Master Rotes (Sphere Level 5)

Yes, nearly all of these Rotes will royally screw up the game. When any Mages reach the Master level of a Sphere, its probably about time that we start thinking about how to conclude this game and start a new one. These Mages can conjure nuclear explosions with a snap of their fingers, slip forward and backward in time, be in multiple locations at once, and create new things body, mind, and soul from nothingness. A Master level Rote can potentially unmake the entire game. Fun for the whole family.

Correspondence
Co-Locate Detonation (Etherite) (Correspondence 5) This rote is
an improvement on the simpler Hyperspace Transmission. It is used on an exploding object. The energies of the explosion are transmitted to more than one distant location. The force of the explosion at each location is not diminished. [The explosion can be projected into as many areas as the mage has successes. However, any attempt to cause the explosion to be colocated at more than two spots raises the difficulty to ten.]

Psychotronic Disintigration (Etherite) (Correspondence 4, Prime 4)

This psychoteonic method is accomplished by establishing a loop which projects energy into an object and starts causing it's pattern to break down. Quintessence that would normally escape from the pattern breakdown are sucked into hyperspace and re-introduced an instant later as more destructive energy. After a critical point is reached the pattern collapses entirely, and the quintessence that composed it is dispersed into hyperspace and unrecoverable. [This is similar to the Celestial Chorus effect Flames of Purification. other than being performed at a distance, the rote's only reals difference is that is has no statically visible effect until the object disappears. The Sons of the Ether have many other versions of this type of magick, and many have their own per type of "disintegrator ray", reveling in the cliche.]

Forces
Baptized in the Fire of The One (Forces 5 Prime 2) Fire has a
purifying source and is often used to purge and burn away impurities.

That is the basis of this rote, as the mage directs solar energy towards a target. The resulting stream of solar plasma emerges, rushing around the mage towards its target. The result is an eruption of light and heat, destroying anything in its way, which is said to purify everything completely. It is said that this can be altered in a variety of ways, to target the Taint of Corruption; the Taint of Nephandi; the Taint of Madness but those whom have tried, have not pennd the tale [ Note that the mage must have protected himself before casting this rote, unless he wants to be killed by the plasma. To strike the right target(s), the mage need at least 3 successes. Otherwise the plasma will just erupt anywhere. Everybody hit will take successes * 4 damage (aggravated), everything flammable will ignite or explode and everybody is temporarily blinded by the light. Kindred will have a *hard* time, as they are hurt by the light in addition to the plasma.]

Poseidon's

Wrath (Verbena) (Forces 5, sometimes Correspondence 2) Yet another ancient spell (the Verbena have a strong appreciation for traditional things, and this includes timehonored rotes), this one creates an earthquake.
[The intensity of the earthquake is determined by the number of successes, with each success rising one step on the Richter scale. A magnitude of 1 or 2 is barely even perceptible, while the most severe earthquakes ever recorded had a magnitude of 8.7 and killed several hundred thousand people. For a sense of scale, in 1988 a earthquake of 6.9 killed 28,000 people in Armenia. The earthquake that hit San Francisco a year later had the same magnitude but killed only 65 people because of quake-proof architectural standards. The 1906 earthquake in San Francisco was an estimated 8.3. Adding Correspondence to the effect will increase the area of the quake. Since earthquakes do not always produce fore and aftershocks, this effect is usually coincidental, but highly discouraged.]

Summon the Senior Lord of Saturn in Fire, Arinnap, He who Protects with a Sword. (Enochian) (Forces 5 Spirit 2 Prime 2
Entropy 2) The mage summons one of the most powerful spirits in the hierarchy to protect him. Arinnap will, if the mage has a good reason, protect him from any harm. Anybody who tries to harm the mage in any way, even unintentional, will be slain by the Lord. This Lord is not to trifle with, and can be as dangerous for the mages friends as for his enemies.

Hyperspace

(Etherite) (Forces 5, Correspondence 4, Prime 2) This psychotronic rote generates and projects a general energy surge in an incoherent, despecialized form.

Electromagnetic

Pulse

The energy is sent directly into the patterns of the target area and has various destructive effects. The energy arrives as a blast of heat, light, magnetism, electricity, and other forms of radiation. The energy has the unusual property of arriving within the targets' patterns, bypassing any conventional armor including the notable anti-magick primium coatings of many Iteration X combat machines. Such energy projections can be set into shell-like ward fields to protect those within from incoming attacks. [The rote causes successes x4 damage. Additionally, the energy stuns the nervous system, causing the victims to be incapacitated for one round per success unless Willpower is spent or countermagick is used. Electrical systems are useless for a similar period, and computers must be rebooted ( Many Virtual Adept, Iteration X, and Void Engineer computers are magickally hardened and "surge protected" from this unless they are the sole target of the rote. ) Finally, molecular motion is increased to a point where chemical and plastic explosives detonate and highly combustible materials are ignited. ]

