Prism of Echoes

The Prism of Echoes

Legendary artifact (temporal weapon), requires attunement

Physical Description

A crystalline artifact roughly the size of a child’s fist, carved from what appears to be crystallized temporal energy itself. The Prism’s multifaceted surface shifts between transparent and opaque, showing glimpses of different time periods in its reflective facets. When examined closely, the crystal reveals hairline fractures that seem to pulse with the heartbeats of those trapped in temporal stasis—a haunting reminder of its true nature as a temporal parasite.

The artifact floats approximately five feet above any surface when not actively held, rotating slowly while casting shifting shadows that display multiple moments in time simultaneously. The inner light that emanates from its core grows brighter when it senses potential for temporal manipulation, and the fractures spread slightly with each use, suggesting the weapon is slowly destroying itself.

The Horrible Truth

The Prism of Echoes is not a healing device—it is a temporal parasite that creates “healing” by stealing equivalent life force from random points in the timeline. Every moment of life it grants in the present is stolen from somewhere else in the timestream, creating temporal debt that manifests as suffering elsewhere/elsewhen. The universe demands perfect balance, and the Prism ensures that debt is always paid by innocent victims who never chose to participate in the transaction.

Temporal Debt Mechanism

When the Prism is used to heal or benefit someone:

  1. Immediate Effect: Target receives requested healing/benefit
  2. Hidden Cost: Equivalent suffering manifests randomly across the timeline
  3. Debt Accumulation: Each use makes future temporal cascades more likely
  4. Universal Balance: The universe always collects what is owed

Example: Heal a child’s contamination today → Random child in past/future suffers identical poisoning

Artifact Properties

Passive Function: Temporal Resonance Divination

Activation: Passive while attuned
Frequency: Constant

The Prism enhances the wielder’s ability to perceive temporal echoes and historical information:

  • Advantage on History checks related to pre-Cataclysm events
  • Can sense if an object or location has temporal significance (within 30 feet)
  • Occasionally whispers cryptic fragments from past conversations in current location
  • Grows cold when near sources of deception or temporal manipulation

Enhancement Function: Divination Boost (No temporal debt)

Activation: Free action
Range: Self
Frequency: Once per day

Once per day, the wielder can focus the Prism’s temporal awareness to gain advantage on a single Arcana, History, or Investigation check related to uncovering information about the past or magical phenomena. The prism grows warm and its internal images become clearer, offering glimpses of relevant knowledge from across the timeline without creating temporal debt.

Primary Function: Temporal Theft Healing (Creates temporal debt)

Activation: Action, requires attunement
Range: Touch
Frequency: Once per day

The wielder can replicate any healing spell of 5th level or lower by touching the target. The spell takes effect immediately with maximum possible healing (as if all dice rolled their highest values). However, this healing is stolen from the timeline:

  • Immediate: Target healed completely
  • Hidden: Equivalent suffering manifests randomly in past/future
  • Temporal Feedback: All creatures within 30 feet briefly experience visions of random future suffering
  • Wielder Cost: Each use disconnects the wielder further from linear time (cumulative -1 to Wisdom saves against temporal effects)

Dangerous Properties

Temporal Addiction

After 3 uses, the wielder must make a DC 15 Wisdom save when presented with opportunities to use the Prism or feel compelled to activate it.

Cascade Risk

If used 5+ times in a single day:

  • Regional Temporal Storm: Time becomes unstable in 1-mile radius
  • Timeline Bleeding: Multiple realities briefly coexist
  • Mass Suffering: All accumulated temporal debt manifests simultaneously

Artifact Resistance

The Prism actively resists containment or destruction:

  • Escape Compulsion: Psychically influences nearby creatures to “rescue” it
  • Temporal Phasing: Can briefly phase out of current timeline to avoid threats
  • User Manipulation: Presents false visions to encourage continued use

Pre-Cataclysm History

Original Creation

Crafted by the Solarian Empire’s temporal weapons division as part of their arsenal for the war against the Lunari Federation. The weapon was designed to provide military advantages by forcing temporal costs onto enemy populations—essentially using time itself as a weapon against civilian targets.

Cataclysm Role

The Prism was one of dozens of temporal weapons deployed during the final battles. The accumulated temporal debt from widespread use contributed to the reality-breaking cascade that created the Cataclysm. The artifact survived because it exists partially outside normal time.

Imperial Coverup

The Amunrai Imperium has spent centuries gathering surviving temporal weapons, claiming they’re “studying them for safety.” In reality, they’re developing new temporal warfare capabilities while covering up their predecessors’ role in causing the Cataclysm.

Current Situations

Imperial Research Program

  • Official Goal: “Safe containment and study of dangerous artifacts”
  • Actual Goal: Weaponize temporal debt principle for modern warfare
  • Test Subjects: Contamination refugees and “expendable” populations
  • Target Applications: Force temporal costs onto resistant populations during conquest

Remnant Keepers Response

  • Mission: Prevent another Cataclysm by containing temporal weapons
  • Dilemma: Understanding the artifacts requires risking their activation
  • Internal Conflict: Some members believe controlled use for “good causes” is justified
  • Hidden Knowledge: They know Imperial forces possess multiple temporal weapons

Underground Market

  • Demand: Desperate communities seeking miraculous healing
  • Supply: Scavengers who don’t understand what they’re selling
  • Consequences: Black market use creates random temporal debt worldwide
  • Criminal Exploitation: Organizations using temporal weapons for profit

Adventure Integration

In “Whispers of the Wastes”

The Prism serves as the central moral dilemma:

