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Miko 532 of the Mirroring Shrine Veil

—

by

Dale
in

Lore

  • Originating from remote water-shrine sanctuaries where reflective mountain springs were revered as portals to the spirit weave, this sacred veil was crafted to assist shrine maidens during complex, multi-station purification dances.
  • When solo maidens were required to perform elaborate choral kagura rituals that traditionally demanded an entire ensemble, they sought the favor of mirror-spirits to project illusory, kinetic doubles of their sacred movements.
  • The enchantment relies on the world’s natural soul-resonance principles, allowing the veil’s wearer to cast a temporary, spiritual reflection into the immediate physical space to mimic gestures, conduct concurrent offerings, or confound predators.
  • Rather than creating true biological beings, the relic weaves ephemeral spirit-constructs that replicate the avatar’s appearance and movements, reflecting the ancient proverb that every true soul casts multiple ripples across the pond of existence.

Description

  • The item consists of an ethereal, translucent white silk head veil layered over a polished, circular bronze mirror-disc mounted at the forehead crest.
  • Hanging along both sides of the veil are twin ceremonial braids of vermilion cords intertwined with white paper shide streamers and polished river-stone beads that faintly shimmer with an iridescent sheen.
  • When draped over the head, the sheer silk settles comfortably around the crown and shoulders, partially obscuring the wearer’s facial features with a soft, shifting haze that resembles looking into deep, still water.
  • Faint spiritual sigils line the inner silk borders, pulsing with a gentle crimson radiance whenever the avatar directs thought toward duplicating somatic movements or manifesting a spirit reflection.

Detailed Stats

  • Item Tier: Tier 1
  • Rarity: Common
  • Item Hit Points: Avatar Maximum Hit Points plus 10 (Resilience 10 multiplied by Tier 1)
  • Armor Check (AC): +1
  • Weight: 1 pound
  • Material: Consecrated translucent silk, polished ritual bronze disc, vermilion cordage, blessed shide paper, river-stone beads
  • Suggested Value: 45 Silver

Gear Slot

  • Headwear Slot (covers the crown and drapes over the upper shoulders, accommodating small hair accessories, earrings, or monocles without occupying eye or neck slots)

Passive Magic

  • Reflected Silhouette: The veil constantly projects subtle, shifting refractive duplicates around the wearer’s outline, granting a +2 bonus to Deception, Stealth, or Performance skill checks when attempting to confuse an observer about the avatar’s exact location or choreographing synchronized ritual movements.
  • Spectral Redundancy: When the avatar performs a non-combat ceremonial, crafting, or domestic task, faint spiritual duplicate hands appear to mirror the motions, reducing the physical strain and time needed for tedious repetitive tasks by 25%.
  • Mirror-Warded Focus: Grants advantage on saving throws against visual illusions, blinding flashes, and sensory misdirection by dispersing incoming sensory overloads across the veil’s refractive fibers.

Activable Magic

  • Spiritual Shigure Clone: By using 1 action to speak a short somatic purification chant while touching the bronze mirror-disc, the avatar manifests a single, solid-looking spirit duplicate within 10 feet; the clone cannot attack, cast spells, or deal damage, but it mimics the avatar’s posture, movement, and gestures, possessing 1 Hit Point and lasting for up to 1 minute or until struck by an attack, effectively drawing away a single hostile strike or distracting guards (usable 2 times per day).
  • Echo of the Kagura: As an action, the wearer splits their physical presence into two flickering manifestations for 3 rounds; during this time, any attacker targeting the avatar must roll a d4, and on a roll of 1 or 2, the attack targets the illusory twin and automatically misses, causing the twin to dissolve in a spray of fragrant sakura sparks (usable once per day).

Tags

  • miko, cloning, mirror-magic, headwear-slot, tier-1, common, duplicates, purification, kagura, deception, somatic, mirror-disc, spirit-reflection, veil, phantom-double, illusion, ritual-dance, shide-streamers, bronze-mirror, distraction, refraction, misdirection

