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

Has anyone done any work in reflecting the enormous number of real world beliefs about the mystical association of gemstones in Ritual Path Magic?

How would one implement using expensive and appropriate gemstones as the material for Charms of the right kind of magic, for example?

What are gemstones appropriate for working ice magic?

Or ones associated with entropy, either accelerating or slowing it?

What gemstones have evil reputations and associations with harmful magic? And what are some cool legends and myths that explain why?

Can anyone direct me to a good source, online for free or ebook available for purchase, which collects the associations precious stones have in various traditions, ideally with fun citations to medieval lapidaries and other esoteric sources, in a clear and gamable manner?

Basically, is there anything in the least bit like a Supressed Transmission, Pyramid article or meticulously researched GURPS supplement available for gemstones and ritual magic?

Or, perhaps, simply a well written book of popular scholarship on the subject?

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

I don't know about "well written" but the standards for this seem to be George Frederick Kunz _The Curious Lore of Precious Stones_ (a 19th century work that Dover keeps in print) and Scott Cunningham _Cunningham's Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem and Metal Magic_ (a more modern work aimed at the Wiccan community).

But keep in mind that premodern gems are basically classified only by color and transparency, so the meanings assigned will typically be the same as the meanings assigned to the color in the same tradition, and the overlap with modern conceptions of what gems are which may not be very good.

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

For a primary source you could check out Theophrastus On Stones and maybe Pliny's natural history. I think that there was a classical tradition that diamonds were made from ice of the Hindu Kush.

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

I like that, about the diamonds.

As it turns out, the PCs have discovered a trove of diamonds, almost cartoonishly big and glittering. One of them has (without any skill) valued them at 'hundreds of millions of dollars', while another has confidently claimed that these are theatrical props, because no one actually owns dozens of flawless multi-carat diamonds.

Investigation might reveal that there have been several reported thefts of diamonds in USA in the last months, though nowhere near enough to account for more than a dozen diamonds who each look to be worth something between a new sport car and a used yacht. Though excellent investigation, some successful rolls and use of contacts and Patron might reveal that in the past three months; several insurance companies, owners and/or police departments have made attempts of varying success to avoid publication of diamond thefts, successful or not.

Oh, and the diamonds were glowing with energy that a Thaumatology skill check confirmed looked pretty magical, and which other details in the scene suggested might have some pretty chilly connotations.

Gemstones as Re-Usable Charms
 

To take an example of how I'd like to use the mystical associations of gemstones, I want it to be more efficient, magically, to bind a conditional spell to a vessel which is mystically synergistic with it, than it is to use any random breakable object.

For some valuable and sought-after gemstones, I'd want an incentive for magic users to collect them. This might mean simply very high-quality specimen of the desired gemstone, but it could also mean stones mined in certain locations, collected under specific circumstances or with a unique history.*

It's a given that gemstones count as Traditional Trappings in magical workings with themes that match the associations of the stones. Most 'precious' stones, especially in a TL8 world, aren't all that expensive, at least not compared with other PC gear.

But might rare and expensive gemstones be more than just Traditional Trappings and actually function as kind of 'magic items', even though no one specifically enchanted them?

It seems to me interesting if one of the consequences of magic starting to appear again in my campaign world (otherwise the modern world) is that certain specialist markets, in the real world maintained only by collectors and the thoughtlessly rich, will see an influx of some odd investors and buyers, looking for very specific items at auctions. This is already a feature of archaeological and philological auctions in many settings where RPM is a natural fit, like GURPS Cabal, but it seems to me that the markets for high-end gemstones would be another interesting arena for ritual magicians to encounter each other.

For this to occur, however, some feature of gemstones will have to justify occultists spending thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars on them. At least assuming competent occultists.

Having gemstones be power items is a classic, especially if the gemstones can only store energy usable in rituals which suit the mystical associations of gemstones, so that's probably what I'll do. But I'd like alternatives to having the astronomical prices of gemstones consist only of paying for portable energy sources. For one thing, it would mean that either the most expensive ones were terribly overpriced for their game-mechanical function, or my campaign world has an abundance of very high energy power items, which might not always be desirable.

To take another potential benefit, what would it be worth for an RPM caster, in terms of character points or dollar value, to have a re-usable Charm item, which would save ritual magicians the time to prepare the vessel before they make a Charm using it?

Primarily useful for Charms with a duration, which starts as soon as the Charm is made, rather than Conditional Spells which require the destruction of the Charm object.

The game effect, it seems to me, is to save the character 30 minutes whenever he makes a new Charm of a certain defined kind. This makes it less bothersome for a magician to carry several amulets, protective items and knick-nacks, but doesn't actually increase his power much, as he can't cast any more powerful rituals as Charms.

Basically, by spending the resources to have a gemstone associated with the Charm he casts every day, a ritual magician can exchange capital for increased leisure, but due to the cap on the number of conditional spells he can have and the way effective skill for gathering energy limits the power of Charms, the capital really isn't going to allow him to turn it into more capital (through increased personal power).**

So it seems fairly safe for me to allow this, but I need advice on how expensive gemstones need to be to qualify for such a bonus. Obviously, very narrow mystical associations that allow this benefit only for a single ritual or perhaps a small related group would cost less than gemstone that aid many types of magic, perhaps even allowing all kinds of rituals to be cast into it as Charms without preparing it first.

Yes, I am considering that for flawless diamonds of certain awesome values. Or, indeed, for any kind of fantastically expensive gemstones which have a reputation as strengthening magic, as opposed to just a subset of magical workings.

Conditional Spells and Energy Cost

I've always felt that it was somewhat strange that it took almost the same kind of sacrifice in terms of a wizard's time to prepare a Charm object for a toy for a child that is obviously only a few energy points in the setting, like Gandalf's firework charms he gives to hobbit children, as it does for binding the most powerful ritual that a magician can cast.

