From: Alistair J. R. Young <avatar-use...@ar ane.demon.co.

u > Subject: Re: GURPS Mage, Wizards, and Compartmentalized Mind question Date: 1999/02/28 Message-ID: <c1.2b8.2PrYlT$22f@esther.ar ane.net> X-Deja-AN: 449551513 X-NNTP-Posting-Host: ar ane.demon.co.u :158.152.145.208 Sender: avatar-use...@esther.ar ane.net X-Disclaimer: The opinions below ARE my company's, because I OWN it! References: <36D4B9EB.E5C73E79@cmq.com> <19990226204610.28253.00000304@ngol02.ao l.com> X-Wanted: Developers to wor on the architecture and code of a new object-, netw or - and neatstuff-oriented free operating system. Mail <request-la...@ar ane.de mon.co.u > if interested. X-License: For copyright and related information, please see: http://www.ar ane. demon.co.u /avatar/postcopy.html X-PGP-1: id=0x6A7AB399; fprnt=5C 27 43 25 6B 32 4D 6E E7 69 EC 7B 77 46 13 92 X-PGP-2: Mail pgp ey-ava...@ar ane.demon.co.u for my public ey. X-Complaints-To: abuse@demon.net X-Why-PGP: Because some little fsc wit's forged stuff with my name on it, and I don't want to give them another chance. Only *I* get to besmirch my reputation! X-Trace: news.demon.co.u 920219379 nnrp-03:14332 NO-IDENT ar ane.demon.co.u :15 8.152.145.208 Organization: Ar ane Systems Ltd. Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.gurps -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----On 27 Feb 1999 01:46:10 GMT, in message <19990226204610.28253.00000...@ngol02.ao l.com>, JefWilson <jefwil...@aol.com> (== jefwilson) praised Shub-Internet thus: > In article <36D4B9EB.E5C73...@cmq.com>, Daniel <idcri...@cmq.com> writes: >> One of these days, just for the hell of >> it, I'm going to sit down and ta e the various spheres out to the >> tenth level. ;7 > If you even do that, send me the list. It would be great to give players of > list of: "this is what you _can't_ do." Well, thin ing of that, perhaps you might find some ideas for that in my own revised twelve-Sphere system. It only ta es them out to level six, though, but in the modifications to the lower levels and my sixes I'm sure you'll find a lot of stuff that they can't do... :) The problem was, after 6, you see, you just can't find things that the Spheres or conjunctions of them don't cover. (Except for Paradox manipulation. Which I don't thin should be allowed into them, anyway, but if you really, really need a Prime 10, I suppose.) Alistair (Extracts from:) THE TWELVE SPHERES Credits =======

Apart from the products of my own deranged mind, parts and suggestions for this document came from a variety of sources, principally: Fate Sphere. Modifications to the Prime, Entropy, and Fate Spheres. Modifications to Forces, Life, and Matter Spheres. Other modifications to Spheres. Changeling 2nd. Constantine Thomas <c.thom...@lancaster.ac.u > <bla e1...@technologist.com> Anders Sandberg <nv91-...@hemul.nada. th.se>

Largish chun s of text have been included from the descriptions of the Spheres in Mage 2nd, as given the various changes and clarifications made in this revision it would have been almost impossible to handle it with references or diffs; and, besides, it's pretty useless unless you already have Mage. If this doesn't count as 'fair use', I'm sure someone from White Wolf will tell me so. The Spheres =========== 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. Avatar Correspondence Entropy Fate Forces Life Matter Mind Prime Spirit Time Umbra

Avatar - -----Specialties: Soulbonds, Awa ening, Spirits, Binding, Gilgul 1 Sense Avatar 2 Spea with Avatar Touch Avatar 3 Create Epiphany Brief Awa ening Soul Lin 4 Call Avatar Bind Avatar 5 Force Awa ening Reweave Avatar Unbind Avatar Unma e Avatar 6 Cleanse Avatar Fragment Avatar Unite Avatar (Note: for this Sphere to be particularly useful, it is assumed that

everything which is sentient has an avatar - humans, werewolves and vampires (although theirs are different/altered), spirits, etc.) * Sense Avatar: ------------At this level the mage is able to sense the presence of the Avatars of others around him and whether they are sleeping or Awa ened; the strength of these Avatars, and the level at which they shape reality (Avatar rating and Arete, approx.). He is also able to sense the symbolic form of the Avatar (the form in which it manifests itself to its mage) - studying this can give clues to the Avatar's Essence, the mage's Nature, and for example, whether the mage is Marauder or widderslainte. ** Spea With Avatar: ------------------

Touch Avatar: ------------When used in conjunctional effects, this level of the Sphere allows the mage to weave other effects around his Avatar - for example, wards protecting him/it from the possibility of Gilgul or the Rebirth. *** Create Epiphany: ---------------This effect allows the mage temporarily to impose his state of greater enlightenment onto another mage of lesser achievement. Mages should ta e careful note that those who come to depend on this effect are wandering away from their path to Ascension. They will find themselves increasingly less able to attain greater understanding for themselves. (System: Using it, it is possible for him to temporarily increase the Arete of another mage by <successes>/3 (but *never* above his own Arete). Habitual users of this will find themselves increasingly failing in their See ings (ST control).) Brief Awa ening: ---------------This, in theory, allows the mage to Awa en the Avatar of anyone. In practice, however, this only permits Awa enings of very limited duration - most Sleepers are quite heavy Sleepers, and so cease to be Awa ened in fairly short order. In practice only long-term and very convinced Acolytes have any hope of achieving permanent Awa ening by this method. Note, however, that even a temporary Awa ening will have a profound and permanent - effect on a Sleeper's psyche; although she quic ly loses her ability to wor True Magic, she will never see the world in the same way ever again... Most Sleepers simply snap under the stress of this artificial

The mage can spea other mages.

freely with his Avatar, or with the Avatars of

epiphany; caution is advised to avoid producing insane mages. In general, a degree of mental flexibility and open-mindedness help cope successfully with this. Soul Lin : ---------This effect enables the mage to create and to brea lin s between Avatars, similar to those covered by the "Twin Souls" or "Avatar Companion" phenomena. It is possible that use of it could prevent the Avatars of Marauders from communicating with each other, and so brea up the strange coordination seen in so many Marauder attac s. **** Call Avatar: -----------Bind Avatar: -----------This level enables the mage to summon and bind the Avatar of another mage in a similar manner to a spirit. Or, just as usefully, bind an Avatar-fragment created by the level 6 Sphere. Note that a mage cannot perform magic when her Avatar is not with her; however, the externalised Avatar can use its power itself. Avatars that are bound into objects can be used in the manner of fetishes. Other than the lac of magery, the mage suffers no ill effects unless the binding of the Avatar to the mage is actually bro en. ***** Force Awa ening: ---------------The effects of this are very similar to those of Avatar 3, Brief Awa ening, save that the resultant Awa ening is permanent. Similar caution is required to avoid the production of insane mages - without some sort of framewor , the mind of the Awa enee is li ely to snap under the pressure. The less focused a person's belief in her paradigm is, the more successes are required to Awa en her, and the greater the deleterious effects on her mental stability. Also, the vast majority of mages who are forced Awa e will not be able to handle it, even if they would have been able had they been allowed to Awa en at their own rate. Reweave Avatar: --------------With sufficient successes, the mage can alter the Essence, Nature, etc. of another's avatar, create Spheres Inept, awa en Past Lives, and so forth. (The Nephandic rebirth is Qlippothic Avatar 5. Rumours that the NWO use similar effects to reshape their captives in Mecha into the Pattern essence are totally without foundation. Really.) Unbind Avatar: --------------

This enables a mage to snap the binding between a mage and his Avatar, allowing the Avatar to continue on its journey. This is, essentially, the most minor Gilgul. Unma e Avatar: -------------This level of the Avatar sphere is necessary to enable a mage to perform Gilgul. Some also argue that this is necessary in order to completely destroy a spirit... ****** Cleanse Avatar: --------------This allows a mage to cleanse an Avatar of distortions it has pic ed up in its incarnations - Spheres Inept, strong Past Lives, Echoes, and so forth. Perhaps, even, with enough successes it would be possible to undo the Nephandic Rebirth, and cleanse the Avatar of a widderslainte or barabbi. (Of course, in the case of a barabbi they would still be the same person who became Nephandus in the first place, but some Euthanatos might consider it an appropriate prelude to the Good Death.) Fragment Avatar: ---------------Now the mage can divide her Avatar (or another's) into two, creating a smaller Avatar that is Awa ened and has some use of her magical ability (but not her memories). The one created has the same Essence and Nature as the 'parent' mage. (System: The shard created can have Arete and Avatar ratings up to half those of the parent mage, rounding down. The Arete and Avatar given to the shard are deducted immediately from those of the parent mage, with all normal effects of losing either.) This can be useful - remember, a mind or AI created with the Mind sphere has no soul and certainly cannot be Awa ened. This allows a mage to get around this problem - at the cost of wea ening his own Avatar. Of course, the shard-Avatar can be bound into more or less anything, just as a spirit can. But even an ensouled and Awa e boulder is still a boulder, and unli ely to do much. If the shard is bound into a cloa of ephemera it becomes a free-roaming spirit that can be manipulated with Spirit as well as Avatar magics. The effect of this is identical to the relation between spirits and their broods - by doing it, you create a Gaffling, or even a Jaggling, of _you_. (Mages with power enough to spare to create their own Incarna are probably indistinguishable from Umbrood anyway. Mages who thin they can create Celestines have lost it totally.) Unite Avatar: -------------

