Game: new World of Darkness by White Wolf & Onyx Path
Venue:
Mage: The Awakening
Chronicle: Mage: The Horsemen
In-Character
Date: Location: November 13th, 2011 , Colorado
Springs, CO
My
Encounter with the entity known as “The Thousandth Cut”
Submitted
for the Lorekeeper Archives by Casstiel
Alright, so recently John (Sorry, Prodigy)
asked me to elaborate for the benefit of the Cabal a little bit about what I
learned in one of Gabrielle’s Grimories.
Specifically what I learned, and then managed to bumble through, was
summoning an entity from the Supernal Realms.
That’s right, a motherfucking piece of the realms right here for a time
on earth.
The Supernal, the greatest mystery of the grand
Tapestry, the loftiest truths of cosmos from where all magic flows. It is a journey we take only once, pending
death and possible ascension of course.
We travel through one of the five known realms, to a tower that a wise Oracle
(if you believe the stories) created and carve our names into the very fabric of
reality. We find that lost un-findable
path through the Astral Realms in that one perfect moment of cosmic clarity,
shake off the blinders, stumble out of sleep and pierce the Lie. The Supernal is perfect truth in all of its
naked platonic quintessence. It is
wondrous, perfect, absolute in its purity, and terrifying. So are the things that live there…
I poured over some books Gabrielle lent me when
I was studying in her basement and came across an appendix of supernatural
entities in hopes of finding some demon lore that would help us with the
Infernal lurking in Loudon’s head. What
I found was the means to catch a gleam of the Supernal Truths and insight into
the higher worlds we visited so briefing when we fled from that Nightmare
Morphean only known as The Gentleman and found ourselves Awakened. A group Awakening is so rare that to her
knowledge, Gabrielle knows of no instance of ever happening before us. Many Magi
over the centuries have summoned a native from the realm of which they hold
Sympathy, in hopes of gleaming what they can no longer see with perfect
serendipity. With a summoning I attempted to answer questions as to why we
Awoke and what our purpose is. Some tastes
of higher realities, like the pure power and majesty of the Aether, are said to
become very addictive. Unfortunately, as
I discovered, Supernal entities are less helpful than you would think. They
tend to be more constructs, no that is not right, well… limited, at least in
this existence on what they can pass on from above. The summoning process is also very
treacherous. But these risks do come
with some reward for those willing to try a summoning.
The process is actually pretty intrinsic to
spell-casting, but at the same time complicated and risky. A mage can only summon entities from the
realm they get their Awakening. So, no
matter how skilled I get at other Arcana, I can only summon Demons from Pandemonium. Basically, after setting up your ritual space
you begin casting a spell without a set Imago.
You forge a powerful pathway through the Abyss to the realm, bringing
down the magical energy. Once the pipe
is open, you must leave it open, and widen it to a size that an entity can
following the pathway down. A lot of
planning, research, and magical skill goes into this. And creating a massive channel to the
Supernal for a long period of time naturally about as Vulgar as you can
get. The Abyss always notices to some
degree and may attempt to sabotage the summoning. Worse yet, Abyssal Golmoth are notorious for
arriving, masquerading as the thing you tried to summon. That’s what I thought happened to me at
first, that I’d failed the summoning and then was being attacked by an Abyssal
creature that slithered its way down the path.
Thankfully, I was successful but more on that later.
The spell itself is a Practice of Weaving with an arcana attuned to your Watchtower. It is an extended spell and the casting
summoning space is very important. The
best place is a Demesne and it’s very
important that you use symbolic correspondences to the realm in question, the purpose
your summoning, and the type being you hope to attract. You usually have to do this spell in private,
or at least around Mages of all the same Path.
Outside influence can really hinder the effort.
Entities that arrive do not live long in
the Fallen World before they must return.
A mass migration of Supernal entities could also cause a local cataclysm
through sheer presence. The spell itself
doesn’t do anything but open the door and leave it open, when your done it’s
also very important that you close it by directing the weaving spell into an
imago and casting something once the Supernal entity returns or the spell is
done. Leaving it open is VERY bad, and
every minute you ritually summon increases the chance that something will worm its
way in from the Abyss. Also, if left
unattended it collapses which is also perfectly awful as well.
Depending on which ruling Arcanum you use,
Subtle (like Mind), or Gross (like Space), determines if the entity you summon
is Recondite or Manifest. Manifest
beings tend to understand the physical better, they are usually easier to
summon, and are thought to guard the paths to the Supernal. Recondite tend to be loftier and capable of
more complex matters, they also tend to be even more idealized and know a great
deal about the arcane. Both are called
upon for their knowledge, artifacts they may bring with them, and feats of
magic that are far beyond mortal ability.
They aren’t always cooperative however, hell, they may be primal,
bestial, confused, or just downright hostile.
They may be terrified and lash out, so it’s sort of like catching
lightning. Also, if you summon these
babies too often you can be stained by the Abyss by keeping the channel open
too long.
The entities lack standard fallen world
classification but can be affected by the correct Arcana. The Arcanum used to summon it can be used to
heal or enhance, the other can be used to command or scrutinize, and the
inferior Arcanum of that Realm can be used to harm or weaken. Every being has a trial the mage must accomplish
to get anything out of them. They may
attack or just leave if the trial isn’t accomplished. The more powerful the being, the more complex
or difficult the trial. You don’t have
all the time in the world either. The
being can be shielded, with some additional finesse in the ritual from the Lie
while within the confines of the circle.
After that time, or if the thing wanders off it starts fading away and
being hurt. Running into the Abyss,
sleepers, or anything associated with the Quiescence harms it further. It needs to return through the circle to go
directly back or it fades away and takes a less direct route home. If it is killed the abyss claims it… pretty
horrible. Additional spellwork can
fortify the summoning against Abyssal intrusion to a degree as well.
