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Pysanky 742 of the Silicon Circuit

—

by

Dale
in

Lore

  • In the smog-heavy factory districts of the lower industrial levels on Saṃsāra, artisans and rogue technomancers often work where sky-fallen ancient mechanics intersect with organic biology.
  • A disabled biomechanical artisan seeking to ease the painful neural rejection of experimental prosthetics hollowed the dense, calcium-rich shell of a foundry cliff-swift egg.
  • Using wax-resist batik techniques, the artisan inscribed the shell with repeating geometric micro-traces, conductive ground loops, and stylized depictions of integrated circuits, using dyes mixed from conductive carbon black, copper-shaving verdigris, and lead solder wash.
  • The egg was filled with finely pulverized Tier 1 magic crystal powder blended with electrolytic conductive gel before being sealed with an insulated copper port.
  • Over decades, field operators, augmented avatars, and street chrome-surgeons replicated the pattern, carrying it as an alchemical grounding stone to regulate cybernetic implants, insulate against static burns, and overclock crude mechanical prosthetics.

Description

  • A dense, hollowed avian egg roughly the size of a lemon, preserved under an ultra-hard layer of vitrified non-conductive alchemical resin.
  • The shell is partitioned into sharp geometric sectors of circuit-board green, matte carbon black, and burnished metallic copper, interconnected by fine, ungrounded white wax lines resembling microchip pin-outs, neural relays, and geometric grounding symbols.
  • Both apexes are fitted with threaded copper contact nubs, with the top nub terminating in a reinforced braided-copper wire ring suitable for securing to a harness, utility cable, or cybernetic data-port.
  • The talisman emits a faint, rhythmic electronic hum accompanied by a steady, low-frequency electromagnetic pulse that syncs with the user’s heartbeat.
  • Viewed with the Mind’s Eye, the etched traces glow with a running stream of pale cyan light that flares whenever an electrical discharge, cyberware misfire, or synthetic limb movement occurs nearby.

Detailed Stats

  • Item Tier: Tier 1 (Common)
  • Gear Slot: Wrists Slot (mounted via conductive strap to a forearm, wrist port, or prosthetic limb socket)
  • Item Hit Points: Avatar’s maximum Hit Points plus 10 (Resilience 10 multiplied by Tier 1)
  • Armor Check: 0
  • Weight: 1 pound
  • Attunement: Simple attunement (requires 1 full minute of focus while in direct physical contact with the user’s skin or cybernetic chassis)

Passive Magic

  • Neural Rejection Buffer: While worn, the talisman balances bio-electric feedback between organic nerves and synthetic hardware, eliminating the phantom aches, twitches, and biological rejection stress caused by crude or newly installed mechanical prosthetics and cybernetic augmentations.
  • Static Dissipation Field: The talisman acts as a localized ground loop; the bearer is naturally insulated against ambient electrostatic shocks, minor voltage surges, and sudden current leaks from exposed machinery or compromised wiring within 5 feet.
  • Prosthetic Diagnostic: Touching the shell to any mechanical limb, artificial eye, or cybernetic device provides the bearer with an intuitive understanding of its current mechanical integrity, battery charge level, and internal gear or circuit wear.

Activable Magic

  • Overclock Surge: As an action, the user channels mana through the copper contacts into a connected prosthetic or mechanical limb. For 1 minute, the targeted limb operates at heightened efficiency, granting advantage on physical checks or a +1 bonus to damage rolls made directly with that limb. Once used, this ability cannot be activated again until the next dawn.
  • Emp-Ground Pulse: As a reaction when subjected to an electrical attack, lightning strike, or electro-magnetic pulse effect, the bearer activates the shell’s ground loop. The talisman absorbs and harmlessly grounds up to 10 points of electrical damage directly into the environment, shielding both the avatar’s internal nervous system and carried electronics. This ability can be used once per day.
  • Machine-Folk Calibration: As an action, the bearer taps the egg against a faulty, jamming, or glitching mechanical device, synthetic component, or cyberware port. The talisman emits a soothing harmonic frequency that temporarily clears minor software hitches, realigns displaced gears, and restores smooth operation for 1 hour. This ability can be used twice per day.

Tags

  • Wondrous Item, Tier 1, Common, Cybernetics, Prosthetics, Tech, Electricity, Diagnostic, Augmentation, Grounding, Wrists Slot, Wax-Resist, Bio-Mechanical, Circuitry, Overclock, Static Shield, Neural Interface, Technomancy, Hardware Buffer, Chrome Maintenance, Surge Suppressor, Bionic Stabilizer, Data Trace

