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Transcript of Book of Magic
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Book of
Magic
The Pleasure Dome
WoD Expansion
Troy Heady
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2
The Pleasure Dome
Book of Magic
ContentsElemental Magic .................................................................................................................................... 5
Elementalist Levels ......................................................................................................................... 6
Elemental Magic in Action ................................................................................................................. 6
Elemental Pools .............................................................................................................................. 6
Elemental Balance .......................................................................................................................... 7
Elementals and Technology ........................................................................................................... 7
Elemental Powers .............................................................................................................................. 8
Gathering Power ............................................................................................................................ 8
Changing Elementals ...................................................................................................................... 9
Summoning Elementals ................................................................................................................. 9
Other Elementalists...................................................................................................................... 10
Altering the World Around You ................................................................................................... 11
Moving Between Planes ............................................................................................................... 11
Sight & Sound ............................................................................................................................... 12
Physical Manifestations ............................................................................................................... 12
Ritual Magic ......................................................................................................................................... 13Laws of Magic................................................................................................................................... 13
Common ritual practices .................................................................................................................. 18
Ritual Magic in Action ...................................................................................................................... 19
Recasting ...................................................................................................................................... 20
Ritual Disruption .......................................................................................................................... 20
Magic Items .................................................................................................................................. 20
Potions ......................................................................................................................................... 21
Common rituals ................................................................................................................................ 21
Dark Magic Rituals ........................................................................................................................... 22
Major Players ....................................................................................................................................... 23
LightBringers .................................................................................................................................... 23
The Church ................................................................................................................................... 23
The White Hand ........................................................................................................................... 24
Angels ........................................................................................................................................... 25
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Lords Of Darkness ............................................................................................................................. 29
The Cult ......................................................................................................................................... 29
Devils and Demons ....................................................................................................................... 29
The Fallen ..................................................................................................................................... 30
Vampires ....................................................................................................................................... 30
Children of Chaos ............................................................................................................................. 32
The Touched ................................................................................................................................. 32
Chaotician ..................................................................................................................................... 33
The Fey ......................................................................................................................................... 33
The Technocratic Order .................................................................................................................... 35
Virtual Adepts ............................................................................................................................... 35
Dimensional Engineering Corp ..................................................................................................... 36
Syndicate ...................................................................................................................................... 36
Progenitors ................................................................................................................................... 36
Agents ........................................................................................................................................... 37
The Iteration ................................................................................................................................. 37
Elementalists .................................................................................................................................... 38
People of Note ...................................................................................................................................... 39
Houston ............................................................................................................................................ 39
Domino ......................................................................................................................................... 39
Janeane Rouse .............................................................................................................................. 39
John Grayman ............................................................................................................................... 39
Chris Shor ...................................................................................................................................... 39
Sam White .................................................................................................................................... 39
Azazel ............................................................................................................................................ 39
Father Francis Finkirk ................................................................................................................... 39
Rev. Frank Rossi ............................................................................................................................ 39
Michael ......................................................................................................................................... 40
Gangs ............................................................................................................................................ 40
Organized Crime ........................................................................................................................... 40
Dallas ................................................................................................................................................ 40
Master Po ..................................................................................................................................... 40
Austin ................................................................................................................................................ 40
Maximilian von Outen .................................................................................................................. 40
Claudia Blackwell .......................................................................................................................... 40
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4
Marc Wailings .............................................................................................................................. 40
James Adams ................................................................................................................................ 40
Vivian Bell ..................................................................................................................................... 41
Appendix .............................................................................................................................................. 41
Word Of Darkness System Changes ................................................................................................. 41
Character Building ........................................................................................................................ 41
Elementalist ................................................................................................................................. 41
Others .......................................................................................................................................... 41
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5
Elemental MagicScientists tell us all matter is simply made of atoms. These atoms are
made of protons, neutrons and electrons. And these charged particles
are made of quarks, and these quarks are made of As scientists break
down the bonds of matter and energy looking for the forces that bind
the universe together, the Elemental Mages have found it: magic.
Elemental magic is the manipulation of the fundamental magical forcesbinding together the six elemental forces of earth, air, fire, water,
prime and void, plus the twelve para-elemental forces which lie
between each elemental realm.
Each realm has an opposite: fire/water, earth/air, prime void, and so on
through the para-elements. The relationships are best described by a
sphere, with prime and void at top and bottom, earth, air, fire and
water along the sides. Drawings are along the side of this page focusing
on each element and showing their relationships with nearby elements
and para-elements. Since we can only see half a sphere at a time,
opposed elements do not appear, so in the first drawing for Earth the
element and para-elements ofAirdo not appear.
An elemental mage, or elementalist, can draw these elements within
themselves and use that power to affect the world around them. Each
scene starts with a certain number of elementals. These can be:
Undeclared not manifesting as a particular elemental.
Declared / Free manifesting as a particular elemental but not
under control.
Controlled under the control of an elementalist.
The elementalist first draws the elemental to them. Then can use its
powers/actions. Another elementalist can contest this control taking
declared or controlled elementals away from the elementalist.
Prime
Void
rMagma
ud
Mineral
Dust
Earth
Prime
Void
r
Sm
okea
g
a
Radiance
Ash
Fire
Prime
Void
irIce
S
oke
Lightning
Vacuum
Air
Prime
Void
irMudIc
e
Steam
Salt
Water
Water
Fire
Air
Lightning
ineral
Steam
Radiance
Prime
Water
Fire
irEarth
Dust
acuu
Salt
Ash
Void
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6
Elementalist Levels
There are three levels of elemental mage.
Initiates are beginning elementalists that have
yet to choose an element to specialize in.
Affinities have reached an affinity with certain
elements, often having a particular elemental
with them at all times.
Master elementalists have bonded with one
particular elemental, becoming expert in one
realm, while forever sealing themselves off
from the opposing realm.
Elemental Magic in Action
In elemental magic, there are two types of actions: normal actions and elemental actions.
Normal actions occupy the normal action in a round. For the elementalist, normal actions revolve
around collecting and preparing elementals for use. Their normal dice roll pool is the elementalists
talent plus their skill for the particular elemental they are trying to affect. If more than one
elemental type is affected, use the lowest skill. For example: Rex (Talent 4, Earth 3, Water 2) is
attempting to draw a mud elemental (water + earth). His mundane dice pool would be 6.
Elemental actions can occur at the same time as normal actions. They represent the exertion of the
casters will upon the elementals they control. The elemental dice roll pool is equal to the number of
elementals the magus wants to use from their pool. You cannot use more dice than your talent per
turn, but you can build up for a larger effect over several turns (never greater than your resolve).
See the section on Elemental Actions for more details.
Elemental Pools
Elemental actions may not take the place of a normal action, but they do require an elementalist to
have elementals under their control. Elementalists have a maximum
number of elementals they can control, known as their control pool.
This control pool is broken into two types (base pool and elemental
pools).
The base pool size is based on a casters Resolve trait. Initiates have a
base pool equal to their Resolve, Affinities have a base pool equal to
three times their resolve, and Masters have a base pool equal to five
times their resolve.
Once the base pool is full, the elementalist will start filling their
elemental pools. Elementalist can move elementals between pools for
no cost or actions.
Each elementalist gets two elemental pools, one for each of their top elemental magic skills. If the
elementalist has equal skill levels, they may choose which elemental pool they want. They can only
Can only manipulate elementals ofone type at a time.
Initiate
Can manipulate all elementals, buthave established an affinity with onetype which is always with them.
Affinity
Can manipulate all elementals butcannot control the element oppositetheir affinity.
