Sabledrake Magazine

November, 2000

 

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     Changeling Seed, Chapter 11

     A King for Hothar, Part XI

          

 

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The Mirror of Narcissus

a GURPS artifact

by Warpmind de InzanE

 

Background: Millennia ago, in the city of Atlantis, a mean-spirited sorcerer deemed humanity as a race of egocentric, empty-headed fools. To prove his point, he crafted an unknown number of small, handheld mirrors that he, by sorcerous means, scattered around in the world for people to find them. He put a malign enchantment on each of the mirrors: that only the strongest spirits might be able to ignore his or her own appearance. Over the ages gone by, the original name for these mirrors have become lost, and they have since been referred to as the Mirrors of Narcissus.

Appearance: The Mirrors of Narcissus are small, oval handheld mirrors, about 2/3 foot tall and 1/2 foot wide. The backside of the mirror is in silver, engraved with ancient Atlantean runes, saying "Ye who care more for thy looks than for thy life, behold thyself and perish", and the handle is made from the mystic Atlantean metal Orichalcum, always fitting perfectly to the hand holding the mirror.

Effect: Whenever someone looks into the polished surface of the mirror, be it only a casual glance, he or she must make a successful Will Roll to be able to turn away. A Critical Success will ensure the character is immune to the effect of any of the Mirrors for the duration of his or her life. If the roll fails, the character will stare at the mirror image for no less than one hour, at which time he or she may attempt another Will Roll, this time at a penalty of -1. For each hour that passes, increase the penalty by -1, so that after two hours, the roll is IQ-2, after four hours IQ-4, et cetera. When the roll is against a value of 1, no further increase in penalty shall be calculated. After a period of five hours, hunger will start to affect the character, but the mirror's grasp will keep the character from noticing. Subtract 1 ST every two hours past the fifth. When ST reaches 0, the character will have starved to death. While the only way for the character to turn away is by a successful Will Roll, the mirror in itself is quite frail; any other character who realizes something is wrong can shatter the mirror by hitting it, shooting it or prying it loose from the afflicted character's hands. (Obviously, this will be treated in the same manner as for example arm wrestling.) A shattered mirror will no longer be able to sustain the enchantment, and will no longer trap weak minds in its grasp. The shards, when collected, will have an approximate value of about 1,200 present-day USD, or the nearest equivalent value according to era and location.

 

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