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Noaidi 319 of the Guileful Mint

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by

Dale
in
  • Lore:
    • During the Middle Ages on Saṃsāra, as island nations, prominent cities, and regional authorities asserted sovereignty through custom precious metal and non-metal coinages, the economic landscape became fraught with exploitation and strict tax collection.
    • In the northern markets of the island nation Fauresmith, an impoverished noaidi spirit-smith observed how common travelers and struggling artisans were frequently ruined by predatory seigniorage rates and municipal currency fees.
    • Communing with playful earth wights and mineral spirits that dwell within subterranean ore veins, the shaman sought a method to temporarily appease the spirits of raw metal and clay into adopting the weight, appearance, and touch of minted legal tender.
    • The resulting tool was shaped not as a weapon, but as a consecrated handheld press and spirit-die, designed to mask base metals, river clay, or wood tokens beneath an ephemeral veneer of high-value electrum, silver, or stamped guild coin.
    • Passed along back-alley trade routes, it became a prized asset for covert artisans, rogue traders, and desperate couriers seeking to pay corrupt checkpoint tolls and merchant markups with convincing, magically masked tokens.
  • Description:
    • A hand-held stamping lever and coining frame roughly seven inches in length, crafted from cold-forged iron inlaid with pale silver filigree along the pivot hinge.
    • The lower striking anvil is fitted with a circular, interchangeable faceplate made of polished reindeer horn, carved with miniature noaidi spiral motifs and deceptive trade pictograms.
    • The upper pressing clamp is set with a flat disc of petrified birch wood, hollowed to accept common blanks made of river clay, slate, lead, or base bronze.
    • Set into the base of the grip is a coin-sized Tier 1 magic crystal that hums with a faint, warm harmonic vibration whenever base materials are loaded into the pressing chamber.
    • Attached to the handle by a short strip of braided stag sinew is a small bone scraper and a vial socket containing grease mixed with pulverized copper and silver shavings, used to dress forged blanks before stamping.
  • Stats:
    • Item Tier: Tier 1 (Common)
    • Item HP: Avatar maximum HP plus 10
    • Resilience: 10
    • Armor Check (AC): +1 AC to the avatar when worn openly on a tool sash or belt harness
    • Weight: 1.5 pounds
    • Attunement: Simple attunement (requires one continuous minute of handling the lever while meditating on the balance of trade and value)
  • Slot:
    • Hand (Left or Right), or Waist (hung from a dedicated tool hook on a belt or sash).
  • Passives Magic:
    • Spiritual Weight Alignment: Any token, lead slug, clay disc, or base-metal blank stamped by the device passively mimics the exact physical weight and density of standard minted precious metal coins, matching the standardized weight conventions recognized by the World Bank.
    • Appraiser’s Glamour: Items and stamped currency held directly by the bearer passively radiate a convincing sheen of authenticity, imposing a penalty on casual inspections and causing uninitiated observers examining the coins to perceive genuine mint stamps and proper purity hallmarks.
    • Mind’s Eye False Value: When an outside examiner uses a passive Mind’s Eye scan on coins or small trinkets prepared by the press, the tokens project the false statistical value and naming tag of genuine regional tender rather than worthless slugs.
  • Activable Magics:
    • Spirit-Wash Coinage (Normal Somatic):
      • Taking an action to place a clay, slate, or lead blank into the chamber, compress the lever, and chant a four-word invocation to the mineral spirits for less than six seconds.
      • The inserted blank emerges magically transmuted on its surface, taking on the metallic luster, ring, and appearance of standard Silver, Nickel, or Electrum coins.
      • This cosmetic transmutation lasts for 24 hours before the spirit-glamour dissipates, leaving behind the original mundane clay or base metal slug.
      • Expends 1 charge from the crystal reservoir; the crystal regains its charge after a long rest or through direct mana infusion.
    • False Hallmark Imprint (Ritual, Somatic):
      • Taking an action to adjust the horn faceplate and rub consecrated metal dust across a mundane item, tool, or ingot while reciting a rhythmic noaidi chant for greater than six seconds.
      • The item receives a counterfeit artisan hallmark, royal mint seal, or guild trade mark that alters its apparent origin.
      • For the next 8 hours, anyone using an active identify action or library cross-referencing on the item perceives historical origin tags attributing the work to a prestigious artisan or city mint.
    • Purge the Quicksilver Veil (Silent Action):
      • The wielder clenches the iron grip of the press firmly in one hand, releasing an immediate, silent pulse of magic across any counterfeit items currently in their possession.
      • All active cosmetic illusions and false stamps on coins or tokens within 5 feet of the press instantly dissolve, leaving behind only mundane base materials.
      • This silent action can be triggered instantly when facing impending search or arrest by royal inspectors, eliminating incriminating evidence of forgery without drawing attention.
  • Tags:
    • Noaidi, Press, Die, Coinage, Counterfeit, Forgery, Deception, Mineral, Transmutation, Glamour, Tier1, Common, Tool, Horn, Birch, Seigniorage, Currency, Slugs, Ingot, Appraisal, Smuggling, Economy, Hallmark, Minting

Commerce and Outlets for the Guileful Mint

  • Subterranean Smuggler Dens and Shadow Fences:
    • Located inside hidden cellar vaults beneath port warehouses, dry sewer canals, and unmarked back-alleys of sprawling trade metropolises where counterfeiters and illicit money-changers congregate.
    • The fence keeps such specialized forger tools concealed behind false stone masonry or under floorboards lined with lead, revealing the item only to buyers who present coded tokens or references from known criminal syndicates.
    • Purchases are strictly conducted off the books in physical un-minted bullion, foreign trade bars, or hard silver and gold coin, explicitly bypassing any recorded World Bank transaction logs to avoid fraud audits.
    • When selling an intact press to a black-market fence, the dealer discounts the purchase by roughly 10% per tier level of the selling avatar, offering raw un-stamped precious metal in return.
    • Typical acquisition costs in a shadow den range from 120 to 160 silver coins (or 12 to 16 gold coins), while direct payouts offered to an operative selling the press average between 60 and 80 silver coins.
  • Frontier Metalworkers and Unlicensed Tinker Forges:
    • Situated along peripheral border camps, mining boomtown settlements, and wild river crossings where formal municipal minting oversight is thin or nonexistent.
    • The resident smith or rogue metallurgist operates from a ramshackle workshop smelling of coal smoke, flux, and quenching oil, occasionally displaying the press under the guise of an ordinary hand-vise or jewelry-embossing punch.
    • Buying the press involves negotiating directly over the workbench; the tinker often demands raw ore, scrap bronze, or unrefined crystal cores in partial barter alongside coinage.
    • Transactions here can be logged through local trade vouchers or settled in physical copper, nickel, or silver pieces, though the tinker generally levies a small markup if the buyer asks too many technical questions regarding coin die-cutting.
    • The retail price at an independent frontier forge sits between 90 and 130 silver coins, whereas a smith purchasing a salvaged unit pays roughly 45 to 65 silver coins into the seller’s account or hands over equivalent raw metal stock.
  • Corrupt Municipal Scrivener Shops and Pawn Bazaars:
    • Operating within crowded commercial bazaars, pawn districts, and notary quarters of major constitutional monarchies where corrupt tax assessors and minor clerks look the other way for a cut of the profit.
    • The proprietor keeps the item intermingled with confiscated bailiff gear, estate seal presses, and legal notary dies, selling it under the euphemistic label of an “antiquated administrative embossing tool.”
    • Purchasing from a commercial pawn bazaar allows payments through direct World Bank account transfers, though the shopkeeper routinely adds an informal 10% “processing gratuity” to disguise the nature of the ledger entry.
    • Selling the item to a municipal pawn broker requires the seller to accept a modest trade-in value, as the broker must account for the personal risk of holding illicit minting dies in a state-regulated shop.
    • Purchase prices in these established shops generally run from 110 to 150 silver coins, while the outright buyout offer for an adventurer offloading the press ranges between 50 and 70 silver coins.
  • Shamanic Bone-Carvers and Tribal Trading Posts:
    • Located within northern forest settlements, highland herder encampments, or coastal yurt bazaars of nations like Fauresmith where reindeer horn carving and noaidi traditions remain widely practiced.
    • The elder bone-smith or ritual artisan keeps such tools wrapped in oiled seal hide alongside carving burins, drum frames, and sacred spirit effigies, treating the press as a sacred implement of mineral appeasement rather than a mere criminal device.
    • Acquiring the piece involves a roleplay parley where the artisan seeks assurances that the press will be used to protect travelers from unjust seigniorage and tyrant tolls rather than to fleece honest fellow clansmen.
    • Transactions are commonly settled through bartered commodities, such as cured stag hides, amber, dried river fish, or clean silver wire.
    • The effective purchase cost in a northern tribal post amounts to roughly 80 to 110 silver coins in equivalent trade goods, while an artisan purchasing a returned or inherited press provides trade goods or raw silver valued at approximately 40 to 55 silver coins.

