Artifacts

An Artifact is a compressed unit of human emotion.

Artifacts are spontaneously generated in the KNOT, when a powerful human emotion occurs in the real world. We don’t know why some moments resonate with the KNOT and others don’t-- this is one of the many things we researched in our time at Lacuna.

Although the KNOT can create artifacts, it doesn’t have the energy to sustain their physical forms. When an Artifact is generated in the KNOT, it reappears in a condensed physical form in our world.

A weak artifact can look like a small pattern, which can be scanned and absorbed with the Lacuna app. Stronger artifacts coalesce as items (for example, a spoon.)

Artifacts, once created, can ONLY be used in the KNOT. An Artifact requires a small “bonding period” to use. Because our own energies seem to sustain an Artifact’s presence in the KNOT, we cannot carry Artifacts with us into the KNOT until we’ve emotionally connected with them.

Once in the KNOT, an Artifact’s energy can be channeled in combination with our own. The way each Artifact channels energy is different depending on the emotion or memory the Artifact has compressed from.

For example: An Artifact of a compressed memory of an angry fistfight might take the form of a shining glove, and allow a user to throw powerful psychic punches that can knock a Haunting back. Alternatively, an Artifact of a memory of longing for a recently departed friend might take the form of a globe that can stabilize a rattled teammate in the KNOT.

Artifacts In the Hylean World

Artifacts take on a completely different form outside of the KNOT than inside of it. Some may have minor effects in our dimension, but most are inert, though indestructible.

Mental Artifacts

It is possible through intense introspection and meditation to condense some aspect of yourself into an artifact while within the KNOT. This is a technique that is often learned by those who manage to escape from mental prisons on their own and is theorized to help with that process. We used a similar technique to compress Cambridge into an artifact from within her own mind - though this was an extreme measure. It is theorized that a similar process is used to trap humans in mental prisons and condense them into artifacts.