So in our world, my group was thinking about having two items of power available. One would be a Staff that provided access to Evocation. The other would be a tome that provides access to Thaumaturgy.
I know these are a bit high on the power level, but our group has agreed to allow it if any of the players would like, with the knowledge that flavorwise these would be very valuable items likely for many to want to steal (as well as prevent others from having). One of our players unwittingly has the staff, but knows nothing about it.
So now to my question: Can you throw out some ideas from Mythology, Literature, etc. that would be great sources of information to draw on for the background of these items?
I was thinking an obvious choice would be to have these be from Prospero's collection that somehow avoided destruction. Any other ideas?