Tactical Employment of the Guileful Mint Across Diverse Environments

  • Heavily Guarded Border Checkpoints and Toll Gates:
    • Along frontier bridges, mountain passes, and fortified canal locks where state toll collectors demand extortionate transit fees and inspect passing travelers for taxable contraband, open combat results in immediate alarm and encirclement. Defensively, an operative uses the press before stepping into the inspection queue, feeding common slate or river-clay slugs into the chamber to produce convincing silver or electrum coins. When the toll collector assesses the party’s purse, the passive Appraiser’s Glamour and Mind’s Eye False Value cause the inspector to perceive genuine, legally minted local coin with proper weight and hallmarks, allowing the party to satisfy oppressive entry fees without depleting their actual wealth. If an inspector unexpectedly calls for a specialized anti-counterfeit diviner, the operative subtly uses the silent Purge the Quicksilver Veil, instantly dissolving the glamours on remaining tokens so a physical search finds only harmless craft pebbles rather than forged currency.
    • Offensively at these border bastions, an operative utilizes the False Hallmark Imprint to plant fabricated evidence against a corrupt border official. By stamping a set of lead bars with the proprietary royal mint seals of a rival rebellious province and discreetly slipping them into the checkpoint captain’s strongbox, the operative stages the scene of an illegal currency-skimming operation. Once tipped off, municipal inquisitors arrest the outpost commander for treason and illegal minting, creating chaos that leaves the entire border gate unmanned and open for the operative’s companions to bypass without paying fees or showing travel permits.
  • Bustling Merchant Quarters and High-End Bazaars:
    • In the grand mercantile squares of major capital cities where trade syndicates, gem merchants, and banking houses trade under strict municipal law, survival depends on social leverage and financial maneuvering. Defensively, an operative targeted by predatory merchant price-gouging or usurious black-market brokers uses Spirit-Wash Coinage to manufacture exact payment for critical survival supplies, healing tinctures, or alchemical reagents. Because the coins mimic standard weight and ring true against the counter, the operative secures vital gear and departs before the 24-hour glamour expires, avoiding financial ruin in foreign markets.
    • Offensively within these markets, the tool can be deployed to destabilize a hostile trade consortium or break a rival merchant’s monopoly. The operative floods a rival merchant’s vault by making large purchases of high-end commodities using hundreds of stamped lead and clay coins bearing flawless guild hallmarks. The operative immediately carts away genuine materials, leaving the rival merchant holding what appears to be immense wealth. When the glamour dissolves the following day, the merchant finds their vault filled with worthless clay, triggering a liquidity collapse, defaulting loans with the World Bank, and bankrupting the rival organization without a single drop of blood being shed.
  • Subterranean Mining Settlements and Smuggler Warrens:
    • In the dark, damp mining caverns and illicit underground exchanges deep beneath Saṃsāra’s crust where rough miners, fences, and escaped outlaws barter in raw ore and unregistered bullion, physical disputes are settled with picks and hammers. Defensively, an operative trapped in a low-trust underground trade outpost uses the press to disguise valuable stolen goods. By applying the False Hallmark Imprint to rare, high-grade magical crystal matrices or raw silver ingots, the operative stamps them with the crude, worthless marks of low-tier industrial scrap or slag, preventing greedy cutthroats and cave bandits from marking the party as a target for robbery.
    • Offensively in the subterranean gloom, the operative can ignite infighting between competing criminal factions. By using the press to forge a batch of coins bearing the exclusive hallmark of an outlaw boss and dropping them inside the tavern of a rival gang, the operative frames the first boss for shortchanging gang alliances or circulating clipped, fake scrip. Accusations of currency fraud among desperate outlaws quickly boil over into violent territorial wars, allowing the operative’s team to slip past contested cavern checkpoints while both factions destroy each other in the tunnels.
  • Royal Courts and Diplomatic Banquets:
    • In opulent throne rooms, diplomatic galleries, and banquet halls where nobility and foreign ambassadors vie for influence, wealth is power and appearances dictate allegiance. Defensively, an operative tasked with infiltrating a high-society gala uses the press to craft convincing aristocratic identity tokens, luxury gift ingots, or guest admission tokens stamped with flawless royal crests. When challenged by court heralds or royal guards at the entrance, the warded tokens bypass aristocratic scrutiny, granting the operative access to restricted receiving rooms without triggering suspicion from palace wardens.
    • Offensively during high-stakes statecraft, the operative can orchestrate the political downfall of a hostile diplomat. During an auction of rare estate lands or state concessions, the operative loans a rival diplomat a lavish chest of magically stamped electrum bars to help secure a winning bid. When the diplomat presents the forged bullion to the crown treasury, the wielder invokes the silent Purge the Quicksilver Veil from across the banquet floor. The gleaming electrum instantly reverts to crude pig iron and river slate before the eyes of the king and council, resulting in the immediate arrest and public humiliation of the foreign diplomat for defrauding the crown.
  • High-Altitude Airship Docks and Sky Caravans:
    • Aboard long-distance commercial zeppelins, floating sky docks, and cloud barges where space is strictly restricted and travelers are subject to rigorous passenger weigh-ins and manifest audits, weight and legitimacy are strictly regulated. Defensively, the operative uses the passive Spiritual Weight Alignment to manage trade cargo. When airship harbor-masters impose heavy luxury tariffs on carried bullion or fine metals, the operative uses the press to stamp slate discs with base copper marks; the tokens register as common low-weight ballast on cargo manifests, allowing the operative to bypass expensive transportation duties while keeping the party’s travel profile low.
    • Offensively in an airborne setting, an operative pursuing a fleeing informant or corrupt courier aboard an airship can coerce cooperation by planting counterfeit dies in their luggage. By discreetly slipping a freshly stamped die and a handful of lead coins into the target’s quarters, the operative alerts the sky marshal to an illicit currency-counterfeiting ring operating on board. Facing execution or being thrown from the airship for treason against the state mint, the terrified courier is forced to turn to the operative for protection, revealing their flight destination, passwords, and secret intelligence in exchange for having the incriminating evidence magically dissolved via the Purge the Quicksilver Veil.

