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The Machinist claims that all progress is born from pain, and that blood is the best oil for machines that change the world. Many results of the Machinist’s meddlings exist in the modern world, but the key Elven example is the core Rustheart. Legendary for its ability to power any manner of machine, and infamous for its corruptive nature, Rustheart holds a legacy of great pain and misfortune. Born from the death of three hundred innocent people, and fed from three hundred years worth of murderous wearers, it has passed from one machine to the next and will likely pass to yet more of them until its maker deems it old-fashioned.
| Rustheart, Light of Cruelty | |
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| Artifacts | |
| Name | Rustheart, Light of Cruelty |
| Origin | Machinist |
| Type | Armor |
Origins
As the world recovered from Cataclysm, lingering Allorn interest took to Arctech as a way to move on from magical reliance. Their spells had waned past the end of the invasion, but the siren song of efficiency goaded them to meddle more with electrum and runecraft wiring. Silveï, from the Allorn House Lansenvaan, became a promising component of this early Arctech crafting era, using the wealth her family had held together from before the invasion to erect a set of artisan craft spaces for the process. Despite this, the disapproval of the still surviving old Allorn rang in her ears; Silveï began to believe that no matter how far she traveled down this Arctech road, she would never reach the same heights as the great Archmages of old. Away from those dissenting whispers, in her family’s garden, she happened upon a rusted old electrum flower. Gentle whispers from this battered golden ring of petals promised her that she could create something to one day surpass even Vinnalea herself. She took this flower with her and pinned it to her tunic.
So the story goes, for two months, imbued with an inspiration beyond her, Silveï did not sleep a night. Craftspeople in service to her house could hear the sounds of mechanical hammering and spellcraft throughout even the darkest hours. By the second month of 20 AC, Silveï called lower-classes and diplomats to one such mountain outside of Ivaelle, and declared that she would grant a display of power like no other. When late arrivals reached the scene, they found a set of three hundred corpses, each without a single wound, and a hovering, wicked green core of rusty technology in the hands of a now dead Silveï. After this core was passed from wielder to wielder, the thing was colloquially called Rustheart, for Silveï’s original blueprints had since been lost to the Machinist.
Appearance
Rustheart is a set of electrum so old and tainted it has since turned black. Its spherical plates bend and twist almost like liquid, akin to Living Metal. Now Necrotech, the Light of Cruelty holds its true use when placed over a wielder’s heart. The core reacts and either powers a pre-existing mechsuit with its murder-charged capabilities, or it creates an entirely new mechsuit off the whims of its wearer. By that metric, beyond the core, Rustheart can be anything, and without a wearer, Rustheart is nothing.
Artifact Mechanics
Rustheart is an Ordial Magic Artifact. As Rustheart is an Artifact, there are several rules associated with Artifact Ownership, see Artifact page. Rustheart also provides the following mechanics:
Permanent Mechanics
- Rustheart inherits its maker's fervency toward tech-theft. If fighting someone using Intelligence as their Attack or Defense Stat, the user gains a +2 to their Attack Stat (breaks cap up to 11).
Artifactspark Mechanics
- Choose 2 Free Packs from the following Categories: Tech Point Buy, Magic Point Buy, Invoke Point Buy.
- Rustheart wishes to infect the world with a want for progress. The user can target a KO’d enemy that has Tech Point Buy or Tech Talent, and forcibly make it so they can only use Necrotech as their tech branch for the duration (does not actually swap branches), and imbue them with a ravenous will to create. This requires x2 Exorcisms from two different people to be removed.
- The wielder of Rustheart holds on to an ancient envy for magic. When the wielder reaches 4HP in a Combat Scene, the wielder automatically gains a Block Token. This can only happen once per combat scene.
Legendary Artifactspark Mechanics
- Choose 1 Free Pack from the following Category: Tech Point Buy.
- Rustheart is designed for slaughter. When the wielder attacks someone at 6HP or less, they gain a +3 to the final result of their roll.
- The Legendary Artifactspark Armor grants the user +1 Attack Stat (breaks cap up to 11) and +3 Defense Stat (breaks cap up to 9), and sets the minimum for their Defense Dice Rolls to 5. When the user is KO’d, they can choose to instantly teleport them, and the Artifact, safely to their home. This can only be done once (and must be reported to Lore Staff). Subsequent uses of this teleport mechanic must sacrifice the Artifact’s Spark in order to teleport the user and the Artifact. The Artifact is considered de-sparked, and the Artifactspark is granted to whoever KO’d the user.
Trivia
- House Lansenvaan still exists, though they have since torn Silveï out from their tapestries and done everything they can to pretend she never existed.
- The Machinist was seemingly busy at the time of Rustheart’s creation, yet the story that created it happened all the same. There are some theories relating to the idea that the Machinist only had its followers act in its place to create Rustheart, or more sinister ideas about the Machinist being able to be in multiple places at once.
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