Masters are bonded with theirelemental affinity.
Master
Master5xResolve
Afinity3xResolve
Initiate1xResolve
Base Pool Size
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change this choice when they acquire a new elemental magic skill. The pool size is the same as their
skill points, and elemental pools can only hold elementals of that type.
Elemental Balance
The control pool is represented by
a small hex map with a radius
equaled to the elementalistswits
plus their highest elemental magic
skill.
The Master or Affinity mages
bound elemental, or the Initiates
first drawn elemental is placed at
the center.
Each new elemental drawn into
control is placed on a map in a hex
touching an existing elemental.
When placing elementals:
Fire and Water cannot touch
Prime and Void cannot be within two hexes of each other.
Air and Earth can touch.
If an elemental cannot be placed on the map, control of it is lost. When any elemental is removed
from the map, you can move elementals to fix the map if needed. You can move a number of
elementals equal to your intelligence attribute per turn, anywhere on your control map.
If any elemental on the map is still in violation of placement rules, a reaction roll (1d10 per
elemental) is made and success means control is maintained for this turn. A reaction role is also
made for any elemental not aligned with an Initiates first element each turn.
Elementals and Technology
We know you really like your new iPhone, but
holding too many elementals can hurt
technology in your presence (5-10 hex radius).
Using the table to the right, treat elementals of
prime and void as twice as many as other
elementals. Treat electrical elementals as threetimes as many.
The elementalist can reduce the effects by one level on the chart per 4 successes on a meditation
roll (composure + wits). Meditation takes 30 minutes per roll, and effects last for the length of the
meditation plus half that time again. Any successes over 4 can be used to reduce the time it takes to
be put in a meditative state by 15 minutes. Combat will cancel all effects without a successful
composure roll each turn.
Elementals
Present
Small(Cell
Phones,
Computers)
Medium(Stoplights,Neon
Signs)
Large(Generators,
Cars,
Transformers)
5 glitch no effect no effect
10 fry glitch no effect
15 melt fry glitch
20 melt fry
25 melt
EF
E
WE
W
FAffinity:
Earth
Rex (Wits:2, Resolve:3
Talent: 4
Fire: 1 Earth: 3 Prime
Air: 0 Water: 2 Void:
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Jack (wits: 3, composure: 2, resolve: 2) is holding 9 elementals in his pool. When he draws in the 10th
elemental, he attempts to meditate and after 2 rolls (the maximum allowed by his resolve) has 5
successes. The meditation took 45 minutes (30 per roll minus 15 minutes for fifth success) and the
effects (electronics in the area will only glitch, not fry) and will last for half an hour.
Jill (wits: 5, composure: 5, resolve: 3) is not holding any elementals. She meditates and gets 14
successes after 3 rolls, thanks to her meditation mix on her iPod (+2 dice per roll). Of her 14
successes, 6 reduce her meditation time from 90 minutes to a single action, and the other 8 reduce
the glitch effect of her elementals by two levels. The meditation still lasts for half the original length
of 90 minutes, or 45 minutes.
Elemental Powers
Gathering Power
Action Type Rank Description
Sense Zero Phase All Detect elementals in the area.
Normal All Get details of elementals controlled by an elementalist.
Elemental All Detect elements up to 30 hexes per success.
Pickup Zero Phase All Any undeclared or free elemental in the same hex as the
elementalist may be brought into control as a free action as long as
the element is not the target of a current draw.
Draw Normal All Cause an undeclared and free elemental to make their max
movement toward the elementalist. When they reach the
elementalist, they are controlled and removed from the board, to
be place in the casters pool.
Release Zero Phase All Release any and all elementals under your control at any time. They
will tend to move away from the controlling elementalist, and from
one another, especially if they are reactive or opposed. You can
release a number of elementals equal to their magic talent per turn.
Using Pickup or Drawon an undeclared elemental will force it to manifest as the element willed by
the caster. If two elementalists attempt to draw the same elemental, this is a contested elemental
magic role. It is possible to take a controlled elemental from another elementalist, but this is difficult
(-3).
If the controlled elemental is your opponents affinity, then difficulty is -5 dice and distance
penalties apply. This can only be attempted if your target has no other drawn elementals. It is
possible to use elemental actions of the same kind to offset this difficulty. When released the
affinity elemental will always return to their owner. When an Initiate draws in and controls an
elemental that is not aligned (the same as all the others they control), they must turn that elemental
on their next action or lose it.
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A magus may add elemental actions to increase their dice pool, but can never invite more
elementals then their combined talent and skill per roll or per turn. Inviting can be made more
difficult by conditions of the area.
Other Elementalists
Action Type Rank Description
Connect Normal +
Elemental
All The elementalist with a successful touch attack may give a number
of elementals up to their talent per turn to another willing magus.
Surge Normal +
Elemental
All By spending one willpower each, up to four connected
elementalists may roll as may dice for their normal and elemental
actions as they wish.
Connect and Surge both require a successful touch attack to establish contact. As long as the touch
connection is maintained, the willing target can exceed their own pool sizes as long as the total
pools of touching elementalist is not exceeded. When connection is broken, any elementals over the
max pools of the elementalist are released.
With Surge, each connected magus rolls with the main elementalist. The main elementalist can add
the assisting magis successes as dice to their own pool for one and only one effect roll to happen
the same round. These additional die given can never be greater than the contributing magis talent+ skill.
For each contributed success generated from the normal pool, the contributing magus losses that
level of magic until they rest. For each contributed elemental success, the contributing magus loses
the elemental as if it was released and purged.
For every three added dice to the main elementalists pool, they must roll a die. If this roll does not
succeed, they take one lethal damage.
Action Type Rank Description
Disjunct Elemental-3 All The elementalist can reduce elemental dice pools of one othermagus in line of sight after a successful contested willpower roll.
Pool is reduced by the number of Elemental Actions used.
The -3 penalty can be reduced with the Counter Magus (1-5 points) merit. Each point of merit
reduces the penalty by 1, into the positive range. This merit at level 5 will give the Elementalist a +2
bonus.
A +2 bonus is also given if elemental action pool is aligned (same element as target) and +4 if the
elemental action pool is opposite to target. Effects last until targeted elementalist acts. The
elemental actions are tied up until then. If either elementalist leaves the scene, the disjunctor can
choose to lose the elementals in their pool and continue the effect, or keep the elementals. Disjunct
is not cumulative and can only applies once to a target. Choose the largest of the multiple disjuncts
in effect.
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Altering the World Around You
Action Type Rank Description
Control Elemental
-1
All The elementalist can cause elemental material to move or change
shape. This can be used for defense or attack. Defense gets a +1.
Control can also be used to provide minor immunity to the effects
of an elemental material. Fine manipulation may require additional
penalties.
Convert Elemental
-2
All The elementalist can cause elemental material to change, but only
within the element's range itself. So an earth elemental materiallike steel could be changed to tin, copper or gold. Change will last
hour per success. Elementalists can spend a point of willpower to
make these changes permanent. Complex changes may require a
craft roll and possibly additional penalties
Combine Elemental
-3
All The elementalist can join two or more elemental materials to a
form a para-elemental material. So water and air could be
elementally combined to form ice. This requires elemental actions
for both element types.
Separate Elemental
-3
All The elementalist can separate a para-elemental material into its
base elemental materials. The elementalist has free control over
the elemental material on his next action. So ash could be
separated into fire and void.
A reaction role is performed for the other elements let loose and
the elementalist has no control over it or its para-elemental by-
products.