Perception of Activation:

  • User’s Perspective:
    • Visual Perception: The moment the iron lever clamps shut, the coin-sized Tier 1 crystal set into the pommel flares from a muted lavender into a concentrated, bright violet core. Micro-arcs of pale purple static crackle harmlessly across the silver filigree on the hinge, leaping onto the inserted blank while a golden-orange ember glow bleeds through the seams of the petrified birch pressing cup.
    • Auditory Perception: The mechanical crunch of the lever is accompanied by a deep, resonant hum akin to a heavy bronze temple bell struck underwater. Beneath this low tone, the user hears a sharp, crystalline chime—the distinct ring of pure silver dropping onto an anvil—even if the pressed disc is merely common clay or river slate.
    • Tactile Perception: A sudden surge of dense, magnetic resistance pushes back against the user’s palm as the lever descends, followed by a warm, thrumming vibration traveling up the forearm. When the freshly stamped token drops into the hand, it feels surprisingly heavy, cold, and metallic, perfectly mimicking the density and texture of refined bullion despite its crude core.
    • Olfactory Perception: The air directly before the user’s face fills with the sharp, acrid bite of hot iron scale and scorched horn, quickly overtaken by the clean, dry scent of pulverized mineral dust and warm linseed grease.
    • Gustatory Perception: An immediate coppery, battery-acid tang coats the back of the throat and the roof of the mouth, accompanied by a dry, powdery sensation across the tongue like fine limestone flour.
    • Extra-Sensory Perceptions:
      • Mind’s Eye Alignment: The user’s internal arcane sight perceives the mundane aura of the base slug warping violently, wrapping itself in a layered, convincing lattice of false values, authentic mint hallmarks, and illusory trade authority tags.
      • Mineral Communion: A fleeting empathic awareness touches the user’s consciousness, granting an instinctual sense of the raw material’s internal molecular stress, confirming that the earth wights have temporarily accepted the illusion of precious metal.
  • Observer’s Perspective:
    • Visual Perception: Observers see the operator squeeze a heavy, ornate hand-press, catching a brief, bright spark of violet light at the tool’s base and a flash of dull gold through the jaws. As the freshly minted piece falls into view, it glints with the unmistakable, brilliant sheen of freshly polished silver or electrum, bearing an intricately embossed rim and crisp state hallmarks.
    • Auditory Perception: Anyone standing within twenty feet hears the crisp, authoritative clack-ring of high-purity coin striking coin, completely masking any soft crumbling or dull thud that base slate or clay would naturally produce.
    • Tactile Perception: If an observer catches or handles the coin immediately, they feel the authentic weight, fine milled edge, and heat-conductive chill of authentic minted currency, with no outward sign of resin, paint, or softness.
    • Olfactory Perception: A faint whiff of forge smoke and scorched horn drifts past the observer, rapidly dissipating into the surrounding room or street air.
    • Gustatory Perception: Should an observer bite the coin to test its authenticity in traditional merchant fashion, their teeth encounter firm, yielding resistance consistent with soft silver or electrum, leaving a faint metallic trace on the lips.
    • Extra-Sensory Perceptions:
      • Divinatory Assurance: Observers examining the coins with a passive Mind’s Eye or casual identify scan see unambiguous data: the tokens register with the exact statistical naming conventions, gold-purity ratings, and weight values of legitimate regional coinage.
      • Aura of Mundane Commerce: Arcane-sensitive onlookers feel no alarming surge of high magic; the lingering residue reads purely as the mundane, low-level resonance typical of newly struck guild coinage.
  • Positives:
    • Flawless Casual Deception: The simultaneous alignment of visual brilliance, tactile weight, audial ring, and divinatory tags ensures that merchants, toll keepers, and guards will accept the counterfeit tokens during everyday transactions without second thought.
    • Instant Evaporative Escape: The wielder’s silent purge power allows every false stamp and transmutation glamour across all carried tokens to be dissolved instantaneously and invisibly, completely denying corrupt inspectors or inquisitors physical evidence during sudden searches.
    • Extreme Material Versatility: The device functions on almost any accessible solid matter—from scrap lead and base bronze to river pebbles, slate, or hardened mud—allowing the operative to manufacture convincing funds even when stranded in barren wilderness.
  • Negatives:
    • Tell-Tale Activation Spark: The initial flash of violet light and crackling static between the jaws of the press is distinct, making it difficult to operate covertly in a pitch-black alley or directly beneath the watchful gaze of a suspicious guard.
    • Lingering Sensory Tells: The distinct scent of scorched horn and the metallic taste in the user’s throat can linger for several minutes after stamping, potentially alerting close-range canine trackers or alchemical inspectors.
    • 24-Hour Time Limit: Because the cosmetic transmutation lasts only a single day before dissolving back into crude base materials, passing coins in a localized area guarantees furious merchants and severe municipal bounties once the glamour inevitably fades.