Commerce and Acquisition of Pysanky 742 of the Silicon Circuit

  • Underground Chrome Clinics and Ripper-Doc Basements
    • Tucked into damp sub-level alleyways, abandoned industrial tunnels, and ventilation corridors beneath major factory sprawl, these unlicensed surgical shops specialize in cut-rate prosthetic installations, nerve-splicing, and salvaged biomechanical implants.
    • The talisman is kept in sterilized fluid-jars or padded velvet instrument rolls next to bone saws, soldering pens, and neural interface rigs; street surgeons sell them to newly augmented patients struggling with severe cyber-rejection tremors or painful nerve feedback.
    • The standard purchase price here ranges from 16 to 22 silver coins, with augmented street operators or familiar regular clients receiving the standard 10% tier discount, dropping the cost to roughly 14 to 18 silver coins.
    • When selling an intact talisman back to a clinic operator, the doc conducts a rapid bio-impedance diagnostic to ensure the internal crystal gel hasn’t dried out, transferring 8 to 11 silver coins directly into the seller’s World Bank ledger (or paying in unmarked physical scrip if anonymity is demanded).
  • Foundry Mechanist Guild Outposts and Steam-Fitter Exchanges
    • Located within heavy industrial sectors, railhead yards, and automaton assembly plants, these officially licensed supply houses cater to guild engineers, prosthetic fabricators, and certified mechanists.
    • Displayed under brass-framed glass display counters alongside precision calipers, insulated wire spools, and alchemical flux jars, the item is purchased by guild artisans to diagnose faulty automation equipment and insulate apprentices against high-voltage manufacturing hazards.
    • The retail cost in a licensed exchange is between 15 and 19 silver coins, with registered guild members qualifying for their 10% tier-based trade reduction down to about 13 to 15 silver coins.
    • An adventurer seeking to liquidate the egg to a guild appraiser must submit to a standard registry scan; the exchange offers 9 to 12 silver coins credited to their World Bank account, cataloging the transaction as reclaimed workshop salvage.
  • Scavenger Junkyard Caravans and Rust-Waste Enclaves
    • Situated across outer slag plains, derelict sky-wreck fields, and frontier resource dumps where reclaimed ancient machinery is unearthed, these mobile scrap bazaars operate out of reinforced crawler-wagons.
    • Nomad scrap-dealers barter these items directly out of open grease-stained tool chests to field scavengers, prosthetic-wearing wastelanders, and salvage divers who need an immediate neural buffer against erratic, short-circuiting ancient technologies.
    • Because functional bioware tools are scarce along the wasteland perimeters, caravan scrap-bosses charge a marked-up rate of 24 to 32 silver coins (or 2 to 3 gold coins).
    • Selling the item to a scrap caravan yields a deflated payout of 6 to 8 silver coins deposited via portable World Bank terminals, as the merchants factor in the high logistical risk of hauling fragile glass-enameled items through harsh rust storms.
  • High-Tech Black-Market Smuggling Rings and Cyber-Fences
    • Hidden within sealed storage units, data-broker dens, or backrooms of illicit power taps, these clandestine networks deal exclusively in military-grade bioware, stolen prototypes, and illegal neural overrides.
    • Fences acquire these talismans to safely test stolen, encrypted cyberware without risking catastrophic bio-feedback loops, or to crack open the shell for its pulverized Tier 1 magic crystal and conductive alchemical gel.
    • Transactions strictly bypass official banking networks to avoid municipal tax audits; purchases require physical bullion or rare battery cells, priced at 30 to 45 silver coins (exchanged as 3 to 4 gold coins) with no institutional discounts acknowledged.
    • When selling to a black-market fence, an avatar receives an immediate physical payout of 12 to 16 silver coins, with premiums paid if the buyer has a desperate customer in mid-surgery suffering critical neural burnout.

Tactical and Environmental Roleplay: Offensive and Defensive Deployments of Pysanky 742

  • Smog-Choked Lower Industrial Foundries and Slag Works
    • Defensive Utilization: Amidst arcing high-voltage dynamos, swinging crane cables, and open molten-vat spillways, the bearer relies on the Static Dissipation Field. When an overhead conduit snaps or an industrial generator discharges a violent electrostatic blast, the talisman grounds the ambient current into the steel floorplate, preventing the avatar’s prosthetic forearm from suffering catastrophic short-circuit seizure. Simultaneously, the Neural Rejection Buffer keeps the operator’s biological nerve endings steady and pain-free despite the heavy electromagnetic interference filling the foundry air.
    • Offensive Utilization: During a raid against a rogue forge-baron’s automaton enforcers, the avatar channels Overclock Surge directly into an augmented cyber-limb while grappling in close quarters. The sudden bio-electric boost forces the prosthetic hand to crush pneumatic pistons or rip reinforced fuel lines from the enemy chassis with enhanced torque and speed. If an automated assembly drone begins jamming a hydraulic blast door shut, the bearer uses Machine-Folk Calibration to realign its stripped gearing and override its jammed relay, converting factory infrastructure into an offensive asset against defending guards.
  • Sub-Level Cyber-Clinics and Back-Alley Ripper Dens
    • Defensive Utilization: Caught in an ambush while recovering from black-market augmentation surgery in a dimly lit clinic basement, the avatar is subjected to stun batons or disruptor coils wielded by debt-enforcer thugs. Reacting instantly, the user triggers Emp-Ground Pulse, absorbing and dissipating up to 10 points of electrical surge safely into the surrounding copper piping. This prevents the stun weaponry from frying freshly spliced synthetic nerve trunks, keeping the avatar fully conscious and operational while attackers expect helpless muscle spasms.
    • Offensive Utilization: To turn the tide against entrenched clinic mercenaries, the avatar utilizes Prosthetic Diagnostic mid-skirmish by touching an exposed conduit or a foe’s cybernetic limb during a melee exchange. Instantly perceiving the enemy prosthetic’s weak points, power-line routing, and battery limits, the bearer targets the specific mechanical joint with a focused strike to disable the foe’s artificial arm. Alternatively, the user activates Machine-Folk Calibration to reverse the feed of a clinic auto-suture rig or diagnostic station, sending a disruptive feedback loop into nearby medical hardware to create an blinding flash and cover an assault.
  • Derelict Sky-Wrecks and Scrap-Waste Wastelands
    • Defensive Utilization: Navigating the radioactive, rust-pitted hulks of sky-fallen ancient vessels where erratic, dormant reactors bleed raw arc-energy, the talisman serves as a personal safety valve. The Static Dissipation Field harmlessly shunts away sudden capacitor discharges leaking through wet bulkheads. When an ancient security turret triggers an ionization burst, the avatar drops into cover and uses the talisman’s grounded circuit lines to bleed the static interference from their ocular sensors, retaining full tactical vision while companions without shielding are blinded by sensory wash.
    • Offensive Utilization: When hunting scavenger bands through the hollow ribbing of a collapsed sky-freighter, the avatar activates Overclock Surge to sprint along magnetic hull beams and deliver a concussive cyber-strike capable of buckling reinforced salvage armor. Encountering an ancient, locked blast hatch with a corrupted interface, the bearer uses Machine-Folk Calibration to purge the centuries-old memory glitch in the door’s mechanical servos, forcing the pressurized barrier to cycle open and exposing the bandits holed up on the opposite side to the vacuum of a scrap ravine.
  • High-Tech Spire Laboratories and Corporate Data Vaults
    • Defensive Utilization: Infiltrating sanitized, air-conditioned corporate server banks protected by tesla-traps and biometric intrusion shields, the avatar avoids setting off voltage alarms thanks to the talisman’s continuous grounding. If automated ceiling defense nodes target the operative with arc-throwers, the avatar’s Emp-Ground Pulse absorbs the lightning discharge, protecting carried cyberdecks, encrypted optical drives, and synthetic organs from data corruption or thermal burn.
    • Offensive Utilization: When cornered in a secure data terminal by corporate security squads, the avatar taps the talisman against the facility’s localized power distributor using Overclock Surge to inject a controlled, mana-boosted power wave back into the system. The sudden power surge trips circuit breakers, kills lighting, and blows the fuses of the guards’ smart-linked optics, plunging the chamber into pitch blackness where the avatar’s stabilized cybernetic low-light optics provide complete tactical dominance.

