ANDERS MAGE PAGE 2.0

Cracked Mirror (1)

This little Talisman looks just like a cracked hand mirror with a golden frame (somewhat tarnished). Anything seen through it will appear aged, dirty or damaged and the mage will appear as a rotting corpse. Through the cracks and distorted reflections glimpses of the Shadowlands and their inhabitants can be seen, and wraiths are able to peer through it into the lands of the living.

The first time someone uses the mirror, he has to succeed at a Willpower roll of difficulty 4 to stand the image of himself (this should be adjusted by personality, of course). Only one success is needed.

Golden Fertilizer (1)

This potion is prepared by the Verbena through a complex process during the summer solstice, where the vital force of summer and growth is distilled into the cauldron. The result is small vials of a golden liquid smelling strongly of flowers and glittering strangely in sunlight. It is filled with Quintessence and speeds up the growth of plants immensely. If given in a diluted solution, it will just work as a fantastic fertilizer, making even the driest garden bloom in a short while. If a few drops of the potion are poured into the soil beneath a plant, it will begin to grow at a fantastic rate, reaching adult size within a few hours or days. If more is poured, the growth will become even quicker and the plant will grow to giant size. A whole vial could easily create dandelions the size of trees. Unfortunately, such quick growth also shortens the lifespan of the plant, and it will die within hours or days.

To create this potion, the Verbena uses Prime 3 to concentrate quintessence from the Node around her into the Cauldron and bind it with a Life 2, Time 3 spell to enhance plant growth. Some have experimented with a similar potion for animal growth, but the results were quite unreliable. This has not deterred some Sons of Ether who constantly try to replicate it.

Fekdodap (2)

This musical instrument was originally devised by mages living in the Shard Realm of Mind. A few of these have appeared on Earth. The fekdodap is a bizarre contraption, looking like a combination of a harp and a saxophone. It is covered with buttons and strings and the player blows through a mouthpiece formed like a snake's head. The sound is equally bizarre. The weird harmonies are not unpleasant, but make most listeners uneasy. The real reason is that the instrument actually empowers the imagination, and can make listeners experience remote places and times, scenes from the Deep Umbra and their own subconscious if the listener is sufficiently relaxed or unaware (it greatly enhances dreaming if played to sleeping people, and its effects on LSD trips is beyond belief).

The Bible of Gregorius (2)

The book is old and worn leather with an almost imperceptible imprint of the Crucifixion on the cover. It contains several books from the Bible, a few medieval religious texts and a lengthy commentary in Latin. What makes this book unusual is that by randomly opening it and reading, the reader will usually find the answer to his current concerns and troubles. However, these answers are somewhat biased towards the views of a friendly medieval monk, although they are always comforting and filled with common sense.

The Crusader Sword (2)

This sword is well forged, and a magnificent blade despite the lack of any ostentatious ornamentation. It is beautiful in its simple functionality. What makes it especially useful is that the wielder will become free of doubt. No matter what his cause is, he will deeply feel that it is righteous and holy. No temptation or distraction whatsoever can make his faith in his duty waver.

The Ink of Truthfulness (2)

This kind of ink is usually kept in specially sealed flasks, covered with elaborate symbols of truth, justice and honesty. Any contract written and signed in this ink will instantly catch fire if one of the parties breaks his obligations. If special curses or threats are invoked in the text, they will come true (within reason, the ink is only able to cause random coincidental effects like Entropy 2). The ink will also react similarly when used to write testimonies or descriptions.

Mobius Ring (3)

This is a simple ring, consisting of a single band of gold twisted a half-turn before joining itself. If the wearer twists it on his finger, he will immediately (and vulgarly) vanish into a pocket dimension — a kind of Correspondence Paradox realm. Everything is as before, but its own mirror image and without any other people. Another twist of the ring, and the wearer is back in reality again. The ring unfortunately have a drawback: when used too often the mage begins to slip between the worlds more and more, even when he doesn't want to, and finally ends up completely imprisoned within the realm when the ring suddenly shifts without him.

