Nikolai's Artifact and Relic List

"Welcomez, one and all, you can call me Nikolai - that iz not my real name - if I did reveaal zo, I would be killed by circumztancez beyond my control. Thiz iz hard to comprehend, no? Anyway, I am rezolved to reveal all theez little zecretz that the military and certain other organizationz are trying to hide from you. More people need to know of theez zkeletonz in their clozetz. Zuffice to zay, I waz working for thiz organization and there are zome thingz I have zeen that are beyond dezcription. Their implicationz to our livez iz profound - in wayz that you cannot pozzibly imagine. Whether you believe me or not iz up to you... but the next time you walk pazt that ztrange black building zurrounded by an electronic fence... think about what I have told you.

Thiz lot of wordz iz meant for mature audiencez only. If you are a kid, get the f**k out of thiz place at once. It'll zpare you from all that frightening nightmarez that will only come later to plague you in your dreamz. I mean it, you knowz... Now, git!"

[All artwork generated by Copilot AI]

Ebony Pyramid of Quell

"One of my working venturez brought me out to Quell - a remote underground city on Fridgidia in the Holm zyztem. A black pyramid, whoze zmooth zurface iz zo reflective, waz found in a cavern that waz revealed by a rezent planetary quake. When we approached the Pyramid, it ztarted to hum. Rather loudly, I'm afraid. Within the next few hourz, we felt tremorz all over and az they began to rize in magnitude, I chickened out and azked for an immediate tranzfer off the clauztrophobic planet. Hell, you'd be zcared zhitlezz if you ztood before an enigma zuch az the Pyramid. I don't know what happened next and don't ever want to know... you could alwayz check the local newz to zee if I waz lying, you know... Thiz iz all true... I f**king zwear by my wordz... and my life!"

The Ebony Pyramid of Quell is a huge tetrahedral (four-sided) shaped building without any known doorways. Its walls are smooth and highly reflective. Scientists believe the artifact is a machinery of some sort left by the PreCursors. Strangely, any living entity who approaches the pyramid causes a loud hum to arise. The hum continues unabated and the Pyramid causes the nearby environs to quake. The quakes continue to rise in magnitude until 36 hours later, when the Pyramid mysteriously silences itself.

To stop the tremors, a living entity must be brave enough to venture forward and touch the surface of the Pyramid. Doing so, will cause the living entity to be destroyed (it is actually absorbed into the Pyramid). This action causes a door to open on one of the sides of the Pyramid. Within the Pyramid are several star maps of unknown origin that will require several decades to decipher. Also in the Pyramid is an alien weapon (of relatively awesome power) that the referee wishes to introduce into his campaign. Once taken out of the Pyramid, the weapon functions only for 36 hours before it must be brought back inside the black building for recharging.

High-Density Crystallic Trion

"Whoa... check thiz out... I juzt rezeived the newz of the zentury. It zeemz zomebody'z been fooling around with Trionz - you know what they are, don't you? Well, in layman'z term, the Trionz iz a critical catalytic element in them atomic drivez - they helpz to pozitively regulate the fizzionary rate of irridezcent decay... whoopz, anywayz enough of themz jargon. What thiz new zuper-duper denze cryztallic trion doez iz beyond imagination. My zource tellz me that it makez zure you get from point A to B without getting lozt in the procezz. No one needz ever be lozt when making them interztellar jumpz anymore. Iz thiz an invention by the United Racez? No way, people... lizten to thiz... thiz new cryztallic trionz iz made from zome unknown rock they found in a rezently zurveyed zyztem. And thiz rock iz a cuboid cryztal the zize of a f**king azteroid! Aww, zhitz... my zource won't tell me where the zyztem liez."

An atomic drive fitted with the new High-Density Crystallic Trion catalytic element is able to make an interstellar jump with pinpoint accuracy (only atomic drives get this benefit). The HDC Trion lasts for 1d5 jumps before being exhausted. Its use in a military fleet, however, bestows it a superior tactical advantage over its enemies.

The mysterious asteroid-sized HDC trion orbiting the unnamed system is a relic whose purpose is beyond the wildest imagination of its discoverers. This HDC trion prevents the star that it is currently orbiting from attaining supernova. Moving or further breaking down the HDC trion causes the star to attain supernova within the month. The repercussions of this are devastating... imagine the planning and logistics required to evacuate entire systems in the wake of the disastrous aftershock... A nightmarish potential for high adventure.

Medallion of Qaryt

"It'z been pretty quiet on the grapevine... but wait till you get a load of thiz piece of zhit newz coming from Krixar - a zmall and unimportant mining facility on Aliby. Az you know, there haz been no trace of civilization found on that planet zo far. It zeemz they been digging a little too deep, cauze they found zomething - a beautiful bauble, a myzteriouz medallion, a watcha-ma-call-it device. Hey, the picture I got here ripped off from their local online newz is aztounding. The ztone zet in the medallion iz beautifully cut... but mozt zurprizing iz that the ztone iz internally cut az well - perfect and intricate geometric patternz in the interior of a tough-az-nailz rock. Now, how did them alienz do that? What'z more, the ztone is hung on a chain made of tranzparent zteel... would you f**ing believe that... now what the f*** iz tranzparent zteel?"

When worn over a living entity (artificial ones will not trigger its latent powers), the Medallion of Qaryt immediately shines to life. However, other than that, nothing will happen unless the Medallion is heated up to about 50 degrees celcius (the alien race that made the Medallion had a body temperature of 60 degrees).

