For a complete list of articles about magical artifacts, see Magic Items.
A Magical Artifact is an object with magical properties. The term usually refers to objects of ancient origin found in ruins, but it can be applied more broadly to any enchanted object regardless of origin or complexity. The Torchlight Society refers to agents who study magical artifacts as artificers.
Enchantments can give objects simple, passive properties like emitting light or becoming weightless. Complex enchantments can modify these effects using the metamagical code, causing an object to exhibit different properties in different logical states, changing states in response to environmental triggers. These complex artifacts behave like machines, with basic computer-like logic driving them.
An artifact, unlike a simple enchantment or spell, doesn't belong to a singlular school of magic. Complex artifacts frequently combine enchantment effects from multiple schools as well as metamagic to achieve the desired result.
The driving force behind the complexities of magical artifacts is metamagic, a special school of magic that interacts with and controls other magical effects. Artificers learn Component enchantments, which have no effects of their own, but can be combined with other enchantments and spells to create interactions between them such as triggered events, combinational logic (if/and/or), and repeating or modifying the effects of another spell.
Some artifacts rely on a metamagical concept known as attunement, in which the artifact metaphysically links itself with a specific creature's consciousness, allowing only that individual to access some or all of the artifact's functions. The ability to attune to an object is contingent on one having magical abilities of their own, so this is considered a more secure way of interacting with magical artifacts than those that use simple physical triggers like the press of a button.
Another way of securely interacting with magical artifacts is through the use of an interfacing spell. This is a bespoke spell that is created specifically to evoke a certain behavior from a specific type of magical artifact, and has no effects when used on any other item or creature. This is an even more secure method of controlling an artifact, as a person wishing to use it would not only have to have magical abilities, but know the specific spell for that artifact.
The ancient tolgethic civilization created and used many different magical objects for everyday purposes including cooking, transportation, construction, and defense. The Torchlight Society studies these artifacts as a major source of information about the ancient peoples' lives, and to better understand the intricate nature of the complex enchantments that power them.
The Society keeps a store of various magic items at each of its largest facilities for researchers there to work with. Each item is given a risk score of 1 to 6 based on the level of danger the artifact poses to those using or working around it, and the likelihood that the artifact's effects might expose magic to outsiders. Artifacts with risk levels of 4 and higher are exclusively housed in Base 11, the society's maximum-security underground bunker.
Rarely, the Society encounters magical artifacts capable of acting autonomously, or even displaying sentience. Per Torchlight policy, such items cannot receive a risk score lower than 3. They are almost exclusively kept in Base 11's Anomalous and Sentient Artifact Containment Unit (ASACU).
Although the term 'artifact' typically refers to ancient objects, the term is often applied to similar magical items that have been created in modern times. Torchlight artificers regularly design and create new magic items to solve modern problems. In recent years, the study of Technomancy has been established to investigate the possibility of integrating enchantments with electronic devices to combine their capabilities.
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