Heart consumed in the ancient, original form of Dragon
Communion.
Use while disrobed to turn one's human flesh into an ancient
dragon.
The last thing the partaker saw with human eyes was a sunset, its
colors faded and tarnished—a remote thing from eternity.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
You transform into an ancient dragon for 30 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are an ancient dragon, and you can use your equipment. Your Battle Scars, Injuries, and physical Liabilities are carried over between forms. Reverting from your Alternate Form cannot cause your existing Injuries to kill you. Instead, you remain Incapacitated.
While transformed, your Brawn is increased by 1, your Dexterity is increased by 1, and your Perception is increased by 1. You do not suffer any Stress while transformed.
Your alternate form is its own deadly weapon. Unarmed attacks made in your alternate form deal +3 Weapon Damage (instead of the typical -1).
Your alternate form renders you unable to speak any human language and incapable of fine object manipulation. You can only hold or grasp objects in a crude, clumsy way.
After this Effect ends, you cannot move quicker than a walk (15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour.
If you become Incapacitated or suffer an Injury Severity 4 or greater, you revert from your Alternate form.
As the user begins to envision a blue print of the item in their minds Spindly Clockwork arms shoot forth from the item spinning, prodding and poking at a specific spot in the air. as these limbs continue their work a hole into a ghostly realm is forced open showing the infinite possibility of Perfected forms. They reach forward rapidly dragging out the items envisioned.
A Huge ghostly clockwork face using disconnected limbs can be seen crafting these perfected Forms, as it notices this breach it crushes it closed. the drone of gears grinding, scraping, almost pleading out for something can be heard as the rift is sealed.
Exert your Mind and spend an Action.
Choose an Object which could fit inside a regular backpack (up to 27 liters). It must be Non-Alien and generic but can include rare materials (such as radium, gold, or drugs). Rare objects and their materials last no longer than 45 minutes.. You cannot create explosives. You may create firearms.
Roll Intellect + Crafts to fabricate up to 5 copies of your chosen Object. The Difficulty is assigned by the GM and depends on the specificity of your chosen Object. Your created items no longer expire, and will last until they are destroyed.
Being so connected to the Well, Luci had long earned its protection from outside harm, but has grown to instead decide on shedding that facet from herself to infuse that energy into other objects or artifacts.
Rolling inky shadow rolls around on the inside of the object it's been infused into- commonly a piece of clothing. If that piece of clothing is hit by an attack, the shadowy refuse inside of the clothing will reflexively react, similar to reactive armor. It is concealed in this circumstance. If this artifact is upgraded to allow called shots not to be circumvented, shadowy blobs of ink will sprout from the various openings in the clothing piece to swat aside attacks.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You have 6 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack. Called Shots may circumvent your Armor, depending on its coverage.
The process takes quite a bit of time, as Luci must properly bind this object to its ideal image by bathing it in The Well. A process that, if witnessed by a normal person, would likely result in some minor traumatic occurrences. Luci watches over the item the entire time to make sure it is not swallowed up into the inky mess. A lengthy sweat-inducing endeavor, but by its end, when Luci pulls the item from the reservoir, it is all worth it.
The items in question will sport a dark tint on the paint job and if Luci desires it, she can make its primary or secondary colors as dark as she wants. The symbol of The Well, a fragmented snowflake that closely resembles broken glass, will appear embossed somewhere visibly on the item, marking it as improved.
The Well is oblivion and vice versa. There is no being or creature exempt from the prices that it exacts upon those that meet it uncordially. And like a hook, when it sinks its fangs into you, it will rip you root and all at even the slightest weakness.
The Well is also eternal. As long as the universe turns and toils, and unless someone has the power to circumvent or mimic the powers of Oblivion, upgrades items will persist ad infinitum.
Idealism was always thought to exist solely in concept, to associate reality with mental ideals as opposed to material objects. That somewhere in the cosmic lands above, a perfect image of this "thing" exists, and only its material imitations are founded in "reality". But what if a material object could be elevated closer to the status of its ideal perfect image? A question Luci had asked herself for a period, and while it took some time, she managed to find a way.
This Artifact has been upgraded.
This Artifact receives 3 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +3 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. While it is upgraded, the item cannot be destroyed. Upgraded Armor is shredded by half the normal amount. If it is a piece of Armor, it instead receives half that amount as bonus armor rating, rounded up. If an upgraded shield and armor are both worn, the upgrade bonus does not stack with itself.
Upgraded weapons count as any material your opponent might be particularly vulnerable to. Upgraded Armor cannot be circumvented by called shots. Upgraded Devices do not run out of fuel or energy.
Henry's uniform is made of a nearly unbreakable material, and syncs to the implants in his head.
The onboard AI, Lith, is capable of autolocomotion in an emergency, as well as transmitting her location to Henry at all times. Now that the proper connection is reconnected, Henry is unwilling to lose it.