Crafting Recipe: The Guileful Spirit-Mint

  • Materials Needed:
    • One Tier 1 Magic Crystal (coin-sized and coin-weighted, harvested from a slain creature) to serve as the harmonic arcane battery catalyst.
    • Eight ounces of cold-worked refined iron and two ounces of high-purity silver wire for the lever frame, pivot arm, and decorative filigree.
    • One solid section of cured reindeer horn, cut and turned to a two-inch diameter to form the lower interchangeable die faceplate.
    • One disc of petrified birch wood, three inches in diameter, dried and hollowed out to form the upper pressing matrix.
    • Three feet of braided stag sinew for tension wrapping and tool tethering.
    • One small, stoppered glass vial containing fine copper filings, powdered silver leaf, and rendered animal fat to act as the consecrated stamping grease.
    • One hollow scrap of polished stag leg bone, carved into a flat scraping spatula.
    • Two fluid drams of resinous sap harvested from a boreal birch using a fluid collector to serve as an alchemical sealant.
    • One fluid dram of elemental or subterranean beast ichor gathered via a fluid collector to awaken the mineral-communion runes.
  • Tools Required:
    • A portable jeweler’s anvil and small ball-peen smithing hammer.
    • A charcoal spirit brazier or jewel-crafting torch for localized heating and tempering.
    • Fine steel engraving burins, micro-chisels, and a diamond-point etching stylus.
    • A standard fluid collector with micro-draw needles for measuring out exact biological resins.
    • Leather-punching awls and needle-nose pliers for sinew lacing.
    • An agate burnishing stone and fine emery paper for smoothing metal and horn faces.
  • Skill Requirements:
    • Trained Skill Level 5 or higher in Arcane Metalworking, Jewelry Crafting, or Forgery.
    • Practical knowledge of noaidi spirit lore, mineral wight communion, and runic embossing.
    • Basic proficiency in horn-carving and bone tool shaping.
  • Crafting Steps:
    • Step 1: Forging the Iron Frame and Crystal Chamber
      • Heat and beat the refined iron into a two-piece handheld scissor-lever frame measuring roughly seven inches in length, featuring an upper lever arm, a lower anvil bracket, and a centralized pivot hinge.
      • Chisel micro-grooves along the outer sides of the iron arms and inlay the fine silver wire using the small hammer and burnisher, forming spiraling frost motifs that channel arcane static across the hinge.
      • Forge a circular hollow into the pommel base of the main grip to seat the Tier 1 coin-sized magic crystal.
      • Anchor the crystal into the pommel socket using a drop of heated boreal birch sap, ensuring the stone remains level and its arcane hum resonates directly through the iron shaft.
    • Step 2: Shaping and Inscribing the Horn Striking Die
      • Turn and saw the cured reindeer horn into a flat, circular striking faceplate with a keyed peg on its reverse side to fit securely into the lower iron anvil bracket.
      • Using the diamond-point stylus and fine burins, carve sacred noaidi spiral motifs, mineral-binding runes, and false trade hallmarks into the polished horn face in reverse mirror-image relief.
      • Blend the single dram of harvested subterranean beast ichor with soot and fine copper filings, then rub the mixture into the cut grooves of the horn to bind the runic patterns to the earth spirits.
      • Polish the raised surfaces with the agate burnisher until the lines are crisp and free of burrs.
    • Step 3: Preparing the Upper Pressing Matrix
      • Take the circular disc of petrified birch wood and grind its face completely flat using emery paper.
      • Hollow out a shallow central basin in the wood’s contact face, sized precisely to seat standard metal, slate, or clay blank discs.
      • Bore mounting holes through the top of the disc and rivet it securely to the upper lever jaw using soft iron pins.
      • Coat the outer wood rim in a thin wash of heated tree sap resin to prevent splitting under mechanical pressure.
    • Step 4: Assembling the Pivot Hinge and Rigging the Tether
      • Align the upper and lower lever arms, seating the pivot joint with a tempered iron pin and peening the head flat over an iron washer to ensure a smooth, tight clamping action without wobble.
      • Wrap the middle of the lower grip with braided stag sinew, securing the coils with pine resin to provide a firm, non-slip handle.
      • Attach a three-inch sinew loop to the bottom of the grip to tether the carved bone spatula and the glass vial of copper-grease dressing.
      • Secure the vial and spatula to the loop, verifying they hang clear of the lever’s clamping path.
    • Step 5: Harmonic Attunement and Validation
      • Hold the assembled press firmly between both palms and begin a steady Somatic noaidi chant of exchange and illusion for one continuous minute, aligning the pommel crystal with the engraved horn die.
      • Place a test slug of raw river clay or base slate into the birch chamber, smear it lightly with the metal grease using the bone spatula, and compress the lever firmly.
      • Verify that the pommel crystal flares with a concentrated violet glow, that a crisp metallic chime sounds as the jaws close, and that the pressed slug emerges bearing the bright sheen, exact weight, and hallmark of a genuine silver coin.
      • Inspect the finished coin through the Mind’s Eye to ensure it projects an authentic trade value before slotting the press onto a belt hook or packing it for covert field deployment.

Iron Jaw Which Bakes False Shells of Gold

In the ancient turning of the moon Saṃsāra, before the seventy and three sovereign islands had set their iron gates into the water, the fire from the high gas sphere was very hot, and the ground was full of screaming red stones. There was a walking man named Aslak, whose first ghost had been poured out from the sleeping vessel of Gaialilith into the mud of the northern state which men call Fauresmith. Because his head had been scrubbed with the white broom of forgetting, he did not know whether his hands had formerly held the golden spoon of an emperor or the wooden paddle of a dung-rower in the worlds that broke apart before the great moon was set into its path. The vessel of flesh he occupied was short and thick like an alder stump, and his palms were cracked like frozen lard from scraping the cold earth to find wild leeks.

In that country of Fauresmith, the great princes and the council of the seventy-two trade guilds had made a very heavy iron yoke for the necks of the small folk. Every bridge that crossed a muddy creek was watched by a fat man who wore three hats and a yellow doublet stuffed with goose feathers. These toll-captains sat upon high chairs of black horn, and beside them was a great iron box with seven keyholes. Whenever a charcoal burner wished to bring his donkey across the water, or an old woman carried a basket of dried salt fish to the children of the swamp, the yellow-hat man would make a loud bark with his fat throat.

“Give here the three round plates of pure white electrum,” the toll-captain would shout, spitting red beer upon the gravel, “or I will strike off the donkey’s ears and throw the old woman’s fish into the mud for the water worms to eat! For the great king upon the southern hill has made the law that no man may put his leather boots upon the timber road without dropping three shines of silver into the royal box!”

The poor people had no white electrum, nor did they have the silver pieces of the guild. Their hands held only the gray clay of the river bottom, the black slates of the chimney-rock, and small pebbles of base copper that smelled of stagnant ditch water. Therefore, the people were forced to sleep in the cold reeds beside the bridges, while their children wept because of the winter wind, and the red soldiers of the king took their milking goats to bake inside the grand ovens of the castle.

Aslak saw this grief from the hollow of an ancient oak tree where he had made his bed. His stomach was very hollow, like a dried bladder drum, but the noaidi wisdom of his ancient soul began to knock against his temples like a stone hammer.

“The metal under the dirt has no king,” Aslak whispered into the cold moss of the ditch. “The yellow ore and the gray silver did not sign the paper of the grand council. The earth wights laugh inside their deep holes when the king puts his fat face upon a round plate and calls it his own mother.”

So Aslak went down into the wet darkness of the abandoned copper pit where the air is thick like wet wool and smells of yellow sulfur. He sat upon a slab of red ironstone and sang the nine chants of the mole and the five quiet rhymes of the subterranean beetle. He did not blow upon a trumpet of war; he only spoke the language of the rocks, which is very slow, like the dropping of water in a winter cave.

Out of the black crack in the stone came three wights of the deep vein. Their bodies were made of cold marcasite and their eyes were like the green moss that grows on rotten copper. They were very angry that their quiet veins had been cut by the picks of the great kings, for the iron men were stealing their ribs to forge shields and chains for the world above.

“Why do you shake our roof, you two-legged meat-sack?” ground out the first wight, and his voice sounded like two gravel stones rolling inside an empty pot. “We have no bread for you, and if you touch our red stone, we will cause the mountain to sit down upon your knees.”

Aslak did not run away, nor did he draw a blade of flint. He brought forward a piece of dried reindeer horn which he had cut from the skull of a great stag that had died of old age on the tundra.

“I do not seek your bone-meat, grandfather,” Aslak answered, holding the white horn in his two open palms. “I seek only to make an instrument of small cunning, so that the little people may cross the bridge of the fat men without being eaten by the iron teeth of the king’s law. Lend me three drops of your stone sweat, and grant that the clay of the swamp may borrow the shining skin of the royal metal until the sun has made one circle over the high trees.”

The stone wights made a small dry laugh that caused lime dust to rain from the cavern roof. Because they hated the proud kings who melted their ore in smoke and grease, the oldest wight took the reindeer horn into his cold rock fingers. With a sharp claw of native antimony, the wight scratched the secret spiral of the crooked path upon the horn, and he spat three black drops of subterranean ichor into the grooves.

Then Aslak took two bars of tough bog-iron that had never been touched by the smiths of the city. He hammered them cold between two granite boulders, shaping them into a lever like the jaws of an otter. Into the upper jaw he riveted a round plate of petrified birch, which is harder than bronze and does not split when struck. In the pommel of the lower grip, he set a coin-sized crystal of pale violet water, which had been born in the deep granite where the moon’s magic flow pulses through the earth-crust like blood. To the side he bound a small flask of oil mixed with pulverized shavings of silver and the dust of yellow copper.

