Appearance: A crudely etched amulet of dull, blackened stone. It feels oddly warm despite its appearance, and faint whispers can almost be heard emanating from it.
Lore: No one knows when the first Contract of the Whispering Void was sealed, only that such contracts offer a dangerous pact with a nameless entity from a distant, desolate plane. This entity delights in isolation and the emptiness, offering a twisted form of comfort in exchange for…something.
Detailed Numeric Stats: None! This item’s power lies in its roleplaying potential and the magics described below.
Slot: Amulet
Roleplay Emphasis: This Contract creates a sense of otherness in the bearer. They become withdrawn, their voice takes on an echoing or slightly distorted quality. It alienates them subtly from those around them, causing unease and distrust in others.
Costs:
- Initial: The character must willingly undergo a ritual, spending a night alone in a place significant to them while clutching the amulet. This permanently marks them, granting the active and passive magics below.
- Ongoing: The Contract demands the sacrifice of connection. Significant bonds with people or places may weaken and fray over time.
Passive Magics:
- Murmurs of Emptiness: The bearer gains resistance to psychic/mental effects that induce fear, panic, or madness.
- Void’s Embrace: The bearer is unnaturally comfortable in desolate, dark, or lonely places.
Active Magics:
- Whisper in the Dark: Once per day, the bearer can ask a question of the void and receive a cryptic, unsettling answer (GM-delivered).
- Void Step (Risky): Once per session, as a desperate act, the character can teleport a short distance. However, they reappear feeling disoriented and chilled, temporarily alienating those around them even further.
Tags: Alienating, Occult, Void, Dark
How to Use This Item: This is more than a stat boost. The Contract of the Whispering Void emphasizes storytelling.
- The player should embrace the alienation, playing it subtly at first. It adds a tragic dimension to their hero.
- The GM should use the item’s powers to create a sense of mystery. Ominous answers to ‘Whisper in the Dark’ can foreshadow trouble or hint at forgotten lore.
The Contract of the Whispering Void isn’t a direct offensive or defensive tool, but it can be used creatively to your character’s advantage, depending on the situation. Here’s how the alienation and the magics can be roleplayed in different environments:
- Defense:
- Social Situations: The whispers and withdrawn demeanor can be a great deterrent. People might hesitate to approach the character, giving them a layer of personal space and potentially deflecting unwanted attention.
- Interrogation: The character’s unsettling demeanor can be unsettling to an interrogator. Lean into the whispers, letting them become more noticeable, even creating the illusion they emanate from the amulet itself. This might unnerve the questioner and make them less likely to push their luck.
- Hunting Monsters: The alien comfort in darkness grants an edge. Let your character embrace the shadows, using their ability to navigate dark environments to scout ahead or stage ambushes.
- Offense (Indirect):
- Intimidation: The whispers and vacant stare can be unnerving. Play up the unsettling whispers, letting them leak out at key moments during a tense confrontation. The character doesn’t even need to understand them – the effect can be purely psychological.
- Gathering Information: Use “Whisper in the Dark” to glean insights from the void. Phrase your questions carefully, seeking details about your foes, weaknesses in defenses, or hidden passages. The answers will be cryptic, but with interpretation, they could provide a tactical advantage.
- Desperate Escape: The Void Step is a risky but potentially life-saving option. When cornered, activate the amulet, embracing the disorientation and coldness to escape immediate danger. However, roleplay the after-effects – the character is shaken, and the alienation from the escape may further isolate them from their companions.
- Remember:
- The key is to be subtle at first. Let the alienation grow organically, becoming more pronounced over time.
- Don’t be afraid to embrace the unsettling aspects of the Contract. The whispers can be a source of cryptic wisdom, but also of madness.
- Balance the benefits with the costs. The character gains power, but at the expense of connection. Let this internal struggle play out in your roleplay.
By using the Contract creatively and embracing its narrative potential, you can create a truly unique and engaging character with a touch of darkness.
When the bearer activates the Contract of the Whispering Void’s powers, their senses heighten and distort, revealing strange echoes of reality:
- Sight:
- Perceived: Shadows deepen and dance, twisting into vaguely suggestive shapes at the corner of your eye. A faint, cold mist seems to cling to the air around the bearer.
