ArtifactRelay/NAartifacts

The twentieth theme is NA

What wonders exist, unmentioned until this time? These 5 artifacts are all rated Artifact NA. ...FlowsLikeBits

The Portable Harem of Sesus Nybraxus by --JohnBiles

Artifact N/A
Commitment Cost: None
Use Cost:  5 motes per hour

The original name of this wonder is lost to history; it is known now only by the name given to it by legendary Dragon-blooded explorer and lover of creature comforts, Lord Sesus Nybraxus. The portable harem has two forms. In its transportable form, it resembles an elaborate puzzlebox made of starmetal, moonsilver, and orichalcum with jade trimmings. If all it did was function as a puzzlebox, the expense of its construction would still make it a Resources 5 purchase. Properly configured, however, it unfolds into a small palace if there is enough open space for it. It seems to recognize the difference between being inside a building (where it won't unfold and crush everything) and being in natural surroundings, which it will blithely flatten to make space for itself.

Once it unfolds, inside, the visitor finds a pleasure palace of earthly delights, full of whatever its user most desires, whether it be food, sex, poetry, or companionship. The Madam, who usually appears as a tall, statuesque woman, scantily clad, seems able to grant almost any desire, though her powers reach only to the walls of the palace, and their effects usually fade once you leave (though it's noteworthy that you don't get hungry again after eating inside if you then leave.) Anything from inside evaporates once taken outside, but on the inside, if you feel like having a threesome with Gaia and Luna, your wish will be granted. (You can even be the Unconquered Sun for the duration...)

The Harem drains 5 motes per hour from its owner; if he ever goes dry of motes, a bell chimes and the Madam expels everyone and the palace folds back up into a box. The wise soul brings a hearthstone with him so as to avoid this.

It must be noted that while experiences inside the palace are always enjoyable, they don't HAVE to be decadent. It can be used to ask the Madam to call up 20 of the greatest debaters in history in order to test your debating skills, or great swordsmen to spar with, etc. It can thus be used to train yourself in things, following the usual rules for training times.

If used as a staging ground for a party, the owner of the box gains 6 bonus dice to Socialize and 4 each to Presence and Performance while inside the palace.

Anyone of Temperance 3 or higher must fail a Temperance check or spend a willpower to enter; having done so, he must check a second time to resist the urge to partake of the delights within (or spend a willpower to overcome his Temperance). Should he fail both or spend willpower twice, check off one box of temporary Temperance. Should this cause him to lose all his slots of temporary Temperance, he loses one point of temperance permanently. This can eventually turn the greatest saint into a decadent, though most saints won't go back.

Ring Of Little Spiders by DeathBySurfeit

Starmetal keyring
Artifact N/A
Commitment Cost: 10 motes

This relic of the greatest of First Age artisans is simple in both design and application, though phenomenal in its potential. Its present whereabouts are unknown, but several reports place it in the hands of Chejop Kejak - other accounts claim the Maiden of Secrets possesses it, although stranger rumours persist of its use by the most unlikely of figures.

The artifact, as its name suggests, appears as a loop of polished starmetal approximately half a foot in diameter. Around this length, five spiderlike icons of variously-coloured jade and orichalchum ornamentation hang, their legs extended or retracted to different lengths to form a variety of different conformations. The overall effect is very decorative, well fitting of the Ring's original use as a staffhead.

When its bearer slides one of the icons into a keyhole as though it were a key, they will find it a perfect fit - the spider in question has already divined the person's intention and the conformation of the door they will eventually use. The character then spends 5 motes and makes an Intelligence + Occult check, to communicate their intended destination most effectively to the Pattern Spiders with which the artifact is linked. The difficulty for this roll is 1 for previously visited locations ("my office"), 3 for scrupulously described locations ("Mnemon's private sauna, at the north side of her estate at the foot of the Imperial Mountain"), and 5 for very vague accounts ("that place with an eagle head statue I saw in my dreams").

Success opens the door to that location with an adept twist in the Tapestry; when closed, the door then returns to its original state. Failure brings the user to a similar but not identical locale, whilst a botch can lead them to a tangentially related place in the depths of the Wyld, the twisting halls of Malfeas or the chambers of the Labyrinth.

