Artifacts/TelgarArtifact0

Level 0

These aren't so much Artifacts as items and devices from the First Age that are no longer produced in the Second. These devices come in two groups; utility devices and personal artifacts.\\ Personal artifacts can be purchased as a Resources 3 item unless noted as Rare or Lost in which case they are Resources 4 or 5. Sidereals with the Salary Background can have these items without any problem as they are still common in Yu-Shan. Underworld variations for Abyssals are also common, but tend to deteriorate in Creation.\\ Utility devices are almost always found as part of the infrastructure of First Age settlements or buildings and thus hard to remove, but if removed they can generally be installed in more recent construction by a competent craftsman.

Personal Artifacts

Five Star Compass

A disc inset with five needles, each a sliver of Jade. The slivers point toward their respective Elemental Pole. Between all five pointers, the exact location of the compass can be determined to within 1 mile with the gear inside the compass and a decent map.

Lightstone

The size of a woman's fist, these transparent crystals of various shapes can light up a room as well as full noonday sun and brighten or darken at a verbal command in Old Realm. These items are found in almost all First Age cities, though sometimes they take the form of eternally burning torches or glowing plants or animal colonies. The underwater metropoli of the Mosok and Pelagials prefered bioluminescent coral and fungus in place of the crystals and the Northerners often enjoyed multi-hued flames without smoke or fuel.

Notifier

A simple sphere of shiney silver metal small enough to be worn as the stone on a finger-ring these tiny artifacts allow their owners to send a single message to another Notifier within 100 miles. The message can be only a single simple concept such as "Mission accomplished" or "Your butt is exposed". After sending its one message, the Notifier turns into a shining blue sapphire with no magical qualities what so ever.

Goblet of Perfection

Once standard through all of Creation in the First Age, these drinking glasses can take any form. What they share in common is that whatever drink is placed into them is aged, regressed or preserved at its height of flavor and palatability for as long as it remains within the goblet. Wine is aged perfectly every time and milk never sours. Sometimes bottles were enchanted in this manner, but that process was lightly more Rare.

Personnel Compass

Seemingly a normal compass, a tiny silver of white Jade suspended in a drop of liquid that never moves from its place on a simple marked disk, the Personnel Compass is used to divine the location of yourself relative to other people instead of the Pole of Earth. By concentrating on another person who has contributed some bodily fluid to the Compass's bubble, the Compass points to them. This works only at a range of about 100 yards and has no effect what so ever against even mundane Stealth techniques.

Mood Silk

A form of cloth manufactured in the East using normal silk and special magical dyes which allow the cloth to change color according to the wearer's mood and whims. Anger tends to produce red shades, happiness produces white shades and so forth. This can be controled with a reflexive Willpower roll (difficulty 1) and has no cost. The wearer can also control the transparency of the clothing. Rare types of Mood Silk can also float in any way the wearer wishes to create the illusion of wind or for any other purpose.

Thermal Wear

Avalible in any color and texture, this material is charged with Fire and Air Essence, allowing it to keep the wearer perfectly comfortable in extremes of temperature. Thermal wear was particularly common in the Far North and South. Garments made of thermal wear can keep a person comfortable no matter their structure.

Beauty Sprays

Not preciesly one object, the term "Beauty Sprays" covers a wide variety of First Age cosmetics. The most common beauty spray were a variety of hairsprays which allow hair to defy gravity, change color at will (even change to patterned colors. For a time plaid hair was in vouge), change length to some degree and maintain its shape regardless of outside influences. Other beauty sprays included color-changing make up, instant teeth cleanings, sprays that destroyed all stains on clothing and skin and a preservative that kept a persons clothing and hair immaculate in all circumstances.

Lunar Jewelery

Named after the protean Lunar Exalted and the goddess who provided the Moonsilver used in its creation, Lunar Jewelery was a common accessory in First Age wardrobes. These jewels could change shape from a ring to a bracelet to a necklace and back again and the gems set in them would resize themselves to suit whatever the setting and occasion required. The amount of moonsilver used in these items is minute, so they can be made of any metal at all and still retain the proper color and properties.

Anima Jewelery

The animas of the Exalted are always striking and sometimes beautiful. For a while during the later periods of the First Age it was the fashion to have jewels which could alter the color, shape, and cosmetic details of your anima. Rare versions of these jewels could even bring the anima to life for a while and versions now lost could put the anima under the Exalt's concious control, allowing the iconic anima to 'come alive'.

First Age Inks

During the First Age the study of ink was far advanced beyond what it is in the second. Various inks were made that were a special color or texture on paper, some that were visible only at certain times and rare inks that could be under the mental control of whoever wrote with them. Many folk had tattoos of similar inks, allowing them to display them whenever they wished and even chance the designs at whim.

