The Essence of
This Artefact is a Pair of Black Velvet Gloves with an intricate design in Silver Thread on the back of each glove. These gloves contain a very small portion of Manjil's Godly Powers, and when worn by a Priest of Manjil ( And only Priests of Manjil can wear them ) they increase the wearers powers to almost Demi-God like levels.
History of the Essence of Manjil
The Essence of Manjil were created during the days of the Balien Empire, it was a time of great deeds and powerful magic, and even the gods were occasionally dragged into the heady experience. In one such incident the Gods Resavion and Manjil were obliged to intervene in a disagreement between their 2 Churches regarding a High Mana Area in Northern Andoria which seemed to be aspected to both the Night and the Day. Even with the intervention of these 2 powerful Gods the matter couldn't be settled, so Tylanria was summoned to pass Judgement on the Matter, but even she could not separate who the Mana Area was aspected for. So her judgement was that a Champion of each of the 2 claimants would meet in 2 years at the Temple of Zandor in the Barrillion Mountains, to battle for the right to build a Temple on the site. The Champions would be Armed only with Basic Magical Weapons and Armour , and one Artefact of their God.
Manjil created the Gloves to give his Champion Speed, Endurance and Power. And they were presented to his Champion, a Priest named Druit et Malosif of the Arcadian People, on Mid Winters Eve at Midnight, when Manjil's Power on Ariane was at its most powerful, and Druit was imbued with Manjil's Power.
The Battle took place at Dusk, where neither God held sway, and it lasted for nearly 5 minutes before the Champion of Resavion was defeated. Druit was feted by Manjil and became his Herald in the Realms of Night, a position of great power which he still holds, and the Gloves where sent for safe keeping to Manjil's Temple in Chalise County, under the Darkhome Plateau. They where used on many occasions by Manjil's Priests to help those Manjil favoured, until the Great Earthquake seemingly destroyed the Temple in -200, it was even hidden from Manjil's view. The Temple had actually been destroyed by Urgan, who had coveted the Gloves since first seeing them in use, and felt that he could overcome whatever protections Manjil may have placed on them.
Unfortunately for Urgan, the High Priest of Manjil had placed a very powerful ward over the Gloves which was powered by the very nature of the Gloves, and thus he was never able to break thru and claim them as his. And many of his Priests died try to achieve this for him.
With the Destruction of the Temple in -200, the Gloves disappeared from the Histories of the time, and where indeed forgotten by all except the Upper Echelons of the Church of Manjil, that is of course until BY300 when a Junior Priest by the name of Tommy the Quick ( or Trollslayer if you believe what the Bards Sing about him:) ) and a band of adventurers found the Temple again, and released the Gloves from Urgan's Magical Protections, Tommy then cleared the lower levels of the Temple with some minor help from his companions, and indeed was able to summon the Avatar of Manjil to help cleanse and rebuild the forgotten temple. The Gloves are now kept at the Temple of Manjil in Balien City
Only an Ordained Priest of Manjil can wear this Artefact!!
This Artefact provides the following Powers while worn
The Priests DX & HT are raised by 10
The Priest can cast all Light/Darkness Spells at Level 27
While wearing the Gloves the Priest has Magery Level 3
The Priest can not cast spells in Sunlight.
Also received , only once, are the following Advantages and Disadvantages
Priest's Clerical Magery Level is permanently raised by 1 ( This only happens once , No Matter how many times the Priest wears the Gloves)
Priest Automatically Learns every Light/Darkness Spell at 2pts, or it raises the Spell Skill Level by 1 if already known
The Priest becomes Extremely Fanatical to Manjil
The Priest incurs a -2 Penalty when casting any spells during the daylight hours, and cannot cast spells at all in a Temple or Shrine of Resavion
The Priest cannot ever willingly enter a Temple, Shrine or Holy Area dedicated to Resavion