- Description: The world appears muted, colors dulled as if a veil has been drawn over the environment.
- Positives: Notice subtle details in dark or dim locations others would miss.
- Negatives: Bright light is more irritating, and discerning fine details at a distance becomes slightly harder.
- Sound:
- Perceived: An ever-present, low-level hum accompanies the whispers. Sounds have a strange, echoing quality, making it difficult to pinpoint their source.
- Description: Distant noises seem closer, and the character’s own voice sounds slightly alien and distant.
- Positives: Eavesdropping or hearing approaching threats is easier.
- Negatives: Distinguishing individual voices in a crowd becomes more challenging. Overwhelming noise can be disorienting.
- Touch:
- Perceived: A subtle chill permeates the bearer’s skin, as if a cold draft exists only for them. Physical objects have a slightly less substantial feel.
- Description: Textures are less distinct, while temperature is harder to judge.
- Positives: This creates a strange numbness that can reduce pain from minor wounds.
- Negatives: Manipulating delicate items or judging an opponent’s strength might be more difficult.
- Smell:
- Perceived: An underlying metallic scent accompanies the other sensations, like the faint tang of blood in the air. Existing scents become strangely muted.
- Description: A dull, coppery taste might linger in the bearer’s mouth.
- Positives: Tracking faint scents (like blood trails) could be easier.
- Negatives: Discerning the quality of food, natural smells of warning (like smoke), or identifying poisons by scent is nearly impossible.
- Extra-Sensory Perceptions:
- Empathic Distortion: An underlying hum of emotion bleeds through from those nearby, especially negative feelings of loneliness, fear, or alienation. This is felt rather than heard, a formless psychic pressure.
- Void’s Murmur: When the “Whisper in the Dark” ability activates, knowledge isn’t heard, but felt – a chilling, alien certainty that lodges in the mind.
- Additional Notes:
- The intensity of these effects might increase as the bond with the Contract deepens.
- The GM can use these sensory distortions as roleplaying cues or even plot hints – shadows twisting to suggest threats, or a whisper echoing a key name at a critical moment.
Crafting the Contract of the Whispering Void: This ritual binds a willing soul to a nameless entity of a desolate plane. Only those who crave solitude and accept the risks should attempt this dangerous pact.
- Materials Needed:
- Raw Sacrifice: A personal object of deep significance to the crafter. This will be surrendered to the void forever.
- Dark Stone: A fist-sized piece of obsidian, basalt, or other black, volcanic stone.
- Ritual Blood: A small vial of the crafter’s own blood.
- Void Essence: A rare ingredient, possibly a shard of meteorite, a crystallized tear from a creature of shadow, or a fungus found only in the deepest caves.
- Tools Required:
- Etching Knife: A fine-pointed tool for inscribing runes on the black stone.
- Ritual Chalice: A simple bowl of stone or clay, used to mix the ingredients.
- Incense of the Lonely Places: A blend of rare, bitter herbs found in desolate locations (optional, adds to the ritual ambiance).
- Skill Requirements:
- Occult Knowledge (Moderate): The crafter must understand the nature of contract magic and the risks associated with entities of the void.
- Ritual Crafting (Basic): Knowledge of the proper symbols, incantations, and gestures needed to establish such a binding.
- Crafting Steps:
- The Lonely Place: Find a location imbued with isolation – a forgotten ruin, a desolate mountaintop, or a cave untouched by sunlight.
- Mark the Stone: Using the etching knife, painstakingly inscribe the stone with glyphs of binding and evocation learned from your Occult studies.
- The Offering: Place the item of sacrifice within the ritual chalice. Speak aloud its significance, then shatter or burn it completely, letting the energy resonate within the vessel.
- Blood and Essence: Mix your blood with the Void Essence within the chalice. Use this to anoint the runes on the stone, speaking the words of pact – your desires, and your understanding of the price.
- Whispers and Shadows: If successful, the stone grows warm. The whispers begin. Spend an uninterrupted night holding the stone. Should your resolve fail, the pact breaks. If you endure, dawn reveals the Contract of the Whispering Void.
- Notes:
- The GM should decide the difficulty of finding some ingredients. This might lead to side quests!