Perception of Activation:

  • The Five Senses: User’s Perspective
    • Sight: The circuit-board green and matte black shell pulses with sudden life as the fine white wax lines turn into radiant cyan conduits, projecting a web-like trace of geometric light directly along the skin and metal housing of the user’s arm.
    • Sound: A low-frequency hum like an idling transformer coils through the user’s ears, accompanied by a clean, rhythmic electronic chime and a high-pitched capacitor whine that synchronizes with the user’s pulse.
    • Smell: A sharp, sterile scent of ozone cuts the air, mingled with the faint odor of hot soldering resin, scorched flux, and warm copper wiring.
    • Taste: A distinct, sour-battery prickle manifests on the back of the tongue, tasting of copper filings and ionized air.
    • Touch: A cool, tingling numbness sweeps up the wrist, dissolving phantom nerve aches and joint friction as an orderly current stabilizes bio-electric pathways and turns erratic twitches into smooth, fluid motion.
  • The Five Senses: Observer’s Perspective
    • Sight: Observers see the dark egg flash with a sharp cyan brilliance, followed by thin neon-blue light arcs that trace briefly over the user’s forearm and prosthetic joints before settling into a muted, steady glow.
    • Sound: Nearby individuals hear a soft electronic chirp followed by a damp, localized static pop resembling an arc-welder grounding out on damp concrete.
    • Smell: Those within arm’s reach catch the crisp, metallic tang of ozone and heated alchemical varnish.
    • Taste: Observers experience no direct taste, though dry air in the immediate perimeter leaves a faint metallic dryness in the throat.
    • Touch: A subtle electrostatic tingle ripples over bare skin within five feet, raising fine hairs on the arms of anyone standing close to the bearer.
  • Extra-Sensory Perceptions
    • Mind’s Eye: The avatar’s internal interface registers a clear, visual diagnostic readout: power routing paths, heat dissipation maps, and structural wear percentages illuminate across all connected synthetic hardware.
    • Aura Sight: Watchers viewing the subtle world see the ragged, erratic static spikes of the user’s artificial limbs realign into neat, geometric bands of pale blue mana, binding smoothly to the biological aura without jagged leakages.
    • Electromagnetic Awareness: The user feels the ambient magnetic pulse of nearby machines, live cables, and dormant power cells, intuitively parsing the flow of invisible currents through floorboards and conduits.
    • Tremorsense: Subterranean or ground-attuned beings sense a sharp, high-frequency micro-vibration through metallic flooring or stone, tracing the harmonic hum of the egg’s internal electrolytic gel.
  • Positives
    • Instantly suppresses nerve rejection, phantom pains, and muscle spasms, providing stable coordination during high-stress operations.
    • Safely grounds dangerous electrostatic discharges, stray currents, and EMP shocks, safeguarding both flesh and delicate cyberdeck circuitry.
    • Overclocks mechanical limbs on command, granting a sudden surge of physical force or damage in critical melee encounters.
    • Pinpoints mechanical defects, battery levels, and worn gears on sight, streamlining field repairs and system calibrations.
  • Negatives
    • The bright cyan flash and electronic hum compromise stealth in dark alleys, vents, or dimly lit facility corridors.
    • The unmistakable ozone scent lingers for several minutes, alerting guard beasts and scent-tracking drones to the user’s presence.
    • Drawing power to overclock limbs leaves a minor residual numbness in adjacent organic tissues once the surge subsides.
    • The localized ground loop can cause sensitive consumer electronics, unshielded audio feeds, or nearby radio comms within arm’s reach to buzz with minor interference during activation.

Crafting Recipe: Pysanky of the Silicon Circuit

Materials Needed

  • 1 Dense Foundry Cliff-Swift Egg (thick-shelled, harvested from urban factory smokestacks or industrial girders).
  • 1 Tier 1 Magic Crystal (ground into an ultra-fine, highly conductive catalytic powder).
  • 2 Fl. Oz. of Electrolytic Alchemical Gel (silver-saline conductive suspension medium).
  • 3 Ounces of Filtered Beeswax (purified of organic debris and moisture).
  • 2 Ounces of Conductive Carbon Black Pigment (dense, fine-milled soot).
  • 1 Ounce of Copper-Shaving Verdigris (oxidized green mineral powder).
  • 1 Ounce of Lead-Tin Solder Wash and Iron Mordant (chemically reactive binding agent).
  • 2 Threaded Copper Contact Nubs (machined with an upper braided-wire loop and a lower terminal contact).
  • 1 Fl. Oz. of Vitrified Non-Conductive Resin (dielectric clear lacquer).

Tools Required

  • 1 Precision Kistka Stylus (fine copper reservoir with an ultra-narrow 0.3mm writing nib).
  • 1 Bone Aspiration Needle (fine hollow needle for fluid extraction and vacuum flushing).
  • 1 Insulated Alcohol Micro-Burner (for steady, sootless wax melting).
  • 3 Heat-Tolerant Glazed Steeping Pots (ceramic or non-reactive enameled iron).
  • 1 Alchemical Fluid Injector (calibrated glass syringe for introducing electrolytic gel).
  • 1 Multimeter or Bio-Impedance Meter (for measuring galvanic resistance across the shell).
  • 1 Soft Flannel Polishing Cloth.

