Anithonian, the Memory of Stone

Anithonian is a magical chisel created by an unknown mortal devoted to earth and memory magic. His name is not known, as he was exhumed centuries after his passing. His mummified corpse was found in a small, homely room, arms clutching a tablet and a cloud-white chisel. Upon interacting with the tablet, the archaeologists found themselves briefly wandering the long lost memories of this enchanter. Turning their eyes to the perfectly intact chisel, they made off with what they knew was named Anithonian, thanks to the memories they had just visited. The artifact acts as a recorder, allowing memories to flow from the wielder's mind into stone. The archaeologists believed they had found the perfect tool for preserving history, and returned home with their wondrous discovery. For a few years, the Memory of Stone proved to be an invaluable tool in recording important events. The Anithonian Tablets would be safely stored within grand archives, allowing for a near exact recollection of the past. But the chisel had not been intended for such usage, as became abundantly clear when several historians and researchers began using Anithonian for their own purposes. This only happened with the old or the unfortunate, as they desperately imprinted the memories of times they shared with their now deceased loved ones into tablets that they had acquired. They would abscond for weeks with the artifact, only to be found as corpses, clutching at the tablets they made. Like the enchanter who created Anithonian, they perished within the memories of better days. Many have considered destroying the artifact, but the majority advocated against it. Historians wished to maintain it to protect one of the only ways to truly preserve the memory of the world. Agents of justice wished to use it to allow witnesses a way to create iron clad testimonies to the courts. And others still covet it to relive their lost pasts, despite the fate that befell those who used it for just that reason. Thus the chisel has remained, wielded supposedly in the name of justice and memory, but too often as a fatal escape from grief and sorrow. The wise have avoided it at all costs, while others would gladly give up their own lives if it simply meant they could live one more second of the times they used to enjoy.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

Anithonian draws on the memories of its wielder. Not as they recall them, but as perfect and unmarred as a memory could ever truly be. Those who have interacted with the tablets they have created were often surprised by the details they had forgotten. Additionally, Anithonian almost possesses the user, guiding them to perfectly carve the necessary shapes to allow for the magic to inhabit the stone. As a result, each tablet inscribed by the Memory of Stone appears to be almost identical, no matter who has used the artifact. Only tablets will work, as it is believed that is the only object that Anithonian remembers how to work with. The chisel will not break from overuse, nor can it be truly overloaded, as it only transports the memories and doesn't contain them. Some have wondered if the memories it implants are truly real, due to the wielders still possessing their own recollection of the events. Perhaps Anithonian creates an echo with near perfect levels of accuracy, or perhaps the chisel bears greater secrets than is known. Whatever the case, it has almost always performed its task without flaw.

Manufacturing process

It is utterly unknown how the enchanter was able to create such a powerful relic. Indeed, many theorize that the process consumed his very essence. Yet others will claim that he fell into a trap of his own devising, drowning himself in memories of love while the world collapsed around him.

Significance

Anithonian is a dangerously important relic, as it symbolizes the potential for nothing less than perfect memory. It is the closest to truth that mortals may come, and thus it is both desired and feared. Those who wish to cast aside deceptions and illusions may seek it out, or the tablets that it has constructed, in order to understand secrets that others would rather leave hidden. Those who wish to destroy it are often terrified of the sheer, nearly uncorrupted truth that it can unleash. Anithonian however, remains a sorrowful relic, the doom of those consumed by nostalgia, grief and melancholy.

Why did the enchanter create Anithonian? The general consensus is that, like so many of his successive wielders, he wished to lose himself in his own memories. But some feel that there is more to the maker of this artifact. For one, he would have had to have been exceedingly powerful to create the Memory of Stone. Yet there are no records of this enchanter anywhere. Not even the first Anithonian Tablet bore his name, for the stone his corpse was clutching is the only known somewhat failed product of the chisel. Only the name of the artifact and a few faint memories of laughing silhouettes could be recovered from it. How would such a singularly dangerous being have evaded the eye of history, only being remembered not for his deeds but the item he left behind? What was the story behind the man who created such a wonderfully terrible item? Though there have been no traces as to his story, many have gone searching. Few have returned from their expeditions, falling into a trap of hunger much like the one that Anithonian creates for those who lust after their own memories.

Enchanters and mages believe that Anithonian will only work with tablets because it was designed to function that way. It is keyed both to stone and to the wielder's recognition that what they are working with is a tablet. Attempts to fool the relic through placebo and illusion always fail, and Anithonian remains stubbornly attached to the one material it is allowed to work with. Even willingly carving exact mimicries of the runes and shapes it has created on the tablets will produce no result. However, the magic of Anithonian ensures the longevity of its creations. Experimenters have found that common weapons, no matter how strongly swung, can even dent what Anithonian has produced. Thus these slabs are theorized to endure for potentially thousands of years, or until Anithonian itself is shattered.

Rarity

The chisel is a rare thing, for it is the only one of its kind in existence. Attempts to replicate Anithonian have resulted either in failure or shabby copies that fade after a few uses. The Memory of Stone may forevermore remain a singularly unique work of magic, and many thank whatever powers there may be for that possibility.

Weight

1,600g

Raw materials & Components

The chisel is seemingly made from pale stone, though others have contested this. Some point out the lightness of the artifact, claiming it to be made from some magical recreation of stone. Others will say that it is an enchanted metal, for what else could be strong enough to carve so deeply into the tablets of memory? A minority who have closely examined it, and have ties to wizards of ill repute, will say that it is crafted from a piece of bone. None can truly agree on what Anithonian is made of however, no matter how thorough the investigation.

Anithonian will only allow for exactly sequential memories to be carved into its tablets. At most, these slabs can contains twelve hours of memory. One can't take recollections they have from their weddings and mix them with ones they had from the previous day. They must always be within a certain time frame, forcing wielders to create more tablets. Activating the memories only requires an investigator to place both hands on the tablet and wait twelve seconds without moving. Then they can experience the stored echoes at whatever speed they choose, speeding through events or experiencing them at their leisure. However, time does not alter when interacting with an Anithonian Tablet. If one wishes to experience the full dozen hours, than that same amount of time will pass in the material world. One danger with this is that those who are experiencing the memories will feel nothing in their own bodies. They will enter a state of calm, feeling no pain or stress. This is what has doomed so many wielders of the chisel, as they are unaware of their own hunger and thirst eating away at their flesh until they die surrounded by the slabs they have created. An individual can choose to leave the memory by focusing for twelve seconds, but that requires their bodies to be in good condition. If they are suffering from exhaustion, hunger, or thirst to such a degree where it can present a credible danger, they will be trapped. It would require outside interference to forcibly separate someone from the tablet, though thankfully such a process causes no harm. Many organizations have failed to measure what exactly the threshold is for inescapability, and thus demand that anyone who interacts with these tablets must have people with them to measure time and ensure that they take frequent breaks from studying the contained memories.

Is Anithonian cursed? Some believe that it must, due to all the victims it has consumed. Indeed, some say that it should never have been unearthed. Was not the fact that the chisel was found in the arms of dead man proof enough that it was a dangerous force that should never have been released? Others claim that the chisel is not the work of some malign power, but more a manifestation of a facet of mortality. They will say that if there is a curse, it is not a result of the relic, but of the nature of souls. The trap that Anithonian represents is our own struggle to move on from grief, and those that cannot do so will always be in danger of seeking out the Memory of Stone and forever drowning themselves in visions of the past.