Endothermic Explosion (Etherite) (Forces 5 Correspondence 4,)

This psychotronic effect is produced by causing a hyperspace nergy flow opposite that normally produced, draining the kinetic energy of the molecules in the target area rapidly. Careless mages are cautioned with this rote. Many careless maged attempting to use a forces 4 effect to do this have been incinerated by the very energy they stole, which radiated uncontrollably from their foci. [ The attack causes normal Forces 4 or 5 damage, and can be used to freeze things. The energy can be concentrated and stored for later use by some mages. ]

Life
Call Forth the Forgotten (Life 5, Prime 2, Spirit 2) Book of
Shadows, page 147. Summons a mythical being into the present. Dragons, unicorns, manticore

Second Body (Verbena) (Life 5, Prime 2, sometimes Mind 5,

Correspondence 2) While most Traditions use Co-location if someone needs to be in more than one place at a time, the Verbena prefer to create a duplicate of the person out of their own blood. This person shares the awareness of the original and they are usually mentally linked, but the second body is physically independant of the first and can suffer harm or even death without serious effect to the original.

[The duplicate is physically identical, but it lacks a true spirit or avatar, and so cannot perform magic. The Mind component is necessary to fill the body with a functional personality. If it is left out, the duplicate will be a simple programmed robot. The Correspondence component allows mental contact and can be omitted if not desired. The duplicate will die when the spell expires.]

Swarm of Bugs (Verbena) (Life 5 Mind 2) This rote is a good

example of the skill at shapechanging attained by some Lifeweavers. With it, the witch transforms not into a single creature, but into an entire mass of them, usually insects or rodents. [The Mind sphere allows the witch to maintain her single consciousness while her body is divided into many units. It requires at least three successes to work, in which case the witch may function as a swarm. While the swarm can be blown around or evaded, it is difficult to harm enough of the swarm to cause serious damage to the witch. The witch is immune to attacks that do not effect an area.]

Reduction to Base Components (Etherites) (Life 5, Matter 3)

Doctor Amino developed a process which would enable him to reduce organic tissue down to its base elements, each separated out into a neat mass. He had intended to use it to smuggle endangered species into the country so he could examine them in a controlled setting, but the process saved his life when he was forced to use it on an NWO agent who tried to apprehend him. To this day, the agent sits in a neat row of jars on Amino's shelf. [The rote is an all or nothing effect. It requires 5 successes, and if successful, the person is separated out into a variety of chemicals, and will remain so until the spell is reapplied. If the effect is unwoven by someone who doesn't possess the appropriately ranked spheres, the target will die.]

Matter
Negative Mass Disruption One of the most spectacular (and
vulgar) Matter effects developed by Ms. Fujimiya. The mage simply negates the mass of an object. The result is very strange, as mechanical forces on the object have the opposite effect from normal. Gravity repels it. Pressure attracts it, while tension repels it. Normally affected objects fall upwards, only to hit the ceiling. This pressure causes it to accelerate even more powerfully upwards, breaking through the blocking ceiling and vanishing with supersonic speed into space. This rote also provides a very nasty offensive trick: the mage

simply throws sand or gravel at somebody, and negates their mass. The gravel will force its way through the body of the victim, causing horrendous damage.

(Theres a story to this one dont believe everything that the old hermetic writes! So I was able to create ONE negative Mass disruption generator Mm. Fujimiya)

Cavorite (Matter 5, Forces 4) This weird material is created by a

chantry of Sons of Ether in orbit around the moon. It is named after their founder Cavor, who also invented it (he is now rumoured to be stranded in Arcadia after some of his early experiments). It is a material which is impregnable to gravity, essentially isolating whatever is above it from gravity. Anything above a cavorite shield will be weightless. This has some problems, as the atmosphere above tends to blow into space if it is placed on earth. Fortunately it can be easily handled, and as long as it is tilted vertical its fairly harmless. Its quite useful for building spaceships and other aerospace vehicles. Its exact composition is a well guarded secret, but it is known to contain helium in some way.

Gratzium (Etherites) (Matter 5, Prime 2) Doctor Wilhelm Gratz

became tired of creating a different new substance every time he needed a different property, and thus he invented Gratzium, a substance capable of demonstrating multiple properties simultaneously as need arises. Thus when his lab was raided by a group of Akashic monks who disliked his research methods, they first had to break down a Gratzium door with the tensile strength of diamond, and then had to contend with the soporific effects of gaseous Gratzium. He was able to escape by distracting them with an explosion caused when he irradiated a small lump of powdered Gratzium. [Each success on the initial role to create the Gratzium allows it to take on a single property specified by the Son at a later moment. Since these properties are revealed with statements like "Did I mention that liquid Gratzium is highly corrosive?", the effect is normally coincidental.]