Acquisition and Commerce of the Mirroring Shrine Veil

  • Shrine Vestment Repositories and Sacred Altar Boutiques:
    • Located within temple courtyards, sacred spring gardens, or monastic precincts attached to coastal and mountain shrines throughout the island nations.
    • These serene, incense-scented storefronts are operated by ordained shrine maidens, monastic weavers, and ritual attendants who specialize in consecrating ceremonial garments for kagura performances, spirit mediation, and pilgrimage rites.
    • Purchasing cost: 45 silver (or 4 gold, 5 electrum / 4 gold, 5 silver) for standard visiting travelers; registered temple acolytes, allied shrine guild members, or recognized religious faction affiliates receive a 10% discount based on their character tier (costing 40 silver, 5 copper for a Tier 1 character).
    • Selling to shopkeeper: Shrine caretakers inspect the purity of the silk, the clarity of the bronze mirror-disc, and the alignment of the shide streamers, offering approximately 40 silver, 5 copper with the proceeds transferred directly into the seller’s World Bank account.
  • Theatrical Costumers and Illusionist Haberdasheries:
    • Situated along the performance boulevards, grand theater plazas, and artisan quarters of major state capitals and bustling central cities.
    • These vibrant shops cater to stage actors, acrobatic troupes, ritual dancers, and covert performers who utilize enchanted veils and optical relics to stage grand spectacles or replicate multi-cast performances with solo performers.
    • Purchasing cost: 45 silver for general patrons; 40 silver, 5 copper for credentialed members of the performers’ guild, theatrical syndicates, or associated artisan trade factions.
    • Selling to shopkeeper: The resident haberdasher examines the weave for cosmetic flaws or unraveling enchantments, depositing roughly 40 silver, 5 copper into the character’s World Bank ledger after authenticating the veil’s refractive capabilities through their Mind’s Eye.
  • Underground Fence Dens and Dockside Shadow Bazaars:
    • Operating out of concealed basements, dimly lit back rooms of waterfront taverns, or hidden alcoves within subterranean megacities where transactions bypass municipal records and royal tax assessors.
    • These illicit dealers cater to spies, infiltrators, guild-evading rogues, and fugitives who utilize spirit duplicates and visual misdirection to break line of sight during pursuit, escape sentry patrols, or confuse bounty hunters.
    • Purchasing cost: Transacted strictly in hard, physical metal coinage rather than World Bank ledger accounts, typically sold at standard value or marked up due to high contraband demand, ranging between 45 to 55 silver in coin.
    • Selling to shopkeeper: Shadow brokers pay standard cash rates of 40 to 45 silver in hard coin without asking questions or recording the seller’s identity; however, if an active municipal manhunt or high-stakes espionage job creates an immediate demand for duplication and escape relics, a black-market buyer may pay upwards of 80 to 90 silver in physical coin.

Tactical and Environmental Applications of the Mirroring Shrine Veil

  • Urban Streets, Crowded Plazas, and Alleyway Networks:
    • Defensive Applications: When pursued by city guards, hostile syndicates, or bounty hunters through dense marketplace crowds, the avatar activates the veil to project an illusory double running straight down the main avenue while the true wearer slips quietly into an adjoining side alley. In tight corridor ambushes, the avatar triggers the reflective silhouette, causing crossbow snipers and rushing melee thugs to strike the shimmering afterimages projected against stone walls, buying vital seconds to escape or take hard cover.
    • Offensive Applications: In covert assassinations or street skirmishes, the avatar sends a spirit duplicate out from behind a corner to draw the attention and readied actions of enemy sentries. As the adversaries discharge their firearms or commit to lunging strikes against the phantom twin, the true avatar emerges from a blind flank to strike vulnerable armor seams while the targets are overextended and off-balance.
  • Subterranean Crypts, Vault Labyrinths, and Narrow Tunnels:
    • Defensive Applications: Within dark, stone corridors where echoes distort sound, the user activates the mirror clone to trigger suspected tripwires, pressure plates, or swinging scythe traps safely ahead of the adventuring party. When confronted by apex subterranean predators that rely on visual tracking, the avatar creates a twin directly in front of the beast’s jaws, taking the initial lethal pounce upon the illusory construct while the avatar retreats behind the party’s defensive vanguard.
    • Offensive Applications: In subterranean choke points, the wearer splits into twin flickering manifestations during a corridor breach. The confusion prevents enemy frontline defenders from locking down the avatar with shield charges or pinpoint spear thrusts, allowing the user to bypass the vanguard line and deliver close-range somatic strikes directly into enemy backline spellcasters.
  • High-Altitude Airship Decks, Rigging, and Gondola Platforms:
    • Defensive Applications: Fighting across narrow wooden walkways and suspended ropes amidst fierce gales, the avatar uses the veil to protect against catastrophic falls caused by sudden attacks. If an aerial beast or boarding pirate attempts to tackle the user over the safety railing, the split manifestation absorbs the impact, causing the attacker to pass harmlessly through a burst of fragrant spirit-sparks while the real avatar maintains a firm grip on the rigging.
    • Offensive Applications: During ship-to-ship boarding actions, the wearer projects an illusory double toward the enemy vessel’s steering helm or cannon station. As the hostile crew turns their attention to defend the critical station from the phantom intruder, the true avatar scales the opposite hull to sabotage engine steam valves or capture the enemy commanding officer unhindered.
  • Sacred Shrines, Temple Courtyards, and Open Steppes:
    • Defensive Applications: Across wide, open ceremonial grounds or grassy plains lacking natural cover, the avatar executes the sacred kagura dance steps to scatter multiple refractive outlines across the field. Ranged archers and spell-slingers aiming from long distances find their targeting corrupted by shifting water-haze mirages, scattering their projectiles harmlessly across the grass.
    • Offensive Applications: During ritual duels or open-field clashes against hostile wild spirits, the user coordinates attacks alongside the manifested spirit double. By timing physical lunges to match the mirrored choreography of the phantom clone, the avatar forces the adversary to divide its defensive posture between two simultaneous threats, leaving an open vector for the actual physical blade to strike home.
  • Industrial Steam Plants, Foundry Floors, and Engine Rooms:
    • Defensive Applications: Amidst the flashing fires of blast furnaces and obscuring clouds of high-pressure exhaust, the veil magnifies the ambient light and mist to create disorienting visual strobing. When enemy automatons or shock troops corner the user near boiling boilers, the avatar deploys the spirit twin into the line of fire, causing constructs to waste their high-caliber kinetic shells on the mirage.
    • Offensive Applications: In noisy, steam-filled mechanical chambers, the avatar uses the spiritual duplicate to interact visually with false control levers or lure sentry golems into heavy piston crush zones. Once the mechanical enemies advance to intercept the false intruder beneath overhead drop-hammers or spinning gears, the real avatar pulls the actual emergency release to crush the opposition.

