Chorae are artifacts of the Ancient North, also known as “Trinkets” (to the Schools) and “The Tears of God” (to the Inrithi).
Appearance[]
In appearance, Chorae are small iron spheres, one inch in diameter, that are banded by runes written in Gilcûnya, the holy tongue of the Nonmen Qûya.
Function[]
Chorae are extraordinary in that they render their bearer immune to all sorcerous Cants and instantly kill any sorcerer who comes into contact with them.[1] Sorcerers who touch Chorae are turned to salt. It is said that some Nonmen have Marks so strong that simply being near a Chorae is enough to destroy them. Ciphrang, more commonly known as demons, are also turned to salt by the touch of a Chorae.[2]
Usage[]
Although the principles behind their creation (they belong to lost branch of sorcery called the Aporos) are no longer understood, thousands are believed to circulate in the Three Seas alone. The Chorae play a pivotal role in the political balance of power in the Three Seas, insofar as they allow the non-scholastic Great Factions to check the power of the Schools.[3]
Chorae bowmen are specialized units that use Chorae affixed to the end of arrow shafts or crossbow bolts to kill enemy sorcerers. Chorae archers are a staple of almost every military organization in Eärwa.[4] The sorcerers uses pejorative for Chorae archers—“Weepers”—those who “shed” the Tears of God.[5]
Origin[]
When the Inchoroi began using Men to master the Aporos and produce the first Chorae, they gave the first sorcery-destroying spheres to the Sranc, only to discover that the creatures were far too reckless. Having fixed and morbid habits of ornamentation, the Sranc rarely valued the spheres, and were thus prone to lose them.
So the Inchoroi began giving them to the Men of Eärwa, hoping to incite them to rebellion. But the Halaroi had no stomach for rousing a feared, and most importantly, absent master, and so rendered the deadly gifts to their Nonmen overlords. The Inchoroi then looked to Eänna, where the Men were both more fierce and more naive. They gave the Chorae to the Five Tribes as gifts, and to one tribe, the black-haired Ketyai, they gave a great tusk inscribed with their hallowed laws and most revered stories–as well as one devious addition: the divine imperative to invade the ‘Land of the Felled Sun’ and hunt down and exterminate the ‘False Men.’
Number available[]
Author himself explains: as for the numbers of Chorae, no one is quite sure how many are extant. Because the Few can sense them, most scholars assume that the present day numbers haven't dwindled too much since the Cuno-Inchoroi Wars - it's primarily a question of distribution. There's some ten thousand or so estimated to be in the Three Seas. Then there's the famed 'Chorae Hoard' of Sakarpus, and the far greater hoard amassed by the Consult in Golgotterath.