Ok I was looking for things that can inspire people. In SR, RL or fiction. These could be or become focus for magicx or even just quests for wealth, power or reverence. In the middle ages they had the bones of saints and shards of the true cross.

It doesn't have to be magical-the One Ring or Excaliber come to mind. The quote above is about the Malteze Falcon.
Other things that come to mind might include:
General Patton's pearl handed colt.
Parts of the colinoor diamond that were cut away before Hope got his hands on it.

The Stone of Destiny would be a good one, along with the Blarney Stone.

Original Jim Bowie Knives would be nice as well for the CSA Mage looking for a weapon focus.

A simple soapstone carving sitting in an Ottawa Museum might be sought after.

The original, handwritten copy of Alice in Wonderland.

Modern day magical items

The Guitars of Jimmy Hendrix
Sequine Elvis Suit
AK-47
The body of Jimmy Hoffa
The magic bullet of JFK
VW bug
Missing 8 minutes of the Watergate tapes


British magical items:
The Golden Bough
The Book of Thoth
Aleister Crowley's Tarot Cards

Locks of Elvis's hair from when he went into the Army.

George Washington's axe that did or did not fell that cherry tree.

The scalp of Custer.

Pretty Boy Floyd's tommy gun.

The pistol used in the assassination of Lincoln.

The toupee of William Shatner.

John Holmes' cryogenicly preserved...UMM.

The gun that fired the fabled first shot in the civil war

Muhhamed Ali's boxing Gloves

Pele's boots (take your pick)

The preserved hand of Diego Maradona

A Gutenburg bible

General Patton's Cavalry Sabre

I'm sure the only scholarly Humanis policlub member would like to get his hands on a noose used for a lynching in the deep south.

The original, signed manuscript for William Gibson's novel Neuromancer?

Oh wow. That is ironic on so many levels of fanboydom. To my knowledge Gibson HATES Shadowrun because of their inclusion of magic and fantasy elements.

Bill Clinton's cigar
The cryogenically frozen body of Walt Disney
Austin Power's mojo
Sports items of the ages.

Definedly one for pornomancers

To be fair, he probably doesn't like Cyberpunk 20XX either. He considers himself more a futurist than a straight sci-fi writer and I doubt he cares much for the geekier, fanboy elements of the science-fiction scene.

Back on topic:

For the musicians...

A thimble-full of Hendrix' sweat.
The remains of Mama Cass' ham-sandwich.
The shotgun Kurt Cobain used to escape Courtney Love (think 'Ace of Winchesters' for rockers for those of you that have read the Hitman comic book series).
The seeds descended from John Lennon's first joint.
The first vinyl record Grand Master Flash ever scratched.

For the Desolation Jones fans...

Hitler's private porno stash

No, no, no. Stalin masturbating

What about the bullet Hitler used to end his reign? That is if it didn't melt completely.

Original Mickey Mouse prints
Various significant home run baseballs (Signed or not)
Britney Spears' hair from when she went psycho
Old computers that significant programs (Napster, Youtube) were designed on
Bone shards of major disaster victims (9-11, Oklahoma bombing, Ohio Stare Massacre, any number of disasters between now and SR era)

Major Danjou's wooden hand.(I think he spells his name correctly, it would be a french military thing.)
The Sword of Stalingrad
Kermit the frog.
ships bell from the Edmund Fitzgerald.

The lookout's binos from the Titanic.

I think those "Mahna Mahna!" Muppets would have more magical mojo...

What?


What?



The Pope-Mobile
Judy Garland's ruby slippers
OJ's gloves (I'm sure there's a cursed knife that goes along with them)
Bob and Doug McKenzie's toques
Prince's motorcycle from Purple Rain (Assless chaps add a stackable bonus)
That big fake sapphire from Titanic
Carrie Fisher's metal bikini
Mr. Roger's loafers
Walter Cronkite's glasses

The silver-plated, pearl handled, chrome handled 1911a1 .45 and Star Model B 9mm used by Vincent and Jules in Pulp Fiction.

Jules and Vincent.

1911A1.

Star B 9mm.

Audrey Hepburn's cigarette holder.

Also, possibly Hunter S. Thompson's cigarette holder, too.