Create Elemental
-4
Affinity
Master
The elementalist can create elemental material up to 1 hex per
success. The elementalist has free control over the elemental
material on his next action.
Destroy Elemental
-4
Affinity
Master
The elementalist can destroy elemental material. Up to 1 hex per
level.
Moving Between Planes
Action Type Rank Description
Gate Elemental
-6
Affinity
Master
The elementalist can form a gateway between this plane and the
elemental plane of the element used. If less than 15 elemental
successes are achieved, the gate is not visible or traversable by
being of our plane. Gate lasts for success number of turns.
The gates direction is chosen at time of creation. Inbound gates with release a number of elemental
based on a dice pool for gate creation successes. Outbound gates will draw then same number of
elements per turn.
Traversable gates will lead to the elemental plane. All controlled elementals not aligned to thatplane will perish or be expelled when the elementalist crosses into the elemental plane and moves
more than three hexes from the gates entrance.
It is possible to cast a second gate, through the first, back to a different location on our plane. If the
two gates are close enough (within 3 hexes) then no ill environmental effects of the plane are felt.
Making a gate end up where you want it is controlled by the Planar Understanding skill plus wits, if
rushed, or intelligence, if not.
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Sight & Sound
Action Type Rank Description
Commune Elemental
-4
Master The master elementalist can communicate with elementals here
or at any distance. For distance communication the elementalist
only needs know the elementals true name or true name of the
bound master elementalist. With this communication the
Elementalist can ask the elemental to do tasks, but it is the
elemental that decides if it wants to.
Sight Elemental-5
Master The master elementalist can see through the eyes of an elemental(either manifested or not). The elemental must be within line of
sight to cast, but can move any distance after that. Duration is 15
minutes per success.
Physical Manifestations
Action Type Rank Description
Manifest Elemental
-6
Master The master elementalist can cause a non-controlled elemental to
physical manifest. This elemental is visible and corporal. The
elementalist gets a free control action next turn.
Command Elemental
-6
Master The master elementalist can force a physically manifested
elemental to do their will. Control lasts 1 hour per success, but
never longer than 24 hours.
Elemental
Form
Elemental
-7
Master The master elementalist can take the form of their bound
elemental. This transformation lasts one hour per success.
Physically manifested elements fill the hex they are in with elemental material. Elementals stay for
10 minutes per success. A willpower can be spent to increase this to 1 hour per success. 3 willpower
spent can make this permanent. If the elemental is not under control it can leave of its own volition.
Manifested elementals automatically draw all undeclared and free elementals in the area.
When a magus takes on an Elemental Form, this gives them totally immunity to that element and
that elemental plane. The elementalist can also attack like a manifested elemental. Master
Elementalist in elemental form cannot be Turned, Drawn, Commandedor Purged. Commune is
possible. The master Elementalist can also use Commune to talk with humans on this or other
planes, but only while in elemental form and only if they know a humans current true name.
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Ritual MagicAll elementalists, and some others (hedge mages), can perform ritual magic. This form of magic
takes time to cast and cant be done during combat or other distracting conditions. What is most
important is that details of rituals conform to the Paradigm of the Magus. Each magus has an
ingrained perception of how ritual magic works. This framework is wrapped by the cultural ideas
the magus believes in and manifests how the ritual would be unique for each different magus.
Examples of cultural frameworks areJewish Kabala,American Indian, Egyptian, Neo Pagan and
Nordic RuneMagic. It is quite common for master and student to have different frameworks. A
good master leads the student toward ritual magic in terms they already understand. Belief in the
system is more important than the details of how it all works especially when first learning.
Laws of Magic
All ritual magic, no matter the form, follow certain universal rules. Collectively known as the laws of
magic. They are:
I. The Law of World Views
The world we perceive is actually the interface of the unknowable, objective (Universal)
reality and the subjective reality within us all. Changing your world view does not change
the eternal real world but it does change the perceived world. This is important because the
perceived world is the world we touch, see, and act upon.
Because there are an infinite number of ways to perceive the world, there are an infinite
number of worlds we may assemble with our awareness. The true is unknowable to us. You
can become one with the universe but you cannot step back and observe it, because you are
in it. You cannot observe a phenomenon without altering it by your mode of perception.
There is no such thing as an independent observer. To participate in creating the world by
perceiving it.
II. The Law of Attention
The more evidence one looks for to support a given law, conclusion, or world view the more
one will find. Since we create our world each moment, we are constantly maintaining our
worldview. This is done by means of a recursive internal dialogue of words and symbols with
which we constantly edit our perceptions. Repetition of patterns enforce a world view
because worldviews have inertia. To quote Lewis Carroll, what I tell you three times is
true.
III. The Law of Synchronicity
Meaningful coincidences that occur which cannot be described by the laws of cause and
effect may hint at a dialogue between the perceiver in the consciousness of the universe.
This dialogue is overt to the degree the perceiver is receptive to or aware of it. These events
seem to be connected by pattern or meaning rather than time.
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IV. The Law of Relative Truth
Every statement is true in one sense, false in one sense and meaningless in another. This is a
function of one's vantage point (world view). In the words of Hassan Ibn Sabbah, Nothing is
true. Everything is permissible.
V. The Law of Pragmatism
If it works, it is true. The worldview is only valid if it enables its perceivers to accomplishtheir goals. The more successful a worldview is in fulfilling the goal structure that its viewers
possesses, the more valid it could be said to be. By this definition, few people could be said
to be completely insane. However, few people could be said to be completely sane, either.
VI. The Law of Paradox
No worldview may encompass the whole world. Two models may conflict with each other
and still be true in their proper context. Two people may experience the same events they
perceive entirely different occurrences. Rationality is limited by the intellect, the world is
not. The world is not bound by the confines of our worldviews. When someone perceives
events that fall outside of their worldview, that person will have a motivational drive to
reduce this dissonance by either changing their worldview to fit the new facts or by
rationalizing that the events they perceive never occurred.
VII. The Law of Unity
Everything throughout all space and time is linked, either directly or indirectly, to everything
else.
VIII. The Law of Reflection
The microcosm is the macrocosm. The part contains the whole. As above is as below. Everyspeck contains the image or pattern of the whole and of the entire universe in the same way
a seed contains the whole tree. Each being or person contains this cosmic image. When the
inner image is brought into resonance with the outer image, a change in one will be
simultaneous with the change in the other and to perceive one is to perceive the other. The
universe is within us and without us.
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IX. The Law of Association
If two things have something in common, then either thing can be used to influence the
other. The more they have in common, the more influence they exert upon the other.
Corollaries of this are the law of similarity and the law of contagion.
X. The Law of Similarity
Cause and effect resembled or have a resonance with one another. Your ritual to cause arainstorm may involve dripping water onto the ground. A ritual to fly may involve wearing
feathers and chirping like a bird, and so forth. This is also known as sympathetic magick.
XI. The Law of Contagion
Things once in contact continue to interact after separation. Anything once in contact with a
substance, person or object may be used as a witness for that substance, person or object
in a ritual. A good example would be the tradition of using hair or nail clippings attached to a
voodoo doll. This is also known as homeopathic magick.
XII. The Law of Connection
Every action is an exchange of energy. To have power over something is for it to have power
over you. To oppose something is to maintain it. Two opposites each contain the essence of
the other.
XIII. The Law of Synthesis
Any two opposing forces or concepts may be unified in a force or concept that will contain
both the original opposites.
XIV. The Law of Duality
Any concept or force may be divided into two totally opposite concepts or forces, each of
which contains the essence of the other. Opposites can only be defined in relationship to
each other.