- Success isn’t guaranteed. The entity might reject an unworthy crafter, leading to potential side effects or attracting unwanted attention.
- The ritual site may become a place of power, faintly echoing the void’s presence.
Binding Stone of Lost Voices
In the age before fire tamed and stories etched, a tribe wandered, ever chasing the setting sun. Amongst them, Anya, swift of foot and keen of eye, stumbled upon a curious stone. Black as starless night, it pulsed with a cold, inner heat. Drawn by an unseen force, Anya touched it.
A cacophony of whispers, a language of wind whistling through forgotten caves, filled her head. Anya recoiled, fear twisting her insides. Yet, curiosity, sharp as a flint knife, compelled her back. Day after day, she returned, deciphering the whispers, learning of forgotten times, of a world cloaked in perpetual night.
Knowledge bloomed within Anya. She spoke of strange beasts with eyes of fire, of towering cities that scraped the bleeding sky. The tribe listened, enthralled by tales beyond their wildest imaginings. Anya, once a simple hunter, became their oracle, their voice to the unseen.
But with power, a hunger grew. Anya craved more knowledge, more whispers. She delved deeper, ignoring the growing unease that gnawed at the tribe. The whispers turned colder, crueler, filled with malice. One night, under a blood-red moon, the whispers ceased. In their place, a single, chilling voice echoed: “The price of knowledge is solitude.”
Anya awoke to find her tribe gone. Vanished, without a trace. Only the cold stone remained, a constant reminder of her bargain. Anya, once surrounded by the warmth of her people, now walked alone, forever haunted by the whispers of a lost world.
Moral of the Tale: Beware the whispers that promise forbidden knowledge. For the price of wisdom can be a heavy one, leaving you alone in the cold echo of your choices.
Suggested conversions to other systems:
Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)
Artifact: Binding Stone of Lost Voices
- Origin: Truly ancient, possibly pre-dating humanity itself.
- Sanity Cost: 0/1D4 to hear the initial whispers. Interacting directly: 1/1D6. Attempting to learn the ancient language: 1D4/1D8
- Effects:
- Upon prolonged study, the Keeper rolls on a d100 Sanity Loss table, flavored with insights into unsettling lost civilizations or disturbing truths about the cosmos.
- Grants the “Occult” skill at 40% if the character is entirely untrained.
- Attracts the attention of things that exist between spaces or forgotten corners of history.
Blades in the Dark
Item: The Binding Stone of Lost Voices
- Type: Occult artifact, potential connection to forgotten lore and ghosts.
- Tier: 2 (Powerful, but comes with immense risk)
- Effects:
- +1d to Gather Information or Attune when seeking lost knowledge or dealing with remnants of the distant past.
- Marked increase in Heat: Strange entities are drawn to the bearer, investigations get twisted, forgotten things stir
- Crew Upgrade: “Whispers from the Void” – access to unsettling rituals and knowledge, but at a cost to the crew’s reputation and safety.
Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)
Item: Binding Stone of Lost Voices
- (Wondrous Item, Very Rare)
- Attunement: Yes, with Sanity checks required (or similar Wisdom-based saves).
- Effects:
- Grants the ability to comprehend one long-dead language (GM’s choice).
- Advantage on History or Arcana checks involving particularly ancient lore
- Randomly, or with extended use, the stone imparts visions of forgotten eras – these could be helpful, unsettling, or outright sanity-shattering (DM’s discretion)
Knave
Item: The Binding Stone of Lost Voices
- Burdensome Slot: Inventory, counts as 2 slots if not attuned
- Effects:
- Attuned: +4 bonus to any roll related to deciphering ancient texts, glyphs, or history
- Unattuned: +2 bonus as above, but upon a failure, suffer a temporary Burden related to unsettling revelations – twisted dreams, paranoia, strange compulsions.
Fate (Core or Accelerated)
Artifact Name: The Binding Stone of Lost Voices
- Aspects:
- Whispers from a Forgotten Age: Invoking this grants insights into impossibly ancient knowledge.
- The Price of Forgotten Truths: Reveals unsettling truths, sowing paranoia and alienation.
- Stunts:
- Decipher Ancient Knowledge: Overcome challenges related to deciphering ancient texts, symbols, or uncovering long-lost history.
