Moiji

Moiji, spear of wind and wave, is in truth not a spear at all. Instead, he is a God, the God of The Exapanding Wave. His domain is of the ripples made when a pebble is dropped in a pond, all the way up to the huge tsunami caused when a star falls from the sky. He once held lordship over every ripple in every pond, every wind-blown crest of white water, and the peak for every trough. At the height of his power, he was quick to anger like a wave pounding into surf, and as relentless in the pursuit of his desires as the rivers that wear away and smooth the earth. All that is now no more, but Moiji has finally found his place in life.

When the courts of the first age sought to punish him for his lurid indiscretions with mortal women and even more uncouth favouritism and trashy political manoeuvres, they did not merely seal him within starmetal and cast him out of the heavens. No, for Moiji a more creative punishment was sought, and found. They forged a most impressive spear, capable of calling up the winds and striking at the enemy with the force of a hurricane. Of itself, this was of little merit in that much vaunted age of wonders, but this spear was special. Even with its powerful enchantments, the smith had ensured that it was just slightly imperfect, not possessed of the correctness of form which leads rise to a little god. In this state, none could truly make use of the spear's powers... but that was never the intent of forging it. Instead, it was taken to the edge of the Blessed Isle, and as the wave from Moiji's fall swept the shores, it was quenched at the very top of the largest wavecrest. Tiny particles of washed away starmetal condensed in the imperfections left in the orichalcum and lightest of ultramarine 'black' jade, filling in the pathways left in the core of the spear. It was in this way that Moiji's soul was bound and trapped within something far too small to properly contain him, and the forcing of his soul into this space greatly dimished him. There he was chained and geased to stay for the rest of eternity.

For a hundred years he raged, sullenly serving the Admirals of the West as far as commanded but not an inch more, and for this second rebellion against the decrees of Heaven, he was banished once more, both dragon and spear being sent to the far east, to wait at a small and unrenowned temple and watch over the manse there, protecting the stone from all harm.

There he sat, and waited, and thought, and watched, for over a thousand years. While many would have gone mad, Moiji was once a great dragon, a direct descendent of the elemental dragon of Water itself, and he was made of sterner stuff. He reflected on the words of those who condemned him, and came to understand their reasons, even as he kept to his own principles. When the Deliberative fell, Moiji was not worried - he had already attained contentment in his place, satisfied by the ministrations of the priestesses and faithful that served in the manse, and though he made preparations to defend it, there was no need. The solar who held the stone was killed on the other side of Creation, Moiji himself was not viewed as any great threat and certainly not especially loyal to the solar regime, so the dragonblooded of the shogunate merely claimed the manse and left the spear where it was, still safely sealed from any who might trespass.

It was only when the contagion struck that Moiji began to once again feel the need to be a part of the world. Assuredly, he did all he was able to, channelling the healing powers of clear, pure water and the purifying moxibustions of incense as best he could to help the mortal priesthood, but like so many others, it was mostly for naught. Even so, the priesthood remembered those few who had been saved by the spirit of the spring when all around them had perished, and thus did they begin to worship.

Now, as the Age of Sorrows comes to an end, Moiji has gathered enough worship to seek out a worthy hero to wield him again, granting him the volition to act once more, and this time, though his lecherous tendencies are only slightly reduced, his temper is alloyed with wisdom and contemplation, his rage as focussed as the wind that drives the flooding wave, and his aims set firmly on rebuilding that which has been lost.

Ijimo, the Stormwind Spear (Artifact 3)

Ijimo is the name of the spear which contains the dragon, and it is aspected towards the great storms of the west. Used in combat, it has the stats of an orichalcum or jade direlance, whichever the wielder prefers, and also has the power that every strike which is not parried or blocked can inflict the same effects as the wind or water varients of the Dragon Graced Weapon, again, whichever the wielder prefers. This effect taps into the ambient potential of Moiji's trapped essence, and is free of charge and automatic. It has only one hearthstone socket, at the butt of the staff. To properly fight with Ijimo, the user must assume a flowing, whirling stance, reminiscent of the patterns of a single wavecrest in a turbulent storm, always spinning and dancing before thrusting out with deadly force. As such, Ijimo also counts as an in-form weapon for many wind and water martial arts styles. To commit to Ijimo requires seven motes.

