Rules

In game-system terms, a Periapt holds up to five points of Quintessence for each point in the object’s Wonder level; a three-dot Periapt, then, could retain 15 points of Quintessence, while a five-dot one might store up to 25 points. Your mage can access this Quintessence as long as she’s in physical con­ tact with the Periapt. A Prime 2 Effect allows that mage to access the Quintessence if the Periapt’s within close range, and a Correspondence 2 /Prime 2 Effect may access it from a distance if your mage manages to reach the Periapt with the Correspondence spell. Using that Quintessence requires at least one turn of focused concentration; any activity beyond that concentration disrupts the flow of energy that turn. (As noted above, this concentration does not apply to Technological Matrices.)

For convenience’s sake, many mages turn their ritual tools into Periapts. That way, a source of Quintessence remains literally close at hand. Of course, such convenience has its downsides: If the instrument gets lost or damaged, then the Periapt suffers the same mishap. And if a Paradox backlash demolishes the Periapt (see below), then the willworker loses her instrument as well.

An external Periapt – such as a jewel, amulet or weapon – can fuse itself into the mage’s body if she wears it continually on her bare skin. Generally, this fusion takes 10 weeks, minus one week for the rating of the Periapt. (A five-dot Periapt, then, would merge with its owner in five weeks.) At that point, the character can access the stored Quintessence immediately – it’s essentially part of her body’s innate mystic energy.