Eternal Stylus

To accompany the special inks of the ancients, there were wonderous pens used to place them to paper. These pens could absorb any ink by touching it and drew enough to keep writing for a full year of regular use. These pens came with special gum-like pads that could re-absorb the ink or instantly dry the inks according to a verbal command.

Essence Furniture

For several Solars not even the best craftsman was elegant enough, or they were so ascetic they wished no material possessions at all. For these extremists and others simply wishing unsurpassed comfort the engineers of the First Age designed Essence furnishings. These objects were fields of Air and Earth Essence which could be attuned to anyone sitting on them instantly. Once attuned the sitter could control the density, position and shape of the Essence field to provide maximum comfort. Some Rare designs even had Fire Essence to provide warmth on demand. These fields are visible only as a faint glow but can support any weight up to a ton.

Adhesive Pads - Common (Resources 2)

Still produced in limited numbers, these pads could be made in and shape or size and provided a number of useful functions. Adhesive pads could be attached to one surface and then their free face would become somewhat sticky. One an object is placed on the sticky side, it adheres until some intelligent beging removes it. The most common use outside household organization and storage was as a weapon sheath. For every square inch of padding, the adhesive can support 10 pounds.

Powerstone

These crystals come in any number of colors and geometric shapes and range in size from an eyeball to a fist. The smallest crystals carry a single mote, the largest carry three. These motes are drawn into the crystals by geomancy and contained within until whomever holds the stone wills them to be used. In this way, mortals of the First Age were able to use some of the simpler artifacts of the time which required Essence. These motes can never be committed. In addition, Rare powerstones can act as temporary hearthstones for those devices which need a hearthstone to function. One powerstone can act as a level 1 Hearthstone, but multiple powerstones can be combined for artifacts with higher requirements. After one scene, the powerstones are destroyed.

Sun Spots

These small orbs appear to be miniature stars, they provide light and warmth at any degree desired and respond to vocal commands regarding the color of the light produced, the amount of heat and their position. They can float aroun in any position and even follow pre-arranged courses through the air. While they emit heat, they themselves never get hot enough to be uncomfortable to handle.

Utlity Devices

Elemental Balance Units

Large cubical blocks normally burried under the basement of a building, these devices manipulate elemental essence to create the perfect enviroment inside the building they are attuned to. They are capable of limited weather control to produce wind, rain or clouds inside. Balance Units can maintain each space in the building at different conditions easily. These units require yearly maintainance by a technitian with Lore 3 and Crafts 3 (Machines). The replacement parts and materials used in this upkeep are a Resources 3 purchase.

Crystal Kiosks

Large crystalline growths in the shape of an octagonal pedastol dot almost every First Age city. These are Crystal Kiosks and can be installed into any city by a workman with Lore 4 and Crafts 5 (Crystals). After being geomatically alligned, these crystals glow faintly and emit a low hum. Anyone touching the crystal kiosk can summon up a holographic map of the city they are in and display the fastest or easiest route from their location to any other. They can also access a variety of information on the city, recent events and public buildings.

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Comments

The Adhesive Pads and Com Orb is getting a little bit to on the cutsy side of Essencepunk for my tastes; they don't integrate logically well into the existant setting. Additionally, as far as the Com Orb is concerned, communications just aren't so easy that an Artifact 0 should be able to duplicate them; that's a Charm or Hearthstone 3ish thing. And the thought of finding a warehouse of first age goods, labeled with sticky notes, just utterly breaks my immersion.

But other than that, looks good :) DS

Eh, I can't really see them as out of reach for the First Age Exalts and I don't really find them out of theme. The adhesive pads aren't like sticky notes. More like really powerful flypaper. - Telgar

I agree that the Com Orbs are too powerful to not be an artifact.

I also think that the Anima Jewelry is a little to powerful. Just being able to change the color of your anima can be a very useful ability. I'm not sure if it is so useful that it should be a level one or higher artifact, but I'd think about it seriously before letting someone have it. The variation that allows you to consciously control your anima, that's a fairly high level artifact in my opinion. bobthepariah

Hmm. I agree about the Orbs being an Artifact. I'll move em over to level 2, they aren't really that badass. I'll include a range limit and make the Com Orb Plus a level 4. I think you're getting the wrong impression about Anima Jewelery. If, say, a Solar who's anima is golden leaves turning into a giant iconic tree wore it then he'd be able to turn his leaves blue or green, but it'd still be and obviously Solar Anima. And the part about concious control is badly worded. Really it lets you sort of animate your iconic, but only for drama. It's nothing that lets you immitate another Exalt's anima banner. Think of it as Shaping the Ideal Form for Animas. - Telgar