ArtifactRelay/DarkBeauty
Thief's Desire (Telgar)
Artifact • Commitment: 1 mote
An unpopular artificer from the late Shogunate was the first to invent this small, innocent-looking trinket. After being robbed several times of his prize possessions, he felt there must be a simple remedy to his troubles. Instead of becoming a more sociable and reasonable person, he created the Thief's Desire to track his belongings. Made in the shape of some small, worthless item the Desire has a single innate property: everyone wants to steal it. Anyone attempting a theft from the area where the Desire is stored must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 5) or steal the Desire. They can steal whatever else they wish, but the Desire is almost impossible to resist taking.
Anathema's Deathmask (Gamlain)
Artifact •• Commitment: 3 or 5 motes
Durring the burrial of the Anathema after the Ursurpation, the survivors were terrified of the ire of their Solar kings even in death - so much so that even the mere expressions of betrayl and wrath on the faces of their corpses was too much to bear, yet the blazeing essence of the Solars made their outrage at the treason of the Dragonblood and Sidereal supernaturally apparent even well after their exalted shards and souls had passed on. In response, many of the Solars were interred wearing these Deathmasks. Cold, eyrie sculpture of the faces of the Solar Exalted of the first age in Orichalcum, each such mask consumed the sanity of it's maker, for to create one was to study the madness and rage of the murdered solars. Even so, to the unlucky souls who were tasked with building the Solar tombs, this sacrifice of one of their own was worth it, for the masks hid those hideous, accuseing faces and the accompanying menace of the not yet burried Solar ghosts from the rest.
In the second age, these masks continue to function, and can prove to be usefull tools in the hands of those they were made for. Attuneing his Anathema's Deathmask costs three motes for the solar it was made for, and five motes for other solars, and the mask then hides everything about his appearance and true emotions behind the peacefull facade of the past life's face. This adds 2 dice to presence, perform and Socialize rolls and functions as a Flawlessly Impenatrable Disguise, although the face of said guise is allways the same: the unholy perfection of an Anathema of the first age.
Eyes of Oltina (FlowsLikeBits)
Moonsilver spectacles with spheres of magical materials Artifact ••• Commitment: 5 motes
This artifact appears to be a pair of moonsilver spectacles, with spheres made of starmetal, orichalum, jade and soulsteel swirled together. They are said to the result of collaboration between Celestial Exalted of the first age and those of the Great Maker. When someone commits motes to the object and places them on their face the moonsilver animates and digs the magical material orbs into the persons eyes, replacing them and moving the entire artifact into the sockets. This is quick and not painfull, although disturibing to watch. In fact, the users biological eyes are sent Elsewhere as they are replaced by artificial orbs. This allows the artifact to be removed. A few glyphs in Old Realm will inform the wearer of this fact a few moments after installation.
After installation, the only visible part of the artifact is the swirling orbs of magical material, which have repaced the persons eyes. These are rather attractive have a calming effect on others, and make them slighly more open to suggestion. Mechanicly, the user gains an additional die to all rolls based on a social attribute when the eyes may be seen by the target. However, this artifact also enhances the users perception, clearing he mind and allowing it better to process what it sees. They gain an additional die to all perception based rolls. By increasing the commit by one, the user can have the artifact emulate their natural eyes. If this is done he difficulty of detecting them is 3+wearers Essence, or 3 for those who can see Essence.
This artifact has a secondary ability, which is not widely known. It cannot be accessed without knowledge that it exists. This knowledge raises the artifact level to •••••.
Little is known about Oltina, in fact, it is unclear what type of Celestial Exalt she was. One thing that is clear is that she rarely made combative artifacts, of which this is an example. Evidentaly, she occasionally was criticized for this, which resulted in the hidden power of this artifact.
For 6 motes, the wearer may launch an unblockable, undodgeable perfect attack at one opponent in the form of a gaze of red light from the Eyes. This is a simple action. If this strikes it's target, they are surrounded by flower petals and long tangled strips of poetry for the rest of the scene. These form a permissive note to the pattern spiders, who chitter happily and become lax in applying the consequences of the targets actions. This also works in Autocthonia.
Mechanicly, the target increases all target numbers by 2(thus requiring a 9+ for a success). This functions on creatures outside of fate, as long as the consequences of the users actions are inside fate(usually, in Creation/Autochtonia). Thus a Second circle demon attacking a Solar would suffer the penalty, but would have no difficulty attacking another Second Circle demon. This stacks and is cumulative with Sidereal Astrology although target numbers may not be raised above 10. A given enemy may not be affected by this ability more than once at a time.
Sunset-Shadow Fan (OhJames)
Paper and orichalcum fan Artifact •••• Commitment: 5 motes
This dark and alluring acoutrement is a true work of art. The rough rice paper of its composition, stretched between twelve orichalcum tines no thicker than a whisper, is painted in all the gloried hues of the day's death; broad strokes of red, yellow, and fiery orange intermingle with subtle touches of blue and bruised violet. Along the Fan's outer edge, however, is where its power truly lies.
The edge is a painted line of deepest black, darker than a moonless night or the depths of a murderer's heart, barely visible against the riotous colors that surround it. It is beautiful, certainly, but... hungry. Those savants who examine the Sunset-Shadow Fan are often baffled, for its hunger is not like that of the Void, as one might assume. Rather, it is a hunger to taste and ravish, similar to the Fair Ones', but slightly different.
When attuned by an Essence-channeler, the Fan can be used as a terrible weapon. By snapping it open and kissing each of its golden tines, then slicing one's finger and smearing the blood along the Fan's edge, a miasma of shadow, highlighted by flickering, multi-chromatic arcs of Essence, can be coaxed forth.
