Artifacts

Introduction

Technically, the word 'artifacts' can refer to multiple things. In this particular case (and among the Initiates as a whole) it tends to mean a particular category items typically born out of either Gods or powerful greater aberrants. There are also cases of artifacts created by other entities.
While not all of them are powerful, there are some that are counted among the powerful items one can get their hands on. And even those that aren't powerful can still allow one to do things otherwise impossible, making all of them valuable.

Creation

How exactly are artifacts born? Well, that is a bit complicated matter. By general rule, they are created from heavily concentrated magic that had 'will' imprinted on them. Artifacts can technically be created by humans, although this requires being on the level of a magister, heresiarch or either a Terminal-Stage Warlock or a demihuman Nightmare). However, this is rare.
It's caused mostly by the fact that such entities find it hard to gather enough power for it to be properly solidified through an act of an imprint of will. What's more, their intent tends to be much less focused, leading to many faulty baubbles being created. As a result, this is rare and typically only results in the creation of the lowest ranked artifacts. With very limited functionalities - and that if it's even working at all.
As a result, most of the 'proper' artifacts are created by either a god or a greater aberrant. It is achieved by an entity in question basically splitting itself to form an artifact. An example of that can be a weak Embodiment of Fire creating a lighter that will never stop working by splitting off a minuscule part of its own understanding of fire and giving it form.
This act weakens the entity in question. By how far, it depends entirely on how much of themselves they've put into the artifact. However, this isn't a permanent weakness. For example, in the example above, the Embodiment of Fire will eventually relearn what he put into the super-lighter.

Ranking

Artifacts are typically graded at least somehow, if only for the ease of classification (and, in some cases, taxation). There is no uniform worldwide ranking system for them, however (despite at least some attempts of the UN Supernatural Security Committee). Meaning that to properly explore the subject, one would have to explain several systems one after another.
As one can expect, most of those rankings are rather rough and highly subjective. They are also purely optional, and the supernatural communities of many countries simply do not use them. It's also not uncommon for many countries to classify artifacts by the power level of the entity that created them, while completely omitting the subject of just how much they've actually put into it.
What's common is that they tend to have a name, typically given to them by the creator. It's a bit of a cultural thing, reinforced by the fact that gods tend to always naturally have a name for the artifact they made. The same cannot be said for other categories, although at least the human creators tend to follow the trend, so to speak.

Examples

Quicktock - A magical clock created by an Outsider of Existence, being born of the Outsider's understanding of passage of time as seen by humans. It bestows an ability to alter the perception of time by its holder, for example to make a boring activity to be perceived as being very short, while making sure that the pleasant time drags on and on.