This Artifact cannot be broken.
If this Artifact is lost and in no one’s possession, it finds its way back to its creator during the next Downtime.
This Artifact's creator is always aware of the direction and distance to this Artifact.
This Artifact's creator must have it with them to have restful sleep. They cannot regain Mind or Source while separated from this Artifact.
Setting down the item to be upgraded along with a rod of carbon on top of it to serve as resources, a set of phased arrays in the cuff of his wrist begin to scan over the object, slowly disintegrating the carbon and integrating it into the object, upgrading it as they go. Carbon isn't quite the right material to use - even transforming it into other elements to use - but it tends to break down within the day.
Expend a point of Battery and spend a minute. Select a Device within arm's reach. Can be used on Alien technology. You must use up a rod of pure carbon in order to activate this Effect. Can be used on Armor.
Lasts the next day. Your target receives 3 extra dice to all actions taken for its intended use. Attacking with an upgraded weapon grants +3 Weapon Damage instead of additional dice. If it is a piece of Armor, it instead receives half that amount as bonus armor rating, rounded up. If an upgraded shield and armor are both worn, the upgrade bonus does not stack with itself.
Upgraded weapons count as any material your opponent might be particularly vulnerable to. Upgraded Armor cannot be circumvented by called shots. Upgraded Devices do not run out of fuel or energy.
After you finish activating this Effect, you cannot move quicker than a walk (max 15 feet per Round) for one minute and suffer a -1 dice penalty for an hour. Exhaustion’s penalty and duration stacks with multiple activations.
Henry taps a small control over his right collarbone twice, and his suit suddenly fades into a shimmer. After a moment, the shimmer spreads to his hands and face, leaving only a barely perceptible haze where the man once stood. After a moment further, this haze fades away entirely, leaving nothing.
"Field repairs are difficult work, especially with the primitive tools of this accursed world. The patches on the holomatrix are exceedingly sensitive - I'll have to be gentle with it, especially when it's enabled. If it gets disrupted it'll need to recalibrate again, which takes over a stellar rotation. Even now it's not calibrating right - I can still see it when it's active, especially when moving. But it'll have to do for now."
Update - Fixed the holomatrix. It's properly stable, now.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You are obscured in one of the following manners. You may Spend an Action to change the way in which you're concealed.
While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you from other, additional senses fails automatically. If someone discovers you, this Effect will not help you hide from them for the next minute. This Effect does not end early when you activate an obvious Effect, attack, or receive an Injury.
You may turn this Effect on and off at will during its duration.
Henry extends his arm straight, and, holding a small source of zinc in the same hand, points with his index finger directly at the target. His arm drags back and forth slightly, looking for sensitive electronics inside.
"The automated lensing systems seem absolutely shot. At least they're pointing forward-ish. It's a lot less handy, but I can effectively 'aim' them at the target. It's not entirely unlike aiming a gun, actually. The matter forge isn't working quite right either, but that's fine. Lith can just strip the electrons needed locally. I'd just rather they not be from me."
The cyberwarfare suite is controlled by an onboard AI, which Henry was very happy to finally get working. Even if they bicker some. For example, Lith will never admit failing a hack herself. It's just Henry moving his hand the wrong way while she was working. When he does hold his arm steady enough, though, Lith is able to read and write electron states directly in the device's memory. This permits her to influence the digital state of a device directly. By reflex, she ensures she won't be detected for the operation of the mission.
Spend 2 Actions to activate. Select a Computer within 20 feet. Does not work on Alien technology. You must use up a small amount of zinc in order to activate this Effect. Roll Dexterity + Firearms, with the Difficulty set by the GM depending on the security of the system you are hacking. Sapient targets can resist by rolling Mind at Difficulty 6. The hacking roll and their defensive roll are both Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you may issue a single command to the targeted system. This command must have a specific outcome or be a request for specific login credentials. The command you issue must be within the machine's current capabilities. For example, you cannot order a standard security camera to grow legs and walk around.
Your hack cannot be discovered by system administrators or firewall software for a number of hours equal to your Outcome on the initial roll.
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
The onboard sensor suite is coming online; the onboard chemical analysis suite is able to continually sample the air and provide a readout to the operator, and the sound sensor array can rapidly analyze even the slightest of sounds.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
Your senses are enhanced in the following way.
Any senses which have been heightened cannot be overloaded. Battle Scars you receive cannot affect these senses.
Henry places his hand over an object, and his hand begins to twitch. His eyes are half closed, and he sees not the world, but a set of gravitation waves.
For reasons unknown, an AI is unable to do this. It is left on the operator to steer the analysis suite though the planes of gravitons, to seek out the past. With it, the operator can determine where it's been (although his suit's assist automatically compiles that into coordinates) and an image of the last individuals to use it.
