FrivYeti/EssenceLeechingCollar
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The Essence-Leeching Collar
Artifact 2
Repair 2
First created in the High First Age by a Solar lord who wanted a quick and easy way to restrain servants who got out of hand, these devices saw relatively widespread use during the age of the Shogunate, and most large Dragon-Blooded organizations still have at least a few dozen on hand, hidden about their armories and dungeons.
At first glance, this collar is an intricate device, made primarily of white jade, that is a collar with a hinge, opening in the back. The collar itself is completely featureless on the outside, with dozens of runes lining its inner ring. Aside from that, the collar appears unnoticeable until it is locked onto a target.
The actual process of locking the collar is not very quick; the collar must be placed around the neck of an Essence-user capable of attuning to artifacts, and must be held shut while it attunes to its target, a process that takes one minute. During this time, if the collar is majorly jostled, it must reset, making it useless as a combat application. Once the minute is over, the collar steals one mote from the target (taken from their Peripheral Essence pool if possible), which is considered committed. It continues to steal one mote for commitment per minute, until it runs out of available motes. The collar will not steal motes committed to artifacts or existing Charms, but as the Charms' durations expire, will immediately start to steal from the newly-liberated pool. Once the character only has a number of uncommitted motes remaining in her Personal Essence pool equal to her Permanent Essence, the collar has completed its attunement.
Any Essence-user capable of attuning to artifacts may spend 5 motes to immediately de-attune the collar. The collar's wearer may not do this; attempting to do so merely commits those 5 motes immediately. Once de-attuned, the collar pops open.
The collar does not require maintenance, but its delicate nature means that it can be broken with sufficient force. Consider the collar to have 15L soak and hardness. Three levels of damage above and beyond this will forcibly detach it; if this is done, it must be repaired normally. Otherwise, it will not require maintenance.
These collars are generally used against Dragon-Blooded criminals; the Wyld Hunt simply kills Anathema, and the slow nature of the collar makes it useless against foes that they wish to kill unless they can somehow be tricked into putting it on (and are alone).
Comments
If it means anything, I suggest level 2. I was looking through Wonders of the Lost Age and those that seem to be related to this item are two. -Heru
Might I suggest letting the collar drain all but (Essence) motes from the victim, implying that it's nearly useless on Essence 5+ targets? I know it's intention and all, but I can't really see something that totally neutralizes an Exalt being 'in setting' - sure, it might be mechanically balanced, but for story purposes, giving them a small reserve pool allows more creative freedom. -- GreenLantern
- Hm, not a bad idea, although cunning Exalts can buy some time by committing a ton of Charms when the collar is first attached. Still... alright, the reserve will remain, and we'll call it Artifact 2. :) - FrivYeti
- If you want to make it really fun, leave the (Essence) motes in their peripheral pool, not personal. That way, if they act up, they glow... *evil chuckle* - GL
