Titan Artifacts in Megastructure | World Anvil
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Titan Artifacts

The term Titan Artifacts is used to refer to objects found inside the Megastructure which can be removed from their location. Despite most not having a discernable purpose, they are highly valuable due to their rarity and the difficulty of recovering them.   Some colloquial terms for rough categories have arisen based on what information is publically available, however it is assumed that there are types whose discoveries have not been disclosed.  

Trinkets

The most common type of Artifact, small objects with sizes under one meter which have no discernible function, are called Trinkets and are typically sold as art objects. Rare Trinkets of appropriate shapes are mounted to hilts to form near-indestructible bladed weapons sometimes referred to as Titan Knives.  
Impossible Trinkets
A rare form of Trinkets consists of multiple parts which do not appear to be physically connected in any way but are not separable. The exact mechanism of this is not currently understood, leading to their name and making these objects sought after both with collectors due to their rarity and with scientists due to their properties.  

Slates

Typically flat objects with symbols engraved, embossed, or cut into them are referred to as Slates. Slates are typically rectangular, but occasionally other shapes are found which typically fetch higher prices.   Attempts at decrypting the symbols have so far proven unsuccessful, in part due to only a small part of the known examples being publically available. Recently the hypothesis that there are two distinct writing systems present has gained support, however so far it has not contributed any significant progress towards decryption.  

Lights

Some Artifacts emit light, from a faint overall glow to distinct bright patterns. None of these objects feature any discernible power source or emit any detectable waste heat, making the mechanism of light emission unclear. Some Lights feature patterns similar to the symbols on Slates.  

Lenses

Lenses function as energy converters. They are typically flat cylindrical or ellipsoid (leading to the name) objects which, when excited by particle absorption (typically using photons) on one side, emit energy in form of a different type of particle on the other side. They have extremely high conversion efficiency, and are therefore highly sought after for industrial applications.   Lenses are a driving force behind efforts by large corporations launching operations inside the Megastructure, as they allow the development of some very high efficiency and high power devices, particularly for certain particle emitters. There are rumors that the highest power Tachyon Drives used on WHALEs require Tachyon Lenses, and that this is the true reason those drives are not sold.  

Spells

A final category is rumored to have capabilities akin to magic, being capable of seemingly generating large amounts of energy and manipulating matter in various ways. None of the rumors specify the way these objects are controlled. No publically available records currently exist which corroborate the existence of such Artifacts, however they are highly sought after by scavengers and other Megastructure exploration teams.


Cover image: by Zhuriel

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