Once conditions are met, the Medallion bestows the following Mentalist powers on the wearer: Clairaudience, Clairvoyance, Cryokinesis and Pyrokinesis (see Zeb's Guide). Success rate is automatic and each power can be used up to six times a day. In addition, the Medallion of Qaryt will drain 2 STA for each power usage.

If the wearer of the Medallion is a Mentalist, then he/she falls into a catatonic state and will revive in 1d10 hours only after the Medallion is removed.

Orb of Gallor

"I got to learnz about the Orb only very rezently. My colleague who workz for a large organization (that zhall remain unnamed) haz proof of itz exiztence. On the planet Purzell of the Fonn Zyztem, they have found thiz ztrange looking zhiny metallic orb carved with intricate zymbolz. It appearz to be a locking device of zome kind. My colleague and hiz team of zcientiztz are working long hourz trying to figure out how to open it. I think they are cloze to an anzwer for the latezt vid-mail from him waz one of enthuziaztic exuberance. He zayz they have decoded the zymbolz... it mentionz of Gallor, zome kind of World Deztroyer... It appearz to be an awezome weapon of deztruction. I wizhed him all the bezt in unlocking the device."

The Orb of Gallor is an ancient relic left behind by the PreCursors of the Palalyrn Cluster. It is a prison for Gallor - Destroyer of Worlds - a hideous gelatinous supra-sentient purplle mass ten miles in diameter. Gallor continuously throbs with animosity for all life and reeks of incarnate evil. He constantly emanates strong psychic waves that cause a sense of hopelessness and induces a desire for committing suicide in the masses. Gallor cannot be hurt by conventional means... He is impervious to projectile and energy weapons and immune to the elements. The only way to destroy Gallor is to boil him in a reactor (or throw him into a star).

Another method to trap Gallor is to reactivate the Orb of Gallor. But, when the Orb is opened, the only thing left behind is a dimensional gate to a place where time doubles over itself... buckling the stability of the cosmic infrastructure. The Orb lies at the centre of this meta-space and must be closed via a sequence of heroic actions. Details are left to the referee to decide.

Temporal Gateway

"Well looky here, newz from afar. Cripez... Thiz juicy piece of gozzip is giving me the zhiverz. Thiz thing iz rumored to exizt in the Frontier Planetz. A gateway device of zome zort waz found in a zhattered ruin of one of the azteroidz in the Zhridkai Belt of the Triztkar System (see SFAD6). Apparently, an overly eager-beaver team of zcientiztz activated the device and more than half the team dizappeared in a huge flazh of light. The gateway device itzelf dizappeared zhortly after. A thorough analyziz propozez that the device may have invoked an interztellar jump to another location 20 light-yearz away from Triztkar. Now, if only zomeone could find that dang device... I'm zure it would be a helluva great time to figure out what exactly happened to them zcientistz."

The Temporal Gateway is a huge toroidal metallic device embedded with strange protusions and intricate pipings. It is activated when any sentient being steps through the centre of the device. The one who steps through (called the "time traveller") automatically travels randomly through time in either direction. The time traveller can concentrate to reach a desired time frame. Paradoxi caused by the time traveller causes him/her to cease to exist. The paradoxi cancel themselves to restore the rupture in the space-time continuum.

All other sentient beings that are within 100 metres of the gateway are disintegrated as their atoms are used to initiate and power the time travel. If the device absorbs more than the life force of 20 sentient beings, it will itself intiate an interstellar jump to a random location and remains lost in space until it crashes onto some planetary surface.

Note: There should at least be a single sentient being to activate the device, however travel is limited to a temporal distance of (plus or minus) five years per sentient being that is consumed by the device.

Yazlo Symbiote

"Thoze propagandizt pigz. Bah, don'tcha hate them newz bulletinz... all a bunch of humbug if you azk me... zometime'z you've juzt gotta read between the linez to get to the truth. Lizten to thiz piece of juizy newz I found. Trekkerz in the Yazlo Forezt - that'z near Hinn: another typical city on the mizerable Rockhole of Ritter'z, anywayz theze trekkerz found what appeared to be a device. The device came alive and attempted to grab the limb of one of the dralazitez. Unluckily for the dralazite chap, id zuffered a zcar - a real deep one - and all hiz inzidez oozed out until id zhrivelled up and died. Really mezzy... uggghhh... there'z more... the friendz of the dralazitez zay that when the device waz attached to id, he acted real peculiar - you know, the peculiar kind where id blabz in a ztrange language that not any Uni-vox can trazlate... Zpooky!"

The Yazlo Symbiote is a mysterious probe device from a heretofore unknown alien race. It looks like a cylindrical shaped pod with a small opening at one end. This particular device related by Nikolai, landed on Ritter's Rockhole and caused quite a stir.

When first found, the Symbiote is inactive. Squeezing the Symbiote causes several large phosphorent globs to shoot out from the open end. The globs burst into flames upon striking any surface. To activate the Symbiote, one only needs to insert an object (or hand) into the opening. Once it grabs onto a victim (usually the hand), the Symbiote immediately extends an organic/metal tendril that bores its way to the victim's brain matter. The victim dies within a minute in painful spasms and the Symbiote takes full control of the body boosting its strength and dexterity beyond normal levels (+20STR/+10DEX).