Skill Requirements

  • Crafting (Wax-Resist / Micro-Calligraphy): Minimum Level 2 (for scribing unbroken microscopic traces, grounding loops, and IC pin-out geometries).
  • Technomancy / Electrical Engineering: Minimum Level 1 (for properly balancing circuit continuity and electrolytic resonance).
  • Biomechanical Prosthetics / Anatomy: Minimum Level 1 (for aligning the harmonic frequencies to biological neural pathways).

Crafting Steps

  • Shell Evacuation and Dielectric Cleaning
    • Pierce the opposing apexes of the foundry cliff-swift egg using the bone aspiration needle, forming two clean, circular apertures.
    • Inject warm air to displace the internal yolk and albumen into a disposal beaker.
    • Flush the interior cavity three times with an anhydrous alcohol solution to strip away fatty lipids and the natural inner membrane, then let the hollow shell dry in an insulated chamber for 12 hours.
  • Pigment Compounding and Electrolyte Preparation
    • Divide the powdered Tier 1 magic crystal into two equal portions; blend the first portion directly into the electrolytic alchemical gel until fully suspended.
    • In the first ceramic steeping pot, combine the copper-shaving verdigris with warm vinegar and iron mordant to create the circuit-board green bath.
    • In the second pot, blend the conductive carbon black with the remaining crystal dust and a light binding spirit to form the matte black dye bath.
    • In the third pot, dissolve the lead-tin solder wash into a weak acid solution to form the metallic copper-accent bath.
  • Batik Masking and Micro-Trace Scription
    • Heat the kistka stylus over the micro-burner, drawing melted beeswax into the reservoir.
    • Trace the foundational white reserve paths over the bare shell, drawing fine-line circuit traces, bus-lines, neural relay nodes, and grounding symbols.
    • Submerge the shell into the metallic copper-accent bath for 15 minutes, remove, pat dry, and apply wax over areas designated for conductive bus traces.
    • Lower the egg into the circuit-board green bath for 20 minutes, dry completely, and wax over the major logic-gate quadrants and processor silhouettes.
    • Plunge the shell into the conductive carbon black bath for 30 minutes to establish the deep matte ground field behind the circuitry.
  • Thermal Dewaxing and Conductive Core Loading
    • Hold the shell adjacent to the clean alcohol flame, rotating it smoothly to melt away the wax resist without scorching the lime.
    • Wipe the liquefied wax away using the soft flannel cloth, uncovering the crisp white circuit lines set against the green, copper, and black fields.
    • Insert the alchemical fluid injector into the lower pinhole and fill the interior cavity entirely with the crystal-infused electrolytic alchemical gel, ensuring no air bubbles remain.
  • Hardware Installation, Vitrification, and Calibration
    • Seat the threaded copper contact nubs into the upper and lower holes, sealing them hermetically with conductive epoxy to maintain internal pressure.
    • Coat the entire external shell in vitrified non-conductive resin, keeping the outer copper contacts exposed while insulating the painted artwork beneath a glass-hard dielectric barrier.
    • Connect the terminal nubs to the bio-impedance meter, hold the talisman in a bare hand, and channel mana through the circuit until the traces pulse with a steady, synchronized cyan light.

Iron-Smith’s Twitching Arm and Green Bone of Copper-Vessel

Unto the year when the smoke of the great hearths of the valley did not ascend to the sky, but lay upon the roofs of the town like wet sheep-skins, there lived in the ditch of the iron-makers a smith whose grandfather had fallen down from the burning towers of the sky. The name of this man upon the copper-tiles was called Tarek of the Cinder-Knee. In that age, the great hammers that beat the plow-blades were moved by the steam of boiling water and by the hidden lightning that sleeps inside the red stones of the hills.

Tarek had stood for twenty-nine summers beside the great iron trip-hammer that cracks the ore like dry nuts. In the thirtieth winter, the chain of the hammer broke like a dry reed, and the great teeth of the cog-wheel did bite into Tarek’s left shoulder, grinding the flesh of his elbow and the bones of his fingers until they were like the gray meal that comes out of a stone trough. The flesh-healers of the coal-market cut away the dead meat with saws of jagged bronze and cauterized the stump with the fat of boiling tallow, so that Tarek lived, but sat upon the slag-heaps like an old kettle whose handle has dropped into the well.

He said unto his heart: A man who has only one fist is not a man of the forge, but an eater of old cabbage and an obstacle to the feet of the apprentice-boys. Therefore, he went down into the scrap-troughs where the broken limbs of the iron-dolls and the crushed joint-bones of the sky-carts had been thrown to turn into red rust. For four moons he hammered at cold plates of copper and iron rods with his single hand, holding the cold metal between his two knees until his shins were bruised black like plums.

He made for himself an arm of jointed bronze, with fingers of curled tin and cords of braided copper-hair pulled through hollow pipes of bone. At the shoulder he set a box of iron containing three small wheels that turned when the meat of his back swelled with breath. He bored into the living marrow of his shoulder-bone with a heated gimlet of steel, driving four long copper pins into his white gristle, and he bound the copper-cords to the red nerves of his breast with the gut of a dog-fish, as the wandering sky-doctors had written upon their parchment-strips.

When the arm was set with grease and tied with bands of boiled bull-hide, Tarek raised his hammer with the tin hand. But behold, the flesh of his neck cried out with a red anger. The red gristle of his chest swelled like a bladder, and from the copper pins there issued a pale yellow water that stank of old vinegar and burned like the bite of a marsh-adder. When he wished to open his bronze fingers, his jaw snapped shut with a noise like a mouse-trap; when he wished to strike a bar of iron, his left knee jumped into his teeth, and the lightning of the sky-carts ran backward through his skull, so that he saw only clouds of yellow dust and fell down into the cold cinders, vomiting the bile of his stomach.

The apprentices of the coal-yard laughed with loud teeth, saying: Tarek has hitched an ox to a horn-toad; the iron will not drink the blood of the butcher, and the meat of a mortal man cannot chew the cud of the iron-mountain.

Then Tarek crawled upon his one good knee and his single elbow to the high stack of the brick-kiln, where the wild chimney-birds build their houses among the black soot. These birds are like small falcons, but their feathers are gray like lead, and they fly through the yellow smoke of the coal-fires without coughing, for they feed upon the silver spiders that spin their threads around the lightning-catchers of the rooftops. Tarek found upon the stone lip of the chimney a nest made of twisted iron wire, and inside lay an egg of thick white lime, heavy like a river-pebble and marked with gray freckles of charcoal.