Granted, the gathering of energy is different, but as it is often the 30 minute preparation that is significant in terms of how much of the mage's day is wasted by making the bound spell, these two Charms are likely almost identical in terms of the evaluation that goes into how willing a PC magician is to make them and give them to other people.

If I'm allowing gemstones to work in substituting money for a wizard's time, it would probably be best to have the cheaper kinds of gemstones only able to hold conditional spells up to a certain energy cost and have it take much more expensive ones to hold the most powerful conditional spells.

This kind of rule would probably be best introduced alongside a rule that drops the flat '30 minutes per Charm object' preparation time and instead scales the base time required with the energy cost of the spell you are going to store, as well as a rule that imposes a penalty to Path of Magic rolls for powerful conditional rituals that are not anchored in some way.

With such optional rules, having very powerful rituals available as conditional spells would require either great expense or elaborate preparation, which seems to me desirable.

Edit:

My un-playtested idea is to have the base time to prepare a charm object equal the energy cost of the spell that the ritual magician plans to bind in it. This can be modified with the Time Spent rules, but the penalties are applied to the rolls to gather energy for the ritual to be bound.

More expensive Charm objects with specific mystical associations with the kind of Charm you want will reduce the time without a penalty to gather energy. I was thinking of the steps being stolen from the 'Crafting Penalties Table' on Thaumatology: RPM p. 16, so that each level (0.5%, 1%, 2%, 5%, 10%, 20%, 50%, etc.) of the percentage of the starting wealth would allow the caster to ignore one step of penalty for taking less time to prepare the Charm object.

It follows, then, that at 1000% of Starting Wealth ($200,000) at TL8, a caster could have a charm item that would allow him to ignore -10 in penalties for preparing his Charm object in less time, or effectively instant (which Christopher Rice has said he would read as 1 minute), no matter the energy cost of the ritual.

I'd welcome suggestions on whether to use this pricing for charm objects that affect all types of magic and apply a limitation to more narrow uses, or to use this as the generic 'one Path or equivalent grouping of effects' and modify it in both directions.

Does anyone have opinions on this? Warnings? Advice?

Gemstones as Items with Magical Patina (Usually Aspected)

Alternatively, and perhaps more prone to abuse, I'll also feature gemstones that give a bonus to rolls to gather energy when used as Charm objects, but as these are just items that naturally come with a Magical Patina, I don't need any new rules or interpretations to do this.

Well, I do need to determine the point or dollar cost that is fair for starting play owning items with a Magical Patina that makes it easier to affect them (and them only) with rituals, either of a narrowly defined kind or maybe even with all kinds of rituals. In game terms, the utility is making this item extra neat as the Charm object for any such rituals you plan to carry with you as Conditional Spells. But, in any case, this latter rule requirement is not specific to gemstones, it applies to everything.

I've basically been making ad hoc calls based on how many points PCs spent on items as Gadget-based powers, Signature Gear, Named Possession and Equipment/Item Bond, these items also ought to have a Magical Patina relevant to their character, at least if remotely applicable.

Granted, it makes Signature Gear and Named Possession Perks more awesome than in vanilla GURPS, but that's fine, I wanted to encourage PCs to own family heirlooms, come up with histories for their items and, generally, take the risk to use the same items more than once, despite the existence of modern forensics, because the rules of magic encouraged forming attachments to things in the campaign world.

*Though that last interacts with normal magical items in the campaign, as items with a Magical Patina from many years of devoted, repeated enchantments or connections with Places of Power, or who have been the Named Possessions of significant people with a connection to the current owner, may acquire mystical significance even without formal enchantment. Certain rituals may then serve to awaken such mystical potency and attune it with a current bearer, in game terms, allow him to spend character points on the items himself.
**In any case, you've said in the past that it wouldn't break anything to use the Time Spent rules on the time required to make or prepare the physical charm, applying any penalty for quick preparation to the rolls to gather energy. So ways to get around the time requirement of 30 minutes before casting a ritual into a Charm already exist, just with increased skill instead of resources.

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

Sort-of related. The Hope Diamond is said to be cursed. Its owners have supposedly met with great misfortune until it was given to the Smithsonian Museum. It is currently displayed for the public to see on the second floor of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D. C..

Possible adventures include:
* Save the nation! The curse is about to enact its work on the United States of America, the current owner! The PCs have to somehow get the stone away from the country, by means fair or foul. (Of course, this means that the curse falls to them ...)
* The MacGuffin. Obviously this is a powerful magical artifact. Obviously the bad guys want it to enact their evil plans. The PCs need to stop the jewel heist.

Luke

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

Indeed so.

I rember thinking that the security didn't look like much, not to a team of intrepid GURPS characters with the usual total disregard for danger, discomfort and the dictates of civilized conduct, at least so long they could justify everything through the prism of their strict codes, vows or obessions, driving them onward to ever greater adventures.

Both. It's most likely cursed, but, it is also a powerful artifact, presumably powerful enough to enable the use of the sort of world-ending rituals that PCs oppose, if only because the world is where they keep all their stuff.

So, when the PCs find out that the antagonists mean to steal it, they've got to choose whether to pass all their data to MiBs of dubious honour, likely dooming themselves to unpleasant attention forevermore after having had to reveal so much of their ways and means in order to convince the government to hide the stone somewhere safe, not to mention exposing unknown elements in the Deep State to the temptation of having a magical thermonuclear device that can in theory power any ritual, or... well, steal it themselves before the villains do and then deal with the curse, because that's their unhappy lot in life.

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

The Koh-i-nor has a similar reputation - legend has it that no man may wear it without suffering disaster - it may only be safely worn by a god or a woman. Thus, although part of the British Crown Jewels, it is normally worn by the Queen Consort (that said, it has been worn by two Queens regnant as well...).

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

Gems from a mine in a vile vortex might be more powerful then normal. I see three on land, two in Africa, one in north-east India/south-west Asia.

Modern analysis or a good eye and lots of experience can tell which min a stone came from, mines might be aspected if something drastic happened there.

