Tuesday, 25 February 2020

301 - The Lamp

Artifact: The Lamp

Power: Major.

Description: A grimy bedside touch-lamp. The power cord has been cut off at the corroded metal base and floral decorations on the pale ceramic lampshade have faded and peeled. Despite its modern electrical design (manufacturers markings on the base reveal it was made in 1976) it smells strongly of lamp oil and camphor.

Effect: The Lamp grants wishes. There's no puff of smoke or genie that appears, just caress the metal base, clearly state "I wish for…" and poof, your desires are fulfilled. For you, at least.

Any effect generated by the lamp is an utterly convincing illusion that only afflicts the wisher. There's no way for them to distinguish this or be convinced of it by others (all attempts by bystanders to falsify it are masked by the illusion) so they tend to appear quite mad. For example wishing someone dead strikes them down, but only for you. Everyone else can still see Carl walking around but he's concealed from your perception. You could wish him back to life, but why would you?

For some wishes this is all fine, sensory gratification like food, drugs, sex or sightseeing in far off vistas are as trivially and accurately fulfilled as if they really happening so long as you're not trying to share them with real people or expecting to derive sustenance from them. Rumours that the lamp is a monkey's paw, cursed to bring about the downfall of any owner, are less the fault of the artifact than the bottomless hedonic appetites they tend to develop.

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