Power Crystals in the YK

[DamonJynx]

I realise these are predominately a Gloranthan concept, but I find myself in the position of needing to create one, The Tear of Lashar. I have yet to decide it's properties but it got me to thinking (never a good idea, really)...

• The Actorious Stone - that would be a power crystal wouldn't it? But what type; Mythic Insight or Spell Matrix (Summoning)? I think it kind of combines the two.
  Which leads to the second question, is it possible to combine the types of powerful crystals? i.e. Magic Point storage and Mythic Insight specifically.
  Or are these types of items best off being truly unique and tailored to the specific needs of the campaign?

What do you guys think?

 

[Loz]

I think the actorios is neither.

It is deeply symbolic - it identifies the wearer as the Dragon Emperor and one who enjoys the ancient pacts with the beast and elemental lords, but its not a magical item. It does not appear to boost Elric's magic, and it doesn't seem to have done much for the previous wearers. Had it been an item imparting mythical insight and magical augmentation, Elric, and his ancestors, would have been far more potent.

But. YEMV.

 

[DamonJynx]

Thanks for the input Loz. I haven't been able to grab a copy of the Making of a Sorcerer or the Skrayling Tree which have more info on the origin of the pacts etc. So I wasn't entirely sure about that.

 

[danskmacabre]

It's mentioned a few times in the novels (which I'm rereading for the umpteenth time atm ) that like what Loz said, it symbolic for many pacts that Melnibonean Emperors, sorcerors etc have made with various powers and as such helps hiim in summoning their aid and stuff like that.

Is it a magic item? Well strictly speaking probably not, but really, it sort of IS in game terms for the benefits Elric gets from it.
I never did get the impression it specifically gave him raw magical power as such, but I think maybe some might read it that way.

 

[havercake lad]

The eyes that were removed from Phoorn and resemble huge glowing red pearls seem to take the sight, power and vitality from the poor beasts. Possibly the power can be tapped by a sorceror ?
Certainly the stone-like nanorion hearts of some demons can be used for certain spells.
Not power storing..but possibly some magical properties can be harnessed in other stones etc. The quote below from 'Stormbringer' follows a reference to the Actorious Elric wears
''..a bronze circlet in which were set other precious charm stones of peryx, mio and golden otredos.'
So the Actorious besides symbolizing the Pacts made between the Melnibonean royal line and various powers might have some magical properties ?

 

[DamonJynx]

Hmmm. Very interesting. I was curious about the views of others as to how they would describe the Actorios in terms of game mechanics. Seeing as how it doesn't confer aid to Elric as such I don't think it's possible to define it that way, never mind it was just idle curiosity.

After thinking about the Tear of Lashaar, I think a Magic Storing crystal is what it is as the first thoughts I had regarding it was that it was to be used to power a ritual by either the Doomed Folk to return the Dead Gods (CoC anyone?), or the Cult of Cran Liret to possibly return their master or give him the power once returned to end the Eternal Struggle by destroying the Lords of the Higher Realms, usurping the Balance and becoming God King of the multiverse!

Damn the PC's. I mentioned it to them, so that when it got stolen by xxx, they would go and return it. But the bastards stole it themselves! And now they've escaped in the Myrrhn's gift from Lassa, who according to the Dorelites is Queen Lashaar. So inadvertently, they've just managed to successfully by-pass the major story arc of my campaign by returning the Tear (more or less) to it's rightful owner - before its even begun!

I suppose now, I'm going to have to find a way to steal it back! Not so easy when it's in a Sanctuary!

 

[danskmacabre]

Melnibonean royal line and various powers might have some magical properties ?

Yes I agree that is CAN be seen as having magical powers.
It depends how you want to run your game and the availability of magic items in your campaign.

I think the way magic items in general for the MRQ2 rules havebeen been interpreted are very magic items light.

