Richard Wagner's Ring

Richard Wagner's Ring
Origin	Richard Wagner; Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung/Ring Cycle)
Type	Wedding band
Effects	Music-fueled immortality.
Downsides	Conditional; immortality only lasts as long as music is played.
Activation	Wearing; playing music.
Collected by	Helena Wells and Paige Saunderson
Section	Smolensk-813JN
Aisle	TBA
Shelf	TBA
Date of Collection	December 22nd, 1912
[Source]

Origin

Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his later works were later known, "music dramas"). Wagner revolutionised opera through his concept of the Gesamtkunstwerk ("total work of art"), by which he sought to synthesise the poetic, visual, musical and dramatic arts, with music subsidiary to drama. He described this vision in a series of essays published between 1849 and 1852. Wagner realised these ideas most fully in the first half of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung).

The Ring of Nibelung, which focuses on attempts by various characters of Nordic and Germanic lore to obtain a magical ring with which one can rule the world, is considered one of the longest musical performances in history, with full performances lasting typically around 15 hours. It was written over the course of nearly three decades, spanning from 1848 to 1874. It was first performed in 1876 in the Bayreuth Festival Theater, a concert hall specially built by Wagner exclusively for his cycle.

Effects

When worn, the ring bestows upon its wearer a form of conditional immortality. As long as music is played within earshot of its wearer, they shall not die, though they shall continue to age. Should the music cease playing, the wearer will instantly continue to age as normal; although aging is not accelerated if this should occur past their normal lifespan (meaning, one's age will not "catch up with them"), their bodies are already prone to shutting down in their frail state.

Collection

This artifact was collected from Bayreuth, Germany after the Warehouse's attention was brought to the numerous disappearances of musicians over the past few decades.

After investigating, agents Wells and Saunderson discovered that they had all been summoned to the estate of local wealthy socialite Ivo Frost as private performers; once they arrived, they would be be quickly chained to the furniture of his room by the sole servant in Frost's employ and forced to perform continuously under threat of beating and death. Frost's performers would not be allowed rest to sleep or eat; when they neared death by thirst, starvation, or exhaustion, a new advertisement for another musician would be published to attract the next victim.

TBA