The Ruddy Eggs of Seryngyan

The Ruddy Eggs of Seryngyan were a set of jeweled, egg-shaped objects d'art made by jewelers in Halumay in the last century before the Wesmodian Reformation. The set consisted of either eighteen or twenty-four eggs (definitions differ) and clearly inspired numerous imitations, as smaller and less costly eggs were manufactured in both Halumay and Oluz for some decades, into the post-Wesmodian era.
The eggs are of interest to thaumatologists because they were manufactured for the specific purpose of adorning the Halumayan temple of the fire god Ajqyod. More than simply opulent curios, the eggs played some role - exactly what is not clear - in Halumayan rituals to Ajqyod, as representations of the eggs that were laid by the mythical maid Seryngyan in the myth of Seryngyan and the Red Swan. Accounts of the eggs, furthermore, attribute them with magical powers. Although these powers are fairly minor, the eggs could still provide a properly-informed researcher with a wealth of information about how to use magic to produce fire, heat and light. Some also speculate that they could reveal secrets about the manipulation of inanimate matter, an activity related to the smith god Zargyod.
The eggs were kept under lock and key somewhere in the vicinity of the Halumayan temple of Ajqyod (the temple itself, being an open colonnaded structure, was an unlikely repository of anything of value). In the conflict and confusion of the Wesmodian Reformation, however, this treasury was ransacked by persons unknown and disappeared from history. Most - not all - of the eggs have subsequently resurfaced, mostly damaged or somehow otherwise incapable of exhibiting their former power. Determining whether and how these powers can be restored, and whether the eggs could serve as some sort of barometer for the effectiveness of attempts to reconstruct the ritual dances of Ajqyod, are among the central questions of thaumatological research into the cult of Ajqyod. Sadly the owners of these artifacts tend to guard them jealously, as objects of material value as much as magical importance, and securing access to them is never easy.

List of eggs

The eighteen eggs

The Ruddy Eggs of Seryngyan are best-attested by courtier Taqar Roy Charmay, major-domo to the Halumayan diarch Pen Tyq Oray, on whose orders the eggs were apparently made (Roy Charmay is not actually explicit on this point). His account of the eggs is long and wordy but makes it clear there were eighteen eggs, each roughly the size of a goose egg, fabulously wrought in valuable materials, and each with its own magical power. These powers manifested when the eggs were employed, apparently as props, in the ritual dances to Ajqyod conducted in Halumay. The table below lists these eggs and their ascribed magical powers, per Roy Charmay's description:

No.	Description	Ascribed power
1	Gold, ringed with blood-red enameling in the shape of flames.	Absorbs the light of the sun and reproduces it on Earth.
2	Semi-transparent smoky quartz with a reddish internal blemish, from which red-gold wires spread like the rays of the sun.	Sheds the pink light of dawn.
3	Obsidian contained within a trellis of metal bands made of plaited gold, copper and silver wire.	Releases showers of red sparks and the sound of volcanic eruptions.
4	Silver enameled sky-blue, with six swans carved in red coral flying across it.	Summons ghostly red swans to fly in formation around it.
5	Jade veined with red gold, resting on a silver tripod wrought in the shape of bird feet.	Glows with a powerful red light.
6	Rose quartz, with gold and silver wrought like plant stems with flowers made of black pearls.	Releases a hot red vapour.
7	Translucent rock crystal encasing a human face wrought in spangold.	Speaks the benefices of Ajqyod in a booming male voice.
8	Brass encrusted with rubies, garnets and black onyx.	Causes any combustible material around it to burst into flame.
9	Red gold with dancing human figures wrought on it in niello.	Produces a rhythmic sound as of hammers striking hot metal.
10	Gold spotted with a regular pattern of flowers carved from sapphires and rubies.	Causes huge images of coloured flowers to bloom in the air around it.
11	Amethyst with a silver cap over its thick end.	Produces powerful purple flames from its thin end.
12	Black onyx, breaking into four segments on its long axis to reveal bands of red, yellow and orange.	The four sections can levitate and fly in swift circles, producing a powerful whistling noise.
13	Red gold with a pelican-in-her-piety depicted on its front surface in white, pink and blood-red enamel	Produces a vast ghostly image of a pelican vulning herself before bursting into flames.
14	Silver enameled white and pink.	Produces a phantasm of whirling morning stars.
15	Jade enameled with images of various fantastic beasts, birds and fish.	Produces a loud hissing noise, as if of escaping steam.
16	Spessartine emeshed in a net of gold wire.	Magically cooks food brought into contact with it.
17	Topaz with cagework in black-enameled silver.	Glows brightly in the dark.
18	The tooth of a whale, with abstract scrimshaw picked out with spangold dust.	Burns to black ashes, then reassembles itself.

Following the Wesmodian Reformation the eggs were looted from the temple and most disappeared. Since then, however, most have resurfaced, albeit often in a damaged state and with their magical powers somehow stripped from them:
* Eggs #1, 5, 6 and 10 are in the personal collection of Chogyan aristocrat Aleqos Rommoyz, who has collected them for his wife over the last twenty years. He has not revealed who he buys them from. Egg #5 is missing its tripod.
* Eggs #3, 8 and 12 are possessed by the Haulamayn dyarchy, which recovered them in the aftermath of the Reformation. Egg #8 lost its rubies, which have been restored using garnets; only three of the quarters of egg #12 were recovered.
* Eggs #2 and 11 are owned by the Alchemist's Guild of Dypholyos. It is speculated that the alchemists use them somehow in their work.
* Egg #15 is possessed by the Commercial Guilds of Oluz, who keep it in a locked, guarded case in the lobby of their guildhouse. The Halumayan dyarchy has petitioned for its return, so far to no avail.
* Egg #13 is possessed by Tyrosian thaumatologists Rasendos and Anasyan Phylamoros, whose research into the pre-Wesmodian cult of Ajqyod is a major source of information about the eggs generally. They keep the egg, the enameling of which is badly chipped, at a secret location somewhere in Tyros.
The Phylamoroses present scattered historical evidence for the possible fates for the other seven eggs in the third volume of their book Vessels of Fire.

The six eggs

The Phylamoroses have conducted further research in and around Halumay and have presented evidence for the existence of an additional six eggs, smaller than the canonical eighteen and uniformly made from large garnets with various forms of individual ornamentation. Two such eggs exist in the treasury of the Halumayan dyarchy, while the Garden of the Kalenqyods is said to have accepted one from a sailor as payment for a balm to soothe the pain of a burn on his forearm in 448 AWR. Whether they still have it is uncertain.

Counterfeit eggs

Unscrupulous jewelers have been known to pass off freshly-manufactured jeweled eggs as examples of this collection when selling to curio hunters. In most cases this is done simply to swindle tourists to Halumay but aspiring thaumatologists have been known to fall for the scam.

Item type

Art