ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

Arete 5, Quintessence 30, Conceal J, Damage Str + 3 Aggravated, Difficulty 5

Originally designed as a weapon of light, the secrets for making this powerful fetish have been lost to the modern world. They appear to be 11-13 inches long and have a heavy triangular blade. The powerful ones are of meteoric iron. The pommel of the blade has two grim visaged demonic faces back to back.

History: Phurba daggers are an element of Tibetan magickal practice and as such served the same purpose as a western athame. These were often made of wood and were simple foci. These daggers were also traditionally for the use of hunting demons. Certain demons, however, are immune to attack from any earthly weapon. Thus when a meteor fell, certain Lamas, Tulkus and Rinpoche would scramble to capture it and then use its metal for the production of these Phurbas. There was only one problem. The demons that were destroyed by these weapons managed to taint them with their dying curses. The Phurbas became Fetishes after a fashion and developed powerful wills of their own.

They were powerful weapons. Tibetan black magicians coveted them and even the followers of the light had difficulty restraining them. You can see how that might be a difficulty. Tibetan magicians have warred for ages for control of these fetishes. Those that serve the darkness want them for their fell power and the fact that they strike abject terror into all spirits. Phurba cults have sprung up which revere these darkly powerful Fetishes as incarnate gods (like a household god of some sort.)

Those who serve the light often capture these weapons to keep them out of the wrong hands and to use as a teaching tool. Perhaps they are used as a reminder against personal hubris, too. Many construct stands or other containment that place the demon within a deep slumber. At times they are taken out and used against demons or entrusted to those who will (these people had better be able prove their worthiness).

Powers

The Phurba has many abilities.

• It causes Aggravated damage and double damage to spirits. (Spirit 2)
• It's capable of moving under its own power by flying about and is quite fast and capable of lifting a man off the ground. When attempting to resist by main strength, the Phurba has a Strength of 4. Unless Time magick or some other cheat is used, it cannot be outrun.) (Forces 3)
• The faces on either side of the pommel can animate and bite anyone gripping the handle. This causes negligible damage but requires a Stamina roll against a difficulty of 8 to hang on to it.
• It can unerringly track any being whose blood it has already tasted. (Corr. 2, Life 1)
• Anyone killed by a Phurba has his psychic linkages severed and is thrust into oblivion. Victims of the Phurba never return as ghosts. No one is sure whether this happens to Awakened beings or not. At the very least they'll have to deal with a harrowing. This also has the strange effect of completely erasing the cause of death to any form of scrying except Time magick. Prime, Spirit and Mind magick will yield nothing in term of sensory impressions and even Necromancy will draw a blank. This is not a true power of the dagger. It's more of a strange side effect. Any Euthanatos using this dagger should keep a close eye on his Jhor taint.
• It should also be noted that since the Phurba's blade is triangular, wounds that it causes will not close by themselves. Those wounded will continue to lose blood until they receive medical attention. This causes the victim to lose 1 Health Level every 4 turns and to make a Stamina check to see if they pass out. This roll can't be botched.
• Phurba are immune to destruction with Entropy, Matter or Forces magick.

Mastering the Phurba

The only thing that makes these powerful weapons hard to deal with is the fact that they must be mastered. Each time a Phurba is drawn, the user must make 3 successes on a Willpower roll against a 7. Only by attuning one's self to the Phurba may this difficulty be sidestepped. This is a long, arduous process that requires the mage collect 30 successes on Willpower rolls. Each roll requires the expenditure of 1 point so mastering the Phurba will take a long time (especially if you ever botch, then look out because the blade will be uncontrolled). Once each month the mage using the Phurba must expend a point of Willpower at a new moon or his control will begin to slip. Once a mage has attuned himself to a Phurba he may use it as a unique focus for Forces and Entropy magick.

Personality

Phurba daggers seem to exhibit a will of their own. However, they do not have any intellect to speak of. They only possess a low, animal cunning that wants to kill and kill again. If allowed to run wild, the Phurba will slay anyone near it and keep slaying people until stopped. One would think evil mages would have a leg up on taming these tools, but these daggers will kill anything.

Sources

The Shadow
Most of the idea comes from here, of course. It's an Akashic chronicle. You did know that, right?

The Golden Child
An amusing and interesting movie with mage overtones which features a Phurba which may not have been cursed. Also, the hoops that the Tibetans put Chandler Jarrel through in order to gain the sacred knife are extremely funny. Don't expect one of Eddie Murphy's screwball comedies here. This has some serious moments and interesting bits about Tibetan magick.

Dagger Magic
By Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris. Cracking good book in a series about a fellow named Sir Adam Sinclair. This fellow is a master of the Hunt (a Celtic-based occult brotherhood that stands against evil occult threats). Most of its members are psychic or magical practitioner of some sort or other. It's a neat series mainly because the authors really do their homework.

This particular book involves a Phurba cult scrambling to regain a lost treasure of their order. Filled me in on the background of Tibetan magic in general and the Phurba in particular.