XV. The Law of Personification
Any concept, force, object or phenomenon may be considered to be alive, to have a
personality, to be an entity. Any concept, force or object which manifest as an entity can
and should be treated as a real being. These beings are patterns which can also be viewed as
objectified aspects of ourselves, but is useless (perhaps even dangerous) to take this
attitude when actually dealing with them. Do not be fooled just because something is only
the personification of a pattern of energies. Remember you can be described this way too.
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XVI. The Law of Interfaces
Power exists in the interfaces of things. These are the between places that are not entirely
one thing or another. Traditionally, these places included case, grottoes, towers, mountains,
beaches, wells, crossroads and cliffs. All the chief times of change of the day are also
considered to be powerful. They are dawn, noon, twilight (sunset) and midnight. Likewise
the solstices and equinoxes have always been thought to be very important. There is a
medieval legend that if a woman wished to become a witch she need only remove her
clothes and stand between the high- and low-tide marks at the seashore.
XVII. The Law of Words and Symbols
There are words and symbols that are able to change the inner and or outer realities of
those using or perceiving them. These words or symbols do not necessarily need to be
consciously understood by those using or perceiving them in order to have their effect. One
view is that these words or symbols have accumulated power through use or attention over
thousands of years. Others would say that there is an intrinsic primordial connection or
resonance between these words or symbols in the forces or concept there are represent
that goes beyond current worldviews or understanding.
XVIII. The Law of Names
Any name is the thing named. This is to say that, in some way, there is an analogical
correspondence between the name and the thing named. There is a connection created by
shared structure. To know the true name of a person, place or thing is to have complete
control over it. Of course, you could never command something to do anything which was
not in its nature. Because people are capable of changing, their true name changes also.
Because of this, it is impossible to know a person's true name for very long. What most
people consider to be a common name in a magical sense is only a label. As a corollary to
this law, if you know something's true name then you also know its nature.
XIX. The Law of Labeling
When you label something, you exclude information about it. This is because the thing
becomes obscured by other information stored under the label for the thing. When you
symbolize something, you impose the deep structure of the symbol system used on the way
you perceive the thing symbolized. There is a Japanese proverb which relates to the
confusing of the moon with the finger pointing to the moon. People tend to believe that
they understand something when they have a name for it. This is called nominalization. It
enables people to take very ill-define concepts and continually process and talk about themas if they were concrete things. The problem is that frequently even the users of these terms
(names) do not know what they mean. Nominalization is an important tool. However, we
must realize when we are using it.
XX. The Law of Symbolic Information
The more information contained in the symbol of the more general or vague it becomes.
The more specific a symbolic system is, the more information it excludes.
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XXI. The Law of Pattern and Knowledge
Information can be viewed as a measure of the unpredictability of a message. The more
unpredictable a message is, the more information it contains. In systems, the most is rest or
dispersion of available energy. Since systems tended toward entropy, is that of potential
work. Plus, we can think of degrees of order in a system as the amount of energy in it. From
this we can say:
Pattern is Information.
Information is Energy.
Knowledge is Power.
The more information you have, the less energy you need. Some people have defined life as
negative entropy because it develops greater and greater complexity of pattern. In this
sense, the universe becomes more intelligent every day.
XXII. The Law of Intelligence
Any pattern of sufficient complexity will act intelligent when treated as an entity. A pattern
more complex than ourselves could be said to be more intelligent than we are.
Common ritual practices
Purification: Many rituals are preceded by some action intended to cleanse the participant of
spiritual or mental impurities and unwanted influences, and to focus the attention on the operation
about to be performed. Purification may take the form of vigil or fast, or may actually be a literal
cleansing. Some rituals also have a purification performed during the closing also to remove
unwanted influences.
Circling: Circling as a formal method of establishing a sacred space and sacred time in which theritual may be performed. The separation of the sacred from the profane is essential for any orderly
working, because it also separates the inner from the outer, the magic from the mundane. The
circles are boundaries and interfaces. They may be used to provide stability, protection, installation
and focus.
Incantation: Such as the power of language that anything stated in words has some magical effect,
however small.
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Ritual Magic in Action
The magus ritual skill represents the starting dice pool they can use for ritual magic and the
maximum final level of the ritual. They also can never use more dice in a ritual than twice their ritual
skill.
The magus first spends one willpower toward the ritual. The magus can then choose how many dice
they wish to use. Each die represents 30 minutes of ritual. Modifiers do not affect the timing of the
ritual.
Any successes rolled above two means the ritual succeeds. The additional successes, known as the
ritual level, determine the magnitude of the effect. The magus may choose to reduce the time the
ritual takes by spending level points to reducing the time. The ritual
takes one hour less for each level reduced. If the ritual time is reduced
to none, then the ritual can be completed in 1d10+5 turns. Additional
levels can be used to reduce the +5 but never the results of the 1d10.
For extremely long rituals, stamina rolls must be made according to the
table on the right. Willpower can be spent in the normal fashion to
help with these rolls. Failure means the ritual was not performedcorrectly and no effects manifest.
Example: With 4 successes rolled on 10 dice, a magus could perform a level 2 ritual in 5 hours or a
level 1 ritual in 4 hours depending on how vital time is.
A ritual will by default last 1 hour per level
after casting is complete. At each sunrise as
dictated to the left, 1d10 is rolled with a
success meaning the ritual continues.
Willpower can be spent during the ritual
casting to increase duration (per chart left).
Any willpower spent is additional dice
added to the sunrise roll. Sunrise rolls
frequency is listed in the chart below also.
Permanent rituals only need one roll per
year on the anniversary of their casting at 5 willpower spent and half as frequently thereafter. For
the chart; treat months as lunar, and years as solar when calculating the actual days. Sunrise rolls
can be skipped if the object of the ritual is not on our plane (gate power or pocket universe ritual)
when sunrise occurs, but with time possibly traveling at different rates extra dimensional, this may
not be a good thing.
Time Roll
5th hour Stamina
8th hour Stamina -1
12th hour Stamina -2
14th hour Stamina -3
16th hour Stamina -4
18th hour Stamina -5
20th
hour Stamina -622nd hour Stamina -8
24th hour Stamina -9
Willpower Duration
0 1 hour (roll daily)
1 24 hours (roll daily)
2 1 week (roll daily)
3 1 month (roll daily)
4 1 year (roll monthly)
5 permanent (roll yearly)
6 permanent (roll every 2 years)
7 permanent (roll every 4 years)
8 permanent (roll every 8 years)
9 permanent (no sunshine roll needed)
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Some common modifiers are (remember modifiers dont affect time):
Meditation + successes on the Mediation roll if ritual occurs as
soon as meditation is complete
Preparation of the ritual area +1 to +3 (+1 for each hour of preparation over the
first)
Preparation rushed -1 per every 15 minutes under an hour
Permanent circle +3
High quality materials (gold, gems) +1 to +3 (GM discretion)Items in ritual not handmade -5
You witness (in person) items being
made
+2
You make the items yourself +5
Items are not your framework -8
Recasting against successful ritual -3
Recasting against a failed ritual -5
Calling the corners with real
elementals
+5
A bad connection (if required) -5 to -10
Magus elemental pool is not balanced -1 per non-paired elemental in your pool.
Magus has one of each element +3
Magus has one of each para-elemental +3
Magus has one of each quasi-
elemental
+3
Merit: Ritual Master +1 to +5
Flaw: Cant Ritual out of a paper bag -1 to -5
Recasting
It is possible to recast a ritual to try to increase its level and/or duration. Recasting incurs a three
dice penalty for each recasting attempt. The resulting new casting rituals level is divided by 3 (round
down) and added to the existing rituals level up to a max of the maguss ritual skill. Willpower can
be spent the same way. Every three points of willpower count as one additional point toward the
original casting. A ritual can never be recast more times than the maguss resolve attribute.