Perception of Activation:

User’s Perspective

  • Sight: Upon speaking the somatic purification chant and touching the polished bronze mirror-disc, the translucent white silk of the veil flashes with an iridescent, pearlescent sheen. Translucent crimson ripples cascade across the user’s field of view like ripples on a sunlit pond, and a perfect, shimmering double of the user coalesces in front of them, mimicking their movements in crisp, crystalline detail.
  • Hearing: The user hears the distinct, resonant ringing of a temple singing bowl, followed by the soft, rhythmic rustle of paper shide streamers and the distant sound of trickling shrine water. The ambient noise of the immediate surroundings becomes slightly dampened, as though listening from beneath a thin sheet of still water.
  • Touch: A cool, refreshing mist settles over the scalp, forehead, and shoulders, relieving tension and cooling the skin. When the spirit duplicate manifests or splits, the user feels a momentary, weightless sensation in their chest, followed by a light, tingling static across their arms as spiritual energy divides.
  • Smell: A crisp, pure fragrance of morning mountain mist, cold river stones, and freshly cut cypress sweeps into the wearer’s senses, clearing nasal passages and overpowering foul odors.
  • Taste: The tongue perceives a refreshing, clean sensation akin to drinking pure melted snow or sacred mountain spring water, leaving a subtle trace of sweet plum blossom on the palate.
  • Extra-Sensory Perceptions:
    • Bilocational Awareness: The user experiences a split sensory perspective, receiving an intuitive spatial awareness of the spirit clone’s exact position and perimeter orientation without losing focus on their own physical body.
    • Soul-Echo Synchronization: The avatar feels the ebb and flow of ambient spirit currents in the room, instinctively knowing how to time their physical movements to match the mirror duplicate’s stride for maximum misdirection.
    • Refractive Shielding Sense: An inner perception of dispersed kinetic pressure, alerting the avatar the exact instant an incoming attack strikes the phantom duplicate instead of their true form.

Observer’s Perspective

  • Sight: Witnesses see the veil’s bronze disc pulse with a brilliant flash of silver-crimson light. The wearer’s physical form seems to refract and separate into two identical figures standing side by side, both draped in matching flowing silk and shimmering cords, with no visible difference between the physical body and the spirit double.
  • Hearing: Onlookers hear the soft, clear chime of a bronze bell accompanied by a light breeze that carries the rustle of ceremonial paper and beads, even in completely enclosed rooms.
  • Touch: Observers standing within five feet feel a sudden, cool updraft and a brief drop in ambient temperature, accompanied by faint, tingling air pressure against their skin.
  • Smell: A distinct, pleasant scent of cold river water, sweet shrine incense, and damp cedar fills the immediate area around the wearer.
  • Taste: Those in close proximity may notice a faint, static tang in the back of their throat as the ambient spiritual mana condenses to form the reflection.
  • Extra-Sensory Perceptions:
    • True Sight Feedback: Beings utilizing True Sight perceive the duplicate not as a solid flesh-and-blood mortal, but as a densely woven silhouette of glowing spirit-strands and reflecting light anchored to the primary avatar by a thin thread of crimson mana.
    • Aura Duality: Spellcasters reading auras detect two identical soul signatures occupying adjacent spaces, making it impossible to discern the true caster through basic magical aura analysis alone.

Positives

  • Generates an identical, convincing spirit clone that draws away enemy attacks, triggers mechanical traps, or confuses sentries.
  • Disperses incoming visual overloads, providing strong protection against blinding light and sensory illusions.
  • Provides duplicate phantom hands during repetitive crafting or ceremonial tasks, reducing manual fatigue by a quarter.
  • Grants a dual spatial perspective that enhances situational awareness in complex tactical environments.
  • The headwear design leaves the eyes, ears, and hands unencumbered for spellcasting, weapon use, and tool manipulation.