The False Manse by IanPrice

Five Materials Underground Structure
Artifact N/A
Commitment Cost: N/A

Even in their flight from destruction at the hands of the Dragon-Blooded, wonders and mighty weapons fell like raindrops from the hands of the Solar Exalted of the First Age. The False Manse was created as a bastion against destruction by a circle who managed to flee the initial assault without losing a single member. Though they were later destroyed, it was not by the Dragon-Blooded. The Terrestrial armies could not match the defenses of this place; indeed, it took them a long time just to find it. The False Manse does not cap a demense, so geomantic investigation failed to turn up a hiding spot in the direction this circle had fled.

Instead of a demense, The False Manse "caps" a region of the Wyld's bordermarches, using massive Essence-engines to draw the stuff of the Wyld in, and complex technomagical circuitry to convert it to stable essence and route it through the underground complex as if it were a collection of traditional geomantic focusing devices. The False Manse is capable of creating up to 15 dots worth of Hearthstones, or diverting that same energy to power its massive defense systems which operate on similar principles to those of the Imperial Manse. The controls of the facility are located in three protected locations, and any non-celestial Essence detected in or near them by the defenses is targeted for destruction. Literacy in Old Realm allows a character to read the clearly-worded labels on each control. Some are obvious in their function, such as "open/close door #X," accompanied by a map showing which doors are currently opened and closed. To fully grasp the function of various controls, different skills are needed:

1. Artillery controls: difficulty 3 Lore roll to interpret the instructions for the aiming and firing mechanisms.
   1. The Accuracy and Damage of this system is determined by the level of power it receives. It can be powered for a single action by investing twice the dot rating desired in motes of Essence.
   2. When active, geomantic focusing mirrors rise from the landscape above the manse, collecting Essence and focusing deadly beams of sunlight to scythe down foes in a 360 degree potential firing arc. Each shot is 5 yards wide, 5 tall, and extends to the maximum range. Speed 5, Rate 4, Range 500/1000.
2. Interior defenses: difficulty 2 Occult roll to determine that these defenses are controlled by an animating small god. With a difficulty 4 roll, the method for contacting this god amiably can be discovered and interpreted, at which point the god will follow any celestial exalt's commands.
   1. The Accuracy and Damage of this system are powered similarly to the artillery, except that the small god in charge of the system takes its actions, not any Exalt in charge. The small god can perpetually use this system at 8 accuracy dice with 3A damage even without power. Every tick, this system can attack any single being inside The False Manse. This appears as a current of deadly gold and silver Essence flowing from whatever surfaces the being is touching and arcing into and through his or her body.
3. Manse-Emulation Controls: In order to understand these controls, it is neccessary to possess the following traits: Lore specialization in Geomancy, Occult specialization in Geomancy, Craft (Manse). If all those traits are possessed, a standard difficulty roll on any of them yields understanding. Otherwise, the difficulty of the ability rolled increases by 3 for each of the required traits with no dots. These controls can be used to adjust the Essence levels and flavor for each of fifteen Hearthstone nodules to create any combination of 15 dots worth of Hearthstones. Also, this is where the energy investment in the artillery and interior defenses is allocated. There is also a default energy allocation of 3 dots to something called a "chaos-repelling matrix." No further information on the matrix is provided.
   1. Power invested in Accuracy for either form of defense provides 5 attack dice per dot. Attacks from both forms of defense are unblockable. 5-dot Accuracy also grants perfection as per Accuracy Without Distance. The un-powered dice pool of the interior defenses is 8 dice, but is superseded by a powered dice pool.
   2. Power invested in Damage for either form of defense provides 5A in damage per dot. The damage is Piercing. 5 dots of power in Damage causes the damage to ignore armor soak entirely. The False Manse has an Essence score of 5 for determining minimum damage, increased to 10 when 5 dots of power are invested. The un-powered damage of the interior defenses is 3A, which is superseded by a powered dice pool.
   3. Dots of power invested in any system cannot be used to form Hearthstones and vice versa. Hearthstones may be formed with any valid Hearthstone powers.
4. Chaos-Repelling Matrix: A thorough search of the power room itself (Investigation difficulty 4) will reveal the access panels to the inner workings of this defensive system, focused on the exterior side of this immense structure which projects out into the middlemarches of the Wyld. Observations from the Wyld side see this as a glittering structure of Order which sits atop a three-waypoint wide area once usable to access the bordermarches near the location of The False Manse in Creation. Understanding the construction of the Matrix requires a Lore roll at difficulty 8. Reduce the difficulty by 2 for each of the following traits the researcher possesses: Lore specialty relating to the Wyld, Spirit-Repelling Diagram, Chaos-Repelling Pattern, Wyld-Shaping Technique. Possession of all 4 traits allows instant comprehension without a roll. Comprehension of this system allows repair of the significant damage to the circuitry, if a sufficient amount of Moonsilver and Starmetal can be collected. 90% of the Starmetal used in the construction of The False Manse was used in this circuitry, due to the difficulty of creating this rarest of metals with Wyld-Shaping Technique.
   1. Power allocation can be changed for this system, but due to the damage, it only becomes active with 3 dots, and more does not currently help significantly. In its damaged state, this system can ward the island of creation it projects into the wyld with a strength 15 ward (as per the thaumaturgical art of warding) against fair folk and other wyld creatures.
   2. Repairing this system requires a roll of the lowest dice pool of four traits possessed: Craft (Wyld), Craft (Artifact), Craft (Manse), or Lore. This roll automatically fails if the function of the system is not understood or if less than a pound of Moonsilver and/or less than 6 ounces of Starmetal are used. All the appropriate tools to work Starmetal and Moonsilver must be used, including precision tools specifically designed for working with Essence circuitry. However, if all the necessary conditions are present, the roll is only standard difficulty.
   3. When fully functional, the ward created by the Matrix operates with a strength of 10 times the dots of power invested into it. At 5 dots of power, the wards extend three waypoints further into the Wyld in all directions, and the power intake of the generators increases. During this time, the east wall of the power room opens up with a portal into the Wyld and a control panel. A difficulty 2 Lore roll, or possession of Wyld-Shaping Technique, allows recognition that this control panel and the portal are used to create things from the Wyld as with Wyld-Shaping Technique. Pre-set options allow generic Orichalcum weapons and armor (as listed in the Exalted rule book) to be created without special effort. There are also settings in place for copious amounts of Magical Materials. New settings can be manufactured with an Intelligence + Lore roll, exactly as with Wyld-Shaping Technique. Of course, all costs for this shaping are provided for by the massive Essence engines of The False Manse. There is one other important difference: this powerful machinery creates entirely real matter, tied to the Tapestry of Creation and the Loom of Fate, but it cannot create living things. No sacrifice is required for this creation. Use of this system immediately alerts all Bureaus in Heaven associated with the created objects, and it is because of this that the Sidereal masters of the Dragon-Blooded usurpers eventually found this place.