Ritual Disruption
Rituals are like intricate machines made of glass. They are difficult to construct, but very simple to
destroy. Any magus can make an intelligence + ritual skill roll to figure out the best way to fold the
ritual. Failure or a botch means it blows up in your face, but you still stop it.
Magic Items
Magical items can be created with the proper rituals. The item to be enchanted must be handmade(witnessed) and of good quality. No more than one ritual can be applied to an object at any time.
Magical items are good for once a day (one use only if duration is not extended). The Magus can
trade one point of level for twice the uses per day (max of 16
uses per day). A magical item normally needs an hour charge
between uses. The Magus can trade one point of level to
half this time. In the other direction, the Magus can make an
item that takes longer to charge but operates at an
increased level (never over their ritual skill level, see chart
Two days to charge +1 to level
One week to charge +2 to level
Two weeks to charge +3 to level
Four weeks to charge +4 to level
Eight weeks to
change
+5 to level
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below). This increase of duration adds one hour per level gained to the casting time.
Magical objects have an activation trigger created during the casting. Common triggers are vocal,
gesture, incoming damage, being handled or in proximity to a specific person (connection needed in
casting) and use as the object was intended.
Potions
Potions are another form of magical item and are created using the same rules. The potion
ingredients are best if naturally occurring or handmade. Potions act as one-time delayed use magical
item with a limited shelf life. Potions lose 1d10 divided by 2 levels every sunrise. Willpower cannot
make potions last longer.
Common rituals
Healing Heal one level per level of the ritual.
Curative With 3 levels cure any normal ailment, 5 levels or higher for super natural
ailmentsProtection ProvideXlevels of protection from one thing (fire, cold, bashing damage)
chosen at casting time.
Environmental With 3 levels or more, change the weather or environment (wind, rain,
snow, fog, darkness, light); with 5 levels or more change it is a dangerous
way (tornados, flooding rains, hail). With the appropriate levels you can stop
the effect too.
Locate / Track Each level doubles the range you can search for an item or person. Starting
range for 1 success is 20 yards. A connection to the object or person is
required.
Summoning
(extra-dimensionally)
GM determines the required casting level. Name is required. Also, look at
creating a barrier to hold the entity and possible a control to compel it. Thisis not dark magic, but can not looked upon literally.
Travel
(physical)
Each level doubles the distance. Base distance 1 mile. Connection to the
target location is required.
Travel (astral) Magus with 5 levels or above can travel astrally with in our own realm. With
7 levels or above they can travel beyond.
Glamour With less than 3 levels, the magus can change subtle features (eye color, ear
shape, nose slope) of themselves. With 3 levels or more they can appear to
be a different person. With 5 levels or more, they can be a specific person
(connection required). At 8 levels or more, they can appear as something
non-human, but still roughly human sized.
Pocket
Universe
The magus can create a space that is in our universe but has its own set of
laws. Common examples include elemental training rings where people do
not suffer from harm and storage places for dangerous or volatile items.
The GM determines the required casting level.
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Barrier The magus can create a barrier to keep one type of creature in or out, but
not both. This target creature and the direction must be determined at
casting time and cannot be changed. The barrier is only solid to this target
and anything else can cross as if it is not there. Care must be taken not to
disturb the items maintaining the barrier or the barrier will fail.
To the intended target the barrier acts as a wall with a durability rating of
1/3 (round down) of the casting level and a structure rating equaled to the
casting level. Barriers are normally cylindrical in shape with a radius of
level2
yards, but can be changed by moving levels between durability andradius.
Increasing the radius of the barrier will have a negative effect on its
durability or a barrier protecting a smaller space will be harder to penetrate.
For example, with a 10th level ritual, the magus can create:
A small, tough 1 yard, 16 durability (12 yard X 19/3 durability) barrier
A normal 100 yard, 3 durability (102X10/3) barrier
Or an expansive, brittle 361 yard, 0 durability (192 X 1/3) barrier.
If this ritual is cast to create a magical item, then a minimum of five identical
items are required to form points on a circle. These items will require one
action to place and one action each to activate.
Circle of
Protection
(lesser)
The magus can create a circle that will cause harm to one type of creature.
This circle will causelevel
/3 (round down) bashing damage each turn. The
circles radius is level2. Like the Barrier, the levels can be moved around (see
above).
Circle of
Protection
(Greater)
The magus can create a circle of protection like the lesser one above, but
this circle will do lethal damage instead of bashing. A connection to the
target creature type is required.
Magical
Barometer
The magus can setup a sensory (bell, light, warmth, cold, vibration) indicator
for some condition, e.g. buzz in the presences of vampires, have the cross
glow if in the presence of someone with faith greater than 5, be warm to the
touch if a elementalist is present, or be cold to the touch if I am being
watched.
The condition and the effect are set at time of casting and cannot bechanged after. The effects of the ritual cannot cause harm, but only indicate
the condition. The ritual is only effective at a distance of level yards. Caster
can spend three levels to make effects directional.
Dark Magic Rituals
(The below rituals are forbidden from player characters and may, depending on background, not be
known about at all)
Control Compel an extra-dimensional creature to do your will.
Bind Fuse an extra dimensional creature to a physical object allowing the object to
act as a fetterDimensional
rift
The Magus can open a rift to another extra-planar location. Five successes are
needed for the inner planes, Nine successes for the Fey realms and near
ethereal plane. 12 successes for the far ethereal and Astral planes. 15
successes for any location on the outer planes.
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Major Players
LightBringers
And God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good;
and God separated the light from the darkness.
Genesis 1:3-4
Collectively, the LightBringers represent goodness in all its many forms. Although various groups do
not always agree in methods or principles, all are dedicated to the eradication of evil.
The Church
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build
my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail
against it.
Mathew 16:18
Make for Me a Sanctuary and I shall dwell among them...
Exodus 25:8
The Church is the frontline soldier in the ongoing war against evil.
They wage the campaigns, organize the funding, and build the strongholds (churches). The Church
first came into existence when early tribal chiefs gave their people the ability to hold out against the
darkness. Now, the Church is organized along religious lines, with the most powerful figures at the
top (e.g. the Pope of the Roman Catholics). Interdenominational cooperation normally only happens
at the lowest level, where a neighboring church, mosque, or synagogue might come to the aid of
others, though old wounds and rivalries make this less and less common. This lack of coordination at
all levels has hurt the overall battle in recent years.
Individual members have no intrinsic powers other than the faith they wield. As a group of three or
more, they can consecrate land or objects. Consecration repeals creatures tainted by evil and the
undead, damaging or killing them if they come in contact with it. Conversely, ghosts lured onto
consecrated land fall into an eternal sleep and eventually sink into the ground.
To Consecrate an object to area, the first two priests roll their faith. Any successes they get are
added to the dice pool of the third priest plus any bonuses for the area or objects. The number of
successes rolled by the third priest is the objects or locations new faith value. Consecrationrequires three willpower points (can be divided up any way among the priests) and can only be re-
consecrated once per month. An additional bonus of 1 die per every 5 months of re-consecration is
added to the pool (dont think to hard about the Vatican)
Creatures of Darkness suffer lethal damage per turn equal to the faith roll of the object/place, minus
their taint rating. Ghosts lose willpower per turn equal to the faith roll of the object/place minus
their willpower. When a ghost has no willpower left they will sink into a sleep and eventually sink
into the ground. If the holy object is removed or the ghost is rescued from the holy place, they
will heal this lost willpower like bashing damage. People acting in the presence of holy objects or
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on holy ground in a way that supports the intentions of the place/object can add their personal faith
dice towards one roll once per session. The faith dice added cannot be greater than the faith of the
object or place.
