HearthstoneRelay/AvoidingUnpleasantness

The Twenty-Second theme is "Avoiding Unpleasantness"

Unity of Restitution Stone (FlowsLikeBits)

 Solar Aspected
 Manse •
 Trigger None

This "stone" is a perfectly round, orichalcum colored sphere. It feels rubbery; in fact, it is perfectly elastic. If dropped, it will bounce exactly as high as it was dropped from. If this stone is given to a child, unless there is something severely wrong with them, they will play with it for hours. It is unclear if this effect is magical.

It does seem to have tendancy to resist being lost, at least for an object that tends to be thrown and bounce around a room at high rates of speed. Attempts to catch this stone while is moving (by anyone) have a 2 die bonus. In most cases, it will 'turn up' sooner or later. If actually lost, it only takes a day to reform in the manse, rather than a month.

If used as a thrown weapon, it does (Str-1)B.

If placed in the mouth, it has a horrible taste.

---

Starcatcher Onyx (Arafelis)

Sidereal Aspected
Manse ••
Trigger Spending Peripheral Essence, Concentration

This dark, non-lustrous stone seems smooth to the eye but rough to the touch. If its bearer spends peripheral essence, this gem 'absorbs' up to four motes, preventing them from appearing as part of an anima banner (much as if suppressed by the Night Caste anima power). The absorbed motes can later be released, either appearing in the anima normally or to fuel an inherent (but not caste) anima power (such as knowing the time of day or illuminating the caste mark). Until the motes have been 'bled off' in this fashion, the stone cannot absorb more.

---

Stone of the Most Elusive Prey (Resplendence)

Lunar Aspected
Manse •••
Trigger Fleeing

This smooth, silvery gem is impossible to look directly at - it evades your gaze to constantly stay in your peripheral vision. Its shape, just as mercurial as its appearance, shifts smoothly whenever you think you have its form figured out.

The Hearthstone allows the bearer to move just as fast as her fastest pursuer. The pursuer must be an actual being following the user specifically, and she must truly wish to avoid capture by him. Only the speed by which the bearer can move is changed, not the mode of transportation. The speed increase only affects the bearer and not any mounts, vehicles and such. The only way to catch her is by instantaneous teleportation. Escaping with the help of this hearthstone is never more tiring than a moderate run, and it's never more difficult to maneuver - regardless of what speed she is actually moving.

---

Unconquered Stone (FlowsLikeBits)

Solar Aspected
Manse ••••
Trigger (Normal dice action to swallow or un-swallow)

Some think that the orignal purpose of Manses was to regenerate the bearer's essence; this stone is the quintessential expression of that principle. This is one of the smallest hearthstones known, capable of sitting on top of the smallest of the fingers. In form, it is a miniature copy of the manse that created it. The bearer should take this stone and swallow it. It will dissolve into their blood and reform inside their heart. The only way to remove it or damage it is to kill them. The bearer may regurgetate the stone as a normal dice action. Additionally, both the stone itself and the Manse it comes from are essentially immune to damage (geomantic mucking or mundane damage). This provides no protection to material inside the Manse, but damage to them will not impair the functioning of the Manse itself. Lava flows could engulf the Manse, and the stone would still provide essence to its bearer. The stone resists attempts to trick it's bearer into giving away or abandoning it against their will, they can do so, but must do so freely. The bearer can reflexively and selectively control the effect on the Manse (and must,if they wish to make changes!). These are all considered Essence 6 perfect effects.

---

Gem of Pure Essence (Scrollreader)

Infernal Aspected
Manse •••••
Trigger Being Affected by Primordial Forces

Offered as a temptation to several Exalts in the First Age, as they saw their peers grow more and more corrupt. This Hearthstone focuses the Essence of the weilder, into a 'prime' pattern, like to that of the primordials. This has the effect of protecting him from any effect that would affect his innate mind or essence, as well as affecting greater alterations, such as the Great Curse, Resonance, the Great Geas of the Mountainfolk, Paradox and similar effects. It also removes him from Fate. Of course, the only manses which produce such stones are those made of Malfeas himself. Liger is the only one of his Souls who can arrange such bargains, and even then, cannot be sorcerously compelled into gifting a stone to a mortal, merely arranging for Malfeas to do so, should Malfeas wish it. Should Malfeas later desire it, the stone shatters immediately, and the bearer is /simultaneously/ affected by all the Great Curse, Resonance, Paradox, or Deviation he has acrrued while wearing the stone. Many Solars driven too far into the brink of madness to recover, and capable of shaming even their decadent fellow god kings can be traced back to this stone.