Characters discovering The False manse in the Age of Sorrows will find it inactive, except for a few interior defenses which will lash out if any being other than a celestial exalt approaches. These defenses are powered only by the Essence of the small god inhabiting them at this point, because the massive Essence-engines powering the structure have run down. Examining the huge orichalcum turbines - located in the deepest, most hardened room of the structure - reveals a hearthstone socket. A standard Lore success identifies this as a socket requiring a Hearthstone for its power. Three successes allows some differences to be spotted, but five successes are required to know that this socket will destroy any Hearthstone set into it, sucking all of the Essence out of it, potentially causing the Manse it is associated with to explode. Five dots of Hearthstones must be sacrificed in this manner to jump-start the engines powering The False Manse, though after that it will run smoothly until interfered with.

The original owners of the Manse died of their own carelessness, as the small god of the internal defense system can relate to friendly characters. In fighting off a Dragon-Blooded army, they felt they needed more power for their defenses, and took the power out of the Chaos-Repelling Matrix. Soon thereafter, the Essence engines ground to a halt as the Wyld's denizens attacked. The god describes how they seemed to get stuck and jam up the Essence works, unable to get through but easily able to stop the engines. The Terrestrials were then easily able to march down inside, losing many due to the power of the Solars and the constant, though now severely diminished, attacks of the defense god. Ultimately, though, the story was the same as with all the battles of the Usurpation: wave after wave of Terrestrial Exalted wore down the Solars until they were destroyed.

In addition to its martial aspects, The False Manse has all the accoutrements of fine Solar living. There is a room which appears to be a garden open to the sky, a conjuring chamber for sorcery, a library, lavish bed-chambers, and a chapel to the Sun. All save the most direct path to one of the control rooms is pristine, but that one path shows the marks of the heavy fighting that occurred in it, including Jade and Orichalcum blast doors every five yards that were battered or melted aside by the inexorable Dragon-Blooded advance. The defense spirit would be more than happy to see the place used again, but the Fair Folk would not. Even should the Chaos-Repelling Matrix be left active, the re-activation of The False Manse's Essence-Harvest-Stabilization Engines will stir the anger of the Raksha, and their attacks on surrounding areas of Creation will increase a hundred fold.