So, since I am an Apprentice of Space and a
Disciple of Mind my options on summoning a demon were limited. Mind is a Subtle Arcanum associated with
Pandemonium, and will summon a Recondite entity. Recondite Demons are called Wraiths. What I found out later was they tend to be the
nastiest beings to summon out of all the Realms combined, and they don’t tend
to have physical bodies and manifest in very indirect ways. So when I thought I failed, I already wasn’t
alone. And true to all Demons from
Pandemonium they love to inflict pain and torment, in this case they do so by
manipulating the senses. Their goal is
self-knowledge through forcing people to face every sin, every weakness, and
every failing. I spent a matter of
hours there and it was a fucking lifetime.
If you want to hear about what I remember that is a different story
entirely. Let’s just say that it should
me how outside stimulus affects me, and taught me an unconquerable will to face
any imaginable adversary. This summoning
took me deep again, into those regressed memories from a hell of my own
making. It forged the way for a deeper
understanding of the mind, but also tickled my interest into Goetic demons. More of what I didn’t know… what the summoned
already understands flavors the encounter.
So me being a Disciple of Fate, the Wraith I summoned was very much
there to make deals and Faustian pacts, if properly bested.
So, I did my research, gathered
correspondences, and set out to do my ritual.
You may ask why… and that’s fine.
I wanted the trial. I wanted to
be judged by my tormentors again and this time confirmed worthy in my new state
of Awakening. If you need more than that
you don’t know much about what it means to be a Mastigos… and that’s another
story.
I spelled my way into the Colorado Springs
County Courthouse at night. I just told
the security that it was my shift and dismissed them for some doughnuts. I drew a conventional pentagram, with a
diagram from the Key of Solomon in the middle used to summon demons, the
Summoning Triangle. I placed the Tarot
card of the Devil on the point of the pentagram associated with this hell
(North-East point). I put on a silk
shirt, and lit black candles at all points, I placed Iron rebar along all sides
of the triangle. I drank lukewarm water
from a simple tin cup and burned incense that I picked because it smelled like
Sulfur (yay for Amazon). I lost track of
time in the casting, and it took a lot of mana, pretty much all of it to work
the wide doorway. I knew when it was
completed, which was also around the time I was about to give up, placing
shallow cuts along my forearms with that behenette John broke concrete with
(high Iron content). Something felt
wrong and I had been at it for hours, the courtroom was filled with smoke and
flickering light. I was worried the
Abyss was about to bitch slap me as I finished the spell and closed the door,
releasing my spell in the form of a re-casting of my “Imposter” spell which made
cops think I was one of them. Thankfully
no security cameras in the court room to witness this blasphemous event.
The candles dimmed and everything returned
to normal, nothing, not a Goddamn thing.
I got out of my painfully stiff cross-legged position on the Pandemonium
corner near the center triangle. I
couldn’t feel my legs and I had used the discomfort to focus my spell (it’s a
Warlock thing). Then I felt the first
cut. A sharp tear as the flesh of my
hand opened up. The cuts continued,
every breath, and I fell to the floor in a panic and scrambled out of the
circle. I almost open the doors and fled
as the cuts continued, the pain was exquisite.
I turned, resolved to deal with this problem no matter what end and
ended up collapsed on the floor in front of the Jury aisle as the cuts started
hitting my legs. I was about to cry out
for this torment to stop but then remembered the lessons of hell. Instead I focused my will and refocused my
thoughts beyond the pain, the first lesson.
I cast my space sight and looked around until I saw the Supernal entity
distorting the air in the center of the triangle. Then I threw my magic at it. I focused on closing the spacial relation
between me and it, a shielding working that separated me from its hot razory
touch as my blood pooled beneath my prone form.
The blood ran away from me to the center of the circle and the spacial
distortion filled it. A mouth formed
from the blood in the short carpet of the courtroom floor at the center of my
designs, written with black string and
pieces of maps from different prisons around the country to represent Space,
the force that can hold and command a Wraith.
The mouth of my blood whispers and I dragged my bloody ass to my feet
and over to the circle. I had cuts all
over, shallow but thicker than a paper cut, the fine cuts of a razor blade.
From there the bargaining began. I had to quickly assert that I was a fucking
Warlock and demanded respect as more than a slave of the realm. Then it was time to talk about what I wanted
and what it would take to get the information and insight I needed. I won’t bore you with the details but for the
mostly trivial information the price was exacted that night and I am not
currently still under a pact from it.
The price included all the blood it spilt from me and also gave it a
name… I named it the Thousandth Cut for
the Trail which it exacted upon its summoner.
We spoke for a couple hours as my wounds clotted and it spoke of the beings
of vice that lived in my soul called Goetics and how they could be commanded
and used. We also spoke of new practices
of Mind, how to create lasting and deep patterns in the threads of the Mind
within the great Tapestry, and how to grab those essential threads of magic to
unravel the Mind as well.
The contract concluded I stumbled out of
the clean room with my duffle of implements, my face hidden from the cameras of
the halls with a mask. I used my new
found abilities to breach and alter memories on my doughnut eating compatriots
that were surprised to still see me in the building. On the way through the streets of early
morning I thought I saw a cop car tailing me so I darted through some back
alleys. I hid in the trash and broken
metal as they moved on. I got home when
the sun hit the horizon and passed out for a time after bandaging my wounds. After I woke I posted that elated message on
the Facebook group about being an Adept and called in some healing once I
remembered my wounds. Passed my PT Test
at least…
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