Behind The Veil

[Oracle]

This section is devoted to the additional elements of Mage which are not covered by the spheres and traditions or other sections

Arcane:

Arcane is the mystical ability of some Mages to evade notice. Arcane is not invisibility, instead it is more like an ever present Mind effect which says: "Don't notice me. Forget me.". The upside to this is that a Mage with Arcane is difficult to track down when they are trying to run or hide. The down side to this is that Arcane can not be turned off, and high levels of Arcane can make it almost impossible for the Mage to make people notice her or remember her without resorting to magick. Magick of various sorts may be used to bia pass a Mage's Arcane, but unless renewed this magick eventually fades.

Not all Mages possess Arcane. In fact most don't, but for those who wish to have it here are the rules. First off place your Arcane rating into the misc section of your app. The ratings are as follows:

- Mild: A character with a mild arcane rating finds it easier to blend into a crowd. Attempts to investigate the character prove more difficult, and unless the person involved has a good reason to suspect the character they will never be on the suspect list. People who only meet the character once will often forget her name, but not that they met.

- Moderate: A character with a moderate arcane rating automatically blends in with the crowd even when she shouldn't. The character finds it difficult to be noticed and is usually last picked as people forget she's there. Tracking the character is more difficult as evidence seems to disappear or be forgotten. Pinning a crime on a character (even when she's guilty) is incredibly difficult, but it is also correspondingly difficult for the character to take credit for the good things she has done. People who only meet her once rarely remember that they met her, unless meeting her was significant, but even then they are sketchy on details about her. People have difficulty describing the character, and can only remember her name with great effort. Making friends and having a job is more difficult, but not impossible as repeated contact does help people remember her. Still she is often times passed up for promotion, or people forget to invite her when they are going places. Once more magick such as the Mind sphere can help to force people to remember the Mage however this level of Arcane wears away at the magick quickly so the mage will need to renew minor spells frequently.

- Powerful: A Mage with a powerful arcane rating lives like a ghost. The Mage must struggle to be noticed or remembered. Investigating the Mage (for good or ill) is impossible without supernatural means. Having people remember clear details about the mage is impossible with out supernatural means. The Mage finds it difficult to live as anything other then a hermit as she must use magick to be able to even establish things like a credit rating, social insurance number, or drivers licence. The Mage's phone number might as well be unlisted as no one ever notices it, and even when writen down people tend to simply lose or forget they had it. People who meet the Mage forget her only a short while after the meeting is over. Supernaturals have some resistance to this (such as the imbuded and their sight) however even then they find the Mage difficult to recall. Few Mages are know to have this level of arcane, but that fact rarely surprises anyone.

Avatars:

All Mages have an Avatar. The Avatar is a second soul which allows the Mage to enact her will upon reality. It is believed that all humans have an Avatar however Mage Avatars are awake and active while the majority of humanity's Avatars slumber, which is why they are referred to as sleepers. Although every Mage has an Avatar, not all Avatars were created equal. More powerful Avatars can provide the Mage with more assistance above and beyond the usual, but this assistance comes at a price. The first way that an Avatar assists a Mage is by allowing them to store Quintessence. Quintessence is the raw juice of creation and in times of need the Mage may draw upon these additional reserves of strength to make a single spell easier to caste and more likely to succeed. In short the Quintessence stored in the Mage's Avatar infuses the spell and bolsters the Magick against the degredations of reality. This boost of strength can be used to caste a spell which otherwise wouldn't work such as one which would otherwise require more time to build the power, or which faces opposition such as counter magick or sleeper witnesses. The down side to this is that the Mage is like a battery of spiritual energy, a fact which may attract unwanted attention from beings which feast on this sort of thing such as: some spirits, demons, other Mages, other supernaturals, etc....

