Cloaks of Jupiter

The Cloaks of Jupiter are a series of artifacts which have seen use for millenia, some designs dating from the Primordial War, others more recent, used through the Golden Age and the Shogunate Era up to the present day, where they find favour amongst the scions of the Scarlet Dynasty in their interminable plots and schemes against their rivals and friends.

Privacy Veil

Rating: •

Source: Oadenol's Codex.

Privacy Veils are curtains that come in a wide variety of styles. All are opaque, clearly designed for privacy, and hung over an entrance to a chamber. A character concerned with being heard may commit one mote to the veil, levying a -2 external penalty to any attempt to eavesdrop into the chamber in whose entrance the curtain hangs (including with Charms such as Ears of the Snowy Owl).

Chimes of Stilling

Rating: •

Chimes of Stilling are sets of wind chimes, carved of Blue and White Jade, hung from a thin circlet laced with Starmetal. For a commitment of three motes when the chimes are hung from the eaves or rafters of a room, the Chimes begin to slowly spin. So long as the motes remain committed, the air within the room moves in a circle, neither coming nor going. Such chimes are useful to prevent the conversations in a chamber from being overheard, including through spying by charms such as Voices On The Wind, but also prevent those within their power from receiving windborne messages such as those from Wind-Carried Words. The Chimes are perhaps the most common of the Cloaks of Jupiter in use within the Dynasty.

Current Loop and Interference Engine

Rating: ••

Attunement: 1 mote.

Repair: 1

The Current Loop and Interference Engine is a type of magitechnological device, resembling a large cloudy-white gemstone mounted atop a base of vents and clockwork gears (making it superficially similar to an Projector of Illuminated Visions). It requires commitment of a single mote to activate, which will cause its gears to commence spinning, though properly oiled they do so in silence.

While attuned and placed near the center of a room, the Engine will cycle ambient air currents and essence through its vents, keeping them from passing along to those outside the chamber until they have been scrubbed of secrets. While not perfect, this prevents the conversations in a chamber from being overheard, including through spying by charms such as Voices On The Wind, while allowing those within their power to receive windborne messages such as those from Wind-Carried Words. The Engine also causes vision to blur and other senses to be likewise muffled, levying a -2 external penalty to any other attempt to spy into the chamber (including with Charms, Sorcery, etc).

Interference Engines were amongst the most common magitech devices constructed by the Scarlet Empire, the Scarlet Empress frequently commissioning them as gifts for her vassals and descendants, constructed from the Factory-Cathedral of the Crimson Panoply Borne by Hands Upraised. However, persistent rumours spoke that the devices possessed a 'back door', through which the Empress and her agents in the All-Seeing Eye could easily spy on any who used them (some thought the devices might even record all that occurred around them, sending it off for review by the Eye. Thus, the devices often remain unused in House armouries to this day.

Confidence Preservation Blinds

Rating: •••

Confidence Preservation Blinds are blinds of bamboo slats on silken cords, etched with blue and black jade. They must be placed in the window of a chamber and activated with the commitment of five motes. When activated, the blinds provide significant protections against magical, espionage: when the room or its occupants are subjected to Charms or Sorcery designed to spy upon them, the character who has invested the motes is considered to have succeeded on an opposed roll to prevent it (note that this automatic success is NOT a perfect defense, when faced with a perfect espionage attempt it will fail). In cases where no opposed roll is applicable, the effect is still resisted (Use of Window-In-The-Door Technique will produce an entirely opaque opening, the floor of the chamber does not count as ground for purposes of , doesn’t count as ‘ground’ for All-Encompassing Earth Sense, etc).

Additionally, anyone within the room counts as having a permanent Essence of three dots higher than its actual rating for purposes of resisting other Charms/Spells/effects which are employed for indirect espionage (such as Falsehood Unearthing Attitude & Sense-Riding Technique).

Note that Confidence Preservation Blinds do not provide any defense against NON-MAGICAL espionage, beyond the obscuring of vision one gains by closing a set of blinds over a window.

Crown of Sea Gold

Rating: ••••

Attunement: 5 motes

Hearthstone Sockets: 2

The Crown of Sea Gold is a golden crown which seems to shine with an oily, iridescent green sheen... in fact, it is forged of Orichalcum, glazed with Starmetal. At the center of the crown, a solid head mounts two hearthstone sockets, each placed as an eye, with curving arms giving the whole the appearance of a golden octopus.

The Crown of Sea Gold is an ancient artifact dating from the First Age, which serves only one purpose: it provides a perfect defense against any attempt to spy upon its wearer... on their thoughts, on exchanges they have with other people, on texts they are currently perusing. This effect applies whether the espionage is magical or mundane, and has far reaching consequences (for example, though it does not place the bearer Outside Fate, any attempts to read their nature or future based on the Loom will fail, even though the Pattern Spiders detect nothing abnormal about the bearer's strand).

In truth, though this knowledge was forgotten well before the present Age, this artifact was forged in the Primordial Era by the hand of the Great Maker.