---

Comments

laugh - nikink

Not quite sure why this is called the Gem of Restitution, but it's an admirably silly idea. _Ikselam

Restores itself to the owner's possession? - Nikink

Changed the name; should be better --FlowsLikeBits

I still don't get it, man. _Ikselam might feel dumb once it's explained.

I think it's silly putty. --dissolvegirl is entertained, whatever it is.

It's a Solar thing, so it's probably the silliest putty ever. Resplendence

Actually, I'm just bad with names. The Coefficient of Restitution is the measuere of elasticity. So 1=perfectly elastic. Sorry, about that -FlowsLikeBits who now feels way to geeky

That's a fabulous reason to name it that, though! And just imagine the nature of the Manse it comes from! ^_^ -Okensha who is reminded of flubber and play-doh

Because of its 'prudent' nature, I made the gem Sidereal, but it could almost be Water or Lunar. It's probably much more sought-after in the current Age, but I could see meek (or mounted) Dragon Blooded wanting one. - Arafelis

Apologies if this stone is copied from somewhere. The concept feels eerily familiar but I can't think of why. I'm not going to apologize for making it a level four just because the preceding stone was level two though. Heck, it might even be worthy of a level higher. Resplendence

Doesn't seem that powerful to me. Unless I'm misunderstanding it, it doesn't help you when your surrounded and it doesn't help your companions. And teleportation is only a Celestial spell. I like it, the best way to catch the bearer is to surround them, slowly, like with lots of zombies.- FlowsLikeBits

Well, OK, there's always zombies. But it's also a Hearthstone that automatically trumps all movement Charms and Spells... Maybe level three is more appropriate. Resplendence

I suggest that we switch places for our Hearthstones, FlowsLikeBits. Yours is more of a level four. Resplendence

Ok by me. Other options? Personally, I disagree, as my stone doesn't really do anything. It just doesn't stop working(i.e. providing essence regeneration). It's not like your depriving the owner of some nifty power, just essence regeneration. Reconsidering, yours is better than it looks. You can't be caught by a single pursuerer, and I remember that Travel Without Distance takes 2 turns to arrive, thus making it not useful here. At minimum,you'd need two chasers either of who is capable of capturing the target independantly. That's pretty good actually. Neat idea. --FlowsLikeBits

As long as you position yourself right and avoid being surrounded, you can't be caught by anyone. The hearthstone allows you to move as fast as your fastest pursuer, after all. My only remaining doubt is whether to consider the new movement rate as the bearer's own for Charm purposes and such. Resplendence

As the next Hearthstone relay is 23, I will be posting a Golden Apple Hearthstone regardless of theme. But if someone were to set the theme to be 'creative discord' or generally 'chaotic'... Arafelis would be most appriciative

That's totally against the spirit of the Relay. Why don't you just write 22 stones of your own, and the apple can be the 23rd? - willows

Because the spirit of 23 is that of the law of fives- that is, it can fit in with anything. The stone will fit in with the theme- it would (should) be possible to write a Golden Apple stone that fits in with any theme. And yours isn't a bad idea either. - Arafelis negotiates with the Spirit of the Relay.

