[Mage: The Awakening v1.9] Nimbus Rules

 ((Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler))

III.         Nimbus Rules

a.    Long-Term Nimbus (The Subtle Nimbus):

•           Subtle Harmony - The Long-Term Nimbus is an uncontrolled series of subtle coincidences that surrounds your character. These are purely story-based effects, bits of strangeness that align with your character’s Path. It represents the Supernal World influencing the Fallen World.

•           Contagions - A Mage’s Gnosis determines the potency of the Nimbus and the strength of its subtle effects.  Wisdom affects how far the Nimbus spreads throughout the world with you as a conduit.  It follows Sympathetic Ties and affects people, places, and things.

•           Shadowname Grounding - A Mage’s Shadowname greatly isolates and “grounds out” the affects and keeps the nimbus from affecting people, places, and things associated with her True Name or other Names’ lives.  The Shadowname restricts the strongest effects of the long-term Nimbus to the Mage’s Sanctum, tools, and associates.  Some still will bleed through to effect people not associated with the Mage’s secret life but the effects will be suppressed by half-rounded down.

•           Competing Influence - Mages with an equal or higher Gnosis than the mage are unaffected by the Long-Team Nimbus.  Weaker Mages cannot suppress the effects without counterspellwork.  If two mages share the same subjects affected by the Long-Term Nimbus the one with the greatest Gnosis will overtake the other.  If they are equal in Gnosis both effects will completely cancel each other out.

Long-Term Nimbus Potency:

Gnosis 1 – Purely random acts of coincidence that occur sporadically.

Gnosis 2 – Things associated with the Mage’s nimbus have a way of harmonizing with normal events.

Gnosis 3 – Random but highly unnerving and frequent things happen around the mage with regularity.

Gnosis 4 – People, especially sleepers, are compelled to do or say certain things as the nimbus actually bends their will in harmony with the mage’s supernal realm.

Gnosis 5 – The world and people surrounding the Mage are influenced by omens and portents resonant with the mage’s powers and nimbus.  The mage is the curtain in front of their Supernal Realm.

Gnosis 6 – Inflicts relevant Condition on targets with +1 or -1 effect,

Gnosis 7 – Inflicts relevant Condition on targets with +2 or -2 effect

Gnosis 8 – Inflicts relevant Condition on targets with +3 or -3 effect

Gnosis 9 – Inflicts relevant Condition on targets with +4 or -4 effect

Gnosis 10 – Inflicts relevant Condition on targets with +5 or -5 effect

Long-Term Nimbus Influence:

Wisdom 10 – The Long-Term Nimbus is so subtle it appears to have no effects at all

Wisdom 9 - The Long-Term Nimbus is so subtle it appears to have no effects at all

Wisdom 8 – The Long-Term Nimbus only seems to effect subjects within Sensory Range of the mage

Wisdom 7 - The Long-Term Nimbus only seems to effect subjects within Sensory Range of the mage

Wisdom 6 – The Long-Term Nimbus only seems to effect subjects with an Intimate Sympathy or within Visual range.  True Name life subjects are only effected at Sensory Range.

Wisdom 5 - The Long-Term Nimbus only seems to effect subjects with an Intimate Sympathy or within Visual range.  True Name life subjects are only effected at Sensory Range.

Wisdom 4 - The Long-Term Nimbus effects subjects with an Intimate or Known Sympathy or within Visual range.  True Name life subjects are affected at Sensory Range or Intimate Sympathy.

Wisdom 3 - The Long-Term Nimbus effects subjects with an Intimate or Known Sympathy or within Visual range.  True Name life subjects are affected at Sensory Range or Intimate Sympathy.

Wisdom 2 - The Long-Term Nimbus effects subjects with an Intimate, Known or Acquainted Sympathy or within Visual range.  True Name life subjects are affected at Sensory Range, Known Sympathy and Intimate Sympathy.

Wisdom 1 – The Long-Term Nimbus effects subjects with an Intimate, Known, Acquainted or Encountered Sympathy or within Visual range.  True Name life subjects are affected at Sensory Range, Known, Acquainted and Intimate Sympathy.

Wisdom 0 – The Long-Term Nimbus effects subjects with an Intimate, Known, Acquainted or Encountered Sympathy or within Visual range.  True Name life subjects are affected at Sensory Range, Known, Acquainted and Intimate Sympathy.

b.   Immediate Nimbus (Supernal Dispersion):

•           Supernal Aura – The Immediate Numbus is the magically charged aura around a mage.  Under Mage Sight (and unless magically veiled) whenever a Mage casts a spell their aura emits sensory effects, emotions, and subtle influences.  See Tome of the Watchtowers for ideas on Immediate Nimbi. Also, whenever the mage recovers Willpower Points from fulfilling their Sub-Virtue or Sub-Vice their Nimbus glows as if they were casting a spell.

•           Luminous Being – If scrutinized with a Mage Sight associated with a target mage’s Path Arcana or with Prime-based sights a mage can uncover that their target is a mage with their numbus as a very faint “glow” around them. Supernatural Abilities which grant Aura Perception could feasibly also uncover this.  Which Arcana used can also narrow down which Path the target belongs to.  Gnosis 6-10 mages grant +1-5 to these detection attempts.

