A pair of rings fashioned by the legendary Elven spellsmith Aurinellian. Powerful but subtle enchantments bring the happy couple closer together.
Many years past, the Elven Prince Jole'Cae sought a woman of beauty and intelligence to rule alongside him. After criss-crossing the country, he found such a woman, a free-spirited ranger named Mannelei. They fell in love instantly, and decided to be married before the end of the year. Jole'Cae undertook a dangerous journey to the fringes of the Elven kingdom to beseech the mighty spellsmith Aurinellian to make him wedding rings in the human fashion.
Aurinellian, touched by the passion and love shown in the Prince's eyes, agreed, and toiled for a month, crafting two identical golden wedding bands, each etched with captivating patterns. Overjoyed, Jole'Cae returned to his love, and the two were married.
For several years, the pair lived happily, but as time passed they realised something strange was at work. At times of great emotion, their thoughts touched, no matter the distance between them. When Mannelei, travelling through the deep forest alone, was attacked by a Orcish warband, the rings seemed to glow, and Jole'Cae was transported from the palace to Mannelei's side, where they fought together and slayed the Orcs.
Unfortunately, the extent of the enchantment remained undiscovered. The following year, during an all-out Goblin assault on the kingdom, Prince Jole'Cae was brutally slain. It is said that, the moment the rusty Goblin blade slid between his ribs, Mannelei, many miles away, screamed in agony and dropped dead.
Since then, the rings have passed from the Elven kingdom into the hands of wandering merchants.
Magical Properties:
The rings are only magical when worn by a couple who are in love. Over time, at the GMs discretion, they allow limited empathic and telepathic communication. At times of great physical danger or emotional distress, the magic in the rings can also bring the couple together, no matter how far apart they are. After several years, the magic also passes wounds and injuries between the couple, and if one should die, then the other will also expire.
The rings are not to be used lightly, but can be useful as quest items, NPC treasure, as GM gifts to PCs who marry, or in the hands of an evil femme fatale who knows how to manipulate the enchantment...
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- Compilation of Rings by Mourngrymn Bound
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Wow, I think this is a awsome idea. As a player and a DM, i have never heard or seen anything quite like this.
Awesome idea, although a little constricting with the love requirement. The idea could be expanded to allow any two people with a protection pledge to each other to use the rings.
I know this is not intended, but you could change them a little bit and use the ring as a one way death. Like for a king for instance. The king would have a ring and give it to all his bodyguards. In time of danger the bodyguards would appear and if the king dies, then so does the bodyguard, but it would not work the other way so the king would definitely not die if a bodyguard got killed.
Great idea all around with plenty of opportunity for tweeks. :)
I like the item in context and the write up. It is what I like in a magikal item, a purpose, a good back story, a little mystery (or vagueness in what the magic really can do), and it is a unique (non cookie cutter item... only one set in the world). I give this two thumbs up and a tail.
It is a true token of roleplaying love for people who can't really roleplay. As your character now must love (and protect) their companion, since its life is now dependent on the others.
As for Strolen's bodyguard variation, you would never hook it up with your bodyguards. If they all die when you do, they can't chase after and capture/ kill the person who did it. One suprise attack and they go free. In addition, those experienced bodyguards will not be available to protect your heir.
Also if the bodyguard dies while protecting you, won't you die as well? Nope... not a good idea.
Once he is dead, who cares? Many servants commit suicide upon their master's death, just take this a step further. Each person of royalty would have their own bonded servants and if the heir wanted the murder found then he/she would make it happen even if a few bodyguards were lost with the assassination. The culture that uses this may very well be a backstabbing assassination type culture where the murderers are already known and are praised for succeeding. Just depends on how you want to use the item, and I like the idea I presented and would probably be the only way I use it in a game.
The coveat of that twist of the item is that the bodyguards deaths wouldn't kill the king. I basically changed the whole premise of the item, although I like the original, I would never use it as I am not a 'love' roleplayer.
One more step farther...
...a cursed variant could be impossible to remove. So a cruel king would give it to his enemies, or publicly popular, very useful people. If he dies, they die too. Unless they cut off that finger, which he would surely feel.
But we are getting way too far from an elegant item that binds two loving ones...
Oh, if two marry 'from reason, not from love', and are given these rings, they could (given they have at least some mutual respect) slowly come closer and even fall in love in the end!
Love rules...
1) As for the rings... Perhaps some experience modifier for those who do not work in the best interest of their partners...
2) Strolen... umm. Given the ways these work, if a body guard dies, the king dies too. It would be bad for them to die defending their king.
If someone wanted to kill the King, all they do is have to wait for a bodyguard to leave the castle on their day off, and kill him from suprise (probably while he is eating/drinking).
Moon, 2) The point is, I wouldn't use them that way. In the world of Strolen the death of a bodyguard would *not* kill they king, they wouldn't work that way. ;)
I hired an independent contractor, gave them the designs for Aurinellian's Wedding Bands and told them I only wanted one way death in the way I described. They resubcontracted out to a group of gnomes who gathered the requirements of it who, in turn, hired a death sprite who was able figure out how to move a comma in the original spell that would change the entire effect. Then the independent contractor charged back all costs, plus expeneses, plus a 15% surcharge and a 7% fairy tax and returned an item in the modified form. Now when a bodyguard gets killed it doesn't effect the king.
Now accept the change I made and get out of the bodyguard dies = king dies rut. :)
How sweet.Not nice though if one's true love of 10+ years comes down with cancer or insanity.
I like the concept a lot. Interesting, captivating, and unique. Curious as to why the smith put all that effort into the rings to begin with and didn;t tell them. Sure he could have been fond of their love and affection, but why put in all the hidden powers if they didn't ask for it.
Also, why would the elven nation let the rings loose into the world? Would they not have wanted to keep the rings close, being they were made by the best elven smith and they were given a sort of Tragic History. I would think they would keep them clsoe by for historys sake.
What a nice reminder.
Why the unknown powers? There are several possibilities, but I like to think that the magic was not completely 'sealed' at the time of making, as the spellsmith didn't just hammer all those properties into the ring.
Rather, the two rings were given a connection activated by love; the empathy and the other powers came with time, as the ring's magic grew more stable, or ripe if you want.
Clearly, this is a _magical_ item, not a mere trinket with some cheap spell on.
A little Bump for this beautiful item.
Now that I've seen it...
Simple yet there is a power there not to be messed with lightly. I like it.
This is an interesting story, i like legends and i like to see their spirit living in our world.I was recently searching for men's wedding bands and coincidently met the same story. Perhaps there is something true in all this... who can tell for sure?
Intriguing!
I can see a lot of possibilities for using these rings as seeds for adventures. Two young and foolish (and rich) lovers contract with the PCs to find these rings, which have been around for a hundred years or more and play a role in many a Bard's song. This complicates things later on when one is abducted for ransom during their first anniversary. The other disappears shortly afterward (teleported) but not before pleading with the adventurers to come to the rescue.
Just having the players investigate all of the old tales in order to track down this one-of-a-kind item would be fun. Especially since so many of the original details would have been changed to make the stories more exciting and romantic. And perhaps the rings' powers have changed over time based on the attributes of their owners.
This could be used to design to really complex hitchcockian assassination plots.
This is a really neat item. I'd add the following:
Love is needed. A generic Lifebinding item like Strolen suggests would be a separate item.
It was unintentional, and exists either through the power of love, or an interested deity.