Imperial Nomar Bracers

Nomar Bracers (from the era of the Empire)

Physical Description: Unworn the braces are silvery metal plates 11 inches in length, 4.5 inches wide and .25 inches thick. The plates are curved slightly along the plane of the short axis such that they will wrap slightly around a human forearm. There is a narrow slit at the corners of the plates which leather or fabric straps can be looped. Along the border of the convex side of the bracers, there are runes raised which when read aloud cause the bracer to absorb the power of the wear’s spell. When the bracers are infused with a spell the runes disappear, the bracer turns from a silver hue to gold, and writing appears in the middle of the bracer which when read by the caster releases the stored magic. Once the stored spell is released the bracer/s return to there silver appearance.

History: The Nomar empire ruled all of the known human lands. Its leadership consisted of magic using aristocracy, and its power was derived from its legions of warrior-mages. The empire eventually fell due to civil war, and the rise of powerful religious orders which opposed and eventually slaughtered the Mage aristocracy. And though the conquerors attempted to destroy all elements of the Nomar reign, remnants of the empire can still be found through out the lands. One relatively common magical item employed by the empire are the apprentice bracers. These magic plates allowed a novice caster to employ a much wider variety of magic each day, and thus be of greater use and versatility to the empire. Whole legions were equipped with these items, and in the days before a battle the captains would see that his Mage Cohorts would imbue their bracers with the proper spells.

Magical Properties: The bracers can each hold a enough magical energy to invoke a novice level spell (1st level or 1st sphere spell or they retain a small amount of spell or mana points) which can be cast quickly by speaking the runes inscripted on the bracer. There is no limit to how long a spell can be retained on the bracer. Once the spell is cast the bracer has released the magic and can not be used again until it is imbued with another spell. If the caster removes the bracers, than the spell on the bracer/s are also lost. The bracers are "charged" by reading the runes on the silver incarnation of the bracer and then casting spell the mage wish to store upon the bracer. Thus obviously if a mage wishes to use these bracers effectively, he/she must prepare them several days in advance.

A mage can only wear two bracers, an attempt to wear more than two will result in a inability of the bracers to retain spells. The power of the magic retained by the bracers is limited by design, and the spells placed are always the (1st level) lowest sphere incarnation of the spell. It does not matter how powerful the mage that imbues the bracers with magic is, the spell retained have the qualities of a spell cast by a novice mage. Trying to cast a more complex or powerful spell on the item will cause both bracers to turn a dark brown and no new writing will appear. They must be removed from the caster before they can be cleared of the spell.

Roleplaying: We used these in a campaign to make our first level mage more versatile. As the mage got to be higher levels the bracers became less and less important and were eventually sold. But to a first and second level mage this is an extremely helpful item that does not unbalance the game too much.