[Mage: The Awakening v1.9] Yantras & Thaumaturgy Part 2/5

 ((Out of Character (OOC):

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

a.     Yantra Categories

•              Location Yantras - Mages seek out — or create — locations that border the Supernal in the hope of using that proximity to enforce ascended laws on the Fallen World. Others find places — or times — where the Lie reflects the Supernal without any specific proximity.

-          Demesne (+0-2)- Many willworkers enhance their ritual space with a soul stone, turning it into a weak form of Supernal Verge.  Mystical tools in this place help tap into the Supernal and are considered part of the place.

1.        A Demesne is attuned to any number of Paths.  Ruling Arcana in this place gain +2 to spell casting rolls.

2.        All other magic here gains +1 except the Inferior Arcana which takes +0.

3.        In a Demesne no magic risks Paradox.

-          Places of Power (+1) - Places and times in the Fallen World can bring about the Supernal if they reflect the spell a mage is using.  An environment has to link to the spell itself, not just the mage. The Obrimos in a church cannot use it as a Yantra to magically charge her cellphone. The magic must link to what Sleepers know about a place or time, not because their perceptions cause Supernal notice but because they act as unconsciously reflect the Supernal attributes of a place.

1.        Different places may grant heightened resonance with the Supernal for different Paths, Arcana and spells.  Loci, Hollows, Hallows, Underworld Gates, the Hedge, Desecration spots, etc…

2.        This includes Hallows, Leylines, and Nodes.

3.        If the location resonantes with the spell as a correspondence gains a +1 to the spellcasting roll.

-          Supernal Verges (+1-3)- In places where the Supernal touches the Fallen World, willworkers find it much easier to draw power through an imago. Such places are natural Yantras, lending their power to those within. Each Supernal Verge teems with the power of one of the Supernal Realms, and lends its power to the Ruling Arcana of that Realm. Supernal Verges are thus as valuable for their versatility as their power. A mage in a Supernal Verge can use his mystic connection to the Watchtower to use it as a Yantra on any ritual spell that doesn’t involve the path’s Inferior Arcanum.

1.        Supernal Verges are sometimes Hallows and are attuned to a specific Supernal Realm.

2.        Ruling Arcana of the Verge gain +3 as a Yantra Bonus.

3.        Common Arcana of the Verge gain +2 as a Yantra Bonus.

4.        Inferior Arcana of the Verge gain +1 as a Yantra Bonus.

5.        Using a Supernal Verge as a Yantra does not take a turn.

6.        In a Demesne no magic risks Paradox.

•              Action Yantras - Everything a willworker does can be magic. Orders teach ritual gestures that bring the imago of a rote to mind through conditioning and muscle-memory. High Speech allows a mage to intone or write her spell not in the imperfect tongues of the Fallen World but the sacred glossolalia that is what it describes. A mage can even hold her spell’s imago in her mind, focusing on it beyond the point of creation in order to maintain Supernal truth upon the world. It takes a little practice to get used to, but given a little time to breathe he can work magic far easier than if he formed an imago from whole cloth.

-          Concentration (+2) - Many spells finish when the willworker forces the Lie to change. Some hold on for as long as the mage can impose her will. It’s a draining task, but worth it. Most common is a mage who holds her imago in her mind. If she’s particularly skilled in the High Speech, she may find it easier to keep the spell in mind by slowly translating her imago into runes back again, focusing on them. In either case, she must focus on the spell and only the spell. If she wavers, the effect is lost. On a basic level, concentration is a mage exerting her will over even her own mind, forcing herself not to weaken. As such, it’s a symbol of ongoing action — and a means to have a spell last longer than it should. The vast majority of mages focus on a spell over time in order to bolster its duration. A few mages instead see concentration like a lens, focusing Supernal truth. While this interpretation can bolster a spell, it also leaves the mage open to disruption until she completes her spell.

1.        Concentrating on an effect provides 2 extra dice. If the mage is hurt or takes a non-reflexive action while the spell is active, it ends immediately.

