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[✗] Star Forging [Artificing]


Aelesh
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Star Forging

 

The light of the stars fills the heavens each night. Thousands of eyes gaze up at them in wonder, and thousands more are given hope by the glittering candle flames that ward away absolute darkness. The image of the stars has inspired many a descendant to undertake great deeds, becoming paragons of virtue and justice. Through tireless work, a certain smith has discovered how one might tame the divine light of the heavens and build from it a variety of charms and strange spells.

 

Star Forging relies on the use of two precious alloys named ‘Starsteel’ and ‘Heartsilver’ respectively. Heartsilver is forged from arcarum and silver, and acts as the heart of all Star Forged relics. The glittering cores forged from this alloy accept and store starlight from the heavens whilst left beneath the sky on a starlit night. One night is normally enough to completely fill a core. All star forged relics require starlight to function. If a gemstone is inlaid into a core, it can slightly increase the amount of starlight it can store. Diamonds are generally considered the best gem for this. Starsteel can be pulled into thin wires that act as conduits for starlight to pass through. By twisting these wires into complex knots, Starsmiths can create a variety of supernatural effects. In summary, if the Heartsilver core is the hard drive on which the program is stored, the Starsteel wires describe the program itself.

 

Star Forged relics come in two different varieties. Wards are relatively large medallions, created from a core practically encased in Starsteel wires. These items provide passive effects that can protect the user from a variety of misfortunes. Knots are more complex creations that are woven into larger pieces of equipment or clothing. These are known to possess immediate and useful effects that can be commanded by the wielder. It should be noted that this distinction is informal, and some Knots can possess Ward-like capabilities, and vice versa. The only true distinction is found in the fact that Wards are made from cores encased in knotted Starsteel wires, and Knots are made from items given cores and Knots to provide them with special properties. All Wards and Knots can run out of light if put under serious stress, and either way, will need to be recharged with starlight at least once an IC year.


Ward Against Darkness - should the light level drop particularly low, the medallion will begin emitting a bright light that illuminates the space up to fifty feet around the wearer. High level versions of this Ward cause terror in ghosts/shades/daeva/spectral entities, and can lessen the impact of supernatural darkness slightly.

 

Ward Against Cold - should the wearer begin to shiver with cold, the medallion will shroud them in a veil of warm, fire-like light that warms them and protects them from further cold. High level versions of this Ward allow the wearer to ignite nearby fuel sources and cause images to appear in flames.

 

Ward Against Fear - should the wearer begin to feel fear, the medallion will begin to glow and fill the eyes of the caster with silvery sparks. This will dull whatever fear they may be feeling and prevent that fear from growing any further. High level versions of this Ward can help in forming mental wards, and protect all those who touch the wearer.

 

Ward Against Fatigue - should the wearer begin to tire from physical strain, the medallion will fill their veins with a subtle, silvery glow. This light will prevent the fatigue from growing and will slowly reduce whatever fatigue might currently be felt. High level versions of this Ward can lessen the need for sleep, food and water.

 

Ward Against Forgetfulness - the wearer will be capable of recalling even distant memories. When the medallion is in use, the users hair will glow subtly with starlight, causing their hair to move subtly as if a breeze was blowing past them. High level versions of this Ward can prevent the loss of memories through supernatural or physical means, and can allow the wearer to show memories to others by touching their forehead.

 

Knot of Regrowth - should the item into which this Knot is woven be left in starlight, the item will begin to fill with light that pours out of the Knot and mends any damage that might have been done to the item. High level versions of this Knot will increase the speed at which the item can repair itself, and will even allow starlight to improve upon the durability of the item beyond what might have been present when it was first forged.

 

Knot of Endurance - items forged with this knot are resistant to general wear and tear, and are slightly stronger than normal, capable of withstanding more significant trauma. High level versions of this Knot are even more durable and stronger still.

 

Knot of Sympathy - should the wearer touch the item to the forehead of a willing individual, they would be able to at first dull, and then cause a memory to fade entirely from the target. This memory is stored instead in the mind of the wearer. High level versions of this Knot can accept more varied, complex and troublesome memories. This is intended to be used to take on unwanted or painful memories - the target MUST be willing.

 

Knot of Wayfarers - changes depending upon the item into which the Knot is woven.

   Boots - the wearer finds that they have particularly sure footing when travelling in precarious country.