From my POV and tastes as a GM: I think it's probably a bit TOO light.
For example, most if not all the Melniboneans have little or not magic items (apart from Elric and Stormbringer of course).
As far as I remember Elric's armor in the rules is not magical, yet in "Elric of Melnibone" his armor is descibed as being embedded with sorcerous charms etc.
Now you COULD argue that the very nature of the bonuses that Melnibonean armor gives with APs, that the magical benefits are integrated.
But for me I don't think ALL sets of Melnibonean plate are magical.
Certainly Elric's armor was special, which to me seems that other wealthy and powerful personalities of note (especially Melniboneans and Pan Tangians) ought to have magic items.
I don't mean in a DnDesque fashion and no drawbacks as in the Elric books, magic items are for the most part a two edged sword with disadvantages as well as benefits.

I don't think it would be out of place to grant the Actorious stone power benefits from an in game perspective as to me it's fairly ambiguous.
I certainly wouldn't be advese to granting some powerful NPCs in the rules with some magic items (as appropriate).

 

[Vortigern]

I considered making it a 'Source' similar to those described in Necromantic Arts. Give it a certain ammount of Magic Points that recover very slowly, and let the user expend them either to simply cast magick or as a unique benefit of it being a genuine 'Source', it could allow the creation of permanently inscribed runes.

Which would provide an opening to magick created 'long ago' by royal line, and still lingering somewhere.

In an Elric game even letting it store five or ten Magic Points and recover one per month would be dramatically powerful, if it allowed the creation of permanent rune inscriptions.

 

[DamonJynx]

That's kind of why I thought it might be a Mythic Insight type of thing. The beings the Melniboneans pacted with, elementals, beast and plant lords and such, recognise the stone. There are several times in the stories where Elric struggles to remember the incantations and only does so at the last possible minute, perhaps the stone is "jogging" his memory in a very subtle manner.

 

[havercake lad]

Hmm... Could the 'Tear of Lasha' be a symbol of some ancient accord between Straasha and Lady Lassa ?
Might even be linked with summoning 'Serusha 'Goddess of Rain and Storm' (a power that was invoked in the Marvel comic Conan/Elric team-up ? )
Possibly Serusha is a 'daughter' created by Straasha and Lassa ?

 

[DamonJynx]

That's an interesting concept havercake, I'll have to mull that over some.

And she cried because she betrayed her husband Grome? At least the Dorelites think of Lassa as Lashaar, Queen and consort to Grome.

I haven't actually read that in canon, but Loz put that in the either the Cults book regarding Lassa or the Core Elric book regarding Gromes cult, can't remember which.

 

[havercake lad]

Just stumbled on this old thread during a web search.

Consistency isn't a strongpoint of the complete Elric saga.

Re Actorios stone. As Loz said, on the ring owned by Elric it is a symbol of an Emperor's right to rule his subjects and also a reminder of Pacts made with other Powers.

Back in the time of the Mernii's arrival on the world covered in the sagas, the stone could be incorporated in Stormbringer and gave the blade power to open a dimensional portal. At this time the stone seems to hold the essence /soul of a Phoorn. Whitecrow/Dreaming Elric III was also able to use the stone's power to help command a Northern Giant.

 

[Olaus Petrus]

Just stumbled on this old thread during a web search.

Consistency isn't a strongpoint of the complete Elric saga.

Re Actorios stone. As Loz said, on the ring owned by Elric it is a symbol of an Emperor's right to rule his subjects and also a reminder of Pacts made with other Powers.

Back in the time of the Mernii's arrival on the world covered in the sagas, the stone could be incorporated in Stormbringer and gave the blade power to open a dimensional portal. At this time the stone seems to hold the essence /soul of a Phoorn. Whitecrow/Dreaming Elric III was also able to use the stone's power to help command a Northern Giant.

True, it seems that Moorcock uses magic items as plot elements and gives them the powers which suit to current narrative (same applies actually also to many of his recurring characters).

