A I: Equivalan “Talisman Form”

Written by Neons-Mindrealm

Equivalan “Talisman Form”
A Possessed Talisman of Alterna I: The Lands of Paradise

Origin:

On the Lands, rumors speak about the existence of an unbreaking stone, which is said to house one of the 5 great Demons of Narcana.
This dark entity, assumed to be the Demon of Balance Equivalan, is believed to possess the power to directly influence the fate of mortals, where he trades fortune for misfortune and vice versa in a self judged manner.
However, unlike most other Demons, Equivalan is not able to freely roam the Lands on his own, and pick out his next host as he pleases.
Instead, he is said to have been sealed away inside of an unbreaking, polished black stone long ago, back in the Ancient Times when the Gods still held Narcana in their divine grasps.
Although instead of getting lost to time, the black stone was eventually discovered, and turned into a simple necklace, able to grant the Demon inside access to its wearers fate.
Capable of controlling both their luck and misfortune.

Appearance:

At a first glance, the talisman itself doesn't look like anything special at all. As it is just a small, polished black rock, hanging on a leather strap necklace.
However, if one would focus closely on the talisman before putting it on, hints of a dark energy of a powerful being residing within the black stone can be felt clearly. Making it obvious that this ordinary looking necklace isn't just all what it seems.

Main Use:

The talismans main use doesn't really differentiate from any other necklace, as it is either simply worn around one's neck as an accessory, or in some cases even treated as a good luck charm.

Special / Unique Properties:

Those who have worn the talisman have noticed that every time something bad has happened to them, something good also followed closely after in return and vice versa.
These exchanges, however, did not always appear to be of equal value to the wearer, as they ranged as far as stumbling over a lightweight pouch of coins in the forest, only to be ambushed by a pack of Malgrems shortly after. Or losing a minor game of cards in one of the Human Town's many taverns, just before finding a valuable treasure on a following quest.
Due to these sometimes quite fortunate exchanges of fate, many who came into possession of this talisman often found themselves simply entranced by the life-threatening gamble and potential wealth it might cause, and could not bring themselves to get rid of it on their own.
The only ones who eventually did manage to discard the talisman on their own fruition often had already suffered great loses caused by its fate altering ability, and just desperately wanted to free themselves of its merciless grasp by tossing it away.
However, getting rid of the talisman does not work as a guarantee, as those who were in possession of the talisman and wore it for an extended period of time noticed that the exchanges of fate did not simply stop afterwards.
In fact, most of the time they instead experienced how their luck started to steadily decrease, while their misfortunes began to pile up to an unbearable level of both physical and emotional agony. Until they would eventually be driven insane, yearning to get back the talisman and regain at least some of their good luck and happiness.
Furthermore, while the strap of the necklace itself might appear as just some ordinary and destroyable material, the polished black stone hanging from it seems to be unyielding to both raw physical strength, as well as high-level manifestations.

Additional Insights:

Since the core element of the talisman appears to be the polished black stone, in theory, it could also be turned easily into any other kind of accessory or even armor or weapon piece that allows for a gemstone to be socketed in.
And whilst black gemstones may not be the most common to be used for any sort of jewelry or combat gear, it is not entirely unheard of. As specifically back on Narcana, some forms of obsidian, that share a striking resemblance to the black stone, were often used to create fire based Arcanic Cores, due to their high affinity for volcanic energies.

Item type

Unique Artifact

Rarity

Legendary / Unique