Negatives

  • The bright flash of silver-crimson light from the bronze disc immediately gives away the user’s general position in pitch-black environments.
  • The distinct, resonant chime of the bronze disc and the scent of mountain cypress can be detected by alert guards or scent-tracking predators.
  • The manifested clone is fragile and dissipates immediately upon taking any physical damage.
  • The slight split in spatial awareness can cause a momentary sensory disorientation if the clone is abruptly destroyed while the user is actively tracking its position.

Recipe: Consecration of the Mirroring Shrine Veil

Materials Needed

  • One Tier-1 Magic Crystal (intact, coin-sized and weighted, serving as the central arcane battery catalyst to power refractive spirit-strands).
  • Three yards of sheer, unblemished white mountain silk (spun gossamer-thin for optimal optical translucency).
  • One polished circular bronze mirror-disc (two inches in diameter, free of scratches or surface pitting).
  • Six yards of braided crimson silk cordage.
  • Eight polished river-stone beads (gathered from an active shrine spring bed).
  • Four sheets of consecrated ritual shide paper (inscribed with somatic duplication characters).
  • Four ounces of purified shrine spring water infused with distilled cypress resin.
  • Sacrificial Component: One mundane performer’s face veil or traveler’s linen headscarf (consumed during the process to transfer foundational structural memory into the finished garment).

Tools Required

  • Fine Bone Needles and Silk Shears (for precision cutting and stitching of gossamer fabric).
  • Fluid Collector (needle-syringe extraction apparatus used for measuring and applying consecrated fluid resins).
  • Polishing Cloth and Jeweler’s Rouge (for buffing and trueing the bronze mirror-disc to a flawless reflective finish).
  • Consecration Basin and Low-Heat Spirit Burner (for steeping fabrics and dissolving sacrificial bindings).
  • Brass Inscribing Stylus (for tracing somatic resonance glyphs onto metal and silk borders).

Skill Requirements

  • Crafting (Weaving / Tailoring): Minimum Skill Level 3.
  • Arcana / Illusion Crafting: Minimum Skill Level 2.
  • Religion / Spirit Inscription: Minimum Skill Level 2.

Crafting Steps

  • Purification and Steeping of the Base Veil:
    • Fill the consecration basin with four ounces of purified shrine spring water mixed with distilled cypress resin.
    • Submerge the sheer white silk into the basin, gently working the fluid through the weave while reciting the stanzas of reflective stillness for twenty minutes.
    • Remove the silk, press out excess moisture between clean linen cloths, and allow the fabric to dry across a wooden rack in the direct light of a morning sun.
  • Reagent Preparation and Sacrificial Dissolution:
    • Place the mundane performer’s headscarf into the crucible and add two ounces of the cypress-resin distillate using the Fluid Collector.
    • Heat the crucible over the low-heat spirit burner until the mundane cloth dissolves completely into a clear, viscous binding solution.
    • Suspend the Tier-1 magic crystal within the heated solution for three minutes, allowing the crystal lattice to absorb the structural memory of the mundane garment without inducing heat stress or fracturing.
  • Mirror Mounting and Glyph Tracing:
    • Polish the bronze mirror-disc with jeweler’s rouge until its surface yields an undistorted reflection.
    • Using the brass stylus, inscribe somatic runes of optical duplication and spirit-resonance along the outer rim of the bronze disc.
    • Dip the bone needle into the infused resin solution and embroider the inner borders of the sheer silk with continuous wave patterns, embedding the crimson silk cords along the headpiece crown and side drapes.
  • Affixing Streamers and Final Consecration:
    • Mount the engraved bronze mirror-disc at the center crest of the veil, securing it with braided crimson cords knotted in traditional shrine patterns.
    • Thread the eight polished river-stone beads and folded shide paper streamers along the twin lateral cord drops.
    • Place the Tier-1 magic crystal directly against the reverse face of the bronze mirror-disc and recite the formal duplication consecration chant for ten consecutive minutes.
    • Channel focused magical energy until the crystal discharges a bright, violet-silver pulse into the bronze disc, permanently tethering its latent mana charges to the silk fibers.
    • Verify the enchantment by looking directly into the bronze disc; a brief, shimmering double in the reflection and a faint scent of cypress confirm that the veil is complete and attuned.

Water-Mirror Maiden Who Was Two in Great Shadow-Hunt

In the turning of the ancient wheel when the seventy-and-three sea-stones were still wet from the big sky-hatch opening, there was a quiet water-house built over the deep pool where the white fish with no eyes swim. In that wooden house lived the maiden of the five hundred thirty-second prayer-string. She was the only one left to sweep the clean pine needles from the stone floor, because the old holy men had been carried away by the red coughing sickness that came out of the iron-digging holes in the lower valleys.

The big lords of the bronze wagons sent many hard-faced men to the water-shrine, shouting with loud throats that the high spirit of the pool must give them the heavy gold mud from the bottom of the water. If the little maiden did not dance the four-cornered kagura dance upon the four wooden platforms before the setting of the twin gas stars, the iron-soldiers said they would burn the cedar pillars and throw the sacred bronze bells into the deep swamp where the mud-snakes live.

