Artimegens' Glove

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Artimegens' Glove
Aka: Artimegens' Boon, Veteran's Balm, Glove of Grasping, Glove of The Lost, Helping Hands, and Kudu ja vim (Making one proper)

In a very short time, this single piece has become a common enchantment. Atimegens has become a mage for The Annuals, with a named enchantment.

He first designed the enchantment to help an armsman friend, Bordeas The Red. This famed man of arms lost his sword arm while in the line of duty to The Crown. As the story goes, it was while defending Atimegens who was also doing his duty. While Bordeas fell into the traditional role of a maimed armsman, a teacher of weapons, he was "unhappy". Regret over too many years given and too many years yet to give, led to too many nights (and some days) drinking. To help his friend and balance his ledger, Atimegens defined this now legendary enchantment and managed to complete it in near legendary time.

He enchanted Bordeas The Red's war glove "to be as it was". Once worn and active, it would "float" where it would be, should the man be standing there. It would move, as if the arm was still there. It would move with the speed of the old limb and be able to lift weight as if the old limb was there.

It was graciously received by Bordeas The Red, who could wield his treasured house blade properly once more. It is said that, Atimegens received a gift from that season's cadre of students as well, who were no longer being yelled at by their drunk instructor and were actually learning some of The Red's expert points of the Steel Arts.

Others from La Royale and the various salle in the region requested if they could hire him to make them similar gloves.

Atimegens soon had a network of enchanters and apprentices making gloves for veteran Armsmen who had lost their arms or hands. The practice expanded. A few made gloves for craftsmen and saliors. Eventually, the enchantment fell into common grimoires in the Western Lands.

Creating such a glove is easy enough, if one is a proper enchanter.

Any glove can be enchanted as long as it is appropriate and sturdy. (Many Armsmen wanted their fighting glove, but it did not have to be their glove.) While leather and metal gauntlets were originally used, a leather short glove is the subject of choice. Some use hawking gloves, or longer gloves so they can have "forearms". Arm length or long gloves made of silk (as proper silk is quite strong) are sometimes used for those that want feminine or princess look.

Each glove is given a rune of control (with some extra elements to it). The mode of marking is a matter of choice as long as it is as durable as the glove. A glove is bonded to a users by tattooing the rune of control for the glove on their body. With the use of a simple energizing cantrip, the glove animate and function. Most people can be taught this much channeling casually.

The enchanting is two fold process, one for the runes of linkage and one for the lifting/ grasping. The strength of the enchantment is that it is limited to the original or normal level. This limit is what makes this basic spell effect so fast to enchant.

The magic of the glove keeps it in the position of where the hand would be, if the arm was there. It is as strong as the person is, not granting any great bonus.

A person can "take their glove off" depowering it. Those with armored or large gloves tend to do this. It simply requires immediate proximity and an energizing cantrip to reactivate it.

Note: A simple dispel will cause the glove to drop to the ground. It will not move again until re-energized with a cantrip. Luckily battlemages are so busy in combat that they can't snipe individual armsmen with Artimegens' Gloves.

Part of Artimegens' legacy is that he also developed a boot/ shoe version of the spell for those that have lost legs about a decade after the enchantment formula was released to the world.

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It has been an Elven Span since the world learned of Artimegens's Glove. (Roughly 200 years or one elven lifespan.)

Artimegens has developed a reputation for being a humanitarian and a loyal subject to the crown. Most of it is actually deserved. He has been a stalwart member of the Great Council for the last 96 years. He only saw his spell as helping those who have lost limbs due to danger or illness. Others have found new uses for the core enchantment beyond the initial. While not common by any sense of the word, the enchantment and its variations have spread through the Western Lands and civilizations adjacent.
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Note: In the last half century, some have begun to have several hands. These hands are enchanted to them: one control rune per glove. A person might have three runic tattoos, one for the normal hand/ leather glove, one for a lab hand (a working glove with built in tools for science or a trade), and one for the steel armor arm (attach at the shoulder).

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Helping hands is a variation attributed to Master Edkers (deceased), who happened to be one of Artimegens' early period apprentices. It is an enhanced version of the enchantment applied once or twice to a member of a species that does not have common hands. Dragon, Goomai (jelly beings), Dolphins, Claw-soars (feathered bird folks), Southern Naga (the cursed armless variety), and other species, have found that manipulating common society objects difficult without the expenditure of excessive magic. (Dragons traditionally needed "assistants" to put a book on a pedestal and turn pages because their claws are so large.)

A helping hand is a magical glove that functions as a common size hand, attached as a common scale arm was there. This makes holding and moving items easier - like getting or holding books/ staves, opening doors, moving candles, and so on. These "hands" are not fully dexterous, but only take half an off-hand roll penalty. The Nagas and Goomai will have sets of two gloves.

Dragons put the control rune on their pointing claw, thus they point and move their "hand". Now they can hold a normal book or scroll, rather than trying to hold it in their giant claw and turn pages.

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This enchantment was developed to replace losses. However, there are those that use the enchantment to create a third or fourth extra arm. This is not quite a helping hand, as these are "armed" species. These gloves (and effective arms) tend to be clumsier - (off-hand penalty and a bit more).

Only those with years of very special training (a feat or special gift ability) can use these extra hands (half off-hand penalty). Most famously the Spider Clan of Shadow Walkers use them. A certain grade of Spider Clan agents receives four additional clawed gloves (These gloves are tools used by Shadow Walkers of all clans for climbing and fighting). Various Shadow Warrior Clans (Octopus, Mantis, Scorpion, and a few others) have agents who have them.

Some canny cut-purses and lifters use a third hand to assist them in their larceny. They tend not to have the special training, but use the "other hand" from surprised. There are other criminal types that will use a third arm when they can get one.

Most recently gear workers have started to use the enchantment with specialized small gloves with tool elements. It is hard to determine if this is a trend for all gear workers or just those around the Academy Royale.