You Get 12 Magic Talismans RAR!

[Crossroads Inc.]

So this "WHAT IF" starts with a package arriving in the mail.
Inside the box are 12 stone octagon shaped Talismans and a note of instructions.
What are these Talismans? Well...

For anyone watching cartoons in the early 2000's, you may remember the series "The Jacki Chan Adventures" an animated series that ran from 2000 to 2005. The primary 'McGuffin' of the show were 12 Magical Talismans. Each one based on one of the 12 Chinese Zodiac animals, and each one with its own separate powers. The use of the powers was mostly consistent in the show, or at least consistent enough to be measurable. (Mostly)

The "Instructions" for the use of Talismans breaks down as follows:
The Talismans are activated by pressing them in one's hand, but the effect can be maintained as long as they are kept on the user's person (for example; worn as necklace, inside a pocket or even contained within the user's body after consumption). The Talismans themselves are granite like stone, although they seem to have a magical durability to them.

The Powers of the Talismans:

Pig Talisman
"Heat Vision"
Standard "Eye Lasers" Cut trees in half, bore holes in armored cars. Additional powers include being able to see in the dark as well as seeing Infrared when desired.


Dog Talisman
"Immortality and Rejuvenation"
As used in the cartoon it offers a mix of "Invulnerability" as well as "Youthful Energy".
Several times people hit with objects or explosions suffer no damage or permanent harm.
The show made jokes about "People still feeling pain" however this would have to be in a very limited aspect, as in one case a person was engulfed in flames and showed little visible discomfort.
When used by an old man, he had his "energy" restored. Basically becoming as fit, strong, and quick as he was at the prime of his life, however he did not "Physically" seem to grow any younger. This may imply that the Talisman may halt the aging process, but will not reverse it.


Rooster Talisman
"Levitation/Telekinesis”
The power to lift yourself and other objects. In the show the amount lifted seemed based on the size and or physical strength of the person using it. A small child struggle to lift a car, but a full grown man easily lifted a Tank. "Flying" with the Talisman is limited, as the top speed shown was little more than that of a race horse, and easily out paced by a car.


Monkey Talisman
"Shapeshifting"
Limited shapeshifting at best based purely on animals. As used in the show, a person says the name of the animal, and becomes that animal. It can also be used to turn other people and things into animals. Weather it is restricted to only real or existing animals is unknown, as no one tried to turn into a Dragon or a Dinosaur with it.


Goat Talisman
"Astral Projection"
The ability for the soul to leave the body and wander as a spirit.
In this form, one is invisible, inaudible, and able to fly and pass through walls.
It can temporary "Posses" another person as well as enter a person's dreams.


Horse Talisman
"Healing and Regeneration"
The power as used goes well beyond "Healing" but full reconstruction and regeneration. Several minor uses in the show are healing a cold, or a cut. However it is also show reconstruction objects as well, going from a broken lamp all the way up to a hole in an Ocean liner. The possibility applied to a living person infers even something like a severed limb could be "regrown"
Once something is "Healed" by the Talisman it seems to remain permanently healed, and the effect does not go away when the Talisman is removed.


Snake Talisman
"Invisibility"
Visually only, you can still be seen thermally by an IR sensor.
It can also make other objects turn invisible, but not objects INSIDE that object
An example in the show was of a Car that turned invisible, but not the people inside the car.


Dragon Talisman
"Combustion"
Basically "Dragon Breath" Shooting fire either from your mouth or from the Talisman.
It is useful for blowing things up and starting fires, but not much else.


Rabbit Talisman
"Super Speed"
Basic Super Speed, in the show the rate of speed was often "The Speed of Plot" or as fast as needed.
However it could be inferred that the Talisman acts as a Speed Multiplier, as faster objects moved faster than others with the Talisman.
Example a Car with the Super Speed moved much faster than a person running with super speed. In one situation, the Talisman was used to take the Space shuttle to the moon in only a few minutes.


