Amulet Rampant (Jewelry)
Amulets rampant are an Eldritch custom, intended to protect the wearer.
"Those different things are known as amulets rampant, and they are supposed to protect their wearers. They all involve the depiction of a unicorn rampant, thus the name: rampant rampants are brightly enameled in colors meant to attract attention. Secret rampants, though, are white, in order to do their work without being noticed." [1]
"One might give a rampant rampant, boldly colored and ornamental, as a lover's gift... but a secret rampant, meant to pass unnoticed, was a prayer for safety, not a proclamation of public affection." [2]
By tradition, secret rampants are soaked in holy water from the well in the chapel from dawn until dusk, and then hung so that the moonlight might strike it from dusk until dawn.[3]
Notable Amulets Rampant
This is where I mention who has which one, and where they've gone since they were made, so I won't forget that Tsonet made off with one and that Sediryl's got one.
- Lisinthir is given a secret rampant, sent to him by Jahir while the former was in the Chatcaavan Empire. His amulet is made of ivory and mother-of-pearl with much open tooling, strung on a white satin cord.[4] Jeasa Seni Galare prepared it for him, letting it sit in the holy water well in the chapel from dawn til dusk, and then hanging it in a tree branch in the moonlight from dusk til dawn. It felt different to her after this treatment.[3]
- Jahir is given a secret rampant by Lisinthir during their tryst on Starbase Alpha; a carved ivory of a drake entwined with a unicorn, the latter rearing with bent head to strike and the former coiled, facing outward with gaping jaws. This amulet had the roquelaure chip hidden in the back, and was threaded on a nearly invisible filament. [2]
- Sediryl receives one as a gift from Jahir and Lisinthir, made of ivory. "Like all its kind, it depicted a unicorn, but this one was more delicate than the usual, with a much longer horn, and the mare was rearing against a swirl of clouds upon which someone had incised the tiniest of stars. The carving continued onto the back of the amulet in a swirl of more clouds, and a round world with continents she recognized from satellite photos of Escutcheon."[5]
References
- ↑ Only the Open, Chapter 3
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Amulet Rampant, Chapter 17
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Major Pieces, Jackal Chest
- ↑ Even the Wingless, Part One
- ↑ Farmer's Crown, Chapter 22