•           Nimbus Flare – When a mage casts a Vulgar Spell the mage’s Nimbus flares brightly for a few seconds. To other supernatural creatures it is a blinding halo, the stuff of raw creation.  Even Sleepers can see these flares albeit a much muted version. After the flare Sleepers succumbs to the Quiescence after resolving The Nimbus Tilt and most forget or rationalize it away. It does tend to draw attention since the flare is sensory-based and very distracting to the immediate which means it invokes Disbelief.  All Witnesses must roll to resist The Nimbus Tilt.

•           Voluntary Uncloaking– A mage can cause a Nimbus Flare on command by rolling Resolve + Gnosis to inflict The Nimbus Tilt. If the mage is being influenced by Conditions.

•           The Nimbus Tilt – Witnesses of a Nimbus Flare must roll to resist the effects of a Tilt unique to the character’s Nimbus.  The character rolls their Resolve + Gnosis vs the Resolve + Power Trait of all witnesses (usually taking the highest Resolve for all sleepers and rolling the supernatural crowds’ separately) and successes denote the strength of the Tilt.  When designing the Nimbus Tilt of a character you can decide if the Tilt will inflict penalties or bonuses to certain actions or some combination.  Keep in mind that the character doesn’t get to decide what his Tilt does but can learn to exploit it. Mages of lower Gnosis are the only ones affected and must Uncloak their Nimbus in order to resist per Class of Wills.  The Duration of the Tilt is determined by the Wisdom of the flaring mage.

•           Clash of Wills– If a mage is affected by Conditions or Tilts caused by Supernatural Creatures or Aura abilities the mage can Uncloak their Nimbus and roll Resistance Attribute + Gnosis to contest the effect.

Immediate Nimbus Tilt Duration:

Wisdom 10 – The Tilt lasts only during the mage’s turn.

Wisdom 9 – The Tilt lasts for one Round

Wisdom 8 – The Tilt lasts for two Rounds

Wisdom 7 – The Tilt lasts for three Rounds

Wisdom 6 – The Tilt lasts for four Rounds

Wisdom 5 – The Tilt lasts for five Rounds

Wisdom 4 – The Tilt lasts for one minute (20 rounds)

Wisdom 3 – The Tilt lasts for three minutes

Wisdom 2 – The Tilt lasts for five minute

Wisdom 1 – The Tilt lasts for ten minutes

Wisdom 0 – The Tilt lasts for the entire Scene

c.    Signature Nimbus (Resonant Imprints):

•           Make your Mark– The Signature Nimbus is the supernal resonance “finger print” left by a mage whenever they cast a spell, a Rote, Praxis, or Attainment.  Anything effected by their magic has a subtle imprint of the caster’s Signature Nimbus.  There are plenty of spells that can mask or attempt to suppress or hide these markings, even making it look like another mage.  These attempts can all be seen through with enough Scrutiny.

•           Memorizing Resonance– A mage Scrutinizing a Signature Nimbus with Focused Mage Sight can roll Intelligence + Occult to not only study the resonance but also to memorize it for later comparison.  Mages tend to magically sample or record such imprints.  Unless the Scrutinizing mage has Eidetic Memory or Mind magic they may need to roll Intelligence + Resolve to remember it for later and Intelligence + Occult to compare two Signature Nimbi. A mage usually knows without a roll if they have seen a particular Signature Nimbus before.

•           Trace Evidence– Mages who’s Nimbus Flared tend to leave behind more imprints.  Essentially the Signature Nimbus is the trace imprint of the Immediate Nimbus.  The mage’s Gnosis determines how much easier the Signature Nimbus is to find and study.  Mages at Gnosis 6-10 grant a bonus of +1-5 to a mage studying their Signature Nimbus using Intelligence + Occult.

•           Wax Seal– Mages wishing to leave markings or sign their work can deliberately imprint an item without Uncloaking their Nimbus.  The mage spends 1 Mana and anyone Scrutinizing the subject with Focused Mage Sight adds the originator’s Gnosis rating to the observer’s Intelligence + Occult rolls. The observer also falls prey to the effects of the originator’s Long-Term Nimbus for a duration relating to the observer’s Wisdom. The Condition afflicted by the Long-Term Nimbus can be resolved by destroying the originator’s Sympathetic connection to the originator.

Signature Nimbus Duration:

Wisdom 10 – The Condition lasts for one Round.

Wisdom 9 – The Condition lasts for one Scene/1 Hour.

Wisdom 8 – The Condition lasts for two hours.

Wisdom 7 – The Condition lasts for 12 hours.

Wisdom 6 – The Condition lasts for 24 hours.

Wisdom 5 – The Condition lasts for two days.

Wisdom 4 – The Condition lasts for one week.

Wisdom 3 – The Condition lasts for two weeks.

Wisdom 2 – The Condition lasts for 1 month.

Wisdom 1 – The Condition lasts for 1 year.

Wisdom 0 – The Condition is indefinite.