Oracle skull

Origin

In the Brass Realms, oracles and mystics exist, those that have the ability to divine the future. This is an exceptionally rare talent and so they are valuable to the extreme. They are coveted, protected and kept in perfect health by the parties that control them, however in the end they still die and their talent is lost.

An oracle skull is an attempt to capture that unique talent to divine the future and keep it intact after the oracle dies. A very costly and difficult magical ritual is used upon the recently deceased oracle and their soul is captured, bound with magical chains and imprisoned within their skull.

This process is only occasionally successful and the resulting oracle skull is always less powerful than the oracle that was used to create it, but it has no expiration date and will function until it is destroyed.
It will also not be able to lie about its visions, complain about headaches or try to escape if it is used repeteadly.

Description

An oracle skull can be used to divine the future. A sapient mortal can touch the skull and ask a single question concerning a specific goal, event, or activity to occur in the near future. They will then receive a reply, which might be a short phrase, a cryptic rhyme, an omen, a vision, a vague feeling or something similar.
Some oracle skulls always provides the same kind of reply, so those might be referred to as "vision skulls" or "rhyme skulls".

Oracle skulls usually can only see a few days into the future and produce a reading once per week.
The remains of more powerful oracles may be more powerful as well, allowing a reading once per day or being able to see a month into the future, for example.
Using an oracle skull comes with significant migraines for the user from the mental strain and can be lethal if the user is unprepared.

Appearance:

Oracle skulls are usually bones coated in laquer, resin or other protective coatings and decorated with gems and precious metals.
The most valuable of these skulls are magically transmuted to stone or solid gemstone to make them even more enduring and to better channel the talent of the late oracle.

Item type

Magical