Description
The pinnacle of arcane achivement in The Republic, Úrlos is a staggeringly opulant palace that rests far above the city, held aloft by enchantments to match the mages of old. Shining marble walls are painted with lapis lazuli and inlaid with specks of gold to make it appear like tiny stars against an azure sky, with a stairway wide enough to suit giants bordered by spiraling rails of multicoloured metals.
Flowing beneath the steps is an everflowing stream that splits and runs off either side of the floating island, forming eternal twin waterfalls that sparkle with scintillating colours as they fall towards the city to be collected in springs and grates below. Bordering this artificial river and climbing all along the walls are lucious vines and flowers that could have one mistaking the island for a botanical paradise instead of a home fit for Gods and Immortals.
At the top of the stairway over the river are a set of enormous doors that seem to have been carved from garguantuan sheets of shimmering silver, until one gets close enough to see or feel the rings, knots, and lines of some kind of otherworldy lumber. Notably, the doors bear no symbols, handles, hinges, or knockers that could be used to grant entry, and all attempts to move them with strength or with magic over the centuries have failed.
During the chaos following that dark day when
The Call was heard across the world the castle in the sky was infiltrated by individuals using a Consul as their way in. They destroyed the weather machine held within, sending storms and hurricanes towards the city below, and absconded with many of the magical items that had rested there for decades or even centuries.
Stolen Items
Though not every item was stolen from the palace, and the famed
Mirror Of Revelation was safely away from the city entire during the events, most pieces of power were taken and either scattered across the world or hidden in a vault by the enemies of The Republic. Not listed here are many of the more "generic" pieces of magical equipment or scrolls that were pilfered.
The frozen, feline eyes of a sphinx that appear almost more like glass marbles than true eyes. They grant the user the ability to look into the past, watching the events of history as though they were standing there in the moment. Prolonged use is noted to age the user significantly, as though you are "trading in your tomorrows in order to remember your yesterdays."
A black box seemingly made of a cold, slate-like material with impossibly intricate (and sometimes moving) patterns carved onto the sides that resemble a maze with no obvious exit. Thought to be a prison of some kind, it is not known whether this box contains a pocket dimension, shrinks its victims down, or is in fact a portal to the true, divine, Labyrinth of old within The Underworld.
Note: Brought to the palace by Osera Teráka in the year 534 MA. The records state she believes something is contained within already, but has not bothered to investigate what.
To those with sufficient magical protection or particularly strong will, this extremely dangerous item appears to be nothing more than a round, smooth stone like any you might find at a riverbank or beach. To most, however, it is a diamond as large as your head. It is a ruby with the power to smite your rivals. A chunk of starlight that grants wishes. Like the songs of a siren it whispers promises into ones ear; love and power and wealth and everything you could ever want, if only you could hold it a moment longer, and kill anyone nearby to prevent them taking it from you.
Note: Brought to the palace by Protagoras Òsa in the year 599 MA, after he pried it from the fingers of its last victim, who had seemingly cradled it for days on end, refusing to eat or drink while surrounded by the corpses of other humans.
Nullification Blade
This reddish-gold sword is thought to be the last remnant of the once endless treasures of Eresùri, and is capable of slicing through magic and incorporeal creatures without issue - cutting a fireball out of the air, ignoring magical defences such as mage armour, and instantly destroying ghosts it wounds.
Note: Brought to the palace by Zarlgantír Kerrhylon in the year 465 MA after the lost city sank forevermore.
Solar Shards
A set of 3 small pyramids, each able to fit in one's palm and made of some kind of red tinted glass. They are warm to the touch, and grow much hotter while in close proximity to each other. They can be controlled telekinetically while attuned, and summon the magic of Talsia based on the formation they are held in - one alone appears useless, while two placed at just the right distance from each other will conjure a beam of destructive fire between them. Adding a third to create a triangle will grant divine healing to those standing in the centre of them.
Note: Arcane investigation has revealed that the set is incomplete, though not what they might do in a group of 4, 5, or even more...
Godsteel Set
Believed to be the equipment worn either by Zia herself or one of her demigod allies in the old days, this set comprises of plate armour that grants incredible protection, gauntlets that infuse your punches with greater might, a shield that can magically protect your allies as well as yourself and a blade that can banish enemies while simultaneously healing allies.
Helm of Darkness
Magical darkness surrounds this helm blocking out all light in an area, even that summoned by powerful spells, and can only be seen through by the wearer of the helmet itself and those few mages who draw power from The Underworld. Reported to have a side effect; the wearer slowly and irreversibly begins turning incorporeal with use, until they devolve into some kind of shadow being.
Trakhóros, The Dancing Stones
A set of six stone disks, each with a different symbol upon them, and each of which can be struck like a drum to produce a deep, resonating sound. Thought to be one of the rare and divine
Relics of Unity, the result of some kind of alliance or empyrean between Temní and Éda in ages past. These drums have the power to conjure groups of earth elementals and summon earthquakes, and are likely amongst the most powerful, and therefore dangerous, items that were stolen.
Chalice of Amnesia
Filled eternally with the forgetting magic of The Underworld, those who drink from this chalice lose their memories. How deep the loss goes seems to loosely depend on how much is drunk, though there are some who have had but a sip and yet still forget
everything, even their own names.
Woven from the golden wool shorn from a ram blessed by the Gods, this gleaming tunic grants its wearer protection from extreme heat and cold both, and allows them to breathe in any environment.
The Godsbane
A greatspear made of dark and strange materials that was recovered from the hands of an Archon of old, stained and ever-dripping with the blood of the demigods and celestials it killed. The wounds it causes never fully heal, and only extremely powerful magic can stop the extreme bleeding that flows from them. It is even reported to sap the divinity from those it harms - weakening demigods, stealing the light from angels, and severing the magic of priests and clerics.
The spear head can be detached and thrown as a dagger of sorts, whereafter it burrows deep into the flesh of its target and seeks out their heart, killing them instantly upon reaching it. The only known survivor of this attack is Immortal Osera Teráka, who is said to have ordered an overconfident mage to use the spear against her during the Last Great Assembly Rebellion, then tell his (likely soon to be slaughtered) allies what he witnessed.
Note: For those few who have entered Úrlos and seen the spear in person, the theory abounds that the reason Osera herself was specifically immune is that she was in fact formed from the holy blood that flows from its unholy metal. Regardless, it remains one of the most dangerous artifacts in the palace.
A group of 37 golden bracers that are able to float around and summon arcane hands to wear them. They are attuned to as a single set, and allow the user to make use of dozens of attacks at once as a one-man army.
Note: There are likely far more of these bracers hidden throughout the world, granting up to the expected number of 100 hands. It is possible that collecting all 100 may be some kind of step to learning the location of the living weapons who were imprisoned so long ago.
Quiver of Echoes
A "device" once used by Archons to slay even the most well armoured individuals, for it created arrows that could be fired not at you, but at the "unguarded echoes of your past." They never missed their mark and proved instantly lethal on several occasions, apparently managing to strike far enough back in a victim's past that even a single small wound would be fatal. Only the warforged, living in protected metal bodies from the moment of their "birth", were safe from these effects.
Note: Those who have held it in recent times have been unable to summon any arrows (likely due to the interference of Ámmos or a Sphinx deeming the device too great a threat), but still hear the whispers of ancient voices and victims.
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