   Cowl/hood/helmet - the wearer finds that their vision is no longer impaired by lashing rain, lightning strikes or otherwise. The wearer can see clearly no matter the weather.

   Cloak/coat - the wearer finds that they can walk easily through even troublesome winds, and do not tire as quickly from having to contend with a squall.

 


Starhammers are intriguing star forged creations that are bound to the soul of a smith. When wielded, they are able to burn with a silver flame that heats and allows the wielder to influence metal with their will. As they strike a particular piece of metal, their thoughts will be able to direct and mold the metal in a very subtle, slow way. This can increase the quality of smithed items, providing extra durability, sharpness, etc. Just as other star forged items must be left beneath starlight to recharge, these hammers must also be allowed to bathe in celestial light to maintain their powers.

 

 

 

Starhearts are star forged items with meteorite-steel hearts encased in the usual Heartsilver. They are somewhere between half a meter and a meter in diameter, and appear as glowing orbs that warm the area around them with a gentle light. Spending time near one of these hearts will lull a soul into a thoughtful but keenly aware trance. Each of their thoughts will be clear and easy to comprehend, and a soul will find that negative thoughts and emotions seem to trouble them less. Whilst the trance-like state can only be achieved whilst near one of these hearts, the suppression of negative emotions can become semi-permanent so long as a soul regularly spends time near a Starheart. Starhearts also ward away ghosts and other spectral entities who dislike bright light. Finally, Starhearts can recharge star forged items day or night, though do so no quicker than the stars above. This light can also be woven into an item as it is being forged should the Starheart be nearby, filling it as it is made.

 


Redlines:

 

These items do not protect the wearer as well as more complex magic could. Always bear in mind that whilst their stores of starlight are quite large, and they can last a long time when put under relatively little stress, they can very easily expend all their light if they are used to contend with a powerful threat.

 

Wards that protect against mental effects will crumble relatively quickly against sustained mental magic or illusory magic, wards against cold will quickly break against magically inflicted cold, etc, etc. These are not intended to provide immunity to any serious attack. They are meant to provide subtle, interesting effects when travelling, dealing with other characters in social roleplay, etc.

 

With reference to the above two - be reasonable. These items are not particularly powerful. They are intended for PASSIVE use. If you want powerful combat items look elsewhere.

 

If you try to steal peoples memories with the Knot of Empathy by tricking them or something, you’re scum. DO NOT. I don’t care what reasoning you have. Thus, when you attempt to use this Knot, you must make the target OOC’ly aware of EXACTLY what is going to happen. If you don’t, you get blacklisted.

 

The Ward Against Fatigue will not protect a descendant from significant physical stress, like open combat, lifting very heavy objects and sprinting. It will only protect against low-level, prolonged fatigue, like general farm work, walking, horse-riding and the like. Acting as if the Ward prevents all physical fatigue is incorrect.

 

The Ward Against Fear only helps in forming a mental barrier. It does not magically protect you from mental magic like a transfiguration ward would, it simply gives the wearer a little help when forming their barrier. This barrier is no stronger than a regular mental barrier. All this Ward does, is help someone who might be less than well practiced form a barrier. They must already know how to do this by themselves.

 

The Ward Against Cold is comparable to household magic in its capacity to light fuel sources. It cannot do so in open combat, nor can it be used to light living creatures. The Ward may only be used to light bonfires, hearth-fires, torches, readily cut logs - items that are obviously meant to be burnt.

 

Starhammers cannot be used to manipulate metal in combat, as the process is too slow.

 

The ward against spectral entities, for both the Starheart and the Ward Against Darkness, only causes fear, unease and perhaps a little mental or physical pain - nothing more than a dull ache. They will not forbade an entity from entering a particular area, nor will these entities be immediately pointed out by the light cast by the item. Attempting to identify a spectral entity through one of these items is considered metagaming.

 

A Heartsilver core can easily expend all of its charge in a day of use. These cores will require charging under starlight at least once an IC year if not used at all, and can need charging once a night if in constant use.

 

Star Forging requires a Feat MA to be practised, and thus must be taught.

 

Star Forging is still basically, just smithing. A smith should already be somewhat experienced before they begin learning this.