Spend a minute. Select a target Object within arm's reach. At the end of your investigation, roll Dexterity + Investigation at Difficulty 6.
You learn all the following information about your target:
This Gift's Cost is capped at 2 and cannot be increased further.
The AMS intertics allow precise, fine-grained control of microgravity fluxations. By taking advantage of these, a Fleet Officer can move as the situation demands.
It's an impressive sight, seeing a full-sized man go from standing still to moving full tilt.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
As long as you are conscious, you are immune to falling Damage. Additionally, you may glide as you fall, traveling 35 feet horizontally for every 10 feet you fall. While gliding, you fall at a minimum speed of 10 feet per Round.
You may ascend into the air and fly using your mind. Your Free Movement is Mind x5 feet/Round, including vertically. You cannot Dash. When sprinting, roll Mind and add your rating in Mind plus 1 to the outcome, multiply by 5 to find your sprint speed. Your encumbrance limit is 10 lbs per point of Mind.
You are subject to the following effects while gliding or flying:
Lith parses all audio signals picked up though the Expanded Sensor Suite, automatically running them though a translation matrix if the have common tags indicating they're a form of higher-level communication. She then relays this back to Henry along with other environmental cues.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You may understand and communicate to humans and Sapient beings as if you are fluent in a relevant language.
Henry takes a seat in front of the workbench, letting out a breath. The materials assembled, there was only the last step. Transferring control over to Lith, he tried to relax.
Activating the AAIA protocols requires embedded complicated arrays of nanotechnology into the item in question, and the only good source is currently the forges inside of Henry's bones. It's an unpleasant process, having your bones mined. But one must grit their teeth and tolerate it. Occasionally, various tools from the workbench are used, using copper and silicon in the place of missing pieces.
At the end, assuming the process worked as intended, the item lifts off, emitting an ultrasonic burst identifying its serial number and the fact it's currently slaved to Lith.
Stellar Navy regulations strictly prohibit the allowance of artificial intelligence operating independently of its master. However, as with all regulations, they can be bent, or broken, in emergency situations. AAIA Protocols are a set of protocols that allow such independent operation.
Typically Henry could activate them verbally, but a malfunction in one of the coproceessors in his suit leaves it unwilling to activate the protocols automatically. A manual process is... unpleasant.
Take a Severity-1 Injury and an Action. Select a Inanimate target within arm's reach which could fit inside a rolling luggage bag (50 liters). This Effect cannot be used unless the user is in front of an electronics workbench. Roll a single D10 as a critical failure check. If you roll a 1, the Effect fails, and you you suffer the 'lost hand (left) battle scar, and the item you are attempting to animate is damaged. You must use up a set of carbon rods, along with a small pile of copper and silicon in order to activate this Effect.
Your target will become Animated indefinitely. You may choose to end the effect at will, as a Free Action. This Artifact can maintain a max of 4 targets animated at once.
Animated Objects have the following restrictions and capabilities:
Anyone who witnesses you during this Effect's activation will almost certainly be disturbed to see the user's left hand is disassembled with a set of lasers, exposing the bone. They then begin to remove some marrow from inside, fusing it into the item being animated. This is an exceedingly painful process.
Henry places his hand upon the head of the target, and small silver tentacles emerge from the cuffs of his uniform. They caress the target, exploring the target and the possibilities of embrace. They sink gently though the flesh, searching for the secrets required.
Expend a point of Battery and spend 1 minute. Select an Animate target within arm's reach You must maintain Concentration while the effect is active. Roll Dexterity + Investigation at Difficulty 6. The target may Resist.
You are able to view your target's memories. The target is aware that their thoughts are being probed but not of the source of the probe. The Effect ends if the target moves out of range or your Concentration is interrupted.
You may ask specific questions about their memory - “what is their computer password,” “What were they doing at 4:00PM yesterday,” etc - but you cannot get answers to broad, analytical questions like “are they a good person?” or “what are their plans for the future?”
Each question you ask and memory you replay takes a single Round to read.
You may read memories that the target has forgotten.
The suit has a silksteel weave, allowing it to turn away blade and bullet with ease. When energized for short periods, the weave hardens fully, permitting it to sink impacts far in excess of what would normally be survivable.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
You have 6 Armor, which reduces incoming Damage. Armor from multiple sources does not stack. Called Shots may circumvent your Armor, depending on its coverage.
You may spend an Action or Reaction and Exert your Mind to double your Armor rating for one Round.
When the band made by the above ritual is worn, it occasionally (every 4 hours or so) briefly flashes a translucent outline of its wielder’s body at peak condition (this is their “elemental”, the shell or outline of their soul), and the wielder is able to focus as if they themselves were at peak condition.
