Accursed Technology Chapter ideas

[Ross Watson]

Hello chaps,

 

I had some thoughts about what I’d like to do for the technology chapter.

 

My primary inspiration is all the cool modifications you can get to your weapons in Shadowrun. I’d like to do something like that for Accursed.

 

I’d like to put together some special materials: Blackbriar, Moonsilver, and Palmyrian Steel.

 

Regular wood and silver and steel exist, of course, but these three should be rather special.

 

Right now I only have a few ideas about what these materials actually do. Any ideas are welcome!!!

 

Below are my initial ideas:

 

Blackbriar:
Harder, more durable than regular wood (more powerful bows, etc.)

Inflicts more damage on vampires/dhampir than regular wood

Possibly can sprout dangerous thorns?

 

Moonsilver:

Harder, more durable than regular silver – weapons-grade Silver. Doesn’t tarnish.

Inflicts more damage on werewolves/certain banes than regular silver.

Bright and reflective – a moonsilver blade can serve as a mirror.

 

Palmyrian Steel:

Alternate names include Manreian Steel, Nachtmachen Steel. I was looking for a kind of “Damascus Steel” feeling.

Harder, more durable than regular steel.

Counts as cold iron for creatures vulnerable to that.

 

Other thoughts for Technology:

 

Custom grips

Alchemical lenses (essentially a scope for rifles/crossbows)

Smokeless cartridges

Revolving action rifle (latest thing from Manreia!)

Cold Iron and Silver shot

Melee hardening

 

Bandoliers, alchemical darksuits (sneaky at night!), alchemical nightgoggles (nightvision!)

 

Again, any thoughts or ideas are welcome!

[Darrell]

These look pretty cool. Here are a few more random ideas:

 

Moonsilver / Palmeryian steel alloys - maybe there are alchemical elements you can mix into those metals to give them special powers - gives off flame, is lighter than it should be, points north, glows in the dark -- any "magic weapon" trope you think would be cool.

 

Alchemical Baths - Similarly, maybe you can dip or soak a mundane item in some alchemical juices to give it bonuses: Boots that never need repair, tools that are harder to break, wooden cubes that explode if you press on them too hard... and by separating the "magic" into a separation "potion" players can have fun creating their own magic items. (Sorry if there's already a big alchemy discussion that does all this and I've missed it. I've been out of town and offline a lot in the past week.)

 

Can you coat something with moonsilver? Inlay something? So it's not as awesome as 100% MS thing, but maybe more affordable?

 

Do smiths and carpenters who work with these elements need special tools? special training? training that might get them into trouble with the witches?

 

okay, enough rambling...

 

- Darrell

[Scott Johnson]

Ross.

A few thoughts rattling around the 'ol noggin.

 

Wood

1. I like the idea of the Blackbriar growing thorns.

2. Perhaps the thorns might also work as a hurt-user/add power to item (thorns through your hands and the resulting blood does something magical?)

3. Sun-powered self healing properties? Leave the Blackbriar item in the sun and it mends itself?

 

Silver

1. Might be more/less effective under certain moon conditions/phases?

2. Special mirrors made to reflect vamps?

3. Scrying tool material? Magic mirror and the like? Makes moonlight act like sunlight (vamp=ouchy!)?

 

Steel

1. Different varieties using different alloys from different makers with different properties? Steel+Silver, Steel+Iron, Steel+Meteroic

2. Used as currency as well as raw material?

 

Maybe, more to come.

 

Later

SJ

[Patrick Dennis]

I like where you are going here. However, it should be pretty rare not to so much find one of these items but to find a blacksmith willing to make it or has the appropriate labs. If I were a crazy witch with monsters working for me, facilities to manufacture items like this would be a high value target. However Manrea did mass produce them during the war so they would be available/around.

---

From: Ross Watson <spy...@clansmith.org>
To: accursed-wo...@googlegroups.com
Sent: Thursday, August 8, 2013 10:22 PM
Subject: Accursed Technology Chapter ideas

[Ympulse Pulse]

Sorry if I'm late to the party, but here's some in-world thoughts on the materials mentioned.

Blackbriar: This fey-enchanted wood is exceptionally strong. Born by fey magics and treated by complex alchemical methods, this nigh-unbreakable wood is highly sought after by Vampire hunters and the Enochian order. Strong as Iron and as resilient as the forest itself, this wood is covered in half inch-long razor-sharp thorns.  The fey nature of the wood makes it even more dangerous to Vampires and Damphir. It is, however, immediately identifiable by it's appearance, as it is always ebony in color, and appears more to be a corded bundle of vines in it's prescribed shape, than a solid piece of wood. It is also rumored to have the ability to mend itself if broken by watering it with the blood of man. This leads to much speculation on Blackbriar's original origins and purpose.

Moonsilver: Regarded by many to be the rarest of the precious metals, Moonsilver (Also known as Truesilver by more superstitious peoples) is silver of exceptional quality. The origin of it's name, many suggest, came from the way it sparkles in it's natural state at night. As it is remarkably rare (Half again as scarce as gold, by all accounts) the material is notably a byword for the rich and royalty. When polished, the metal gives off a perfect reflection, and when worked like steel hardens to something equivalent to the finest Bronze. After the Witches invaded, many Moonsilver trays, mirrors, and other ornaments were remade into weapons to fight the various evils of the witches, and so finding Moonsilver weapons is much easier than finding Moonsilver dishes. The process of working the metal into a new form, however, takes an exceptionally skilled smith and a well-equipped forge, else the metal softens into something more akin to half-dried clay, it's natural state.

Palmyrian Steel: Forged by, if the tales are true, hundreds of different types of steel coming together under the workings of man, this steel-of-many-steels is the Apex of Metallurgy of this day and age. It's creation is such a closely guarded secret, that it is rumored that the Smith Guild that created it employs assassins to cut down any that conspire to steal or give away the information. Palmyrian Steel can be of many colors, and some of the more colorful specimens have waves of every hue imaginable in it's black-and-rainbow patterned layers. Impossibly strong, swords made of Palmyrian Steel have time and again cut through stones, Iron, and even other Steel swords when blade met blade. While other smiths have recreated it's appearance and, in some rare cases, come close to it's hardness, none have re-created what sets Palmyrian Steel apart from all others: it's apparent re-creation of the magical Cold Iron that is in short supply now that the Witches have done away with Cold Iron's production.