Objects of Magic
Information below may contain spoilers. It’s segregated by books. Scroll the to book appropriate section, then click on the object you want to read about.
Magic Bites
Slayer
Slayer is Kate’s saber. It releases secretions that liquefy undead flesh, which it then absorbs as food. Slayer must be fed once a month or it will become brittle and break. If no undead flesh is available, then Kate mixes wheat flour, metal shavings (copper, iron, and silver), seashells ground to a fine dust, bonemeal, and chalk into water and soaks the blade in the grayish-brown mixture. Magic Bites, p43-44
Slayer was once known as Wolfripper. Magic Bites, p96
Magic Strikes
Slayer
It smokes in the presence of the undead. (p59)
Magic Strikes
Electrum
A naturally occurring alloy of silver, gold, and a pinch of copper, it is extremely toxic to shapeshifters. Roland‘s alloy, called Samos electrum, was from coins struck on a small Greek island in the North Aegean Sea in 600 B.C. and is composed as follows:
55% gold
45% silver
3% copper
the rest is random
no, the numbers don’t add up right, but that is what is in the book
All from page 218.
The Scarlet Star
A wide blade, red like the finest ruby, it was one of Roland‘s personal weapons. He forged it over five years out of his blood. It had the power to fire thirteen bursts of magic that are like enchanted saw blades. They lock onto their targets and cleave through anything in their path. They can’t be dodged or blocked. The blade can’t be broken by ordinary means or weapons. (p292)
The Wolf Daimond
A large yellow topaz the precise shade of a wolf’s eye and shaped like a tear, rumor says it possesses virtue and cannot be sold or taken by force; it must be gifted or won. (p117-118 and p291)
Also known as Rudra Mani, it belonged to Shiva, the Hindu god called Destroyer of Worlds. It is about the size of a baby’s head. (p186)
It has the power to calm beasts and take away the suffering of man, which really means it prevents shapeshifters from shifting, trapping them in whatever their current form was. “Rudra” was one of Shiva’s names meaning “strict” and “uncompromising.” (p217)
It also critically slows regeneration. (p192)
Wolfsbane
The stems are dried out and ground into a powder, and then it is mixed with a base: dry detergent, borax, or baking soda works. It’s not as effective as wolfsbane paste, but enough will overwhelm a scent trail. (p48)
Magic Mourns
Persephone's Apples
Also known as Hera’s Apples, Idun’s Apples by the Vikings, Apples of Youth by the Russians, and other names. They are said to grant youth and long life to gods, but there are horrible consequences if they are eaten by mortals who do not have Persephone’s Gift or immunity to it. During the flare, a tree grows at a random shrine to Hades and bears the apples, which the priest of Hades then sacrifices to him. It is the priest’s duty to see that no part of them remain in the human world. They cannot be destroyed except by being eaten or sacrificed. (p252-253)
Magic Bleeds
Blind Monk's Scroll
In 2028, an Eastern Orthodox monk named Voroviev attempted to exorcise a demon and was blinded. He defended himself with an ancient scroll, which afterward went blank. The writing reappeared three years later. The writing itself was magic, and when it is depleted it vanishes. As it reabsorbs magic from the environment, it will reappear. (p146-147)
Blood Armor
Armor made of the caster’s blood. Impenetrable to normal weapons, claws, and teeth. Slayer can eventually soften it, but that takes time and many hits. (p315)
David Miller objects
David Miller was an idiot savant: he had unparalleled magic power, but couldn’t use it. However, he constantly emanated it, and the objects he handled most in life gained magical significance. If they are manipulated properly they can achieve surprising effects, such as recreating a witnessed past event in life-sized illusion. (p120-122)
Golem
Can sniff odors of magic to identify people and cannot be tricked. They can be shapeless, or they can be works of art if made by a master sculptor and a magic adept. They are animated by the word emet, or truth, cut into their foreheads. Destroy the first letter to change the word to met, death. That kills the golem. (p148 and p192)
Flesh Golems
They are infused with blood to animate them. The stronger the magic of the blood, the more the golem takes on the visage of the blood donor and the better the movement. (p228)
Rainbow Obsidian
Very rare, when positioned correctly, it will absorb residual magic, amplify it,and emit it. (p147)
Sword of Thanatos
The sword of the Greek Angel of Death. It has an onyx-colored hilt and a classic Hoplite blade, leaf-shaped and two feet long. It bursts into blinding white fire when not sheathed. (p135)
Magic Slays
Draining Device
This device is a metal cylinder of iridium with odd patterns in gold, platinum, cobalt, and lead on it. All the metals except the lead are rare, expensive, and take enchantment well. Lead is magically null. (p40)
It is designed to destroy the magic in an area by collapsing the magic in on itself and absorbing this concentrated form of magic into the device’s core. Once a magic wave hits and it is turned on, the device charges for a period of time before activating and working from the perimeter of its range inward. Everything living that possesses or depends on magic within the area dies. When the next magic wave hits, the area affected will remain without magic. (p177-178 and p296)
If it is broken, the magic escapes in an explosion, but there is a way to turn it off using a console of levers and a trio of gauges. The levers must be pushed in a precise sequence while the gauges are a certain color to deactivate the device. There is also a valve at the top to empty the cylinder so it can be reused. If it is opened correctly the magic escapes upward, but if not the magic explodes. (p179 and p251)
The range of the device increases with its size, and raising it off the ground will also increase its range. (p178 and p288)
Chronicles of Elijah the Unbeliever
Elijah was a small-time brick layer in Florida who became an alcoholic and when drunk would start raving. A rabbi recognized one of the rants was reciting an ancient Hebrew text that the illiterate Elijah couldn’t have ever read. The rabbi recorded the rants until a few weeks later when Elijah died of organ failure. If the tapes are transcribed, the next magic wave wipes them clean. Copying the tapes doesn’t always work, so mostly they are memorized and recited. Of the eighteen hours of tapes, two hours are fables, each and every one about Roland.
One fable is “Man on the Mountain and the Wolf.” A man on a mountain encounters a wolf who want to be rid of his savagery and rage. But the man denied him because it was too dangerous and the rage was part of the wolf’s nature. THe wolf begged and followed the man until he agreed, but the price would be obedience to the man for all time. They went to the top of a mountain where the man chained the wolf with iron and silver. The man slit his own wrist, slit the throat of the wolf, pulled the wolf’s blood from his body, mingled the two and spoke the words to ensure obedience and put the blood back into the wolf before passing out. Waking, he found the wolf had become a dog who followed and served him. (p233-235 and p237-239)