This effect is the precise opposite of Fragment Avatar - it allows the mage to merge two Avatars together, one of which may be her own. (System: The Avatar rating of the gestalt is that of the two Avatars involved added together; the Arete is the higher of the two + 1. Unless the Avatars involved are such as the shattered shards of an Avatar left by the Embrace or a shard previously removed from another, the mergence will have some of the nastier side-effects of vampiric diablerie - namely, the whole will contain elements of both previous parts. [This is mainly for when it is used on the Avatars of living mages - highest willpower controls the gestalt, the other exists as a subpersonality, 'voice in his head', whatever and may challenge for control when the main is low on willpower; if the willpowers are close, you have a split personality.]) Some factions of the Celestial Chorus say that this effect is a wonderful thing, and the means eventually to reunite the scattered Avatars of mages once again into the Pure Ones, and finally into the One. Most others say that this effect is considerably less wonderful than that, and quite possibly evil in nature (despite its not being Qlippothic) - no more than the magely equivalent of Diablerie. Nonetheless, most agree that it can be useful for reconstructing the shattered Avatars of those who have undergone Gilgul or the vampiric Embrace... or even creating a single strong avatar from the chipped-off shards of those of a number of mages. Mages who thin they can merge an Incarna or Celestine into themselves in this way have, again, lost it totally. A harsh lesson in who gets to be dominant soon follows. Correspondence - -------------Specialties: Conjuration, Scrying, Warding, Teleportation, Opening 1 Immediate Spatial Perceptions 2 Correspondence Perceptions Touch Space 3 Shift Through Space Seal Gate Co-locality Perception 4 Conjoin Localities Co-locate Self 5 Mutate Localities Co-location 6 Alter Dimensionality Wide-Area Effects * Immediate Spatial Perceptions: -----------------------------At this stage, the mage gains a een understanding of how objects and space relate. She can intuitively sense distances between objects, find true north (or any other direction) and sense things in her immediate vicinity without using the normal five senses. This new sense also allows her to detect spatial instabilities, warps, and wormholes.

** Correspondence Perceptions: --------------------------The mage may now extend her senses beyond her immediate vicinity to distant or hidden locations. Any of the senses can expand this way. However, most mages feel that such magical perceptions thin the barriers between the two points in space, creating a wea ness in the Tapestry (li e those a ran one effect can spot). Touch Space: -----------Luc ily, the mage may also re-wor the fabric of space, reinforcing the Tapestry and creating a barrier to hinder scrying or the opening of actual rifts. This wor s li e countermagic, deducting successes for each success. In conjunction with Pattern 2 (ran 2 of any pattern Sphere), the mage may also grasp small items - house cat-sized or smaller - and pull them through the Tapestry, conjuring them from "nowhere". *** Shift Through Space: -------------------The mage now gains the strength to ma e a small rent in the Tapestry, so small that only the mage herself - and whatever she holds or carries - may slip through before it seals. Wor ing with the other Spheres, a mage may also grasp items governed by the Pattern magics and slide them through space, performing levitation and tele inesis. Seal Gate: ---------She may also seal such rents or prevent them from opening, though the greater the rift, the more difficult the feat. Co-locality Perception: ----------------------At this level, a mage also learns to sense multiple locations at once, perceiving the various scenes as several ghostly landscapes overlapping one another. **** Conjoin Localities: ------------------The Adept may now create larger rents in the Tapestry to transport other beings and large objects and forces. With enough successes (10+), she may even force the rent wide enough to ma e a permanent gateway. Co-locate Self: --------------The mage may now manifest physically in multiple locations at once, though she should also use Mind 1 if she wants to thin effectively in all of them, and Life 2 if she wants her multiple selves to perform

separate actions. ***** Mutate Localities: -----------------A Master of Correspondence learns how to distort space. She can affect distances and sizes around her, stretching them and thin ing them to fit her needs. In scientific terms, the mass of objects cannot be changed, but their volumes and dimensions are li e potter's clay. This power is limited by the topology of the affected object - a doughnut could be distorted into a cup by this, for example, but it would remain an object containing a single hole. Co-location: -----------She may also stac locations on top of one another in a bizarre landscape of multiple forms or connect a variety of items together. At this point, the Master's perceptions are so wildly expanded that her mundane perceptions may be enhanced beyond the normal human maximum. ****** Alter Dimensionality: --------------------This enables the mage to play with the dimensional characteristics of a given area of space - an ordinary room with three spatial dimensions could be made four- or five- dimensional, or compressed down to two dimensions. Dimensions can also be compressed, expanded, or twisted to suit the mage. Wonderful for mazes, or those who want to create rooms that don't just *loo * li e an Escher painting. Using conjunctional effects with Matter and Life, objects can be affected - spheres made into hyperspheres or collapsed into circles, people made two-dimensional, etc...) Wide-Area Effects: -----------------By s ilful use of co-locative magic, the mage now becomes able to spread an effect over more than one target; for example, a Avatar 3/Correspondence 6 effect could be used to temporarily Awa en a large crowd, or even an entire city with sufficient successes. Entropy - ------Specialties: Order, Chaos, Destruction 1 Sense Strengths & Wea nesses Sense Order & Disorder 2 Control Randomness in Closed Systems 3 Diffuse Energy/Contain Energy Decay Matter/Preserve Matter Control Randomness in Open Systems 4 Wither Life/Preserve Life Control Randomness in Organisational Systems 5 Decay Thought/Preserve Thought Reverse Entropy 6 Control Randomness in Abstract Systems

Chaos Theory * Sense Strengths & Wea nesses: ----------------------------Disciples of Entropy learn to examine each thing and discern its strengths and wea nesses, examining what it is and what it does. Sense Order & Disorder: ----------------------Sense Order and Disorder allos the mage to sense the amount of disorder in a system, and to see which parts of the system are the most ordered and which are the most disordered. Given this nowledge, the mage can sense if a loc has some defect, or if a gun will misfire. Chance, however, is a fic le thing. These insights are not perfect, just advanced. The ability to judge certainties and li elihoods is quite useful. Pressure points and opportunities become obvious to one who nows their patterns. This may not have any dramatic effects, but once you understand an enemy's strengths and wea nesses, it doesn't ta e Sun Tzu to determine a combat strategy or Lucretia Borgia to figure out a subterfuge. General: Control Randomness - --------------------------Now that the the wor ings of chance have been studied, the dominoes of probability may be pushed. Disciples learn control over probability by studying where it concentrates. Phenomena as diverse as card shuffling, dice rolling, mar et fluctuations, traffic jams, lost mail and roulette wheels teach the mage to identify order in chaos, chaos in order and the paths of probability. This gives the mage amazing, yet subtle control over hundreds of small events. He can control whom a waiter will serve first, who pic s the shortest straw, who wins a coin toss or finds the one bullet in a chamber, etc. He can determine the outcome of any event which would normally be random. Once he discerns which apparently random events are in fact predetermined, he can then manipulate other eventualities to his own ends. (In my metaphysics, some events are guided by destiny, but most are left to random chance. The more an event is destined - for example, the fate of a mage with a high Destiny - the less affectable it and the objects involved in it are by Entropy.) (System: add the Destiny of the involved party to the difficulty?) There's a limit to this control; the greater the probability he tries to affect, the more difficult the act becomes. Determining a coin-toss is simple magic. Determining the toss of the same coin 100 times in succession becomes correspondingly more difficult. Hexing a pac of cards to deal a royal flush is in the realm of possibility, but ordering a shuffled dec such that each comes out as if it had never been shuffled is a miracle probably not worth the bother. At first, the mage may only control randomness in Closed Systems:

