Mountebank's Guise
Description
The Mountebank's Guise is a suit of magical clothing infused with a little of the power of the dramaturgical persona of the Mountebank. A ritual magician who wears this clothing can draw on the power it contains to empower their ability to perform Spring magic. In addition to providing additional magical power, the robes also infuse the wearer with some of the personality of the Mountebank.
The Mountebank is a complex figure in magical dramaturgy. This raiment draws on the power of that persona as an agent of vibrant, energetic change, and unrestrained power. By harnessing this irrepressible energy, the Guise allows a trained ritual magician to tap into a wellspring of power when working Spring magic. As a magical raiment infused with dramaturgical power, the Mountebank's Guise allows a bonded wearer to tap into some of the potent archetypal magical symbolism of the Mountebank, strengthening their will to act and urging them to seek out opportunities to use their power to its best advantage.
The raiment itself is usually woven from hard-wearing cotton or linen, carefully bleached and dyed in vivid, contrasting colours. The raiment often appears quite rich - it is intended as a dramaturgical costume rather than casual wear after all - with ambergelt and tempest jade decorations. The clothes tend to favour comfort and movement, reflecting the rough-and-tumble lifestyle of many Spring magicians. They are also often cut specifically to show off the physical attributes of the wearer - the Spring realm understands the power of the physical body to influence perceptions and subtly control social situations...
While the basic design is patterned after League fashions, it draws inspiration from the clothing of the street bravo or the Free Company, not that of the merchant prince that it draws inspiration from. Several other designs exist, inspired by other nations. The Troubadour's Guise for example, which combines elements of traditional Dawnish yeofolk garb with the vibrant colours favoured by many troubadours. The Woodcutter's Attire draws on Varushkan aesthetics, combining a vibrantly embroidered long coat with practical leggings, comfortable boots, and supple gloves - a design that has proved popular not only in Varushka, but also in the Marches, Navarr, Wintermark, and both Temeschwar and Holberg.
Rules
- Form: Armour. Takes the form of a robe. You must be wearing this robe to use its magical properties.
- Requirement: You must have the magician skill to bond to this item.
- Effect: Once per day you may use this robe to gain two additional ranks of Spring Lore for the purposes of performing a single ritual, subject to the normal rules for effective skill.
- Roleplaying Effect: While wearing this robe you feel a burst of confidence and an urge to speak your mind at all times regardless of the society you are keeping.
- Materials: Crafting a Mountebank's Guise requires five ingots of tempest jade, twelve measures of ambergelt, five measures of dragonbone, seven measures of beggar's lye, and eleven measures of iridescent gloaming. It takes one month to make one of these items.
This is one of six sets of ritual robes designed by House Bourné, a Sarvosan guild formed by the union of League master-artisans and a Dawnish weaver cabal. Their unique designs combine the power of dramaturgy with a deep understanding of the hearth magic of girding. During Winter 380YE, in conjunction with popular publication The Looking Glass, the Merchant-Prince Genia Bourné di Sarvos announced that the guild would allow any Imperial artisan to visit their estate in Sarvos and study the schemata detailing the six raiments, free of charge.
Any character can learn how to create this raiment following the normal rules - either by selecting the robe as one of their starting items, or learning it as an extra item pick. The only restriction is that anyone who knows how to make one of these robes must have spent a week or two studying at House Bourné in Sarvos - there is currently no other way to master the patterns which remain the proprietary knowledge of the Bourné guild."... and this alignment of the gloaming-treated weave with the weltsilver threads causes realm energies passed through them to seethe with puissant immanence, cascading a current of mustered will to enhance the breaching pattern that the magician uses to unpick the seam between worlds and draw forth a much more voluminous channel of energy to fortify and embellish the structure of ritual symbolism that they have threaded together."
There was silence for a moment when Horace had finished. Jack Greenwater licked his lips a few times, opened and shut his mouth once or twice, squinted at the bark on the back of his hand and then gathered all his courage and said:
"What?"
Horace sighed inwardly.
"It empowers Spring magic." he said slowly.
"Oh! Great! Yes, I'll try it." Jack beamed. "Why didn't you say that in the first place?"
Horace did not roll his eyes until he was behind the Marcher landskeeper, helping him into his new coat.