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

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by lwcamp

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..

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.

Originally Posted by lwcamp

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

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.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Icelander

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.

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.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by malloyd

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.

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.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Icelander

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.

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.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by lwcamp

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..

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...).

[dcarson]

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.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by dcarson

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.

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?

[Icelander]

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.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by lwcamp

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

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

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Icelander

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?

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.