** Control Randomness in Closed Systems: ------------------------------------A Closed System is one in which there is a definite, finite probability of an event occurring, as a result of the isolation of the system from external influences. Tossing a coin creates one of the most basic Closed Systems - there is a one in two chance that the coin will land heads or tails. Other examples include the shuffling of a pac of cards, and a game of Russian Roulette - in the latter, there is a one in six chance that the firing chamber of the revolver will contain the bullet (which the Mage can affect). If disorder was increased in a system where two dice were rolled thousands of times, it is possible that no consecutive roll will be the same. Similarly, if a pac of playing cards (arranged in order of suit and number) was ta en and shuffled once, it would appear as if it had been shuffled hundreds of times. If disorder was decreased in the systems described above, rolling the two dice would always resulted in the same number, even if rolled several thousand times. In the pac of cards example, the dec could be shuffled a thousand times but there would still be only one or two cards displaced if the disorder was decreased. *** Diffuse Energy / Contain Energy: -------------------------------Decay Matter / Preserve Matter: ------------------------------Inanimate objects and tangible forces, as Patterns of order, are the most subject to the forces of Entropy. Machines are especially susceptible to this phenomena. Cloc s wind down, engines brea , warranties expire and all things eventually fray and decay. A Disciple of Entropy can "fix" this deterioration, causing new television sets to blow a fuse while old jun er cars mysteriously still run years after they should have fallen apart. Roc s may also be caused to erode and teapots to chip and shatter, but as Entropy is a slow and gradual process, the only things which can be affected instantly are those, such as machines, which have thousands of intricate moving parts. Control Randomness in Open Systems: ----------------------------------This ability wor s in the same manner as the second ran 'Control Randomness', save that at this ran the mage is able to affect Open Systems: An Open System is one where probability is being continually affected by variable outside influences - however, the mage cannot affect the chance of a specific event occurring. Instead, he can flood a system with chaos (or reduce its effect in a system), ma ing it generally more or less random in its operation. The mage has little control over exactly how this randomness will manifest itself. For example, a mage being chased over an unstable wooden bridge can use Entropy to affect the Open System that is the chance of the bridge collapsing. By manipulating the probabilities of this happening, the mage can cause the bridge to collapse just when the people chasing him are about halfway across.

Decreasing disorder in a machine would ma e it wor more efficiently and more predictably -- circuit brea ers trip when they should, bac -doors into computer systems become inaccessible, phone exchanges route their calls to the correct destinations, and so on. **** Wither Life / Preserve Life: ---------------------------The Effects of Entropy, order and probability are far more complex when dealing with living organisms, due to living beings' complex and self-corrective nature. If a robot overtaxes itself and stresses its wor ings, it runs down until someone repairs it. A man who overtaxes himself will heal given time and care, and may even grow stronger. Adepts of Entropy study how life forms begin, mature, wither, and die. They also observe the hundreds of factors which affect the course of life, from the effects of heredity to the stresses of evolution and growth. The Adept learns how to influence the random factors of life, giving her immense power either to destroy it or affect its development. These Arts affect probability, not Life Patterns themselves. Control Randomness in Organisational Systems: --------------------------------------------This ability wor s in the same manner as the second ran 'Control Randomness', save that at this ran the mage is able to affect Organisational Systems: An Organisation is a peculiar system in that it combines elements of both Closed and Open Systems. An 'Organisation' is here defined as a collection of individual components that interact in a complex manner - - thus bureaucracies, society and even the human body are Organisations. They are meta-organisms, comprising many individual entities (sometimes millions). In all Organisations, there is a rigid framewor in which it operates - the hierarchy of employees, the daily routine, etc. - which ma es it a Closed System. However, anything can happen within that framewor as the organisation interacts with the outside world - employees can arrive late or call in sic , rival companies can put in a ta e-over bid, a new contract can be signed, wars can start and so on - which ma es it a in to an Open System. As such, Organisations are more difficult to magically affect, but once a mage has a foothold, the rewards and the possibilities are endless. Increasing disorder in (for example) a busy restaurant could result in tables never being served by waiters, coo s calling in sic on busy days, health inspectors arriving, customers complaining, waiters tripping up while carrying food etc. Decreasing disorder may result in tables always being served as soon as they are ta en by customers, employees calling in on time, and everything generally running li e cloc wor . ***** Decay Thought / Preserve Thought:

Increasing disorder in an open system (such as the machine) could result in computer crashes, circuit for no reason (while others fail to trip when they power surges), corruption of computer data, and so

operation of a brea ers tripping should causing on.

--------------------------------Masters of Entropy expand their control over reality by studying the ways in which ideas change over time. The effects of the natural order of things on objects are fairly clear and indisputable, but the fact that chaos affects intelligent thought seems farfetched. Yet everything which is organised is subject to the laws which govern order and chaos, be it the structure of a molecule of an organised body of nowledge. Where the Masters of Mind rudely subject the minds of others to their own will, however, masters of Entropy merely point out things that will stri e a person a particular way and let his thoughts follow the natural progression to other possibilities. Masters of Entropy who specialise in chaos can shatter a person's worldview simply by ma ing a few weird comments (or can at least confuse him), while those specialising in order can present logical arguments which can advance a person's conscious or subconscious thoughts to some higher (or at least different) set of ideas. Reverse Entropy: ---------------This ran also permits the mage to reverse entropy - effectively 'rewinding' an event through time [although time still passes in the normal way.] With this, the mage could cause the in in in y water to return into a drop of in , a cloud of smo e to diffuse bac into the smo e grenade, and so forth. It causes disorder to evolve bac into order, contrary to the normal state of existence.) ****** Control Randomness in Abstract Systems: --------------------------------------This ran of Entropy is similar to ran s 2, 3, and 4 in that it allows the mage to affect the order and disorder in systems; however it allows the mage to affect any system, even those which are normally outside of change. Now the mage can affect the organisation of such things as abstract ideas, time, space, and magic itself. Chaos Theory: ------------This ran of gives the mage control over systems containing /billions/ of variables - a good example of this is the infamous Butterfly Effect. In Chaos Theory, the final outcome of an event can be radically changed by the slightest alteration of its starting conditions. At this level, the mage is actually aware of precisely what must be done to guide the system into the desired outcome. This allows him, for example, to control the weather or affect events in the future by modifying their starting conditions. Fate - ---Specialities: Fate, Blessings, Curses 1 Sense Fate & Fortune Detect Lin 2 Augury

3 4 5 6

Concealment Examine Web Affect Predictable Patterns Affect Lin s Affect Life Speed/Slow Destiny Affect Thought Geas/Ban ???

* Sense Fate & Fortune: --------------------The Disciple of Fate begins to sense the current of Destiny, and can discern what is significant and what is not, and what is true or untrue. Given this nowledge, the mage can pic a luc y horse, choose the original between two identical items, or see who is doomed in an upcoming battle. Fate, however, is fic le. These insights, as those of Entropy, are not perfect. Detect Lin : -----------Detect Lin enables the mage to find the connections between things. For example, a cuddly toy is connected to a particular child, or a pac et of drugs is connected to both a local dealer (the supplier) and a street rat (the buyer). Note that this does not allow the mage to determine *how* the things are connected; it only allows him to sense the connection itself. Successes 1 2 3 4 5

** Augury: -------

Concealment: -----------Concealment allows the mage to ward someone against either the detection of their destiny - or even if they have one at all -, or the connections that they have with others. It is common for powerful mages to use this to avoid being lin ed with their plots. (If a mage uses it on himself, lin s between him and an object are concealed not only when he is analysed with Fate 1/2 but also when the object is.) Examine Web: ------------

Augury allows you specifically than specific sight of the direction the

to sense an object or person's destiny more the general sense. Unli e Time 2, this is not the possible future, merely a symbolic indication of force of destiny is pushing in.

Effect Sense connection Sense connection Sense connection Sense connection Sense connection

to to to to to

mage only. those mage nows. object. total stranger. concept.

Examine Web allows the mage to examine the target in a more specific way - this could example, to discover the possible outcomes possible influences on an individual... Of miss connections by being too specific, or information if he isn't specific enough. *** Affect Predictable Patterns: ----------------------------

web of connections about a allow the mage, for of an event, or the course, the mage may easily be overwhelmed by useless

A Disciple of Fate may curse or bless an object (a Matter or Forces pattern), or lay a Destiny upon it. Using a conjunctional effect with Matter 2, or Forces 2/4, the mage may imbue a physical object, affecting the course of its destiny and of those who come in contact with it. A blessed loc et may ta e a bullet intended for its wearer, though he may later die a glorious death in battle. Time 2 allows more of a say in such events, but even then, they may not be certain. Affect Lin s: ------------Affect Lin s permits the mage to forge or brea the connections between things, such as those he detected with the first ran . These lin s are those of sympathy and contagion which may be used with Correspondence, in addition to being traceable with Fate 1 and 2. **** Affect Life: -----------With this, an Adept of Fate can weave a potent spell over a living being's Destiny, blessing or cursing him and his line. Other Spheres may be woven into such a charm, creating hereditary magical gifts or flamboyant curses. These Arts affect fate, not Life Patterns themselves. Speed / Slow Destiny: --------------------This ran allows the mage to direct the forces of destiny toward or away from the target. While the actual flow of time does not alter, destined events in the target's future may be brought to occur sooner or later than they otherwise would have. The caster has no or little control over the outcome, unless he has previously used another Fate effect to alter the target's destiny. Even if this is the case, that may not necessarily be the destiny that is brought to pass or prevented, if the target has another stronger destiny. ***** Affect Thought: --------------Masters of Fate may affect thoughts as Disciples can objects and Adepts living beings. This supreme magic directs the force of Wyrd into a mental concept, creating a "happy thought" or "cursed idea", which brings Fate or Fortune to bear on those who concentrate upon it, possibly extinguishing or exalting the thought. This may lead to paradigm shifts, new faiths, or insanity. Geas / Ban:

