Artifacts/DuellingStaff

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The Duelling Staff

Artefact ••• (Artifacts/MoxianeConstruction##CelestialRank Celestial rank])

During the First Age there was often a need for Exalts to spar against one another. However, given the vast powers at their command they could rarely go all out in these duels for fear of severely injuring one another, and in the case of the extremely powerful Exalts, inflicting massive damage on their surroundings. The duelling staff was created to prevent this, and thus allow Exalts to fully practice against each other.

In appearance it is a staff approximately three feet in length, constructed from a mixture of all five jades and some orichalcum. One end of it, when grasped and twisted will open up into three legs that can be placed upon the ground, allowing the staff to stand upright. Next the Exalts to fight the duel must each touch a thumb to the large diamond that forms the top of the rod, and spend five motes. Afterwards, the rod will seem to collapse into itself, until only the diamond surrounded by petal-like extrusions resides on the floor. A bright light shines from the diamond, and a circle of pure Essence is painted on the ground, some fifty feet in radius and centred on the staff. Alternatively, if used within an intuitively enclosed area the borders of this effect will line up with those of the area in question. In either case, this signifies that the duel can now begin.

Both Exalts within the area now count all lethal damage inflicted upon them as bashing damage no matter its source, and regardless of how much damage is inflicted they cannot drop below Incapacitated. Also, any Charms, sorcery or other effects that the Exalts use, no matter how powerful they might be are stopped completely at the line painted by the staff. In effect, the Exalts within the circle are completely protected from anything more than unconsciousness, and those outside it are protected from some of the more outrageous Charms that First Age Exalts can produce.

Once the duel has begun there are only two ways for it to end; either one of the Exalts must fall unconscious, or one must step outside of the ring. When either of these two conditions occur, then the duel is over and the staff returns to its normal form.