Implement

An Implement is a tool chosen by a practitioner that serves as a badge for them and as an item to further define their craft. The Implementum ritual is one of the three major rituals that defines a Western practitioner, alongside the Famulus ritual and Demesne ritual.<ref>The largest group that might be said to make regular use of the scepter

would be the Anglo-influenced Japanese families of practitioners, who 

have taken on the Western traditions of choosing implement, familiar, and demesnes for their personal power. - excerpt from Implementum, quoted in Gathered Pages: 2</ref> Once chosen, a the practitioner can never choose another Implement.<ref name=":0">The connections are strong enough that lost items and things will tend to blow their way back. The path of least resistance will remain the things that bring master and implement/practice/demesnes together again.
Once lost, though, you don't tend to get the ability to get stuff back. If demesnes/familiar/implement are allegories for where you're at, your life partner, and your career, then it'd make sense you'd have the ability to pick a new one, much as it's common nowadays for people to have two marriages, or make a massive career change mid-life, or (not so

common, but possible to) pick up and move halfway across the world.  

But the practitioner world tends to lag behind the real world in these things. Perhaps in a few decades, with some precedent. - Comment by Wildbow </ref>

Creation

To obtain an Implement, the practitioner must perform a ritual that requires infusing the item with power<ref name=":1">“It’s a bit of a catch-22, isn’t it?  The demesne gives us a steady supply of power, with bigger spaces giving us more power.  It’s a sanctuary, and a place where we can bend the rules in our favor.  Right?  So we need a tool or a familiar to lay claim to as big a space as we can pull off.”
“Yes.”
“But we can’t infuse our tool until we have some power to infuse it with,” I said.  “Except…”
“That power would ideally come from the demesne,” Rose said.
I nodded, “Or the familiar, in terms of strength and shaping how the tool functions.  And we can’t start talking with Others about bringing them on board as a familiar until we have some established power already.” - Bonds 1.6 </ref> and possibly, ideally, for them to be at the right point in their life.<ref>Taking an implement, familiar, or demesnes involves a commitment. The problem here is ensuring that players treat that commitment with gravity, and not as a strict power grab. To these ends, we say the following:
A practitioner should launch into the ritual in the aftermath of an achievement, the greater the better, that represents their approach to the world (implement), their associations with others (familiar), or their inner self (demesnes). The greater the achievement, the greater the puissance of the ritual’s result.
A practitioner should have given something as part of the ritual. The greater the price paid, the greater the connection. With a stronger connection, power can be given or taken more freely between the practitioner and the subject of the ritual, and the end result is more adroit in how power is leveraged and used and how changes are wrought. For an implement it is a question of prerogative, how easily the implement is wielded, the time it takes to bring power into focus and to then have the implement take effect. [...] the later in the campaign they choose, the greater the longevity. Implements are more durable, with more staying power or power stored within. - Pact Dice</ref> The power infused helps to determine the Implement's strength and abilities.<ref name=":1" />

As part of the ritual the item must be held in one's hands, limiting the maximum size of an Implement.^{[citation needed]}

Effects

These tools are bonded to the practitioner and especially strong connections will contrive to keep them together.<ref name=":0" />

Possible powers of an Implement include acting as a battery for storing energy,<ref name=":2">The chalice is a container, and as such, can be used to hoard a measure of power, but unlike the box, it does not contain or store it long-term.  Many will use the chalice to hold blood from a sacrificed individual or being, and as such it becomes a battery for power.  As the

chalice holds liquid, the implement allows the wielder to hold or 

sustain effects, using the aforementioned battery. - excerpt from Implementum, quoted in Gathered Pages: 2</ref> making it easier to hold or sustain effects,<ref name=":2" /> An implement can make any use of power more efficient.<ref>“It’s sage advice.  I need a goddamn power source.  Not just a bit of hair.”
“You need a demesnes.  Or a tool that can make any use of power more efficient,” Rose said.  “Or a familiar.” - excerpt from Breach 3.5 </ref>

An implement will very commonly make certain practices easier, in keeping with the symbolism of the item,<ref>The wand is not in common use in the world, barring stage shows.  However, it is easily hidden, indicating a balance between the two worlds.  It can easily be decorated or high quality, and is distinctly of practitioners and the practice.  As such, the wielder can be assumed to be focused on practitioners and their workings.  The result might be an ease with altering or adjusting the work of others, defense against workings, and especially offense against workings (see the notes on the Authoritative, below).
[...]
In the practitioner schools in the United Kingdom, wands are provided to the students by default, for their convenience, easy portability, and

a prevailing sentiment that the wand is the strongest implement of 

choice for practitioner dealings against hostile practitioners. - excerpt from Implementum, quoted in Gathered Pages: 2 </ref> but may also make certain practices harder.

