Objects or living beings that have been instilled with certain magickal Effects are often, in game terms, called Artifacts. Unlike the Devices and Talismans described below, such Wonders have a single function that they perform reli­ ably. A talking statue, silent sneakers, a flaming sword or a bag filled with sleep-dust – such objects, in game-terms, are considered Artifacts.

Unlike Talismans or Trinkets, however, an Artifact requires an Awakened user; in a Sleeper’s hands, an Artifact is essentially a mundane object. System-wise, an Artifact uses the Arete Trait of the character who is using that Artifact. The player rolls her mage’s Arete, typically against difficulty 7, and a single success activates the Artifact’s Effects.

Each Artifact contains Resonance energy that reflects the item’s creator, the materials he used, and the process that created the Artifact in question. One flaming sword – a magnificent jian shaped by a Wu Lung Master of Dragon Spirit Kung Fu – could glow with bright blue flames, snarl like a tiger when drawn, and radiate the essence of coiled power held in sharp tension. Another blade, forged by a Templar smith, might resemble a classical European broadsword etched with Latin scriptures that blaze with white light when drawn by a God-fearing hand; this Artifact shimmers with sacred intention, and singes the skins of unrepentant sinners when it touches them. In that regard, then, each Artifact is unique – a mirror of the mage who crafted it and the purpose to which it was forged.

In game terms, each Artifact has a single obvious and paranormal Sphere-based Effect, and several minor atmospher­ ic “signature special effects,” like the snarling-tiger sound or the hot surface that singes sinners. These unique “signature special effects” come through storytelling and roleplaying. They’re not purchased with points – they simply exist to mark that Artifact as the Wonder that it is. So long as those special effects don’t have a significant impact on the Artifact’s utility, they can be whatever the item’s creator and /or the Storyteller wants them to be. They might not always be beneficial, either; in fact, each Artifact ought to have at least one special effect that’s an absolute pain in the ass.