Vitanda Necklace

By S.D. Ryukage

**Flaming
Feather**

Dominic and Asmodeus are the only Superiors known to hand these out, though precisely who came up with them is unknown. (Eli denies every accusation.)

These relics take the form of a chain-link necklace of some silvery metal, with a complicated (though tiny) clasp and a small charm. (The charm varies with each necklace; common ones reflect the wearer's Choir/Band and/or Word. The only constant is the sigil on the back, only visible to celestials: the angelic or demonic for 'Outcast'.) The clasp is impossible to undo, and the necklace will not break or bend, nor is it long enough to pull off over the wearer's head.

These necklaces are based on the Catholic Church's old practice of 'vitanda'. In effect, this made anyone who associated with an excommunicate of the church an excommunicate themselves. A vitanda necklace does the same thing, only adapted for Celestials. Divine necklaces only affect angels, and infernal ones only affect demons.

Any appropriately-aligned Celestials who are in the presence of the wearer for 24 hours (cumulatively) takes a note of 'phantom dissonance'. This dissonance will fade the next time the celestial regains Essence ... and the next phantom note will appear in 12 hours of time in the wearer's presence. Again, it fades the next time the celestial regains Essence ... but after six more hours in the wearer's presence, the real notes start appearing. Every six hours (total) in the wearer's presence after that will result in a new note of dissonance. These notes take half as long to 'work off' in a Tether or similar manner, but are still quite real.

A vitanda necklace only works on the Corporeal and Ethereal planes (though it's rumored to be effective in Blandine's tower, Beleth's, and Gabriel's volcano...) Note that this does not say 'if the wearer isn't in Celestial form' - as long as the wearer is in the appropriate realm, it's effective. It's also immediately recognizable (if only by appropriately-aligned Celestials), and allows the wearer to be tracked by Judgment or the Game for as long as s/he has it on. Both sides are rumored to be working on versions that affect Celestials of the opposing alignment, but neither has succeeded - it seems the necklace 'echoes' off the wearer to determine who it affects.

If a Celestial Falls or Redeems while wearing a vitanda necklace, the chain shatters and the charm vanishes ... to reappear in Heaven or Hell, in the hands of Judgment or the Game.

**Flaming
Feather**

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