A Probability Nail is just that: a regular-looking,
possibly slightly rusty, broken iron nail. Those with
sufficient experience will recognize the nail as being
the sort that is used in shoeing horses.
This artifact, despite all rumors to the contrary,
does not change a person's past at all. To do that
would involve highly complicated things like messing
with causality, reversing the flow of time and
avoiding the inevitable Destiny/Fate kill-or-well,
just kill squads. So, no time travel involved here.
What a Probability Nail actually does is just tell the
user how a person would have turned out if things had
happened differently. Much simpler all around - and
certainly safer.
Essentially, a Probability Nail has two settings:
passive and active. In passive mode, when activated
the relic will provide the historical reasons for its
subject's major personality traits. Use the CD to
determine detail: a CD of 1 will give very generic,
non-specific impressions, while a CD of 6 will provide
the equivalent of a decent case history. Mercurians
may add their Celestial Forces to the CD of a passive
roll: if this would raise the CD above 6, the
Mercurian receives a bonus to his next resonance roll
towards the subject equal to (Modified CD - 6). Cost
to use a Probability Nail in passive mode is 1
Essence: the effects are instantaneous.
Active mode is a bit more proactive: instead of trying
to deduce the causes of a particular behavior, it
instead simply tells the user what events in the past
would have reliably produced a desired behavior.
Again, the CD determines detail. A CD of 1 will
provide an answer like "He'd have been nicer if people
had treated him better", while a CD of 6 will result
in answers like "If she hadn't been stung by that bee
on her twelfth birthday, she wouldn't be phobic now".
Balseraphs may add their Celestial Forces to the CD of
an active roll, with the same possible bonus to their
next resonance roll. Cost to use a Probability Nail
in active mode is 3 Essence.
Note that use of a Probability Nail does not actually
change the past, or even the subject's memories of
same: that is up to the user. It is, however, an
excellent tool for finding root causes to someone's
behavior or personality: this information can then be
used in either a benign or malign manner. Probability
Nails are often found in the hands of Servitors of
Destiny and/or Fate, and sometimes Divine Fire (and,
in an Oops campaign, those of Heresy, as well).
Incidentally, for the purposes of this relic
Balseraphs of Fate with the Mercurian resonance would
receive the above bonuses.
Cost: 4/level. All Probability Nails have the
Activation Time: 1 round (+1), Convenience: Can be
worn/carried in a completely invisible way (+3),
Essence Requirement: 2 (average) (-1), Visibility:
Hard to Detect/1 (+1) and Vulnerable: celestial
artifact destroyed when corporeal form destroyed (-4)
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