Tiger Talisman
"Balance"
As described, The Talisman offers "Perfect Balance to Yin and Yang"
In the show however, it was typically only "used" by someone accidently breaking the Talisman, splitting it in two halves, which split the person into a "Yin" and "Yang" aspects. In the cartoon, this was mostly played up splitting a person into a "Good and Evil" halves. In reality of course, Yin and Yang are neither good nor evil.
In terms of practical application, the most you could say would be temporarily making one person into two people, although each person would represent simply the Yin and Yang aspects of that individual.


Ox Talisman
"Strength"
Basic Superhero super strength. The power also seems to give a small measure of "Super durability", as often people using it suffer only "minor" injuries from being thrown through a brick wall or being hit by a car. Average strength shown was typically "Car" sized, often picking up and throwing cars. A house was thrown but in only one episode.


Rat Talisman
"Animation"
The "power" as described in the show is to "Bring Motion to the Motionless"
As used however, it brings to life ANY individual, real or fictional as well as all attributed powers that person or thing may have. Two examples from the show, the first was bringing to life a Stuffed animal of "Super Moose" who awoke and proceeded to fight crime with Super strength and flight. Another example, a statue of an ancient wizard (Fictional obviously, but he was "Real" in the show") the wizard came to life with all memories and powers of the original.
This more than anything else could be a "No Limits Fallacy" power as in Theory, you could make a life sized statue of Superman, place the Talisman on it, and he would come to life with full Superman super powers.

[Eternal_Freedom]

Soooo....is this what do we do with them? If that's the case, I take the healing/rejuvenation Talisman, fix my various medical conditions, use it on my family and friends, then go around the local hospital fixing everyone I can. The shapeshifting, TK/levitation, super-speed, head vision etc can be very useful for winning dumb bets in bars I suppose.

The "Animation" Talisman is an absolute game-breaker. I'd draw a diagram of, say, God that had to obey me. Use the Talisman to animate it/him/her, order them to transfer their powers to me, then get rid of them. Boom, now I'm God.

[The Romulan Republic]

The last one basically does make me God, doesn't it (only without the omniscience and wisdom/benevolence)?

Well, crap.

This is... a lot of power. A lot of temptation, and a lot of responsibility that I don't want. But since they've already been given to me, I don't really have a choice in the matter. I could abandon them, or hide them, or give them to someone else, but those are still my choices, and I'll still be responsible for any negative consequences (like them being found by the wrong person, and misused, or them not being used when they could have saved innocent lives). I'd probably be constantly second-guessing myself, constantly hating myself for doing too little or too much, and probably end up going mad and killing myself, or else becoming better and better at rationalizing my mistakes and misdeeds and more and more numb to the consequences of my actions until I just stopped giving a shit.

Seriously, being Superman isn't fun, if you have any sort of a conscience.

But since it is my responsibility, I probably keep the damn things. Once upon a time I might have said "hand them over to the proper authorities so they can be controlled/studied", or something, but now... we've seen enough governments taken over by neo-fascist types in the last two or three years that I have lost a lot of my trust in the "proper authorities". So the first thing I do, presuming I keep them, is to prepare a shit load of defences and contingencies to protect myself when someone inevitably comes to try to steal the talismans. The ones that grant durability, strength, and perhaps speed will be kept active and on my person AT ALL TIMES. Hell, they'll all be on my person at all times, whether in use or not.

I'll probably stay invisible all the time too, unless I have a particular reason to stay visible.

After that... start testing them, carefully, figuring out their limits. Definitely try to make a dinosaur.

Go around and start healing sick and injured people, like EF said. I'd probably feel obligated to spend the rest of my life doing mostly just that, actually, given how literally every moment I wasn't doing it, people would be dying who I could otherwise have saved (see what I mean about how being Superman is hell if you have a conscience?).

Go talk to Elon Musk about boosting the speed of his Mars ships, maybe? Or see if I can figure out how to use the talismans to make my own Mars ship.

Um... it just occurred to me that the animation one could be used to create a real-world version of a living spaceship, potentially. So, screenshot of the TARDIS, use the talisman, I have a TARDIS.

