Artifacts/Quendalon
Quendalon's Artifacts
Dawn-Light Compass
Artifact • Orichalcum needle Commitment: 1 mote
Originally forged in the First Age, these devices work along different principles than modern white jade compasses, making them exceptionally useful for blue-water sailing. Each appears as a simple orichalcum needle. Once attuned and placed in water, the needle floats and points due east: not toward the Elemental Pole of Wood, but to absolute east, the direction from which the Sun takes its course each morning. The Dawn-Light Compass also responds to nearby Solar Demesnes; if it comes within a number of miles equal to the Demesne’s rating, the compass points to the Demesne. When inside a Solar Demesne, the compass glows and spins to vent excess Essence.
Wind-Jade Earring
Artifact • Blue jade earring Commitment: 1 mote
Dragon-Blooded often wear these ornate blue jade earrings when traveling in distant lands. Their crafters bathe them in a polylingual mother’s milk, from which they drink in all of the languages the mother knows. An attuned Wind-Jade Earring will absorb words in languages it knows and translate them, whispering the meaning of the words into the wearer’s ear in the tongue of the Realm. Such earrings speak in the voice of the mother that provided the milk, and they usually know from two to five languages, such as Low Realm, Riverspeak, Flametongue, Skytongue and Seatongue.
Sea-Jade Goblet
Artifact • Jade-infused glass goblet Commitment: 1 mote
The Realm’s glassblowers make these goblets from clear glass infused with powdered black jade, and it is a rare Dynast that lacks one at their table. Ranging from plain glass tumblers to the most ornate and rococo of chalices, these translucent silvery goblets have the unusual property of turning an opaque jet black upon coming into contact with any sort of poison. A blackened goblet returns to its translucent state only after being thoroughly cleansed of all such substances.
Leaf-Jade Coffer
Artifact • Wood and jade box Commitment: 1 mote
These small boxes can be found amongst the traveling gear of most Dynasts. Each is built from polished Eastern hardwoods with green jade corners and inlay. Organic material kept inside an attuned coffer will not decay. Fruits, vegetables, meats and eggs all stay as fresh as the moment they were packed. One may also find pouches bearing the same preservative enchantment, made from fine leather sewn with plaques of green jade.
Unimetric Compass
Artifact • Jade and starmetal compass Commitment: 1 mote
This orb of notched, interlocking jade and starmetal wheels always guides its bearer towards the nearest metropolis or patropolis. It only functions within the confines of Autochthon.
Scarlet Dragon Wand
Artifact • Firewand of red jade and brass Acc +3, Damage 15L, Range 10, Rate Special Commitment: 2 motes
This elegant firewand uses red jade and brass in its construction. The outcaste artificer Forex Jen of Gem devised these weapons half a century ago, and since then she has crafted a score of them and sold them to wealthy Terrestrials and God-Bloods throughout the South. A Scarlet Dragon Wand functions identically to a normal firewand, but its balance is remarkably fine and its flames burn with exceptional ferocity.
Nine Brazen Dragons Wand
Artifact •• Firewand of red jade and brass Acc +1, Damage 15L, Range 10, Rate Special Commitment: 3 motes</tt>
The Nine Brazen Dragons Wand is a red jade firewand of unusual design from the workshops of the outcaste Forex Jen. It has an abnormally heavy stock, with a wheel of brass cylinders designed to rotate around the base of the barrel. Each of the nine cylinders contains firedust; through cunning artifice, the wheel turns each time the wand is fired, refilling the barrel with firedust so that the weapon may be fired again without taking time to reload it manually.
The Nine Brazen Dragons Wand has ten shots when fully loaded (nine from the cylinders and one for the barrel itself), and may be fired no more than once per round. It may be muzzle-loaded as any normal firewand for the usual rate of fire of once every other round. Reloading each of the nine firedust cylinders requires a full minute of careful packing and tamping. As with the Scarlet Dragon Wand, its fires burn hotter and more fiercely than a normal firewand’s.
Radiance and Brilliance
Artifact •••• Paired Orichalcum Slashing Swords Spd +4, Acc +2, Dmg +2L, Def +2 (each) Requires: Strength 1 Commitment: 4 (2 each)
These orichalcum swords are almost identical in appearance, with slim graceful blades and arching quillons. Each has a single Hearthstone setting in its blade just above the hilt. Individually, each functions as a standard orichalcum slashing sword. But their true powers only manifest when the two are combined.
Whenever the two swords are wielded together, they shed a clear golden glow equal to that of a lantern. For a cost of 5 motes, the wielder may intensify the swords' light, causing them to blaze as brightly as the sun for the duration of the scene. This light is visible for miles, and serves to dazzle those who gaze upon the wielder. Enemies attacking her subtract a number of dice from their pools equal to her permanent Essence. This benefit is not cumulative with Snake Form, and only applies to creatures that can see the wielder; blind opponents are unaffected. In addition, for so long as the swords burn with sunlight, they inflict aggravated wounds upon demons, the undead, and other creatures of darkness.
(Co-created with Doug Yee for his character, LiOfOrchid.)
Hi Quendalon.\\ Good call on the artifact firewands; it gives me ideas. <wicked grin>\\ Can Wind-Jade Earrings translate things into other languages for you? For example, could you whisper a word in your own tongue and have the Wind-Jade Earring translate it for you into whatever language you want? Or do they simply translate any language you hear (that they know) into the user's native tongue?\\ ~ Shataina
Specifically, they translate anything they hear into High Realm. They could easily be made to translate into a different language, but all extant earrings are made by and for Dynasts. I'll rewrite it tomorrow. Thanks for catching that! - Quendalon
