FrivYeti/SoulSiphon
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The Soul Siphon
Artifact N/A, Commitment 1
One of the most powerful and complex artifacts of the First Age, the Soul Siphon was designed by a Dawn Caste artificer, Paxran Kard, who grew tired of the need to restrain himself in combat. Finding that his stores of Essence were easily reduced, Kard began construction of an artifact that would solve his problems forever. He travelled deep into the Wyld, and forged chains of moonsilver to hold it. He walked the depths of the Labyrinth with the aid of a necromancer, and mined soulsteel with his bare hands. He bound it in orichalcum and starmetal, to purify its dark nature, and grounded it all with filaments of jade to tie it to Creation. Finally, he journeyed up the Elemental Pole of Earth to the Well of Souls and bathed his creation in the waters of Lethe, irrevocably attaching it to the very cycle of Life and Death itself. The work took him twenty years, and when he was done, it was his most magnificent creation. Sadly, Kard grew ever-more confident with the Siphon in his possession, and was ultimately slain when he matched himself alone against a Primordial Fetich-soul which had escaped its prison. Although he was successful in banishing it back to Malfeas, he did not survive the encounter, and the Siphon was lost along with his body, never found again...
In appearance, the Siphon is a sphere with a diameter of about six inches. It takes the form of a three-dimensional yin-yang of orichalcum and starmetal, with glints of darkness in its heart, covered in tiny strands of white jade. Six moonsilver chains, gossamer-thin, hang loosely from it. If it is brought into contact with anything with an Essence pool, these chains will reach out to attune, and the sphere will flatten and shape itself to the form of whatever it is attuning to. Attunement can be resisted or broken by creatures with Essence pools, and such creatures may spend 5 motes to remove attunement by the Siphon to an artifact with an Essence pool.
The Siphon is actually a collection of four level-5 Artifacts, bound in jade. The first, the soulsteel heart, draws to itself any lifeforce lost within its field. Whenever any living being, god, or demon takes a health level of damage within one mile of the device, it immediately gains one mote of Essence. The starmetal casing ensures that the life energy is complete; any being killed within the radius of the artifact has their soul lost forever, even gods or demons, as their soul is torn into shreds of Essence and dispersed. The orichalcum shell matching the starmetal purifies the Essence, cleaning it of any lingering necrotic taint. Finally, the moonsilver strands that bind the artifact to whatever it has been attuned to transfer the Essence to its owner. The net result is that every health level of damage dealt to any being within a mile of the Siphon grants the Siphon's wearer a mote of Essence, with no maximum beyond the normal Essence pools of the owner, and any being killed within this radius is gone forever.
The Siphon need not be bound to an Exalt; gods, demons, Fair Folk, and even artifacts with Essence pools can benefit from it. The only requirement is that an Essence pool is needed.
Comments
So if I kill thousands of people, I can theoretically get a thousands-big essence pool? Rock on! Gotta love NA artifacts. -- GreenLantern
- Actually, the maximum remains the normal Essence pools of the owner. What it means more is that you can always unleash your strongest attacks, and your pools just keep filling to maximum. If you use some theoretical Solar combo which attacks everyone you can see (10m, 1w) ten times (20 motes) with +15 dice (15 motes), double successes (1 mote), add seven post-soak levels of damage (14 motes), and have it affect dematerialized beings (5 motes), you don't spend 70+ motes. You spend 70 motes and then recover it all instantly. Unstoppable combat juggernaut FTW! - FrivYeti
Suppose I have a Solar Circle Spell that does, say 50L, to everyone within a mile. Thing is, it costs 100m to cast, and I've got a 70m pool. Can I still cast the spell, as the second it'd go off, and need fuel, I'm also getting it all back? (This is implied by your above statement, partially). -- GreenLantern
Just a Side Comment, 1 mote for 1 health level is limited for an N/A artifact, sure it can suck it out of things a mile away, but unless you're in the midst of mass combat, it wont help in a 1-on-1 Fight. Small suggestion, that with Focus against a single opponent, you gain your opponents Essence in motes per health level damage inflicted. - ArabianNinja, who likes his Level N/A to reach out of the page and punch you in the face, because they're that awesome.
- Actually, extending that a bit further, why not make it (Essence) motes per health level, where the (Essence) used is that of the person losing the motes? Thus, an extra is worth 3 motes, but a vanilla Exalt is 14 motes (Essence 2 * 7 Health Levels). That way even scoring a hit on a high Essence person can be a good thing, but not overpowering - after all, 5-7 motes is enough for maybe one charm of that level, not the 25+ motes you need for a combo. -- GL