Examples:
Father OToole
Priest at St. Michaels Cathedral: He tends his flock and prevents the spread of evil in his
parish and raises money for the bigger fight.
Casey Douglas
Demon Hunter : Armed with blessed weapons, holy water and a Vatican expense account, he
hunted down and destroys vampiric and demonic infestations.
The White Hand
Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of thechurch to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the
name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will
make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he
has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your
sins to each other and pray for each other so that you
may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful
and effective
James 5:14-16
The White Hand is a sect of spiritual healers. Spread around the world, they work in secret healing
the injured and caring for the infirm. The White Hand recruits mostly children and the occasional
wild talent. Young recruitment ensures the correct religious disposition of its members. Training is
harsh and mastery takes a life time making young initiation all the more important.
The order recognizes four degrees of training: Initiate, Pathseeker, Cleric, Master. Initiates learn
about conventional medicine (i.e. bandaging, stitching, splinting, etc). As a Pathseeker, they learn
to take injury or illness away from a suffering person and into themselves. As Clerics, they learn to
heal themselves as well as give that healing to other individuals they touch. Masters of the White
Hand are deep wells of healing energy and can radiate this energy to their followers.
On a successful faith roll, the White Hand healer (Pathseeker and above) can take the wounds from
a person and apply it to themselves. Pathseekers can only heal bashing wounds, and Masters can
heal aggravated wounds. All White Hand heal at an accelerated rate. Twice as fast for Initiate,
three times as fast for Pathseekers, four times as fast for Clerics and five times as fast for the
Master.
Masters seem to have 3 times their normal health stat. This is only used for healing purpose and
never for damage they receive themselves. If they are down of their normal health stat due to
injury, then recalculate the size of the extra health pool. If the pool cannot hold all the extra
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damage, apply it to the base health but dont recalculate again. The master should be careful not to
take injury away from someone into their base health poll because this will cause the pool to shrink
also. The White Hand may attempt to heal each type of damage once per 24 hour period per target.
If the White Hand rolls too well, they can choose not to accept all the damage. For each point of
damage they choose not to accept a dice is rolled with success meaning they take the damage
anyway.
Angels
And the angel of the LORD said to him, "Why do you ask my name, seeing it
is wonderful?"
Judges 13:18
Angels are the messengers of God. They carry light and goodness into the
darkness and fight the forces of evil. All out open warfare has not been
seen since the 1st
century. Now the battle is like cold war Germany with
spies, plans, sabotage, secret drops and of course the occasional
assassination. Each Angels nature and task are defined by the choir they
belong to.
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The Seraphim are considered in this system to be the highest ranking angels and sit atthe hand of God. They spend most of their time continually chanting "Sanctus,Sanctus, Sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth" (which translates pretty much into "Holy,Holy is the Lord of Hosts, the entire earth is full of His Glory"). They are associatedwith healing fire, are said to have sixteen faces and a radiance which makes itimpossible for any creature, or other angel, to look upon them. They are also usually
described as having three pairs of wings.
The Seraphim
Mentioned in Exodus 25 as having carved the figures (or simply having been thefigures depending on the biblical translation) for the Ark of the Covenant, also said tohave been posted at the entrance to Paradise after Adam and Eve were politely askedto leave. They are said to have two pairs of wings and four faces and stand for eternalvigilance and knowledge. Sometimes they are said to drive God's chariot for him,serve as a bookkeeping service, and maintain the hosts of heaven.
The Cherubim
"The many eyed ones who serve as the wheels of the chariot of God." Sometimescalled the Ophanim, they are said to have been assigned the task of fulfilling thejustice of God. Their power lies in humility. Although they are said to shine as brightlyas the Seraphim and the Cherubim, their humility allows them to objectively passjudgments on behalf of God.
The Thrones
Administrator types who are said to prefer wearing green and gold outfits and carryboth a sword and a scepter. They regulate the work of other angels and keep a closewatch on even the most intimately small details of existence.
The Dominations
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Angels are incorporeal beings on our plane. In this form they can travel great speeds and distances,
crossing the world in seconds. In darkness, they are limited to 200 yards a turn. Angels cannot be in
darkness (out of natural light) in their incorporeal forms. Darkness will harm them at the rate of 1
bashing wound per turn. Holy objects or places will protect Angels from this damage.
They are capable of creating human bodies with 30 successes on an extended faith roll (each roll
representing 3 hours time) and spending 3 willpower points. It is possible to create a spare body,
but an unoccupied body will need 10 additional faith roll successes and 1 additional willpower point
Also said to perform administrative duties similar to those of the Dominations, but theyare most specifically assigned to the details of our world and the cosmos. They are said tokeep planets and stars moving in their proper order and looking after the weather onearth. They also are said to do a bit of work with bestowing character, such as valor andtruth, in the souls of mortals. They are the patron angels of saints. According to ThomasAquinas they regulate miracles as well.
The Virtues
Sometimes referred to as the Authorities, they are said to have the task of hitting demonsover the head if they attempt to take control of the world. They guard the pathwaysbetween heaven and earth and assist humans in resisting temptation. It is this class ofangels that Lucifer is said to have once been, and the class from which he drew hisgreatest following during the fall from grace.
The Powers
Said to look over the goings-on in cities, towns, houses and any structure that containshumans, they are said to be given fairly frequent permission to deal one-on-one withmortals. They work forms of miracles that are overlooked generally and greeted as "hey,an odd thing just happened... how strange, I guess everything is going to work out afterall." They hold the power to move the hearts and minds of humankind when deemednecessary. They tend to aim for guiding and regulating the ideas of world leaders formaximum results.
The Principalities
The most historically ambiguous of the angels, sometimes considered leaders of theentire angel command. This stems from the original angel hierarchy where there were
only two types of angels, Archangels and run-of-the-mill Angels. In Dionysius' model theyserve the Will of God in direct relation to mortals. Their close association with mankindleads to their low ranking in this model. They are field commanders in the battle againstevil and the fallen angels under Satan's command. To mankind they impart comfort,solace and inner strength through unconditional love, usually in the darkest moments.
The Archangels
They don't get a special name, although sometimes they are called the Guardians orGuardian Angels. They are said to focus on being caretakers for mortal humans. Theirposition is said to be no lower than that of the Seraphim in the eyes of God and they arecontent with their position in the choir.
The Angels
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each week. Failure to upkeep a body will cause it to dissolve to goo in under a day. Once this process
starts the body cannot be saved. Also once an Angel is in a body they cannot leave it until the body
is destroyed, which is a painful and abhorrent process the Angel will not undertake willingly.
Angels can use faith skill to boost any physical skills. While they are doing this those faith dice cant
be used for anything else and the Angel is effectively at the lower faith level. Also, any object the
Angel wields or holds out in front of them is considered a holy object of equal faith to the Angel.
Dropped objects lose faith at a rate of one point every 10 minutes.
Angelic healing is direct, unlike the White Hand, but works on a similar scale. The Angel, on a
successful faith roll, can remove twice the rolled successes of bashing damage, once the rolled
successes of lethal damage, or half the rolled successes of aggravated damage. The Angel may
attempt to heal each type of damage once per 24 hour period per target.