When the tool was complete, Aslak went to the muddy ditch beside the great bridge of the river Gula, where fifty families of the peat-cutters were shivering in the rain because the yellow-hat toll-master had demanded two silver shillings for every cart.

Aslak picked up a handful of blue river clay from the edge of the puddle. He rolled the mud between his dirty hands until he had twenty flat round cakes like plums. He placed the bone scraper into the vial of metal oil and smeared the dark grease across the horn die. Then he set a blue clay cake into the birch cup of the upper jaw, took the iron handle with both hands, and clenched the tongs shut while speaking the four words of the gravel wight.

Klang-krrk!

The iron jaws came together with the sound of an iron bell struck in a high wind. The violet crystal in the pommel flared with a sudden, beautiful spark of pale lavender lightning, and a sweet smell of burned horn and hot iron scale blew over the heads of the weeping peasants.

When Aslak opened the jaws of the tool, the blue river mud was gone. Resting within the birch hollow was a shining coin of pure silver, possessing an edge as crisp as the winter ice and bearing the proud seal of the royal treasury with the face of the sovereign eagle upon its cheek.

He dropped the coin into the lap of an old woman whose cart was held at the gate. The old woman gave a great gasp and pulled back her hands, for she believed it was a piece of the sun that would burn through her wool. But when she touched it, the coin was cold, heavy like true lead-silver, and when it fell upon her wooden shoe, it gave the clear, sharp song: ting-tang, like the bell of a cathedral.

“Go to the fat captain on the chair,” said Aslak, though his forehead was wet with the gray sweat of the spirit-effort. “Give him the silver plate. But tell your sons to whip the donkeys swiftly when you reach the other side, for when the star Helios has finished his journey and the third watchman blows his horn upon the city wall, the eagle’s face will become like wet river dirt once more.”

The old woman ran to the gate and cast the silver piece into the black box of the toll-captain. The fat man bit the silver with his broad yellow teeth, and he nodded with his triple chin, saying, “This is good money of the royal strike, containing no copper dirt. Pass through, old mother of mud, and thank the merciful king that you are permitted to walk upon his stones.”

All through the gray afternoon, Aslak sat behind the gorse bush with his iron machine. One by one, he took the flat pebbles of the river, the slate chips from the ditch, and the blue clay of the bogs, and he squeezed them inside the jaws of the spirit-die. He gave three silver crowns to the charcoal burner, four shillings to the weaver of willow baskets, and six electrum marks to the father of the sick girl whose avatar was wasting away for lack of warm bread. Every soul crossed the timber bridge with light hearts, and the heavy box of the toll-captain was filled to the brim with heavy, cold, ringing coin.

By the time the violet shadow of the gas giant rose into the night sky, more than two hundred travelers had crossed the river without the loss of a single goat or the surrender of an honest coat.

Now it came to pass that the toll-captain, whose name was Balthazar of the Red Belly, was very greedy for his own belly’s comfort. When the gate was locked for the night, he did not send the iron chest to the king’s castle under the escort of the pike-guards. Instead, he carried the box into his private bed-chamber, intending to steal fifty of the brightest electrum pieces to buy a cloak of white marten fur and five jars of spiced southern honey from a traveling peddler.

He lit his tallow candles, locked his heavy oak door with three bolts, and tipped the great iron chest out upon his feather mattress. A great mountain of silver and electrum cascaded across the quilts, glittering with so much brightness that the eyes of the fat man grew round like turnip slices.

“The miserable dirt-eaters have paid well today,” Balthazar laughed, rubbing his hands together until the grease on his fingers smelled of pig fat. “The king shall receive the small silver, and I will keep the great broad pieces of the high eagle to line my boots with velvet.”

He picked up a great handful of the electrum coins, letting them slip through his fingers so that their sharp chimes would delight his ears.

At that very moment, the great bronze bell of the high fortress chimed the twelfth stroke of the midnight hour. The twenty and four hours had completed their circle upon the moon’s face.

Suddenly, the cold ring of the coins ceased. The sharp edges of the silver eagles became soft like warm butter under a hot knife.

Balthazar looked down at his palms, and his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth. The brilliant electrum pieces were no longer metal; they had begun to turn blue and gray, melting into soft lumps of foul-smelling swamp mire! The great pile of treasure upon his feather bed was running in greasy streams, soaking the clean linen sheets with wet mud, river gravel, and foul black ditch peat that smelled of dead frogs and rotting cabbage roots!

“Treason!” screamed Balthazar, clawing at the muck on his quilt. “The sorcerers have stolen the royal bullion! The mountain devils have entered the bed-curtains!”

He ran to his door, but because his hands were covered in slippery blue river clay, he could not turn the brass handle. He fell upon his stomach in the mountain of wet sludge, and when his servant broke through the oak boards with an iron crowbar, they found the great toll-captain rolling upon the floor in three bushels of common puddle-mud, holding two pieces of flat blue slate against his heart and weeping that his marten cloak had turned into river weeds.

When the king heard that the royal toll had been paid with sixty pounds of swamp mud, his rage was like a great furnace. He sent seventy riders with iron mail and yew bows to search every ditch from the river Gula to the salt coast. But Aslak had already tucked the iron lever into his belt and walked away through the high blueberry woods toward the mountains of Tayacian.

For forty seasons, the iron press walked with the small people across the seventy-three island states. Wherever an avatar of the poor was threatened with the debtor’s chain or the whip of the tax collector, the noaidi 319 was drawn from its oily seal-skin wrapping. It stamped the river mud into guild marks, it pressed the pig-lead into fine ingots of the high courts, and it allowed the hungry to buy the flour and the seed-corn of the rich merchants before the magic veil dissolved into thin water.

When the flesh-dwelling of Aslak became very frail, and his thumbs could no longer press the iron lever against the resistance of the stone wights, he sat upon the edge of a deep glacial fissure where the blue ice goes down into the belly of the world. He unwound the stag sinew from the grip and spoke a quiet word of thanks to the horn die and the petrified birch matrix.

“You have fed the hungry,” said the old noaidi, while the lavender sparks of his departing soul began to play across his dry knuckles. “You have mocked the great chairs of the three-hatted men, and you have taught the river mud how to speak the language of kings. Lie now in the deep frost where the greedy hands of the city minters cannot twist your jaw to make chains for the innocent.”

He dropped the tool into the black throat of the ice, where it fell for three miles into the cold veins of the silent earth, waiting until the great wheel of the ages should turn again and another poor soul should need to buy his brother’s life with a handful of clean mud.