Social Effects

Since it permanently affects your Practice, picking an implement serves as a statement about your intended path in life; it's been compared to choosing a career.<ref>“Implements are supposed to be badges, [...] Choosing an implement means deciding the one tool you’ll define yourself

by for the rest of your life.  That adage, ‘if all you have is a 

hammer, every problem looks like a nail?’  I think that holds true with implements.  This is a kind of commitment to a path in life, so maybe that’s what feels wrong.  I’m committing to something… less than pleasant.” “You’re committing to breaking swords?” Ty asked. “I’m committing to stopping things like the Hyena.  You don’t take an

implement like this if you don’t plan on fighting, and continuing to 

fight for a long time.” [...] “Some shamans specifically hunt monsters to get materials to make items with, infusing those items like you infused June’s hatchet.  Right

here, you’ve got something that could be powerful.  Tricky, yes, but 

powerful.  Tap into what the Hyena could do.  Strength, durability, inspiring fear…” - excerpt from Void 7.11 </ref><ref>A familiar represents the people you want to be around, choosing an implement is like choosing a career, and a demesne is where you want to be. - excerpt from Void 7.11</ref> It can also show one's cultural background and patterns of thinking.<ref>Gathered Pages: 2</ref>

When examining how an Implement can relate to others, the are three major aspects one can look at: declarative, authoritative, and socio-cultural. The declarative aspect is what the object conveys to others while it is inert and base, generally only focusing on the obvious descriptors. The authoritative aspect is what the object conveys to others while it is in use. The socio-cultural aspect is what groups are most likely to use the object and for what purpose. All three of these aspects carry a meaning when deciding on an implement and should be taken into consideration.<ref>Damages 2-x (Gathered Pages 2)</ref>

Some iconic implements have held significant meaning throughout history. They include Chains, Chakrams, Chalice, Coffers, Coins, Emblems, Knives, Lanterns, Lenses, Masks, Plates, Rings, Scepter, Skulls, Staffs, Standards, Stone, Swords, Talismans, Tomes, Trumpets, and Wands.

In-Story Implements

• Athame - Maggie Holt
• Pocket Watch - Laird Behaim
• Pocket Watch with Stonehenge Design - Duncan Behaim
• Tarot Cards? - Alister Behaim
• Shepard's Crook - The Shepherd
• Chalice - Sandra Duchamp
• Pan Flute - Johannes
• A drinking vessel made of her brother's skull - Fionna
• Crystal Ball with a skull inside - A Duchamp husband
• Crooked Hat - Unnamed Duchamp husband's namesake hat

Variations

Although a single irreplacable Implement is the standard in the West, some Eastern practices allow for multiples or sets of Implements.<ref>It's like how some eastern practitioners have their own systems & standards, where they have familiars and implements wrapped up in the same system (generally with multiples or sets). - Comment by Wildbow</ref>

It's possible to combine an implement with one of the other major rituals, such as making a vehicle both your demesne and your implement. However, this generally results in a single item which fills both "slots" without being any more powerful than a standard implement, merely different; possibly even weaker, or at least coming with notable drawbacks.<ref>It's like how some eastern practitioners have their own systems & standards, where they have familiars and implements wrapped up in the same system (generally with multiples or sets). You might go this route, but there's caveats - at least 2/3 of these are liable to crop up, but very likely all 3, depending on measures taken & how much the practitioner puts into the ritual:

• You might go for a mobile demesnes but you're basically wrapping it up in familiar or implement. So you have a motorcycle as your cradle, but it's also your familiar, or you have a van as your cradle but it's also your implement. It's not ~actually~ an implement though, but it's taking up that space in terms of your self definition, because it's just this clumsy thing you're doing, and it's not an equal proportion of power. This means you're basically, instead of having a familiar at 100%, an implement at 100%, a demesnes at 100%, you're going 50/50, 100.
• It's exaggerated further in that it's nontraditional here and so there's less respect and focus afforded to it. So it takes a hit and winds up being more like 33/33, 100 in terms of general puissance/power level. The end result is you've almost halved your overall power level compared to what you could achieve otherwise.
• Remember Blake talking about how the tool represents how people approach the world, the familiar represents the relationships they form, and the demesnes represents the position they occupy in it? If you're saying "The place I hold in the world is living in a car" or "the place I hold is that of a traveler" then you're sending a lot of signals to the spirits. There's a pretty heavy quality of life cost in this. You're signaling to the spirits that hey, you're probably never going to own a house or live in an apartment for more than a few months. Now all of a sudden you're getting evicted or the landlord wants to stop renting so they can move family into your apartment, or you just can't get that mortgage approval or get a realtor to answer your calls. There's subtle effects to how people & Others see you too. To Others, the practitioner with a sailboat demesnes isn't worth dealing with because they're not going to be here next week.

Tradition matters and you can buck tradition but at a steep cost. Generally speaking, trying to get tricky with it isn't worth it - some niche cases

exist and some people don't care about overall power level, they just 

want a talking motorcycle that makes their nomadic lifestyle more comfortable. But you're not going to have a van and be able to be a lesser god of your own domain when you crawl into the back of it.
- Comment by Wildbow </ref>

References

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