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Lords Of Darkness
Darkness falls across the land
The midnight hour is close at hand
Creatures crawl in search of blood
To terrorize y'alls neighborhood
Thriller - MJ
The Lords of Darkness strive for wickedness and evil to prevail. They wish the world to be plunged
into the permanent darkness of the Masters shadow and will not stop until all good and light is
removed from this world.
The Cult
All credibility, all good conscience, all evidence of truth come
only from the senses.
Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
The Cult stands against The Church. It strives to give evil a foothold in
this world. Though much less organized and fragmented, its guerrilla
and sleep cell techniques make it a dangerous adversary. They charm
the disenfranchised to join cults of personality, deface houses of god,
and tempt men of the cloth with taboos (lust, greed, even food).
Where the cults flourish, a devil is not too far away. The may not work in the spotlight, but they will
pull the puppet strings from behind. The members of cults have no powers in game terms. They
may have a few magic items, given by the devils, but the members cant even produce taint. They
are cannon fodder up against things they cannot and do not wish to understand.
Devils and Demons
and do not give the devil a foothold.
Ephesians 4:27
Followers of the original fallen angel, these malevolent
creatures seek to corrupt mankind and spread evil throughout
the world. They work from the shadows and the darkness,
which they prefer, and stir up trouble. They form a constantly
shifting power based hierarchy, where each Demon knows his placeand who he will have to kill to move up.
Demons typically have a particular sin that is attached to their nature. They work hardest to
promote their particular sin. Common sins are Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride.
A Demon can read a person to learn their sin or vice. This is a contested roll (Manipulation +
Subterfuge vs. targets willpower). If the sin matches the demons, they can subtly influence a target
to want to indulge in that sin. To resist, target rolls their willpower and they need to get successes
greater than the demons taint the targets faith.
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The Fallen
I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden
wealth of secret places
Isaiah 45:3
Humans corrupted by the power and lure of evil. Their
corruption does not happen overnight. It is a slow process
where a demon or devil tempts the person with more and
more power until the person loses their very humanity. For
each taint die rolled against the fallen person, they
permanently lose one faith point. When they are out of
faith they start losing willpower point. They will not realize
they have lost any points until it is too late. When all willpower points are gone, they will be under
the control of the demon or devil. At which point their skin will rot and their mind will go a mad
zombie insane. The demons voice is the only one they will listen to. Like some kind of loyal dog.
Vampires
The blood is the life of the flesh
Leviticus 17:11
Vampires are a form of demon that was trapped corporeally
and found they could infect others. There are 3 or 4 know
species of vampire. All vampires do not cast a reflection and
get one quick initiative bonus per scene.
White Vampires feed on one kind of emotion (lust, anger,
sorrow, etc.). They can walk in sunlight and are not affected
by any other movie vampire myths. White Vampires appear
to be beautiful people (not as pretty as the High Fey, but
close). They are not stronger than normal, but can heal much
faster when they feed.
White Vampirism is passed on to the children of the vampire and non-vampires. At puberty, 1 in a
100 half vampire children will change over. White vampires tend to form tight family groups and use
money and power to hide.
Red Vampires feed on blood. They take one lethal damage per turn in sunlight and can be
immobilized by a wooden stake through the heart. They are harmed by fire and holy water, but not
holy symbols. Red Vampires only take bashing damage from lethal attacks and lethal damage from
aggravated attacks except were mentioned above. Most are more animal than person, always
hunting for prey.
Red Vampirism is a blood disease passed on during the vampires bite. A bitten person rolls a dice
pool equal to the most health levels they are down in the first 30 minutes after the attack. Any
successes and the personal is a half vampire. Holy water can be drank (-3 dice) and/or put on the
wound (-2 dice). Drinking blood will complete the transformation of the victim into a full vampire.
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Black Vampires feed on the souls and rotten corpses of others. They take one aggravated damage
per turn in sunlight, are allergic to garlic, silver, holy symbols, fire, and open running water. They are
killed instantly by decapitation or stake through the solar plexus by a properly crafted silver / copper
Babylonian weapon called the nannaru-sukurru (Akkadian for moon spear)
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Children of Chaos
Cause as much chaos and disruption as possible but dont let them take you ALIVE
Sid Vicious
Other than a complete lack of order and a common enemy of the Technocracy nothing holds this
group of misanthropes together. Most dont work with other let
alone know that the others exist.
The Touched
I couldn't live forever, I wouldn't if I could: But I needn't fret
about it, For I couldn't if I would. I see the tree, planted
when I was born, now just dead wood. I may couldnt and I
may wouldnt, but death will still not visit my door and his
tea is getting cold.
Jeremiah Malkav (1324 AD - ???)
What does it mean to live forever? To never die? The human mind
is not prepared for this reality. The Touched, sometimes called the
children of Malkav ,suffer this. They cannot ever be killed. Death is not permanent. They will rise
once their bodies mend themselves, even after what we would call death. The more damage, the
longer it could take. Some young malkavians that were torn to shreds have taken 50 years to heal.
The shock of dying over and over again leaves all malkavians mentally disturbed. They have at least
one permanent derangement if not more. If this is not bad enough, they can project illusions that
seem entirely real to those around them. There are also claims that some malkavians may be able to
read minds. The malkavian will continue to age until their first death when they will age
backwards to what they looked like at 25 years old. From there they will age forward to 50 and then
back to 25 again.
No matter what their appearance, they will always be in the peak of physical health. No one is quite
sure if this aging appearance is just another illusion they subconsciously wear or how they really
look. In systems terms, the malkavian heals at a very fast rate. The formula to calculate how long, L,
it will take a malkavian will heal wounds, W, is
TheXfactor of a malkavian is his age divided by 75 years (round down, 1 if age
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Chaotician
Predictability: Does the flap of a butterfly's
wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?
Edward Lorenz
A small group of mathematicians that broke from the
Technocracy and are in hiding, they have found a
loophole in the laws of the universe that lets them
control probability or at least which quantum
universe they or those around them end up in. Most
have trained themselves where they dont need technology and can perform these feats
themselves. A few beginners still rely on the technology with makes it easier for the technocracy to
track. Generally they maintain very low profiles and hide from the ever searching technocracy. If
anyone gets close to their research results they will recruit or eliminate them. The group stays in
contact through ghost irc servers and truly random encryption keys.
For game play, they can, by spending a willpower point, ask for any (their own or others) dice roll to
be re-rolled. Additional willpower points can be spent to increase or reduce a pool before it is rolled.A stamina + resolve spent willpower roll is made. Failure means they take bashing damage. They
also have an almost magical ability to break any code or solve any word, number or language puzzle
with a successful extended wits + science roll.
The Fey
If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Robin Goodfellow - A Midsummer Night's Dream - William
Shakespeare
The fey are creatures tied to nature, which inhabit our plane and
the planes beyond. High Fey look almost alien with how beautiful
they are. Lower Fey come in too many forms to catalog here.
They are divided in to two courts: Seelie and Unseelie.
TheSeelie
fairies favor summer, warmth, plant life and are generally helpful, if not mischievous, to
people. Common Seelie fairies are hobgoblins, brownies, ferrishyn, selkies, leprachauns and trents.
The Unseelie fairies favor winter, cold, ice and snow and like to see people suffer through physically
or mental torture. Common Unseelie fairies are bogies, bogles, boggars, abbylubbers, trolls and frost
giants.
Not many fairies still exist on our plane. Very small creatures, that carry out tasks for nature, still
persist. Changelings (children of fairy and human lineage) also live among us. The rest have moved
to the Fey realms carved from the Ethereal planes. Here they rule and are plentiful, organized into
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the separate courts. A fairy may not wish to be part of court life, but if the queen commands they
must follow and it is common for them to be called into the fey army which constantly fights.
