(Damian May)

Cowrie and scallop shells are often given minor enchantments as protective devices for children and women due to their supposed resemblance to female genitalia. (+1 MAGICAL DEFENCE)

Eye glass beads and other items with eye decorative motifs have long been considered valid remedies against the evil eye from prehistory to the present day; the staring eye supposedly bends the evil gaze back to the sorcerer. (+1 MD and reduces the d12 Fright Attack from the spell Evil Eye to a d6 Fright Attack. After reducing a Fright Attack, the Guardiano del Occhio loses its enchantment. Of course, the bearer has no way of knowing this unless the object is magically inspected.)

Assorted items (usually miniature depictions of tools, animals, and religious iconography) often made of amber, bronze, or malachite, used to help stop the dead from rising as undead. Some also double as wards to prevent demons or spirits from possessing the remains.

Warding Ancore are placed in outer parts of the burial, such as the entrance to the tomb or on a surrounding fence, are used to prevent the deceased from exiting the grave, or a malevolent force from entering. (An undead, demon, or spirit sighting the object is subject to a d12 Fright Attack that, if successful, means it cannot approach the item.)

Standard Ancore placed in/on supposed critical locations of the corpse, the orifices, joints, etc., act both to protect the deceased from possession and to prevent him/her from coming back as undead. (The object cannot be removed by the undead it is placed upon, and each object placed reduces their movement speed by 5m. Each object acts as a Warding Ancore in regard to possessing entities approaching the corpse.)

Knowledge of their creation is somewhat widespread throughout Asmuly and surrounds, and it is likely other regions have similar traditions.

1. Scudo del Madri: cost 20 Crowns and 28 days to make, and may be manufactured by a Rank 4 Sorcerer, Demonologist, Warlock, or Elementalist.
   
   
2. Guardiano del Occhio: cost 50 Crowns and 28 days to make, and may be manufactured by a Rank 6 Sorcerer, Demonologist, Warlock, or Elementalist.
   
   
3. Ancora di Cadavere: cost 30 Crowns and 28 days to make, and may be manufactured by a Rank 6 Sorcerer, Priest, or Mystic.

This article first appeared in Casket of Fays Issue 7.