----------By the use of conjunctional effects to provide suitable consequences, the Master of Fate may afflict a being with a Geas (a compulsion to underta e some tas ) or Ban (a forbidding from doing something). ****** ??? Forces - -----(Oh, gods, the Forces sphere. After much trouble and strife, I have for the moment withdrawn from the unequal struggle of finding a paradigm-invariant way of dividing forces into two bloc s, in favour of just describing them as 'higher' and 'lower' forces. Pic your own definitions - the magnitude division from Mage 2nd, the lesser/major forces division from Mage 1st, divide concrete from abstract forces, or whatever... It might well vary between paradigms anyway?) Specialties: Elements (any or all), Technology, Physics, Weather 1 Perceive Forces 2 Control Lower Forces 3 Spawn Lower Forces Transmute Lower Forces 4 Control Higher Forces 5 Solidify Forces Spawn Higher Forces Transmute Higher Forces 6 Create Forces Quic en Forces Wide-Area Forces * Perceive Forces: ---------------The mage discerns the movements of energy. By identifying their Patterns, she can perceive all types of energy flows, sensing wavelengths far beyond the limited range of visible light and sonic frequencies upon which normal mortals rely. The mage may see anything from infrared light to x-rays to gravity waves. Even in the absence of such positive forces, some mages have learned how to perceive colours in dar ness, sense stillness and hear volumes from silence. ** Control Lower Forces: --------------------*** Spawn Lower Forces: ------------------Transmute Lower Forces: ----------------------**** Control Higher Forces: ---------------------***** Solidify Forces: ----------------

The Master of Forces can imbue patterns with of force with characteristics normally associated with Matter patterns. One characteristic of Forces is that, while powerful and destructive, the are also easily diverted and destroyed. A Master can 'solidify' a pattern of forces, ma ing it stable and lasting. Such forces can power perpetual motion machines without resorting to a mage continuously regenerating the Pattern, or be used to fashion barriers, weapons, and tools. Some forces are naturally solidified, such as gravity. Spawn Higher Forces: -------------------Transmute Higher Forces: -----------------------****** Create Forces: -------------The Archmaster of Forces may create entirely new varieties of forces (e.g. sound that travels in a vacuum, fire that freezes, magnetism that wor s on plastic, etc.) Quic en Forces: --------------The Archmaster may also imbue Forces patterns with some of the characteristics normally associated with Life patterns. Alternately, the master may set up a tric le of Quintessence (requiring Prime 2) into a Forces pattern. Such 'quic ened' patterns have some of the characteristics of living things. Some forces are naturally quic ened, such as fire. With a conjunctional Mind effect, such 'entities' can be programmed to move, react, assimilate other patterns and even reproduce themselves. It is even possible for a spirit (usually one aspected to forces) to inhabit such a 'body.' Wide-Area Forces: ----------------The mage learns to act as a catalyst for larger forces, rather than influencing them directly. This allows him to create or influence phenomena for miles around - while Forces 3 may conjure a hurricane, Forces 6 can conjure a storm front across a continent. Life - ---Specialties: Shapeshifting, Disease, Healing, Improvement, Cloning, Creation 1 Sense Life 2 Alter Simple Patterns Influence Self 3 Alter Self Influence Life Transform Simple Patterns Create Simple Patterns

4 Alter Complex Patterns Transform Self 5 Transform Complex Patterns Create Complex Patterns Perfect Metamorphosis 6 ??? Perfectly Metamorphose Other * Sense Life: ----------The mage begins his study by identifying Patterns of Life. By reading these Patterns, he can learn a lot about a life form - its age, its sex, and every aspect of its health. With this awareness, the mage can also sense different forms of life nearby. ** Alter Simple Patterns: ---------------------Life manipulation begins with the simplest living Patterns. A mystic can alter the structure of basic life forms now, from microscopic viruses and bacteria to creatures as complex as insects and shellfish (as a good rule of thumb, any invertebrate is considered a simple Life Pattern). All plant life, from algae to sequoia trees, possess Life Patterns simple enough for the mage to manipulate. The mage can only influence these simple Patterns at this level; he can heal simple creatures or ill them, cause crabs to sprout extra legs, trees to bear fruit or bees to release the pheromones which signal a swarm. Whatever he does, the creatures themselves remain what they always were - he can mutate them, but not transform them. Influence Self: --------------The mage also begins to understand the most complex Patterns of Life, beginning with the one most familiar to him, his own. At this stage, he may only affect the normal processes of his own pattern (such as healing, but by no means limited to that) - slowing or hastening them, adjusting them relative to each other (altering hormone levels or nerve impulses, for example), or even initiating them or stopping them entirely, or ma e instant corrections or disruptions to his pattern, to heal or to harm. *** Alter Self: ----------At this ran , the mage can alter his own Pattern, ma ing subtle improvements and variations as he did with simple Patterns at Life 2. He cannot substantially change what he is, but can change his gender or appearance or physically modify his body to grow claws, fur, gills, etc. Influence Life: --------------The mystic begins to understand other more complex organisms now, and may influence the patterns of other beings as he did himself at the previous ran .

Transform Simple Patterns: -------------------------Create Simple Patterns: ----------------------Simple Patterns are now his to command; he may turn them inside-out, change one into another or even create them entirely from other Patterns, through conjunctional effects involving Forces, Matter, or Prime. The mage can change wildfire into wildflowers, glass grapes into living fruit or the Platonic ideal butterfly into its living counterpart. Unfortunately, any life form he creates has no mind beyond what it held before. However, for simple life forms, especially plants, this fault is virtually irrelevant. Even creatures such as crabs or insects can be imbued with some instinctive reflexes that serve for intelligence in the absence of a true mind. **** Alter Complex Patterns: ----------------------A mage who reaches this ran can change the structure of any complex Life Patterns, including those of other sentient beings. As with Life 2, the creatures subjected to this magic still retain their original form, but radical variations on that basic form are still possible. Transform Self: --------------A Life Adept can alter her form to resemble another living being of approximately the same size and mass. She may become a deer, but not a mouse. Special abilities - water breathing, flight, etc. - do not carry over at this level without additional Life effects, and moving around in the new form will ta e getting used to. More naturalistic Traditions compensate for this shortcoming by wor ing instinct into the basic form. A mystic ris s losing her mind entirely this way, however. Some have found themselves trapped in the shape of panthers or dolphins, and have only freed themselves when they encountered something which reminded them of what they truly were. ***** Transform Complex Patterns: --------------------------A Master of Life can transform others as she transformed herself at the previous ran . At this level, she can attain any form she desires and alter others the same way. This carries its own problems. A higher being transformed into a lower one tends to trade intelligence for survival instincts, while a lower life form changed into a higher one has similar problems. Getting such creatures to stand on two legs, let alone spea , requires a long period of instruction or a conjunctional effect with Mind 3. Perfect Metamorphosis: ---------------------The perfect metamorphosis a Master achieves has no such problems. A mage who shapeshifts at this level carries her mind and Arts with

her. Whatever she becomes, that form is as natural as the one she was born into. Create Complex Patterns: -----------------------At this level, the mage also gains a most unique power, which some might hold as divine: He can weave a new Pattern to create any life form, even a human body, using conjunctional magic to translate it from energy, matter, or pure Quintessence with the appropriate ran of Forces, Matter or Prime. Unfortunately, the life form created has no mind or soul beyond the base material or the Resonance it carries. Consequently, many mages prefer to create a new being out of Prime Force, certain that it possesses no mind or soul beyond what the mystic gives it. This might seem pointless, but mages have found various uses for such soulless shells. Some create new forms of life merely to study how new "improvements" might effect their living bodies, while others imbue these soulless lifeforms with preprogrammed reactions that mimic instinctual intelligence. Empty hus s ma e ideal resting places for spirits and astral forms as well. Most spirits can manifest in an empty body (or even possess occupied bodies) and interact with the physical world. A mage who helps an Umbrood across this way can demand favours and expect to get them. Masters of both the Life and Mind Spheres can untether their psyches and create new bodies for their own astral forms to fill, while those adept at Avatar have devised a form of life insurance which involves reincarnating in new bodies when the old ones die. Such mages often leave a long trail of different identities behind them, attaining a degree of immortality. ****** ??? Perfectly Metamorphose Other: ----------------------------The mage may now apply the perfect metamorphosis available to the Masters of Life to other individuals. Matter - -----Specialties: Transmutation, Shaping, Conjuration, Complex Patterns 1 2 3 4 5 Matter Perceptions Alter Form Basic Transmutation Complex Transmutation / Quilted Forms Alter Properties Pattern Dissociation 6 Quic en Matter * Matter Perceptions: ------------------The Disciple of Matter begins by recognising the various Patterns of Matter, including the underlying structures that give objects their

