Sanctum of Contemplative Reflection

Rating: •

Magical Material: None/Composite.

Commitment: - (1m)

Description

A Sanctum of Contemplative Reflection is an artifact which has existed since the time of the Shogunate, its rise associated with that of the Immaculate Order.

The Sanctum resembles a severe piece of jewelry, a long, sharply-faceted amber crystal, bound by woven wires and chain links of untrusting iron and cold steel. Tiny letters in Old Realm can be seen on the inside of each small link, repeating the words Penance, Contemplation, Understanding, and Perfection. Barely visible save to the trained eye is a thin wire rod of Starmetal, unique bends making it akin to a key, which passes through holes in both chain and crystal, a loop at one end allowing it to be grasped.

Creation

A Sanctum of Contemplative Reflection is created using two Exotic Components:

- A Yasal Crystal carefully carved into correct shape.

- A metal chain, forged with alternating links of Malfean Iron and Soulsteel in a smithy manned by slaves, each link bearing a word in Old Realm and cooled with a blessing of water from the hand of the high priest in a Creation-spanning faith (in the present Age, the only candidate is the Mouth of Peace).

The Palace Sublime retains the knowledge of forging these artifacts.

Function

Sanctums of Contemplative Reflection can be used against spirits such as gods, ghosts, demons, or elementals, with a Permanent Essence of 3 or less. The bearer touches the target and commits a single mote of essence as they pull the Starmetal key free: the spirit touched is immediately trapped within the crystal. The Sanctum may even entrap dematerialized spirits, so long as the bearer has some means of perceiving them.

As with raw Yasal crystal, the spirit within the Sanctum is able to communicate with any being that touches the crystal, voice carried in the form of vibrations and essence flows only that person can hear. Unlike the Yasal, however, the bearer is unable to gain use of any of the spirit’s powers, nor does the spirit have access to any of its powers or senses: to the being trapped within, there is only chill darkness, and a sense of warm presence when someone outside touches the crystal... the touch of the being who has committed a mote to the crystal is noticeably different and usually unsettling.

When the Starmetal key is re-inserted into the Sanctum, the trapped spirit is immediately released, emerging next to the Sanctum in its natural state (materialized or dematerialized). The committed mote is also released.

Uses

Sanctums of Contemplative Reflection are a powerful tool in the arsenal of the Immaculate Order, but also one fraught with dangers. They allow the binding of violent spirits who refuse to accept their proper place in the Perfected Hierarchy, and the Order’s Dragonblooded monks prefer such weapons over the more deadly powers of Immaculate Martial Arts when dealing with gods or elementals: gods, after all, have a purpose, and it violates the Hierarchy to slay a god as much as it does to abscond from divine duty.

The Order tends spirits trapped in crystals using mortal monks, who can perform recitations of the Immaculate Texts while touching the crystal but who risk no temptation from the entrapped spirit as they might with raw Yasal. Aside from this brief contact, the spirit has nothing to occupy themselves in the darkness but self-reflection, which it is hoped will lead to improvements in behaviour.

Imprisoning gods is not undertaken lightly. In addition to pulling them from their proper place in the Perfected Hierarchy, such a thing is an affront against the denizens of Heaven, who can respond to such action with reprisals both petty and vicious. The fact that use of such an artifact is an easily proven (if relatively minor) offence against the Laws of Heaven mean the Sidereal Exalted eschew them entirely. Dragonblooded, already regarded poorly by Heaven, have little legal motive to abandon use of Sanctums, but remain under theological and political pressure to practice restraint. The Order rarely imprisons gods for more than a decade in Sanctums.