In addition to the information provided above, examining resonance has the fol- lowing advantages:
• Identification: Once a mage has successfully examined a resonance with one or more successes, she can recognize that aura if she perceives it again. It is often helpful for mages to become familiar with the resonance of their friends, associates and adver- saries in order to recognize their presence (and their magical handiwork).
• Connection: Familiarity with a particular resonance simplifies locating the Pattern associated with the resonance when using the Space Arcanum. If a mage has scrutinized a subject’s aura and gained one or more successes, the aura is considered Acquainted for the purposes of sympathetic spells (see pp. 143-146). If a mage has not directly examined
a subject’s aura but picked up its resonance from a spell or something else connected to the subject, the investigator is considered Encountered with the subject for purposes of sympathetic spellcasting. (Note that this assumes that the mage knows the target’s real name; otherwise, the difficulty of connection is increased by two degrees).
MATTERSOF
THE SOUL
The soul is an important aspect of the Awakened. The soul can be stolen to lend debased mages a mockery of life, and all willworkers can distill their souls into material form to act as the foundation for a Demesne, a place where magic flows more freely.
SOUL LOSS
In mechanical terms, each week that a character’s soul is gone, he loses a dot of Wis- dom (Morality for Sleepers). He may gain derangements from this loss as normal, but as with any Wisdom degeneration, loss of his soul makes the character more capable of justifying poor behavior and increasingly bad deeds. In addition, he can still lose Wisdom normally for committing sinful deeds and failing the accompanying degenera- tion draws. When the character’s Wisdom is reduced to one dot, this process of erosion turns on the character’s Willpower dots. Once his Willpower dots drop to zero, the soulless one becomes practically catatonic. He may wander the streets mumbling to himself and be challenged to put together coherent sentences. As a secondary danger, a living body that’s lost its soul (even if it hasn’t yet lost Wisdom dots due to the loss) is at a particularly high risk of being possessed by any spirit that wants a physical body for a while — the possessing spirit gains a +2 bonus. Further, a mage loses not only Wisdom and Willpower but also a point of Gnosis every 24 hours when his soul is stolen. He can continue to cast magic until his Gnosis reaches zero, at which point he counts as a Sleeper until he gets his soul back.
Assuming an individual’s soul may be recovered, it can be reconnected to the body with the Spirit 3 “Recover Lost Soul” spell. Once a person regains her soul, the dots she lost from Wisdom and Willpower (and Gnosis for mages) due to soul-loss return at a rate of one per day, beginning with Willpower. She does not regain Wisdom lost to normal degeneration draws for committing sinful acts.
S
OULH
ANDLINGA mage with Death 3 (“Sever the Sleeping Soul”) can rip another’s soul from its physical mooring (or Death 5 to sever an Awakened soul). Severing a person’s soul from his body is among the worst acts imaginable. A severed soul can be attached to a soulless body using Death 4 (“Soul Binding”) or back to the original owner with Spirit 3 (“Restore Lost Soul”). This is a rite by which a mage completely appropriates a soul he steals, making it his own. Only Death or Fate 4 (“Destroy Bindings”) can detach a soul that has been claimed in such a manner. However, the connection between a mage’s body and his soul is unique — a mage’s soul cannot awaken another person, and another soul cannot “reawaken” a mage who has lost his soul.
An unmoored soul is an extremely subtle and vulnerable thing, visible to those with Mage Sight but untouchable by any who do not have the proper Arcana lore to affect the soul. If loosed from its body by magic or spirit powers while it is in the physical world, a soul hovers in Twilight as a ghostly presence. Any mage who is able to affect beings in Twilight (using the Death, Mind or Spirit Arcanum) can affect an
181 Chapter Three: Magic
unmoored soul. The soul does not have a Corpus score; a soul is intangible even to spirits unless they have a Numen that affects souls. The soul’s Acting Speed is equal to its Willpower, and its Running Speed is equal to twice Willpower (the soul slows down as it loses Willpower over time). The soul has no powers or ability to affect the world or those around it, although the soul can communicate with Twilight beings through a form of telepathy (if the soul is in the Shadow Realm, the soul can communicate with beings there through the same process). An unmoored soul tries to escape back to its mortal housing if possible, but the soul cannot reunite what magic has severed. The soul needs a mage, spirit or deity to restore it to its body. Even a Sleeping soul can tell friend from foe with wisdom beyond its mortal self’s ken, so the soul cannot be fooled or tricked.