I also don't think I'd be able to resist the temptation to use the power to remove certain, for lack of a better word, people from office. Trump, obviously, if the voters and Congress don't do it pretty fast. Putin. Kim Jong Un. I do worry about the implications of someone playing vigilante in the field of international politics, but there are some people who are just so evil, and so immune to legal consequences for their actions, that I think I'd feel obligated to remove them if I had the means to do so.

Edit: Could the animation one be used for necromancy? I presume so. In that case, with what limits? Ie, if you used it on a corpse, would it bring the person back to life, or just create a soulless zombie, or what?

I wouldn't be comfortable experimenting with that aspect of it, due to the possible moral and metaphysical implications, but I'm interested to know if it was covered in the show.

[Tribble]

So, what about the dragon-thing (cant remember his name) that the talismans were a part of? Is he in the picture?

[LadyTevar]

The Dragon was Shendu.

[Jub]

I'd see if the rat talisman can make me a working copy of another talisman as my first step and slowly work outward from there testing the limits of what can be done. I'd also consider making an object that imparts knowledge in the form of perfect foresight to the user. That way I know that any wish-granting items I make, assuming I can make such, will grant wishes with only positive outcomes. From there standard god power level stuff ensues.

Assuming the rat talisman isn't that powerful and that the wizard only worked because wizards exist in that universe while in our own universe only has these talismans and no other supernatural effects I'd still get to work on future tech. Forget Moore's law, I could work with an engineer to make computers that double in power as fast as they can design new chips out of whatever exotic materials that engineer can think up. Want to go to the moon tomorrow, let me just work my mojo on this toy rocket for a few moments. All of this is assuming that I can't just make a Star Destroyer or the supercomputer from Hitchhiker's Guide and have those work as they did in their movies or some nonsense.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Si just a clarification
The animation one... it HAS to be a physical object. You can’t just DRAW something. It has to be a statue. And whatever you use will be THAT SIZE.
Use it on a toy star destroyer,? Congratulations you have a Star destroyer a few inches long...

[Jub]

Si just a clarification
The animation one... it HAS to be a physical object. You can’t just DRAW something. It has to be a statue. And whatever you use will be THAT SIZE.
Use it on a toy star destroyer,? Congratulations you have a Star destroyer a few inches long...

So start with some form of assembly bot first, got it.

Maybe make a man-sized rocket filled with them, powered up by the rabbit talisman of course, and let them build a proper scale inert Star Destroyer out of space rocks. Then I can pop by and animate it.

That or just build a shrink/growth ray and turn toy sized ships into full-sized vessels while making conservation of energy cry.

[Crossroads Inc.]

You know I almost DIDN'T Post the Rat, just because I knew, just KNEW People were going to find ways to break the fuck out of it.
BUT! hey, that is half the fun of these things after all, am I rite? :3

That said.
Rat is problematic, it is used the fewest time in the show, and probably because it could be abused the most.
All three times it was basically bringing to life a "living thing" two statues and one stuffed animal. The statues were of the aforementioned wizard (and yes, obviously wizards and magic existed within the cartoon) and "Shendu" a "Fire Demon" and evil sorcerer. The instance being the stuffed animal of the Mighty Moose (which when brought to life, was NOT the giant muscled hero from the cartoon within the cartoon... But as a stuffed animal sized hero, albeit with the same powers as his "full sized" self")

From the limited information, one would infer you can only give "Life" to something that could be "alive" so statues, dolls, action figures and such.
I mean, if you REALLY wanted to go crazy, goto an art museum and find some big statues of Zeus or some other Greek gods. Or shoot find a Hindu Shrine and chat up Buddha. But in terms of making a "shrink ray" and making it real? Or computers? Probably won't be able to go down that route.

[Jub]

Well seeing that made up characters will animate with powers intact, just make up a character to suit your needs, make a doll or statue of it, animate that and bam maximum profit. If there needs to be some level of belief behind the character like say 10,000 people need to know of it you can either try to get a tweet to go viral or first animate a character that can spread the word about your perfect character and daisy chain things that way. No matter what you're only two steps away from omnipotence if you can animate beings with powers.

