artifacts

Resonating/Empowered Artifacts

Developed by Simon Perish, Empowered Artifacts essentially lets those without superpowers use powers through an item. After the death of the Empress's son, Simon began to slip back into the despondency he had not felt in decades. He felt that if he could have given his power to the boy then he would have survived. For this reason, Simon had initially tried to rid himself of his own power by sealing it into a container. After several years of failure, he discovered a process in which a combination of certain materials could be made to enhance powers. The Artifacts, as they were called would enhance powers to an incredible degree but it was also very unstable.

Simon prepared a golden bracelet Artifact and the Soothsayer offered to test it. Simon, Anahita and Victor Noble, were in the same room with her. When she put the bracelet on, she went into a deep catatonic state and began to recite things that made no sense to Simon or the others. She was not speaking in tongues but was reciting conversations that had not yet happened. This will only be known later when the conversations actually take place between her and Simon. Simon takes the bracelet off of her and the Soothsayer loses consciousness. Anahita blames him for putting her in danger and she and the Shimmering Knight take her to rest. Later on, when Simon visits her to make sure she is alright, the Soothsayer states that the Artifact worked. It worked too well. Simon asks what she means but she doesn't tell him any more. She only says that she know of his love that grows within Anahita.

What actually happened was that the Soothsayer saw the deaths of everyone in the room including her own. She saw their deaths because they were all going to die very soon. She will die by her own hand. She saw Victor die in a battle that consumes him. Simon will die by a frozen river. Anahita will die in childbirth. It is here that she finds out that Anahita is pregnant. It is how she knows before anyone else. 

After Anahita dies in childbirth, Victor Noble intends to continue the occupation of Veiland and requests that Simon create him another Artifact regardless of the effect. Simon Perish complies and creates another Artifact that will amplify the Shimmering Knight's power. He creates it from a prized possession of Victor's. The subsequent use of the Artifact results in the Grey Plains incident and the death of Victor Noble. Not even Simon would realize at the time, that the Artifact actually bound Victor Noble's power to the Artifact, resulting in what Simon wanted to do from the beginning, which was to bind powers to an item.

RESONATING ARTIFACT

When an Artifact enhances the power of a Champion, their powers will drain into the item. Continual use of their powers will begin to drain them of their life as well. The resulting strain on their body will become too great and will kill them and their death becomes the catalyst that binds the power to the Artifact. When this happens, a Resonating Artifact is produced. A resonating artifact gives off very small vibration and a very faint ring. If set on a flat surface, a Resonating Artifact would move ever so slightly after awhile.

The reason why a Champion dies upon the creation of a Resonating Artifact is that the material required for the catalyst is the Prima Materia, which is a vessel.

IMPLEMENTATION

The process of using an Artifact involves holding the item and speaking a phrase, which allows the wielder to use the power bound to that item. Powers from Champions are basically copied and then bound to an item that will allow others to use that Champion's power. The was initially discovered by Simon Perish though it was further developed by Samuel Ward years later. The Artifacts were tested by John Noble during his time locating and learning about Champions.

To use any Artifact, the user must be touching the Artifact and a word must be spoken that the user relates to the power or the effects of the power. An example, of this will be when Sam teaches John to use a Flight Artifact; John will say the word "Sky" and will begin floating. The power that is "Cast" is directly related to what the user feels when the word is spoken, hence when John spoke the word Sky, he began to fly as to him the act of flight makes him think of the sky. For this reason, one doesn't need to know what power the Artifact contains to use it but it can still only be used if the word spoken carries a mnemonic or emotional link to the power.