Item Crafting

Often known as Enchantment (but not to be confused with Enchanting as the art of manipulating people and Connections), this is the art of Crafting magical items.<ref>What, then, of Enchantment?  Not to be confused with enchanters and enchantresses, but the use of practice to make something with its own special workings? - excerpt from Forged Hearts, quoted in 4.5 Bonus Material: Bedtime Reading</ref><ref name=":1">Material x Interaction: Enchantment - Enchantment is the ability to place qualities, powers, and Others within concrete objects, to (to far lesser extent and power) utilize Others to curse or hamper individuals by having them ‘enchant’ the person as a curse, and woe betide the enemy of an enchanter who falls into a trap and uses a cursed item.  The creation of these tools can be time consuming, but the effects can be customized to serve specific purposes. - Pact Dice: The Practices</ref>

Methodology

The most common way of crafting a magic item is by making a Diagram on it; either as the primary source of magical effects, or to seal an Other inside it. Even when it's uneccesary, many Practitioners will still do this to make the Practice more secure.<ref>How does one create a pattern when they aim to create something wholly new?  We can inscribe the pattern directly into the thing, that is certainly a way, but then the object is little more than a diagram wrapped around an urn, or sword, or doll.  We could do as my mother once did, and create the same things over and over again.  Surely a rut would form that way.  Perhaps not in one lifetime, but it would form. Or we could take power or an Other and bind it into the weapon… a process that typically ends with the aforementioned inscribing of a pattern.

These are conventional ways.  I would guess a majority of typical enchanting tutors would teach these methods.  Even when borrowing other methods, I’ve noticed the habit of sealing things with a firm inscription. - excerpt from Forged Hearts, quoted in 4.5 Bonus Material: Bedtime Reading</ref> However, this makes the diagram a weak point, and may make the magical nature of the item obvious.<ref>Yet there are items that we call ‘enchanted’ that have no inscription, and no preceding pattern of manufacture.  The things created by the Gnarling that enslaved my mother had no mark, and if they had, the gig, as they say, would have swiftly been up.  What good is a cursed item with a large magical diagram on it, or an inscription that is hidden inside the construction, when a child often takes anything and everything apart?

Having a mark creates a weak point, and someone wishing to deal with the object can deal with either the object or the diagram that binds it.  Because of the inherent ‘stickiness’ of any measure one might take, the removal of the binding that seals it can undo the working, ruining the item.  The workings may be intricate when diagrams are involved, and they can be strong, but they may well be only as strong as the material of the object that bears that intricacy. - excerpt from Forged Hearts, quoted in 4.5 Bonus Material: Bedtime Reading </ref>

In some cases it is possible to have enough supernatural skill, to have one's Self shaped in such a way, that they can put some of themself into their work and craft novel magic items without any obvious magic being involved. Some Others possess this ability innately.<ref>I was raised with what I would term craft, rather than by practice.  The word ‘practice’ implies rote repetition, with aim of perfection.  Craft, on the other hand, is skill.  Something that comes from the honing of the self.  If it is to be used by people other than oneself, then it requires a skill in conveying something to the audience, or in inviting the audience in.

This tome addresses the manners and ways in which one can develop the skill.

In Chapter Two we discuss the Others for whom craftsmanship is tied to their being.  The Dwarves of Deep Midgard, Artisan Fae of the Spring court, Master Craftsman Animuses, and some Peddlers (a broad category encapsulating your ‘magic shop’ Other, including those similar to the aforementioned Gnarling).  We’ll discuss ways to shape the self and put yourself into your craftsmanship, including titles, signatures, and immersive crafting. - excerpt from Forged Hearts, quoted in 4.5 Bonus Material: Bedtime Reading</ref>

Some Practitioners (and Others) will create items out of nothing. However, conjuring anything more than a mundane object in this way requires considerable power.<ref name=":0">Chapter Three will cover Others who create the material from nothing, sometimes with its own properties.  Greater powers such as gods may create something from nothing to bestow a gift on a chosen champion, some Animuses for whom giving powerful gifts is a common practice (swordbearers), some goblins I hesitate to attempt to label (the labels intentionally change), and those Others with access to a strong means of translating power between states.  Practical lessons that pull on similar concepts detail the creation of an item out of raw power, with lessons ranging from beginner (mundane items) to intermediate (items with power and traits).  There are also some notes on advanced rituals for those with a Demesne, who wish to create a focal point within their place of power to empower an item over time. - excerpt from Forged Hearts, quoted in 4.5 Bonus Material: Bedtime Reading</ref>

Some Practitioners will "craft" objects by letting them soak up magical energy, such as by leaving them in a suitable location in another Realm.<ref>Chapter Four covers related topics to chapter two, but in the case of ‘accidental’ crafting, the Other or the Other-associated leaves functionally enchanted objects in their wake.  Others borne of the morass of original void, revenants with their death-tokens, echoes and objects that are receptive but not hallowed, goblins (as in so many things, unfortunately), and things both material and immaterial that reside in another realm for long enough to absorb qualities can all produce these items.  Crafts detailed here include making objects receptive vs. making them hallowed, the means of identifying enchanted detritus, ‘gardenings’ that place an object in a strange realm such as the Abyss, Ruins, or Faerie to be recovered later and ‘architecture’ that prepares a space in one of those strange realms so that an item comes into being or finds its way to the desired point, with the desired qualities. - excerpt from Forged Hearts, quoted in 4.5 Bonus Material: Bedtime Reading</ref>

One basic practice in this school is "tempering", a simple ritual which causes power to flow through an object. The item becomes physically stronger and becomes a Hallow, but also becomes vulnerable to negative influences until the hallow has been filled.<ref>We’ll finish with a basic practice:

A Simple Tempering
[...]
The diagram is a strengthening circle, and our aim here is to strengthen the object while blasting power through it.
[...]
Tempering can serve to create a hallow, as the use of power will remove pollutants, impurities, and loose matter from the item, making it easier for spirits or suitable immaterial Others to move in.  The item can be prepared, decorated, or placed in an area appropriate to the desired type of spirit, echo, or other formless Other that the user wishes to bring into the item.

Tempering serves some other benefits.  If the item is tempered, becomes a hallow for, as an example, water spirits, and tempered again, the water spirits will be pushed into the body of the item, while the core remains hallowed.  Tempering also strengthens objects on a fundamental level, both against physical harm, wear and tear, and keeping them primed for their function.  Blades will stay sharper for longer, for example.

The drawback, however, is that a hallowed item is vulnerable to impurities and unwanted Others.  This renders it weaker or sensitive to immaterial attacks, emotional damage, or ‘picking up’ incidental spirits.  One would not want to temper something they were eating with until they had placed something in the hallow or secured it.  Using a knife that had been tempered to cut meat would bring qualities of the meat into the knife, and it could ‘go bad’, causing food poisoning.  Small physical features may continue to change as things move into the hallow. - excerpt from Forged Hearts, quoted in 4.5 Bonus Material: Bedtime Reading</ref> An advanced practice in this school is using a Demesne to focus power into an item, empowering it over time.<ref name=":0" />

Experts in this field will sometimes use the same methods they use on an object on a person to curse them.<ref name=":1" />

Notable Examples

• Graubard family
• Verona Hayward

Related Others

• Peddlers

References

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