Souls can be tracked with Spirit 2 and a sympathetic connection (such as contact with the soul’s mortal body). A soul that departs a body upon death cannot be affected or tracked at all. The soul immediately fades from all the planes known to any but the Oracles or Exarchs. Hence, soul-stealers need to harvest their crop from living bodies. Those who routinely steal souls usually create receptacles for holding the souls until a spell can be cast to attach the entities. A mage needs the Death 2 or Spirit 2 “Soul Jar” spell to enchant the receptacle so that a soul placed into it cannot escape. Doing so also protects a soul from harm; any attacks must first breach the receptacle.
SOUL STONES
A soul stone is an intentionally detached piece of a mage’s soul distilled into material form by the sorcerer. Soul stones are used to create Demesnes (see pp. 181-182). This incredible benefit often outweighs the perils of creating a soul stone. A dot of Willpower is sacrificed, and one point of Mana is spent. (You may restore this lost Willpower dot by spending eight experience points.) The real drawback, however, is that your mage’s transcendent potential is now limited — he cannot raise his Gnosis to 10 dots (players should cross out the 10th dot on the Gnosis portion of the character sheet to reflect this lost potential). Should he create another soul stone, he cannot raise his Gnosis to nine dots and so on down the scale with each new soul stone he creates. He trades spiritual potential for temporal power. Finally, creating a soul stone is an “act of hubris” and requires a Wisdom degeneration draw (two draws) unless the mage has Wisdom 3 or less. See “Wisdom,” pp. 66-68. A soul stone’s appearance is unique to each individual, but its basic form is defined by its creator’s Path. Not all soul stones are actual “stones.” Acanthus soul stones take the form of plants or trees while Thyrsus soul stones appear as animal tokens — a claw, tooth, bone or pelt of fur.
A soul stone can outlast the mage who created it, allowing a Demesne that incor- porates a soul stone to exist into perpetuity. If the stone is destroyed, however, a mage does not regain his lost Gnosis potential and the Demesne loses that portion of the soul’s contribution (if it was the Demesne’s only soul stone, the Demesne ceases to be). As long as a soul stone has not been destroyed, its creator can elect to reintegrate it at anytime. He must first physically reclaim it and then sacrifice a dot of Gnosis. He can regain this dot with experience points in the normal manner. Although such recovery is costly, the reintegration of a soul stone restores the mage’s lost Gnosis potential by one dot. It does, however, remove that soul stone’s contribution to the Demesne. Mages can integrate only their own soul stones; they can’t integrate the stones of other mages. Soul stones can be destroyed only by using magic that delivers aggravated damage, and
the attacker must physically touch the stone (soul stones cannot be targeted by sympa- thetic magic). A soul stone’s Durability is equal to its creator’s current Gnosis dots (not necessarily the dots he had when he created the stone), and its Size is 1.
One mage can gain advantage over another mage by physically controlling his soul stone. Doing so gives her an Intimate sympathetic connection to the creator and allows her to tap the creator’s Mana (see the Thrall Merit, p. 81, for details). Characters can begin play owning another mage’s soul stone by purchase of this Merit.
DEMESNES
Mages can create zones of magical power free from the risk of a Paradox where vul- gar magic passes as covert (unless witnessed by a Sleeper). These places cannot protect against the Disbelief of Sleepers, so their owners strive to keep the unenlightened away, centering the Demesnes on sanctums.
Within the area covered by a Demesne, a vulgar spell does not prompt a Paradox test unless a Sleeper has witnessed the spell and believes it to be unnatural. Note that vulgar spells do not change their appearance — flashy or dramatic effects such as lightning bolts shot from a person’s fingers or levitating swords still appear as weird and abnormal, so it is unlikely that a Sleeper witness considers such an event to be mere coincidence. For this reason, mages must still be wary of Sleepers walking the Demesnes’ premises.
Note that spell effects directed at targets outside the Demesne are not protected from Paradox; only spells cast upon targets within the Demesne gain this benefit. Hence, Demesnes do not aid sympathetic magic cast at distant targets unless those targets are themselves within a Demesne.