Moral of the Story: The gold of the tyrant is only the clay of the earth which has been named with an arrogant tongue; he who relies upon the weight of stamped silver to buy the souls of his brothers will find that when the sun completes its measure, his treasure is nothing more than the mud upon his own boots.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

Aslak’s Transmuting Press of the Earth-Wights

  • Description: A heavy, handheld lever clamp of cold-beaten iron with fine silver wire filigree coiled around its central pivot. The striking face features an interchangeable plate of carved reindeer horn scribed with miniature spirals, while the upper jaw holds a cup of dense, petrified birch. A thumb-sized violet stone is embedded into the base of the grip, crackling with subtle static and shedding a warm, forge-like luminescence when clamped shut. A small glass vial of powdered silver grease and an ivory-bone spatula hang from the handle by braided sinew.
  • Item Type: Unique Hyperborean Artifact / Earth-Spirited Forgery Die
  • Sanity Cost: 0 to carry or inspect; 1/1D3 Sanity points upon observing solid river clay or lead slugs instantly take on the cold ring, hallmark, and luster of authentic precious metal coinage.
  • Powers and Mechanics:
    • Spiritual Stamping Glamour: The user inserts a disc of common mud, lead, or slate, rubs the horn die with the metal grease, and clamps the lever shut. By spending 3 Magic Points and succeeding on an Art/Craft (Forgery, Counterfeiting, or Jewel-making) check, the blank is transmuted into what appears and feels to be genuine, high-grade gold, electrum, or silver coin. The coin matches true currency in weight, ring, and surface hardness, granting a Bonus Die to Appraise, Sleight of Hand, or Credit Rating checks made to pass the coins. This cosmetic transmutation lasts for exactly 24 hours before the coin collapses back into foul, wet silt or scrap lead.
    • False Hallmark and Provenance: By spending 5 Magic Points and reciting a short shamanic invocation to the ore spirits, the bearer can stamp larger metal ingots, tools, or trade seals. Observers examining the marked item must achieve an Extreme success on an Appraise or History check to recognize the seal or mint mark as fraudulent. This effect endures for 8 hours.
    • Instant Veiling Purge: As an immediate reaction, the wielder may clench the iron grip firmly. All active glamours and false stamps created by the device within 10 feet instantly and silently dissolve, reverting any passed or carried coins back into harmless raw clay or slate before suspicious authorities can examine them.
    • Curse of the Melted Vault: If an individual stores more than twenty counterfeit coins produced by this press inside an enclosed, locked space (such as a safe or coin chest), the wights grow restless. At the stroke of the 24th hour, the reverting sludge releases noxious, sulfurous marsh vapors. Anyone opening the container must make a CON check or suffer 1D6 toxic damage and spend 1D4 rounds violently retching.

Blades in the Dark

The Scrip-Forger’s Clamp

  • Item Details: A Tier I Rare Arcane Implement / Counterfeiter’s Kit. Carried as 1 load (when strapped to a work apron or tool belt) or 2 load (if accompanied by an assortment of raw lead blanks, clay stamps, and interchangeable horn dies).
  • Qualities and Tags: Rare, Arcane, Concealable, Craft.
  • Mechanics and Operation:
    • Temporary Coinage (Action: Tinker or Finesse): When preparing for a score or gathering resources during downtime, you may take 1 Stress and spend a few moments pressing lead slugs, clay pellets, or slate blanks. You produce temporary, convincing scrip or guild sovereigns equal to 1 Coin in purchasing power.
      • Standard Effect: The coins pass casual scrutiny, weigh true, and ring like genuine bullion for the duration of the score.
      • Complication: At the conclusion of the score (or after 24 hours), the coins dissolve into smelly harbor mud. If the coins were passed to a dangerous faction or powerful broker, tick 2 segments on an appropriate retribution clock (e.g., “The Inspectors Track the Bad Money”).
    • Hallmark Fabrication (Action: Study or Tinker): You roll Tinker to stamp false aristocratic crests, imperial mint marks, or tax-exempt hallmarks onto trade goods, metal bars, or cargo seals. On a 6, the markings hold up against active bluecoat or customs scrutiny, granting +1 Position (e.g., Risky becomes Controlled) on subsequent rolls to move through city gates or sell contraband to fences.
    • Emergency Dissolution (Free Action): You may spend 1 Stress to squeeze the press’s iron lever. All counterfeit currency and false hallmarks currently within arm’s reach immediately and silently melt into crude dirt and raw lead, denying inspectors any physical evidence of forgery during a search or shakedown.

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Guileful Mint of the Noaidi

  • Wondrous Item, Common
  • Item Properties:
    • Weight: 1.5 lbs.
    • Attunement: Requires attunement by a creature proficient with Forgery Kits, Smith’s Tools, or the Deception skill.
  • Item Traits:
    • Weight and Texture Mimicry: Any base metal slug, dried river clay pellet, or slate disc stamped by this press gains the exact physical weight, density, and metallic ring of standard minted coinage recognized by formal banking entities.
    • Glamour of Authenticity: While the press is on your person, you have advantage on Charisma (Deception) and Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) checks made to pass or spend currency produced by this device.
    • Charges: The press contains 3 charges. It regains 1d3 expended charges daily at dawn. If you expend the last charge, roll a d20. On a 1, the petrified birch matrix cracks, rendering the item nonmagical until repaired with rare sap during a short rest.
  • Actions and Spells:
    • Coin Transmutation (1 Charge): As an action, you place a mundane disc of clay, lead, or stone into the pressing chamber, squeeze the lever, and chant a short elemental phrase. The blank transmutes into an exact cosmetic duplicate of up to 10 silver, nickel, or electrum pieces (or 1 gold piece). The coins appear completely genuine and resist mundane scrutiny. After 24 hours, the glamour ends, and the coins revert to their original mundane matter.
    • Counterfeit Hallmark (1 Charge): As an action taking 1 minute of careful stamping and greasing, you imprint a false guild hallmark, imperial mint seal, or artisan mark onto a metal item, tool, or ingot. For the next 8 hours, spells such as identify or checks made to appraise the item perceive the counterfeit mark as an authentic historical hallmark from a prestigious mint or master smith.
    • Purge Glamour (Bonus Action): You firmly squeeze the iron pommel. All active coin transmutations and false hallmarks created by the press within 10 feet of you immediately and silently dissolve, reverting all stamped tokens back to their original crude materials.

Knave (2nd Edition)

The Shaman’s Hand-Mint

  • Item Slots: 1 Slot (consisting of the handheld iron lever, horn die, birch pressing block, and mineral grease bottle).
  • Durability: 3/3 Quality.
  • Tags and Properties: Iron, Silvered, Focus, Tool.
  • Mechanics:
    • Tool Utility: Allows the wielder to forge documents, stamp fake seal wax, and shape lead or clay into passable trade slugs without carrying a full blacksmith’s kit.
    • False Bullion: Once per exploration turn or during camp, the wielder may spend 10 minutes gathering clay, lead scraps, or flat river slate and pressing them through the die. This produces up to 20 copper coins or 2 silver coins’ worth of glittering, heavy trade coin. These coins pass standard merchant scrutiny. However, after 24 hours, the magic dissolves, leaving behind wet mud and black grit; merchants who discover this deception will immediately become hostile.
    • Quicksilver Dissolution: When confronted or searched by town watchmen or bailiffs, the wielder may immediately expend 1 point of Quality from the press to silently dissolve all active false coins and forged trade stamps within 5 paces back into harmless dirt and unworked scrap.
    • Repair: Restoring 1 point of lost Quality requires 50 copper coins worth of silver shavings, bone glue, and 1 hour of delicate metalworking at a forge or campfire.

