Hephaestus’s Fist
The Fist of Hephaestus is a gauntlet was worn by an champion of Merkaine known as Hephaestus. This agent of the fire mistress laid waste to entire armies of undead, leading the north to a brief period of more than just bare survival.
A steel gauntlet with black leather, the cuff bears the symbol of Merkaine and the back of the hand bears the ancient symbol of the ‘Burning Children of Merkaine‘, a long dead sect of Merkaine. The (left handed) gauntlet was worn by an champion of Merkaine known as Hephaestus. This agent of the fire mistress laid waste to entire armies of undead, leading the north to a brief period of more than just bare survival. It is said that he would call down the fire of Merkaine herself through his fist, flinging it in great waves against the armies of the Lich lords. Hephaestus’ time came to an end in one historic battle as the flames consumed his body and burned long enough to allow escape for his own army in around 7400 CY. After that day the Gauntlet was lost.
Item Powers (common and Attuned) can be found under Common Knowledge tab.
Detailed Overview:
Knowledge/Facts About/Chronicle of [Thing]
Information Sources: Mundane Reference | Associated Phenomenology Only | Specific Lore
Pervasive Knowledge / Very Easy Difficulty
Common Knowledge / Easy Difficulty
The gauntlet was crafted within a dragons flame upon the personal request of Merkaine herself. The elemental powers of her own essence, the dragons, and a fire elemental thriving in the core of the planet were channeled into this gauntlet. It was then presented to the ‘Burning Children’ sect, a group of fanatics who had become favored by Merkaine. They and all of their descendants supposedly had Merkaines’ essence coursing through them.
When the sect was destroyed the gauntlet was passed through the church, until it was bonded to an agent of the faith: Hephaestus. His exploits and renown led to the gauntlets current name. A risk taking man completely devoted to his cause, he drew power from the gauntlet that was dangerous for any other than the Burning Children. With this power he led exploits deeper into the forzen north than any before, inspiring the armies through sheer willpower.
iCore™ Hephaestus’s Fist Details
Requirements: Upon donning the left handed gauntlet the character must make a single fated sanity roll based on Conviction (those possessing none get no resistance) against the Fizzur Aura; failure indicates they are covered for 24 hours and lose 10-[CON+Conviction] in Health, and their eyes develop a small orange glow. Burning Children automatically succeed. Only Followers of Merkaine can bond with the item; non-followers cause the aura to persist (without the damage – unless the gauntlet is removed and re-donned). If the character does not with to Bond with the gauntlet, it may stay upon the wearer, but nothing can be grasped in the hand.
Common Effects: The gauntlet is Armoring of 16, and health of 400. Once the total has been reached, the gauntlets breaks apart, sliding off the wearer and reforms in 3 rounds. It can be healed while worn by followers in extreme flame – forge fire or other similar.
Bonded Effects: [1 CP and 1 Essence] Upon bonding to the character, the gaunlet cannot be removed without losing another Essence. For 1 synergy, the wearer can “hide” the gauntlet for 8 hours – it becomes part of the characters natural features and appears as a tattoo of gauntlet on their forearm. During this time, it cannot serve as armor. To return the gauntlet before the time ends requires an additional 1 synergy. The wearer can ‘charge’ the item to deliver additional damage added to the wearers next attack. Charging takes 1 am per damage to a max of the characters Strength+Conviction. A Conviction check can shorten the time to a single AM; fail;ure costs the wearer 5 synergy. Or, the gauntlet may imbue a held item (held by the left handed gauntlet) to disgorge flames by heating the gauntlet in flames (‘flame-charge’) of at least 4 base damage; for each 1 AM it holds 1 fire damage to a maximum of Conviction x 5 the heat until discharged. If the flames are held for longer than 3 rounds, the wearer will take 1 hard damage per hour; a Blessing from the goddess will allow the flame to be held for their Conviction in # days with no harm!
Greater Bonded Effects: [3 additional CP and 1 additional Essence] The gauntlet may be flame-charged for double on a successful SAN+Conviction check (1 hard damage and 5 synergy if failed). Blessings may be used to effectively add +4 to the wearers Conviction for determining the flame charge it can hold. Followers with a Conviction of 2, or who spend a blessing may throw the flame (Propel+Conviction = effective skill level) for a distance equal to their Conviction x 10m (targetted path around obstacles even!); They may use 10 synergy to double the range. For 5 synergy, any hard damage from a wound sourced in fire damage can be shrugged off into normal damage.
Followers with a Conviction of 3+ can flame-charge a held weapon which can then be used by others (within the 3 rounds). They may also form fire as a weapon – From no source a single flamming brand (no familiarity required) with base damage equal to their Conviction. If they flame charge it from a fire source, they take half the fire source’s base damage (minus their Conviction) and wields a brand of base damage equal to the other half of the flame’s base damage.
Burning Children Effects: It is said to grant acces to minor powers of the Occultist as though their Conviction was Sorcery and Synergy was thier
pool of power.
Uncommon Knowledge / Average Difficulty
Roughly 10 years after gaining possession of the gauntlet Hephaestus behavior began to change. The risks he was taking became less thought out, more hazardous with fewer rewards. He changed his personal device to that of a burning humanoid silhouette. He grew more and more seclusive, spending a large portion of time in meditation. It was just before his final battle that he announced to his army that he had been having vision, visitations of Merkaine’s avatar.
He described the avatar as a burning humanoid from, speaking in grunts as though the flames had burned away much of its natural ability to speak. It spoke of opportunity and the fortune of the army. He announced that the army would have Merkaines direct support in the coming battle. With this knowledge the army followed him without thought into what became a death trap. When the tides turned Hephaestus saw that the army was doomed, and burned his body and essence to fuel the gauntlet, creating a wave of flame that pushed back the hordes of undead, just long enough to permit retreat. In the chaos, some swore that they saw a burning figure beside him, who took the gauntlet and whisked away.
Scarce Knowledge / Hard Difficulty
Known to very few, it was later discovered by investigators of Hephaestus’ personal rooms that the figure he’d seen had in fact been a chimp surrounded by flame. After much study it was concluded that Hephasteus had been led astray by an obscure aspect of Malek. The knowledge was hidden away for the sake of the church’s reputation, but some few specialized scholars have stumbled across the old texts that have survived the ages.