- Peer Through the Veil of Time Gain a brief, cryptic vision of the distant past. Risk a minor or moderate consequence related to the unsettling nature of the truths revealed.
- Consequences: Prolonged use of the Stone should lead to consequences reflecting the growing mental strain and isolation – fear, obsession, or attracting unwanted attention from otherworldly entities.
Numenera & Cypher System
Artifact Name: The Binding Stone of Lost Voices
- (Level 5)
- Type: Oddity
- Depletion: 1 in d6 on intentional use
- Effects:
- Grants the “Ancient Languages” ability. +2 Asset to any task involving deciphering the truly archaic.
- “Visions from the Void” – The user may attempt an Intellect task to peer into a forgotten past (difficulty varies wildly with GM discretion). A successful roll is insightful, a failed roll is disturbing.
- Numenera Flavor: Consider possible connections to the vast number of lost civilizations in the Ninth World. Perhaps the stone taps into the datasphere, or holds echoes of forgotten species.
Pathfinder (2nd Edition)
Artifact Name: The Binding Stone of Lost Voices
- Rarity: Unique
- Traits: Divination, Occult, possibly Cursed
- Effects:
- Grants an understanding of one dead language (chosen with GM approval)
- Grants a +4 circumstance bonus to Decipher Writing checks with a focus on ancient history and lore
- Allows the casting of a watered-down Legend Lore spell (or similar), but with the risk of a haunting, sanity drain, or backlash effect on a failure.
- Lore: Consider tying this artifact to Thassilon, forgotten gods, or a specific vanished civilization relevant to your campaign.
Savage Worlds
Artifact Name: The Binding Stone of Lost Voices
- Rank: Seasoned or Veteran, depending on campaign power level
- Powers:
- Lore Keeper: Smarts +2 when used to research ancient history, forgotten languages, etc.
- Visions of the Past: (Novice) Allows glimpses of the distant past, with the potential for Backlash on a 1, especially if the revealed knowledge is sanity-shattering.
- Setting Flavor: Adjust based on your Savage Worlds setting. Is the Stone a relic of the Weird West, a fragment of Lost Atlantis, or an alien device left by ancient starfarers?
Shadowrun (6th Edition)
Item: The Binding Stone of Lost Voices
- Type: Awakened Focus (Bonded, Level 4)
- Effects:
- +2 dice to Linguistics and Knowledge skills for ancient languages and lore.
- Grants the “Astral Perception” spell while attuned to the Stone, allowing glimpses into the past of a location or object on a successful test (with GM-determined side-effects).
- Background: Potentially a fragment of pre-Awakening artifacts, a tool used by long-extinct shamans, or an unsettling artifact brought back by a deep astral explorer.
Starfinder
Item: The Binding Stone of Lost Voices
- (Hybrid Item, Level 6 or 7)
- Effects:
- Grants the ability to comprehend a dead language of the GM’s choice.
- +4 bonus to Culture checks involving truly ancient civilizations or forgotten history.
- Once per session, grants access to a modified “Commune” mystic spell, allowing the user to ask the Stone questions about the past. Cryptic answers are guaranteed, and sanity-taxing visions are a risk with prolonged use.
Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)
Item: The Binding Stone of Lost Voices
- Tech Level: TL 14+ (Lost Tech, or possibly alien origins)
- Effects:
- Considered a sophisticated “Linguistic Analyzer” granting a +3 DM to decoding dead languages and ancient scripts.
- Serves as a psionic amplifier, but with unpredictable results. When attempting to glean forgotten knowledge, there’s a chance of mental strain or disturbing visions of the past (Psi check required).
- Lore: Could be the remnant of a vanished psionic civilization, a tool of the Ancients, or even a horrifying communication tool used by a predatory alien species.
Warhammer (Fantasy or 40,000 – your choice!)
Item: The Binding Stone of Lost Voices
- (Warp-Touched Artifact)
- Effects:
- Grants the ability to understand a dead language, but potentially attracts daemonic attention or opens the mind to whispers of the Warp.
- Allows limited visions of the past, tainted by Chaos, with truths always twisted and nightmarish.
- Each use carries Warp Taint – small mutations, a growing sense of paranoia, or manifesting minor psychic powers with unpredictable results.