I’ve been brainstorming some Shattered Isles tech. By all means add!
-Electroplasmic blades
-Garret’s arrows (a must!).
-Electroplasmic explosives. Highly unstable and illegal. A death-sentence to possess.
-A rig for non-whispers to see the possessed (expensive and proprietary; used by higher-tier official agents).
-“Light” prosthetics (Garret’s eye).
-“Demon-tech” (made from demonic parts; illegal and dangerous). Examples: A coat made of demon-skin that gives the wearer the ability climb walls like a spider. The wearer gains larger, all-black eyes and leaves wispy, web-like strands while climbing that disappear a few hours after use.
A choker made from U’Duashan brass that gives the bearer the power to bend wills through speaking. Leaves the taste of blood on the bearer’s tongue.
“Eye of Urfane” (a demon’s eye, fueled by refined leviathan blood. Grants the ability to scry, even through powerful wards. Lost and greatly sought after).
-Ghost-mine (think “Ghostbusters”).
-“The Book of Cold Martyrs” (a legendary tome with the secret names of Skovlan heroes. Allows the reader to call forth the spectral memory of great Skovlan leaders who died in defense of Skovlan freedom).
*In my “world” to call another Skovlan “cold-blooded” or “cold” is a honorific. It heralds the oldest days when Skovlan tribes roamed the harsh, freezing wastes, surviving against incredible odds. To call a Skovlan “warm-blooded” is a great slight.
If I may add an idea that just hit me, concerning ghost doors. A ghost door is created when a ghost passes through an object. This leaves ghostly energies that can be seen by those with the ability to detect such things.
Once found, a ghost door can be “opened” with a ghost key, allowing the bearer (and those they designate) to pass through the object, as the creating ghost did. Once through, the ghost door dissapates. This makes it impossible for pursuing whipers to follow their quarry.
A technique used by many whispers is to gain the service of a ghost, willing or otherwise, to create these doors in anticipation of using them in the near future.
I’m not sure if they should be permanent until used (or just permanent overall. I can see, much as with a thief having boltholes mapped, a whisper having a map of known ghost doors), or if they should last, say, three days (in honor of the “gestation” period of a ghost).
If they worked this way, whispers would be in demand for those wanting wards against ghosts (i.e. “Everyone!”). Finding/creating ghost doors could be a great part of gathering infomation or a flashback. To keep it from getting out of hand and stepping on your lockbreaker’s skills, the aspect of having a ghost create a door carries all the risks inherent to dealing with ghosts.
Know a “Casper” (no, that won’t be a term in our world lol)? They may not want to risk dissolution by walking into warded areas for you. Need to bully a ghost into it? Well, that brings in the aforementioned danger of demanding ghostly service.
Thoughts?
*After a few moments of thought, I’m thinking they should be permanent unless found and destroyed. Why? When the gates were shattered the energies of death became much stronger (duh!), allowing plasmic residue to permanently adhere to objects. Ghost-hunters use this residue to track ghosts and, if encountered often enough, a ghost’s “signature” can be learned. Because of this, ghosts sometimes ask a whisper to cleanse their mark, an illegal but lucrative favor. And since ghosts are potentially playable (AFAIR), this would be a nice complication.
NIce! I like your take on Ghost Doors. I’m wary of establish ing too much in ‘play before play’, until we are in conversation as the group at the table, but these have given me some wonderful inspiration to add to the discussion!
One thing I like is that things we make can be inserted easily. If ghost doors are something else entirely, cool. My idea could be an alternate use or something. John’s made it very easy to add our own bits, which I appreciate.
The rig for seeing ghosts already exists, and it’s the spirit mask. Whispers are trained, sure, but so would be anyone else who needs to be able to deal with ghosts.
I was thinking something less arcane, that can be used with little to no training, but you have a point.
I like this idea for ghost doors. Would give our Whisper another source of electroplasmic energy to Channel. No doubt this would destroy the door and thus create some wonderful dilemmas, like create this supernatural effect but cut off your only escape route. Just lovely,
Ooh! That’s a good idea! Nice addition!