Mind

Uploading (Mind 5 Correspondence 1) Once, we thought wed lost

Kiarra only to find her inside her triniary computer. . . dont ask. By connecting the brain of a person to a very powerful computer, they can read it into the machine and create an Upload, a total copy of the person complete with memory, personality and avatar. An uploaded person will continue to exist indefinitely inside the computer as an AIprogram, and can move around and work magick as usual. Its not uncommon to increase the mental speed and capacity of uploads once they are inside the web, and many have integrated themselves with semi-autonomous programs to function better. They have no ties at all to their old bodies, which tend to die fairly quickly anyway. Uploads exist only in the web, and must interact with the physical world through interfaces and devices connected to the web. It is also possible to download a mind into a body, but this often causes problems with the mind already present. Blank clone-bodies work very well for this use, and according to rumors the Virtual Adepts, Iteration X and Progenitors work together in secret to perfect the processes of uploading/downloading.

Imprison Dream Body (Dreamer) The Dream Masters can sever

the link between a dreamer and his body. As long as he doesn't find his way back, he will not be able to awaken in any way, and if he is killed in the dreams he will die (the body will remain alive but in coma). This is used by unscrupulous Dreamers and other beings to imprison sleepers in the Chimerae, often in a dream controlled by the mage. Since most sleepers are rather helpless in the dreamworlds, they are easy prey for this.

Break the Chains of Wakefulness (Dreamer) To actually leave

one's body completely behind and permanently take up residence in the dreaming is a dream most Dreamers share. While some Dreamers accidentally do this as their bodies are killed during sleep or taken over by other beings, they find they quickly loose power and begin to fade away along with their dreams. The only way to survive is to have some very powerful Dreamer dream them constantly into existence. The Dream Lords are naturally only too happy to help them out, in exchange for eternal service. The Dream Masters who actually leave their bodies behind are however independent, and can act freely. This naturally makes many Dream Lords irritated, and they sometimes test new arrivals by sending their nightmares against them.

Prime
The Blazing Light (Prime 5 Forces 3) This rote was invented by the
Celestial Chorus to protect itself from hostile Pattern-magick from

Order of Hermes. The mage simply holds his fire aloft and infuses it with divinity from his holy symbol. It will shine with an intense white glow, blinding anybody looking straight at it. Everything seems to be pale and insubstantial in comparison. Much magick become weak and powerless in its harsh glow and vampires, evil mages and other denizens of the dark shun away. [The rote works by channelling almost all free quintessence into the light. This drains pattern magick and makes all attempts to manipulate Prime (except to strengthen the fire) much harder. Each success increases difficulties for magick with one and removes one success from all Pattern or Prime magick. Beings who contain quintessence will feel it slowly drain from them, making them very uncomfortable (each success will drain one point of Quintessence/Blood each turn). ]

Partial Reconciliation (Prime 5 Correspondence 5 Time 5 Entropy 5

Spirit 5) This utterly powerful ritual is more a legend than a fact. According to the stories, some of the most powerful Choristers and Hermetics attempted this ceremony 1000 AD, to start the Reconciliation they expected would happen by the Millennium. Obviously they failed, and vanished themselves. The purpose of the ritual is to meld together all quintessence, all patterns, all time and space as one, purifying it from all imperfections and returning it to the primal state before creation. Although the Partial Reconciliation may not work on all of the universe (except maybe when performed by the whole of mankind together), it can certainly affect a small part. It is not an offensive rote, but the supreme purification. In essence it returns a part of creation back to the One before its time. The horrendous paradox backlashes which have struck participants are cited as signs of the extreme hubris of this use.

Summoning Walk of the Enlightened (Akashic) While crossing

the forested mountains of Tibet for days without food or water, Blue Skin Brother Chang Ming came upon an Oracle performing a walking meditation. Silently, Ming stepped behind the Oracle and traced his footsteps; Chang Ming's mind was quick enough to make a mental map of the path for future record. The resulting Tome and those copied from it teach the way of the Summoning Walk of Enlightenment. By studying the record, the Doist learns to link his Avatar to the fast-sweeping currents of the Prime. However, Chang Ming was not ready for the depth of power that his newfound Style brought him. Ho Chow Fan, a Euthanatos mage, crumpled him to a mass of quivering flesh with the Bone Twisting Palm. Fortunately, with Chang Ming's last act of magick, he destroyed his copy of the Tome and kept it from falling into the hands of the Euthanatos.

[The Doist's Avatar fills with Quintessence, recharging his supply. The mage gains Quintessence at a rate of one per success.]