I mean, like, if it does fit that's pretty cool. But, if it doesn't, then it'd be cool to see a big pile of Hearthstones from someone who I haven't seen a lot of stones from yet. - willows

I think the level 3 on this page is too powerful (and, as Resplendence noted, that the level 4 isn't powerful enough). It's totally eliminated one of the two giant weaknesses of Manses that help balance them against the other backgrounds; moreover, it doesn't sound like something that a Hearthstone should be able to do -- the Manse creates the Hearthstone, and what the Manse can do is essentially separate from what the Hearthstone can do (although the Hearthstone may function as a "key" or something). I wouldn't mind a very powerful Manse having a power that protected it from damage, but I would say that the power is a power of the Manse, not of the Hearthstone (obviously, you have to play in a game with something along the lines of my manse creation system for this to make sense; if you're not playing in such a game and Manses in your game don't have intrinsic powers, then I think that power should be simply removed). Also, how exactly does the Hearthstone help the bearer resist attempts at tricking him into getting away? Does it add dice to his Willpower or something? Subtract dice from other peoples' Presence / Larceny rolls?

I'm also not a fan of the level 5's ability to remove the Great Curse, Paradox, etc. I don't think a mere Hearthstone should be able to influence such massive things as the machinations of Fate or the Yozi's dying curse of doom; I also think that the fact that it removes it bearer from Fate is definitely powerful enough already.
~ Shataina

I agree the level 3 is a bit odd for a Hearthstone, but on the other hand, Hearthstones seem to be able to do whatever can be thought of- not just the ones the Wiki writes, but the cannon ones. And yes, it does eliminate the drawbacks of having a Manse- and nothing else. So it's not like you get a Windhands Gemstone AND an invulnerable Manse. I don't think its power level is too high. (It essentially turns the Manse into a Script Immunity 5 Artifact, with no further benefits)

The Level 5 stone needs more work, but you can get out of Fate with relative ease- that alone might be a level 3 or 4 power. I do not, however, understand how the Yozis are able to remove Paradox, Resonance, or even the Curse lain by the dead ones... the 'prime pattern' explination is confusing, since the Primordials are the *source of* Essence... and even if it were the case, only the Curse alone would be affected by it. Fate and immunity to mind-altering (Exalt or mortal) magic would be enough for a demonic bargain, and I'm sure they'd tell you it could get you out of the Curse...

The level 4 stone seems fine. Other examples of L4 stones are Adamant Skin and Seacalm Gemstone, and this seems to be roughly on the level with them. It is definately too weak to be a level 5 stone; compare to Incomparable Wellness or the one that turns you into a giant firebird. - Arafelis

I swapped the level 3 & Level 4. Resplendence seemed ok with it before, and I'll gonna trust other peoples opinons more than my own. I also re-wrote it to be a bit clearer and simpler. Shataina basicly, the idea was that it acts like a powerfull charm allowing you to see through trickery attempting to get it away from you against your will. It didn't seem that powerful to me, bc the point of messing with a manse is to deprive the owner of the nifty power, this one, by definition, has no nifty power. Also, the protection doesn't extend to stuff in the manse. I figured if 5 dots can protect you from dying, well, 3 can give permanant essence regeneration. Personally, I think it would be to powerful as a property of the manse(I like your creation system actualy), as then you could have an invulnerable manse AND a nifty power. This gives one or the other. If you want, you say the manse invulnerabliy only extends to essence regen, not to any other powrers the manse could have. YMMV -FlowsLikeBits

Basically, the theory I'm proposing is that the Primordials are 'too big' for such effects to stick to. So Autobot can't slap Gaia with the Great Geas, for instance. This Hearthstone partakes of that primordial 'bigness' and grants some of it to an exalt. At least, that's the fluff explanation. Really, folks, a single level 1 hearthstone can stop a Solar from ever experencing the great curse. I simply took a four dot effet I liked, tweaked it and added a removal from fate (fifth dot) and added the Primordial Forces thing as both the flavoring, and the big drawback. I'm pretty sure a Sidereal who just got hit with 12 paradox, or the Abyssal with dozens of levels worth of resonance isn't going to consider it a benefit. Nor the Solar who goes into Herculean Style limit breaks. The big secret here is this: It's a five dot hearthstone before you add the Primordial Curse manipulation. I /don't/ think it adds anything significant to the power level, unless you're already a slave of the Yozis. If anything, the sudden surge and snap back of the Primordial Curses might be considered a drawback. At least, such was my thinking when I designed it. Scrollreader