Melissia
August Personage of Jade
Like most of my ideas, this one starts off with "Well, I was bored....".
Heh. Just playing around with a concept here while reading Glories of the First Age, the Compass book for the Underworld, and so on. Don't know if the idea is any good, or even coherent. But it was fun writing it.
The Glorious Lethe-Engine of Evenhands Eisha (N/A)
This is an NA artifact the size of a small building, in the shape of a massive moonsilver pipe organ atop an Orichalcum and Jade platform, with small amounts of Starmetal to focus essence flows. It was created by a First Age Twilight craftswoman who focused her studies on the nature of the soul and Lethe in an effort to find a way to force the dead Primordials-- now the Neverborn-- to enter it.
It never worked, and indeed, there was never a chance to test it out in the first place. The Usurpation ended up slaying Evenhands Eisha atop the artifact before she could perform the final tweaking, and her blood spilled upon it corrupted the painstaking process of its construction, making it dangerous to use... both to the user, and to everyone around them. This artifact takes fifteen motes to attune to.
When a Terrestrial Exalted tries to attune to this artifact, they must make a willpower test at difficulty three or be drained of half of their essence every five ticks. If they ever would reach zero essence because of this drain, they die instantly, their souls fed in to the engine much like Eisha's killers were. Unattuning stops this process. Even if they succeed, however, they soon find that they are unable to do very much with it-- they can only access its most basic feature, although this alone might be enough to justify attempting to use it. All nearby souls in the mirror location in the underworld feel drawn to Lethe. If they wish to resist, they must pass a willpower test at difficulty three. For each soul sent to Lethe in this manner, the user gains a one-mote refund on the attunement cost until it has been entirely refunded. Afterwards, motes begin filling up the Engine, but the Terrestrial Exalted cannot make use of these additional motes.
This feature has no drawbacks, as it was completed well before the Usurpation.
When a Celestial Exalted tries to attune to this artifact, they must make a willpower test at difficulty three, or the motes used to attune are wasted and they must attempt to attune again. These may access a secondary feature in addition to the above; more powerful ghosts, such as Nephwracks and Hekatonkhires can be specifically targeted if the user is aware of their existence and general geographical location, as long as the engine as as many motes as the ghost's permanent Essence rating. The Exalted may make an opposed willpower check against these ghosts, and can use Presence excellencies to support this roll. If the Exalted succeeds, the ghost accepts Lethe, and fills the Engine with motes equal to three times its permanent willpower rating. However, this process was corrupted by Evenhands Eisha's death, and it has a weak spot in its defense-- if the ghost wins, it gains control of the Exalted's body for eleven days (or for one day if the user is a Solar), draining a permanent dot of willpower in the process. This may be resisted by spending willpower points equal to half of the ghost's permanent willpower rating (use the exalted's rating AFTER the drain of a permanent dot).
When a Solar Celestial exalted successfully attunes to this artifact, they gain access to its primary feature... if the Engine has one hundred motes saved up, they may activate the Engine, using up two permanent dots of willpower and spending another six in the process, along with the entirety of the motes saved up in the Engine from its prior, lesser activations. In doing so, the user may force their will upon a single Neverborn, and with a successful Charisma + Presence, Intelligence + Occult, or Manipulation + Lore test, they can force the Neverborn to enter an artificial version of Lethe. This instantly depowers any Deathlords granted power by this Neverborn, and sends shockwaves and essence storms through the Underworld as its massive essence is recycled through the Engine, spread out throughout the entirety of Creation and the Underworld.
Upon a successful use of the Engine's primary purpose, the entirety of Creation gains an amazingly prosperous year. During this year, Bordermarches recede in to where the Middlemarches would have been, and so on, as Creation expands and stabilizes. Shadowlands shrink, and in the Underworld, more and more ghosts begin to accept Lethe, while the Dual Monarchy finds it easier to maintain their Calendar. The user themselves gains a dot in permanent Essence rating in the process (this cannot take the user above 10... but it's unlikely that a 10 Essence exalt would need an artifact like this to begin with!), but due to the corruption of the artifact, their Motivation becomes twisted with the now-forgotten rage of the Neverborn that they forced Lethe upon, becoming a dark shadow of what it was before. If the Exalted still has any willpower left to spend, they may spend a point to roll their permanent Willpower + Integrity (including any Integrity charms) at diffulty five to resist this effect.
And somewhere in the deepest parts of the Pure Chaos... a newly born primordial awakens, its Nature deeply influenced by the Exalted's psyche. Their memories and thoughts are cleansed in the process, retaining no hate for Creation, and no memories of any events in the past-- they are a newly born being, much like a mortal who accepts Lethe. The very fundamental nature of existence both within Creation and without now includes the possibility of Lethe for all dead Primordials. The other Neverborn howl with envious rage in their torturous sleep... and a part of them prays that they are next. Within Malfeas, the Yozis feel this change, and privately begin to wonder if this might be the only way they can escape their prison...