T
HATE
ERIEF
EELINGThe Path realm or realms used to create a Demesne (see below) colors the atmosphere, magic and resonance of the place with effects that can be seen and felt even by those who do not have magical senses. Sleepers who live near such places describe them as “eerie” or “not quite right.” The Demesne exhibits the auras of the Paths associated with its soul stones, which intensifies as more stones of that Path are added (although mechanical bonuses do not add together). Conversely, stones from mages of different Paths have multiple effects — if a three-stone Demesne has one stone from a Moros mage, another stone from a Mastigos and its third stone from a Thyrsus, the Demesne exhibits the auras of Stygia, Pandemonium and the Primal Wild.
T
HEA
ETHER(P
ATHO
BRIMOS)
• Forces and Prime spells gain a +1 bonus.
• Static electricity is common, and fires spark easily. • Things sometimes seem outlined with a dim glow or aura.
A
RCADIA(P
ATHA
CANTHUS)
• Fate and Time spells gain a +1 bonus.
• Slightly improbable events occur regularly, such as coin tosses always coming up “heads.”
• People on the premises have an innate sense of time and can easily track how much time has passed without need of clocks or watches.
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RCADIA • Fate an • Slightly up “heads.” • People much time hT
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ET • Force • Static • Thing183 Chapter Three: Magic
P
ANDEMONIUM(P
ATHM
ASTIGOS)
• Mind and Space spells gain a +1 bonus.
• Memory recall is sharper and quicker than usual. • People on the premises have an innate sense of direction.
T
HEP
RIMALW
ILD(P
ATHT
HYRSUS)
• Life and Spirit spells gain a +1 bonus. • Mild aches and pains are not felt as strongly.
• The land — plants, stones and streams — communicates feelings based on its condition. If the land is mistreated, an aura of misery pervades. If it is well tended, an aura of tranquility pervades.
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TYGIA(P
ATHM
OROS)
• Death and Matter spells gain a +1 bonus. • Shadows are deeper and light dimmer.
• Things seem more solid, less breakable. Minor accidents such as dropping a plate or mug rarely result in those items breaking.
C
REATINGAD
EMESNEA Demesne is built on the foundation of one or more soul stones. The size of a Demesne is determined by the number of soul stones involved in its creation. Each contributed soul stone increases its size: each soul stone adds area to the Demesne equivalent to that provided with equivalent dots of the Sanctum Merit. If a Demesne is contiguous with a sanctum, the sanctum’s Security (see the Sanctum Merit, pp. 77-78) applies to the Demesne. Demesnes larger than a sanctum cannot easily be guarded in territories extending outside of the sanctum’s premises. No more than five stones can be combined for a single Demesne although two separate Demesnes can be placed next to one another to extend a magical area.
Once soul stones are gathered together, they must be enchanted to create a Demesne. Each stone’s contributor must be present and must willingly participate in a spellcast- ing ritual. It requires mastery (five dots) of an Arcanum to cast the enchantment; see the “Create Demesne” spell, p. 209. All soul stones involved must be kept within the Demesne’s premises, but the stones can be kept together or scattered throughout. If a soul stone is destroyed, the Demesne’s area drops by one (a five-stone sprawling estate becomes a four-stone mansion). The soul stone’s creator can create a new one to replace the lost one, using the same procedure he used to create the first, which restores the lost area without the need to recast the spell. If he is unwilling or unable, another mage can provide a soul stone, but the Demesne spell must be recast.
THE REALMS INVISIBLE
The world humans see is known as the Lie, a façade propped up on the threshold of eternity, and a realm whose inhabitants are unaware of the spiritual side to their own world. The Lie, where the supernatural does not exist and monsters are not real, is a relatively safe falsehood shared by billions of humans. The Lie is protected by Disbelief. Human science offers explanations for what people pretend to understand, and faith offers faint comfort for dealing with what baffles them.