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

Always look for the third way solutions. Let the villains steal it, kill them, and dump the diamond into the same grave as the bodies, so they still "own" it if anybody does.

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

If you know exactly when the villains plan to steal it and how they plan to get out, that's a possible plan.

It does mean that you probably don't have to worry too much about these villains, though, as you evidently were capable of dealing with them at any point you chose, which does bring up some questions as to why you even allowed things to get this far.

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

Of course it's cursed. Everyone who owned it died. Everyone who visits the Smithsonian died or will die.

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

If you don't think you can take the main villains, helping some third party steal it and blowing up the airliner they are fleeing aboard over the mid-Atlantic seems well within the ethical boundaries of most PCs.

I'm sure there are less evil options too, though a lot hinges on what other than theft the curse will regard as a transfer of ownership.

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

All true.

On the subject of PC evil, one of my players designed a sympathetic, merciful, Charitable Monster Hunter motivated by religion. Not a Knight Templar, but a Good Shepherd type, concerned with saving everyone, not punishing evil.

Then he started playing and couldn't understand why everyone was fairly nonplussed with his brutality and ruthlessness. He was upset that anyone would interpret Charitable as preventing the instant and merciless execution of anyone who might hurt another person, whether now or in the future.

The PC was docked character points when experience was awarded, for explicitly choosing to use Intimidation instead of Diplomacy to disarm a confused young man holding a sacrifical knife and axe, both of which he's tried to use on the PC, at defaul, with his eyes closed, while crying "Death! Death!" in the least manly voice since Pee Wee Herman. The player had wanted to use the stock of his shotgun instead of social skills and the use of Intimidation was a compromise because he got some disapproving looks. The literal justifiaction for choosing Intimidation: "I want to make the little **** cry. I think I can make him **** himself on a good roll."

He did.

After that, I had a talk with the player and removed Disadvantages he had never once displayed any sign off in three sessions, except when prompted by others at the table, like Charitable and Guilt Complex. Added On the Edge and a Quirk that the PC is a real ****** when threatened.

Retcon makes the character sheet match the PC being played, rather than the tragic and heroic figure created. And I think it's official. This player, nice as he is in real life, simply cannot play virtuous people. The available range is from utterly amoral psychopath to ******s on the side of good. The Punisher, through Dexter on to Jayne in Firefly or Titus Pullo in HBO's Rome. If they can't casually commit acts of mayhem and at least low-grade comedic sociopathic villainy without violating a Disadvantage, the player is evidently not on board.

I guess some people just want to raise a family, love and provide for them the lifelong day and then, every week or so, eat fast food and pretend to be someone who wants to see the world burn. Or at least bully weaklings into bladder failure and uncontrollable crying, while saving the world through ruthless murder and one-liners.

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

Just so. I'll have to check if any diamond mines are within the area of the African ones. Haven't checked the exact boundaries of the Zimbabwe Vile Vortex and if it reaches into Zambia, South Africa and other neighbouring countries. I mean, I know it covers more than just some of Zimbabwe, but haven't pulled out a map and worked it out.

A lot of diamonds come from this general part of the world. If the right parts fit into the area I settle on for this particular Vile Vortex, it adds a compelling reason to be very wary of anyone who collects huge diamonds.

Checking a map of diamond mines, I think that there is a reason to assume that Kimberlite diamonds, just as a general rule, are not to be trusted. Are they even native to Earth or have they 'always' been in the earth as the result of something bleeding over from another world in the past?

Look at how they cluster at that particular Vile Vortex!!!

Are all concentrations of Kimberlite diamonds outside this Vile Vortex somehow conneted to it? Or at least to another Vortex? Are they Places of Power?

Random Fact About the Bahia Emerald
 

From Wikipedia about the Bahia Emerald

The Bahia Emerald is one of the largest emeralds and contains the largest single shard ever found. The stone, weighing approximately 752 lb (341 kg) (approximately 1,700,000 carats) originated from Bahia, Brazil and is emerald crystals embedded in host rock. It narrowly escaped flooding during Hurricane Katrina in 2005 during a period of storage in a warehouse in New Orleans. It was subsequently reported stolen in September 2008 from a secured vault in South El Monte in Los Angeles County, California. The stone has been valued at some $400 million, but the true value is unclear.

Say, what, now?

What is the true value?

What being, magician or band of magicians needs this much power?

What kind of rituals does emerald help?

Also, love the wording in a linked Wired article on Wikipedia:

"Fourteen individuals or entities, plus the nation of Brazil, have claimed the Bahia emerald is theirs."

Heh. Entities.

Edit: It just gets better!

A house burned down. Three people filed for bankruptcy. One man alleges having been kidnapped and held hostage. Many of the men involved say that the emerald is hellspawn but they also can’t let it go. As Brian Brazeal, an anthropologist at California State University Chico, wrote in a paper entitled*The Fetish and the Stone: A Moral Economy of Charlatans and Thieves, “Emeralds can take over the lives of well-meaning devotees and lead them down the road to perdition.”

Ahahahah!

Then, according to some (apocryphal) tellings of the emerald’s history, the mule team dragging it through the rain forest was attacked by panthers—or some other animal—and the miners themselves had to carry the 752-pound emerald the rest of the way to civilization.

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

Would diamonds from the Canadian diamond mines be especially attractive to the cold entities? Two of them look like they are north of the Arctic Circle.

The Jericho Diamond Mine was the third diamond mine in Canada and the first in Nunavut territory. It is located about 250 miles northeast of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The mine was opened by Tahera Diamond Corporation and produced diamonds from 2006 to 2008 but the company lost money. In 2010, Shear Minerals, Ltd. acquired the property with the intent of bringing the mine back into production.

https://geology.com/articles/canada-diamond-mines/

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

Well, I don't know how large the Vile Vortices over each Pole are, but I'm going to go out on a limb and state that by the basic laws of magic, diamonds mined in freezing areas like the north of Russia or Canada have an extra chance of being mystically significant to the Keepers of the Last Flicker.*

And, oh, any suggestions for famous or valuable diamonds that are owned by someone on the West Coast or stored there would be great. The PCs discover that there have been a lot of diamond thefts in the US in the last couple of months, some reoported in the media, most not appearing in open source publications, for one reason or another. I'll need to drop names of famous stones and/or famous people who've been victims.