The maiden wept three small bowls of water from her two eyes, for how could one pair of small feet stand upon the north wooden box, the south wooden box, the east wooden box, and the west wooden box at the same breath? The distance between the four corners was twelve long spears, and the dance required that the white fans and the red ribbons strike the air at the very same beat of the bronze drum, or the pool-spirit would become very angry and turn the drinking water into bitter salt.

She went into the deep room beneath the wooden floor where the holy water does not move and looks like a flat plate of black stone. She sat upon the cold gravel and took the sheer cloth made by the mountain water-spiders who weave only when the moon is hidden behind the big clouds. She tied the thin silk to the round face-plate of polished bronze that had been washed in the oil of the sacred water-trees. She pulled the red ropes through the white zig-zag papers until her small fingers bled red drops into the still basin.

For three days and three nights, while the black clouds of the rain-mother covered the sun-orb, she spoke the strange sounds of the deep throat that cannot be written with the king’s ink because the brush has no bones to make such twists. She blew her warm breath upon the round bronze plate until the metal ceased to show only one maiden with red eyes, but showed two maidens, and then four maidens, all holding the white fans and smiling with no teeth.

When the great drum of the bronze soldiers struck the eleventh hour of the night, the soldiers came with fire on their long sticks. The iron-captain raised his black sword and shouted that the time of the dance was dead. But the maiden stood upon the central stone of the pool and placed the shimmering veil over her dark hair, touching the round bronze disc with the two middle fingers of her right hand and making the short somatic whisper of the mirroring wave.

Suddenly, a great rushing wind that smelled of cold water and sweet river reeds blew through the wooden house. The soldiers looked with wide eyes and dropped their iron sticks into the dirt, for the maiden did not walk from box to box. She stood upon the center stone, yet at the same exact beat of the eye, another maiden in white silk stood upon the north platform, another upon the south platform, another upon the east platform, and another upon the west platform.

The four phantom doubles raised their white fans together and struck the air in perfect rhythm. When the north maiden turned her heel, the south maiden turned her heel in the opposite direction, and the red cordage of their veils whistled like the wings of a hundred white herons rising from the marsh. The drum-noise of the dance was so loud and so sweet that the angry water-spirit rose from the deep pool, spitting clean, sparkling water over the soldiers’ torches and putting out their bad fires.

The iron-captain became very frightened in his belly and thought the maidens were wicked ghosts come to eat his heart. He lunged with his heavy bronze spear at the maiden standing upon the west platform, driving the iron point straight through her chest. But the spear met no meat and no bone; the form dissolved into a blinding shower of fragrant pink petals and cold water-foam that splashed into the captain’s eyes, making him blind to the world for thirty days.

The true maiden, standing safe upon the center stone behind her shimmering veil, spoke the purification prayer of the third pond, and the spirits of the water seized the soldiers’ heavy bronze wagons, dragging them down into the mud where the big frogs sing in the dark. The soldiers ran away through the tall grass, weeping like little children whose cakes have been stolen by crows.

When the morning sun-orb climbed back into the high sky, the maiden took the veil from her head and placed it upon the smooth stone before the mirror-pool, where it floated upon the surface without sinking or becoming wet for nine hundred turnings of the great wheel. It is written by the ancient scribe whose fingers were bent like claws that whenever a true servant of the spirits wears the veil of the four reflections, no single blade can find their true flesh, for their soul has learned to walk in many places at the same turn of the breath.

Moral of the Story: When solitary strength is insufficient to meet overwhelming force, wisdom and spiritual alignment allow one to multiply their presence and divide the enemy’s malice, proving that an unyielding spirit can never be cornered when it knows how to reflect itself across the world.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Dungeons & Dragons

Miko Veil of the Mirrored Echo Wondrous Item, Common (Requires Attunement)

  • Item Profile:
    • Item Type: Wondrous Item (Headwear)
    • Weight: 1 lb.
    • Rarity: Common
  • Properties:
    • Reflected Silhouette: While wearing this gossamer silk veil, you gain a +2 bonus to Dexterity (Stealth), Charisma (Deception), and Charisma (Performance) checks involving optical misdirection, dance routines, or confusing pursuers about your exact location.
    • Mirror-Warded Focus: You have advantage on saving throws against visual illusions, blinding effects, and sensory overload spells.
    • Spectral Redundancy: When you engage in routine crafting, ritual preparation, or repetitive domestic manual tasks, spectral phantom hands assist you, reducing the total required time by 25%.
  • Activable Magic:
    • Spiritual Shigure Clone: As an action, you touch the bronze forehead disc and chant a somatic verse to project a tangible-looking spirit duplicate in an unoccupied space within 10 feet. The clone cannot attack, cast spells, or interact with objects, but it mimics your gestures and movements. It possesses AC 10, 1 Hit Point, and vanishes after 1 minute or when struck by an attack. You can use this property twice per long rest.
    • Echo of the Kagura: As an action, your form splits into two flickering manifestations for up to 3 rounds. When a creature targets you with an attack during this duration, roll a d4; on a roll of 1 or 2, the attack targets the phantom twin and automatically misses, causing the duplicate to dissolve in a shower of glowing sakura sparks. Once used, this property cannot be used again until you finish a long rest.