Fate (Fate Core / Condensed)

The Shaman’s Hand-Mint

  • Item Type: Personal Extra / Counterfeit Focus
  • Permissions: Carried in hand or hooked openly to a tool belt, requiring an aspect or skill reflecting street cunning, metalcraft, or spiritual trickery.
  • Costs: 1 Refresh point (or may be utilized as a Campaign Aspect with free invocations).
  • Aspects:
    • Function Aspect: Noaidi Lever-Press of the Guileful Mint
    • Flaw / Vulnerability Aspect: Ephemeral Bullion and Lingering Marsh Stench
  • Stunts and Special Mechanics:
    • Counterfeit Scrip: Once per session, you may press common river clay, slate, or scrap lead into stamped, heavy trade coins. Create a boost or situation aspect named Pouch of Fresh Sovereign Coins with two free invocations to be used on Resources or Deceive rolls when buying goods, bribing officials, or paying transit tariffs. After 24 hours (or at the end of the scenario), the coins turn into worthless swamp mud.
    • Appraiser’s Glamour: Gain a +2 bonus on Deceive or Crafts rolls when creating advantages or overcoming obstacles involving false hallmarks, forged guild seals, or passing off base metals as pure electrum or silver.
    • Quicksilver Dissolution: Once per scene as a free reaction, spend 1 Fate Point to immediately dissolve all active glamours and false stamps on coins or small ingots within your zone. The counterfeit items silently revert to common pebbles and raw lead, denying inspectors any physical evidence of forgery.

Cypher System / Numenera (Discovery & Destiny)

Lever-Die of the Stone Wights

  • Item Type: Cypher (or an Artifact of Level 2)
  • Level: 2 (1d6 rolled, adjusted for standard tier play)
  • Form: An ornate handheld iron clamp with fine silver wire scrolling, an interchangeable carved horn die, and an upper cup of petrified wood housing a small, faintly glowing violet nodule.
  • Depletion: 1 in 1d10 (check each time a batch of tokens or false hallmarks is produced)
  • Effect and Properties:
    • Spiritual Weight Calibration (Passive): Slugs and tokens produced by the press automatically match the exact mass, cold ring, and tactile feel of genuine minted currency, easing all deception or bartering tasks involving the currency by one step.
    • Coin Glamour (Active): The user places a lead slug, slate disc, or clay pellet into the press and squeezes the lever as an action. The blank takes on the appearance, luster, and strike of authentic silver, electrum, or high-denomination regional currency for 24 hours. Tasks to purchase supplies, pay tariffs, or pass off the false currency to merchants and checkpoint guards are eased by two steps. After 24 hours, the items melt into noxious silt.
    • Fabricate Hallmark (Active): As an action taking 1 minute, the user stamps a false guild seal, royal mint hallmark, or artisan trade mark onto a metal bar or piece of gear. Scrutiny to determine its authenticity is hindered by two steps for the next 8 hours.
    • Emergency Purge (Active): As an immediate action, the user firmly clenches the grip to collapse the mineral glamour. All false currency and hallmarks created by the device within immediate range instantly dissolve into raw dirt and base scrap.

Pathfinder (Second Edition)

Guileful Spirit-Mint

  • Item Details:
    • Item 1
    • Traits: Illusion, Transmutation, Magical
    • Price: 20 gp
    • Usage: held in 1 hand; Bulk: L
  • Description:
    • An intricate handheld stamping clamp forged of cold iron laced with silver filigree, featuring an interchangeable horn die face and a petrified birch contact cup. A small violet focus crystal sits in the pommel, crackling with static whenever base metals or river clay blanks are loaded into its jaws.
  • Passive Bonuses:
    • While carrying or holding the press, you gain a +1 item bonus to Deception checks to Lie or Impersonate when passing off forged coinage, merchant seals, or base bullion as genuine currency.
    • Tokens pressed by this tool perfectly mimic the physical weight, density, and audial ring of legal regional tender, imposing a -2 circumstance penalty on Perception checks by observers attempting to identify them as counterfeit.
  • Activate — Transmute Coinage:
    • Actions: Two Actions (manipulate)
    • Frequency: once per day
    • Effect: You insert a base lead slug, slate chip, or clay disc into the press and clamp the jaws. The blank is cosmetically transmuted into the likeness of up to 10 silver pieces or 1 gold piece, complete with crisp mint markings. This glamour lasts for 24 hours before the currency dissolves into muddy residue.
  • Activate — False Hallmark:
    • Actions: 1 minute (manipulate)
    • Frequency: once per day
    • Effect: You coat the horn die with mineral grease and stamp a tool, metal ingot, or cargo seal. For 8 hours, the object gains a counterfeit masterwork or royal mint hallmark. Anyone using the Recall Knowledge or Sense Motive action to assess the mark takes a -2 item penalty to realize the seal is fabricated.
  • Activate — Dissolve the Veil:
    • Actions: Single Action (concentrate)
    • Frequency: at will
    • Effect: You clench the pommel crystal. All active illusions and false stamps created by the press on items within 15 feet instantly and silently dissolve, reverting them to their original mundane substances.

Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition)

Noaidi’s Hand-Press

  • Item Type: Minor Arcane Device (Enchanted Item)
  • Weight: 1.5 lbs.
  • Value: $500
  • Power Points: 5 (recharges at a rate of 1 Power Point per hour)
  • Inherent Properties:
    • Perfect Ring and Heft: Tokens and slugs stamped by the device match the weight, density, and sound of legal coinage. The user receives a +1 bonus on Thievery, Persuasion, or Taunt rolls made to negotiate, bribe, or fool targets with stamped tokens.
  • Embedded Powers:
    • Cosmetic Transmutation / False Coinage (Cost: 2 Power Points):
      • Range: Touch
      • Duration: 24 hours
      • Mechanics: The wielder loads a scrap of lead, slate, or clay into the jaws and rolls their Spirit die as an action. With success, the blank takes on the brilliant luster, hallmark, and appearance of genuine precious-metal coinage ($50 worth of legal tender per raise/success). When the duration expires, the coins dissolve into smelly ditch mud.
    • False Hallmark / Disguise Item (Cost: 1 Power Point):
      • Range: Touch
      • Duration: 8 hours
      • Mechanics: By spending 5 minutes stamping and greasing an item, tool, or ingot, the user imprints a false maker’s mark or guild stamp. Opponents rolling Notice or Smarts to inspect the seal suffer a -2 penalty (-4 with a raise).
    • Quicksilver Purge (Cost: 1 Power Point):
      • Range: Self (MB / Small Blast Template centered on wielder)
      • Duration: Instant
      • Mechanics: As a free action, the bearer triggers an instantaneous spiritual cleanse. All active coin glamours and false stamps within the template instantly dissolve into unworked base matter, leaving no physical evidence of forgery for searching guards or customs inspectors.

