Even in the oldest histories of the world, mentions of the Star Mother have only been vague whispers and rumors. A being of pure life energy that grants her boon to those who seek knowledge, who seek advancement. Throughout the ages, few individuals have found their way to her court, and fewer still have found their way back. There is always a price for knowledge.
Those who did return to the mortal planes blessed with her gifts were twisted but always lead great advancements and changes in the world. With every rumored blessing twisting the being who sought her knowledge in new and horrifying ways, new miracles and horrors were wrought upon the lands. Kings and Emperors seek out those rumored to have her blessings, cities and kingdoms rise and fall on the knowledge granted.
Though there have been a few rumored champions of the Star Mother, all their names have been lost to history, though their blessings have endured, even beyond the champions death or disappearance.
The Blessings of the Star Mother can come in several forms. The Arm of the Star Mother is a mechanical arm that is a feat of engineering genius thought the horrific angles and machinery cause those with lesser wills to revolt in terror. The Eyes of the Star Mother appear as a pair of mechanical goggles that seem to fit over a wearers skull and eyes, though they are more insidious by far. The Leg of the Star Mother is the counter part to the Arm replacing ones lower extremities, but similar in design and appearance. The Heart of the Star Mother is a metallic core that appears as a spherical cluster of gears, wires and tubes. Finally The Mind of the Star Mother is a small black box, roughly three inches on all sides. There is no way to open the box, nor any openings or apparent function to it.
To attune to the eyes, you must place the goggles upon your head and and ingest an Essence of the Stars potion. The process will irreversibly fuse the instrument to your skull, to remove it would kill the wearer.
To attune to the Arm or Leg, you must lop off your arm at the shoulder or leg at the hip then press the artifact against the stump. The device will then burrow itself to your body and becomes a functioning appendage. If the device is ever removed, lower your constitution score by 4 per limb removed. If this lowers your Constitution score to zero you die, and cannot be revived by any magic short of a wish spell or divine intervention.
To attune to the Heart, you must participate in a ritual where your heart is removed and replaced by the artificial one. The wiring and tubing will burrow into your chest cavity as the device attaches to your body. It cannot be removed once you have attuned to this item.
To attune to the Brain of the Star Mother, you must place the box inside your skull, it will then fuse with your brain and grant you her blessings. It acts functionally as your brain at this point, and its removal will cause death.
Properties of the Arm
Your alignment changes to neutral, and you gain the following benefits:
- Your Strength score becomes 24, unless it is already 24 or higher.
- Any melee spell attack you make with the hand, and any melee weapon attack made with a weapon held by it, deals an extra 2d6 force damage on a hit.
- The hand has 8 charges. When you have grappled an opponent, you can expend 2 charges to initiate a drain attack upon them. The creature must make a DC 20 Constitution Saving throw, on a failure the creature takes 8D8 necrotic damage and you are healed for half the damage dealt. On a success, the creature takes half the damage, additionally you take half damage as radiant damage.
Notes: Set: Strength Score, Damage: Melee Attacks, Damage, Buff, Debuff, Utility, Combat, Cursed, Handwear
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