The band captures a person’s elemental, the shell of a person’s soul that is left behind in its movement, according to some of the occultist Helena Blavatsky’s teachings. By briefly redisplaying this shell over the user’s form, the user can synchronize their body with their soul at a healthier time. A necromantic ritual for “soul finding” has recently allowed David to find a more complete version of a person’s elemental, allowing this technique to synchronize a previous healthier mind as well.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are wearing this Artifact.
Your Stress from Injuries and Mind Damage is reduced to 0.
When activated, the badge will glow lightly and the shield will not appear unless attacked, which then the shield will appear as if the attack hit a glass window, and either bounce off or shatter the window.
Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action or Reaction to activate. This Effect cannot be used unless you are being attacked. Roll Dexterity + Firearms at Difficulty 6.
If you succeed, you create a barrier around yourself, which absorbs the next Outcome Damage. The Damage reduction from the barrier is applied before Armor, and is treated like Armor by any effects such as Armor Penetration. You may only have 1 active barrier at a time.
You must maintain Concentration while using this Effect. The barrier will fall if you are interrupted, or if it absorbs the full amount of Damage. When a barrier falls, you cannot use this Effect again for a minimum of 2 Rounds.
Possession of this Artifact causes the following Trauma to manifest over the course of a day: roll self-control to give someone this item. If you lose possession of this Artifact, the Trauma heals over the course of the next month.
Wip
Exert your Mind and spend an Action. This Effect cannot be used unless being grabbed by masculine men.
You transform into An Incubus for 30 minutes. You have access to all of your Powers while you are An Incubus, and you can use your equipment. Your Battle Scars, Injuries, and physical Liabilities are carried over between forms. Reverting from your Alternate Form cannot cause your existing Injuries to kill you. Instead, you remain Incapacitated.
While transformed, your Charisma is increased by 1. Your Stress is reduced by 2.
Your body is adapted to Seduction. You receive +3 dice on non-attack rolls related to Seduction.
You may end this Effect prematurely as a Free Action.
The Skeleton Key slips easily into any keyhole and turns without a fuss.
Spend an Action.
You may lock, unlock, and/or open any number of doors, locks, or locked targets within arm's reach of you. Cannot be used on Alien technology.
If you successfully operate a lock, you may choose to destroy it, rendering it inoperable.
The Axe of Legend's blade has been imbued with the metal of the dark lord of rock and roll. It shreds chords and flesh. The rock god commanding it may recall it to their hand at will.
This Artifact can be used as a sword / axe. It is roughly the same size as a sword / axe and just as difficult to conceal.
Attack by rolling Brawn + Melee, Difficulty 6. Successful attacks deal Contested Outcome +5 Weapon Damage. The target's fully effective
You also gain the following effects:
The Future Soldier's PSG is capable of briefly supercharging its effectiveness with a jolt of Omega Cell energy. While active, the future soldier glows with an extremely bright golden light.
While the shield is supercharged, the Future Soldier cannot move or see the outside world, but they are completely isolated from anything that occurs outside the shield.
Expend a point of Battery and spend an Action or Reaction.
You phase out of reality for up to 4 Rounds. During this time, you cannot perceive or affect the outside world or take any Actions. You cannot move. Nothing can interact with you in any way.
When you activate this Effect, you may limit its duration to a period of your choosing. If you are able, you may also end it as a Free Action on your initiative.
You leave a golden glow shaped like yourself at your location.
Companions gawk at the sheer size and quantity of the equipment the survivalist stores in the Bug-out Bag, but when they open it, they find only a standard set of survival gear. Only when the survivalist opens it is its true capacity revealed.
This Artifact can be used as a container. It is roughly the same size as a 80 liter backpacking pack and just as difficult to conceal.
Your 80 liter backpacking pack holds 5 times what it normally could. Objects stored inside are weightless.
Living things can be stored in your 80 liter backpacking pack. They will have access to anything else inside and may attempt to break free, damaging or destroying the 80 liter backpacking pack in the process.
If your 80 liter backpacking pack is destroyed, things inside may get out, and it will cease to function until it is repaired.
Only you may open and close the container. Others can still destroy it to get at the contents
The survivalist has depended on the Bug-out Bag for so long, they've formed a powerful bond with the pack. This bond renders the pack unbreakable, and grants the survivalist an understanding of what direction it's in at all times.
This Artifact cannot be broken.
This Artifact's creator is always aware of the direction and distance to this Artifact.
The Predatory Raiment has a cloak feature that allows its owner to hide themselves and their equipment with active camouflage. When viewed, they look like a slightly shifted and shimmering version of the surrounding environment.
You gain the following benefits as long as you are not at all wet and you are wearing this Artifact.
You are obscured in one of the following manners. You may Spend an Action to change the way in which you're concealed.
While this Effect is active, any Effect that would obscure you from other, additional senses fails automatically. If someone discovers you, this Effect will not help you hide from them for the next minute. This Effect does not end early when you activate an obvious Effect, attack, or receive an Injury.