Weapon of Three Circles by ArabianNinja and DarkPhoenix

Adamant Weapon
Artifact N/A
Commitment Cost: 10 motes

The Weapon of Three Circles is a thing more myth than anything else, its origins are shrouded in mystery, and its where-abouts an enigma. Some say the Weapon was destroyed with the death of its First Age Owner, others claim it is currently buried in the centre of Imperial Mountain, but just as many claim it to be hidden beneath the waves of the western seas, in the depths of a tumultuous volcano in the deserts to the south, trapped within the vegetation in the east, or even entombed within the glaciers of the frozen north.

The Artifact was said to belong to a powerful Sorcerer, so dedicated to their spell-craft they shunned all other practices, however they would not let themselves be caught vulnreble in the midst of war. The Weapon of Three Circles was designed to use their knowledge of the Occult and Lore to supplement their combat ability.

When weilded, the character may use their Occult or Lore abilities in lieu of Melee or Martial Arts, whichever more appropriate, furthermore, all specialties for both stack. For example, Occult (Weapon of Three Circles) + 3 and Melee (Weapon of Three Circles) +3 would provide 6 extra dice in combat situations.

The weapon itself for one who would hope to weild it may be of any single, pre-designated melee weapons' description and statistics. However once attuned it will gain +2 to speed, accuracy, damage, defence and rate. It bonds with its attuner and their exaltation, the weapon also gaining the relevant Magial Material bonus to the Exalt. In addition to this, as the weapon is made of Adamant, regardless of its statistics, the weapon will do peircing damage. For Example, a Twilight Caste Solar using it as a Daiklaive would have a weapon with the following statistics: spd +9, acc +6, dmg +8L, def +5, Rate 8, Peircing. Spending two points of willpower will make the Weapon tremmor with violent intent, causing aggrivated damage for the weilders Essence in turns.

However, the weapons strength does not stop at simply being a tool to rend flesh on the physical plane, it too is a great Talisman for the weaving of Essence. Casting a spell while holding the weapon lowers the focus time by a single level, allowing first circle spells to be cast instantaneously, second circle spells to be cast in a single turn, and third circle spells to be cast in only two. However, no more than one spell may be cast in a single turn

Finally, the Weaponof Three Circles acts as a well of power, allowing the storage of spells to be unleashed instantly at a later time, upto three First Circle spells may be contained, or two Second Circle spells, or a single Third Circle spell. The motes for the spells however must be committed to store them within the Weapon.

The Weapon of Three Circles holds a single Hearthstone slot.

The Crown of Manses by --szilard

Artifact N/A
Commitment Cost: see below

This circlet is a thing of simple beauty. It contains eight sockets to hold hearthstones: one of each color of Jade, one of Moonsilver, one of Starmetal, and one of Orichalcum. One of these sockets will cover the caste mark of the wearer, and the band upon which the sockets are mounted can rotate at the wearer's mental command. Each socket can hold a Hearthstone, but only of the appropriate aspect. A Hearthstone will shatter when touched to one of the sockets that is not of the properly aspected magical material. When such a hearthstone shatters, the manse to which it is attached reacts similarly, and is reduced by one level (though the desmesne it caps is unaffected).

When an appropriately aspected Hearthstone is placed into the crown, a number of benefits accrue to the wearer. First, she instantly attunes to the manse attached to the Hearthstone. She knows the location of the manse. She also knows who else is attuned to that manse and may shatter their attunements at will. She may expend a number of motes equal to the manse rating to instantly attune anyone she touches to the manse, even if the manse is halfway accross creation (or even in Yu Shan).

For the wearer, the hearthstone functions at all times as if she were in the Manse itself. The wearer gains these benefits for each hearthstone in the crown, and regains Essence from each of them separately. In addition, the wearer becomes supernaturally cognizant of each manse and the desmesne which it caps, and with simple concentration can remotely view any area within each desmesne as if she were using All-Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight. She may use any of the Manses defenses or powers remotely, at will.

When physically located within one of the manses, she gains an even greater ability: she may physically travel between the manses instantaneously.

To attune to the crown itself, the wearer must commit 4 motes. One additional mote must be committed for each hearthstone placed into the crown.