shapes and physical properties. With these perceptions, she can detect things hidden from normal senses. In addition to sensing the composition and properties of Matter, the Disciple can discern structures hidden within structures; material no longer forms a barrier to her senses. ** Alter Form: ----------At the second ran of Matter, the mage can overpower the rigid Patterns of reality. By selectively altering different aspects of an object's Pattern, he can change its shape however he desires compressing it to increase its density and decrease its volume while retaining the same weight, inflating it so as to decrease its density and increase the volume, or temporarily changing the state so that solids become liquids or liquids become gas. Permanent changes in state require Ran 5. Note that changing the state with Matter in no way affects the actual temperature of the material. A mage who understands this ran may sculpt matter into any shape she pleases, limited only by the physical properties of the materials she uses. Bro en items may also be repaired seamlessly, if she has the mundane nowledge to do so. Note that when articles are created from the ether, those which contain highly energetic elements will require conjunctional effects. Radioactive elements and other highly energy-containing compounds such as explosives will require a conjunctional Forces effect to supply that aspect of the pattern (for example, creating matched plutonium spheres for an atom bomb will require Forces _6_. Similarly, producing a blac hole (a great recycler of patterns) will require Entropy. Simply producing organic materials, OTOH, does not require Life.) *** Basic Transmutation: -------------------The mage may transmute one substance into another, without changing its shape, temperature, or basic state - mil into cream, mahogany into oa , water to acid, or lead into gold. The more radical the transmutation, the more successes the spell requires. It's easier to change water into wine (one success) than into sulphuric acid (three), and more complicated to turn stones into bread (three successes) than sourdough into rye (one). With an understanding of Prime and the other Pattern magics, a mage may use conjunctional effects to transform items governed by Forces, Life or Prime into basic Patterns of Matter, including changing living beings into stone or spinning moonlight into thread. With Prime 2, she may harness the ether to create (or uncreate with Prime 4) any /simple, basic/ thing composed of /one common homogenous substance/. A quartz boulder shaped vaguely li e a woman is possible, but a dainty china shepherdess is not. With difficulty, a stic of plastique could be conjured (but not the detonator). A bowlful of oatmeal or even blueberry panca es could be made to appear, but not a baroque wedding ca e. The more rare and/or complex a given substance, the more difficult it is to create from pure ether. It's easier to create glass than diamonds and simpler to ma e flour than bread. Elaborate creations must wait until ran 4.

Ma ing things hotter or colder than they were originally, or to change one substance into another with a higher or lower potential energy, requires a conjunctional effect with Forces, though Matter alone can change ice into ice cream or boiling water into hot soup. Transmuting solids into liquids or liquids into gas requires either Matter 2 or the use of Forces 3/Prime 2 (or some mundane means) to boil or freeze the affected substance. **** Complex Transmutation / Quilted Forms: -------------------------------------Adepts of Matter may now perform radical changes to physical materials and craft complex and intricate items involving several common substances or one or two rare ones. Any sort of regular matter may be changed into any other - though as with ran 2, the more radical the transformation, the more difficult the feat. With conjunctional effects, the Patterns of Life, Forces or Prime itself may be transmuted into Matter, allowing mages to turn pump ins into gilded coaches, lightning bolts into swords, or the Quintessential ether into master eys. Complex organic creations are also possible, including sil ballgowns, roast chic ens and Persian rugs. ***** Alter Properties: ----------------At this pinnacle of understanding, Masters of Matter may create new substances which do not exist in nature by ta ing existing materials and altering their physical properties, such as boiling and melting points, density, ductility, transparency, viscosity, refractive index, etc. All the substances of legends and comic boo s are possible with this level of magic. Masters build castles with paper-thin walls and wear clothes of indestructible armour that feel softer than sil and weigh less than a feather. Pattern Dissociation: --------------------A sorcerer may even ma e one object immaterial to some other substance, creating bullets which can phase through armour and robots which may wal through walls, leaving the walls intact. This may even be extended to energies and living creatures using conjunctional effects. ****** Quic en Matter: --------------The Archmaster may also imbue Matter patterns with some of the characteristics normally associated with Life patterns. Alternately, the Archmaster may set up a tric le of Quintessence (requiring Prime 2) into a Forces pattern. Such 'quic ened' patterns have some of the characteristics of living things. This enables the mage to produce pseudoalive, self-repairing, self-sustaining, or self-reshaping materials such as 'living metal' or 'bioplastic'. Mind - ----

Specialties: Communication, Illusion, Self-Empowerment, Astral Travel 1 Sense Thoughts, Emotions & Resonance Empower Self Conditionals 2 Read Surface Thoughts Affect Resonance Mental Impulse Mental Shield 3 Mental Lin Wal Among Dreams 4 Control Surface Mind Astral Travel 5 Control Deep Mind Create Intelligence The Country of the Mind 6 Forge Psyche Untether * Sense Thoughts, Emotions & Resonance: ------------------------------------The mage begins to sense the thoughts and emotions in the air around her. She cannot yet read these thoughts, but can sense their strength and intensity, and somewhat of their general nature. This is not a true loo at the soul (that requires Spirit 1 and/or Avatar 1), but at the shell of emotional radiance that surrounds it. The mage may also read the psychic impressions left on objects. At this stage, she cannot read any actual thoughts or images, but can sense "goof" or "bad vibes" from an object or place. This includes the Resonance attached to Tass or the aura of a Quintessential wellspring at a Node or Juncture. Without Prime 1, she can't tell how strong such energies may be, but she'll be able to understand the best uses for such Quintessence. Empower Self: ------------At this level, the mage learns to master his own mind. As the mage explores the powers of his mind, he learns to develop eidetic memory. amazing computational speed, a type of multi-tas ing brain function, mind-over-body control of their autonomic responses, and many other such things. The Mind initiate also learns to influence her dreams and shield herself from the inevitable mental barrage of others' thoughts and emotions. With wor , she can hide her aura and shield her thoughts from casual observation - though determined and perceptive mages and other beings may still be able to read them. Conditionals: ------------The mage may create conditional, or contingency, effects in his spells. For example, a suspended animation spell could have a Sleeping Beauty clause, ending it at the iss of a prince, or a fire spell could be set to trigger when a door was opened. This requires the appropriate Spheres to sense the triggering condition. Other magical

effects could also be wor ed into the program as subroutines, to use the Virtual Adept terminology. By setting certain things in place - "This wall will turn to fire when someone leans on it, a [Correspondence 1/Life 1]/Mind 1/[Matter 3/Forces 3] effect (the first set of square brac ets are the sensory half, Mind 1 for the conditional, and the second set produce the result)" - entire artificial systems of magic ("Words of Power" and so forth) can be created with "clap on/clap off" functions, ma ing reliable static magic that anyone with the appropriate eys and access to the weavings can access. To eep such stored magic from being stolen by enemies, many mages have used Matter and/or Life to tie these to heirlooms and/or bloodlines, leaving their descendants a legacy of magical abilities. Eventually, of course, the magic is used up or the heirlooms are lost, so nothing lasts forever. Such "contingent" effects can be detected with the first ran of Mind or Entropy, though it ta es Mind 2 to truly fathom the effect's nature, and the full set of Spheres used to completely understand the effect's effects. (System: setting up a conditional effect requires at least three magic rolls - for the sensory effect(s) that will trigger the conditional, one for the conditional itself, and for the effects that will be triggered by the conditional.) ** Read Surface Thoughts: ---------------------The mage learns not only how to recognise thoughts, but how to read them. Two mages of this same ran can also form a primitive mental lin by dropping their shields and reading each other's surface minds. Affect Resonance: ----------------She can read memories "attached" to objects by others' minds (basic psychometry) and scan surface thoughts from unshielded minds. The greater the emotional content, the louder the "volume" and the easier it is to read such impressions. She can leave those same psychic impressions on objects or places intentionally, too, "creating" resonance. Mental Impulse: --------------The mage can also send such thoughts and emotions out ("loo ing daggers" or "blowing isses") until they find their target. Complex thoughts cannot be sent this way, but single words, images, or emotional impulses can be easily beamed into an unshielded being's subconscious mind. Such suggestions are much more insidious, and can often be more effective, than direct communication. Mental Shield: -------------The mage may also create more elaborate shields in her mind and disguise the colour of her aura, or erect a complex mental "window dressing" to fool other mentalists into underestimating or ignoring her. She can also control her dreams to some extent, though many aspects still lie beyond her influence.

