Re: [RPM] Gem Lore, Lapidaries and Precious Stones as Traditional Trappings
 

Oooh, oooh! We got one (Iceland, that is) and until a few years ago, it was lying uncategorized and unaccounted for. A friend of mine working at the Prime Minister's office found it in diplomatic records and had someone figure out what to do with it. I think it's now at a museum or something.

Anyway, he told me that he briefly considered not mentioning his find to anyone and just taking the rock home. Not a single thing would have stopped him, but, then again, there is absolutely no way that he could have profited from doing so (beyond the pleasure of owning the rock personally and telling nobody, ever, about it). The evidence needed to authenticate it would have had to been left in obscure paper records no one had computerized or even thought about for decades.

Ah, indeed.

Re: [RPM] Gem Lore, Lapidaries and Precious Stones as Traditional Trappings
 

Not specific to meteoric iron, but it occurs to me that, as an ouroboros is often considered a symbol of eternity, a skeletal ouroboros may be good to represent an end to eternity, or even an eternal death. Plus, it would look f***ing metal. A bit of Google searching reveals, unsurprisingly, that I'm hardly the first to think of that interpretation (although your cultists are probably more likely to use a snake or human skull design than something that looks to have come from Alien, I'd think). A part of the Alchoboros' description also indicates something with the Greek letter omega could be appropriate (probably best for your New Age-type members, I'd think, as I don't recall you having any cultists with significant links to Greece). A broken ouroboros, infinity sign, ankh, etc could also work.

Thinking of how to possibly appropriate the omega concept to the other cultist's culture made me realize your Chinese cultists (and possibly the Japanese-American leader of the New Age-types) probably have some thematic connection to the number "4" with their mystical paraphernalia, as that's often considered to be an unlucky number associated with death in those cultures (indeed, I know in Japanese one of the pronunciations for the number is a homophone for "death," and I believe this is also the case in at least some Chinese dialects).

Re: Gemstones Useful for Evil Cultists
 

Due to the name, they could perhaps be used in spirit summoning to pay the spirit in 'food.'

Re: Gemstones Useful for Evil Cultists
 

Very nice ideas!

I'm particularly enamored of the symbolic significance of a broken ouroboros, infinity sign or ankh as occult objects for the cutists of the Keepers of the Last Hearth. Which of these would work best as jewelry or other decoration that would be recognizable as a broken symbol of eternity or life? I'm concerned that a broken ouroboros might just look like a coiled snake and the other two as absract symbols and would be very interested in designs that clearly convey the 'broken' part.
Good point.

Ah, indeed so!