Most (if not all) Fey are allergic to cold iron and take great damage from it. To enter a pact with the
Fey is probably insane, but if you want to there is the Flaw: Fairy Pact (+1 to +5). They will always
keep their word, but the issue is that they will have twisted means for the words that they gave and
hold you to do things that you really dont want to do.
It also cannot be stressed enough. NEVER, EVER eat food or drink offered to you by the Fey. They
will use this to trap you and they make you bargain your freedom for a pact or worse just keep you
as a plaything. A Fey will never tell a complete lie, but will always mix it with the truth and present it
in a misleading fashion. Fey are creatures of pure magic and this is very true of the High Fey. They
can do with a thought, what a magus could not even attempt as a ritual. Their capricious nature
makes them best to be avoided.
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The Technocratic Order
01101111 01110010 01100100 01101111 00100000 01110011 01110101 01110000
01100101 01110010 00100000 01110100 01101111 01110100 01110101 01110011 (ordo
super totus)
System 674
The technocratic order is only interested in two things: Power and Order. It will stop at nothing to
reach these goals. They control and create most of the technology we see, spoon feeding it to us
slowly always keeping the advantage to themselves. They see most supernaturals as a threat to their
power base and to the sciences they use to predict and control the masses.
Virtual Adepts
Moores Law states The processing power of a
computer doubles every six months. Our
technology is 15 years better then yours. That being
said, let me add this little fact: AYBABTU
Wh!t3Panda
The VAs are computer console jockeys and hackers. They
have the equipment and the elite skills to do what needs to
be done. They process information and reshape the digital
reality of our world and provide operation support for the
agents. They are happy to find targets digitally, track them via satellite or street cameras, listen in to
cell phone calls, redirect police to other locations and stop news coverage. VAs also provide tech
support services for the other divisions of the Technocracy.
They mostly dont like to hang out in the real world. Preferring instead to spend most of their timeliving in remote secret bunkers/dorms stocked with all the junk food, Buffy DVDs and video games
any nerd would need. Dorm sizes range from 10 to 100 hackers. Cleaning, cooking and other
support staff are, of course, provided. While not technically vampires, they will need to wear
sunglasses when outdoor and a high SPF sunscreen is a must. The most hated task of a VA is field
work. After being shanghaied by agents and put in the back of a tech van. They could spend weeks
on a field op with bad food, bad company and people yelling at them to stop playing game and
focus. Not to mention, being shot at
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Dimensional Engineering Corp
This planet is under constant threat of dimensional incursion. Beasties and nasties from who knows
where are opening portals.The brave heroes of the DEC follow the 4 Cs:
Syndicate
Money controls everyone. If you control the money, youcontrol everyone else
Find me a man without a price and I will give it to him
Some rich guy that you will never meet
The Syndicate control people through money. There are behind the big banks and many major
corporations. Although they dont control governments directly, they can exert great pressure by
exploiting graft, causing currency fluctuations and bankrupting whole countries. Through penalties
and contracts they have most of the world over a barrel and the world does not even know it. This is
one of the most secretive groups of the technocracy. Most in the technocracy only know them as
Financial Services, a branch full of paper-pushers and lowly accountants, but they control all the
money and all the allocations. They control which project will succeed and which project will gettheir funding cut.
This is a group not to be crossed. The will drain every penny you or anyone close to you has. Then
when you are homeless in a box under the bridge, they will start thinking of mean things to do to
you like demolish the bridge.
Progenitors
The Progenitors are the biotech wing of the technocracy. They are obsessed with all genetics,
cloning and crafting new and better creatures. They are for the most part without ethics and have
Curedimensional tears before they happen. Using special wave
emitters it is possible to prevent the tear from opening in thefirst place. Find and shore up weak places in the ether is a
constant activity.
Containan open tear, so that creatures from beyond can not
contaminate our planet. Also the public has to be evacuatedand protected from the tear.
Closethe tear at all cost. The DEC uses voidships for this task, becausethe tear must be sealed from the side it was opened on. Many a
brave void engineer is still lost in the beyond, but with theconstantly improving technology there is always hope.
Captureany creatures from the other side for study or autopsy. Alsocapture and lock up any beings that can cause dimensional
instability for their own safety and the safety of others.
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no issues with experimentation with humans. Many a person has disappeared only to end up on a
Progenitors lab table, either harvested for parts, given a fatal illness with an untested cure, or
turned into some kind of monster. Agent intervention and Syndicate oversight are the only things
keeping the Progenitors from going too far, too often.
Agents
Agents are working stiffs of the Technocracy. They take orders through their hierarchy from the
Iteration. They get tech and equipment from the other branches. They are the firefighters and
police. They contain or eliminate most supernatural activities.
The Iteration
Not much is known about what lies at the heart of the Technocracy, but if you ask any member, they
will tell you the Iteration is change. The Iteration is believed to be some kind of super computer or
maybe a group of supercomputers. It is rumored that the Iteration can not only predict human
movement, actions and futures; but that it is already controlling and changing them. Supernatural
beings play into this somehow, but again little is known and none return.
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Elementalists
Some people are born with the ability to control and command elemental forces. Without training,
most of these people will never know they have this ability. Those that receive training are thrust
into a world of Mage politics and supernatural creatures. The Elementalist does not control the
elements directly, but through an exchange of energies with elemental creatures that visit our
plane. For details on what elementals can do, see the elemental magic chapter earlier in this book.
Elementalists can recognize others of their kind by the elementals that move around them. They
can recognize potentials the same way.
The Elementals have followed a feudal hierarchy with the highest level being the Council of Vienna,
a group of 7 of the most powerful elementalists in the world. Each Elemental master has dominion
over an area that is spelled out in the Unseelie Accords. The Elementalist Master authority is
supreme in their area, but they acquiesce authority to the council in larger matters. Currently there
are only about 60 elemental masters operating outside of Vienna, mostly in the old world. Cities
known to have had a master include:
Mumbai, Shanghai, Karachi, Delhi, Istanbul, So,Paulo, Moscow, Seoul, Beijing,
Mexico City, Tokyo, Jakarta, New York City, Wuhan, Lagos, Kinshasa, Lima, London,
Bogot, Ho Chi Minh City, Bangkok, Hong,Kong, Dhaka, Cairo, Guangzhou, Lahore,
Bangalore, Tianjin, Kolkata, Santiago, Singapore, Chongqing, Chennai, Saint
Petersburg, Surat, Riyadh, Alexandria, Shenyang, Yangon, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad,
Ankara, Johannesburg, Los Angeles, Abidjan, Yokohama, Cape Town, Berlin, Pune,
Madrid, Kanpur, Jaipur, Buenos Aires, Nairobi, Jedda and Houston.
There is an informal web of loyalty and friendship between the masters, but there are also great
rivalries and feuding. Elementalist Masters train others, so they build a group of followers,
protectors and soldiers to attack their enemies. Most Masters are very, very rich and live in very
fortified manors or castles. Some lose touch with our world and focus on the elemental planes
more and more casting off physical possessions and ignoring people and social conventions.
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People of Note
Houston
Domino
Your Boss (I hope you know her), Elemental Master (Earth), reclusive business
woman, owns and lives in the Houston Mega Mall (locally called the Pleasure Dome
because of the stone statues and poem inscribe at the entrances. She also has a
Doctorate in Material Science and helped create a near room temperature super
conductor, which she used to build the Triangle, a mag-lev subway system between