Artifacts (Golden Legacy Supplement)

The Nine Tears

History

Legends of the Nine Tears of the Incarnates have swirled about the land for years, but the actual Tears themselves are quite real. The originals are widely believed to be held by House Kazuki, and this is a perception they do not wish to change.

This perception is also untrue, though it used to not be. By coincidence, planning, or simple whim of the Tears, only three of the Tears (Kouryuu, Suzaku, and Tetshira) are still under control of Kazuki's line. Two of them were stolen in coordinated, carefully-planned heists about a century after the end of the Elven Civil War. Setsuna's Tear was taken to the city of Myrdrin, hidden in the Malei Peaks, and carefully buried inside layers of security. Byakko's Tear was smuggled to a monastery belonging to the Order of the White Lotus, where it resides to this day.

The locations of the others are unknown.

The Nine Tears are:

• Genbu's Tear, the Tortoise's Shell - an ebony magatama, said to contain the power and strength of the tortoise, secure in his shell and ready to persevere against the flowing currents of time.
• Seiryuu's Tear, the Dragon's Scale - a turquoise magatama that holds the immense power of the dragons, ready to grant said power to any who are worthy enough.
• Suzaku's Tear, the Phoenix Feather - a red jasper magatama with wildly shifting colors, as though it holds inside of it the burning power of a phoenix.
• Byakko's Tear, the Tiger's Claw - an ivory magatama, inside of which is the fierce power of a rage-filled tiger ready to pounce an unsuspecting target and rip it to shreds.
• Setsuna's Tear, the Wolf's Rain - a jade magatama that helps the wielder lead their pray to the larger beasts with the aid of wolf-like agility and ruthlessness.
• Tensatsu's Tear, the Monkey's Paw - a tiger's eye magatama that grants the wielder a ferociousness rarely seen in a fighter and an unpredictable combat style.
• Orochi's Tear, the Snake's Fang - a chalcedony magatama, said to give the wielder incredible stealth and cunning, squeezing their prey slowly to death, like a snake.
• Tetshira's Tear, the Crocodile's Jaw - a hematite magatama, rumored to bestow powers of patience and quick, deadly first strikes to unsuspecting opponents.
• Kouryuu's Tear, the Oblivion Eye - a magatama that is exactly the color you never thought it would be. This powerful stone is told to hold untold amounts of void energy - enough to unmake the entire world.

Alignment

Tears choose their masters, aligning themselves to one individual at a time. This alignment lasts until death in most cases, but the alignment can change at the whim of the individual Tear.

The individual that the Tear is aligned to gains a number of significant special abilities, each of them unique to the Tear and themed along with the Incarnate that the Tear belongs to.

Kouryuu's Tear only chooses members of House Kazuki for unknown reasons.

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