Collapse Enchantment

Awldor    Natural Laws      Collapse Enchantment

I don't just pick things up here and there without checking them. Lost a good arm that way.

— Harry Stonejaw, Delver

Not every item was enchanted intentionally, especially when taking the nature of wild magic into account. There are times when uncontrolled arcane forces imbue a random item with magical properties- the strength and character of the enchantment occurring at random. Most of these enchanted artifacts were created during The Great Collapse, and so it is that certain places can be littered with magically enchanted items. Most of these items are curiosities, but some of them can be lethal to the unwary. This effect is called Collapse Enchantment owing to most items of this nature coming from the collapse period. Items with collapse enchantment are concentrated in certain areas, ancient ruins, over others, a dense forest.

Varieties of Enchantments

One can never know for sure what kind of enchantment an item has picked up without a thorough check. A seemingly simple spoon could cast prestidigitation or it could unleash a wave of thunder. Some items are a perpetual light source while others shroud themselves in darkness. Some appear to be capable of allowing communication with the dead. Some can enhance some innate ability of a person- such as strength. Some merely float in the air, often carried wherever the wind takes them. Still others have appear to be enchanted with the property to control and concentrate the magics of a use- some of these having been adopted as arcane focuses.
There is also some randomness when it comes to the stability of these enchantments. Some items maintain their magical properties constantly, while others can go through cycles. Still others are entirely unpredictable as to when they exhibit magical properties and so are the most dangerous. As such, it is wise to have a mage periodically assess the magical potential of any items recovered from the wild just to be safe.
Usually, the magical property of an item is lost when it is destroyed. However, for some items this is not so. Sometimes the magical enchantment remains, which can present an added hazard if several items utilized material salvaged from a single item with a potent magical property imbued by collapse enchantment.

Type

Metaphysical, Arcane

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Archivist Guild and the Enchanted Items

While not the primary mission of the Archivists Guild, the Archivists do secure some of the more dangerous enchanted artifacts whenever they can take possession of them without too much risk to the archive. There are other organizations who are primarily concerned with the retrieval and safe storage, or profitable selling, of Collapse Enchanted artifacts.

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Note(s) from the Archivists:

I'm always nervous when handling an item that was enchanted in the wild. Remember the plate that blew around all our manuscripts? - Archivist Rena
I remember having to clean that mess up. Do we know what caused it to do that? - Archivist Edward
Not a clue. That's way Taenya has it locked up. I heard that it still kicks up the air around it from time to time which you can hear if you listen closely. - Archivist Rena