Magic Items

“Every treasure is guarded by dragons. That's how you can tell it's valuable.”

— Saul Bellow, Herzog

Magic items in the brass realms are very powerful tools, created by magic practitioners. They have a variety of uses and applications, though they also have big limitations.

Basic concepts

Magic in the Brass realms comes from the Spirit World.
Magic functions by drawing power from the spirit world in one form or another. To make an object magical requires one of two things; either for a Spirit to be sealed inside or to make use of Riftstone as a power source.
Either way by combining one of these components with a variety of rare and difficult to work with materials it is possible to produce powerful magic items.

Degradation & Arcane Decay:

Magic Items in the brass realms usually only last for so long. Their internal reservoir of magic leaks out, their enchantments degrade, the materials accumulate wear and tear and eventually all magic items break down into their component parts. Magic items are not any more durable than their materials suggest unless being more durable is an explicid part of the item's function, such as a sword or piece of armor.

Consumable items like alchemical potions degrade the fastest, as the materials are often unable to hold onto the energies for long or the ingredients of the potions spoil or dry out.

Riftstones:

Riftstone is a magical material that is essentially crystallized arcane energy. This can be used to fuel ongoing spells or arcane devices, but can also be used to create single-use spells to be used by anybody, with little to no training required.

Potions:

Potions are liquids created by alchemists from rare ingredients.
They can do many things but must adhere to the following conditions:

• They affect only the creature that consumes the potion, though it may extend to their equipment and the things they are carrying.
• The effect of the potion is temporary, though while the potion is active it may cause permanent effects (example, a potion may have a healing effect, and while the healing effect is temporary the healed wounds stay healed)
• Potions take effect from the inside out (for example, a potion of healing restores the levels of blood first before closing wounds)

There are other 'potions' such as cat-eye drops or magical weapon oil, that are not designed to be consumed, but rather to be applied to objects or thrown, in the case of alchemist's fire. It is extremely hazardous to consume these kinds of potions.