Heritors of the Golden King

Members of this society seek the secrets of eternal life that Sauron promised to Ar-Pharazôn, last king of Númenor. Some believe, despite Sauron’s deception, that the longevity he promised was in fact attainable and that he showed credible tokens of its effectiveness to the king. To date, no member of the society has rediscovered this tantalizing secret, but they have recovered other Númenorean lore once believed to be lost. As a Heritor of the Golden King, you know the following secrets:

• Health and Vigor: You cultivate the seedlings of rare herbs and know how to prepare them according to a special method. After six weeks of including this preparation in your diet (consuming it once a day), you gain a +1 bonus to all Stamina tests. After twelve weeks, you gain an extra point of Health. If you discontinue taking the preparation for one week, the Stamina bonus and the point of Health go away.

• Light of Valinor: Although the Blessed Realm has been removed from this physical world, one Silmaril is set among the stars and continues to shed the light of the Two Trees upon Middle Earth. You know the secrets of viewing this light through specially crafted prisms and lenses and of meditating upon it in such a way that the glory of Valinor is almost visible to your mind. After an hour of meditation on the light of the Silmaril, you gain an extra point of Courage that remains for one day or until spent. You can have only one extra point of Courage gained in this way at any time.

• Brightsteel: You know the craft of making Númenorean steel, which is lighter and harder than ordinary steel and has a bright silvery-grey sheen. Weapons made from this steel confer a +1 bonus to attack rolls and deal +1 damage, and armour made of brightsteel offers 1 point of protection more than ordinary steel. Brightsteel can also be used to make Númenorean steelbows. Items made of brightsteel weigh one-quarter less than their normal steel counterparts. It takes one day and a Smithcraft test at TN 20 to smelt a pound of brightsteel, and the Smithcraft test to forge the steel into an item is at +5 TN.

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