When Jean Chrétien was Prime Minister of Canada, he had to deal with a Home Invasion at Sussex Drive (The traditional home of the PM).

He defended himself from an armed attacker (IIRC that he was armed, at least) with a soapstone carving that had just happened to be sitting on his bed table.

The Mounties that were charged with defending him were pretty much lambased by the media.

Don't you mean Kent State http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings

Thank you, Shaderavnos for the clarification. My source if information was Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young.

John Henry's Steeldriver.

John Henry was a steel driving man, he died with a hammer in his hands.

Only of use to one whom is both the underdog and of great strength.

That's a common misconception. Hitler is still alive and is currently plotting his return to power. The dead guy was one of his body doubles.

Lizzie Borden's hatchet
Bonnie and Clyde's Car
H.H. Holmes's murder castle is more of a location than a McGuffin, but it could still work as one.

Unless it's shedim hitler.

Although, a lot of Nazi memorabilia would make excellent foci/collectables for any Alamos/Human Nation/Humanis member.

Why does everything have to have Nazis in it?

Well, other than the obvious that shooting Nazis is fun (Which is why there's Eleventy-Billion World War II shooters.).

Charlie Chaplin's cane and bowler hat
The Maltese Falcon
"Rosebud"

Christine.

Elsinore beer bottles.
The Hanson Brothers' horn-rimmed glasses and hockey sticks.
Philip K. Dick's typewriter.
Steve McQueen's last cigarette.

Wasn't it his wife that actually whacked the guy with the statue?

Computers
The only ever produced copy of Duke Nukem Forever
Bill Gates PDA
The first ever poduced IBM PC
An ancient NES
Steve Jobs' iPod

Movies and Showbiz
the powerbook used on the set of Independence day by Jeff Goldblum
an original props car of the first Knight Rider show
the light saber prop used by Marc Hammill
The A-Team Van
The Dukes of Hazard car
A DeLorean
The Ghost Busters Car
The RoboCop gun
Assorted parts of Michael Jackson
A lock of Chuck Norriss' beard
The original King Kong gorilla costume
The first phaser prop used by William Shatner ont he set of ST:TOS
The captain's chair from the original Enterprise Bridge set used by Patrick Steward in ST:TNG
The vampire teeth used by MArshal Mathers when playing Spike in Buffy - The Vampire slayer
the very first manuscript draft of Star Wars - A New Hope

Books and Grimoires
The original manuscript of The Capital
The original writings and letters of H. P. Lovecraft
an unedited copy of Witchcraft in Eastern Europe
an unedited copy of the satanic verses (not the Rushdie novel, but the apocryphic sections of the quran)
the Da vinci code
an original membership certificate of the Bayrische Illuminaten Geheimbund

Nazi stuff
Erwin Rommel's command tank
Claus Graf von Stauffenberg's head
a Reichsflugscheibe (this is for the GErman SR community - thank whateve you pray to we were spared the Nexus story arc!)
assorted gaelic and pre-roman artifacts hoarded by Heinrich Himmler
the skull and bones of Heinrich Himmler's legendary witch ancestor he was bragging about constantly
the party sticker of Nationalsozialistische Arbeiterpartei Deutschlands #7

Other
The Red Baron's piloting overall
The Hindenburg's piloting wheel
The original, unedited version of the Iwo Jima heroes photograph
Parts of Fat Boy
Water from the reactor core of Tchernobyl reactor block #4
The Pretzel George W. Bush almost died from
the weather balloon that downed in Rosswell in 1949

From my current campaign:

A piece of the True Cross that was captured by Saladin at the Battle of Hattin in 1187.

Here's the news report. She locked the doors, he got the statue.

The Stone of Scone.

There are some items that are mythological but still the cultural heart of a people, the Ark of the Covenant comes to mind comes to mind for Jewish people.

Mythology for Japan says there were originally 3 sacred items. a sword, a mirror and some gems. A quest for any of these would be on a par with Indianna Jones or looking for Atlantis.

A screenshot taken from this site. discussing this topic

Who doesn't like recursions even more than recursions?

Sega genesis Shadowrun cartridge

the worlds frist working cyber deck.

