Oh man you're pulling the "go back to d20 filthy rollplayer" card on me? Really? That's hilarious.
Considering that you're implying it's unimportant for mechanics to illustrate thematics, which is basically what the OGL suggested, I think pointing out that you're missing a huge point is important and dismissing it as accusing you of being a "rollplayer" (instead of this being a top-level design decision) is both missing the point and The OGL was a hilarious failure, BTW, because the main role of RPG mechanics is to illustrate thematics and also arguably blew up the RPG industry because people didn't realize that sometimes a mediocre or bad system that works with the themes of your game is better than a good system which does not actually work with the themes at all)
You see, I don't think if a system works, there's a difference between roleplayer and 'rollplayer.' A system that works means the roleplayer makes a character which looks like the optimized rollplayer fuck-the-fluff-give-me-the-shinies character and works almost as well.
There is no really thematic issue here. You... basically conjured it out of nowhere. Autochthonia is a place crawling with industrial aesthetics, Artifacts and magitech. They are, by far, more abundant than even the Realm - which is the other splat to get a beefed up Artifact background. Providing easy access to multiple Artifacts to the Champions of Autochthonia produces no thematic dissonance, no incoherence.
The Realm is an imperialist society which takes a lot from both the meritocracies and corruption of ancient empires like China and Rome, where the nobles (the Dragonbloods) owned tons of shit. Autochthonia is a hostile environment where almost everyone is stuck in communal conditions with very explicit Soviet-style aesthetics of propaganda and property ownership (basically none outside), and answer
to the people instead of
ruling the people. Alchemicals are, of literally all the splats, the one which has the least reason to have constant, unlimited access to
any artifacts-I'd argue that as a fully thematic statement you could argue they literally should not have access to Artifact
period. Do you give a F-22 nuclear weapons all the time, or just when you need something nuked?
You know what makes the communist-industrial thematics of Autochthonia look really hypocritical? Their Champions being permanent ownership of the equivalent of
billions of dollars of equipment even when it's literally sitting around gathering dust because they're acting as an architectural assistant instead of stabbing people in a suit of power armor.
This isn't a huge issue, you're right. It's not a game-breaker, but
@Aaron Peori's points are more convincing than yours. Especially when the sig characters are like, generally shown to be not decked out with 15 dots of artifacts.
The Alchemical Exalted are heroes and champions. They serve the people of their nations, fulfill a duty, but they also receive recognition, status, a degree of autonomy. They are not bureaucratic agent whose superior eye suspiciously and who get their Artifacts removed because they don't use them enough or Employee #247 in Cubicle B needs it more. They get stuff.
Yes, they're heroes and champions
of a nation. They are formally in the chain of command, they are required to answer to superiors, and they exist in a world where the concept of private ownership is extremely limited. They "get stuff." Sure. That stuff should be stuff that's relevant to the mission.
If you have a Daiklaive that shoots lasers and transforms into a rocket-propelled hovercycle and you're going on a pop star tour, and someone else needs a rocket propelled hovercycle, it should very much be "Here, have all this cool stuff related to your
current job in exchange for someone else being able to use your rocket propelled lasercycle sword." It's not "your superiors eye you suspiciously." It's "from each according to their ability, to each according to their need."