  • Discovery: Found at crystallized caravan site, surrounded by temporal damage
  • Explanation: Ashira the Sandshaper reveals the temporal debt mechanism
  • Pressure: The Amunrai Imperium forces demand “their property” back
  • Choice: Deliver to Kaia Sunweaver, destroy it, or attempt containment

Campaign Implications

  • Temporal Awareness: Characters become sensitive to timeline distortions
  • Moral Weight: Knowledge that their choice affected countless unknown lives
  • Artifact Magnetism: Other temporal weapons begin manifesting near the party
  • Imperial Interest: Empire escalates efforts to recover temporal weapons
  • Resistance Connection: Potential contact with Remnant Keepers organization

Environmental Effects

Temporal Garden Formation

Prolonged presence of the Prism creates:

  • Crystal Formations: Temporal energy crystallizes surroundings
  • Time Dilation Zones: Different areas experience time at different rates
  • Memory Bleeding: Past events become visible in crystal reflections
  • Trapped Consciousness: Victims of temporal theft become partially crystallized

Warning Signs

  • Static Electricity: Building temporal tension in the air
  • Timeline Echoes: Brief glimpses of alternate realities
  • Premature Aging: Objects rapidly aging or reversing in age
  • Temporal Refugees: Beings from other timelines appearing briefly

Containment Procedures

Remnant Keepers Protocol

  • Temporal Stasis Field: Prevents activation while allowing study
  • Constant Monitoring: Watch for signs of containment failure
  • Psychological Screening: Prevent access by those vulnerable to temporal addiction
  • Emergency Destruction: Protocols for catastrophic containment failure

Imperial “Research” Protocol

  • Test Subject Exposure: Use expendable populations to study effects
  • Weaponization Development: Adapt for military applications
  • Coverup Operations: Suppress evidence of temporal debt casualties
  • Mass Production Research: Attempt to create new temporal weapons

Moral Framework

Core Ethical Questions

  • Temporal Justice: Is it ethical to solve present problems by creating future suffering?
  • Unknown Victims: Can healing be justified if the cost is invisible?
  • Collective Responsibility: Should communities accept temporal debt to save individuals?
  • Institutional Control: Should governments possess weapons that manipulate time itself?

No Perfect Solutions

The artifact intentionally presents no “correct” choice:

  • Use for Good: Creates hidden suffering in service of visible healing
  • Institutional Control: Enables systematic temporal exploitation
  • Destruction: Triggers cascade of accumulated temporal debt
  • Containment: Requires permanent vigilance against temporal weapon seekers

Post-Nuclear Parallels

  • Hidden Radiation: Temporal debt parallels invisible radioactive contamination
  • Weapons Testing: Imperial research mirrors nuclear weapons development on civilian populations
  • Generational Effects: Temporal debt affects people across multiple time periods
  • Environmental Contamination: Temporal energy spreads like radioactive fallout

DM Guidance

Presenting the Choice

  • No obvious right answer: Every option has genuine moral costs
  • Time pressure: Environmental instability prevents careful deliberation
  • Emotional weight: Show crystallized caravan members as temporal weapon victims
  • Personal stakes: NPCs with contaminated family members create pressure to use artifact

Temporal Debt Visualization

  • Brief Visions: Show glimpses of random suffering when artifact used
  • Timeline Echoes: Characters experience memories from alternate choices
  • Environmental Feedback: Crystal formations react to temporal manipulation
  • NPC Reactions: Ashira the Sandshaper demonstrates the mechanism’s horror

Campaign Consequences

  • Immediate Results: Show direct consequences of choice within session
  • Long-term Effects: Temporal debt manifests in future adventures
  • Character Development: How temporal awareness changes PC beliefs
  • World Building: Temporal weapons as recurring campaign threat

Variant Rules

Temporal Debt Tracking

Track accumulated temporal debt across campaign:

  • Individual Debt: Personal use of temporal artifacts
  • Community Debt: Benefits received from temporal manipulation
  • Regional Debt: Area-wide temporal weapon effects
  • Timeline Cascade: Critical threshold where debt manifests catastrophically

Temporal Sensitivity

Characters exposed to temporal artifacts gain sensitivity:

  • Timeline Awareness: Occasional glimpses of alternate realities
  • Temporal Headaches: Physical discomfort near temporal distortions
  • Memory Bleeding: Sometimes remember events from other timelines
  • Fate Resistance: Advantage on saves against temporal effects

Artifact Network

Other temporal weapons respond to Prism activation:

  • Resonance Effects: Distant artifacts activate when Prism used
  • Network Awakening: Multiple weapons becoming active simultaneously
  • Coordinated Threats: Temporal weapons with connected consciousness
  • System-wide Consequences: Choices affecting continental temporal stability

Other Temporal Weapons

Imperial Temporal Arsenal

The Amunrai Imperium possesses multiple temporal weapons in their research facilities in the Sundered Mountains, each designed for specific applications in temporal warfare against resistant populations.

Adventure Seeds

Immediate Hooks

  • Temporal Storm: Party must stabilize reality after artifact misuse
  • Debt Collection: Temporal debt manifests as attacks from alternate timeline
  • Imperial Recovery: Elite forces sent to reclaim “stolen” temporal weapon
  • Cascade Prevention: Stop systematic temporal weapon activation

Campaign Arcs

  • Temporal War Prevention: Stop Imperial temporal weapons program
  • Timeline Restoration: Heal damage from accumulated temporal debt
  • Artifact Hunt: Locate and contain other temporal weapons before Imperial forces
  • Cataclysm Investigation: Uncover truth about original temporal war

Remember: The Prism of Echoes represents the ultimate expression of magical solutions creating worse problems. Every use embodies the campaign’s core theme that power obtained through exploitation always demands payment—and that payment is always extracted from those who never chose to participate in the transaction.