This one impressed some people. The bugs are hardly even noticeable. It's
even reported that Lucifer himself showed up at the unveiling of the
artifact to congratulate Vapula. (Why? Because, if you want to include
this artifact in your campaign, it represents an actual significant advance
in Vapula's understanding of the Symphony, which is after all what he's
there for.)
The Essence Magnifier is a small computer chip surrounded with odd magnetic
cores and wires all held in place with a thin steel frame; total, about 1
square inch in area, and a few millimeters high. It must be integrated
with a being's nervous system in order to work. This requires surgery, in
which the device is attached to a Vessel's (or human's) nervous system.
Yes, experimentation shows it can be applied to animals which have been
granted some Essence control, but they had better be *very* well-trained.
(In game terms, to get any use from the device, the character must pay the
necessary points, and undergo the surgery.) The device must be externally
visible (uncovered) in order to work. It will work, and be visible, on the
character's celestial form.
The effect is quite simple: displaying the device and expending Essence
will cause the Essence expended to be multiplied by some factor in the
action being thus boosted. Those in the know theorize that the device
makes "displaying and willingly using a piece of technological equipment
surgically integrated with one's body" an infinitely reusable Rite of
Technology; angelic test subjects are currently being sought to determine
whether using the relic causes Dissonance in order to test this hypothesis.
(Should they succeed, then using the device *is* Dissonant for angels,
although whether it's because the device imparts a demonic Rite is up to
the GM. Fortunately, an intelligent user can choose not to activate the
device's magnification ability, even after implantation. Removing the
device non-surgically requires 1d of damage to the part affected; most
demons will prefer the implant being on the arm, just in case.)
The bad news is that it's not the most efficient converter. The scaling
factor is between 1 and 2; in other words, a single Essence will act like
1.1, or 1.9 Essence, or some other value, depending on the version in use.
The "2 Essence threshold" is a subject of much debate within Technology's
ranks. Many subscribe to the hypothesis that some waste will always be
necessary, a la the Second Law of Thermodynamics. They don't really know,
of course.
The Essence-scaling power of the device, and thus the points required to
use it, are up to the GM. Multiple scaling factors might exist in a single
campaign as Vapula inproves the device; they might be tougher to
make(requiring more character points in order to be accepted for the
surgery) and/or require more cumbersome implants.
At a scaling factor of 1(1/9) ("one and one-ninth, or 1.1111....), the user
is required to expend 9 Essence in order to get 10 Essence applied to the
action in question. At a scaling factor of 1(1/8), spend eight Essence to
get 9, and so forth. Up until that much Essence is expended, there's not
quite the extra measure of Essence required to increase the abilities of
most Songs and actions(dice don't have decimal places), but if the GM
desires to make the artifact slightly more effective he can consider
fractions when determing ranges and durations.
It will really start being useful when the Essence required is less than
half of a normal demon's supply: at a scaling factor of 1.25, four Essence
will get you five. (Impudites of Technology will notice a salutory effect
before this, of course.) At 1.5, two Essence gets you 3, and things start
getting really fun. Note an interesting irrational value that might be a
typical peak efficiency for the device: 1.6449...= (pi squared)/6, which is
a weird number that's right up Vapula's alley.
The 2 Essence threshold is really only for game balance and uniqueness
purposes, since then not only is the relic very effective, you're also
basically duplicating or bettering the Vapmeister's Impudite attunement.
(And *combining* the two... well, there you are.) If you want one, and a
character is willing to, oh, say, have half the top of his skull replaced
with a mass of steel and computer circuitry, hey, have a ball.
Lastly, there's Lightning. Jean *will* be bothered by Vapula's creation of
this device -- he knows what it represents in terms of Symphonic knowledge.
Capturing a demon with such a device implanted (or at least removing it
without damage to the device itself) can be an adventure priority. If you
desire to balance the relic with something similar on Heaven's side, then
once Lightning has had time to study it, they can produce a similar device;
I suggest allowing the device to be implanted internally (uses
bio-electricity, possibly a Rite of Lightning).
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EDG <edg@sjgames.com>
In Nomine Collection Curator