As this is old thread it's too late to give suggestions about the tear of Lasha, but in my own campaign every magic item* which player have encountered has unique story and powers. These items might have side effects and using them might tie their owner's fate to the force which has given power to the item and/or drive the person who is using the item's magical powers insane etc. Also I never tell the players the items full potential and most powerful items are so complex that the player characters might never understand it's full potential or principles how to harness that force safely. Naturally lesser the item's power easier it is to control, so players shouldn't have troubles to use Sad Giant's Shield like they use normal shield, but giving them control over the full powers of the Runestaff is something I would never allow.

*Excluding potions and items which have runes inscribed to them according to normal rune magic rules.

 

[DamonJynx]

As this is old thread it's too late to give suggestions about the tear of Lasha,

It's never too late. I still have plans for the Tear of Lashar. We're taking a brief sojourn from the Elric campaign, currently the guys are in Tragic Millenium Europe about 50-100 years before the events of the History of the Runestaff, to play a more standard game using a mix of Legend (combat)/RQ6 (character generation and magic, folk and sorcery).

 

[Olaus Petrus]

As this is old thread it's too late to give suggestions about the tear of Lasha,

It's never too late. I still have plans for the Tear of Lashar. We're taking a brief sojourn from the Elric campaign, currently the guys are in Tragic Millenium Europe about 50-100 years before the events of the History of the Runestaff, to play a more standard game using a mix of Legend (combat)/RQ6 (character generation and magic, folk and sorcery).

I once had elemental jewel in my own campaign (adventure took place in Karlaak and Weeping Waste). The jewel had magical powers over both land and water. Both Straasha and Grome claimed to be sole creators and owners of that jewel (at least that's what their cultists claimed). When players first got their hand to that jewel they took it from an agent of the Cult of Whisperers, who had stolen it, because they thought that it could help their own agenda. While players eventually managed to use the powers of the stone (with the help of Earth Father) against Pan Tangian expeditionary force, they were more than happy to get rid of the jewel (they took it to Grome's sacred place and gave it to gnomes, which naturally made Straasha's servants unhappy).

Why I mentioned this example from my own game is that while it's cool to give magic items which could destroy entire armies or shape the fate of the Multiverse to players, I believe that sooner or later players should realize that keeping such magic items might not be such a good idea and getting rid of it might be more rewarding. These items should serve as story elements, in my game the jewel was MacGuffin. It sounds like something went horribly wrong in your game when players decided to keep the tear themselves. However knowing most players, it's not unpredictable scenario and in such cases I prefer using subtle means to direct people into right direction. In the case where players decide to keep such magic item themselves I would use "The Maltese Falcon" -style encounters between players and different parties of the conflict and give them opportunity to decide which side they want to help or if they want to be enemies with everyone.

 

[DamonJynx]

It actually turned out OK. Lassa, whose worshipper controlled the Sanctuary gift, intervened and the guys were taken back in time to deposit the Tear with the Pukwadji Tribesmen for return to Grome. Whilst there they had an encounter with some Dharzi Hunting Dogs and a Dharzi. I used an NPC to set up a PC for one of he guys who couldn't be there as he wanted to play a Pukwadji Nomad of the Time Streams, whose sole purpose was to protect and return the Tear if ever it should fall into the wrong hands. So its all good at the moment. Of course there were other complications...aren't there always?

 

[Olaus Petrus]

I'm glad that things worked out and that adventure sounds like lot of fun. Personally I like the Dharzi and plan to use them in some big adventure (I like how Stormbringer and Elric of Melniboné RPGs have expanded the concept of Dharzi and Dharzi wars. In the original stories there's not much information about them.) Although currently I'm more busy with the Doomed Folk and their magic, because the party managed to find one of their artifacts from a tomb in the Forest of Troos. And naturally they thought that taking it and carrying it around is a good idea.

 

[DamonJynx]

I'm glad that things worked out and that adventure sounds like lot of fun...And naturally they thought that taking it and carrying it around is a good idea.

It was a lot of fun. Yours sounds quite good as well. It's never a good idea messing around with magic, particularly magic that is unknown! Let alone carrying it with you!