Worst case you find a toy of Aladin's Genie coming out of the lamp and animate that for wishes. He's a good sort and won't try to corrupt your wishes and you can free him at the end for more favors down the road. If characters are instanced, like each toy creates a genie but doesn't summon the same genie, you can do this as much as you wish. Even if not, use a wish to help you design the perfect character, use your next wish to ensure that it can be animated, use your final wish to free the genie and then animate your god by proxy character.

If things like wishes or omnipotence are more than the rat can handle you can animate tech heroes/fictional super geniuses like Tony Stark, Bruce Wayne, Bruce Banner, etc. and see if their skills transfer to the real world. You could even see if droids from Star Wars will animate and try to get yourself to that tech level that way. Data, Geordie, Scottie, etc. would also be a good choice to help advance humanity. Scottie has a good chance of being able to help if his transparent aluminum trick from Voyage Home works in our world.

---

Leaving rat aside, you can be an immortal superman in your ideal body (assuming monkey treats humans as animals and you have some control over your form). Spend some time curing the sick and fixing crumbling infrastructure on Earth, help NASA get people to Mars in days rather than months, Astral project and go see that center of the galaxy or some other crazy nonsense maybe even try to find extraterrestrial life in a way that doesn't risk contaminating the surface of the body you're visiting. Use your overpowered self and disguise abilities from the monkey to have a go at pro sports a for a few seasons and set records in as many sports as you can before they ban you.

These are some busted ass artifacts.

[Solauren]

Use all but the Rat talisman (and the one that can split me in to) to basically have Superman's powers.
I'd be VERY tempted to start removing people that I consider to be 'problematic'.

Experiment with the Rat talisman, until I figure out how it works and it's limits.
Then figure out a plan within those limits that results in me being rich, powerful, and the like.

i.e
If it works on non-character movie probs....

Get an old car, and otherwise make it like the Time Machine from Back to the Future. (As if Doc had used a different car then the Delorian)
At that point, standard 'Biff Tannen fore-knowledge plan' goes into effect.

Get some of the Ambrosia from the Xena TV Series.....

really, it depends on the limits of the Rat Talisman.

Now, bonus if machine figures turns (i.e T-1000 prob, Mr. Data prob) end up with programming loyal to me.

[The Romulan Republic]

Si just a clarification
The animation one... it HAS to be a physical object. You can’t just DRAW something. It has to be a statue. And whatever you use will be THAT SIZE.
Use it on a toy star destroyer,? Congratulations you have a Star destroyer a few inches long...

Okay, that keeps things a little saner. Though if we go with the old calcs for SD guns, a Star Destroyer a few inches long would still pack a lot of firepower, if it scaled proportionately.

So, no TARDIS for me. Unless I can get a life-sized replica...

Edit: Any chance you can clarify how it works wrt necromancy?

[Raw Shark]

Somewhat off-topic, but am I the only one who thinks that these powers came straight off a random generator? Here's my proposed revision:

PIG: The bearer can eat any normal thing without ill effect, to unlimited quantities, but cannot, for example, open wide and make a hand grenade disappear. Their sense of smell can root out truffles. Vulnerability: Delicious.

DOG: Also gets super-smell. Their loyalty is also unbreakable - Once given, it cannot be tested by outside forces magical or mundane. May also eat poop without ill effect.

ROOSTER: Piercing voice and inexplicable charisma with the ladies. Limited flight with little control; falls slowly.

MONKEY: At home in the trees. Can make jokes that would seem inappropriate coming from elsewhere and get away with it.

GOAT: Infinite cynical Gen-X patience. Enhanced climbing ability. Can eat normal quantities of literally anything.

HORSE: Enhanced carrying and long-distance land speed for limited periods.

SNAKE: Infrared vision. Limited mental suggestion with a physical motion component. Limitation: Impaired hearing.

DRAGON: You are the Mario. +1 at everything, but best at nothing, plus enhanced longevity.

RABBIT: Enhanced Danger Sense.

TIGER: No fear.

OX: As written.

RAT: Biological indestructibility. Immune to poisons and pathogens in all forms. Vulnerability: Loses power if attempting to present self as glamorous or classy.

For the record, according to the placemat at the local Chinese joint, I am a Snake.