[UA] Suicide claims two men who shared one heart

[Benn Beaton]

NIce work chief.  Although i think that the recreation of said artifact
should be possible perhaps if two men kill each other and one is saved with
the others heart or any variation on the theme of love killing all
involved.  This would be my sole comment as i think the work covers all the
bases nicely

On 4/12/08, Niall <niall.sweby at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> >
> > A slow but
> > > statistical rise in suicides across the
> > > neighbourhood beginning with
> > > earthworms lying on the ground to be eaten, birds
> > > flying into windows, cats
> > > running under cars.
> >
> >
> > Nice.
> >
> > And all the suicide stalkers drifting in like vultures
> > around a dying animal.
> >
> > This demands a write-up Niall. The job is yours.
>
>
>
> Here's my attempt. Comments welcome.
>
>
> The Empty Heart of the twice dead suicide
> "There are also a suprising number of rituals with no know connection to
> any historical or current culture. Some liken them to 'cheat codes' in
> computer games-exploitable variables in the framework of our cosmos." UA
> 2nd Ed p95
>
> The Empty Heart is the product of one such variable. It is the heart of a
> man who committed suicide, that was saved by doctors and then donated to
> another man. The recipient struck up a friendship with and then married the
> widow of the donor. Nine years later he committed suicide, the same way,
> wearing the same type of clothes and thinking the same final thoughts. The
> woman it must be said was innocent in this. Instead she, the two men, their
> actions and the heart were ingredients in a ritual that has created a highly
> toxic magical artifact.
>
> The effects of the heart
>
> In Rituals
> For anyone interested in rituals the heart is a powerful ingredient. There
> is a ritual known as 'Breaking the Seventh Circle". The ritual has been
> generally thought of as a joke or in itself to be a parable. Attempts to
> create the heart, by bringing a suicide back from the flatline and then
> allowing (or indeed forcing) them to carry out the act again have not
> worked. Amongst those who know of these things it is agreed that the
> universe knows the person never truly died the first time. A major charge
> might conceivably bring someone back who have been dead long enough to fit
> the bill but no one has wanted to use that kind of power on a gamble. The
> ritual itself if properly conducted (and versions differ on what proper
> means) give the caster immunity from the consequences of their actions for a
> period of time. Again this period varies. Some fragments say forever, others
> limit it for a short time.
>
> For Dukes
> For three schools of magic the heart is particularly of interest.
>
> For Amoramancers the heart is pure posion. It symbolises the inability of
> love to hold people to life, no matter how strong that love is. Any one
> holding it is immune to  amoramancy and can never be used to gain a charge
> from.
>
> For Annihilomancers the heart is pure power the ultimate way to destroy
> your life and in that moment to know it utterly and to see it free of all
> illusions. The heart can be used as a major charge although this consumes
> the heart.
>
> For Thanatomancers the heart is more an object of mental focus and
> preparation. A Thanatomancer using the Soul Skill the heart gives can
> convince a subject to be a willing participant in a sacrifice although such
> a process may still take time. The Skill doesn't allow for instant
> conversion but rather allows the Thanatomancer to more effectively persuade
> the subject. Thanatomancers would also seek this object simply for its
> significance within their world view.
>
> For Avatars
> The Melancholic Man Archetype of the Clergy has few, if any, genuine
> avatars that survive but were any to exist the Heart would act as a skill
> bonus to their avatar skill. Given its other effects though it is possible
> that the creation of the heart was instigated by this member of the Clergy
>
> In General
> Anyone holding the heart gains a Soul skill  Through early morning fog I
> see, visions of the things to be
>
> A more worrying effect of the heart is its tendency to infect others with
> thoughts of suicide. Anyone who holds it suffers a +30% penalty to Mind
> tests when undertaking a stress check. Gaining 5 failed notches in a meter
> leads to the development of suicidal depression as the mental aberration. If
> 3.33 ounces of the the heart are swallowed, the subject must immediately
> make a Mind check at rank 10 in either Helplessness, Isolation or Self -
> whichever has most failed notches.
>
> Moreover the heart is so powerful that, if placed in the ground and left
> to rot, it will start to infect the foodchain. Starting with worms and
> grass, there will be a tendency to commit suicide. In essence a permanent
> effect of the penalty to stress checks, although the level of the penalty
> will vary. Obviously the more concentrated the greater the effect and the
> greater the dispersal the greater the effect, but never more than +10%.
> Burial in a cemetary probably limits its noticeable effects fo rmany years
> it takes for decomposition to take full effect. Dropping it into a MacAttax
> mincer will lead to a rash of suicides in the surrounding area (when
> combined with a Special Order the effect can be truly horrific)
>
> In terms of longevity, for all its magical power the heart is a piece of
> organic material and subject to the same process of decay that any heart
> does.
>
> Ritual for Creating the Heart
> Recplicating the ritual is pretty much impossible. It was powered by the
> sympathetic connection carried by the magical symbolism of the heart as the
> seat of love and the woman. Above all the actions of all three were genuine
> and without influence. The two men really did love their wife and she loved
> them. They committed suicide for the same reason.
>
> Niall
>
>
> C.
> >
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