Rise: Cogito

A Willbender is a specially designed stainless steel ring with a series of hermetic seals inscribed around the band. It is made in the signet style, with a large clear stone in the center, which serves as a focus for the mystical energies bound around it due to the mystical seals.

A Willbender is called such because it “bends” the perceptions of Will around its wearer, making their activities that would effect the Will appear to be occurring in unrelated circumstances around the wearer. The result is a sort of spiritual “invisibility” that keeps the activities of the Estate from drawing undo attention from the spiritual world. While it doesn’t cloak the wearer entirely, it does allow them to be a bit bolder in their actions and protects them from divine intervention. While they do not negate the need for discretion or good judgment, they do allow members of the Estate to act in a way that others humans cannot without the aid of powerful magic.

Willbenders also have a variety of other uses, such as subverting the consequences of spiritual awareness, preventing members of the Estate and any endy from accumulating Dark Will like a spirit would accumulate it. They also can detect Dark Will, although this use is not exactly intentional.

Whenever a Willbender would be brought into an area where Dark Will is in strong concentrations, the attempt to avert the Will’s ramifications away from the wearer causes considerable strain on the ring, causing it to vibrate.

Some Willbenders can be modified with crests that are installed over the stone, which alter the hermetic seals and create additional effects for the wearer. This technology is still somewhat experimental, however, and is only in its testing phase in certain Estate branches, most notably Unit 17.