Elemental Hearthstones
Elemental hearthstones are the most common kind, grown in manses constructed over the natural rivers of Essence which flow between the elemental poles. Each element is usually associated with particular kinds of powers, whether they relate directly to the element (like a stone which provides water or sets timber alight) or to an associated concept (a gem which allows facility with languages or grants greater wareness of the wielder's surroundings).

Air | Earth | Fire | Water | Wood

Hearthstones of Air

Breathless Jewel (Level 1 Hearthsone of Air, by ikselam)
This spherical, milky blue hearthstone is very light, and appears to be hollow. When attuned, it allows its wearer to hold her breath indefinitely. This does not require extraordinary concentration, but it does require the bearer to take a deep breath first. The effect ends if the bearer falls asleep or unconscious, or the air is expelled from her lungs (for example, by speaking).

Jewel of Spirit's Delight (Level 2 Hearthsone of Air, by ikselam)
This glittering, multifaceted gem resembles a teardrop-shaped diamond. When attuned, it becomes incredibly interesting to spirits, distracting them from doing anything other than admiring it. Any god, elemental, ghost or demon who sees it must roll its Perception + Awareness. Each success on the roll applies a cumulative -1 penalty (to a maximum penalty of -5) to all that spirit's dice pools for the remainder of the scene, or until the jewel leaves its sight. The spirit can shake off the fascination for a number of turns equal to its Temperance score by expending a point of Willpower.

Mockingbird Stone (Level 3 Hearthsone of Air, by ikselam)
This hearthstone resembles a crystalline replica of its namesake's egg. When attuned, it allows its bearer to steal others' voices. The wearer kisses the target on the mouth, and inhales his voice into her lungs. For the next lunar month, she will be able to speak with his voice whenever she wishes; this is his actual voice, not an imitation. During this time, the person whose voice was stolen will be completely mute. The duration of this effect can be ended prematurely if the Mockingbird Stone's bearer kisses the target again and exhales his voice back into him. There is no limit on the number of voices that can be stolen at one time. Beings who have no mouths cannot lose their voices to the Mockingbird Stone, although ones who don't breathe can.

Voices stolen by the Mockingbird Stone can speak in any language known to the wearer OR to the person from whom they were stolen. However, although the wearer can express herself fluently in a foreign language known to the target, she does not gain the ability to understand anything anyone else says in that language unless she herself has knowledge of it.

Gem of Ghostly Vapour (Level 4 Hearthsone of Air, by ikselam)
This egg-shaped hearthstone is marked with swirls of blue and white, which appear to move about if watched long enough. It enables its bearer to transmute her body into intangible mist at will. This requires concentration, and counts as the character's dice action for the turn. In gaseous form, the character can only be hurt by Charms or Sorcery, and only takes half damage (round down) from anything that does harm her.

While in her intangible state, the character can speak in a whisper, and use any abilities or powers which do not require a body, but cannot interact with the world around her in any other way. She can waft along at her normal movement rate and pour up walls or through tiny openings, but cannot actually fly. Her fog form is unnaturally difficult to disperse, but she may
need to make Strength + Athletics rolls to avoid being blown about by strong winds.

When a character assumes gaseous form, only her body and the artifact in which the Gem of Ghostly Vapour is set become mist. Anything else she is carrying, including clothing, is unaffected and will immediately fall to the ground. The Gem of Ghostly Vapour's power can only be used once a day, and can last until sunrise or sunset, whichever comes first.

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Hearthstones of Earth

Stone Potato (Level 1 Hearthsone of Earth, by ikselam)
As its name suggests, this lumpy brown rock looks very much like a stone potato. When attuned, it allows the bearer to miraculously transform other stones into actual potatoes. All he needs to do is bake or boil the stones as he would a normal potato, and when the cooking is done, they will be edible. This power only works on stones that are roughly the size and shape of potatoes to begin with.

Sense-Sharing Gem (Level 2 Hearthstone of Earth, by ikselam)
These hexagonal black hearthstones always form in pairs. The bearer of a Sense-Sharing Gem can perceive anything seen, heard, smelled, touched, or tasted by the person attuned to its twin. Even magically-enhanced senses are shared. Using the gem requires uninterrupted concentration, and makes the user almost completely oblivious to his own surroundings. He can perform simple, repetitive tasks that don't require thought, or narrate what he's sensing in a stream-of-consciousness fashion, but cannot do anything else without breaking the connection.

Lodestone of Extraordinary Puissance (Level 4 Hearthstone of Earth, by ikselam)
This silvery stone looks like a large, egg-shaped lump of iron. Its wearer gains the ability to attract or repel metal with a thought. A character can only pull objects directly towards herself or push them directly away; she can't cause items to hover in the air, or lift things which she is not already above. However, it can be fine-tuned to only affect objects the character wants it to. Activating this power counts as a dice action that requires no roll, but is counted as one of the character's actions for the turn. It can only be used once per turn. The character must decide which mode (i.e., attract or repel) to use when it is activated.

