Vex Pyramids

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread530205/pg1

The rare, handheld stone psychic artifacts known as Vex Pyramids were creations of the ancients. Three of these are known to exist within the Empire. The first was discovered in the early days of the Empire by a Belt trawler in the Vex system. It was floating amid the space rubble left by the break-up of the system's third planet, lost Apophis.

The artifact's current whereabouts is unknown, and it is considered quite likely that the artifact was sold to the highest bidder. The second Vex Pyramid was found in a hidden chamber deep within the heart of the machine-world of Altair IV. It is always kept on or near the person of the Imperial Sovereign.

A third Vex Pyramid is said to float of its own accord within the Temple of the Imperial Order of Sibyls.

And there may be more.

No one knows why the ancients created these artifacts. They are painfully psychically active, and can interfere with the use of psionics, as well as with safe transitions into and out of hyperspace.

In the hands of a trained psychic, however, the Vex Pyramids can be used to make a quick escape from enemies. The psychic holding the stone may make him/herself and a few companions disappear. After use, there will always-never-have-been any trace or record of the user and their companions.

This post is inspired by the novel "The Broken Worlds" by Raymond Harris.

OGL MECHANICS

Vex Pyramids - Ancient Artifact

ASPECTS:

• Mystic Gate Generator of Suicidal Ancients
• Undecipherable Alien Ur-Cuneiform 
• Potent Psychic Disruptor
• Jump Interference
• It's really made of Bone, not stone

Vex Pyramids cause a person and any of their nearby companions within the same Zone to shrink down to the subatomic level, and pass through the skin of reality into a pocket universe. The user of the artifact must spend a Fate Point to activate the device, and make a successful Mysteries skill roll with a resulting Effort of 5 or better. A failure on this role permanently reduces the user's Refresh Rate and Fate Point maximum by 1.

Upon that successful Mysteries roll, the user and their companions will enter the pocket universe. If they stay there long enough, they will eventually pass into a form of spectral unlife, and finally experience complete oblivion.

The only way to escape this pocket universe is to make another Mysteries skill roll, this time with a resulting Effort of 7. To do this, the user of the device must first have access to another Fate Point of their own. There is no Refresh within this soul-draining entropic pocket universe, so they must have carried this Fate Point with them to into the pocket universe at the time they first activated the Vex Pyramid; otherwise, they will not be able to re-activate the Vex Pyramid to escape the pocket universe.

As soon as someone enters the pocket universe, and forever after, they loose one of their existing Aspects and gain the permanent Aspect: Forgotten and Forever Unknown.

Within normal space-time, with the expenditure of a Fate Point, the device will provide a +3 bonus to attempts to Block powers based on Psionic skills for an entire scene. The device can also be used to interfere with a jump into or out of hyperspace, acting as a +3 Block against someone's Pilot skill in making the jump.