The Red Map (3)

This Talisman is legendary among certain groups of mages, although its actual whereabouts are unknown. Physically it is just a parchment map, dyed a deep red and covered with unfamiliar symbols and diagrams. However, when the mage pours his own blood over it, they begin to make sense and will show him the way to any destination on Earth, in the Umbra or elsewhere. Unfortunately, the map becomes illegible when the blood has dried, so the mage has to pour more blood on it to keep it legible. Quite naturally, many mages think it is of Kindred manufacture.

The mage has to pour blood equal to one wound level on the map to use it. The map essentially works as Correspondence 3, Filter All-Space, but actually shows a possible way to the destination. It is not necessarily the fastest or safest way, but it is a possible way for the mage.

Talisman of the Beast (3)

This is simply a piece of dried bear hide, with a simple symbol painted using a mixture of blood and cinnabar on one side. It is worn around the neck in a thin leather strap. The wearer is now protected from all wild beasts, who will avoid him or ignore him as long as he ignores them. It even works against werewolves, who are unable to do anything against the mage as long as he doesn't acknowledge them or their actions.

The Talisman makes all wild beasts ignore the mage or see him as a natural feature. Garou have to overcome the Arete of the mage with their Gnosis to act against him in any way.

The Medallion of Leonardo da Vinci (3)

This is a bronze medallion, showing the classic diagram of the human proportions by Leonardo da Vinci on one side and a circle, triangle and a square on the other. It was originally devised by Leonardo as a proposed recognition sign for the Order of Reason but it was never accepted. It is, however, infused with the vision and drive of Leonardo to some extent. By meditating on it or by wearing it the owner will get flashes of inspiration of all kinds. The only problem is that the user will get new ideas faster than he can finish the previous ones, so that he will be constantly jumping from project to project.

Essentially this Talisman gives the mage several extra Dream dice, which randomly shift between various abilities such as Expression, Enigmas, Occult, Science, Technology or Medicine.

IBM 666 (4)

This is a black laptop so slickly designed that most Virtual Adepts will drool when they see it. It is also much heavier than expected and has an unfortunate tendency to bump into things or the bearer with its surprisingly sharp corners. It only runs DOS v2.0 beta, the screen seems to induce headaches very quickly and users soon become irritated and fatigued (since it actually drains them of Quintessence for its functioning). It is in fact a complete nightmare to own, especially since the owner always feels an urge to use it despite its drawbacks.

The IBM 666 was originally devised (according to colorful rumors) by a Syndicate businessman from IBM who accidentally wound up in Hell when he was dreaming. Exactly why he created it no one knows, perhaps as a tool to trap Virtual Adepts. Others suggest he was actually a Nephandi adsinistratus seeking to tempt others. A mage working via the computer has access to Nephandi magick, including such nasty things as Qlippothic Spheres and the summoning of demons. It is also strangely addictive, and after a while the user begins to feel bad when using other computers.

This artifact is quite nasty. Essentially it uses a Mind 2 effect to addict people to it and make them allergic to other computers, Prime 4 to drain other patterns of Quintessence and gives the user full access to Nephandi magick. It isn't actively malignant, but the user will quickly become exposed to dark influences if he uses its powers.

Gnagg Booster 45 (4)

Built by Bonk Business Inc. in 1948, the Gnagg Booster is still found in many of the more esoteric laboratories around the world. It looks somewhat like a generator from the 1940s, with a green safety cover, lots of connectors for various peripherals (today the connector standards have changed, so it is hard to find suitable plugs) and on one end a conical shaft covered with a safety mesh. It runs on three small wheels, making it easy to move despite its weight.

It is a general waveconverter, able to transform energy at one frequency to another over a very wide range (8 Hz - 10^50 Hz, according to the manual). For example, it can boost sound into light, turn radio waves into electricity or downgrade gamma rays into gravity waves. One version, the Freakwave Transmuter, is able to transform mental energies into useful power or vice versa.

This device can convert any force to any other force, as long as it can be connected to it. A Matter 3, Forces 4 effect makes it able to withstand even extreme loads without breaking. With the Freakwave Transmuter unit, it can also convert mental processes into energy and vice versa.