Call of Cthulhu

The Veil of the Water-Mirror Priestess Occult Artifact and Shinto Relic

  • Item Profile:
    • Physical Description: A sheer, water-scented silk veil draped from a circular bronze forehead mirror, braided with vermilion ribbons, paper streamers, and polished river beads.
    • Concealment: Worn draped over the head and shoulders or folded away into a small satchel; emits a subtle coolness and faint scent of cypress mist.
    • Sanity Loss to Bind: 1 Sanity point upon attuning to the reflective spirit-resonance of the mirror-disc.
  • Mechanics:
    • Refractive Masking: Grants a flat +20% bonus to Stealth, Disguise, and Art/Craft (Dance / Performance) skill rolls when attempting to mislead observers, slip away from visual pursuit, or synchronize ritual movements.
    • Optical Dispersion: The investigator gains a +10% bonus to Dodge checks against ranged attacks when moving in well-lit areas due to refractive afterimages.
  • Occult Activations:
    • Manifest Spirit Decoy: The user spends 2 Magic Points and speaks a quiet one-round incantation. A duplicate phantom figure manifests up to 10 feet away, walking or fleeing along a designated path for 3 combat rounds. Observers must succeed on an Idea or Spot Hidden check with one Penalty Die to discern the duplicate from the real investigator. If attacked, the decoy vanishes harmlessly.
    • Mirror-Prism Evasion: When targeted by a physical strike or firearm attack, the user may spend 3 Magic Points as a reaction. The attacker’s roll suffers one Penalty Die as the user’s form refracts into duplicate images; if the attack misses, it is visually confirmed to have struck an illusory water-image that dissipates into mist.

Blades in the Dark

Mirror-Shade Kagura Veil Arcane Utility Gear (1 Load)

  • Item Profile:
    • Load: 1 Load (Light)
    • Classification: Arcane implement / Infiltration headwear
    • Visual Style: Translucent white silk veil crowned with a polished bronze mirror-disc, rustling with paper warding streamers.
  • Rules and Mechanics:
    • Passive Advantage (Refracted Presence): When you make an Action Roll to Prowl or Sway using visual misdirection, phantom afterimages, or theatrical doubles to bypass sentries or escape pursuit, your position is improved (a Risky position becomes Controlled; a Desperate position becomes Risky) or your effect level is increased from Standard to Great.
    • Phantom Decoy (Active Feature): Take 1 Stress to project a solid-looking spectral duplicate into an adjacent space. The duplicate draws the attention, alarm, or first strike of guards or ambient ghosts, resolving an immediate obstacle or buying a crucial moment to slip past a checkpoint.
    • Split Manifestation (Armor Feature): You may mark your Special Armor (or take 2 Stress) to completely negate physical harm or capture consequences from an ambush or direct attack by causing the incoming blow to strike a collapsing spirit double instead.

Knave

Shrine Maiden’s Mirror Veil Relic Gear (1 Item Slot)

  • Item Profile:
    • Item Slots: 1 Slot (worn on head/crown)
    • Durability / Usage: 3 Quality dots
    • Item Type: Wondrous Headwear / Illusion Implement
  • Game Mechanics:
    • Reflective Deception: The wearer adds a +2 bonus to any Dexterity or Charisma ability checks made to sneak past guards, perform deceptive maneuvers, or evade visual tracking.
    • Disperse Illusion: The wearer has advantage on Wisdom and Intelligence saves made to resist visual illusions, mirages, or blindness effects.
    • Duplicate Decoy (Active Spell-Like Effect): Twice per day, the wearer can touch the bronze disc to create an illusory double within 10 feet that lasts for up to 1 minute. The double has 1 HP and vanishes if hit, absorbing the triggering attack entirely.
    • Mirror Split (Active Spell-Like Effect): Once per day, the wearer can split their form for 3 combat rounds. Whenever an enemy attacks the wearer, roll a d6; on a 1–3, the attack strikes the phantom twin and misses automatically.
    • Wear and Tear: If an inventory slot containing the veil is wounded from incoming damage, mark 1 Quality dot. When all 3 dots are marked, the bronze mirror cracks, disabling the veil’s magic until repaired by an artisan using consecrated spring water and polished bronze.