Shadowrun (Sixth World / 6e)

Aslak’s Transmuting Die and Scrip Press

  • Item Type: Force 2 Manipulation / Illusion Focus (Shamanic Tradition)
  • Concealability: -1 (Handheld manual tool clamp, carried on a belt loop or tool kit pouch)
  • Availability: 4 (Rare / Black market talismonger curio)
  • Cost: 9,000 nuyen
  • Description: A manual lever clamp constructed of cold-forged iron with fine silver wire filigree coiled around the pivot point. The lower anvil accommodates an interchangeable reindeer-horn faceplate carved with ancient spirit glyphs, while the upper jaw houses a compression cup of petrified birch. A small violet crystal in the grip pulses with faint static when loaded. Attached by braided stag sinew are a small bone spatula and a vial of metallic grease.
  • Game Mechanics and Rules:
    • Focus Bonding: Bonding this focus requires Karma equal to twice its Force (4 Karma). Once bonded, the wielder receives a +2 dice pool bonus on Sorcery tests to cast Illusion or Manipulation spells related to physical disguise, altering inanimate matter, or passing off fabricated credentials.
    • Counterfeit Bullion Stamping (Active): The Awakened user coats a base metal, clay, or slate slug with the metal grease, loads it into the jaws, and spends a Minor Action to compress the lever while making a Sorcery + Logic test. Upon scoring at least 1 net hit, the slug takes on the appearance, weight, and metallic ring of certified corporate scrip, precious bullion, or regional certified specie. The forged tokens grant an immediate +1 Edge bonus on Con or Negotiation tests made to pass the coins off to merchants or street fences. This physical glamour lasts for 24 hours before collapsing into rancid marsh sludge.
    • Hallmark Fabrication (Active): As a Major Action, the wielder can spend a point of Edge to stamp a false corporate seal, weapons manufacturer stamp, or certified trade hallmark onto an un-chipped physical item or credstick casing. Observers attempting an active Matrix search or Perception test to verify the physical mark suffer a -2 dice pool penalty for 8 hours.
    • Quicksilver Purge (Active): As a Minor Action, the wielder clenches the iron handle firmly. All active glamours and false stamps produced by the device within 5 meters immediately and silently dissolve, reverting all stamped tokens to inert scrap metal, stone, or clay before law enforcement or corporate security can confiscate physical evidence.

Starfinder (Second Edition)

Guileful Spirit-Die Press

  • Item 1
  • Traits: Illusion, Magical, Tech, Transmutation
  • Price: 20 credits
  • Usage: held in 1 hand; Bulk: L
  • Description: A compact hand-vise blending archaic planetary shamanic mechanics with micro-arcane circuitry. The frame is fashioned of cold-worked alloy with silver-wire tracery, fitted with a carved biomembrane horn striking plate and an upper cup of petrified wood. An integrated violet energy crystal sits in the pommel, crackling with static when compressing base slugs. A vial of conductive metallic paste and an ivory scraping tool hang from the lower chassis.
  • Game Mechanics and Rules:
    • Heft and Balance Calibration (Passive): Slugs and tokens stamped by this device precisely match the mass and physical density of authentic trade tokens and standardized hard-currency ingots, imposing a -2 circumstance penalty on Perception checks made by observers attempting to identify them as counterfeit.
    • Activate — Fabricate Physical Tender:
      • Actions: Two Actions (manipulate)
      • Frequency: once per day
      • Effect: You load a blank made of scrap lead, composite plastic, or river clay into the press and compress the clamp. The blank undergoes a surface transmutation into up to 10 standardized physical trade credits or bullion slugs. The tokens project genuine mint hallmarks and metallic luster. This glamour endures for 24 hours before the materials break down into useless silt.
    • Activate — False Manufacturer Mark:
      • Actions: 1 minute (manipulate)
      • Frequency: once per day
      • Effect: You spread conductive paste across the die and stamp a gear component, raw metal bar, or cargo container. For 8 hours, the object gains a counterfeit corporate or planetary trade hallmark. Checks made with Recall Knowledge to scrutinize the origin of the item take a -2 item penalty.
    • Activate — Emergency Dissolution:
      • Actions: Single Action (concentrate)
      • Frequency: at will
      • Effect: You clench the pommel crystal. All active transmutations and counterfeit hallmarks created by the press on objects within 15 feet instantly and silently dissipate, reverting them to their original mundane materials.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Ancients’ Bio-Alloy Coining Press

  • Tech Level (TL): 11 (Psionic / Archaic Tech-Artifact)
  • Mass: 0.75 kg
  • Cost: Cr 15,000 (Black market clearinghouses / outlaw mint syndicates)
  • Description: A handheld compression lever forged from a dense, cold-worked iron alloy inlaid with conductive silver circuitry along the hinge. The lower striking surface holds an interchangeable disc of petrified horn etched with micro-spiral conduits, while the upper jaw features a dense wood-matrix clamp. The pommel contains an unrefined violet crystal accumulator. A tiny reservoir of suspended metallic particulate grease hangs by a synthetic tendon from the base.
  • Game Mechanics and Rules:
    • Mass Simulation Field (Passive): Any lead slug, composite disc, or stone wafer stamped by the press undergoes a molecular field shift, perfectly mimicking the weight, density, and acoustic bounce of authentic precious-metal trade coinage or physical colonial scrip.
    • Temporary Bullion Embossing: When operated by an individual with a Psionic Strength Rating (PSR) of 1 or higher, the user can spend 10 minutes stamping up to 20 base blanks. The user makes an Average (8+) Deception or Gambler check modified by their PSR DM. On a success, the blanks project a flawless metallic luster and valid imperial trade markings, carrying an apparent market value of Cr 1,000. These tokens pass casual and standard commercial scrutiny, but after 24 hours the field collapses, leaving behind crumbly dirt or pitted scrap.
    • False Crest Application: By applying the metallic grease and clamping the die against trade ingots, parts, or storage containers, the user can imprint false cargo manifests, salvage seals, or corporate trademarks. Attempts by customs officers or port marshals to detect the forgery using visual inspection or hand-scanners suffer a -2 DM for the next 8 hours.
    • Clean Sweep Trigger: As a Minor Action, the user can squeeze the handle’s crystal socket to discharge an internal grounding pulse. All active molecular illusions and false marks generated by the press within 3 meters instantly dissolve, leaving searching officials with nothing but unworked base matter.

Warhammer (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition)

The Noaidi’s Coin-Stamp of the Earth Wights

  • Classification: Magical Curio / Shamanic Forger’s Die
  • Encumbrance: 1
  • Availability: Exotic (Border Princes / Northern Smuggler Dens)
  • Description: A heavy hand-vise forged from unpolished bog-iron, laced with silver wire filigree around its central rivet. The striking face features an interchangeable disc of carved reindeer horn scribed with winding noaidi earth runes, while the upper jaw holds an inset cup of petrified birch. An uncut purple focus crystal glows faintly in the pommel. A small horn vial of copper-silver grease and a bone scraper dangle from the handle by braided sinew cords.
  • Game Mechanics and Rules:
    • True Ring and Measure (Passive): Slugs and tokens stamped by this implement mimic the exact weight, balance, and metallic chime of legal silver shillings, brass pennies, or gold crowns, imposing a -20 penalty on all Perception tests made by merchants, moneylenders, or road wardens to detect the coins as false through physical handling.
    • Strike the Wight’s Shilling (Active): As an Action, the wielder places a slug of river clay, slate, or lead into the jaws, smears the die with metal grease, and clamps the lever shut while reciting a low noaidi chant. The blank emerges as a gleaming coin resembling legal silver or gold tender. The bearer gains a +10 bonus on all Haggle and Bribery tests when using these coins. This glamour lasts for 24 hours, after which the coins turn into foul-smelling, wet marsh sludge.
    • Imprint Guild Mark (Active): By spending 5 minutes greasing and stamping a metal ingot, weapon, or trade box, the wielder imprints a false guild hallmark, smith’s mark, or municipal tax stamp. Characters attempting to evaluate the mark’s authenticity with an Evaluate or Lore (Local) test suffer a -10 penalty for the next 8 hours.
    • Dissolve the Strike (Active): As a Free Action on their turn, the bearer clenches the iron grip. All active coin glamours and false guild marks created by the stamp within 4 yards immediately and silently dissolve, reverting all stamped currency to crude river mud, common stone, or lead slugs before bailiffs or witch hunters can seize physical evidence of counterfeiting.