Betamax.

Da Vinci's journals
Leonardo's cyberdeck
The first drops of blood caused by the thorn transformation
The thirty pieces of silver given to Judas
The three iron nails from the Crucifixion
The Transporter's gloves
Signed Manuscript of Stranger in a Strange Land
Aina's clockwork bird (It's been a long time since Harlequin's Back)
Jack the Ripper's surgical kit
A first edition print of Grimm's Fairytales
The ring of Vlad Dracul
Gary Gygax's dice bag

...crap, my Cybersnoop Lana Lane had them. He was her idol.


...cool, I like that one.

The Short One has the full run of Niel the Orc Barbarian on Vid Chip.

The original DAT tapes of Ina Gada Da Vida.
Benjamin Franklin's kite.
Jack Kirby's pens.

The Soviet flags that were hoisted above the city hall when Berlin was finally taken in WWII

The constitution, bill of rights

Fragments of the liberty bell

Chinese and Japanese artifacts. An emperors sword, an imperial seal from the Ming dynasty, a jade statue of Buddha.

A Roman sword and tattered standard

The dagger used to kill Cesar

A dagger used for sacrifices to the gods (Aztec mainly comes to mind off the top of my head) A perfect foci used for blood magic I would think.

The Crown Jewels

A model T ford

A set of plate mail dating back to the medieval times

The Mona Lisa

A first signed edition of Huck Fin

Greek pots with old strains of various wheats

Various old weapons: Stug 44, bazooka, a colt six shooter, a claymore... ect.

The old data banks from the pentagon and other old outdated intelligence sights (might actually allow the doors to be opened when trying to find various hidden artifacts)

The bones of Rasputin

Shaka Zulu's shield and spear

How about a B&W of Stalin masturbating _with_ Hitler's private porno stash, while a chained Hitler is forced to watch...

Tangental ramble follows...

I know somep eople are going for garrish or crude but I am thinknig of things that really could get passions going in lots of people not just particular small demographic.


A leaf from the bouti tree that buddah meidtated under.
A leaf from the burning bush that god spoke to Moses at
The 4th nail from the crucifixion of Jesus
The treasure of Temujin
The crown of Charlemagne
The original Winnie the Pooh.


My husband suggested the boots Wellington wore at Waterloo. I threatened to bake a garlic pudding.

Which one? The actual long-deceased bear in the Winnipeg zoo, Christopher Robin Milne's stuffed toy, or the first piece of Disney merchandise?

So.... would the leaf from the burning bush be a pile of ash or would it just continually burn forever?

What I would like is an item and maybe a brief story blurb that could get people thinking like

Aztec Sacrificial Dagger:

Aztechnology has been on the hunt for sacrificial daggers used in their homeland. There is such a dagger that was said to have sacrificed over a thousand people in a single day. It was a beautiful gem encrusted blade that was taken out of the country by Cortez when he captured Tenochtitlán. Aztechnology has been searching for this relic a long time. As it turns out it did not actually end up in Spain as Aztechnology had thought, but was smuggled off of his ship by one of his servants and later taken to the Americas. The history of the dagger is hard to make out, but all they can piece together is that it was steeped in blood. Word has gotten out though that a private collector in _____ has gotten his hands on it and it is now a mad dash to see who will obtain this ancient artifact first.... although the deeper more sinister question is what power lurks in the dagger itself?

Brutus' Dagger:

The dagger is surrounded by legend and myth. After the fall of Rome the dagger began to be used by a secret society of assassins who viewed the knife as almost mystical. Later in the era's it had been used to preform a series of high ranking assassinations and Brutus' dagger began to be known as the "King killer" in light that in it's 600+ years of use had killed many high ranking nobility and kings. Yet in 1096 AD during the first crusade when the Pope gained a formidable amount of power the secret society of assassins that had by then grown quite large was in one swift action obliterated, and the dagger was kept in the Vatican for safe keeping. However during world war one the dagger was smuggled out of the Vatican for safe keeping but was lost. No one knows where it went or what happened to the dagger until now....

Or the Bronze Statue that's in the Winnipeg Zoo?

Seeing as Winnie was named for the 'Peg.