Fate

Veil of the Shigure Refraction Extra / Character Aspect Gear

  • Item Aspects:
    • Consecrated Mirror-Disc of the Water Shrine
    • Walker of Split Reflections
  • Item Stunts and Mechanics:
    • Mirrored Diversion: Gain a +2 bonus to Deceive or Stealth rolls when actively creating visual illusions, distracting sentries with false afterimages, or leading pursuers away from your true trail.
    • Phantom Decoy: Once per session, or by spending 1 Fate Point, you can manifest a tangible spiritual duplicate within your zone. The duplicate intercepts the next physical attack or hazard directed at you, completely absorbing the hit and dissolving into sakura mist without inflicting stress or consequences on your character.
    • Optical Diffusion: Gain a +2 bonus to defend against situational obstacles, stunts, or zone effects that rely on blinding radiance, visual mirages, or gaze-based sensory attacks.
  • Troubles and Compels:
    • Fragile Spirit Anchors: The mirror-disc relies on ambient stillness; the Guide Manager can compel the item to fail or produce distorted, jittery doubles during turbulent environmental storms or intense concussive shockwaves.

Cypher System and Numenera

Refractive Spirit-Veil Artifact (Level 2)

  • Form: A gossamer silk headcloth interwoven with micro-refractive optic fibers, mounted to a polished bronze alloy focal disc with crimson signal ribbons.
  • Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (checked upon activating the duplicate split defense).
  • Passive Effect:
    • While worn over the head and shoulders, any task involving stealth, visual misdirection, performance, or evading visual perception is eased by one step.
  • Activated Effect:
    • Spectral Decoy: The user spends 1 point from their Intellect or Speed Pool. A life-sized, solid-looking holographic duplicate manifests up to immediate distance (10 feet). The decoy moves along a projected path for up to 1 minute, drawing away enemy attention or triggering a single mechanical pressure plate before dissipating.
    • Refraction Burst (Defense): When the wearer is attacked, they may spend 2 points from their Speed Pool as a reaction to split into twin refractive images. The defense roll against that attack is eased by two steps; if the attack fails, the incoming blow strikes the phantom twin, which vanishes in a burst of sparkling light.

Pathfinder (Second Edition)

Miko’s Mirroring Veil Item 2 | Illusion, Magical, Visual

  • Item Statistics:
    • Price: 35 gp
    • Usage: Worn (headwear)
    • Bulk: L
    • Access Requirement: Trained in Deception or Stealth
  • Properties:
    • While wearing this gossamer silk veil, you gain a +1 item bonus to Deception checks to Create a Diversion and Stealth checks to Hide or Sneak when utilizing visual misdirection.
    • You gain a +1 item bonus to saving throws against visual illusions, blinding effects, and visual sensory overloads.
  • Activate — Spiritual Shigure Decoy:
    • Action Cost: Two Actions (Concentrate, Manipulate)
    • Frequency: Twice per day
    • Effect: You touch the polished bronze forehead disc to project an illusory duplicate into an unoccupied space within 15 feet. The duplicate mimics your appearance and general posture for 1 minute, possesses AC 10 and 1 Hit Point, and disappears if it takes any damage. It cannot attack or interact with physical objects, but enemies must succeed at a DC 16 Perception check (Seek) to recognize it as a fake.
  • Activate — Echo of the Kagura:
    • Action Cost: Single Action (Concentrate)
    • Frequency: Once per day
    • Effect: For 3 rounds, your form flickers and splits into two identical manifestations. When a creature targets you with a Strike or targeted spell, the attacker must attempt a DC 5 flat check. On a failure, the attack targets the duplicate image, automatically misses you, and destroys the duplicate in a shower of glowing sakura petals.

Savage Worlds

Shrine Maiden’s Mirrorveil Minor Arcane Relic

  • Item Profile:
    • Weight: 1 lb.
    • Category: Personal Gear (Headwear)
    • Requirement: Novice rank
  • Static Modifiers:
    • Refractive Deception: The wearer gains a +2 bonus to Stealth and Performance rolls when employing visual distractions, dance choreography, or optical confusion.
    • Ward of Still Waters: The wearer gains a +2 bonus to resist visual environmental hazards, flash blindness, and optical illusion powers.
  • Arcane Features:
    • Spirit Decoy: As an action, the wearer may spend 1 Power Point (or make a Spirit check at +2) to project an illusory twin up to 2 inches (4 yards) away. The decoy mimics the character’s movement for up to 3 rounds and draws the first ranged or melee attack targeting that area, vanishing instantly upon being struck.
    • Mirrored Stance: Once per encounter, the wearer may trigger an active split as a free action. For the next 3 rounds, any attack that successfully hits the character requires the attacker to roll an additional d6; on a roll of 1–3, the attack strikes an illusory double instead, dealing zero damage and dissolving the duplicate.

