Materials
The ring is made of gold. It contains two garnets, with the larger on the surface meant to face away from the hand. It has an inscription inside “Helena”, but predates the use of Verditius runes.
Enchantments
The ring is technically not a magical item. The smaller garnet is a Lesser Enchanted Device, but the other stone, and the metal band, lack enchantments. This style of enchantment is sometimes seen when an apprentice has a strong emotional attachment to a particular object, as it allows the item to be improved over time. In this case it is strange that, later in her life, Helena did not remove the enchanted stone, remount it in a different setting, replace it, and then enchant the whole item. This may indicate her master retained it, and sold it on.
The item’s single effect is:
The Call to Slumber
ReMe 18
Penetration +16
As per Ars Magica: 5th edition, page 151.
(Spell level 10, +8 levels for increased Penetration)
Provenance
This ring was created by Helena, the second apprentice of Turnius. Turnius was the first Primus of Verditius, but Helena herself does not seem to have been part of her House’s political elite. Her biography is fragmentary, and her ring’s powers are unexceptional, but the piece was included in the collection as it displays three features of interest to Hermetic historians.
The ring was created as a graduation piece, but its mystical structure does not seem to benefit from any of the Mysteries which are now considered foundational to her House’s method of enchantment. An apprentice trained by House Verditius is now conversant with their Outer Mystery at graduation, and it was assumed, until this piece was examined, that similar training methods were used in the early Order. Certain other historians of the House counter that Helena might have been an enchanter who joined the Order once mystically-mature. This piece, they say, was in some sense the price of her admission, or a demonstration of her power, and so does not typify enchanted items produced at that time.
The ring is designed to be worn on the thumb. It has a lock and hinge mechanism, presumably so that it need not be so large in circumference as to fit over the knuckle of the thumb. This interests Hermetic scholars because the five rings of Verditus, when drawn, are generally portrayed as of identical size. This ring demonstrates a counter-argument, that no set of five identical rings could fit a human hand of normal proportions. The fifth ring, for the thumb, must either have been very large, or had a similar mechanism. No definitive evidence has been found indicating that the thumb ring of Verditus had a locking mechanism. There is a line of text in one of Jerbiton’s journals which could be interpreted to suggest that it was in some way closely tied to the art of Rego.
Helena’s work is little known, and some think this may have been due to a fallout with her siblings. Some posit that the Verditius tendency to abjure the company of their Housemates dates from before Helena’s time. This was important to the formation of the modern Order, as some of the very first mixed-House covenants were created by the Verditius tendency to disperse.
History
The ring was kept by House Verditus as an heirloom for many years, before being sold to House Mercere during the Schism. It was briefly lost after the violent death of a redcap, but recovered after the War by a necromancer in the employ of the Merceres. It entered the collection as part of a fine paid by its owner, for magically ensuring a recently-widowed noblewoman’s conception of a supposed heir.
Hooks
It is strange that an early maga of the Order is so little remembered in the documentary history. It’s likely that she secreted herself away, attempting Original Research, and that her work was lost. Can the player characters find clues as to her location using artefacts like the ring? For example, many of her items are made of gold, and that gold is generally all from the same mine. That mine’s location can be determined magically, and may lead to further clues regarding her resting place.
Vaults of the Order 