The repelling power raises the difficulty of any attacks made against the character with metal weapons by her permanent Essence. This includes projectiles, such as throwing knives or metal-tipped arrows. Furthermore, people wearing metal armor or similar accoutrements (or beings composed of metal) suffer a further +1 difficulty penalty to any hand-to-hand attacks made against her.

When used in combat, the attracting power is resolved as a disarm attempt, except it has a range of five times the character's permanent Essence in yards, cannot be parried or dodged, and the opponent's Wits + Ability roll is made at a difficulty of half her permanent Essence (round down). This can affect multiple opponents at the same time, although since all the weapons will fly through the air directly toward the character, she would be wise to only use it on as many weapons as she is confident she can catch.

Outside of combat, the magnetic powers are normally used to move things. Consider this to have a range of five times the character's permanent Essence in yards, and to act with an effective Strength score equal to three times her permanent Essence. As noted previously, it can only act in a straight line towards or away from the character.

Gem of Crushing Weight (Level 5 Hearthstone of Earth, by ikselam)
This cubical white stone exudes a sense of great mass, even though it is not really all that heavy. Its wearer can influence gravity with her mind, causing objects to become much heavier than normal. Using this power requires intense concentration, and consumes the character's dice action for the turn. He also cannot take any movement action while maintaining the effect. This power affects an area no more than ten yards in radius.

Any person caught within the zone of increased gravity cannot move more than two yards per turn. She halves her initiative and any dice pools for physical actions, and doubles falling damage and the difficulty for resisting knockdown or any other effect that would cause her to fall over. If she does fall down, getting back up requires a Strength + Athletics roll at difficulty 4.

Inanimate objects or structures affected by this power will probably collapse under their own weight if they are not very sturdy. They are also twice as hard as normal to lift or pick up (if they were portable to begin with).

Stone of Inviolate Peace (Level 5 Hearthstone of Earth, by ikselam)
This spherical gem is pure white, and much heavier than it looks. It calms the hearts and soothes the minds of all those around it. As long as the stone's bearer behaves in a calm, nonviolent fashion, anyone who is aware of his presence will be unable to attack him, or even to become angry at him. Even his sworn enemies will find themselves unable to raise their hands against him. Rudeness on the part of the bearer (e.g. taunting, refusing a reasonable request for privacy, insisting that someone pay attention to him when they have genuinely pressing business to attend to, barging into a meeting uninvited) breaks the spell, as does any violent action.

The Stone of Inviolate Peace does not make people become stupid, nor does it alter their opinion of the bearer. Those under its effects are no more likely than normal to agree with what the character says or do what he tells them to do; they'll just express their disagreement (or desire to see him burn in hell, as the case may be) in a civil fashion. In addition, it offers no protection against unintentional harm. The character can be caught in massive magical blasts or hit by stray arrows, although it will prevent such things from happening "accidentally-on-purpose."

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Hearthstones of Fire

Ever-Burning Ember Stone (Level 1 Hearthstone of Fire, by ikselam)
This dull-surfaced white stone glows with a soft orange light, and emits about the same level of heat as a hot water bottle. This provides no direct mechanical benefit, but can be quite useful in cold climates. In addition, the Ever-Burning Ember Stone can emit a small spark on command. The spark can't do damage, and only travels a few inches at most, but is effective for igniting dry tinder.

Gem of Taunting Fury (Level 2 Hearthstone of Fire, by ikselam)
This bright pink hexagonal jewel makes the wearer's taunts much more aggravating. Even the weakest insults will be delivered with such charisma and panache that they will be impossible to ignore. Mechanically, this power adds three dice to any action intended to make someone lose their cool.

Stone of Purifying Flames (Level 2 Hearthstone of Fire, by ikselam)
This tetrahedral stone is colored in swirls of red and orange. The person attuned to it can burn poison and disease out of a person's body simply by laying her hand on his skin and concentrating. All traces of toxin or sickness are cleansed from his body, and any lingering effects or penalties imposed by such things are negated. This process is very painful, and inflicts two levels of unsoakable lethal damage. It is permissible to use this power on oneself.

Gem of Virtue's Bright Beacon (Level 4 Hearthstone of Fire, by ikselam)
This multifaceted, diamond-like gemstone shines with a bright, white light. When attuned to it, the bearer finds his convictions strengthened immeasurably. Whenever he spends Willpower to activate a Virtue, he may choose to add its rating as automatic successes to his roll, rather than extra dice. Use of this power counts toward a character's per-story limit for Virtue activation, and causes him to immediately gain a point of Limit.