*My as-yet-not-used-in-play term for the villainous cult associated with the Lords of the Last Waste. Until actually discovered by the PCs in play, I can change it, so if it sounds cheesy or someone has a better idea, chime in.

The image I want to convey are men clustered around a small campfire, burning low, surrounded by endless darkness. I considered using 'embers' and 'hearth' as part of the title, but haven't found anything that pops.

The most evocative thing the concept made me think of iunfortunately doesn't seem suitable for the title of their organisation, it's a phrase from a poem by Dylan Thomad and the title of a G.R.R. Martin story, 'The Dying of the Light'.

The villains' title should be interpretable to infer that their organisation is maintaining the last campfire, not seeking to douse it.

They can use the phrase as a recognition signal, though, and one of the antagonists is carrying a credit card with a name that appears in Martin's story.

Diamonds Owned by Hollywood Stars
 

Does anyone know who among Hollywood stars or other rich (and probably famous) California people might own a collection of diamonds or perhaps just a single very valuable one?

Without any evidence, I assumed that the area around LA was substantially above average in the world in terms of how many really valuable diamonds could be found in private collections there. But perhaps diamonds are too classy for Hollywood and it's mostly European old-money people who own the top thousand most expensive stones in the world?

Even then, there have got to be some notable diamonds in the hands of Hollywood stars?

Where might I start to look?

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

Googling biggest diamonds in Hollywood led me to https://www.harpersbazaar.com.au/cel...nt-rings-14812

and http://www.capetowndiamondmuseum.org...s-of-all-time/

which might have some other useful articles

and https://www.pinterest.com/hancockjew...-in-hollywood/

https://www.worthy.com/blog/for-what...-diamond-ring/

from the last article sounds like you want https://www.mouawad.com/en/diamonds/diamond-gallery

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

Thank you.

I suppose some instinct of sanity-preservation led me to Google only diamonds and gems, reading through the history of various famous ones, but avoiding any Googling of Hollywood engagements.

I can see that I must delve into these unsavory accounts of forbidden knowledge, however, if only to learn how to oppose such things.

Robert Mouawad, however, like the occult mastermind that he is (undoubtedly, at least in my campaign), bought a private residence in Beirut, where he was born, and took great care to keep the deeply significant house, belonging to a mysterious and esoteric figure, who was murdered in a very dramatic fashion (but not in this home) exactly as it was, to make it his Sanctum and have the protection of its Threshold, to protect his collection. He also has an occult library there.

See:

That is the sort of thing that players might call shenanigans on, as too cliche and implausible in a setting that's supposed to resemble the real world, except that it really exists.

In any case, however, the NPCs who were stealing diamonds were based on California, because they are not the sort of people who'd have any plausible way to travel the world on a globetrotting mission of derring-do and stylish villainy. I'll have to find some suitable gems for them to steal in vulgar Tinseltown and environs, as they are a rather shabby sort of villains.

Well, I suppose that the female of the pair is rather more elegant, significant and capable. With the right partners, she could no doubt rob any vault in the world, acquiring diamonds from a variety of private collections. But she was assigned to work with a magician valuable for his undoubted educated intellect and arcane ability, even though he is, in terms of personality, a pitiful dweeb.

A pitiful dweeb, moreover, who really only had the Cultural Familiarity, connections and language ability to operate in the United States, specifically, the California from whence he came. In fact, when the PCs encountered them, these villains were not actually carrying out the dark will of their distant masters, they were engaged in a bit of personal business on behalf of said dweeb, due to the relative proximity of Dallas, where they were on their real business, to Houston, where the dweeb had tracked someone he wants for personal reasons.

It's just that they were in possession of 34 diamonds, each of which was cartoonishly large, and which if real, would be worth something north of 100 million dollars. And their sad little freshman philosophy nihilist driver said that these had been 'fetched' from a bunch of houses, mostly around LA, the help of some South Americans, who sound like, frankly, gangsters.

Which may or may not check out, as the PCs recall a diamond heist or two in the news in the last months, but certainly not enough of them for so many awesomely expensive gems to be on the loose. Then again, the PCs did find out that a number of Hollywood people had approached one or more of the police, private security companies and their insurers because of something that might have been an attempt, successful or not, to steal from them, but that either the apparent victims or the police had successfully prevented the media from finding out.

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

Right, Cunningham was available in Kindle form and I'm in the process of learning modern stone magic.

I suppose I'll have diamonds be magical enhancers in general. Diamonds are different from other precious stones in being a highly unusual form of a pure element, which is also the element that makes up all life. Diamonds can be associated with projective energies or receiptive ones, depending on what we choose to emphasise. They're forged in fire and look and feel like ice.

Diamonds are colourless. Diamonds are all colours. Diamonds are life, the building blocs of it encased in crystalline matrix. Diamonds are death, composed of dead bodies buried for untold aeons and burned until none of the processes of life are possible any more.

Diamonds store, focus and enhance magical energies. They are batteries for mystical workings and whether good or evil depends on the flavour of the energies collected.

Sound about right?

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

Sounds about the best reasoning I ever heard.
Most sources are primarily based on color alone.

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

Well, feature 34 gigantic diamonds that are fairly glowing with arcane energy, and you'll find yourself having to justify a lot.

Like where they came from and how they work. Not to mention what they were actually meant to be used for, because the PCs, even in their most narcissist moods, don't really believe that what might be over $100 million in magical tools was meant to be used against them, by some cult they've never heard of. One villainous caster did start to draw on the diamonds, but only after they'd invaded the Bad Place where he kept his spellcasting sanctum, and he even apologized to his sacrifice/victim that this was not how it was supposed to go.