2.        A deviation of this Yantra Type is the Combat Casting Merit which grants the maneuver All-Out-Cast which sacrifices Defense for +2 to spellcasting in combat.  This only works in combat and is limited to a single Action turn.

-          Mantras (+2) (aka Glossolalia, Speaking in Tongues, or The High Speech) - High Speech is both a language and not a language, a description that is the thing described. Though even mages hear it as gibberish, its Supernal nature ignores the Fallen idea that the map is not the territory. As such, a mage uses High Speech to intone her imago, describing the change that she wills and thus making that change real. As a means of changing the world it is flexible — it requires no external props nor ongoing concentration — but it requires her to speak the words out loud. It’s not enough to coop them up within the mage’s mind, she has to express her desire so the Lie can hear it. As a Yantra, High Speech is very versatile. Almost every mage knows enough to declaim her control or dominance over a subject. She can repeat the words over and over again as she casts to build up a defense. It is however not subtle. She cannot work words of High Speech into a normal sentence to compel a listener to her will. The metalanguage of the Supernal cannot hide in the shallow grammars and inflections of the Lie.

1.        Vocally intoning her imago confers a 2-die bonus.

2.        As it takes time to speak the words, she cannot use any Yantra reflexively when using High Speech — every Yantra including this one adds a turn to the casting time.

3.        Adherents of various beliefs prefer different forms of High Speech. Some mages do not really think of it as a separate form of speech at all but a way of speaking that conveys innate wisdom. Other mages practice High Speech as a form of poetry; certain phrases and images comprise the language of the Mysteries. Mages of the Mysterium have studied these variations and boiled them down to three forms of oral High Speech. Regardless of culture or preference, every mage can use and understand every form.  Mages may have to make an Intelligence + Occult to discern that a form is being used.

a.        Accented - The Accented form is superimposed on normal speech. The mage speaks a chosen language with particular inflections so that it acts as an occult “carrier wave” for the hidden “code” of High Speech. Mages using this form appear to be speaking normal words in a strange accent. The cadence, tone and associated body language convey the magical import of the language. This makes it seem strangely accented (and often archaic) to Sleepers. Sleepers can repeat these speech patterns to repeat the “secret codes,” and other mages and beings who look for High Speech (such as ancient Artifacts, spirits and tomb guardians) will understand. The speech in the carrier language does not have the same meaning as that conveyed through High Speech accent, but Awakened witnesses can easily discern the secrets so conveyed. Mages who come from cultures that especially honor a living language prefer this form. It is sometimes called the Awakened version of a language (“Awakened Japanese,” for instance). Users often believe that it is the true form of High Speech

b.        Classical - Classical High Speech is the form favored by those who call the Awakened City “Atlantis” — that is, the largest share of the world’s mages. This is well described in Mage: The Awakening (pp. 54 and 117). It’s an exotic language with its own vocabulary that sounds like babble to Sleepers. Literate cultures with an ancient heritage tend to promote this form especially if the early languages of their traditions (such as ancient Greek and Latin) are no longer spoken as common tongues.

c.        Poetic - Neither a matter of pronunciation or accent, Poetic High Speech is a matter of imagery and enigmas. The Poetic form is a vocabulary of images and symbols that can be expressed in any language, along with a meter that binds it into memorable performance. These signs and phrases evoke the necessary meanings in a mage’s mind, but not a Sleeper’s. Only mages have the necessary backgrounds to recognize a metaphor for the High Speech word for a magical operation. Furthermore, similar to Accented High Speech, Poetic High Speech recalls distinct rhythms and tones, binding the Poetic form into a cohesive form of magic and communication. Cultures with a powerful oral tradition tend to produce mages who use this form. They are more than willing to embrace the rhythmic conventions and the thousands of symbols that they must use.

d.        Atlantean (Extended High Speech) – This extremely rare form is the actual language of the kingdom of mages of the 3^rd Age.  Intensive study and journeys to countless temples and ruins have uncovered the secrets of this long day language.  Whereas High Speech is more like formulas and syntaxes, this is the complete language.  Unfortunately, the mage using it gets no further benefit, most of the words no longer hold any power.