He brought the egg down in the pocket of his greasy apron. He made two pin-holes in the apex of the bone with a steel needle, and with an engine of tin he blew the white bird-jelly into a pot of bitter oil. Then he washed the inner belly of the egg with the sour water that drains from copper-mines, until the inner skin turned white and stiff like the horn of a mountain sheep.

In the cellar of the steam-foundry dwelt an old maker of picture-cloths whose eyes had been put out by an explosion of boiling spirits. This man had learned to draw lines upon wax using only the heat of a bronze stylus and the feeling of his skin. Tarek brought to him three cakes of green wax that had been scraped from the legs of bees that sucked upon the poison-flowers of the slag-fields.

The blind maker of cloths heated the bronze needle in the flame of an alcohol lamp and began to write upon the curve of the bird’s egg. He did not draw the goats of the pasture, nor the faces of the seven kings, but he traced the roads that the lightning walks when it travels through a plate of polished stone. He drew forty-four small square houses, like the teeth of a saw, which are called the gates of the numbers, and from each house he ran two thin roads of wax, like the tracks of water-beetles, all meeting at the lower pole of the egg where a circle of nine dots was traced.

Tarek took the shell and cast it into a pot of green broth made of the rust of old church-bells and the sour juice of green apples. When the lime had drunk the green rust, he pulled it forth and covered the roads of the lightning with the hot bee-fat. Then he cast it into a pot of boiling pitch mixed with the fine black dust that is scraped from the carbon-rods of the arc-lamps. At last, he dipped the foot of the egg into the red soup of copper-wash, so that the shell was like a green water-stone banded with black turf and red iron-roots.

He held the egg over a pan of red-hot charcoal, and the green wax ran off into the ashes like greasy broth. Behold, upon the round bone there stood forth the green fields of the thinking-stone, bounded by roads of white lime as fine as the web of a spider, and between the houses ran the dark ditches of the carbon-dust, so that the eye of an artisan could see how the lightning was led from the top of the mountain down into the root of the water.

Tarek drilled through the lower hole of the shell with an ivory bit, and he poured into the belly of the lime a silver jelly made of the spit of the electric-eels that swim in the cooling-trenches, mixed with three drams of a blue stone of magic that had been found in the belly of an iron bird that fell into the peat-moss seventy winters before. He capped the two ends of the egg with two screw-plugs of red copper, and to the upper plug he soldered a braided tail of seven copper wires.

On the morning of the new moon, when the masters of the foundry were testing the great steam-blowers, Tarek sat upon his work-bench. He took the braided copper tail that grew out of the egg and tied it with a knot of copper around the four pins that entered into the white bone of his shoulder. The green shell he strapped to his bronze wrist with a band of split calf-skin.

The scroll of the iron-masters says that a great sound like the hissing of forty kettles broke out from the pores of the lime. The green roads of the egg became pale and bright like the eyes of a cat in a dark larder, and a cloud of air that smelled of thunder-bolts and burned hair came forth from the brass plug.

Tarek gave a great cry, for he thought the lightning was eating his liver. But behold, the red meat of his shoulder ceased to swell with the yellow poison. The shaking of his chin stopped, like a flag when the wind falls down behind a mountain. The bronze fingers of his left arm, which had been frozen like the claws of a dead crow, opened with a sound like oil falling upon dry leather.

He reached forth the hand of tin and caught up a cold bar of square iron that two young men could not lift from the mud. He laid the bar across the anvil and raised his forty-pound sledge with the arm of bronze. The hammer fell six times with a noise like the falling of a church-wall, and the cold iron was beaten flat like a cake of barley-dough, yet Tarek’s breast did not pant, nor did a single drop of yellow water weep from the pins in his bone.

For nine days, Tarek worked without sleep in the smoke of the kiln. When the great piston of the river-pump jammed because an ox had fallen into the suction-well, Tarek thrust his hand of bronze into the iron cogs and turned the wheel backward against the river, for the green egg upon his wrist drank all the fire that leaked from the boiler and gave it to the sinews of his metal arm. The masters of the forge cried: Here is no longer a man, but the grandfather of all hammers, who carries the mind of the sky-carts in a painted goose-shell!

Yet the tablet of the old scribe has a third face that is dark. In the forge worked a smith’s boy whose name was Gurn-the-Squint-Eyed. He had a great hunger for the gold coins that the merchants pay for the iron parts of the sky-carts, and he saw that the green egg had two plugs of red copper that were worth three groats at the scale.

On the tenth night, while Tarek slept with his head upon a sack of furnace-lime, Gurn crept between the anvils with an iron pry-bar. He laid the sharp edge of the iron beneath the egg, meaning to pry the brass tail away from the pins in Tarek’s shoulder.

The iron bar touched the two copper plugs together at the same time, making a bridge between the head of the bone and the foot of the lime.

Behold, the tablet recounts that there was no sound of a blow, but a noise like the tearing of five hundred sheets of copper foil. The green egg did not shatter into gravel, but turned into a white flame that had no smoke, like the lightning that falls from a clear cloud at noon. The fire ran through the iron pry-bar and into the fingers of Gurn-the-Squint, and it ran through the braided wire and into the marrow of Tarek’s breast-bone.

In the twinkling of an eyelid, the two men were made into one heap of gray salt that smelled of melted lead and roasted ox-grease. The bronze arm of Tarek was melted into a flat puddle of green metal upon the dirt floor, and in the center of the puddle lay the two copper plugs, unburnt and cold, but the egg of the chimney-bird was gone like the foam of a wave that breaks upon a dry boulder.

The other smiths came with shovels and cast the gray salt into the river-trench, and they gathered up the puddle of bronze to make small grease-cups for the trip-hammers. But the old master who had drawn the roads of the lightning upon the shell with his hot needle said to the apprentices:

Do not tie the fire of the sky to the meat of a mortal ox unless you have a ditch of lead through which the surplus anger of the stone may run away into the wet muck.

