BogModOtherArtifacts/WarLampOfMists
Artifact •••••
A most ancient relic which was old when the Primordial War began. This simple lamp is a relic of the race called the Nishaat though they were not its makers just its owners. A round pale white orb with a hole in the top and bottom, with a place for the flame in the middle which is held in place by four little bars. The whole thing can be held by a bar that hangs from a small handle over the top. This device doesn't seem that weird at first glance. There are two things about it that is just strange however. The first is that it seems to be seamless in construction as if carved somehow from some strange thing material. The second is that the the four bars inside that hold the place for a flame or candle has the joint between two of them always pointing at the person who is holding it, even if they try to rotate it and even if many people hold it.
However it is not meant to be used as a lamp for light. Instead lighting it will make it billow out a low mist that spreads along the ground. Then from the mists rise an army that take the shape of armored figures of the lamp lighter's race. One of two things happens now. If the Lamp has been attuned for 10 motes before being lit the army serves the will of the creator. If not the army kills all within a one mile area, staying until the lamp burns out and they vanish or a full day passes.
Used first against the Exalted the army proved weaker then the Dragonblooded armies. Taken as a trophy by the Eclipse Three Winds, an escaped slave from the Dragon Kings before his Exaltation, it became a signature of his land and person. Either inventing custom charms for the task or artifacts he found ways to change the mist soldiers into servants or buildings or even break them up and they proved to at times even possess a rudimentary intelligence. His successor after his death in the Thousand Struggles Era seemed to remember the secrets of the Lamp and exploited it further and in ways that troubled the Sidereals. The mists would take on inhuman shapes and it was said that they could remain longer then a day. His death during the Ursupation lead to it falling into the hands of the Dragonblooded. They could only use its base abilities and waged a genocidal campaign against a strange race of half breed humans and mist things, a product of strange experiments.
Since the Dragonblooded could not do anything more with it and the Sidereals could find no way to properly understand it(though one Chosen of Secrets claimed to be close before the project was cancelled) the Lamp was left in the Shogunate's care. It was used by the Shogunate but it was always remembered as a weapon of the Anathema and served as a tool of harsh punishment on places that seemed to harbor Solar or Lunar sympathies or in time just be disloyal to the Shogun. In modern times the Mist army is in the hands of a Dragonblood in the east. A recent aquisition, looted from a long lost ruin, use of this Lamp will bring the ancient stories of the Army of the Mist back into circulation in the east and surely bring in Lookshy's involvement.
The army stands a full 5000 strong. In mass combat they have perfect drill and morale, Might 2, perfect Endurance. They require no relays and have no special characters. Army fights as a single magnitude 8 unit. They have a Close Combat Rating of 5, and can fight as much as 5 miles distant from the lamp. They attack with a Dexterity + Melee pool of 10 and fight in Close formation. They are also capable or recognizing friend from foe basing it on what their summoner would count. Formed of mist only magical fire can burn them either doing ping if from small sources(flaming arrows, a fire aspect anima or charms) or full normal damage when used in large scale(As in the Begining or Dragon Vortex Attack).
This lamp can only create an army once a week and they last until destroyed, a day passes or the lamp goes out making attacker the lamp holder a second way to defeat this army. A character can fight with them and directly command them but it is a challange as all charm uses have a 3m surcharge when used while commanding the army as its commander instead of letting it do its thing on its own.
The secret of the Lamp is simple if cloudy. There is a particularly strange behemoth, perhaps a cousin to the Eyeless Face, with the Lamp serving as the connection to to it in its Elsewhere space prison. About this thing little is known as the only ones who might know are the Yozi and the most ancient of Gods. The Yozi have changed much and the few gods who may recall it do not know what its final fate was merely that one day it was gone due to the actions of the Primordials.
The manipulations of the Solar who owned it in the First Age let more of its self into the Creations. The half breed race was not completely wiped out by the Dragonblooded and a small group survive today as slaves to Hierarch Maziar Sabar of the Guild's Directorate. It is unknown if he knows their origins or simply keeps them due to their uniqueness. A mystery of the past they have beauty and charm that makes them desired, are few in number and seem to be only able to reproduce amongst themselves and only rarely at that. Certain records possessed by the Sidereals would attribute to them strange abilities, the wielding of Essence and a keen and alien intellect at times. These ones seem to know nothing of their origins, betray no special powers, and seem as pliable concubine slaves. Hopefully that is all they are.
