DreamingNymph/SendingTheRadiantWord

Sending The Radiant Word

Artifact: Rating Varies depending on item

Commitment: Varied

History

Famed First Age Twilight caste scholar/sorcerer Radiance of Starlight suffered all her life from extreme bouts of delusional paranoia. She was convinced that she was constantly being followed, and that others were always eavesdropping on her conversations. Worst of all, she firmly believed SOMEONE was plotting on her life, even when she was safe underground in her heavily trapped study. She was a truly brilliant sorcerer, a prodigy at artifice, so she devised a plan. She would make items that looked safe enough to throw her attackers off the trail, but when they tried to attack they'd get a nasty surprise. She locked herself tightly in her workshop/study, and when she emerged again, she had in hand the book she would never be seen without again. Ever.

• Tabula Rasa
  • Artifact Level: •••••
  • Commitment: 12 motes

This book is roughly the size of a largish hardcover book, the covers are made from the hide of a creature that hasn't been seen in Creation in a very, very, very long time. The covers are a silvery grey silky soft leather with a slightly irridescent sheen, and trimmed in orichalcum. The books pages are blank at first glance, studying them further causes the reader to see glyphs in an unknown language moving across the page at high speeds. If the reader wishes to attune to this book, he must make a Willpower check difficulty 3. If he makes this check, the words slow down and form themselves into readable, but cryptic Old Realm. Once the reader attunes to the book, it gains the following benefits:

• The book produces an infinite amount of pages, (usable with the Falling Rose Petal Style, if you're interested) the pages can shape themslves into a usable non-martial object if the owner desires. The item must be a simpe item (no moving parts), and can be no larger than what could be produced with 2 square yards of material. The user must have seen the item before in order to produce it. If this item is used with the Falling Rose Petal Style, it adds the orichalcum bonus to those attacks.

• The book can produce a bladed weapon with the following stats:
  Acc:+1; Spd:+6; Dmg:+4L; Def:+0; Rate:2

• The books pages can be used as a ranged weapon with the following stats:
  Acc:+0; Dmg:+3L; Range:30yds; Rate:2

• The books pages can form a shield (a single page even, if you're going for dramatic effect) that adds +1 to the difficulty to hit the owner.

All of the above attacks use Dex+Martial Arts or Dex+Occult, whichever is higher, for attacking. They use the Int attribute instead of the Str attribute for calculating damage. None of the benefits can be used at the same time; so if you have a sword, you have to put it back (the pages flow back into the book) to conjure a shield. The book is levelable, and it looks for certain traits in its owner before it unlocks higher powers.

Owner gets one Martial Art to form - The book looks for resolve and dedication in its current owners spirit. When the owner gets at least one Martial Art all the way to form the book provides the following benefits:

• Bladed weapon stats:
  Acc:+2; Spd:+7; Dmg:+5L; Def:+1; Rate:3
• Ranged weapon stats:
  Acc:+1; Dmg:+4L; Range:50yds; Rate:3
• Shield adds +2 to the difficulty to hit the owner
• Can create a simple object up to 3 sq. yards in size

Owner has a total of 16 Virtue dots - The book seeks an owner who isn't easily swayed, who will stand their ground in the face of adversity. When the owner has at lest 16 total Virtue dots, the book provides the following bonuses in place of the ones listed above:

• Bladed weapon stats:
  Acc:+3; Spd:+8; Dmg:+6L; Def:+2; Rate:4
• Ranged weapon stats:
  Acc:+2; Dmg:+5L; Range:75yds; Rate:4
• Shield adds +3 to the difficulty to hit the owner
• Can create a simple object up to 4 sq. yards in size

Owner has a 6 Permanent Essence - When Tabula Rasa gets to its final stage of advancement, it seeks in its owner the ability to tune in to the ebb and flow of Creation. When the owner has 6 Permanent Essence, the book provides the following bonuses in place of the ones listed above:

• Bladed weapon stats:
  Acc:+4; Spd:+9; Dmg:+7L; Def:+3; Rate:5
• Ranged weapon stats:
  Acc:+3; Dmg:+6L; Range:100yds; Rate:5
• Shield adds +4 to the difficulty to hit the owner
• Can create a simple object up to 5 sq. yards in size

All of the weapons/shields are considered to be orichalcum, and provide bonuses as such to Solars. In all states the book produces infinite pages and makes items.

---

Once Radiant Starlight had the book completed, she was touched by inspiration for matching items. She rolled some ideas around, she wanted something with multiple applications and would be considered stylish amongst her bookish peers to boot. She settled on a pen, and bargained with a uniquely colored air spirit for one of its feathers to create this wonder.

