Rules

Certain enchanted items, though wondrous in themselves, aren’t really Wonders in the sense that they channel Sphere-based effects. A consecrated dagger, a bullet-resistant business suit, a window made of see-through steel – such Trinkets provide trivial yet precious aid to folks who know how to use them right.

The word trinket means “trivial.” In that spirit, Trinkets are simple, trivial things. In Mage terms, a capital-T Trinket has unusual properties but doesn’t employ the Spheres once it has been created. Of course, no one actually calls such items “Trinkets” – that’s simply an awkward term of convenience. In the sourcebook Forged by Dragon’s Fire (see p. 17), such treasures get referred to as faux-Artifacts: minor treasures crafted with Pattern Spheres so that they possess properties greater than their usual capacity. Life grows or strengthens them; Matter reinforces them; Forces alters their essential properties and reworks the physics of light, sound, and radiance. Quintessence, meanwhile, allows a mage to consecrate Trinkets, turning them into instruments of a greater Reality. The various Sphere en­ tries describe the possible modifications a mage can make to an apparently “normal” object with those Spheres, and those modifications make a Trinket into a minor sort of Wonder.

As a rule, assume that a Trinket is made or one or two common material substances – cloth, glass, stone, wood, and so forth. It cannot involve complex interactions, and its purpose must be simple and straightforward. A gun, for instance, could be a Trinket, but a car or computer could not. Meanwhile, the Effect involved must also be simple and straightforward: silence, bullet-proofing, the ability to inflict or resist aggravated damage, and so forth. Complex items with complicated purposes are Artifacts, Inventions, Talismans, and so forth, not Trinkets.

Even so, “trivial” Wonders have certain benefits. A Trinket’s owner doesn’t need to roll an activation roll, and the item doesn’t have Arete, generate Paradox, or employ Quintessence – it simply fulfills a useful function. Sphere magick facilitates the creation of such Trinkets, but anyone can use them once they’ve been made. Such things don’t have to be recharged, but although Trinkets can be tough, they lose their properties once they get destroyed.