Stone of Inextinguishable Flame (Level 5 Hearthstone of Fire, by ikselam)
This deep red, octagonal gemstone is warm to the touch, and emits a flickering radiance. Its bearer gains the ability to magically stoke any existing flame by blowing on it. Such enchanted fire will not spread, but will also not stop burning until it has completely consumed its fuel; not even magic can put it out. Flame that is already magical is unaffected by this power. The enhanced fire is much hotter than normal fire. Anyone foolish enough to expose themselves to it suffers damage as per the normal rules for environmental hazards, except that the damage is aggravated.

Inextinguishable flame can be used to light fires, but those fires will be normal, nonmagical fires unless they, too, are enhanced with the Stone of Inextinguishable Flame. As noted above, inextinguishable fires will not spread on their own.

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Hearthstones of Water

Gem of Still Water (Level 1 Hearthstone of Water, by ikselam)
This oval stone is the cloudy green of seawater, and appears to contain dark, mysterious depths. When attuned, it allows the wearer to assume the impassive stillness of the calm ocean. She will still feel emotions and react as normal, but none of it will show in her voice, expression, or posture.

Thirsty Traveller's Friend (Level 1 Hearthstone of Water, by ikselam)
This smooth, opaque hearthstone resembles nothing more than a large pebble taken from a streambed. It is always cool to the touch, and slightly damp. If its bearer concentrates on it and gives it a firm squeeze, it is capable of "sweating" cold, clean water. The water condenses on the stone's surface and drips off at a slow but steady pace. In one hour, the stone is capable of producing up to a gallon of water.

Jewel of the Siren's Call (Level 3 Hearthstone of Water, by ikselam)
This egg-shaped hearthstone is colored an iridescent blue, and seems to hum softly to itself. When attuned, it allows its bearer to sing so beautifully that people will be mindlessly drawn to her. Every mortal human who can hear her song must make a difficulty 4 Willpower roll, or be compelled to follow her. Soldiers will stop fighting, mothers will leave infants unattended, guards will desert their posts, and holy men will cease their prayers. Those affected by the spell act as though sleepwalking, moving along at a slow but steady pace. They will not hurl themselves off cliffs or do other suicidal things to reach the singer, and won't become violent; if they are confronted with an impassable obstacle that blocks them from the singer, they will mill around behind it, but won't attempt to bash through it.

The spell is instantly broken if the stone's wearer stops singing or her victims can no longer hear her. An individual will also shake off the song's effect if he is physically assaulted, or if he actually succeeds in reaching the singer. Exalted and non-humans are completely unaffected by this power.

Stone of the Slippery Snake (Level 3 Hearthstone of Water, by ikselam)
This irregularly-shaped, perfectly clear jewel does not feel quite solid, like it is nothing more than a thin membrane surrounding a blob of jiggly jelly. It is quite slippery, and very difficult to keep hold of with one's hands. When attuned, it makes the wearer just as slippery and flexible. He can easily slip out of ropes, manacles, or other restraints, and can squeeze through any opening small enough for his head to pass through. In addition, he becomes much harder to hold onto. Mechanically, this translates into an extra three dice to escape any clinch or hold.

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Hearthstones of Wood

Gem of Creeping Ivy (Level 1 Hearthstone of Wood, by ikselam)
This translucent green stone is similar in shape to an ivy leaf. It allows the wearer to place his hand on any stone surface and cause ivy or similar climbing vines to rapidly spread across it. The vines grow at a rate of approximately one yard per minute; the gem's wearer determines the rough direction in which they spread. The ivy is quite sturdy, and reduces the difficulty of scaling walls and other such obstructions by one. The vines will sprout in any environment, but will wither and crumble to dust in a matter of minutes if they couldn't normally survive there. In more friendly environments, the ivy will behave just like normal ivy.

Stone of Forest Speech (Level 2 Hearthstone of Wood, by ikselam)
This cylindrical hearthstone resembles a piece of petrified wood, its cross-section displaying what appear to be growth rings. The person attuned to it gains the ability to speak with and understand plants. Most small plants, such as grasses and shrubs, are fairly stupid and cannot understand or convey any but the simplest concepts. Trees are typically much more intelligent, and capable of much more coherent and interesting conversation. This power does not guarantee that the plants will like the character or wish to talk to her, or grant them the ability to do things they normally couldn't (such as move).

A close cousin of this hearthstone, the Stone of Wild Speech, allows communication with animals, with the same limitations and caveats.

Deft Healer's Stone (Level 3 Hearthstone of Wood, by ikselam)
This yellow stone is shaped like a four-pointed star. By concentrating, its wearer can see the Essence flows through a living body, and how to bring them into harmonious alignment. Mechanically, this adds four dice to any Medicine rolls related to acupuncture, massage, or the like. It can also be used for harmful purposes; a fighter using this power can add one point to the raw damage of any unarmed attack she makes, since she can see where to strike in order to most effectively injure her opponent's body.

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