Moral of the Story: The hand of iron may lift the mountain that breaks the back of the flesh, but if the wire that tames the lightning is touched with a greedy wedge, the master and the thief will eat the same cinder out of the self-same spoon.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Pysanky of the Silicon Circuit Wondrous Item, Common (Requires Attunement)

  • Item Profile: A fist-sized, dense avian egg decorated in vitrified wax-resist patterns of circuit-board green, matte carbon black, and copper. It features fine lines resembling microchip traces and logic gates, capped at both ends with threaded copper contact nubs and an upper wire loop. It hums with a faint electromagnetic pulse that matches the wearer’s heartbeat.
  • Neural Rejection Buffer (Passive): While worn on your wrist, forearm, or directly mounted to a prosthetic socket, you gain advantage on saving throws and ability checks madeA multi-faceted occult artifact adapted across four distinct tabletop roleplaying systems, tailored to the specific mechanics, tone, and formatting conventions of each.
  • A fist-sized, rough-hewn sphere of black glass containing a suspended, milky feline pupil that shifts toward magical signatures.
    • Arcane Sight: While holding or wearing this orb, you can cast Detect Magic at will, without expending a spell slot or material components.
    • Pierce the Phantasm: As a bonus action, you peer deeply into the core. For 1 minute, you gain truesight out to a range of 30 feet. Once you use this property, you cannot use it again until you finish a long rest.
    • Cursed Resonator: When you activate Pierce the Phantasm, you must make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, alien whispers flood your consciousness: you gain vulnerability to psychic damage, and aberration creatures within 60 feet immediately become aware of your exact location until the effect ends.

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

The Smoked Lens of Leng

Alien Relic and Mythos Focus

A thin, cold disc of volcanic glass etched with spiraling glyphs, recovered from high-altitude plateaus in Central Asia.

  • Cost: 1D4 Magic Points; 1/1D6 Sanity points per viewing.
  • Function: By focusing through the lens at a person, structure, or empty room, the investigator bypasses conventional dimensional geometry.
  • Mechanics:
    • Grants an automatic Extreme Success on Spot Hidden checks related to occult traps, invisible entities, or hidden extradimensional seams.
    • Allows the viewer to perceive entities concealed within the Ether or Phase Space (such as Dimensional Shamblers, Hounds of Tindalos, or Lloigor).
    • Hazard: Viewing extradimensional truth requires an immediate Sanity check (typically 1/1D6, or equal to the full Sanity cost of any visible Mythos entity revealed). If pushed or used for more than two consecutive rounds, the user must succeed on a Hard POW check or attract an entity’s gaze directly through the lens.

Blades in the Dark

The Ghost-Glass Monocle of the Dim Veil

Rare Arcane Item (Load: 1)

An electroplasmic viewing lens mounted in blackened brass, salvaged from the laboratory of a rogue Spirit Warden.

  • Tier: III
  • Effect: When you Attune while peering through the glass, you see through solid walls into the ghost field, revealing spirit tracks, electroplasmic currents, and possession marks in stark violet luminescence.
  • Mechanics:
    • Provides +1 Effect when Gathering Information about spirits, specters, or occult phenomena.
    • Devil’s Bargain / Complication: Using the glass makes your spirit-aura shine like a flare in the ghost field. On a 1–3 or 4/5 result during an Attune roll, you inevitably attract hostile ghosts or trigger an immediate 4-clock: “Spirit Wardens Alerted.”
    • Stress Cost: You may spend 1 Stress to force the glass to reveal concealed secret passages or hidden physical caches shielded by wards.

Knave (2nd Edition)

The Vitreous Eye

Relic (Requires 1 Item Slot)

A heavy glass eyeball with a copper setting and an iron chain. Smells faintly of ozone and dead peat.

  • Slots: 1
  • Durability: 3/3
  • Properties:
    • Sight of the Deep: Once per day, hold the eye to your socket to see in pitch darkness, detect invisible creatures, and read any dead script for 10 minutes.
    • Misfire (Omen): Each time Sight of the Deep is used, roll a d6. On a result of 1, the eye cracks (lose 1 Durability) and you must make a WIS check against hazard. On a failure, the eye fuses to your socket for 24 hours, giving you disadvantage on all Charisma checks and drawing wandering monsters twice as frequently.
    • Repair: May only be repaired by feeding it pure silver worth at least 100 coins during a rest.

Fate (Fate Condensed)

Pysanky 742 of the Silicon Circuit

Item Stunt / Aspect-Bearing Extra

  • Item Aspect: Wax-Traced Biomechanical Grounding Core
  • Flavor Profile: A dense, vitrified avian egg patterned in circuit-board green, matte carbon black, and raw copper, traced with fine ungrounded logic pathways. Fitted with dual copper terminal nubs and secured to a wrist or prosthetic mount, it emits a low electromagnetic hum that syncs to the bearer’s heartbeat.
  • Passive Neural Buffer: While worn and attuned directly against skin or a prosthetic housing, you ignore situational penalties or physical stress caused by cybernetic rejection, neural feedback, or phantom limb strain.
  • Static Dissipation (Passive): You gain +2 on overcome rolls to avoid, ground out, or withstand ambient electrical hazards, stray currents, or static discharge within your immediate zone.
  • Overclock Surge (Stunt): Once per session, you may invoke this stunt when taking a physical action with an augmented or mechanical limb to grant yourself a +2 bonus to the roll or +2 shifts of physical damage on a successful strike.
  • EMP-Ground Pulse (Stunt): Once per session, as a free reaction when you would take physical or electrical stress from a lightning strike, energy blast, or EMP effect, you may reduce the incoming hit by 2 shifts as the talisman grounds the energy into the surrounding environment.

