> [!infobox|right] > ### The Stillseal > ![[e676e8a9-2448-4fc3-81e5-82e34930d88a.png]] > > ##### Basic Information > | | | > |---|---| > |![[ICON - bookmark-etch-solid-full.svg]] **Type**: | Artifact,<br>Ring | > |![[ICON - hammer-brush-solid-full.svg]] **Material(s)**: | Silver,<br>Sapphire | > > #### History > | | | > |---|---| > |![[ICON - person-duotone-solid-full.svg]] **Creator**: | ???? | > |![[ICON - hammer-solid-full.svg]] **Forged**: | ???? | > |![[ICON - house-chimney-window-solid-full.svg]] **Location**: | Ruins of Myth Drannor | > |![[ICON - person-limbs-wide-solid-full.svg]] **Bearer**: | Cassian Vaelisar | > |![[ICON - hourglass-duotone-solid-full.svg]] **Age**: | Ancient | <a href="https://dioctionary.net/THE+DIOCTIONARY/HOME/Home" class="dioctionary-ribbon-2"> HOME </a> <div class="dioctionary-ribbon">A Brief History</div> - The Stillseal is a small silver ring shaped like a skull, with one eye set by a small sapphire and the other left as an empty socket where a second jewel appears to be missing. Cassian Vaelisar stole the ring in 871 DR, during his years as Cassian Vaelisar the V, while moving through the ruins of [[Myth Drannor]] with a short-lived party of thieves & professional deceivers. The heist became a race against Banite relic-hunters within [[The Zhentarim]], servants of [[Bane]] who sought the ring as a tool for preserving "chosen" tyrants. Cassian wanted it for the same reason he wanted most beautiful and impossible things: because it was guarded, desired, and difficult to steal. He won the race, escaped the Banites, and kept the ring rather than selling it, treating it for centuries as a fortunate trophy with useful side effects. Only much later did he understand that the Stillseal was not simply preserving his image, but quietly holding time itself at arm’s length. <div class="dioctionary-ribbon">Known Properties</div> - The Stillseal does not grant true immortality, but it slows the bearer’s aging almost to nothing while the ring is worn. It preserves the body near a youthful prime, keeping the bearer’s face, strength, reflexes, and movement close to the condition they were in when the ring first fully settled around them. For Cassian, that means the ring keeps him looking and moving like a man in the prime of his life, allowing him to run rooftops, fence, climb, leap, and vanish with the same ease that made his legend possible. If separated from the ring for too long, the years held back by the Stillseal begin returning quickly, first as fatigue and stiffness, then as pain, visible age, and physical decline. The longest Cassian was ever without it was nearly a year between 1098 and 1099 DR, when it was stolen from him during the end of his life as Cassian Vaelisar the VIII. When he reclaimed the Stillseal and placed it back on his hand, the age that had begun catching him was drawn away again, returning him to the youthful state the ring had preserved. <div class="dioctionary-ribbon">The Banite Heist</div> - In 871 DR, while operating as Cassian Vaelisar the V, Cassian followed rumors of a skull-shaped silver ring hidden within the ruins of [[Myth Drannor]]. He was not the only one searching for it. Banite relic-hunters had also learned of the artifact and believed it could serve as a sacred instrument of [[Bane]]. To the Banites, the Stillseal was a tool of eternal command. To Cassian, it was a priceless relic at the center of a dangerous treasure hunt, which was more or less an engraved invitation. Cassian and his companions outmaneuvered the Banites through disguise, misdirection, false trails, and a final theft carried out while both sides believed the other had already lost. Cassian escaped alone with the ring as the vault collapsed behind him, leaving the Banites trapped beneath the crumbling ruins and deciding, only afterward, that the Stillseal suited his hand too well to sell. <div class="dioctionary-ribbon">Cassian's Study</div> - Cassian only began to study the Stillseal in earnest after its absence nearly destroyed him. For centuries, he had treated the ring as a useful relic and elegant trophy, never fully questioning why age seemed to pass him by while he wore it. That changed after the Nymera Affair, when [[Noctelle Nymera]], a drow thief and confidence artist with a gift for deception, crossed his path during a string of shared heists and eventually stole the Stillseal from him. She intended to sell it to Banite buyers who coveted its power over age, inheritance, and enduring rule, leaving Cassian to feel the weight of centuries begin returning to his body the longer he remained without it. He spent nearly a year tracing her through forged documents, false auction trails, altered cargo records, and the spice trade routes of [[Marsember]] before finally taking the ring back for himself. Once the Stillseal returned to his hand, the age that had begun to overtake him was drawn away, restoring the youth and vigor it had preserved. From 1099 DR to 1105 DR, Cassian withdrew from public life to study the ring properly, learning that its sapphire eye anchors the bearer’s ideal physical state while the empty socket suggests the artifact was once part of a greater working whose full purpose remains unknown.