The Phurba

By Rev K.

Originally designed as a weapon of light, the secrets for making this powerful fetish have been lost to the modern world. They appear to be 11-13" long and have a heavy triangular blade. the powerful ones are of meteoric iron. the Pommel of the blade has two grim visaged demonic faces back to back.

History: Phurba Daggers are an element of Tibetan magickal practice and as such served the same purpose as a western Athame. These were often made of wood and were simple foci. These daggers also were traditionally for the use of hunting demons. Certain demons however, are immune to attack from any earthly weapon. Thus when a meteor fell out of the sky, certain Lamas,Tulkus and Rinpoche would scramble to capture it and then use it's metal for the production of these Phurbas. There was only one problem... The demons that were destroyed by these weapons managed to taint them with their dying curses. The Phurbas became fetishes after a fashion and developed powerful wills of their own.

They were powerful weapons,Tibetan black magicians coveted them, and even the followers of the light had difficulty restraining them.You can see how that might be a difficulty. Tibetan Magicians have warred for ages for control of these fetishes. Those that serve the darkness want them for their fell power and the fact that they strike abject terror into all spirits. Phurba Cults have sprung up which revere these darkly powerful fetishes as incarnate gods(like a household god of some sort.)

Those who serve the light often capture these weapons to keep them out of the wrong hands and to use as a teaching tool of sorts.Perhaps as a reminder against personal hubris too. Many construct stands or other containment that place the demon within a deep slumber. At times they are taken out and used against demons or entrusted to those who will.(these people had better be able prove their worthiness.)

Powers: The Phurba has many abilities,

-It causes aggravated damage and double damage to spirits. (spirit 2)

-It's capable of moving under it's own power by flying about and is quite fast and capable of lifting a man off the ground.(when attempting to resist the Phurba by main strength, the Phurba has a strength of 4. unless Time Magick or some other cheat is used, you will not be able to outrun it.) (forces3)

- The faces on either side of the pommel can animate and bite anyone gripping the handle.(this causes completely negligible damage but requires a Sta roll against a diff of 8 to hang on to it.

-It can unerringly track any being whose blood it has already tasted(Corr 2,Life 1)

-anyone killed by a Phurba,has his psychic linkages severed and is thrust into oblivion.

-Victims of the Phurba never return as ghosts.

(no one is sure whether this happens to awakened beings or not. at very least they'll have to deal with a harrowing.) This also has the strange effect of completely erasing the cause of death to any form of scrying except Time Magick. Prime,Spirit and Mind Magick will yield nothing in term of sensory impressions and even Necromancy will draw a blank. (this is not a true power of the Dagger.it's more of a strange side effect.)

Any Euthanatos using this dagger should keep a close eye on his Jhor taint.

-it should also be noted that since the phurba's blade is triangular,wounds that are caused by it will not close by themselves.(those wounded will continue to lose blood until they receive medical attention or life Magick.) this causes the victim to lose 1 health level every 4 turns and to make a stamina check to see if you pass out. (thankfully this roll can only be failed but not botched.)

-Lastly, Phurba are immune to destruction with Entropy,Matter or Forces magick.Attempting to use any kind of Magick to attack or control the dagger will invite attack.

Mastering the Phurba:

The only thing that makes these powerful weapons hard to deal with is the fact that they must be mastered. Each time a Phurba is drawn, the user must make 3 successes on a willpower roll against a 7. Only by attuning one self to the Phurba may this difficulty be sidestepped. This is a long arduous process that requires the Mage collect 30 successes on willpower rolls. each roll requires the expenditure of 1 point so you see that mastering the Phurba will take a long time.(especially if you ever botch, then look out. because the blade will be uncontrolled. Once each month the Mage using the Phurba must expend a point of willpower at each new moon or his control will begin to slip. Once a Mage has attuned himself to a Phurba he may use it as a unique foci for forces and entropy Magick.

Personality: Phurba dagger seem to exhibit a will of their own.however they do not have any of the intellect to speak of. they only possess a low animal cunning that want to kill and kill again.(unless restrained) if allowed to run wild, the Phurba will slay anyone near it and keep slaying people until stopped. one would think that evil Mages would have a leg up on taming these tools, but these Daggers are Anti-life and will kill anything.

The Shadow

Most of the idea comes from here of course.It's an Akashic chronicle..you did know that right?

The Golden Child

An amusing and interesting movie with magely overtones which features a Phurba which may not have been cursed. Also the hoops that the Tibetan put Chandler Jarrel through in order to gain the sacred knife are extremely funny. Don't expect one of Eddie Murphy's screwball comedies here this has some serious moments and interesting bits about Tibetan Magick.

Dagger Magic

By Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris. Cracking good book in a series about

a fella named Sir Adam Sinclair. This fella, is a Master of the Hunt (a Celtic based occult brotherhood that stands against evil occult threats. ) most of it's members are psychic or magical practitioner of some sort or other. it's a neat series mainly because the authors really do their homework.

This particular book, involves a Phurba cult scrambling to regain a lost treasure of their order . filled me in on the background of Tibetan magic in general and the Phurba in particular.