The second use of powerful Avatars is that they act as guides for the Mage. The Avatar actively pushes the Mage towards enlightenment which can allow the Mage to reach seekings faster then she otherwise would. The down side to this is that the Avatar doesn't care about anything but ascension, and can not be turned off. Mages with powerful Avatars sometimes find themselves being forced to placate their Avatar in order to be allowed to do things like go to work with out being constantly harassed to do more research or ascend. Powerful Avatars also have the ability to alter the Mage's reality outside of the seeking, but only in minor ways. They also possess knowledge related to the Mage's ascension which combined with their ability to alter reality slightly allows them to set up situations (read scenes) to assist the Mage on her quest for enlightenment....whether she wants to be in the situation or not.

The following rules should be used by those of you who intend on having an Avatar which is more powerful then most. Please keep in mind that this decision should be made at character creation, and an Avatar rating can only be increased on decreased with great effort. If you chose to have a more powerful Avatar please include the rating in the misc section of the app. Keep in mind that the more powerful the Avatar the more it should affect the character's history, personality, and future scenes. Above average Avatars work on the following rating:

- Weak Avatar: The Mage's Avatar is weak, but strong enough to contact the Mage and store a small amount of quintessence. The Avatar is struggling and is incapable of doing anything more then contacting the Mage directly, and even then it does so with little frequency (no more then once a scene and probably less then that). Also the amount of power it stores is a mere pitance allowing the Mage to bolster only the weakest of spells. The power stored by an Avatar of this level is nothing more then a light snack to beings who feast on such things.

- Strong Avatar: The Mage's Avatar is strong and capable of storing more then a little quintessence. The Avatar may alter reality in minor ways using the Mage's own spheres (yes this is paradox free) and only in ways only that the Mage notices and will help with a Ascension. The Mage's Avatar may contact her daily or even hourly if it so choses and it is difficult to tune out. When calling upon it's power the Mage may bolster more powerful spells and even assist with more Vulgar Magick in front of witnesses (although the Mage still garners Paradox as normal). The power stored by the Avatar is a full meal to the energy feeders out there.

- Exceptionally Powerful Avatar: The Mage's Avatar is truly a powerful and capable of storing a king's ransom in energy. An Avatar of this power is capable of making minor alterations to reality (again which only affect and are witnessed only by the Mage) beyond the spheres the Mage possesses. An Avatar of this level is capable of contacting the Mage anytime, and anywhere. Even sleep does not bare it's presence as it may guide the Mage's dreams. An Avatar of this power is best negotiated with for it is impossible to ignore and is more then willing to ruin every non-ascension related aspect of the Mage's life in the pursuit of enlightenment. Mage's with Avatars of this power are usually considered to be extremely blessed or cursed or both by the Mages around them. The power stored by an Avatar of this level is truly epic and a Mage may accidentally drain a node in the act of refilling his reserves. With this power the Mage may bolster any spell, allowing her to caste normally impossible spells in front of witnesses, or skip days worth of ritual preparation in favor of a burst of raw power. To those who dine on power the Mage's Avatar is a once in a life time feast which they would be foolish to let pass them by.

Using quintessence: A Mage may only call upon the Quintessence in her Avatar once without refilling it. Refilling an Avatar can be done in several ways the most common are as follows:
1) time. Over time a Mage's avatar will naturally refill itself from the ambient quintessence available around her. However this process is lengthy and takes at least a week for to refill a weak Avatar and even more time (up to a month) for more powerful Avatars.

2) Prime. The Prime sphere is used to control quintessence and various levels of Prime can allow the Mage to refill her own Avatar or the Avatars of others in numerous different ways.

3) Nodes. Meditating at a Node will allow the Mage to refill their Avatar in only a short amount of time which is one of the reasons Mages flock to these sites. A Mage may refill her Avatar after several hours of meditation at a Node. Mages with more powerful Avatars may wish to be careful and stretch this out over several days. Not doing so can result in the Mage draining the Node's quintessence entirely and leaving in inoperable for several days. If the Mage owns the Node this can be nothing more then an inconvenience, if however she doesn't then the host may take the drain as a mortal insult.

