Charta cultro
An unmissable artifact for every witch that entertains a dense correspondence, the charta cultro, also simply known as "magic letter opener", is a small blade used since ancient times to break temporary sigils.
History
That of magic letter openers is an ancient tradition, that goes hand in hand with the use of paper letters in the West and their fast spreading in the magical world.
The use of paper was born from the contacts that West world entartained with Arab culture, which had and still has its own version of the charta cultro: it’s the shifrat sahria, a thin, elegant blade forged with precious metals. Unlike the charta cultro, both the blade and the handle of the shifrat sahria are made of the same material and the blades are enchanted not by the insertion of external elements, like crystals, but by writing the intent on the blade in full.
Between the two, the shifrat sahria is still the one in use in the Ministry of Light.
Given that the magic letter opener was born in conjunction with the replacement of parchment with paper in the fifth century, it is uncertain whether one of the blades inspired the creation of the other or is a simple "evolutionary convergence".
The charta cultro was born in Italy, which is still the country that has the oldest and most flourishing history regarding these magical instruments; tradition has it that they are built by hand, and if possible also by the witch who will use it in person.
It’s also possible to inherit it from a relative or get one from another craftsman, although an old superstition says that a charta cultro will never break the sigils imposed by their original creator.
Excellent charta cultros are also produced in Germany and in Czech Republic, Prague in particular.
Description
The appearance of charta cultros can vary greatly from one item to another! It can change both in size and shape, and the materials it is made of can vary, like the decorations and colors.
Generally they are made of different materials that are embellished with elements thar are useful to perform their magic, such as precious stones or other natural elements (feathers, for example), but they aren’t necessary. This practice is more widespread in Italy than in the Czech Republic, where magic letter openers usually have dense decorations carved directly on the handle and sometimes on the blade, and more frequently have the shape of little swords.
In Italy the production is very creative but also more heterogeneous.
For an object to be classified as a charta cultro, therefore, it must present all the following points:
1. It must have a blade. Whether it's made out of crystal, metal, ivory or bone, each charta cultro must have a blade that can physically cut the chosen sigil.
2. It must be small. It must not exceed twenty-five centimeters (around almost ten inches) between blade and handle.
3. Must be enchanted to break the sigils. In order to carry out its task, each charta cultro must have specific spells that allow it to identify the temporary sigil to dissolve it effectively; the modality is not important: runes, crystals, sung spells, blood seals, everything is fine as long as the magical powers of the charta cultro in question are functional.
As long as these parameters are respected, any shape is fine.
Magic and limitations
Many witches still use paper letters today, although many others have decided to resort to more technological means. In any case, the mail secured with magic sigils was for centuries and is to this day one of the safest ways to have missives delivered that are unreadable to most. Some witches create letter envelopes that are physically impossible to open except in exceptional cases, but the most common spells are those for which, if the envelope is opened without breaking its magic sigil, the letter destroys itself by autocombusting.
And this is where charta cultro comes into action, making it safe to handle those letters!
Even if each of these magic letter openers has a slightly different functioning, and consequently different limits, its task is to be able to break the temporary sigils through the perennial ones that are affixed to them. Although their use is often limited only to opening these magic letters safely, their power can be used in most cases to break even other temporary sigils.
Whether it is successful in dissolving other kinds of sigils, however, depends on the power of the artifact itself and that of the sigil that has to be dissolved.
It is unable to undo other perennial sigils.
Charta cultro may need to be recharged with magical energy more or less frequently to function properly, depending on how they are built and what mechanisms are implemented in them.
If it is a well-made charta cultro, the period between one recharge and the other can go from one month to fifty years on average, even if there are very well-made charta cultro that work well even with longer intervals between recharges.
Many witches still use paper letters today, although many others have decided to resort to more technological means. In any case, the mail secured with magic sigils was for centuries and is to this day one of the safest ways to have missives delivered that are unreadable to most. Some witches create letter envelopes that are physically impossible to open except in exceptional cases, but the most common spells are those for which, if the envelope is opened without breaking its magic sigil, the letter destroys itself by autocombusting.
And this is where charta cultro comes into action, making it safe to handle those letters!
Even if each of these magic letter openers has a slightly different functioning, and consequently different limits, its task is to be able to break the temporary sigils through the perennial ones that are affixed to them. Although their use is often limited only to opening these magic letters safely, their power can be used in most cases to break even other temporary sigils.
Whether it is successful in dissolving other kinds of sigils, however, depends on the power of the artifact itself and that of the sigil that has to be dissolved.
It is unable to undo other perennial sigils.
Charta cultro may need to be recharged with magical energy more or less frequently to function properly, depending on how they are built and what mechanisms are implemented in them.
If it is a well-made charta cultro, the period between one recharge and the other can go from one month to fifty years on average, even if there are very well-made charta cultro that work well even with longer intervals between recharges.
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