Ring of Jöte

A relic and one of two rings, along with the Ring of Surtur from in what later became Denmark; this particular ring supposedly imbued with the power of an ancient ice golem known as Jöte, created by early magi and used by a now long-dead tribe of the Køurg, as a guardian of their tribe. The rings were split up and lost for almost all time, until one man, young Canadian thief, Alex Winters who was only 16 at the time, found the Ring of Surtur in 1989 after breaking into the dishevelled mansion of dead archaeologist.

The current whereabouts of the Ring of Jöte is unknown, with the last owner Lilea Pascari, a Moldovan thief who was found dead by Pura Arcana after the civil unrest in 1989, without the ring.

### History

During their settlement in a rich and fertile area the a rival tribe to the Køurg, the Bræk, came to their lands with a similar idea looking for food and resources, except their own golem, Jöte was made from stone and ice. When the two tribes clashed the golems almost destroyed the whole area and seeing the destruction, the tribes, for a while, came together as the Kingdom of Brækøurg.

The two golems were worshipped as creatures of balance, and further spells and rituals, many of them blood sacrifices, of their own kind and of their enemies, ensured the continued existence of these creatures. Somewhere along the way, both Surtur and Jöte became intelligent enough to realise the problem of these wars were, in fact, humans, and began to operate on their own. At the same time older allegiances to the previous tribes were beginning to split the kingdom politically. Jöte, however seemed to enjoy the peace and quiet and sided with it's old Bræk tribe. This again led to another battle between the two golems, who were now essentially worshipped as gods. Incalculably powerful, the remaining magi decide that the only way to stop them was to trap their essence in some kind of container; Two special crystals that were mined and then spelled for hours in a quick, rushed ritual were used to try and rip the "life" from each golem.

The ritual was surprisingly successful, but it cost the lives of nearly every mage, man, woman and child in the kingdom. The crystals were not originally to be used as a weapon and were locked away for centuries. But later, believed to have been around the 15th century, were found as priceless jewels and imbedded within rings, the entities within began to stir and manifest through the wearer, weather they liked it or not. Around the 18th century they were found by what later became the House of Seasons, where they were somewhat subdued by more spells, but were against stolen by a traitor within the House at the time.

### Properties and Intelligence

The crystal within the ring contained a powerful, intelligent and highly magically-fortified "soul" of an ancient golem that, over the years essentially became a living creature, as such, when it was used to extract Jöte's energy, it took both the intelligence of the entity and it's power with it. Curiously Jöte seems to identify itself as female and often only takes female hosts. Although the crystal was never intended to be used as a weapon, though the centuries began capable of using a host much like a mezzite does with a magi host, regardless of mage heritage or not, giving the wear the following abilities and weaknesses:

**Ice Creation and Manipulation:** The ring gave the host the ability to create and manipulate ice and cold, though originally a being also composed of rock, Jöte's actual 'energy' was composed of coldness and living water-ice, and as such Jöte feels she is 'enlightened' and actually more powerful than she ever was as a golem.

* **Ice and Cold Resistance:** As part of her "contract" on bonding with her host, Jöte will attempt to give them a high resistance to the extreme cold, though this actual act can be extremely painful and itself cause ice burns and frostbite; it has been the case where the very process of bonding actually kills a host, though this is rare.
* **Cold Shield:** A nearly-invisible layer of extreme coldness upon the host that can protect them from physical strikes, it also regulates their temperature without killing a host and more advanced control of this increase punches and kicks and increase leaping.
* **Cold and Ice Blasts:** One of the first combative abilities given to a host is the ability to generate extremely potent blasts of pure cold and creation of solidified projectiles, usually focused from the ring's crystal itself.
* **Ice Constructs:** A more advanced ability that let a user create solidified shapes of ice, such as weapons, more powerful shields and even armour. though this ability takes a degree of concentration and sustainment and because Jöte is somewhat apathetic at times, can be difficult to master even at a basic level, often taking years to do so.
* **Flight:** Often done by manifesting wings of ice and pure coldness, the shape of which can vary, host-by-host. Some users later develop the ability to fly by essentially enhancing their cold shield to more powerful levels and form a freezing, repelling pressure.
* **Peak Strength and Fitness:** Some hosts are said to feel fitter, stronger and more energised the more and more they get used to Jöte's presence, even if their body is physically out of shape.

### **Weaknesses**

* **Apathetic:** Jöte can be ignorant to the emotions, demands and questions of her own host, often not communicating when the host needs information, expecting the user to figure out her power for themselves.
* **Callous:** Jöte can be as cold as the element she is composed of and cares very little if her host is injured or emotionally distraught, assuming all negative issues caused by fighting are because of the user's weakness.
* **Disloyal:** Jöte has been known to prefer another with a frivolous disregard to her current host, either because she finds the current unsatisfactory or a new potential host seems stronger, and will then use that host to kill the last.
* **Detrimental:** Despite attempts to preserve the physical body of his host, the energy of her soul alone can have a severe effect on a user's health, both physical and mental, over a long-enough period of time. Although this varies from individual to individual
* **Removal:** Jöte can only channel her power though a living host, meaning that if she is removed from that host's finger, she is ultimately useless and the user powerless.