This shadow can form a number of tendrils equal to its user's permanent Essence; these tendrils may perform any Brawl action, including sweeps, at a range of (the user's Essence x 2) yards and decrease the penalty for multiple actions by three dice. Conversely, the shadow may be drawn inward to form a protective sheath; this function grants its user 10B/10L soak with a hardness of 5. This effect is not compatible with armor. These effects are mutually exclusive, but the Fan can be switched from offensive to defensive, or vice-versa, as a reflexive action once per turn.
Note that, although the shadow formed by the Fan is effectively indestructible, the Fan itself is remarkably fragile; even smearing the paper will dispel all magical effects and force re-attunement. Fortunately, all damage is repaired at the precise moment of sunset each day.
Diadem of Unquestioning Love (BrigandRansom)
A small, barely noticable gemstone on the forehead Artifact ••••• Commitment: 1wp, special
(Note that this artifact is usable by both males and females, but the description is written for a female) This small blue teardrop gem, about the size of a pinkie fingernail is mounted in a Starmetal mount with some sort of treesap on the back. It is worn on the forehead, at the center of where a castemark might be. Usable by both Mortals and Exalts, this gemstone has the effect of increasing a person's Appearance rating to 5 and their charisma to 4. Unfortunately, this gem carries with it a side effect: anyone wearing will be unlucky in love, to the point of anyone who becomes enamored with the character gains the "Dark Fate" flaw at a single point.
No one knows where this artifact came from or who constructed it, all that is known is that it has a tendency to show up in the hands of mortals. The story is almost always the same, a young, plain village girl will pray for beauty, so she might attract the affections of the dashing young man in the village who's caught her eye. Soon after the gem will come into her posession, and eventually end up on her forehead.
Just the commitment of a single temporary willpower activates the artifact. The face of the user does not change, merely the way others percive them. The young man who she wants the attentions of may very well begin courting her... along with dozens of other boys in the village. Fight and duels may break out, all for the affections of the beautiful young woman. The girl's friends may turn on her, her beauty making them jealous. The gemstone itself brings out the worst in the people around the user.
Finally, the gem is quite easy to forget about. The 1wp commitment makes it weightless and nearly unnoticable, to the point where the user may forget that they even have it in the first place. Upon spending the wp, the user makes a temperance check, difficulty 2. Success means that not only does the user know that the diadem is there, but understands the nature of the beauty it grants. In unknowing hands this can cause horrendous massacres as every man in a village fight over a single girl while the women of the village try to kill her, but a cunning weilder who knows it's power may remove the gem at will, allowing much more effective use of the chaos it brings.
Comments
May I suggest that if they fail the willpower roll by more than their Temperance, their greed is such that the Desire seems like the only object worth taking, and they leave the rest? It won't happen that often, and would give greater utility, since you still need something else to track the Desire, and the attunement will fade anyway in a day or so.
-- Darloth
I'd just rule that the commitment for Desire can be maintained even if the item is far away, or make it no commitment at all, personally -Gamlain
The Eyes of Oltina, as currently written, are underpowered for a level 3... They add only 4 dice total (1 to each social attribute, 1 to perception) and basically you're only ever getting +1 die pool at any one time. On top of this, you're quite obviously magical, and I doubt that 1 die bonus to suggestion is going to prevent just about any realm dragon-blooded from trying to remove your head and the eyes with it, unless you could fast-talk them already. They're a great idea, I just don't think that the rather limited powers they have are worth artifact 3... I'd set them at 2, myself.
Now... onto the hidden p0warz. Perhaps to make up for it, these are overpowered. The effect is fine... but 6m? It's not even limited to 1 use per scene or day or anything, currently... At 6m per shot, you could meet a circle of solar exalts, zap them all (what type of action is it, by the way? Presumably simple, but you never can tell without specifics) and watch as their pitifully poor attempts to hit you bounce off whatever defenses you might have. I really do like the power, but I'd suggest 6m, 1w, and only usable once per day, or once per scene if you're feeling generous. Sorry to be rather negative about the whole lot, I don't -want- to be, I just don't think they're right yet. I look forward hopefully to whatever you might do with them next ^_^
-- Darloth
- Part of it is kinda a gag. A social artifact with a hidden massive combat power. (Action type-->fixed. Simple. Doh) It is level 5 with that. Honestly, I don't think it's that bad. Probability Degredation Matrix(bot spell) is far worse. It's also vulnerable to perfect defences, and doesn't stack with itself.
- I had made the bonus only one die because it's quite broad, and adds to many different rolls. I could make it 2 dice instead. How bad being obviously magical is probably depends on the game. Usually people end up carrying around swords carved out of snowplows...so whatever. I original had a "emulate eyes" part, so I put that back in. -FlowsLikeBits
BrigandRansom, you can have the next theme -- OhJames
- Really? Wow, cool! Okay.... now, my first thought is Arbalests, since that's what I'm working on right now. Not arbalests in the crossbow sense, but the Shoulder-length gauntlets that have some sort of ranged attack. the only Canon one I can think of is the "Fatal Arbalest of Quietus and Eclipses", sidebar page 99 of the abyssals book. But I think it should be something more esoteric, in line with the other themes. Unless of course, the participants think that Arbalests would be a good theme =). I'll sleep on it, and have something in the morning =) ~ BrigandRansom , who has some of his Arbalest stuff he's working on in his userpage
OhJames, does it take actions to switch the mode of the fan? I'm assuming it can't do both at once, but you havn't said. I'd assume it can't do both, but is a reflexive action to switch, but I could be wrong.
-- Darloth
- I could have sworn I mentioned that... but I guess I didn't. Fixxored. -- OhJames
