This item has been sitting in my mind for years. I've finally sorted it out, as it is at the root of the upcoming VODD campaign. Here's way too many words on it. This is the item from Hardly Heroes that was given to Malkis.
Warning, the image associated with this post was quickly generated with AI and I'm very much not happy with it, but my art skills suck, and I'm not about that AI Image grinding. I want it to be just a little bit larger than something you can hold in your fist (stick out top/bottom), slightly tapered, rough edged, but not pointed, whitish, opaque, and hung as an amulet by a simple cord wrapped around it nicely.
"If I had more time I would have written a shorter letter"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is a memory stone created at the dawn of the Age of Might within the Ferrin Empire by an unknown wizard. It might be Ferris himself.
The stone can be grasped to store an experience you are currently having as a perfect memory within the stone that can be later recalled and relived, exactly as you lived it, in real time. With this stone, experiences can be shared exactly. Verbal contracts can be recalled exactly. If you record yourself greeting a person with their name, you can recall their name at will.
Any user (takes some skill to learn to use) can record a memory, but no memories can be removed from the stone. Relived memories take realtime and cannot be skipped through, fast forwarded, slowed down, etc. Reviewing memories does not reveal new information. It is not a camera, it is an exact experience.
Memories stored in the stone are recalled much like real memories. When you are in a situation (location, sight, sound, smell, voice, tone, etc.) that triggers a recorded memory, you are aware such a one is within the stone and can choose to experience it. Some stimuli may have many attached memories. These may be browsed, ignored, started and stopped only to be started again. They do not fade.
Very strong memories may spring forth from the stone without much prompting. The stone in this campaign has the memory of someone drowning, which is triggered by the smell of the sea air. At first this memory springs to mind and the holder of the stone spends ~5 seconds reliving drowning every time they get a wiff of the sea air. But after repeated use, it is known that this memory will spring up, and one can shrug it off or prepare for it. Other strong memories may exist in this stone waiting like traps.
As a stone like this exists through the ages, it picks up more and more memories of former owners. These memories are not all available to be browsed like a table of contents, but do come to the forefront as appropriate situations arise.
Example: A former owner stored a memory of meeting a person and saying "Hi Jake" to them. The current owner is walking through a crowd and sees Jake in it. The stone (if touching skin) sends a ripple through the current owner letting them know there's a memory to be seen. The current user grasps the stone, and has a ~1.5 second memory of looking this person in the face and saying "Hi Jake".
Example 2: The stone's owner needs to hide some booty real quick. They dig a hole on a beach, put the loot in, grab the stone and record a memory looking around and counting out a number of paces to a nearby tree. They end the recording. They bury the loot. Days, weeks, months, or years later they return to the beach, activate the stone, and can recall with perfect clarity the memory of looking around and walking to a nearby tree. In-between these two times, the same user probably recalls burying that boat well enough that they can grasp the stone and recall the memory at will - their own memory serves as the stimulus. But if someone else had the stone, they wouldn't know that memory was in there until they walked the same beach - assuming it hadn't changed too much.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Learning to use the stone is a process. In learning it, someone must make their first practice memory. Doing this is a common stimulus that has dozens, maybe hundreds, of memories of former users recording their first memory. Typically a user will grasp the stone to make their first memory, only to realize there are memories to be viewed around this. They then browse some. Here are some examples of first stored memories.
There are many very kind or sweet memories. People saying, "Hello World!" or "Greetings from the deep past. We are connected through time by this object. May you find peace."
One person has trolled all future owners of this stone by recording a memory of them opening their pants and pulling out their dick. [DM Side note: Look, I didn't want to include this but honestly... humans never change. There should probably be dozens of dick pics stored in this thing, but I'm going to pretend that most wizards are cooler than that. I both love and hate the dick pic memorizer, but they must exist if the campaign world is to be believable.]
One initial memory is a warning not to let power get consolidated. Real preachy about the responsibilities of magic.
One initial memory is a warning that you are holding stolen property and if you don't return it they will come find you
The following being said aloud as they gaze upon a beach filled with ruined ships and dead bodies, "Whoever you are who is learning about this stone, whatever you do, do not trust the followers of Ishtar. They will betray you."
Lots of people with thoughts and experiences akin to, "Let's try this new thing. I hope this is working right."
Many more.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A clever user can create physical stimuli that they associate specific memories with, and then store those stimuli in a library like place to create a repository of easy to access / easy to share memories. A stone with a special rune upon it, for example, could be used as a visual stimulus to store a single memory, a many related memories. Then by holding that stone they can recall those things. Or they can give the stone to another to recall / relive the same experience.
This stone has had many owners / users. There are at least 6 people who have owned the stone for a long period of time and filled it with many memories. What order they happened in is not clear, but here is a little information about 6 of the more prolific users.
One user, the most important one, has stored many memories of visiting specific buildings and knowing the tricks of how to open them.
Some of these memories include brief glimpses of the treasure beyond the doors.
Some of these memories include looking around at the area, then going to a specific place, triggering a specific hidden switch, using a specific key, using a command word, etc.
2 users were a married couple. She was the headmaster / Arcmage of a great tower. He was her husband, not magically inclined. They shared the stone, so a user actually knows both their faces. He stored many memories of cooking recipes and memories of saying someone's name has he looks at their face. [so he could easily name everyone]. She stored memories of casting spells in some sort of practice chamber where the spells dissipated harmlessly into the walls, but she could still observe/study them. They lived a long time and have many happy memories.
One person lived through, and stored many memories of, the end of a terrible war with great devastation. They are very preachy, using the stone to talk to future generations of holders
One person was a great leader during a time of rebellion and empires splitting apart.
One person lived through a great age of prosperity, but was worried about it. They feared the future.
Obviously there is more to each of these stories, and these are just the initial vibes. A starting place.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I really like this item. Even in the modern age it would be useful. In some ways its much better than a camera, in other ways it's not nearly as good. I really like the concepts of culture that would be passed down from user to user. I like the idea of holding the stone, being in a warm sunbeam, and then realizing there's a dozen stored memories associated with warm sunbeams and then reliving happy moments from people thousands of years ago who were doing the same thing as you. Then going to the next memory, and it's the exact same but from a few feet to the left. Then you realize that a couple in love, laying on a hillside, enjoyed a moment well enough to store it in this artefact and then share it with one another. It's very intimate. Very sweet.
Similarly, there are dark and terrible memories sometimes stored that you don't want to come up. You might be at a BBQ and get dozen memories. Some of which are probably nice, but might also include a memory after a battle and the smell is of burning people. Or something worse. :/
GL HFNeal / Koibu