 

In addition to the above, since this skill is really just a skill and has no complex magical component, characters of 10 or older may learn the art, rather than just the normal 16. Characters that begin learning at 10 will progress very slowly until they reach age 16. (This one is entirely up for discussion. I’m honestly just interested in letting young smith apprentices have a go at this and make some Wards as they progress under whoever their smith master might be. If the community/LT would really prefer that it remain up at 16 thanks to being kinda semi-magical, I’m totally on-board with that and can understand why.)


Afterword:

 

This is intended to provide some simple, non-combat focus, heavily roleplay focused smithing roleplay. Yes, it is somewhat supernatural, but the intent is to recreate some of the folklore smith-vibe. Becoming a smith so great that your works have some supernatural properties. Whilst on LOTC that might be magic, the actual roleplay that has to be done is purely smithing focused. There’s no waving your hands, no incantations, just a little extra sparkle on top of your smithing roleplay and some fun, flavourful charms. On the topic of progression, there’s nothing super strict in regards to when you’d be capable of smithing the ‘higher level’ stuff. Your teacher would just have to decide when you were ready to move on, which would all be based on the amount of smithing roleplay you’ve done, the quality of that roleplay, etc. At the slowest, I suppose the standard 3 - 4 months is reasonable.

 

I’m very open to suggestions, feedback, etc, so feel free to PM me or leave a post for me to take a gander at. All of this is designed to help fill the smithing niche that people have been interested in whilst also providing a little fantasy flair, so anything that fits into that general guideline in terms of additions is welcomed.

 

It is also worth noting that this is the fastest I have ever written a piece of lore. Others have taken me weeks, even months. This idea just kind of stewed in my head and then I wrote it down, today. Thus I may well have missed something (though my helper tells me I haven’t), so if you come across something that seems to have an obvious problem, let me know. I guarantee it was unintentional. On the plus side, this is the shortest and most concise piece of lore I’ve written! Hurray! No 8000 word long walls of text!

 

And as always, thank you for reading!

Edited by Sorcerous
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+1 I like it a lot

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So why can’t people steal memories exactly and why did you make it such a big deal. I mean, you could’ve just put “requires OOC consent”

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Alloying iron and gold creates slayer steel.

 

Furthermore, a lot of these results can already accomplished with either/both runesmithing and enchanting.

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10 minutes ago, Slothtastic said:

So why can’t people steal memories exactly and why did you make it such a big deal. I mean, you could’ve just put “requires OOC consent”

Oh right, yeeeeeah. Gosh I should've thought of that. Well, I'll go and come up with an explanation. Probably something along the lines of there being different quantities of gold. In the same way that different carbon steels have different properties, perhaps this is more gold than slayer steel is gold. I made it such a big deal because I'm very aware of how many people have trouble with mental magic right now, and I wanted to express just how on board I was with the general consensus that mental manipulation should be controlled. Maybe I went a bit too negative, but I just wanted to show agreement with how most people are thinking.

 

7 minutes ago, Medvekoma said:

Alloying iron and gold creates slayer steel.

 

Furthermore, a lot of these results can already accomplished with either/both runesmithing and enchanting.

Reference the above! Runesmithing as of right now could mimic the ability to produce light from this, and a hammer with runes designed to shape metal and produce fire could likely achieve what a Starhammer can do, and quite likely runes of reinforcement could make more durable weapons and armour, etc. Runesmithing is very specifically designed to work with the elements, and wouldn't produce quite the same effects as above. Likewise, enchanting works with Void magic, and Void magic effects in terms of the elements/transmutation/illusion can't achieve exactly what this achieves. As I have noted in the post, they can do a lot more than this can - this is intended to provide something smaller, simpler, and more specific. My best example of this is the Knot of Wayfarers, which works specifically when travelling. It's much more folklore based, much more traditional fantasy than the more scientific creations of other current magics on the server. I can only say that yes, a lot of this can be achieved with other magics, but this does it in another, interesting flavourful way. If we are once more of the opinion that 'only one magic/supernatural ability should be able to do x thing', then I have no argument that can counter your own. It's just a matter of opinion really.

Edited by Sorcerous
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didn't read and won't read not even a little bit, but I liked it! +1!

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I dislike borderline enchanting that has zero fuel. If you would like my suggestion make them limited use or add a fuel source.

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1 minute ago, Tox said:

I dislike borderline enchanting that has zero fuel. If you would like my suggestion make them limited use or add a fuel source.