*** Mental Lin : -----------The mage can now establish a clear lin between her own mind and the minds of others. She can use this lin for telepathic communications or invasions. The ability to project thoughts and images into another's mind allows a mystic to project false perceptions. At this ran , the mage has full command of perceptual illusions. Some teach means of projecting psychic disturbances into a subject's mind. These psychic assault ta e many forms, but their end goal is to turn the victim into a mental vegetable. Wal Among Dreams: -----------------The mage may now contact the minds of other dreamers in her sleep and begin to explore the Dream Realms. While wa ing, she may also use her abilities to enter the dreaming consciousness of others, though such trips are ris y. Some Sleepers have particularly rich dream lives, and even a mage who enters one may be at the dreamer's mercy. A number of spiritual entities also lair in dreams, and may be very territorial. **** Control Surface Mind: --------------------A Mind Adept can actually ta e over another person's mind and occupy his body for her own ends. His thoughts, should she will it, are not his own, but hers. Once this invasion has begun, she may control her victim directly, cure or cause insanity, change his memories or set up posthypnotic suggestions. The mage can overlay her subject's aura with another of a completely different colour and pattern. The victim may slowly recover as the deep mind reasserts the true memories, but the subject's Demeanour is usually irrevocably altered. Astral Travel: -------------The Adept can also leave her dreams behind and ma e excursions into the astral reaches. ***** Control Deep Mind: -----------------A Master of Mind rules not only his own mind, but other minds as well, both mortal and spirit. Through this power, he may invade not only the surface mind, but the underlying deep mind as well, completely rewriting the personality until the thoughts which compose the psyche bear no resemblance to anything that existed before, utterly changing the person's nature. The only integral part of the being which the mage may not touch is the Avatar and its memories of past lives, for to perform this requires also the Sphere of Avatar. The mage may also divorce a psyche from the body, switch minds between subjects and merge, copy or transfer the entire sum of a person's memories and nowledge from one body to another. His powers allow him to increase a subject's intelligence and wits to genius levels (5 dots) and may begin to increase his own beyond that.

Create Intelligence: -------------------The greatest power of a Master of Mind, however, is the ability to create conscious thought. A master may create another thin ing, rational mind where none existed before, expanding its intelligence and nowledge however she li es. However, at this ran the mind created is only an /intelligence/, not a /sentience/. It has a full measure of reason and logic (both deductive and inductive), but lac s innate creativity, emotional response (as part of this, it cannot possess a personality - only a *simulation* of a personality, at best), and self-awareness. It cannot grow beyond its initial constraints. The Country of the Mind: -----------------------to be written, based on Greg Bear's _Queen of Angels_... ****** Forge Psyche: ------------The Archmaster of Mind may finally create true sentience. He may create a sentient mind, with creativity, emotions, a personality, self-awareness, and the ability to grow and change li e any other sentient being. Computers and other inanimate objects - as well as the empty shells created by Masters of Life - may be given true sentience without granting them a soul (that would require the Avatar sphere). When such creatures are destroyed, however, their psyches tend to die with them as well. Untether: --------Complete astral existence is may still return to the body - - but need not. By using a his astral form in ephemera, possible for the Archmaster of Mind. He - his, another's, or any manufactured one conjunctional Spirit 4 effect, he may cloa and ta e on a new existence as a spirit.

This astral travel may even allow a s illed mage to pass through the Vulgate entirely and reach the Epiphamies. Prime - ----Specialties: Channeling, Perceptions, Filling Patterns, Draining Patterns, Ley-Lines 1 Aetheric Senses Affect Own Quintessence Use Tass 2 Weave Odyllic Force Fuel Pattern 3 Affect Free Quintessence Crystallise Tass Minor Artificery (Weave Charm)

Lin ing 4 Affect Bound Quintessence Enchant Item Grand Artificery (Create Talisman) Unweaving 5 Alter Flow Infuse Relic Ma e Perpetual 6 Multiple Streams (Note: I use a modified terminology. Rather than 'Raw' and 'Free' Quintessence, I define it as either 'Bound', or 'Free'. Bound Quintessence is tied up in Patterns and the forms of things (or space, or time, or whatever). Free Quintessence is that which isn't in Patterns - it flows through living beings, along ley-lines, exists as the bac ground foam from which mages draw the energies for Pattern magic, pools at Nodes and crystallises as Tass.) * Aetheric Senses: ---------------At this ran of the Sphere, the mage gains perceptions of basic Quintessential energy - the nodes where it collects or wells up, the ley lines and dragon paths which traverse the globe between them, the Tass in which it crystallises, and the ebbs and flows which mar the Junctures, the times of greatest magic. He may also notice creatures and objects charged with arcane energy, although he will need Mind, Spirit or Avatar to perceive their particular aurae and souls, assuming that they possess them. Perceptions of Prime vary from mage to mage. Some see it as a clear, pure light or a shining matrix of white energy. Others perceive it as a dar and primal force, and see a matrix of blac against grey. Yet others claim that it is a distinct colour, neither blac nor white, while some hear it as the music of the Spheres or describe it as a tingle of magery in the air or a current flowing around them. Affect Own Quintessence: -----------------------This first ran also teaches the mage the essential art of being able to sense and affect the Quintessence of his own Pattern - being able to tell the depth and fullness of the well of free Quintessence within him, the strength of the flow through his Pattern; being able to ma e himself a receptacle into which free Quintessence may be poured; and, if need should be, being able to devour his own bound Pattern for its Quintessence. Use Tass: --------In addition, at the first ran the mage may use Tass by converting it directly to free Quintessence for use in his magery; however, without the third ran he still cannot channel it directly into his own or another pattern, but can only use it to empower his wor ings. ** Weave Odyllic Force: -------------------The mage of the second ran attains some control over the shifting

patterns of Prime force and essential energy. She can divert small streams to flow differently through the cosmos or reweave them to create Platonic ideals, items composed solely of Prime and visible to those with arcane senses. Fuel Pattern: ------------Such items exist in the aetheric, spiritual, and astral planes all at once. When the mage conceives of an object, it ta es on some degree of solidity. By placing a framewor of bound Quintessence around his concept (and in the case of Life patterns, setting up a flow of free Quintessence through the object), the mage may ma e it real transform it into a physical form. Creating things /ex nihilo/, therefore, obviously requires the second ran of Prime. However, simple modification, healing or repair of existing patterns does not require it, as this is done by altering the pattern directly with the Pattern spheres. *** Affect Free Quintessence: ------------------------At rare sites (Nodes) and on rare days (Junctures), primal force focuses into Primal energy. The resulting flow is free Quintessence and is necessary for mages and their magic: particularly in the creation of realms and arcane devices. At this ran , the mage is able to manipulate this which is not bound in Patterns; most notably to tap reservoirs of free Quintessence and is able to either channel this Quintessence into another pattern or realm, or to store it within his own, although it should be noted that it only allows Quintessence to be transferred from one established pattern into another pattern. Crystallise Tass: ----------------The mage who has mastered this ran may also recrystallise Tass into other forms that that in which it is found, or even crystallise out free Quintessence which he possesses as new Tass. Minor Artificery (Weave Charm): ------------------------------This allows the mage to bind Prime within objects, creating single-use magical objects such as potions, candles, holy water, magic bullets, etc., etc. Lin ing: -------The mage may also attempt to interweave his magical effects with those of other mages, wor ing together towards a single end - ma ing difficult effects easier to enact, or enable the casting of more powerful effects than any could manage alone. (System: add up the total successes of all the co-operating mages, then subtract 1 success for every mage involved in the procedure to represent the losses involved.)

