Approved Tech Pure Heart Pendant

[Thelma Goth]

Image Credit: Loles Romero​

SPECIAL FEATURES

• Family heirloom passed down through several generations of descendants

STRENGTHS

• Pretty: This is an utterly gorgeous necklace. The featured painting really doesn't do it justice.

WEAKNESSES

• Breakable: The chain can be snapped if enough force is applied and the gem can be removed from its setting. The corusca gem itself is extremely hard and unlikely to be destroyed easily, but far from indestructible.
• What a Steal: As an antique piece of corusca jewelry, this necklace is insanely valuable and therefore highly attractive to thieves.

DESCRIPTION
A heart-shaped corusca gem set within an electrum pendant, this stunning piece of jewelry has long and storied history. Its exact origins are unknown, but the earliest mention of the pendant dates to the Gulag Era.

As the Plague began to ravage the countryside of Dahrtag, the psy-pire Prince Sirki invited various nobles from the surrounding fiefdoms to shelter in his castle. But despite harboring them in his palace, the brutally cynical Sirki held just as little respect for the nobility as he did for the commoners whom he left to die. He saw his guests as weak and foolish, and took joy in humiliating them in cruel spectacles. Because he was their host, the nobles were helpless to defy his whims lest they be thrown back into the plague-ridden outside world. Many fell into the traps he laid for them, showing the cowardice, stupidity, and selfishness of sapient beings.

One of his "diversions" involved the abduction of a beautiful young peasant woman named Francesca from her village, along with her father and her betrothed. While the men were held in the dungeons beneath the castle, Sirki passed Francesca off as a princess, clothing her in fine silks and forcing the other nobles to bow and scrape before her for his amusement. He believed her to be a simple peasant who would be easily swayed by luxuries and other temptations, but she proved him wrong, matching him in wits despite her lack of education and showing compassion even for the cruel prince. Eventually he grew to admire her pure heart and steadfast spirit. She defied his cynicism at every turn.

But Francesca was changing, slowly ceasing to be the kind and meek girl he had grown to love. While she remained under Sirki's protection and could not be harmed, the other nobles would terrorize her during the night, preventing her from sleeping even in a feather bed. The strain of her captivity wore on her; she grew paranoid, desperate, and loathed the feeling of helplessness. She tried on two separate occasions to escape the castle and free her loved ones. The first resulted in the death of her father, who tried to slay the prince. After the second failed attempt, Sirki pleaded with her to stay, fearing she would die of the Plague if she left the safety of the castle walls.

"If you want me to stay, then make me your equal," a frustrated Francesca replied. "Turn me into what you are. Give me the same power you possess. Make me your bride."

Sirki acquiesced, transforming her into a psy-pire. He still believed that she was too pure to become a monster. He was wrong. Francesca's first act upon becoming a creature of the night was to drain her betrothed.

Despite his disappointment, Sirki was true to his word and married Francesca. During the wedding feast, Sirki presented the corusca pendant to her as an ironic gift. He had fallen for her pure heart, yet the cost of possessing her meant her corruption. Just then, it was revealed that a Plague outbreak had begun to spread inside the castle, infecting those who had come there for safety. Laughing bitterly at yet another stroke of irony, Sirki told Francesca she was free to go. She fled the castle, alive yet forever changed, while he remained in his fortress and succumbed to the plague.

The pendant which was given to her that fateful night was passed down to her descendants, eventually reaching Lady Genevieve. She passed it on to her daughter Thelma, the current owner, once she reached a certain age.

 

[MANIAC]

Thelma Goth

Lovely!

Approved.