They have a fuel source! Heartsteel stores starlight, which is used to power the effects. Since the stars are supposedly dead aengudaemons by current lore, and aengudaemonic power has been shown to do all of the above things, then that light when woven through Starsteel (which programs that light) can achieve these effects. They are also limited in use, and require time under starlight to be able to regain their charge.

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The issue still remains. You claim heartsteel is forged from gold and iron, but that alloy composition results in Slayer Steel. Per metallurgy lore, it doesn't make sense for the result to have any special properties other than slayer steel's.

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10 minutes ago, Medvekoma said:

The issue still remains. You claim heartsteel is forged from gold and iron, but that alloy composition results in Slayer Steel. Per metallurgy lore, it doesn't make sense for the result to have any special properties other than slayer steel's.

Gold is known to be a particularly good metal when it comes to storing mana, and necromancers have used it to store life force for a very long time. Slayer steel may not inherit these properties simply because there isn't enough gold in it for it to inherit the more complex magical properties of gold. If Heartsteel is more parts gold than iron when compared with slayer steel, then it would also hold that it inherits more of the capacity to store supernatural energies. However, if you'd prefer, I'm happy to change the lore and make Heartsteel an alloy of gold and silver to prevent any possible confusion with slayer steel. This alloy would be different from electrum, in that electrum has trace amounts of copper amongst other things, which Heartsteel would not. Probably change the name too. I would point out that when it comes to alloys, the composition of the metal in terms of ratios really does make a very large difference in the resulting alloy.

Edited by Sorcerous
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26 minutes ago, Sorcerous said:

They have a fuel source! Heartsteel stores starlight, which is used to power the effects. Since the stars are supposedly dead aengudaemons by current lore, and aengudaemonic power has been shown to do all of the above things, then that light when woven through Starsteel (which programs that light) can achieve these effects. They are also limited in use, and require time under starlight to be able to regain their charge.

 

Ah okay! I would suggest making a note of it in the red lines. Otherwise I'd say its pretty alright.

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16 minutes ago, Sorcerous said:

Gold is known to be a particularly good metal when it comes to storing mana, and necromancers have used it to store life force for a very long time. Slayer steel may not inherit these properties simply because there isn't enough gold in it for it to inherit the more complex magical properties of gold. If Heartsteel is more parts gold than iron when compared with slayer steel, then it would also hold that it inherits more of the capacity to store supernatural energies. However, if you'd prefer, I'm happy to change the lore and make Heartsteel an alloy of gold and silver to prevent any possible confusion with slayer steel. This alloy would be different from electrum, in that electrum has trace amounts of copper amongst other things, which Heartsteel would not. Probably change the name too. I would point out that when it comes to alloys, the composition of the metal in terms of ratios really does make a very large difference in the resulting alloy.

 

Ahh, you just made a tiny mistake here, no worries.

 

You are referring to magegold, and not regular gold. Magegold is the one used in golems and by necromancers. Magegold alloys, unsure about them. Gold alloys, they exist and are already defined.

 

Magegold isn't related to gold, just looks like it.

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2 minutes ago, Tox said:

 

Ah okay! I would suggest making a note of it in the red lines. Otherwise I'd say its pretty alright.

Got you, that's probably a good idea!

 

1 minute ago, Medvekoma said:

 

Ahh, you just made a tiny mistake here, no worries.

 

You are referring to magegold, and not regular gold. Magegold is the one used in golems and by necromancers. Magegold alloys, unsure about them. Gold alloys, they exist and are already defined.

Aaaaaah, I thought magegold had some extra tacked on bits. I did read the gold/magegold lore recently, must have gotten the two muddled up in my head. I could've sworn I remembered regular gold having more than just anti-spook properties. That's fine then, I'll likely make it something like magegold + iron or magegold + silver. Leaning on making it magegold + silver to steer way clear of slayer steel. Don't know which you think would be better?

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2 minutes ago, Sorcerous said:

Got you, that's probably a good idea!

 

Aaaaaah, I thought magegold had some extra tacked on bits. I did read the gold/magegold lore recently, must have gotten the two muddled up in my head. I could've sworn I remembered regular gold having more than just anti-spook properties. That's fine then, I'll likely make it something like magegold + iron or magegold + silver. Leaning on making it magegold + silver to steer way clear of slayer steel. Don't know which you think would be better?

 

Silver has a more direct association with moon & stars due to its colours.

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