Sorcery.
When Brigid descended from Mount Meru with the blessings of Sorcery, the gods trembled, the mountains bowed, the rivers sang, and the Yozi smiled in the depths of their raging king’s world-body. The fallen tyrants of Creation had hoped for the Exalted Host to fall into the traps of sorcery but the Deliberative, led in its investigations of the new art by the wary Mother of All Spells, proved indomitable. The Unquestionable of Hell tried to console their greater selves with the trinkets that had been tithed to the Yozi in countless sorcerous initiations, and for a time they were content to surround themselves with these sacrificed prizes. At the height of the First Age, however, a Zenith known as Salina put a stop even to that, enacting her working and encoding the principles of sorcery into the very substrata of Creation—and it was not the Yozi interpretation that she etched forever onto the face of existence, but that of distant and lonely Gaia. There would always be bold sorcerers who reached beyond Creation’s boundaries, who sacrificed some part of themselves to the Yozi, but the fallen titans howled that day, knowing that this—and the eventual Usurpation—would delay their plans by an Age or more.
To be a sorcerer is, at its most fundamental level, to understand the science of Essence that underpins all existence. At its heart, sorcery is the process of shaping matter and energy in a uniquely Primordial fashion. I draws upon the Schema of the Primordials and the Yozi alike to draw many smaller magics together into an expression of titanic power known as a spell. While Brigid refused all attempts to quantify the nature of these smaller magical units—the Mother of All Spells took a notoriously holistic and intuitive view to sorcery that no Solar Exalt since has truly been able to emulate (to the amusement of many Lunar mates)—popular Silurian notation encoded them as Glyphs, and the terminology has persisted even through the turn of the First Age. Sorcery is rooted in Occult, as it is the Ability that allows a mortal or spirit to understand the vast and alien workings of Primordials, but a true sorcerer must study and understand countless fields and disciplines to exercise true cosmic comprehension.
NEW KEYWORDS
Physical – Shapings and spells directed through the Physical keyword take on a tangible shape and interact with the world according to the Principle of the Material. Such effects compare against Physical Defense Values and Soak (where applicable) to determine the efficacy.
Mental – Shapings and spells directed through the Mental keyword remain dreamstuff and phantasmagorical Essence in concordance with the Prince of the Immaterial. Such effects are compared against Mental Defense Values and may be resisted through expenditures of Willpower.
INITIATION CHARMS
Terrestrial Schema of Gaia
Cost: -- (1wp); Mins: Essence 3 (additional requirements below)
Keywords: None; Type: Permanent
Prerequisites: None
For millennia, this Initiation has been the foundation of Creation’s sorcery by an overwhelming margin. When illustrated as the Master Glyph in Silurian notation, this schema is a character of five strokes converging at a central point and spiraling outward like a maelstrom, reflecting the unity of the Five Dragons. Dragon-Blooded, Dragon-Kings, Solars, Infernals, and Abyssals require Occult 3 to learn this Schema; Lunars and Alchemicals need only Intelligence 3. Mortals brought to the peak of human capability (Occult 5) may also learn this Charm. Immediately upon learning the Terrestrial Schema of Gaia, the character learn the Motic Glyph and a single additional Glyph with the Elemental keyword for free.
A sorcerer inside Creation (the environs of an effect such as Chaos-Repelling Prana count) may spend a point of Willpower to attune themselves to the harmonious Schema of Gaia’s infamous souls, becoming capable of taking Shaping actions against the surrounding Creation, Creation-born, or objects from Creation. Spells built and unified by the Terrestrial Schema of Gaia may contain no more than five additional Glyphs, and must always include at least one Glyph with the Elemental keyword.
Cosmic Schema of Gaia
Cost: -- (3wp); Mins: Essence 5
Keywords: None; Type: Permanent
Prerequisites: Terrestrial Schema of Gaia
Most Dragon-Blooded would balk at the very notion of this Charm. The idea that they command but a fraction of Gaia’s proper sorcerous principle would surely chafe and might even cause several to reconsider their place in the great cosmos. Solars and Third Circle Kami require Occult 5 to learn this Schema; Lunars may do so with Intelligence 5. Either way, it requires the direct tutelage of a Third Circle Kami already initiated into this Schema or Gaia herself.
A sorcerer may spend three Willpower to sear the surrounding locale with the primal Essence of the Emerald Mother, super-saturating the area with Gaian Essence and allowing the sorcerer access to Shaping Actions. This power transforms an area (Essence) miles in radius into part of Creation for the duration of the scene; if invoked in Creation proper, this effect levies a three mote tax on any Shaping Actions or Charms with the Shaping keyword invoked be being outside of the purview of Creation. The sorcerer may access Terrestrial Schema of Gaia naturally during the scene without further cost. This otherwise function as Terrestrial Schema of Gaia, save that spells united by this Schema may contain up to (Willpower x 2) Glyphs.
No comments:
Post a Comment