Ring of Surtur

A relic and one of two rings, along with the Ring of Jöte from in what later became Denmark; this particular supposedly imbued with the power of an ancient volcanic golem known as Surtur, summoned 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.

### History

During their settlement in a rich and fertile area the in what would later become Denmark, 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 mind and 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 Surtur's energy, it took both the intelligence of the entity and it's power with it. 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:

**Fire Creation and Manipulation:** The ring gave the host the ability to create and manipulate flame and heat, though originally a being also composed of rock, Surtur's actual 'energy' was composed of fire, and as such Surtur feels he is 'enlightened' and actually more powerful than he ever was as a golem.

* **Fire and Heat Resistance:** As part of his "contract" on bonding with his host, Surtur will attempt to give them a high resistance to flame, though this actual act can be extremely painful and itself cause blistering; it has been the case where the very process of bonding actually kills a host, though this is rare.
* **Heat Shield:** A nearly-invisible layer of heat upon the host that can protect them from the cold, regulate their temperature and to a degree reflect impacts and more advanced control of this increase punches and kicks and increase leaping.
* **Fire Blasts:** One of the first combative abilities given to a host is the ability to generate extremely potent blasts and bolts of flame, usually focused from the ring's crystal itself, but flames will form and gather in concentric swirls towards the crystal before being released.
* **Fire Constructs:** A more advanced ability that let a user create solidified shapes of fire, such as weapons, more powerful shield and even armour. though this ability takes a degree of concentration and sustainment and because Surtur is impatient, can be difficult to master even at a basic level, often taking years to do so.
* **Flight:** Often done by manifesting wings of flame, the shape of which can vary, host-by-host. Some users later develop the ability to fly by essentially enhancing their heat shield to more powerful levels.
* **Peak Strength and Fitness:** Some hosts are said to feel fitter, stronger and more energised the more and more they get used to Surtur's presence, even if their body is physically out of shape.

### **Weaknesses**

* **Impatience:** Surtur can be impatient and demanding, which may ware out a host and make hosts impatient and short-tempered themselves.
* **Possessive:** Surtur requires physical contact with the host to communicate and channel his power, and attempts to remove him, even if just for a rest, often angers him, and will either make the ring difficult or nigh-impossible to remove.
* **Petulant:** Even if he is removed and then put back on, will not be kind and may even physically punish or force a host to hurt themselves out of revenge.
* **Detrimental:** Despite attempts to preserve the physical body of his host, the energy of his 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:** Surtur can only channel his power though a living host, meaning that if he is removed from that host's finger, he is ultimately useless and the user powerless.