As a dramatic action costing 10 motes of committed essence, anyone using Ijimo can whip up the wind into a fury, starting a strong and constant wind in a certain direction. This is not strong enough to cause any lasting property damage, but it can impede archery attacks, cause quite large waves to appear, and propel ships very effectively. The drawback is that the wielder must concentrate on this power completely as if casting sorcery, and so is very restricted in terms of their actions, and as soon as they stop concentrating, that 10 motes is gone.

Moiji, the Ripplecrest Dragon (Familiar 3)

Moiji is at present an essence 3 spirit, appearing as a miniature dragon scaled in the blues and blacks of the ocean surface, with bright violet eyes. His breath forms a soft mist of condensation, and if he chooses, he can still tap into the primal nature of the great dragon he once was, and breath forth a swirling maelstrom of destruction, shredding everything in a cone with to-hit, damage and area calculated as if he were still an essence 6 dragon. In addition, he often manifests to give advice to the wielder of the spear, and can fight for them in the spirit realm if it proves necessary. Most of the time, he simply watches both realms, whispering advice, suggestions, or the occasional lecherous comment into the ear of whomever is wielding his vessel. (obviously, he much prefers young, attractive maidens, both for priestesses and wielders.)

Normally, Moiji must stay within three yards of Ijimo, but at the cost of one willpower point and the commitment of 10 motes of essence, the wielder can temporarily release Moiji from his prison, either letting him roam as he desires or giving him an order or set of orders that must be obeyed. Moiji can at most remain free for one day per point of the wielder's Essence, although the wielder may of course uncommit the essence earlier, and either causes him to be sucked directly back to the core of the spear, which he reports is a highly unpleasant experience, so he usually tries to return before the deadline. While outside the spear, Moiji has all of the abilities that any other essence 3 spirit with his charms and statistics usually does, and retains the ability to breath as an essence 6 dragon should it prove necessary. He has learned much simply from listening to the prayers and conversations of mortals, but is also an accomplished scout and a passable infiltrator, proving useful in many areas. Should it ever be required of him, Moiji is also an excellent sailor, and by following his advice any person or crew directly sailing a vessel gets a +3 artificial speciality, which does not stack with other specialities but applies to anything and everything.

Finally, by committing motes to the spear, the wielder has a direct although limited channel to Moiji's soul. This grants them the benefit of a level 3 familiar bond in regards to communication and sense sharing, although not the essence pool increase. Instead, when Moiji is within sight or resting within the spear, the wielder may draw essence from him, drawing two points from Moiji's pool to regenerate one of his own. This can only refill the wielder's peripheral essence pool, and he or she is limited to drawing 20 motes (thus gaining 10 motes) per turn or action. It also requires just a little concentration, counting as an unrolled die action with -0 DV, which can be flurried as usual. This power is entirely under the control of the wielder, and even if they do not need the motes, they may still draw on Moiji's reserves by flaring them off harmlessly, a method often used to castigate the unruly spirit in the first century of his inprisonment. If he wishes, Moiji is also capable of using any of his spirit charms on anyone touching the spear, whatever range he might actually be at, and is also always aware of anyone doing so. This ability has been limited so that he may not inflict any sort of hostile or detrimental power on his attuned wielder.

((stat essence 3 miniature elemental dragon of water here.))

Comments:

This artifact was made for a player of mine who wanted a spirit for his weapon, and a powerful weapon/spirit at that. Technically, either of these would be rather overpowered for a 3 dot background, but they must be bought together, so you could argue they're actually a six dot! Of course, it doesn't quite work like that, but I think/hope it's about balanced, as long as I stat Moiji properly and don't give him an overly large essence pool.

If he were released properly of course, then he would no doubt gain back some (but not all) of his previous power, probably putting him into the essence 4 or 5 range with the usual huge spirit pools, but then he would be an Ally rather than a Familiar... or even an Enemy, depending on how he was treated and who by. I hope that this artifact provides both useful combat utility and various story potential. If I have overpowered it, then meh, not sure I care, because powerful artifacts are much more fun than boring old +5 daiklaves of asskickery. Still, if enough people think the spear or spirit counts as an artifact/familiar 4, I'd like to know. I've tried to aim both of them at high-end 3, and my personal theory is that all weapons should come with a minor power anyway - the dragongraced weapon effect for example is something I would give straight off to a normal art 2 direspear if it asked nicely.
-- Darloth