P
ANDE • Min • Mem • PeopP
S
TYGIA(P
an • Death a w • Shadow s • Things s y or mug rarely MALW
T
HEP
RIM d Spir • Life and hes a • Mild ach nd — • The lan f the condition. If quilit aura of tranqThe truth is far more terrifying: creatures exist on the other side of flesh, some of them inimical to humankind and the very cosmos. Bound by Sleep, ordinary humans cannot normally experience such rarefied states of existence. On rare occasions, poets in states of reverie, madmen unprotected by sanity, hedonists assaulted by psychedelic imagery or men and women lost in extreme sensations may peer behind the veil of reality. Mages, as one would expect, can break the rules and actually go where few men have gone. Such journeys are perilous, however, for spirits and other supernatural creatures walk these same paths, often preying upon the unwary.
These places and states of existence (they are both at once) are called the Realms Invisible. They occur within and beside the more prosaic and solid-seeming material realm. They include Twilight, the state of being for ghosts and spirits that haunt or hunt within the material realm; the Gauntlet, the barrier between the world of flesh and matter and that of pure spirit; and the Shadow Realm, where ephemera is solid and matter is a fiction from the other side of the Gauntlet. Finally, there is yet an- other place, although whether it is truly within the Fallen World or lies beneath it is a point of debate among mages: the Underworld, where the dead toll out the days of their eternal existence.
As a metaphor to attempt to understand what still remains a mystery, mages think of each realm as having a unique frequency. People naturally resonate on the same frequency as the Fallen World, but if a mage understands the proper Arcana, he can walk to that other realm and interact with it. When a mage “resonates” on that frequency, that realm is “real” for him. Otherwise, it might as well not exist since he can’t touch it or see it. While magic can help a mage travel between worlds, it can’t be cast from one state of existence to another except in very specific circumstances, which are detailed in each spell’s description in Chapter Four. If a mage wants to cast a spell on a spirit, for example, most times he’ll have to go to the Twilight or Shadow Realm himself to accomplish it.
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TWILIGHT
Humanity lives in the material world. Beings in Twilight also reside in the same locations, but they do so immaterially and invisibly, hovering unseen beside physical mortals and places. Ghosts haunt forlorn places, unable to touch the living except with occasional displays of power (poltergeist activity or vague ectoplasmic shapes). Occasion- ally, spirits wander across the Gauntlet through a Verge and become trapped on this side. Those without the ability to materialize remain intangible, beings of Twilight. Not only beings exist in Twilight; the memory of certain items that were important or that once held emotional significance are sometimes present in ephemeral form. The “ghosts” of buildings and heirlooms long gone in the material world might still haunt the Twilight, especially if they form part of a ghost’s anchor.
A being or object in Twilight is made of ephemera — the matter or substance of the Shadow World. Ephemera that somehow comes to exist in the material world is invisible and intangible to those without a supernatural power that allows them to see or touch it. Ephemeral beings can see and affect any other ephemeral beings, and ephemeral objects are likewise visible and solid to ephemeral beings. (The exception to this is a mental projection, which is a bodiless mind such as that created by the Mind 4 “Psychic Projection” spell. A mental projection has no ephemeral body to see or touch. Some vampires also have the ability to project themselves into Twilight as bodiless minds.)
Apprentices of Death and Spirit magic can touch Twilight. More powerful mages can actually walk as Twilight beings, turning their bodies ephemeral and interacting with Twilight entities as if they were solid. Some mages attempt to use the Twilight state as a means of passing from one location to another, entering a building through its walls, unseen by its mundane inhabitants. The danger here is that such mages might encounter a hostile ghost or spirit along the way.
Certain types of mage familiars, called “fetches,” exist as ephemeral spirits in Twi- light, hovering or scampering about a mage wherever he goes. See the Familiar Merit, pp. 71-73, for more details.
THE GAUNTLET
Traveling beyond Twilight, into the Shadow, is a step only the most courageous or brazen take. A mystical barrier separates the material world from that other realm: a phenomenon known as the Gauntlet. Disciples of Spirit can pass this barrier by creat- ing a “Spirit Road” while Spirit adepts can step across without need of a gate. The sensation of crossing through this Gauntlet is rarely the same twice. For some, it’s like brushing aside the velvet curtain that conceals a theater’s stage. For others, it can be like leaping through a waterfall or into a gust of wind.
In some places, the barrier between worlds is thick or thin. It might be weak in a