Emerald Lantern
A very powerful artifact with a similarly great cost to its use. Originating on the continent of Shisui, the Emerald Lantern is capable of altering reality at its user's command. There are limits to this power, but precisely what those limits are is not known at this time.
The drawback to this power is that the Lantern fuels itself with the wielder's soul. Large-scale changes are frequently fatal to the user, and in most cases resurrection is impossible. Some users, such as the members of the Phoenix Clan party that briefly stole the lantern in September of 23 ARL, are believed to have survived use of the Lantern mostly unscathed, but the specifics of how this was accomplished and how much it did cost them are unknown.
It is also believed that the Lantern can only be properly used by a mortal wielder. When Malakai, a fallen angel, tried to test the Lantern, he knocked himself out just from using the Lantern to make a root magical and glowy.
History
The older history of the Emerald Lantern is largely unknown. As of 23 ARL, it is believed to have spent centuries (at a minimum) hidden away in the Chasm of the Lost. In September of 23, the boundaries between the material plane and the afterlife on Shisui were breaking down, and as the Lantern was believed to be one of the few things capable of restoring those boundaries, a mass hunt for the item was launched.
Some of the factions involved in the hunt wanted to use it to fix things. Others simply heard about the search and wanted the power of the item for themselves. It was one of the latter groups, an adventuring party from the Phoenix Clan of Shisui, that reached it first, stealing it out from under several other groups in the midst of a battle with one of the more monstrous of Necrosa's bodies. They escaped with the Lantern and, ignoring their own clan's city that was under siege by demons, flew to the Tower of Flying Cinders in hopes of looting it with the Lantern's power. The managed to make themselves a flying emerald fortress, but their attempts to affect the Tower resulted in the Tower's incineration, burning it (fittingly) to cinders.
While the party was arguing about what had happened and what to do next, their fortress was assaulted by the Shadows of Existence, who had also been hunting for the Lantern and had been fighting the Rift Dweller while the Lantern was being stolen. Much of the Phoenix Clan party was killed in the ensuing battle, and possession of the Lantern passed to the Shadows.
The next day, the Shadows brought the Lantern to the Unicorn Clan in keeping with a previous agreement. There, one of the clan elders sacrificed himself to the Lantern in order to at least restore the bounds between worlds in his clan's territory. Then the Lantern was taken to the Black Samurai in the south of the continent, and his partner sacrificed herself to it to restore the same protection for the whole of Shisui.
The Lantern has since been placed under the protection of Budo, Cardinal Dragon of Wood, in perpetuity.
Some of the factions involved in the hunt wanted to use it to fix things. Others simply heard about the search and wanted the power of the item for themselves. It was one of the latter groups, an adventuring party from the Phoenix Clan of Shisui, that reached it first, stealing it out from under several other groups in the midst of a battle with one of the more monstrous of Necrosa's bodies. They escaped with the Lantern and, ignoring their own clan's city that was under siege by demons, flew to the Tower of Flying Cinders in hopes of looting it with the Lantern's power. The managed to make themselves a flying emerald fortress, but their attempts to affect the Tower resulted in the Tower's incineration, burning it (fittingly) to cinders.
While the party was arguing about what had happened and what to do next, their fortress was assaulted by the Shadows of Existence, who had also been hunting for the Lantern and had been fighting the Rift Dweller while the Lantern was being stolen. Much of the Phoenix Clan party was killed in the ensuing battle, and possession of the Lantern passed to the Shadows.
The next day, the Shadows brought the Lantern to the Unicorn Clan in keeping with a previous agreement. There, one of the clan elders sacrificed himself to the Lantern in order to at least restore the bounds between worlds in his clan's territory. Then the Lantern was taken to the Black Samurai in the south of the continent, and his partner sacrificed herself to it to restore the same protection for the whole of Shisui.
The Lantern has since been placed under the protection of Budo, Cardinal Dragon of Wood, in perpetuity.
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