As best the PCs can tell, such a concentration of magical energy must have been intended for an absolutely huge ritual, the sort you'd perform at a carefully chosen place and time to maximize your potential bonuses. And, well, it's currently the 28th of December in play. Midnight on New Year's Eve sounds like a pretty good time to cast any ritual that brings in something from Outside, like the villainous occultist tried to do with his panicked drawing on the gemstones.

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

How do artificial gems work? I mean, you can pull a flawless ruby crystal the size of a trash can out of a melt of aluminum oxide and a bit of chromium. We can even produce artificial diamonds using carbon vapor deposition; this is more challenging, but 10 carat cut diamond gems have been made from synthetic stock and the upper limit is only going to grow as interest in bulk diamond for industrial applications grows.

Luke

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

They don't, obviously.

They might be able to hold magical energy the way any ordinary Charm object might, but mystical potency is strongly correlated with whatever intangibles that cause humans to value certain stones far above others.

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

So what happens if a fake, manufactured gem is passed off as real, and believed to be so?

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

Either something anti-climactic, when the gem fails to produce any effect, or something very dramatic, if, say, massive amounts of magic energy are focused through it and the inauthentic stone proves utterly unable to handle even a fraction of that power, exploding into a terrible magical botch and/or razor sharp shards of manufactured diamond.

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

So what if it's a *valuable* fake? I can't imagine there aren't fakes out there that were worn by famous film star A in award winning film B, or were part of the crown jewels of nation N for three centuries before being discovered to be polished glass, or decorated the favorite dildo of adult magazine mogul X, that would go for quite a lot of money if put up for auction even though everybody knew they weren't real gems.

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

I should imagine that could be a very useful tool for magical workings in the field of illusion or anything to do with surface impressions, faking status, etc.

But it probably wouldn't be useful as the setting equivalent of a 'manastone', however.

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

We might have misinterpreted this to mean that human belief in a stone's value is what imbues it with power, when you meant that a real gem's intangible qualities is what gives it both magical power and high human regard?

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

Yes?

Honestly, from the perspective of thaumatological theorists in the setting, how would one know the difference?

Magical effects are persistently not replicable in a scientific context. Any kind of instruments meant to collect data on magical processes or objects tend to interfere with whether magic does anything all.

There are occultists who deny entirely the hypothesis that human belief has anything to do with preternatural phenomena. Any correlation between human belief and the shapes of supernatural beings, rules of magic, etc., they chalk up to magic in previous eras having shaped human expectations and legends.

Basically, when magic seems to actively resist scientific measurement and analysis, it's really hard to separate the personal prejudices and peccadilloes of occultists from their theories about how magic works.

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

What effect would making the artificial diamond out of human ashes be, if any? I know that it's a real thing, mostly offered as a way to carry a loved one with you, but in a setting with magic it opens up possibilities.

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

Well, I'd certainly be inclined to make such an item have any qualities associated with objects made from human remains, i.e. skull goblets, grimoires written on human skin, etc.

Then it's also quite compact, which is neat.

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

Both the Hope and the Koh-I-Noor supposedly have a curse. The Hope was by one legend stolen though it could be it was more likely given (Grand Moguls don't SELL things to common merchants of course but they might give) and this offended the god whose eye it once was. The Tamil have erotic imagery around jewels which is kind of-gooey-but interesting. The Koh-I-Noor (mountain of light) was grabbed by the warlord Nadir Shah from the Mogul Muhammad "the pleasure-loving" which cognomen gives an idea of his unbellicose tastes and why he lost. When Nadir Shah died his bodyguard who was surprisingly loyal during life fled with his retinue to Afghanistan and set up on his own with some of the treasures in Nadir Shah's palace. Then it ended up in the hands of the Sikhs who had walloped the Afghans and the Brits who had walloped the Sikhs, and are you sensing a pattern?

The Koh-I-Noor has a good biography by William Dalyrmple

There is more then enough bloodshed surrounding the Koh-I-Noor to give it a whole army of ghosts.

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

Speaking of human remains in diamond form, how I did it in my game was the stones were predisposed to being enchanted. Especially into power stones. They would start equal to the FP + power reserve of the individual, and could be enchanted to hold more with less chance of failure.

Turned into a bit of setting, where powerful mages would have there remains enchanted to help there descendants.

I also allowed them to be enchanted as grimores, aspected around the deceased favorite spells.

They were also quite useful for necromancy spells.

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

It sounds kind of like my idea of using the iron in a person's blood to make a necromantic sword. Of course, the average adult human male only has about 3 g of iron in their body ( a bit less for females), so you would need to exanguinate on the order of 100 people to get your blade. So you end up with a blood iron blade of mass murder - just perfect for your evil undead sorcerer.

Luke

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

When my PCs arrived in the metaphysical antechamber that would take them to the Dreamlands, equipment suitable for fantasy heroes awaited them. Mostly, these were items that either the lead caster or the other PCs had imagined as suitable and, aside from items brought along as metaphysically bound to the essence of the characters (i.e. Signature Gear), none of it was made from iron, silver or any other substance that might affect supernatural creatures in any dramatic fashion.

With the exception of one weapon that no one had imagined or incorporated into the ritual. A gently curving blade of reddish steel, glowing with a purple glow, melting the ice it was embedded in.

From the design and the similarities of certain sigils on it to ancient African petroglyphs, one PC tentatively identified it as the product of a great pre-Atlantean civilisation in Africa.*

From some sense he got about the blade, he also linked it to an apocryphal story he heard about the origin of ironworking in that great orichalcum-using culture, as a ritual of sacrifice where the blood of victims was alchemically rendered into iron to construct a blade of terrible fury, hunger and portent.


*He has odd notions, but his auto-didactic archeology, anthropology and linguistics skills are surprisingly good.