Shadowrun (Sixth World)

Kagura-Mirror Veil Focus Qi Focus (Rating 2) / Enchanted Headwear

  • Item Profile:
    • Item Type: Qi Focus / Bound Ward Headwear (Head / Crown)
    • Availability: 3 (L)
    • Karma Cost to Bind: 4 Karma
    • Cost: 6,500 Nuyen
  • Mechanics & Modifiers:
    • Refractive Shroud: Adds +2 dice to all Stealth tests involving visual evasion, breaking line of sight, or creating optical diversions.
    • Adept Power Integration (Traceless Walk & Face Shift / Mimic): When bonded to an Adept or Mystic Adept, the focus sustains the equivalent of 1 level of Traceless Walk and grants a +1 die pool bonus to disguise and visual mimicry tasks without counting against the adept’s maximum Power Point allocation.
    • Optic Flash Dampener: Grants +2 dice to Damage Resistance tests against flashbang grenades, laser dazzlers, and optical blinding spells.
    • Holo-Decoy Projection (Activated Action): The user spends a Minor Action to project a hard-light spirit duplicate up to 5 meters away. The decoy mimics the user’s running posture for 1 combat turn. Enemy combatants must succeed on an Intuition + Perception (3) test to identify the real target; on a failure, their first attack automatically targets the decoy, which dissolves upon taking any physical damage.
    • Astral Signature: In astral space, the veil appears as a shimmering, dual-layered silver-crimson aura. Unawakened individuals wearing the item receive only the +1 die bonus to visual stealth tests and cannot activate the holo-decoy feature.

Starfinder (Second Edition)

Miko Holographic Refraction Veil Item 2 | Hybrid, Illusion, Magical, Tech

  • Item Statistics:
    • Price: 420 Credits
    • Usage: Worn (Headwear)
    • Bulk: Light
    • Capacity / Usage: 20 Charges / 1 per activation
  • Item Traits & Modifiers:
    • Refractive Camouflage: You gain a +1 item bonus to Stealth checks to Hide or Sneak and Deception checks to Create a Diversion using visual trickery.
    • Optical Filter Matrix: You gain a +1 item bonus to saving throws against effects that inflict the blinded or dazzled conditions from visual or light-based attacks.
  • Activated Abilities:
    • Deploy Holographic Decoy:
      • Action: Two Actions (Manipulate)
      • Cost: 1 Charge
      • Effect: You touch the bronze focal disc to project a hard-light spiritual duplicate into an unoccupied space within 15 feet. The decoy mimics your movement for 1 minute, possesses AC 10 and 1 Hit Point, and vanishes immediately upon being struck, completely absorbing the triggering attack.
    • Prismatic Kagura Split:
      • Action: Single Action (Concentrate)
      • Cost: 2 Charges
      • Effect: For 3 rounds, your visual form splits into twin flickering projections. Any creature targeting you with a ranged or melee Strike must pass a DC 5 flat check or target the illusory twin instead, resulting in an automatic miss and causing the projection to disperse into sparkling particles.

Traveller (Second Edition / Mongoose 2E)

Refractive Holographic Shroud Advanced Camouflage Headpiece / Optical Textile

  • Item Specifications:
    • Tech Level (TL): TL 12 (Specialist / Psionic or Advanced Holographic Equivalent)
    • Weight: Negligible (0.5 kg)
    • Cost: Cr 1,400
    • Power: Micro-energy cell (provides 30 minutes of active holographic projection)
  • Game Mechanics:
    • Photonic Displacement Weave: Grants a DM+2 bonus to all Stealth (Dexterity) and Deception checks made to evade visual identification, slip past sensor cameras, or confuse pursuing guards.
    • Flash Damping: The integrated polarization lenses and refractive silk grant immunity to visual flash-blindness effects and reduce sensory dazzle penalties by 2 DMs.
    • Holographic Decoy Drone (Active): As a minor action, the wearer can expend micro-cell power to project a semi-solid holographic clone up to 6 meters away. The decoy walks or sprints along a straight vector for up to 3 rounds. Opponents must make an Average (8+) Investigate (Intellect) check to discern the duplicate; any direct weapon fire directed at the decoy dissipates it instantly without harming the wearer.

Warhammer (Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition)

Veil of the Mirrored Shrine Magical Trapping (Blessed Head-Veil)

  • Item Profile:
    • Encumbrance: 0
    • Availability: Exotic / Rare
    • Location: Head / Crown
  • Rules & Modifiers:
    • Blessing of the Water-Mirror: The wearer receives a +10 bonus to all Stealth (Urban or Rural) and Perform (Dancer) tests when using visual misdirection, ritual choreography, or evasive footwork.
    • Sight of Still Waters: The wearer gains a +10 bonus to resist tests against spells, effects, or environmental hazards that cause the Blinded Condition.
    • Manifest Spirit Twin (Activated Trait): Twice per day, the wearer may spend an Action to touch the bronze mirror-disc and summon a spiritual duplicate up to 4 yards away. The duplicate mimics the user’s posture and draws the first ranged or melee attack targeting the area, dissipating in a shower of glowing sakura petals upon suffering any damage.
    • Kagura Split: Once per day, the wearer may split their presence for 3 combat rounds. Whenever an opponent makes an attack against the wearer, the attacker must roll an extra d10; on a roll of 1–5, the strike hits the illusory reflection instead, dealing no damage and leaving the real avatar uninjured.