Artifacts

Ancient artifacts

Ancient artifacts are the works of the alatharya and their empire, made when magic was still whole. They still function, though the limits the Sundering placed on casting and creation have never been lifted. Almost every permanent magical device in the modern world involves one.

Their rarity has made them prizes ever since. The surviving alatharya traded artifacts preserved from their fallen empire to the ethron, in return for the ethron's knowledge of hunting and the wilds. In the War of Fire the aelin used their small collection of ancient artifacts to drive back the humans and srryn; by one disputed account, the war began when valley humans traded a looted alatharyan artifact to the srryn of Sythtys for the secrets of fire magic.

The most dangerous treasure of house Judessa's Academy at Phirala-Yutei was the alatharyan artifact known as Celhaim's Paradox. Eshrin Linphori vanished when brought before it.

Divine relics

Divine relics are objects made or consecrated by the gods, or invested with Their power.

Blade of Inuin

The Blade of Inuin was forged in the age before the War of Fire by Ghertin of Avirle, a chaja master smith. It was consecrated to Kyana and set with precious stones, and according to legend some of the goddess's power settled within them, attuning the weapon to its wielder. Chaja warriors carried it proudly for millennia.

Its last battle was the Battle of Tisroc in 6 BCC, where Taselkha, Kyana's granddaughter and immortal divine, and her cohort fought the void drake Tzet-Sabanthe and her demonic host. Invoking the power of the Dread Wyrm, Tzet-Sabanthe destroyed Taselkha utterly, and the blade was shattered. Scavengers stole its holy gemstones and broken pieces and sold them.

Over generations the Chadralnite sage Jacharan reassembled the fragments, and they were placed in the safekeeping of the Earendam Gallery. Around 721 CC, when Earendam hid its artifacts, the shards were scattered, and Lazular stole them. The pieces were later forged anew by Elarin Alviaris, and the blade's identity was briefly restored before it vanished, with all record of it, in the Mines of Gogoth.

Ch'lonin

Ch'lonin is a legendary metal. Many attribute to Vaialos the Art of Availlae, and some scholars suggest that it was part of His divinity that allowed ch'lonin to be made. Since His death and the ch'taren's passage to the Prime Material, the Art has not been properly reproduced. In the War of Night, a ch'lonin spear left Arochel, Serachel's foremost agent, dormant in the Nightmare realm.

Chalice of Jolinn

The Chalice of Jolinn is a legendary object capable of miraculous feats of purification, revivification, and imparting knowledge. Drinking from it can grant genuine understanding of how to cast water spells, bypassing potentially years of study and practice. During the War of Fire, Jolinn used the chalice to transmit water magic to those who had awoken him, giving water magic to the world. After the war, it was used to restore the Arrakie river in Harrud and heal part of shattered Illata. It was used to create a font of holy water at the source of the Dantaron river, preventing Gogoth's undead corruption from creeping across the river. When the adventurer Yesa was possessed by the fire devil Kyez-Ralin, it was used to purge her of its influence.

The precise whereabouts of the Chalice are not known, but it was last known to be held by Bayyali cultists, who stole it for unknown ends. Its retrieval has been the object of serious effort more than once.

Galesphere

The Galesphere raised Girikha the Windwolf to godhood. Her followers retrieved it for her, and she ascended upon receiving it in 508 CC. After adventurers slew her on Mount Khorak in 1721 CC, at the direction of Iandir, Jolinn recovered the Galesphere.

Arcanima

Arcanima is the practice of embedding magic into objects, creating effects that persist without an active caster sustaining them. It is its own specialization distinct from scholarly practice, and one that often carries significant component requirements alongside the expertise needed to work it. Materials, reagents, and prepared focuses can make arcanima an expensive undertaking even before accounting for the practitioner's time.

The durability of arcanima varies enormously. Most constructs require ongoing maintenance and periodic attention from a trained practitioner to keep the working stable. In cities with robust guild infrastructure, this upkeep is part of the service economy, a normal ongoing expense for anyone relying on magical installations. In less developed areas, the same infrastructure either doesn't exist or has to be improvised. At the far end of the spectrum are permanent magical devices: extraordinarily rare, requiring resources and knowledge that few can assemble, correspondingly powerful, and almost without exception involving artifacts that are pre-Sundering in origin.

The sophistication of arcanima visible in a given place is a reliable indicator of how dense and organized its magical institutions are. A frontier settlement might have a hedge-trained practitioner who can charge a simple object, while a major city will have specialists capable of maintaining complex, layered works that have been running for generations.