Diamonds as RPM Power Sources
 

Standard GURPS Magic or DFRPG fatigue points (FP) aren't exactly equal to RPM energy, with most authorities recommending multiplying FP costs by x2 or x3 to get ballpark RPM energy.

On the other hand, GURPS Magic and DFRPG assume a more or less TL3 economy, whereas I'm using RPM in a TL8 one.

With that in mind, if diamonds can store gathered energy like DF Power Objects or Powerstones can store FP, what would be a good system to connect capacity with cost?

I'm using diamonds of obscene cost as more or less plot devices, assuming that the least of them have at least enough energy to power typical rituals of 30-50 energy and that the diamonds worth literally millions of dollars are storing at the very least hundreds of energy, but it might be a good idea to nail down the exact capacities, now that the PCs are well and truly on board with using the stones.

Gemstones Useful for Evil Cultists
 

Does anyone have any ideas as to which minerals or precious stones might be useful for rituals cast by the Keepers of the Last Hearth, an apocalyptic cult using a specialized loss-based version of the Path of Nonexistance and worshiping the Lords of the Last Waste (or the Cold Ones), vast, cool and unsympathetic intelligences existing Outside of this universe, associated with the end of everything, cold, dark, death and loss?

I've had them using diamonds, which are pretty much universal RPM 'manastones' in my campaign, but what other gemstones might they favor?

And, as for those cultists who were previously magicians in different traditions, such as Chinese Gu or Gong Tau or various Indigenous South American traditions, what are good minerals or gemstones to associate with different kinds of dark magic?

Onyx and obsidian seem obvious. What else?

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

Jet was often used for funerary and mourning jewellery, as was so-called "marcasite".

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

Excellent.

And I like the religious touch of jet rosaries, it sounds like something for Sister María Teresa. Fool's gold also has some excellent poetic connotations for cultists who consider clinging to this world a deluded vanity.

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

Are you interested in objects of semi-precious stone that might be significant because of their crafting as distinct from their composition? Intaglios, cameos, seals, signets, and Mesopotamian cylinder-seals?

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

Oh, certainly, no sense in overly restricting ourselves.

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

Looking up some information about mourning jewelry (often made of the previously-mentioned jet), apparently pearls are used to signify that the deceased was a child, which seems to play strongly into the Last Waste's theme of despair and loss. White enamel is also apparently used in mourning jewelry to indicate the deceased was a woman who died unmarried and a virgin; while perhaps not as useful for the rituals, I could see Sister María Teresa having a rosary of jet with white enamel accents in remembrance of her friend and fellow nun who's loss pushed her over the edge (she might also be able to use it as something of a magical focus).

As for how precious stones might be used, I'd suggest making use of Decanic trappings. You don't have to use the Decans for this, just the system. That only breaks things into "expensive" and "inexpensive," with the former just being anything worth half a month's income or more (I think it's specifically that character's income, but making it match Average income for the campaign setting would probably be ok). Given that precious stones are going to be well beyond this, expanding it might be a good idea. TL8 Average monthly income is $1300, but we'll round this up to $1400 (so that half is $700). I'd be tempted to use something like the following:This is for items consumed in the ritual; those that are simply used as foci, and thus are reusable, are treated as though they were worth 1 category less (if Sister María Teresa's mourning rosary is worth $3,000, that's 20 DP if she sacrifices it for a ritual, but only 10 if she uses it as a focus). This also assumes the object is an appropriate sacrifice; an extremely appropriate sacrifice might be worth +1 category (I'd be tempted to do something like +1/2 category, 100 DP becomes 150 DP, say), while an only marginally appropriate one might be worth -1 category. Using more than one expensive component treats the second as being worth one category lower, the third two categories lower, etc - if you had 3 gemstones worth $15,000 each, and you consumed all three in a single ritual, the first would be worth 50 DP, the second 20 DP, and the third 10 DP, for a total of 80 DP. The above monetary values are minimums - a $100,000 gemstone is worth 100 DP - although you could opt to allow for in-between values (that $100,000 gemstone is 13% of the way between $70k - 100 DP - and $300k - 200 DP - so 113 DP would be appropriate). Optionally, using the item as the "housing" for a Charm counts it as though it were worth more for purposes of Decanic trappings; probably not a whole category, but some boost may be appropriate. Because under the current rules 300 DP would be a 100% discount, that would need expansion as well. Something like this might work (note it's identical to what's in GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic up to 50%/100 DP):This should be easy to extrapolate in-between values, and note 95% is the greatest possible discount, it doesn't continue beyond this. Getting to that point would require sacrificing a single object worth $7 billion or more (or using a $15 billion object as a focus). That's around 5 million months - over 400,000 years - of Average income, so one would certainly expect a pretty serious ritual.

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

Actually, it occurs to me that using ivory from some endangered - or better yet, extinct - animal for the white enamel would make the rosary an even better focus. It would also boost the price - an article on the white rhino that was poached in a British zoo back in 2017 notes its horn could have gone for €30,000 to €40,000, roughly $23,000-$30,000 GURPS. Now, I imagine you could accent several rosaries with a single horn, but if hers used the highest-quality of the harvested ivory, that could potentially make her rosary worth $15,000, for 20 DP as a focus using my table (meaning all her Path of Nonexistence rituals get at least a 20% discount).

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

Ivory is a very good suggestion, but considering how many the cultists are, perhaps more suitable for someone else among them.

In any case, Sister María Teresa and her friends were mostly quick consecrating a casting space to reduce the -5 penalty to -1 before activating Conditional Spells stored in Charms (and one Herb Lore elixir).* Given the -10 Mana at the rental car office in the middle of the day (at least they were lucky enough so that it wasn't No Mana in the daytime), gathering energy would have taken forever and likely been full of Quirks.

*Yes, I require rolls for casting Conditional Spells, modified by the Mana where they take effect and whether you have a censecrated ritual space. That means that creating a Charm in a Place of Power can allow you to prepare a high energy working ahead of time, but it won't guarantee it will work in a lower Mana area.