Tapping the Ley Line (Verbena) This rote allows the witch to drain
off some of the Quintessence that flows along Ley lines. [Each success gives the caster 1 pt of Quintessence]

Spirit
Rain of Fire and Brimstone (Spirit 5 Forces 2) This rote is a
classic, and like all classic rotes it is practically never used. The mage simply opens a gate to the Realm of Fire (close to the Shard Realm of Forces) and lets the destructive power descend upon his enemies, buildings or whole cities. Of course, the gate must be big enough to let through the almost liquid fire. When the rote is used on a large scale, storming clouds will appear around the opening portal, and then a huge rain of destruction will fall on anything beneath. Lesser openings often appear as erupting craters or explosions. [Note that the mage has absolutely no control of what passes through the gate, and often extremely powerful and malevolent elementals or djinns escape. The destruction caused is untold, and is in no way dependent on the power of the mage, who only serves as gatekeeper.]

Rite of Null (Spirit 5 Correspondence 2) (Nephandi) This infamous

rite is performed at certain occasions by Nephandi mages who want to gain deeper insight into the Void. The participants dance around a pool of shadow, and the mage finally dances into the darkness. When performed, the mage immerses himself into the total Void which underlies all things and sees beyond. This experience invariably drives sleepers insane, and most mages become more or less unhinged by what they see or surmise of the truth.

Reaper (Prime 3, Spirit 5) (Euthanatos) Much of the Euthanatos

tradition's magick draws its energy from the dead. That is why Euthanatos cabals like to perform rituals in cemeteries and on burial mounds. No rote illustrates this better than the creation of a Reaper. Requiring a master of Spirit and a disciple of Prime to perform and preferably with many acolytes and disciples, the Reaper is not an easy rote and is done very rarely. Firstly the mages gather together in an area dominated by dead spirits, such as a very large graveyard, a battle-field or the site of some terrible disaster. (the most recent site

was a large field in China where hundreds of prisoners are regularly executed). The mages then begin to draw up the forgotten spirits of the dead. These pitiful, barely conscious things are gathered by the mages who slowly begin to weave them together. Slowly, over the course of the night, a patchwork monster of lost souls takes form. It is the essence of death and can produce only death. Using whatever magick they can to control it, the mages send it out to kill their enemies. In the past it has been sent after some powerful enemy or let loose to destroy whole villages or towns. It is important to understand that the Reaper is a near unstoppable force for death. It has, in historical times, decimated entire chantries. Physical barriers cannot stop it and only the most powerful or ancient of wards can keep it at bay. Nothing can fly faster than it. The strength of the Reaper depends upon the skill of the mages who created it and on where they performed the rote. Its strength is invariably vast however. The Reaper is a monstrosity and the spirits of which it is composed gradually fall away. Yet beyond a certain point, the Reaper begins to feed upon the spirits of those it murders, binding them into its own being. At this `critical mass' point it is best to simply give up attempts at restraining the monster and head for the nearest horizon realm. [Many successes are required to create a Reaper. More successes create a stronger Reaper provided the spirits are available), but too few successes simply cause the entity to fall apart into hundreds of separate spirits.]

Time
Strengthen Destiny (Time 5 Prime 2 Entropy 2 Correspondence 2)
Some of the most powerful cultists are not content merely to watch the flow of history, they want to direct it. When they see a tendency they like, they perform elaborate ecstatic rituals to fuel the causal chains supporting it and increase the chance it will grow. This will help the development through random events and "the flow of history". Some cultists claim that woodstock was such and ritual to fuel the whole of the 60's. Others whisper that the Technocracy is doing the same thing on a global scale, to ensure their total victory.

Time Loop (Correspondence 2, Spirit 4, Time 5) This rote is used

when something so disruptive to the timeline is being used or created. This rote separates their world from the rest of the timeline, so that their influence will not affect the flow of history.

[This rote raises the Gauntlet of a target Realm to 10, essentially cutting it off from the Umbra. There is presently no way to actually destroy]

Fan-shaped Destiny (Cultists) (Time 5 Correspondence 3) This

rote is reputed to have been invented by the Dealy Lama many millennia ago, although the venerable sage of course only jokes about it when questioned. The mage sits in his temple, breathing incense doped with hashish. Gradually his vision of time and space broadens, until he can see all the different futures in their totality. He can then pick and choose what futures will come to be, by seeing exactly what events are needed to bring them about, or how to avoid them. One of the main problems with this rote is that once the mage begins to see existence at this level, he quickly begins to realise how insignificant most events truly are. Instead of caring about the obvious problems, he will begin to explore the far futures in search for ever better solutions, which often are extremely long-range plans. [The number of successes denotes how far into the future the mage can see and comprehend. He then has to roll more successes with his willpower with a difficulty of 8, or become lost in contemplation. ]