**** Affect Bound Quintessence: -------------------------A mage of the fourth ran finally learns how to affect the bound Quintessence within all Patterns. By extracting it, he may affect a pattern's incarnation in reality. Each shard of inanimate matter and each spar of energy has Prime stored within; without Prime in its pattern, that matter or energy ceases to exist. Those who now enough about Matter or Forces can use conjunctional effects to alter the amount of Prime stored in various parts of these patterns, thereby 'dissolving' different aspects or properties of the energy or matter. A sorcerer could ma e solids become insubstantial, cause a magnet to have only one pole, remove a chemical's ability to form nuclear bonds with other chemicals (this process would, for example, ma e an acid unable to corrode), or cause objects to lose their mass yet remain solid. While pattern mageries alone can do the same thing, extracting a target's bound Quintessence is a direct and "easy" way to alter it. Enchant Item: ------------The mage can also add bound Quintessence to a pattern over and above its natural state; this is nown as /enchanting/ and object, and ma es it more *real* - generally more resistant to magic, decay, and dissipation, and able to affect other patterns more effectively. Note that only Matter and some Forces patterns can be enchanted; living patterns cannot. Items can even be created in an already enchanted state. Unless the enchantment is fixed (a matter for the fifth ran and Ma e Perpetual), it will slowly dissipate; the excess bound Quintessence within the item is in an unstable state, and it will see to lea away over time. Also, the enchantments of items not specially protected against such can generally be unwoven quite easily. (Those Adepts of Prime who thin enchanting everything in the Chantry just in case - the "I smite thee with the Sacred Teapot of Kali!" syndrome - should as themselves if they really want to receive aggravated damage by tripping over the coffee table...) (Systems: Both dissolving parts of patterns and enchanting patterns are conjunctional effects requiring the first level of the Pattern sphere in question.) Grand Artificery (Create Talisman): ----------------------------------This allows the mage to produce permanent, re-usable magical objects, talismans. Unweaving: ---------Mages with the fourth level of Prime can also attempt to unweave standing magical effects (such as wards, and things Made Perpetual, which depend upon bound Quintessence.) ***** Alter Flow:

----------Masters of Prime delve into truly advanced theories. Such mages can alter established flows of Quintessence, such as ley-lines or those flows through living patterns. Living beings interact with Quintessence in a unique manner. Their Quintessence is not all stored in their patterns, but runs continuously through them. By damming this flow, the mage can extinguish the spar of life within the creature. Infuse Relic: ------------This will allow the mage to create living Talismans from body parts, etc. Ma e Perpetual: --------------Finally, by diverting or establishing a flow of Quintessence into a suitable effect or a realm, the mage may ma e them run for eternity or until disrupted, without need for a mage's attention. ****** Multiple Streams: ----------------Although Multitas ing (Mind 1) still only permits the mage to produce a single magical effect, however many mundane things he may be doing simultaneously, this level enables the mage to split the flow of Quintessence through his Pattern - thus enabling him to manipulate more than one thing magically simultaneously. (System: i.e., the mage can use this to split his Arete for magic in the exact same way as he may split his dice pool for other actions. Of course, if the mage wants to do anything else at the same time, Multitas ing must be used as well - and if he needs to manipulate more than one set of foci at once, the usual limits on what he's physically capable of also apply.) Spirit - -----Specialties: Spirit Dealings, Possessions, Rousing 1 Spirit Sight 2 Call Spirit Touch Spirit 3 Rouse & Lull Spirit Channel Spirit 4 Forge Ephemera Transephemeration Materialise Spirit 5 Bind Spirit Exorcism 6 Call Lord or Celestine Forge Spirit * Spirit Sight: -------------

The Spirit initiate can see auras, ghosts, and spirits (although not those on the other side of the Gauntlet without Umbra 1), especially those her own Avatar is most attuned to through Resonance. Some mages are better at seeing wraiths and the Dead, others at seeing the spirits of Nature. All spirit-mages can sense these, but each person seems to have an easier time dealing with creatures on the same spiritual wavelength. The Disciple of Spirit can also discern an item that has spirit essence, li e a Garou fetish or an awa ened object or location (see below). ** Call Spirit: -----------At this ran , the mage is able to ma e his voice heard to spirits, even across the Gauntlet. He may use this ability to call or spea to any spirit nown to him, or even put out a general cattle call to any spirits nearby. At this level, attendance is optional, but most spirits will show up, if only out of curiosity or annoyance. Touch Spirit: ------------The mage now gains the ability to touch spirits and ephemeral objecs he can see (this ability is obviously of more use in the Umbra than in the physical world, but using it there requires Umbra 2/3). He can pic up a fetish stic dropped by a Garou, push a spirit out of a room, or even hit one over the head. *** Rouse & Lull Spirit: -------------------The mage gains the power to rouse spirits at this ran . According to many philosophies, most spirits are asleep. Rousing is li e calling, simply louder, and will rouse not only those spirits who have been quiescent for a long time, but those who have never awa ened before. Depending on the mage's diplomatic s ills, the spirit may be anywhere from curious to furious. The mage may also use this same magic to lull an awa ened spirit, such as one residing in a fetish, though the more powerful the spirit, the more difficult it is to put bac to sleep. Channel Spirit: --------------A brave (or foolish) shaman may also channel a spirit's powers through herself. This shuts out any other magic she might do while the Umbrood possesses her, though she can access its Charms, spea with its voice, and perform feats of incredible physical prowess. Regaining control is sometimes a problem, though - many spirits enjoy riding mortal 'horses' and must be forced out through contested Willpower rolls or exorcism. **** Forge Ephemera: --------------An Adept of Spirit gains a divine power, for he may now ta e ephemera,

the substance of Spirit, reweave it in whatever fashion he desires, repair it, or rip it asunder. (Using conjunctional effects with the appropriate Pattern sphere.) Using conjunctional effects with Matter or Forces and Prime 2 allows the mage to create short-lived items out of ephemera. These creations must be created as if they were material items, and fade away when the effect's duration ends. Until then, such items are as strong as any "real" object would be. With Life conjunctionals, he may use this to heal spirits' Power. Transephemeration: -----------------Transephemeration is also possible for the mage at this ran . The mage may convert any material item into ephemera, allowing him to ta e it to the Umbra, or vice versa. Materialise Spirit: ------------------With an effect similar to transephemeration, it is possible for a Spirit Adept to force a spirit to appear in the material world whether or not it possesses a Charm which would ordinarily allow this. ***** Bind Spirit: -----------The Master may now compel spirits to appear and bind them into obedience. The Umbrood may also be forced into objects to create fetishes and talens, which use their powers at the behest of the mage who trapped them. Such trin ets often have a single use only, based upon the nature of the spirit that was bound. The more powerful the spirit, the more successes it ta es to bind them. Few will stand still for this... This sort of magic is of course considered very antisocial in the spirit world. Mages who do this too often tend to get a reputation. Exorcism: --------This power allows a mage to force a possessing Umbrood out of someone, effectively reversing the ran 4 'Channel Spirit'. ****** Call Lord or Celestine: ----------------------The Archmasters of Spirit remember how to call the gods. With this Sphere ran , the greatest and most distant spirits - Celestines, Incarna, the nameless things beyond the Horizon, etc. - can be contacted, channeled, or even summoned. While many of these things are possible at lower levels of expertise, the Archmaster may use them from any side of the Gauntlet and may, to a degree, compel a powerful being to come forth. Losing such a contest of wills is perilous to say the least, even if you're an Archmaster. Forge Spirit:

------------The greatest power of the Archmaster is the ability to create new spirit entities, in much the same way as a master of Life may create new material forms of life. Of course, as with that creation, the entities created have neither mind nor soul beyond that which is given to them (using a conjuctional effect with the Mind and/or Avatar spheres). Time - ---Specialties: Perceptions, Conjunctional Uses, Travel, Temporal Control 1 Time Sense 2 Past Sight Future Sight 3 Time Contraction Time Dilation Temporal Wards 4 Time Determinism 5 Future Travel Time Immunity 6 Past Travel Absolute Shifts * Time Sense: ----------The mage begins to develop a rudimentary awareness of Time's true nature, and gains the precise internal cloc essential to performing more complex Time magic. She also detects certain time-based phenomena that periodically shift through reality. She can intuitively sense the approach of such disturbances and "feel" where in dimensional space the phenomena will appear. Most such effects are small ripples which either speed or slow time relative to the space outside. A few are referred to as "s ips", small rifts which lead forward in time, but some may actually be "loops", rifts into the past. It's generally considered unwise to simply step through either one, and by the time the mage has ta en the time to peer through time to see when the rift leads, time has passed and the rift has sealed. At this level, mages may also detect temporal phenomena wea er than actual rifts. The spots where a Master steps forward in time or sends something forward, display a distinct irregularity in the flow of the continuum, while places which have been used to scry the future - or will be used for scrying the past - display a twist in the ribbon of time. ** Past Sight: ----------Future Sight: ------------The mage can now shift her perceptions forward or bac ward in time. Postcognition tends to require more successes to perform, but its results are certain (or at least considered so by most). Precognition is less difficult to enact, but the futures