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

Ivory isn't enamel, though. It isn't even tooth enamel, and tooth enamel isn't even a little bit the same as the enamel used in jewellery (which is a kind of glass or glaze).

Re: Gemstones Useful for Evil Cultists
 

How about ice?. You can make it matter where the water comes from - say ice formed floating in a cenote used for human sacrifices, which being in the tropics would never naturally freeze and therefore seems perhaps an even better fit for the Path of Nonexistence.

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

I meant to use the ivory in place of the white enamel; I assumed they would be visually similar enough that you could replace one with the other, and it gave an excuse to boost the worth of her rosary while keeping within theme. It sounds like Icelander has already decided on the design and functionality of that, however. Reading the behind-the-scenes mechanics for the vignette from the other thread was interesting, however.

Re: Gemstones Useful for Evil Cultists
 

Oooh, cool.

Sure, that works. Of course, it's probably a bit hard to keep frozen in warmer areas, as a lasting magical effect would be very difficult (all blatant effects that can't be rationalized away as something other than the supernatural are Greater effects, all lasting effects that endure past a dawn are another Greater effect unless stabilised inside a Threshold or an appropriate magical vessel). And storing magical Charms in refridgerators/freezers is probably a good way to ensure regular nuisance from the fridge being on the fritz.

Of course, for a Charm, Traditional Trapping or 'Manastone' intended to last only a short time, a simple cooler would probably suffice to store the ice until used.

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

By the specific rules of my campaign, there is not only a strong correlation between the intangible factors that cause humans to value certain ornamental objects much more highly than others and their ability to contain magical energy, but also, once-living materials are generally more in tune with the paranormal.

So expensive ivory jewelry or other ornaments would probably be excellent ways to store magical energy, as well as being excellent symbolic representations of death and loss, among other things. Of course, ivory from extinct animals would be even more potent, if it was available.

Isn't ivory subject to strict customs control, though, and importation and export of it forbidden in many countries?

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

There's a lot of antique ivory around, though. And though its sale is controversial, and provides cover for the poached product, it is still legal in most places. Also, there is mammoth ivory from Siberia.

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

Indeed.

I was just reading up on the US import regulations and the availability of mammoth ivory (which is legally distinct from elephant ivory and not covered by the same international treaties, though CITES has proposed changing that).

It looks like the five ethnic Chinese cultists who travel through California are likely to have all sorts of mystical and esoteric paraphernalia made from mammoth ivory, as the vast majority of the world's supply is traded through China and their organization has already been established as concerned with all sorts of grey- and black-market arrangemets rellated to the Pacific shipping trade between Asia and the Americas.

They can bring extra ivory and other esoteric supplies of questionable legality or tastefulness to share with other cultists, but they won't be able to use it until they all meet up somewhere near Indianola around dark the evening of the 29th of December, 2018.

Some of the cultists landing in Texas might carry personally--owned antique items made from elephant or mammoth ivory, depending on what the Consortium lawyer in Peru they consulted (before those allies became potentially compromised) told them about how much trouble carrying such objects through customs might be.

Do you have to carry paperwork establishing antique status or certifications that the object is mammoth ivory, not elephant? Do you apply for a permission before you land or is this done with a harassed CBP agent on the airport?

Ivory Rosary
 

Of course, real-world rosaries were sometimes made of ivory and there exist real-world specimens that are allegedly not connected to any evil cults, but still look like this very creepy ivory and silver rosary with grinning skulls and rotting faces.

Now, that's the sort of rosary an evil nun should carry.

Re: Gemstones Useful for Evil Cultists
 

When your entire magical school is about "loss", you need to get used to all of its effects being rather temporary.

Re: Gemstones Useful for Evil Cultists
 

Quite a good point.

On the other hand, for the specific situation where twenty five cultists are in the US and have had months to prepare and the support of even more powerful ritual magicians (in potent Places of Power) for all that time, Charms and 'manastones' that only last the night are less important than objects of magical power that could have been made long before, transported to the US legally or illegally, and then used to augment the (rather feeble, because of how Very Low Mana most of the world is) personal casting abilities of the cultists.

Basically, having either a Charm or a power source (or a few dozen) that you can tap is an absolute prerequisite to using magic effectively on a combat time scale in the setting. Humans simply don't have Ritual Mastery (not without giving up most of what makes them human, at least) and casting spells outside a carefully selected Sanctum with higher Mana than typical places is extremely hard.

So, ritual magicians who pose a threat to PCs do so using rare, exotic and expensive objects and ornaments that can be made into Charms, power sources, traditional trappings and focus items that make spellcasting during adventures more practical.

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

Looking at some images of ivory, I realize it likely wouldn't work as a stand-in for white enamel, being more of a yellowish off-white. It's still undoubtedly useful for the "Path of Loss/Despair" subset of the Path of Nonexistence your cultists use. If any of your cultists make use of the Path of Chance, there are a variety of places that manufacture dice made from semi-precious gemstones, which may be of use. I'd imagine getting blanks from them would also be possible, to have a jeweler or similar under the employ of (or himself part of) the cult engrave each face with appropriate runes or what-have-you. Indeed, sufficiently-large precious gems may be possible to give similar treatment.

Another material to consider is ancient kauri wood. This stuff is over 50,000 years old, preserved in a peat bog in New Zealand (similar to the various other bog woods one can find, but much older). It doesn't have a direct link to the Path of Loss/Despair, seeing as the species of tree it comes from is still around (and not even endangered), but being ancient, rare, and made from organic material is likely to count for something for general magic use. Oh, and you can find dice made from the stuff as well.

Also, while looking up ancient kauri, I came across this, a ring made from crushed dinosaur bone (well, fossil), metal from the Gibeon meteorite, and an inner sleeve made of ancient kauri. The Gibeon metal likely being high in iron, and the strips of titanium, may not be ideal, but something like this strikes me as an appropriate piece of jewelry for a sorceror of some flavor. It also makes me wonder if one could make a similar ring using the crushed bones of a (ideally innocent) victim of execution, as well as metal from the blade and wood from the haft of the executioner's axe that did the deed.

