Harper pin

Harper pins, also called harp pins, were enchanted brooches worn by members of the Harpers. Two main types were known, lesser and greater; the greater was often considered the standard Harper pin.

Description
Both lesser and greater Harper pins were typically made of silver. They displayed the Harper symbol, a crescent moon and harp.

Lesser Pins
The lesser Harper pin bestowed on the wearer the same abilities as a ring of mind shielding, that is, shielding them from detect lies and detect thoughts, as well as any magical effect that would reveal their alignment.

Greater Pins
A more heavily enchanted version, the standard or greater Harper pin provided the wearer with significant protection against specific hazards.

First, it greatly aided the wearer in resisting charm and enchantment spells and similar psionics or in other terms all mind-affecting magic and effects. Moreover, it completely shielded against magical and psionic attempts to read the wearer's mind or their alignment, granting the effect of an undetectable alignment spell.

Next, it shielded the wearer from being scryed or detected by magical means, effectively granting a permanent nondetection effect. The wearer was simply "not there." Similarly, the Harper pin itself could not be detected, though a locate object targeting another item in the wearer's possession would still function.

Finally, it protected the wearer from all magic missiles and granted a permanent resist elements versus electricity. It absorbed the energy into itself.

The silver used in greater pins was magically treated to be everbright so would never tarnish and to make it as hard as steel or even adamantine. Resistant to many effects, it could not be damaged by magical attacks.

Anyone could wear a Harper pin, as they did not need attuning to their wearer and were not made to be attuned to specific members. However, if an evil creature should happen to wear a greater Harper pin, then some of them would turn black and produce loud and discordant jangling sounds, similar to a metal-stringed harp being played badly and even angrily. Naturally, this made it hard for the miscreant to sneak about. This continued until the villainous wearer removed it, after which it would quickly return to its normal hue.

Special Pins
Some Harpers had pins with special powers. For example, Obslin Minstrelwish of Twilight Hall had one with the power of telekinesis, giving him the power to shift up to of materials.

Related Powers
The reading of a Scroll of the Harpers would turn all Harper pins in range into real magical harps. A Harper pin was also the only magic item left unaffected by the playing of Jolora's harp.

Usage
Standard Harper pins were used by many senior members of the Harpers and by the Master Harpers, who, if they did not have one on their person, could readily acquire one. Those Harpers who possessed Harper pins carried them everywhere, except when entering a situation where, if it was discovered, would give away their identify and threaten their mission. However, they would only wear them openly when needing to be recognized by other Harpers, when at Harper meetings, or when in Harper bases. Given the risk of Harper enemies finding them out, they usually kept their Harper pins hidden beneath their clothes or under their trims, inside gloves or sashes, or in special pouches inside their boots or bracers. Nevertheless, some, like Mari Al'maren, would wear them openly and proudly on their collar when they could and the Harper druid Galvin showed his even when wild shaped, with it appearing as a silvery crescent moon marking on his fur or feathers. It was also not necessary to wear a Harper pin, particularly if the Harper in question had no true body, such as the firetail known as Flamedancer.

In addition to their magical protections, Harper pins could be used to prove one's affiliation with the order or to gain favor with their sympathizers. They were practically a necessity for non-elves to enter Evereska.

Creation
Requiring quality craftsmanship and a high level of expertise in item enchantment, fashioning a Harper pin called for training in the making of magic items and an array of spells, including nondetection, protection from elements, resistance, shield, and undetectable alignment, as well as detect evil and ghost sound (only required for those that turned black).

Creators were often specialized in such unique Harper items as these. The smiths who crafted Harper pins worked in secret and only provided them to certain senior Harpers they knew well, not to anyone who came around seeking them. Circa 1367 DR, they were based in Deepingdale, Evereska, Everlund, Evermeet, High Horn, Lyrabar, Mintarn, Neverwinter, Shadowdale, Silverymoon, Starmantle, and Waterdeep. One was Jhenna Iliathor, at the Leaves of Learning temple in Highmoon, Deepingdale.

Availability
New members of the Harpers were granted a lesser Harper pin only after joining the order and completing missions to the satisfaction of senior Harpers, and finally being accepted as a true Harper. A pin could never be asked for, only earned. The one who gave them their pin was considered their sponsor, and was responsible for bringing them to justice should they go rogue. Nevertheless, this could be a personal affair—Bran Skorlsun sponsored his daughter Arilyn Moonblade and gave her his own pin. On occasion, a dying Harper had granted their pin and an unfinished quest to another, and that person could ultimately be accepted. Merely bestowing one with a witness was enough to mark one as a fellow Harper, as when Finder Wyvernspur, a founding member of the Harpers, gave his Harper pin to Olive Ruskettle, the so-called first halfling bard. The market price for a lesser pin was 8,000 gp. A standard or greater pin was valued at a base price of 75,750 gp, and one that turned black was valued at 78,750 gp to 79,000 gp. Their rarity, value, and difficulty to acquire made them more expensive than the norm. However, anyone who attempted to sell a Harper pin would find themselves in serious trouble if a Harper learned of it, with capture and interrogation or even a swift attack in the offing. The Harpers hated for them to come into the possession of outsiders and enemies, who might use them for infiltration of sabotage. Nevertheless, collectors craved them for how hard they were to get a hold of.

After a few months in service with the Harpers, the pin is upgraded to a greater Harper pin. The upgrade usually happened after an agent had been in the ranks for a few months or after an especially significant mission.

History
The first harp pins were crafted by Elminster and Khelben Arunsun in the first century after the Harpers' re-founding in the. Their pair appointed certain members as Master Harpers via dreams bestowed on them by Mystra then provided directions that led these Harpers to a cache of harp pins in Gochall's Tomb, which were arranged in a crescent atop the stone slab. Later dreams bade them to find skilled smiths and wizards to make more of them and that all true Harpers, and only true Harpers, should have them.

When the Moonstars split from the Harpers in the, they stopped using their Harper pins and adopted Teukiir badges instead.

Following the Spellplague of 1385 DR, the Harpers became legend, and it became popular for adventurous nobles of Waterdeep to don fake Harper pins. The situation became so bad that, by 1486 DR, High Harper Tam Zawad discouraged the wearing of Harper pins altogether among his agents, warning that if they were captured, then the pins would be easily discovered and stolen. Instead, it became increasingly common for Waterdhavian Harpers to wear magical tattoos instead, which could be concealed or displayed by uttering a secret phrase. Despite this, a few traditionalists still favored their pins.

Reputation
The Harper pin was the most important possession of a Harper. It was also the most famous to many people in Faerûn, who believed all Harpers had them.

Appearances

 * Novels
 * Azure Bonds • Honor Among Thieves: The Junior Novelization


 * Video games
 * Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of Amn


 * Film & Television
 * Honor Among Thieves