Resonance:

All people change reality. Their thoughts, hopes, dreams, fears, and pain all leave an imprint on their soul and to some extent the world around them. For Mages the imprint on their soul is an imprint on their Magick as well. Resonance reflects itself in the Mage triat, being Dynamic, Pattern or Entropic. All Mages have resonance however for most Mages this resonance is in balance and does not bleed into their magick. The trait of resonance represents a Mage who's resonance has gone out of balance. She favors one, two or all of the triat to much in her thoughts, and in her soul, and this favor changes her magick and even her very being.

A Mage's resonance becomes unbalanced due to powerful experiences. These experiences could be emotional, spiritual or magickal. A spell gone wrong, that results in a paradox backlash can garner resonance as quickly as the death of a loved one. Positive experiences may also result in resonance, however the experience is what colors the resonance. For example a Mage who has survived giving birth may garner Dynamic resonance in the form of fertile, or creating, or perhaps Pattern resonance in the form of nurturing.

The positive side of resonance is that it makes magick which is aligned with the resonance easier. A mage with a Dynamic Fiery resonance would find summoning fire easier, or performing fiery magick easier. The down side to resonance is thata it makes casting magick which opposes the resonance more difficult. The same Fiery mage would have difficulty using magick to snuff out a flame, or summon cold. Resonance of may be different from each other, but no mage may hold resonance which oppose each other. A mage may not have both Fiery Dynamic resonance, and Cold Entropic resonance at the same time. If that were not enough resonance imbalance can lead to madness, or make the mage more susceptible to madness. Any mage who has more then 3 levels in anyone type of resonance goes mad and risks becoming a marauder or worse. A mage who suffers from this magickal insanity is said to have gone into Quiet. Each resonance has it's own Quiet: Dynamic is known as Madness, Static is known as Clarity, and Entropic is known as Jhor.

For those mages who wish to have, or believe their character should have resonance, should use the following rules.
First: Please record resonance in the misc section of your app.
Second: Record resonance as an adjective representing the type of resonance involved. Each adjective represents a level of resonance, and a mage may have no more then 3 levels in each type of resonance.
Third: The more powerful the resonance the more it influences the mage's magick. Powerful resonance should color the mage's life in some way, and that should be represented during play.

[Oracle]

Wonders/Fetishes:

Wonders and Fetishes are magickal items possessed by some Mages. Creation of Wonders is handled by the Prime sphere, while creation of Fetishes is covered by the Spirit sphere. Both Wonders and Fetishes have powers which are Paradox free, however the power source for these gifts differs significantly between the two. Wonders are fuelled by quintessence. Prime mages will shape quintessence so that it can be made to effectively store and recast a spell repeatably. A wonder draws on a mages quintessence to fuel the magick, allowing any mage to use the power within a wonder. In the case of Fetishes the item is bound to a spirit. The spirit dwells within the item and uses it's own power to fuel the magick of the item. The upside is that a Fetish fuels itself so they work even when the flow of quintessence is cut off from a mage. The downside is that a Fetish is a living thing, and the being inside the Fetish must be negotiated with. Forcing a spirit into a Fetish usually results in a Fetish in which magick must always be used to force the spirit to help the mage. Most mages don't have a Wonder or a Fetish as the powers required to forge them are mighty indeed, however for those mages who do have one, they fall into the following categories:

Weak: This item possesses a power which resembles the power of a level 1 or 2 sphere. For example a Fetish gun might have a power which resembles an Entropy 2 blessing to make the shots from the gun more accurate. A starting mage may have one of these, however this should be included with a full description in the Misc section. How the mage got the wonder should also be included.

Strong: These items may replicate a power up to a level 3 sphere or replicate two powers with a rating no more then level 2. Only Disciples or Adepts may begin with an item of this power. A PC must have a very good reason for possessing the item if she did not make it herself.

Epic: These items may replicate a power up to a level 4 sphere or replicate 2 level 3 powers, or even 3 level 2 powers. No PC mage may begin with one of these items.