Cypher System / Numenera

Ovoid of the Silicon Circuit

Artifact (Level 2)

  • Form: A palm-sized, enameled ovoid banded with micro-etched circuit paths and copper contact nubs, filled with an electrolytic crystal suspension.
  • Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (checked only when an active effect is triggered).
  • Passive Effect (Neural Buffer & Diagnostic): While mounted to a wrist, prosthetic limb, or cybernetic housing, the bearer is immune to neural feedback penalties and phantom pain caused by artificial components. The bearer gains an asset on all Intellect tasks to diagnose, assess, or repair damaged cybernetic devices and mechanical limbs.
  • Passive Effect (Static Ground): The bearer gains an asset to defense tasks made to resist ambient electricity, static arcs, and environmental power surges.
  • Effect (Overclock Surge): The user channels energy into a mechanical limb as an action. For 1 minute, the limb functions with enhanced output, granting an asset on all Might tasks and melee attacks made using that limb.
  • Effect (EMP-Ground Pulse): As a reaction when subjected to electrical damage or an energy pulse, the user activates the artifact to absorb up to 6 points of ambient or electrical damage, channeling it harmlessly into the floor.
  • Effect (Machine-Folk Calibration): As an action, touching the artifact to a malfunctioning or jammed device of level 2 or lower temporarily restores normal function for 1 hour without requiring replacement parts.

Pathfinder (Second Edition)

Pysanky of the Silicon Circuit

Item 1 | Uncommon, Abjuration, Magical

  • Price: 15 gp
  • Usage: worn (wrist or prosthetic attachment); Bulk: L
  • Item Profile: A dense eggshell covered in circuit-patterned wax-resist enamels of green, black, and copper, terminated with conductive brass-copper fittings. It hums with a faint electric rhythm that stabilizes attached mechanical devices.
  • Neural Rejection Buffer (Passive): While worn in direct contact with your flesh or a prosthetic limb, you gain a +1 item bonus to Fortitude saving throws against effects that inflict sensory overload, neural feedback, or bodily rejection from installed augmentations.
  • Static Dissipation (Passive): You gain resistance 2 to environmental electricity damage and ambient shock hazards.
  • Activate—Prosthetic Diagnostic: (Single Action; Concentrate) You touch the egg to a mechanical device, clockwork component, or prosthetic. You instantly learn its current structural integrity, operational hit points, and whether any mechanical defects or foreign saboteur devices are present.
  • Activate—Overclock Surge: (Single Action; Manipulate) Frequency once per day; Effect You channel magic into an attached prosthetic or mechanical arm. For 1 minute, your unarmed strikes or weapon attacks made using that limb gain a +1 item bonus to damage rolls, and you gain a +1 item bonus to Athletics checks made to force open doors or lift heavy obstacles.
  • Activate—EMP-Ground Pulse: (Reaction; Manipulate) Trigger You take electricity damage; Frequency once per day; Effect The egg grounds the surge. You reduce the triggering electricity damage by 5.

Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition)

Silicon Circuit Pysanky

Minor Arcane Device

  • Item Profile: A varnished, thick-shelled egg inscribed with intricate green and copper wax-resist circuitry, finished with dual copper contact posts. It straps securely to a wrist or prosthetic socket, radiating a subtle ozone scent and steady electromagnetic pulse.
  • Weight: 1 lb.
  • Neural Stabilization (Passive): While attached to a limb or cybernetic socket, the user ignores up to 2 points of penalties caused by neural shock, prosthetic rejection, or cyberware interference.
  • Static Grounding (Passive): The wearer gains +2 to Vigor rolls made to resist hazards involving electrical shock, stray lightning, or ambient power discharges.
  • Overclock Surge: Once per encounter as a free action, the user may activate the egg to overload an attached mechanical or prosthetic limb. For the next 3 rounds, the character adds +2 to Athletics rolls involving that limb and adds +1 to melee damage rolls made with it.
  • EMP Discharge Sink: Once per day, when the bearer suffers an electrical attack or area-effect EMP, they may spend a benny or declare an instant reaction to absorb the blow, negating up to 8 points of electrical damage before it reaches their nervous system or carried gear.
  • Calibration Pulse: Twice per day as an action, the user can touch the egg to a jammed, glitched, or mechanically faulty piece of cyberware or modern gear to ignore the Malfunction or Jammed condition for the remainder of the scene.

Shadowrun (Sixth World)

Focus of the Silicon Circuit Force 2 Sustaining Qi Focus / Biomechanical Talisman

  • Item Profile: A dense avian egg coated in vitrified green, copper, and carbon-black wax-resist circuitry, capped with threaded copper contact pins and secured via an insulated conductive strap directly to a runner’s wrist or prosthetic limb mount. It continuously emits a subtle transformer hum and the faint tang of hot solder and ozone.
  • Item Properties:
    • Karma Cost to Attune: 4 Karma
    • Availability: 4 (Rare / Street Chrome Clinics & Cyber-Fences)
    • Cost: 6,000 Nuyen
  • Neural Rejection Buffer (Passive): While worn in direct contact with the runner’s flesh or cybernetic chassis, the talisman grounds phantom nerve feedback and biological rejection strain. The runner ignores up to 2 points of dice pool penalties caused by faulty cyberware installation, sensory bio-rejection, or neural feedback shock.
  • Static Dissipation Field (Passive): The focus forms a permanent ground loop around the wearer. The user gains a +2 dice pool bonus on Damage Resistance tests against non-lethal electrical stun damage and environmental arc hazards, shielding carried cyberdecks and smartguns from erratic static surges within 2 meters.
  • Prosthetic Diagnostic (Passive): By touching the talisman to any drone, cyberlimb, or external augment, the runner intuitively detects its operational integrity, remaining battery percentage, and any internal gear or software faults.
  • Active Ability—Overclock Surge: As a Minor Action, the runner channels power through the copper contacts into an installed cyberlimb. For 3 combat turns, melee strikes made with that limb gain +1DV, and the runner gains a +1 dice pool bonus on Athletics tests requiring raw physical power. This ability can be used once per 24-hour cycle.
  • Active Ability—EMP-Ground Pulse: As an Interrupt Action (Cost: 2 Minor Actions) when struck by an electrical attack, tasers, or an EMP burst, the runner grounds the surge into the deckplate. The focus negates up to 3 boxes of incoming Matrix or electrical damage before it reaches internal bioware or carried electronics. Usable once per day.
  • Active Ability—Machine-Folk Calibration: As a Major Action, the bearer taps the talisman against a jammed or glitching mechanical device or weapon, spending 1 Edge to clear the jam or ignore a glitch on that device for the remainder of the scene. Usable twice per day.

