Verium Cloak

A Verium Cloak is protective piece of clothing worn by most Neph when traveling to the Mortalworld. It is able to hide one from prying mortal eyes and the supernatural senses of most monsters, fae, and demons. While in its visible state, a Verium Cloak manifests as a floor length black cloak with a heavy hood, able to be pulled down low over the wearer’s eyes. It is held together asymmetrically over the left shoulder with an Angelic Geld broach. The material of the cloak can also disappear into the broach, allowing the wearer to move around and fight more freely, whilst still providing all of the benefits of the full cloak.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

Verium Cloaks get their magical abilities from the enchantments placed on their Angelic Geld broaches by a Neph’s patron Angel. Angelic Geld is a metal found in The Reach, domain of the Angel of Craftsmen, that can easily be imbued with magic or enchantments. This metal may be variations of gold, silver or black in color depending on where in The Reach it was mined.
A patron Angel will re-enchant the broaches for each new Neph it is passed down to, which only enhances the prior enchantments on the broaches. This is mainly why older broaches, that have passed through more hands, are the most powerful. The main and most common enchantment that nearly every cloak has is invisibility, though a different enchantment for this must be placed for each realm a Neph is looking to use it in. How many or how powerful of an enchantment that is placed on the broach is entirely up to the patron Angel.

History

Verium Cloaks date back to the original creation of the Neph. The first Angel of Craftsmen, Nicodemus, carved the original 12 broaches himself – one for every major Angel in the arcana to give to their chosen Neph champion. These original broaches were the most intricately carved and imbued with the most magic and never-failing enchantments – not just invisibility and strength, but protection, intelligence, wisdom, grace, and virtue. All but one of these original cloaks are accounted for (the cloak from the house of the Angel of War’s went missing in battle and has not been seen in over a millennia). Subsequent Angels of Craftsmen have continued to make more in the image of those original twelve, but even they acknowledge their copies do not hold a candle to the beauty and power of the originals.
Ever Morganstern, prior to inheriting the mantel of Angel of Death, inherited an original broach from her father, Gabriel (who prior to this had not had a Neph champion or household to pass it down to). This broach consists of a startlingly silver wing that curves around a skeleton’s head with two lilies blooming out of its eyes.

Significance

Verium Cloaks are mostly considered the main and sacred tool of the Neph. The broaches are passed down over generations; the enchantments placed on them only strengthening as they are added to by newer patrol Angels.
Demons have historically had a hard time getting their hands on Verium Cloaks, especially without their own patron Angel to enchant them, but that has not stopped them from coveting them. Various head Angels over their reigns have persecuted anyone found with a Verium Cloak in their possession who wasn’t a Neph (see the aftermath of the first and second Fae Wars for more details).
There is currently a major policy shift in this matter with the signing of the Unholy Alliance between Ever, the current Angel of Death and Casmire, the Demon Prince of Darkness. Casmire’s most trusted demon soldiers, who were picked to help guard the veil and the humans in the Mortalworld, were given Verium Cloaks blessed by Ever herself as a symbol of their elevated status.

Item type

Armor

Creation Date

1 AGE

Weight

18gm

Dimensions

6cm by10cm

Raw materials & Components

The cloak is made of wool harvested from Shepard, the Messenger Angel’s sheep that graze in the Asphodel Fields. His devotees card, weave, and dye the wool until is it is whisper soft to the touch and as black as night. This wool provides a great deal of warmth when navigating the treacherous mountains of the Afterworld or the cold mortal winters. Some Neph who are assigned to warmer climates will line their cloaks with silk.
The broach, which must be worn and does not go invisible with the cloak, is the most important part of a Verium Cloak. These are intricately carved out of Angelic Geld by the Angel of Craftsmen and his apprentices, and consists of an angel’s wing tucked around the symbol of that particular Neph’s house. The most elaborate broaches would have taken weeks to carve and usually point to their particular age and potency. The number of craftsman that can carve these broaches has significantly decreased, especially after the third Fae War (which had targeted centers of production and craftsmen in a way the Afterworld has not yet recovered from).