In the course of my Changeling: the Lost game, The Price, I invented a number of Tokens, Trifles, and Goblin Fruits for them to use and trade. I also created several artifacts which shaped the plot. Here are several of them, their descriptions and known powers.
Book of Ages
Currently held by the Guild of Shadows, it fell into their hands after the current guild leader , the Queen of Shadows, obtained it from the depths of the Witch-House for the price of her mortal memories. The guild hoped to use another artifact, the Quill of Fate, to rewrite the book, thus gaining ultimate control over their own history.
The book's origins have long been a mystery. This leather-bound tome holds the tales of all who have encountered it, written in their native tongue. These biographies go back centuries with writing wandering through Old English, Romance languages, Oriental scripts, Arabic, Latin, Greek, Egyptian and less identifiable writings. Rumors place the book in the Library of Alexandria, medieval monasteries, and other locations through history.
Most oddly the book predates the appearance of the codex as a form of writing. The paper appears to be magically preserved modern paper and the binding uses current techniques and glues.
Those who possess the Quill of Fate however find further tales hidden within the book, revealing its hidden truth: it is a prison for the True Fae. Bound within its pages and written out of time itself, they bide their time until they tire of this farce. The origin of the book remains bound up with the powerful deal forged with the Quill, an event that has yet to occur. The Book of Ages will be written in the future and sent back in time as a side effect.
Quill of Fate
Legends of the Quill have come down the Ages, generally in the drafting and signing of important documents such as the Magna Carta and the Declaration of Independence. Recent sightings of the Quill have been few since the end of World War II. The last was in the late 60s when it was rumored to be in the possession of an artist known as the Blind One.
No tales exist of the origins of the Quill itself, or rather that the origin of the Quill seems to have been written out of history. Its first recorded appearance is the 6th century as a tool of cabal of sorcerers in the creation of their dark pacts.
The Quill can be used to create lasting Contracts between any two entities. Those who use the Quill however find that it soon slips their grasp. No one has ever managed to use the Quill twice, though rumors circulate that dire consequences will occur should that happen.
Blueprints of the Emperor Machine
Back when Detroit’s Hedge was asphalt, broken glass and jagged bits of metal, a Keeper called the Emperor Machine claimed it as his private domain. He built a massive factory on the border between the Hedge and Motor City. There he worked captured Changelings and Hobs to death, slaving away on ever more elaborate automobiles and machines. These enchanted devices would in turn hunt down new workers for the factory, bringing home new minds and bodies to sacrifice for the sake of innovation.
But a revolt in the works. The Emperor Machine constantly upgraded himself, adding new mechanisms and tools to his body of oil and gears. One of the workers at the factory, an Ogre called Sam Steelskin, forged a gear of cold iron to kill his master, slipping it into his next upgrade.
The cog took time to do its damage. It started with an internal motor catching fire then spread as the cold iron shattered internal gears, sending slivers of grease caked metal through the Emperor Machine’s systems. By the time Gentry managed to pry the toxic piece from his heart, he was mortally wounded, bleeding oil and bits of metal from the wounds he had inflicted in his struggle to save himself.
His former slaves turned on him, slaying their Keeper and burning down the factory. They hunted down his faithful creations down one by one. Soon the survivors had fled to the farthest edges of the Hedge, there to die of rust and neglect.
The Emperor had the last laugh though. As his gears wound down, he cursed the fledgeling Freehold and his killers. Within a few years those responsible were dead or taken to Arcadia. Their achievements turned to dust. Detroit itself was poisoned by the curse, crumbling into ruin and poverty.
The Emperor Machine isn’t gone however. Secreted in the depths of his factory he seeded a scheme for his resurrection. In the record room lay the plans puzzled out by a thousand slaves: designs for magical machines, enchanted tools, and state of the art weapons. The Emperor’s intellect and power infused the plans, waiting for a suitable inventor to find them.
Anyone with the Craft skill who peruses the plans long enough will find something that they desire to create. The True Fae within the plans will present one of the thousands of devices he worked on to the would be inventor.
The projects initially focus on minor improvements on existing devices. Enhancements include adding 1 point of Lethal to damage dealt, a +2 equipment bonus, and the addition of 9-agains to a roll. They also include adding mundane features like adding voice activation or improved fuel efficiency.
Once an inventor devotes herself to a given project, she finds the work proceeding very easily, gaining a +2 equipment bonus from the blueprints on an extended Intelligence + Crafts roll. Most devices require a total of 5 to 10 successes to complete.
Once complete the inventor feels a rush accomplishment and regains 1 Willpower. She must also roll Resolve + Composure at a cumulative -2 penalty for each prior device she has built with the blueprints. If she fails she gains the Persistent Condition Obsessed with regards to constructing another device from the blueprints.
As the inventor works on more and more devices she finds additional plans that match her desires. Some come from the Emperor Machine but others are drawn from her own dreams. Thus even though the True Fae met his end sometime in the 1960s, the blueprints soon fill with state of the art machinery like 3D printers and smart phones.
The blueprints grow in number and size to encompass these ideas, something that is not apparent to those affected by the Obsession. This multiplication extends even to copies of the blueprints. Those around the inventor however will notice the increasing number of plans filling up the inventor's workspace or hard drive.
Subsequent devices have increased capabilities, equivalent to low-level tokens. In the process of building these tools, the blueprints will help the inventor build the tools to build yet more devices.
For example, a Changeling might begin by creating a toolbox that rotates to display the desired tool at the push of a button. Later while crafting a set of cold iron bullets, she also creates a bullet press. Next she modifies a laptop to have an internet connection within the Hedge. In the process she crafts some soldering tools and adds voice activation to her toolbox.
After the fifth item is created using the blueprints, the assemblage of tools and devices is sufficient for the Emperor Machine to reconstruct himself. The tools and electronics are soon drawn together into a humanoid form made of metal and gears. The hapless fool who completed the plans is likely dragged away to Arcadia.
The Obsession condition can only be removed by destroying the blueprints or by completing the Emperor Machine as described above. Frustrating attempts to destroy the blueprints is that the magic is intrinsic to the ideas and not the papers. Thus even photocopies (or digital pictures) of the plans count as part of the original. An individual with the Eidetic Memory Merit would find her own memories to be part of the plans, requiring extreme steps to destroy the blueprints as a whole.
If the afflicted individual cannot destroy all copies of the plans, she can still rid herself of the Emperor Machine's plan by sacrificing a portion of sanity or will. Mechanically she loses a dot of Clarity or Willpower to remove the Obsession Condition after destroying all the blueprints she has available.
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