Starfinder (Second Edition)

Pysanky of the Silicon Circuit Item 1 | Magical, Tech, Abjuration

  • Price: 120 credits
  • Usage: worn (wrist socket, prosthetic bracket, or armor gauntlet); Bulk: Light
  • Item Profile: A dense eggshell inscribed with micro-etched wax-resist circuitry in circuit-board green, copper, and carbon black, sealed under dielectric resin and fitted with threaded copper terminal posts. It resonates with an internal electrolytic gel core that synchronizes with the user’s life signs.
  • Neural Rejection Buffer (Passive): While worn attached to your wrist or directly over an installed cybernetic augmentation, you gain a +1 item bonus to saving throws against effects that inflict sensory overload, neural stun, or tech-induced bio-rejection.
  • Static Dissipation (Passive): You gain electricity resistance 2 against ambient electrical discharges, hazards, and shock-based traps.
  • Activate—Prosthetic Diagnostic: (Concentrate) Frequency at will; Effect You touch the egg to a technological item, prosthetic, or robot chassis. You immediately learn its current HP, battery charge, and whether any mechanical defects, broken gears, or sabotaged circuits are present.
  • Activate—Overclock Surge: (Manipulate) Frequency once per day; Effect You channel magical current into a cybernetic or mechanical limb. For 1 minute, strikes made using that limb gain a +1 item bonus to damage rolls, and you gain a +1 item bonus to Athletics checks to Force Open or Lift.
  • Activate—EMP-Ground Pulse: (Reaction; Manipulate) Trigger You take electricity damage or are targeted by an EMP effect; Frequency once per day; Effect The egg disperses the charge into the ground. You reduce the triggering electricity damage by 5.
  • Activate—Machine-Folk Calibration: (Concentrate, Manipulate) Frequency twice per day; Effect You tap the egg against a jammed, glitching, or malfunctioning technological device of 1st level or lower. The device functions normally without penalty for 1 hour.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Biomechanical Grounding Ovoid TL 10 / Specialized Cyber-Interface Artifact

  • Physical Characteristics: A hollowed avian egg reinforced with internal electrolytic gel and exterior vitrified resin, decorated with conductive wax-resist circuit traces and terminated in dual copper contact posts with a braided wrist clasp. Mass: 0.5 kg.
  • Neural Feedback Ground (Passive): When attached directly to a cybernetic limb socket, neural jack, or wrist terminal, the artifact stabilizes the interface between organic motor nerves and synthetic actuators. The wearer negates any physical coordination penalties (up to DM -1) caused by poorly calibrated, damaged, or recently installed cybernetics.
  • Static Grounding (Passive): The device functions as a micro-faraday sink, granting a +2 DM on all END checks to resist non-lethal electrical stun weapons, environmental static arcs, and shipboard power-cable blowouts.
  • Prosthetic Diagnostic: Touching the contact post against a mechanical limb, servo, or electronic tool grants an immediate, intuitive read of battery charge, component fatigue, and internal wear, providing a +1 DM on Mechanic or Electronics checks to repair the device.
  • Overclock Discharge: By depressing the upper contact ring as a minor action, the user channels an electrolytic power surge into an attached prosthetic limb. For the next 3 combat rounds, the user receives a +1 DM on all Melee (unarmed or brawling) attack and damage rolls made using that limb, or a +1 DM on STR-based physical tasks. Usable once per 24-hour cycle.
  • EMP-Shunt: Once per day as an immediate reaction when hit by an EMP blast or electrical shock, the user may dump the excess current through the ovoid’s ground post into the deck, absorbing up to 6 points of electrical damage and preventing carried personal electronics from frying.
  • System Calibration: Touching the artifact against a jammed servo or glitching electronic mechanism allows the user to clear the fault, bypassing minor software or mechanical lockups for 1 hour. Usable twice per day.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th Edition)

Pysanky of the Iron Mechanist Magical Curio (Common Rarity)

  • Item Profile: A dense bird egg inscribed with wax-resist designs of gear teeth, wire traces, and copper pathways using verdigris green, charcoal black, and copper leaf, preserved under a glass-hard alchemical varnish. Fitted with copper screw-nubs and an insulated wrist strap, it emits a faint, hair-raising static hum and the smell of hot brass and ozone.
  • Encumbrance: 0
  • Availability: Rare (Traded among Nuln master engineers, clockwork savants, and prosthetic-fitted ironmongers)
  • Neural Rejection Buffer (Passive): While strapped directly against the skin or attached to an iron or clockwork prosthetic limb, the curio eases the strain of heavy mechanical iron. The bearer ignores any penalties to Agility or Dexterity caused by awkward or newly attached prosthetic limbs.
  • Static Dissipation (Passive): The egg grounds lightning and ambient voltaic currents, granting the wearer a +10% bonus to Endurance Tests to resist shock hazards, lightning spells, or electrical weapon effects.
  • Prosthetic Diagnostic (Passive): The bearer may examine any clockwork mechanism, prosthetic limb, or engineering contraption by touching it with the egg, gaining a +10% bonus to Trade (Engineer) and Perception Tests to diagnose flaws, structural stress, or missing gears.
  • Overclock Surge: Once per day as a Free Action, the bearer may overload the springs and gears of an attached mechanical prosthetic limb. For the next 3 rounds, any Melee Test made with that limb gains a +10% bonus, and any successful strike adds +2 to the Damage of the attack.
  • EMP-Ground Pulse: Once per day as a Reaction when subjected to an electrical or lightning attack, the bearer activates the egg’s ground loop, reducing the incoming Damage of the attack by a flat 4 points as sparks harmlessly earth into the mud or flagstones.
  • Mechanist’s Tuning: Twice per day as an Action, the bearer taps the copper contacts against a jammed firearm, frozen clockwork winch, or malfunctioning gear, temporarily freeing the stuck mechanism so it operates smoothly without jamming for 1 hour.