Chapter VII · Technology
Artifacts
Artifacts are aetheric weavings that somehow hold their shape forever. Nobody alive knows how to make them reliably. Those who did guarded their secrets jealously or took them to the grave. Usmon's Council of Arcanum keeps the largest collection in the world, and every nation fears what it might do with them.
About Artifacts
Ordinary aetheric weavings unravel as the web pulls itself back into shape. Artifacts don't. Most artifacts in circulation are renderers. True artifacts are almost never seen outside a vault, and they radiate enough power through the web that a trained practitioner can feel one from miles away. The Chromatic Orb once traded in them, until the Arcanum Order began claiming them all.
The Aetheric Nexus
The Council of Arcanum's most powerful artifact: a polished, obsidian-black gemstone the size of a clenched fist, covered in intricate patterns that shift constantly, like a spider spinning webs inside it. The Council believed it absorbs aetheric manipulation, but only nearby. It can't be fired like a cannon. Around it, the threads of the web are drawn steadily inward without stopping. Council scholars say it could "shake the foundation and change history," and might even undo some old mistakes. It rests in the Council's vault at Peltragow, guarded by aetheric traps and Justicars.
For the Game Master spoilers
The Nexus is really a container. It absorbs aetheric manipulation patterns and restores the original pattern. If flux is ever driven into it, it tears apart, unleashing the Mourning, and its threads lodge in the living people nearby as marks. Reassembling it means linking every mark in the aether within seconds of one another. See The Mourning.
The Elastiquery
A rough-cut, translucent orb about the size of a melon, with aetheric runes carved in a circle of eight points. Inside, strands bridged by points of light shimmer like a dewy spider web at sunrise. Its shell looks smooth but feels rough to the touch.
For the Game Master what it does
The Elastiquery lets its user listen in on renderer conversations, the one form of communication everyone believed was private. Conversations involving people close to the user or connected to them are easiest to find, and with practice a user can pick out specific ones from the noise. A user's eyes glaze over while they use it, sometimes for hours. Whoever controls it could topple kings and bring nations to their knees. Known seekers include Murkwell's lawman Irvorn and the Veil. It was hidden in a footlocker at a souldriven restructuring plant near Wolfpine.
Exspiratis-Bound Weapons
An exspiratis can bind itself to an object instead of a host, usually one that represents its goal. Such a weapon can't speak to its wielder, but it pushes the wielder's emotions toward what it wants. One known example is an ornate sword with softly glowing dark red runes on a swirling inlaid blade and a plain leather-wrapped hilt. It hates machines, cuts through metal like water, and drains the aetheric patterns out of fibrolite. Left behind, it has a way of turning up strapped to its bearer again.
Firearms and Artillery
Firearms, aetheric ammunition and artillery are equipment, not artifacts. Their rules and prices are in Weapons, in the Equipment chapter.
Game statistics for artifacts and exspiratis-bound weapons, and more artifacts from the Council's vault.