Heh. Just playing around with a concept here while reading Glories of the First Age, the Compass book for the Underworld, and so on. Don't know if the idea is any good, or even coherent. But it was fun writing it.
The Glorious Lethe-Engine of Evenhands Eisha (N/A)
This is an NA artifact the size of a small building, in the shape of a massive moonsilver pipe organ atop an Orichalcum and Jade platform, with small amounts of Starmetal to focus essence flows. It was created by a First Age Twilight craftswoman who focused her studies on the nature of the soul and Lethe in an effort to find a way to force the dead Primordials-- now the Neverborn-- to enter it.
It never worked, and indeed, there was never a chance to test it out in the first place. The Usurpation ended up slaying Evenhands Eisha atop the artifact before she could perform the final tweaking, and her blood spilled upon it corrupted the painstaking process of its construction, making it dangerous to use... both to the user, and to everyone around them. This artifact takes fifteen motes to attune to.
When a Terrestrial Exalted tries to attune to this artifact, they must make a willpower test at difficulty three or be drained of half of their essence every five ticks. If they ever would reach zero essence because of this drain, they die instantly, their souls fed in to the engine much like Eisha's killers were. Unattuning stops this process. Even if they succeed, however, they soon find that they are unable to do very much with it-- they can only access its most basic feature, although this alone might be enough to justify attempting to use it. All nearby souls in the mirror location in the underworld feel drawn to Lethe. If they wish to resist, they must pass a willpower test at difficulty three. For each soul sent to Lethe in this manner, the user gains a one-mote refund on the attunement cost until it has been entirely refunded. Afterwards, motes begin filling up the Engine, but the Terrestrial Exalted cannot make use of these additional motes.
This feature has no drawbacks, as it was completed well before the Usurpation.
When a Celestial Exalted tries to attune to this artifact, they must make a willpower test at difficulty three, or the motes used to attune are wasted and they must attempt to attune again. These may access a secondary feature in addition to the above; more powerful ghosts, such as Nephwracks and Hekatonkhires can be specifically targeted if the user is aware of their existence and general geographical location, as long as the engine as as many motes as the ghost's permanent Essence rating. The Exalted may make an opposed willpower check against these ghosts, and can use Presence excellencies to support this roll. If the Exalted succeeds, the ghost accepts Lethe, and fills the Engine with motes equal to three times its permanent willpower rating. However, this process was corrupted by Evenhands Eisha's death, and it has a weak spot in its defense-- if the ghost wins, it gains control of the Exalted's body for eleven days (or for one day if the user is a Solar), draining a permanent dot of willpower in the process. This may be resisted by spending willpower points equal to half of the ghost's permanent willpower rating (use the exalted's rating AFTER the drain of a permanent dot).
When a Solar Celestial exalted successfully attunes to this artifact, they gain access to its primary feature... if the Engine has one hundred motes saved up, they may activate the Engine, using up two permanent dots of willpower and spending another six in the process, along with the entirety of the motes saved up in the Engine from its prior, lesser activations. In doing so, the user may force their will upon a single Neverborn, and with a successful Charisma + Presence, Intelligence + Occult, or Manipulation + Lore test, they can force the Neverborn to enter an artificial version of Lethe. This instantly depowers any Deathlords granted power by this Neverborn, and sends shockwaves and essence storms through the Underworld as its massive essence is recycled through the Engine, spread out throughout the entirety of Creation and the Underworld.
Upon a successful use of the Engine's primary purpose, the entirety of Creation gains an amazingly prosperous year. During this year, Bordermarches recede in to where the Middlemarches would have been, and so on, as Creation expands and stabilizes. Shadowlands shrink, and in the Underworld, more and more ghosts begin to accept Lethe, while the Dual Monarchy finds it easier to maintain their Calendar. The user themselves gains a dot in permanent Essence rating in the process (this cannot take the user above 10... but it's unlikely that a 10 Essence exalt would need an artifact like this to begin with!), but due to the corruption of the artifact, their Motivation becomes twisted with the now-forgotten rage of the Neverborn that they forced Lethe upon, becoming a dark shadow of what it was before. If the Exalted still has any willpower left to spend, they may spend a point to roll their permanent Willpower + Integrity (including any Integrity charms) at diffulty five to resist this effect.
And somewhere in the deepest parts of the Pure Chaos... a newly born primordial awakens, its Nature deeply influenced by the Exalted's psyche. Their memories and thoughts are cleansed in the process, retaining no hate for Creation, and no memories of any events in the past-- they are a newly born being, much like a mortal who accepts Lethe. The very fundamental nature of existence both within Creation and without now includes the possibility of Lethe for all dead Primordials. The other Neverborn howl with envious rage in their torturous sleep... and a part of them prays that they are next. Within Malfeas, the Yozis feel this change, and privately begin to wonder if this might be the only way they can escape their prison...