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

Regarding famous cursed stone, there are a few others than the Hope and Koh-i-noor :

The Black Orlov. broken in three to break the curse, unfortunately, but that could be ... repaired.

The Cursed Opal of Spain Royal family.

The cursed Amethist, already coming with an mounting engraved with symbols and 2 stone shaped like egyptian scarabs ...

But those and others may be 'too famous'.


For modern tradditionnal trappings, I would look into the 'cremation crystal', with companies offering to make glass crystal infused with cremation ashes and colored/cut to look like a precious stone...

For the worshipper of the Cold Ones, meteoric iron or lunar rock sample could be associated with cold and dark.
And meteoric iron have a long history of magical use.

Re: Gemstones Useful for Evil Cultists
 

Oooh, Ghost apples sound like really cool ice objects for the Keepers of the Last Hearth.

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

Someone needs to have a mummified monkey's paw.

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

On a scale of 1-10, how racist is it for the ethnic Chinese occultist to have one?

Wait, don't answer that.

I've got it, Nando Acevedo can have a mummified monkey's paw!

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

Yes, indeed. I'm quite taken with the idea of ivory for various cult paraphernalia.

It's classy and also has the bonus of being regulated and restricted, which gives analysts something to track in order to find clues of nasty-bad cult or occult activity. I bet the worldwide ivory smuggling underground is just all amoral (or worse) ritual magicians and occultists by the 2010s.

If you want something to retain as much magical resonance as possible (or even increase it over its natural shape), it's important to avoid subjecting it to any 'soulless' manufacturing processes. If it's shaped by intelligent beings, you want it done by the personal attention of an artist or craftsman. So factory-made things are rarely worth much as esoteric components, Charm objects, energy sources or enchanted tools, but handmade things crafted with love and pride can be even better than naturally shaped objects.

Which is to say, you want dice handmade by gemcutters or jewelers, not novelty dice made on CNC machines.

Yes, I imagine that would have many magical applications.

Awesome.

Not the sort of thing I'd like to try to bring through Customs, at least not if the innocent victim was murdered within recent enough memory to be treated as a murder victim rather than archeological remains.

Iron is slightly anti-magical, it is true, but it's not impossihle to work with. And meteorites are symbolically resonant enough so that for some kinds of magic the bonus they grant probably more than makes up for the -1 to -3 for the iron.

In general, metals that humans only started to work after the start of recorded history give a penalty of some kind to magic, correlating roughly to the technological sophistication needed to work with it. Lead is something of an exception, in that it is completely magically inert. It doesn't interfere with magic, but it doesn't conduct it either.

Gold would probably be preferable to the titanium for the ring if we're going by magical affinity. Very useful metal, good for many different kinds of magic, very good thaumic conductor and can store a decent amount of supernatural energy. Silver also has many magical uses, a bit more specialized and not in itself capable of storing much raw magical energy, but a solid material for enchanted trinkets and charms nonetheless, in especially for effects metaphysically associated with the moon.

Copper is useful because it's a fairly cheap metal that doesn't give any kind of penalty to magic use, so you can make nearly any kind of magical object from copper. For example, the PCs generally use .45 caliber copper bullets with a huge hollow cavity, which allows them to use them as Charms and also to more easily deliver esoteric substances that monsters might have weaknesses against. Quick enchantments are also possible in a way they wouldn't be with lead bullets. Plus, it's environmentally-conscious not to pollute with toxic metals.

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

Given that magic was around in the far enough past living things that were around since then might be worth something as ritual components. With many of your cultists from South America maybe the 9th oldest tree in the world.

or

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

Ooh, any cultist who killed the Gran Abuelo to use the wood and/or ashes for various ritual trappings would have a potent symbolic representation of the End of Everything!

I wonder how good the security at National Parks in Chile is...

After all, in the real world, the almost as old Senator tree in Florida actually was burnt to ash by a tourist in 2012. And the ashes used to make all sorts of artwork, which I'm sure had nothing to do with any occult groups in my campaign...

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

Thanks!

Even if they aren't used for this particular adventure, given that extremely expensive items of mystical significance provide a way to carry with you quickly accessible magical power of some sort in a setting where magic is ordinarily almost impossible to cast on the fly... well, it means that a lot of nefarious schemes by cults or rogue magicians look something like this:

1) Acquire jealously guarded and extremely valuable object of some sort.
2) Use 1) in ritual of some sort that we would have no chance of performing without some such object.
3) ....
4) PROFIT!

In all cases, handmade objects or at least objects made with personal attention from a craftsman are far superior to anything worked with CNC or other machines for magical purposes. Important detail to keep in mind.

Very true.

Lunar rock is pretty difficult to acquire, I imagine, but how hard is meteoric iron to source?

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

Not very, from a bit of searching. It costs something like $5/gram.

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

Apparently easy, a quick google found many auction site, mostly collectors, jeweller and homeopathic supplies websites.
Price ranging from a few € to a few thousands, depending on size and tracability/authenticity...

Getting a museum piece (knife, druidic torc, ...) with I assume more mystical weight is another story, obviously.

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

Excellent, thank you both.

I should have Googled it myself, but I was traveling and on the phone telling a newspaper editor to remove the name and picture of my client from the front page of his website instantly and not to think about publishing them in his paper version.

I hate working weekends, but there are some simple pleasures involved.

What might be a particularly evocative and interesting way to work meteoric iron into jewelry or ritual paraphernalia that is mystically significant to a magical tradition of loss and endings?

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

The US government distributed 270 samples as goodwill gifts about 1970, 180 of which are unaccounted for, and some of which seem now to be simulants. If you told me Kessler had acquired one I wouldn't refuse to suspend disbelief.

Besides that, some meteorites consist of material of lunar origin.

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!