Magister's Duty, an Artifact's History

History:
In the High First Age, there came to be a group of disparate souls united by learning and philosophy. Calling themselves the Magister Magi, these four individuals were all united by the odd attunement to sorcery called ‘Brigit’s heir’ after the First Sorcerer. Mighty indeed were the magics created and studied by the Four Magister Magi, and yet something was needed to ground them to Reality.

Thus it was caused to be put forth in proclamation that any who could come up with a simple yet versatile weapon for the four would receive great wealth and prominence in the community, and wed with a God-Blooded child of one of the Four. As sons and daughters were both available, the contest was open to all of Creation and Yu-Shan. And for that matter, the Four wouldn’t care if the couple was the same gender, either – that bit wasn’t in the Proclamation, but it was true nonetheless.

A few years passed, and designs were judged. A mortal glass-smith from Chiaroscuro, Issen Vez, presented a novel design for a wrackstaff. Conserving precious magical materials, the staff was to be made of the indestructible blue glass of Chiaroscuro and several carefully forged pieces of the magical materials. The striking end was a heavily reinforced crescent, and the hearthstone socket would mount therein. Two feet below where the crescent connected, a simple ring of magical material acted as a joining point for the rest of the haft – and served as the release mechanism for a chisel-tipped blade in the opposite end of the staff. The metal parts, piercing blade and activation cable (which is inside the haft) were placed in the molds after being assembled but before the glass was poured. These were not the first wrackstaves made, but they were the most unique. Elegant and yet functional, it was agreed that this would be the template for the weapons and badges of office of the Magister Magi.

One weapon was made for each of the Four. The same granite and marble molds were used for the metal and glass, in liquid form, poured together from first to last, for none of these weapons was judged least among the Four. Tiny drops of blood and Essence were added to the glass mixture, which linked the Magi to the weapons and each other. Magister’s Duty was crafted of Orichalcum, Magister’s Resolve from White Jade, Magister’s Destiny of Starmetal, and Magister’s Resolution from Moonsilver. . There was never a Soulsteel version made, although conceivably it may exist as Grave Goods and would likely bear the name Magister’s Judgment. At the time, there was no Abyssal member of the Four, and Abyssal Exaltations were unheard of. Soulsteel was a known novelty but few Exalts bothered to use it.

Issen married First Leaf Fallen, the God-Blooded daughter of the Lunar Magister Magi. Their bloodline is unbroken in Chiaroscuro, although none now living knows this today.

As events deteriorated during the later First Age, the Four found themselves scattered and separated. The Sidereal was tasked with serving as faculty in Department 137 of the Forbidden Manse of Ivy. The Lunar – after pleading with his Solar companion to change, accepted the wisdom of the Silver Pact with a heavy heart and departed with his kin. The Dragon-blooded’s post changed rapidly, and different Chosen carried the white staff proudly regardless of which Dragon they served. But the staff was lost at sea in a calamity, and being linked to the Earth, has not yet resurfaced.

The third Solar Magister Magi, Kaladel, kept the staff with him, but to him it merely had a symbolic purpose. Surely a great and powerful sorcerer needed no such thing to defend himself with in this Age. Kaladel didn’t realize he’d be the last to hold the weapon, and it would be cold and unattuned in his office when he would need it the most. He lay with his lover, a Chosen of Venus named Bright Flower who had been sent to ‘study sorcery’ under him over a decade earlier. He trusted her, bared his secrets and his soul to her, and so he thought nothing was wrong with her interest in his bedchambers. He had elected to skip the calibration Feast, but to assure his friends he would not do anything foolish, he accepted an Eclipse’s Oath to work no sorcery during Calibration instead. Bright Flower too arranged this. On the day of the Great Feast, she joined him in bed for the first time – and slipped a Starmetal dirk into his back and through his heart whilst he tried recovering from their energetic activities. Having trained in nothing but sorcery, Kaladel died from something so simple, a child could prepare for it. He had no Charms that could protect him from such an attack, nor would he have expected it.

After her distasteful deed was done, Bright Flower left the Manse-Librarium and set a geomantic time bomb in motion. The Manse collapsed back into the earth-aspect Demesne it had once been, then the Demesne itself went cold and inert, with it’s last power being used to place a proper sarcophagus around the body of the Solar and the weapon that had fallen into the earth with him – to prevent a hideously powerful ghost from rising.

This is where it was when, nearly a thousand years later, Kalla the Younger would find it, and relive the last moments of Kaladel’s life. As the fourth Minister Magi Solar, Kalla’s Exaltation has a link to the weapon that transcends time and space.


Appearance and Quirks:
Magister’s Duty and its cousins have identical shapes. All have a heavy, curved crushing end of Chiaroscuro glass and their respective magical material, a Hearthstone Socket within that crescent, the ring of metal that activated the piercing chisel point, and a reinforced straight end holding the chisel blade. In this case, the metal is orichalcum. Unlike many wrackstaves, the chisel-point is retractable, as the curved end is unsuitable as the ‘walking’ end of the staff. Likewise, most wrackstaves have their hearthstone socket centered rather than at one end.

As a quirk, when attuned by a Solar with the Merit ‘Brigid’s Heir’, the staff can track the location of the other three staves – but only if the other staves are also actively attuned to the appropriate Exalted type AND that Exalt also has the Merit. If the Exalt is of the wrong type and not fully attuned, or uses a harmonic adapter, or lacks the Merit, then this doesn’t work. Note that the weapon is specifically tuned to the Exaltation of the 4 – the Celestials via reincarnation and the Terrestrial by bloodline. If there is no direct bloodline – this was a foreseeable problem – then the next Dragon-Blooded with the Merit that attuned to it gained the benefit. In theory, if a Soulsteel ‘grave goods’ version of the weapon existed, it would function just as the other four – meaning only for an Abyssal with the Merit. Necromancy has no bearing on the staff’s attunement or function.

Rumors abound that at least one of the Four found a way to attach the Essence Battery used in Small Essence Cannons to the hearthstone socket, granting the wielder a powerful reserve. If such a battery is added to the wrackstaff, it can no longer mount a Hearthstone, but can be charged with up to 15 motes of Essence. This raises the weapon’s artifact level to at least a 3, and counts as peripheral essence when used. A Night/Day Caste user with the staff and battery can spend at the normal rate of 2 for 1 to avoid their anima banner flaring. Beings without an anima banner, such as God-Blooded or spirits are surrounded by a white ‘banner’. The Battery takes double the Essence to charge it – so to fully charge an empty battery takes 30 motes of Essence. At least 2 points have to go in and odd points are bled off into one’s anima banner and cannot be stored. Essence stored in the battery cannot be used to replenish personal or peripheral Essence. The battery can be removed and replaced with a Hearthstone – this is not a permanent conversion of the weapon. Removing the battery from the weapon causes all of the stored Essence to flow harmlessly into the local dragon lines, and it is lost. This also happens if a Night/Day Caste uses 14 of the 15 stored points – the remaining odd point bleeds off harmlessly and the battery is empty.