• Jubilant Featherblade
  • Artifact Level: ••••
  • Commitment: 9 motes

Jubilant Featherblade is a feather pen with an orichalcum nib and tip. The feather is lush and fluffy, and changes color based on the users temperature (rather like a mood ring). To attune to this object, the user must call forth the messenger hawk within the pen, and give an offering of golden sunflower seeds. When the bird has been appeased, he will sing his Name to the owner, and allow him to attune to the pen. The messenger hawk will only allow a Solar to attune to it. In addition to the normal pen qualities (you know, writing and all...), it has the following abilities:

• Messenger Hawk - The Hawk is a proud, brilliantly plumaged automaton creature that will deliver a message much like the spell Infallible Messenger. In order to summon the Hawk, the user must speak his Name while holding the pen in hand, and commit 5 motes. The pen then turns quicksilver and the form of a hawk can be seen preening itself in the users hand. When the bird is done preening his feathers are colored in shades of whatever color the pen was at the time of calling. The Hawk will deliver a message no more than 50 words long to the person specified, and return to his owner. If the Hawk is destroyed while on his errand, the pen is also destroyed. The recipient of the message may send a return message, this message can be no longer than 25 words.

• Dagger - By expending a (1) mote of Essence, the pen can be thrown as a dagger. The dagger will return to the users hand (wherever he/she is, he need not stand in one place to retrieve it) at the beginning of the next round. The stats for the dagger are:

• • Acc:+5; Spd:+6; Dmg:+4L; Def:+3, plus Special, see other ability; Rate:3

• Sword-Shattering Parry - The pen can parry attacks from a sword or a knife only. When a weapon is successfully parried, the attacker must roll another unmodified attack roll. If the roll is a success, the weapon is still parried but takes no damage. If the roll fails, the weapon is parried and it takes 1 point of damage. A weapon is considered to have its Spd in health levels for purposes of this effect (i.e., an attacker using a sword with a Spd of 4 has 4 health levels on his weapon). If the roll botches the weapon is destroyed. This works on mundane weapons only, the pen will still parry a sword made of one of the Magical Materials but will not break or damage it.

The dagger uses Dex+Occult or Dex+MA to attack, and uses Int instead of Str to determine damage.

The dagger is considered to be orichalcum, and provides bonuses to Solars as such.

---

Radiant Starlight was pleased with her creations, but there was something still missing. She pondered for a few days, and woke one morning to a strange sight. The artificial lighting in her lab played off of the facets in her fine cut crystal inkwell, and the reflections left what she saw as a message on the wall..."Speak to me...". Now, whether this was just a weird trick of light, or Radiant Starlight's own insanities taking hold again, we'll never know. It did inspire her to create the final piece in her masterwork, Words Unspoken.

• Words Unspoken
  • Artifact Level: ••
  • Commitment: 5 motes

Words Unspoken is a very heavy orichalcum and lead crystal inkwell. Were it ever empty, the evidence of a master craftsmans hand would be visible, the crystal is a very pale blue at the top, and grades down to a deep indigo at the base. The well is rimmed in orichalcum at the top, and the stopper is orichalcum topped with a princess cut blue diamond roughly the size of a babys fist. Floating around the inside of the inkwell are tiny golden Old Realm characters that spell out "Speak to me". The inkwell is always full of deep blue/violet ink, it will never run out or spill. If a message is written from this ink, the person scribing the message has two options. He can either write the intended message and send it plainly, or he can write whatever he wishes, then speak a "true" message to the ink. The ink will record this message, and play it back in the writers own voice only to the person to whom the message is addressed. In order for the latter feature to work properly, the letter must be addressed to the recipient using his full birth name, with no nicknames, titles, or variations.

---

It should be noted that since the disappearance of Radiant Starlight these items have been scattered over Creation. The latest speculation has Tabula Rasa somewhere in the North, Jubilant Featherblade is thought to be in the possesion of Black Larks Song, a sorcerer last seen in Nexus, and the inkwell could very well be anywhere...

Comments

I like these, they're all really cool. You might want to state what the Jubilant Featherblade parries -with- though. You havn't given it a defense stat, and I've no idea what skill you use to parry with a pen... Dex + Linguistics?

I'd also suggest that you drop the commit-cost for the Featherblade to... well, 10 at the most. Although I personally would go with around 7. The book has OOODLES of powers, and even then only just enough for the 15... I might drop that a bit if it were me (maybe to 12ish)... What's the attune on a warstrider nowadays?
-- Darloth checks, and reports back that an entire warstrider only costs 10 motes to attune to.

Hey, thanks for the appreciation :o). I had costed them like that after reading Savant 'n Sorcerer, they suggested for a power level 4 to have a commit cost of 15. That seemed like a bit much, but I went with it anyway. So...(rummages around on page) there. Makes sense now, since I didn't plan on the bird to come with its own warstrider or anything ;o). - Dreaming Nymph

Very cool artifacts. I love the book. It gives of a neat ROD vibe.
--BriiliantRain

So is the pen 9 (statblock) or 5 to commit?

But yeah... The S&S book is great for working out what sort of artifact level something is, but I think their commitment costs are really quite screwed up, at least for personal artifacts. Soul Mirror, for example, is power 5, and has only three (two if you actually count properly) extra points of drawback, and yet only takes 7 motes to commit. By the book, it should take 20... I think the personal artifact commitment scale needs to be redone... Either way, this is waffle on your nice artifact page, so I'll stop and just say they're cool again.
-- Darloth

Uh...(scans the stat block and description) oh! yeah...you commit 5 motes to send the message, when the bird comes back you get them back. The pen itself is 9 motes to attune. Thanks again tho, i'm always a fan of appreciation! :o) - Dreaming Nymph