one of these, which still allows for big-time shows of juice when necessary, but keeps you from pouring through the stuff twice a day. If all batteries were smaller than you envision (Say, the size of maybe a modern lantern battery), they become portable containers for hearthstones that, instead of giving you a small trickle, give a boost you might need for later. Thing is, if you don't keep the battery from overflowing, it starts to leak Essence, causing radiation damage (of a sort). This makes it tough to stay stealthy with one, insomuch as while you're hiding out in town for a week, you've got the problem that your level 2 battery with level 4 stone recharges every (35m * 6hours/4m = 45 hours) two days. That's a total of 35 peripheral motes you've gotta burn every two days, but still not get noticed as an Anathema. Since using those motes tends to cause sickness in everyone around (Every time the battery is used, all non-Essence wielders in some range must roll Stamina+Resistance at a difficulty equal to the number of motes accessed this turn. Failure indicates a single unsoakable level of lethal damage has been taken. The range of radiation leakage is equal to the number of motes burned this round*10 yards). ~ GregLink
Good stuff on the batteries. I was originally thinking that they might be used as a replacement for Hearthstones in devices that are powered by them (such as warstriders). This could possibly be something that was hinted towards in the research but never implemented. I'll have to give more thorough research. I was also thinking that these things are just too powerful for DB to attune to (since the MMs used are Orichalc and Soulsteel, it's pretty much Celestial Essence. Sids could attune to them, and possibly Lunars but I think that they'd... start...
Hmm. Maybe these were never fist age Items at all, but the research books that were found there were stuck in the librarby recently by some fair folk... Hmm, fair folk, radiation sickness, mutations...... hmm. I'm gonna stew on that for a bit. ~ BrigandRansom
I believe Blood and Salt mentions Black Lead as a possible Infernal Magical Material, but I don't remember exactly. I think it was in the Dukantha part... Seiraryu who is far too lazy to check now.