foreseen - especially far futures - tend to be inaccurate. Most mages believe the future is constantly changing. Anytime a mage loo s foward, he simply foresees the most probable future. This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy - or defeats the vision's purpose. Through the act of foreseeing the future, the future may be changed. If a mage predicts the manner of his own death, he can then avoid that circumstance. This very phenomenon ma es the future un nowable - although Fate Masters have their own thoughts on the subject. Mages commonly use this magic with conjunctional effects. Entropy 1 allows a mage with future sight to view multiple probabilities or possible futures. She may add Entropy 4 as a conjunctional effect to affect the probability of one being fulfilled. The most probable futures are the easiest to pic , and the least li ely the most difficult. Most mages also mix Correspondence 2 with this ran of Time, because by itself, this ran only allows a mage to loo forward or bac wards into the past of her current location. With Correspondence 2, she may scry out any time and any place in the world. *** Time Contraction: ----------------Time Dilation: -------------The mage can now exert her will over the passage of time, causing it to accelerate or slow as she desires. Mystics often describe these effects as 'contracting' or 'dilating' time, referring to the length of each moment in time. Thus, contracting time around a waterfall ma es it appear to flow more slowly to an outside observer; near the waterfall, each moment does not last as long and less water flows. Conversely, by dilating time around the waterfall, more water flows during each segment of time. While the observer perceives these moments to pass normally, he will see more water flow during each moment. Wor ing this magic conjunctionally with Correspondence 3, a mage can allow a moving object to go at any speed without gaining additional momentum. Temporal Wards: --------------As with Correspondence, at this ran a mage may thic en the walls of time around some particular instant, ma ing an action that much more difficult to discern from the future (or foresee from the past), and preventing time travellers from arriving then as well. Each success a mage gets on this sort of magic subtracts from a future (or past) success of some other mage to spy on the mage's present doings. Some sorcerers cloa themselves in a wall of thic ened time, preventing other mages from locating their future whereabouts. **** Time Determinism: ----------------The mage is now able to cause absolute shifts in time, rather than simply adjusting the rate at which time passes. He can ta e a field of time and freeze it; a falling arrow may be stopped mid-flight or a man placed in a field of suspended animation.

This is a powerful effect when used in conjunction with other magics, as the mage can choose the moment in time which 'triggers' the magical time bomb. Some long-dead Masters of Time have left the world a legacy of magical Effects that occur even after the mage's death. Such 'hanging' effects are the type of time-based phenomenon that mages with /Time Sense/ can intuitively detect, although it ta es Time 2 to truly fathom the effect's nature, and the full set of Spheres used to completely understand the effect's effects. ***** Future Travel: -------------At Master-level nowledge, the mage can do more that determine the timing of events; he can shift objects through time. The mage actually pluc s something out of the flow of time and repositions it at some other point along the time stream. The new position could be seconds or centuries away from the field's original place in time. Masters say such effects are "anchored", or firmly lin ed to their point of origin. A ripple exists in the time-stream at the point of their disappearance until their reappearance. This forms a continuous thread which the Master can pull at any time she sees fit. For example, a mage who sent her house forwards into the future to eep it from being destroyed by a war succeeded in pushing it forward fifty years. Five years after the original magic, the war ends, so she grasps the ribbon and pulls the building bac out of the time-stream prematurely. She may also do the same with herself, moving forward through the not possible but actual future, until she finds a point in the time-stream when she decides to disembar . Even anchored future travel is not without its ris s; such Arts are obviously vulgar, and any Disciple of Time can recognise an anchored Time effect and gauge the time when it will come due, while a Master can reach into the time-stream and pull out another traveler. Time Immunity: -------------Masters can also immunise themselves from time. Figuratively spea ing, the Master simply steps laterally out of the current temporal flow. He can maintain his immunity only so long, but during his "time" outside of time he perceives the world as a statuesque collection of still images that he may manipulate as he pleases. As a conjunctional effect with Life or Matter, he may ta e other creatures and objects 'out of time' as well, and may even abandon them in the frozen moment. It seems such a state cannot last forever, and subjectively the creatures appear only moments later, but some reappear dead of old age, having passed hundreds of years in a timeless hell. ****** Past Travel: -----------Theoretically, it is possible for a mage to use the same anchored effect that allows her to travel forwards in time to travel bac into the past. Unfortunately, the problems with causality ma e this impossible. However, the Archmasters of Time have found ways to get around this problem... (System: left to the individual ST. The 'hanging Paradox' one in

Horizon:tSoH will no doubt wor for most STs, but I prefer my own version of the laws of time and I'm sure I won't be the only one...) Absolute Shifts: ---------------The mage is now able to ma e absolute changes in time, rather than being restricted to relative changes. Instead of simply changing the rate at which time flows, he is able to 'rewind' time, undoing events as he goes. (System: I needn't tell anyone how unspea ably vulgar this is. Wrin le *will* be pissed.) Umbra - ----Specialties: Dimensional Science, Umbral Travel, Realm Construction 1 Umbra Sense Gauntlet Sense Gauntlet Warding 2 Manipulate Gauntlet Plumb the Deep Umbra 3 Step Sideways Seal Breach Gauntlet Warding 4 Rend Gauntlet Forge Bridge 5 Outward Journeys Forge Realm Seal Outer Gate Horizon Warding 6 ??? Open Outer Gate * Umbra Sense: -----------The Umbra initiate gains the ability to sense the Penumbra around her, along with everything in it - most clearly in areas where the Gauntlet is thin. Gauntlet Sense: --------------Gauntlet Warding: ----------------The mage can also "read" the strength of the local Gauntlet, testing it for wea nesses, or set up wards across it to alert him about breaches. ** Manipulate Gauntlet: -------------------The mage may now use his power to thin the Gauntlet, ma ing it easier for spirits to cross over into the physical world and manifest, assuming that they have the Charms to do so. He may also strengthen the barrier, ma ing it harder for spirits to enter the physical world - - a useful effect for mages who've called up something they shouldn't

have. If the mage nows Spirit 2, 'Touch Spirit', he may use it in conjunction with this to touch spirits and ephemera on the other side of the Gauntlet. Plumb the Deep Umbra: --------------------At this level, the mage may extend his senses beyond the Penumbra, and may probe the deep li e a 'mystic astronomer'. Thus, with appropriate magic he may ma e contact with denizens of far Realms... *** Step Sideways: -------------A mage may now ma e a temporary hole in the Gauntlet, allowing himself to enter the Umbra, a feat called "stepping sideways" by the garou. The mage's body and (usually) clothing are translated into ephemera, the stuff of spirit, but will possess a certain glow which the more aware denizens of the spirit realm will recognise as belonging to a living being. At this level, any action he ta es against an Umbrood creature, physical or otherwise, will be felt. Once in the Penumbra, a mage can go anywhere she li es, up to the borders which mar the Horizon between the Near and Deep Umbrae. Possessions, however, are more difficult to translate - they require Spirit 4, 'Transephemeration'. This also allows the mage to enter Realms from the Umbra, and to leave Realms. Seal Breach: -----------Gauntlet Warding: ----------------The mage can also repair breaches in the Gauntlet, and reinforce the barrier's fabric to ma e it that much harder to tear, or set up wards across the Gauntlet to alert him about breaches. **** Rend Gauntlet: -------------The mage may now rip the fabric of the Gauntlet asunder and he - and anyone else who wants to, mortal or spirit - can travel through without difficulty. This is, of course, highly vulgar; most polite (and sensible) mages will seal the breach after they and their friends pass into the Umbra. Forge Bridge: -----------The mage is now able to weave a permanent bridge between two realms, allowing near-instantaneous travel between the two. ***** Outward Journeys: -----------------

The Master may also use his power to brea

free from the Horizon and

explore the Far Realms. No longer must he rely on the tenuous connections within Domains to travel to the Outer Realms. The mage is able to traverse the Deep Umbra, surviving its ravages for short periods, while he speeds through it towards his chosen destination. Masters of Spirit are said to spend years at a time on their outward journeys, charting the Tellurian and studying the denizens of other Realms. Forge Realm: -----------The Adept of Spirit can also shape the base fabric of the Umbra in such a way as to create Horizon Realms or Umbral Domains. Seal Outer Gate: ---------------Horizon Warding: ---------------The mage can also repair breaches in the Horizon, and reinforce the barrier's fabric to ma e it that much harder to tear, or set up wards across the Horizon to alert him about breaches. ****** ??? Open Outer Gate: ---------------The mage may now rip the fabric the fabric of the Gauntlet with Umbra from Outside. This is not dangerous, due to the nature of of the Horizon as he was able to rip Spirit 4, creating a gate into the only highly vulgar, but extremely many denizens of the Deep Umbra.

- -Computational Thaumaturge, Deus Machinarum. -- Cerebrate of the Silicon Swarm. e-mail: avatar-...@ar ane.demon.co.u WWW: http://www.ar ane.demon.co.u / "I will not have captives of one sex guarded by members of the opposite sex." -- #84, The Evil Overlord List -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----Version: 2.6.3ia Charset: latin1 Comment: Processed by Mailcrypt 3.5.1, an Emacs/PGP interface iQCVAgUBNtltVDxrXHNqerOZAQFhugP/SxwbJRTEGDuCQuN882bTcJ7g p x7yQs Bq r022hqueYdQTZ75a4UCf+bINR90KYLLndpKLYwrsiJDyw4XdpVnajqt6hN8Uo V7VCeneIRoOj CyvRQ2Gx/qMLscXwgd2iKF171UrsKDRUhiXj3Bx0EqGi/bjFXB3 Vsc+hcZZzIw= =hCNT -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----