Comments:

Twentieth relay, right? --JohnBiles

Yes, but I hadn't noticed that. I just noticed that the last one had kinda stalled. -FlowsLikeBits

Hopefully, the Portable Harem will inspire others! :) --JohnBiles

It inspired me alright. To what ends, I shall not say... >.> <.< ^.^ And am I to understand that all these artifacts must be newly minted? I have an N/A lying around that I want to show to people again. =D - Paincake

I believe the idea is something that hasn't yet been put on the Wiki. But I canna pretend to genius. --JohnBiles

All systems on the False Manse have a special super "turn the power up to 5!" feature, save the Chaos-Repelling Matrix. Is 3 enough to keep the thing fine, or is that the 'turned down' setting? What happens if you jack it to 5? Would that fry any Raksha who came near, or what? -- GreenLantern, liking it, and wanting more

Hmm, I did forget to list the power settings for the Chaos-Repelling Matrix, didn't I? Rectified! - IanPrice

The Weapon of Three Circles could very easily be Brigids Sword of Ice if you wanted to use it as such. However we didn't want to define a Canon, but otherwise limitless, Artifact - ArabianNinja

That's a great depiction of what an Artifact N/A sword would be. Nicely designed! ...DeathBySurfeit

Not just a Sword, whatever preferable weapon you like. Its non-mutable, but you could easily designate it before hand to be a staff of power, hell they could be the Perfected God-Kicking Boots of Three Circles if you really wanted, but thats for you to decide. However sword makes for cooler imagery, one such notion was: mid-battle, running through a unit commander, and unleashing a stored Death of Obsidian Butterflies to slaugher his troops. In any case thanks for the approval. - ArabianNinja

ArabianNinja, kudos. But do we get to see a 2E version? The Speed stat you've described is very 1E, as is the sorcery-shaping time. Which is cool, but I know that I can't be the only person who prefers 2E now that it's out. - IanPrice

Our Current gaming group prefers to stick with 1E, and as such we havent really seen much of 2E books, and thus the ability to convert it into 2E stats is a little beyond us at the moment, since the speed and shaping time seem to be the only "1E" speed bumps for conversion, feel free to sub in what you prefer for a 2E version. Remember this is simply our vision for the Ultimate Fine Sword (I wonder if anyone would get that joke...) and its open for modification on other users level. - ArabianNinja

In either edition, I'm not sure if the "no more than one spell may be cast in a single turn" is really doing what you might think it does. Even if a terrestrial circle spell is cast in a single instant, the charm that powers it is still Simple (and uncomboable), which already prevents more than one spell from being cast in a normal action. On the surface, this makes the "no more than one spell may be cast in a single turn" restriction redundant. On the other hand, suppose the user has access to fully indpendant actions (with, say Charcol Spider style). They could make multiple simple actions in a single turn (in 1st ed) or on a single tick (2nd edition). In such cases the "no more than one spell may be cast in a single turn" would prevent them from casting spells on each of those actions. Should it? -- Wordman

I read the reduction of Terrestrial spells to a single instant to make the charm reflexive, thus making such a restriction less redundant. - IanPrice

IanPrice got it in one, With First Circle Spells now able to be cast reflexively, the restriction was required as some minor form of detterent against any ideas of trying to cast more than one First Circle spell per turn. Think of it as the Weapon of Three Circles preventing its wielder from using too many spells in a turn, they may need their motes for later. This restriction says nothing of what oine can do with stored spells however, which can be unleashed whenever you see fit... - ArabianNinja

The Crown of Manses is so very very wrong, so wrong infact, it becomes a quantum physics anomoly that is so wrong, it becomes right. Which means its aweseome. I am so going to need to find a way to get that for a character of mine in some later campaign, if only because its so utterly messed up. - ArabianNinja

I do believe that's the fifth in the Relay. Would you care to supply a new theme? ...DeathBySurfeit

I suppose the theme "cheese" would not work out too well? It's all I have. - Telgar

The gauntlet has been thrown down, I accept the challenge of Cheese. - ArabianNinja

While I could probably come up with something for Cheese (not necessarily something serious, mind, but something funny, sure.) isn't it szilard's choice of theme? - Darloth

Oh, tis, but I was just making a suggestion for consideration. We've never had a dairy artifact relay. If not cheese, maybe yogurt. - Telgar

Mmm.... Dairy
-- Darloth

Ah. Didn't realize, and I'm out of town at the moment (in Chicago) so I don't have huge gobs of net-time. Right-o. Hrm. Cheese? Wasn't that this topic? I'll expand on the dairy cow thing a bit. The next theme will be "Herds" - how's that? - szilard

No ideas based on the theme immediately spring to mind, but I'm sure others will come up with plenty. Feel free to set up the new page whenever you're ready...DeathBySurfeit