Verses of Woe and Weeping

"Here was a people whom, after their works, thou shalt see wept over for their lost dominion; (…) Death hath destroyed them and disunited them, and in the dust they have lost what they amassed…"

— inscribed on the outer entrance of the Marble Palace in classical Greek

The architecture and sculpture is classical Greek style, and there are verses of poetry inscribed in Greek over every entrance and doorway. These are the verses that caused Emir Musa to weep so profusely in the original tale, and they might have the same effects on characters who acquired the Despair Personality Trait from the aura alignment.

Each time a character reads one of these verses or hears it being read aloud, roll a simple die and add the character's Despair Personality Trait. If the total is 9 or more he begins to weep uncontrollably. The powerful non–Hermetic effect has a Penetration of 60 and a non-standard Duration. The Ease Factor required to recover from weeping is (3 x the character's Despair trait). The player rolls a stress die modified by the character's strongest appropriate Personality trait (for example, Carefree, Cheerful, or Optimistic would add to the roll; Compassionate, Depressed, or Pessimistic would subtract from it). If the roll succeeds, the character stops weeping. If the roll botches, the character weeps hysterically for several minutes and looses a Fatigue level.

The Despair trait and the Weeping Verses do not affect supernatural creatures with a Might score affiliated with the Magic Realm, and cannot contradict an Essential Virtue. Those affiliated with the Divine (such as those who possess True Faith or possess Holy Powers) weep only momentarily, but recover immediately if they proclaim that only God is eternal in Arabic, Greek, or Hebrew.

Another prominent verse from the original tale was inscribed upon the Tablet of Iron, mentioned previously. This was the lid covering the sarcophagus of King Kush, and was removed by Emir Musa as a trophy of the expedition to be given as a gift to his caliph to remind him of the mortality of the great kingdoms of man. This careless action in turn leads to the "King's Ransom" plot.