-          Somatic Correspondences (Mudras) (+1) - Somatics are Supernal mnemonics taught by the Orders that draw on skills and knowledge of the Fallen World, cast through the Order’s philosophy. Creating mudras is part of defining a rote, codifying the structure of magic in the symbols of the Lie. Also called “Mudras” these gestures come in many forms — Buddhist Libertines may use zazen, while the Arrow may tense specific muscles in a set pattern, and Guardians use specific rhythms of walking and representative hand gestures. Each rote is unique to the mage who created it — some encode specific symbolism into the positioning of individual fingers to allow a student to form his own mnemonic; far more present a paternalistic approach that teaches the mudra and the magic without an intervening step to consider the actions’ meaning.

1.        Performing Mundras to cast Rote spells is required for the Rote to work.

2.        Using a rote’s mudra adds the user’s rating the rote’s encoded Skill to her dice pool. If the Skill is one of her Order’s specialized rote skills, she adds an extra die

3.        Taking an extra turn to work in improvised Mudras into your spellcasting can add a +1 Bonus.

4.        Gesture Lore (Supernatural Merit: • to •••••) Requires Dexterity 3 and Occult 3.  Each dot allows the Mage to pick a type of the Mudra types below.  They can reverse engineer rote they know and translate it into the Mudra type he acquired from the merit.  They may teach the Rote in a new way or convert their present Rotes into a new style over time.

5.         There are multiple styles of Mundras, including ones associated with each Order.

a.        Asana - An asana is a static body posture. Unlike mudras, asanas leave the hands free (they do not require the hands to be in an exact position) but otherwise prevent free movement.  Characters using asanas cannot run or apply their Defense to attacks. The classic asana is a yoga posture, but functional asanas can be found in Chinese qigong, still moments in Javanese theatre and the poses of ancient Greek and Egyptian statues. For practical reasons, these are usually limited to extended castings.

b.        Darshana - Darshanas are particular gazes and facial expressions. In Mage: The Awakening (p. 126), these expressions are described as “facial mudras,” and they can be understood as such (though in conversation, scholarly mages prefer a more precise term). The role of facial expressions in Polynesian societies is discussed in Mage: The Awakening, but stylized face gestures are common to Japanese martial and theatrical traditions as well. Expressions might imitate ancient masks, such as those found in African or Greek rituals.

c.        Order Mudras - a mudra is a gesture that occupies one or both hands, as described in Mage: The Awakening. Mudras can be as simple as a sincere genuflection or as complex as the kuji-kiri (“nine cuts”) practiced by Japanese priests and hermits.

                                                                                                                                       i.      Guardians of the Veil – most Mudras are very subtle and may look like normal gestures such as adjusting one’s glasses or buttoning a coat, twitching an eyebrow.

                                                                                                                                      ii.      Adamantine Arrow – most Mudras tend to be kata or martial arts forms.  This forms the foundations for Adamant Hand.

                                                                                                                                    iii.      Mysterium – These Mudras tend to be dramatic and full of occult symbolism and traditional finger waggling and wand pointing.

                                                                                                                                     iv.      Silver Ladder – These Mudras tend to invoke authority and are bold, invoking divine lordship and commanding attention.

                                                                                                                                      v.      Free Council – These Mudras tend to overlap with modern society and Technology.  Maybe they tap something out in binary machine code or whistle in tonal response patterns.

                                                                                                                                     vi.      Seers of the Throne – All of the above, depending on their Ministry.

d.        Nata: Nata is a form of ritual body movement, such as a devotional dance or a martial arts routine. Mages using nata can usually vary the routine enough to protect themselves, but not to pursue a fleeing enemy, pick up a weapon or perform other free actions related to objects or moving in reaction to anything less than an immediate threat to life and limb. Rote dancing through the nata is almost universal; even “scientific” approaches to a rote recognize the biofeedback potential of certain movements.

e.        Pranayama -  Pranayama is the subtlest “gesture.” It focuses on breath and internal contemplation instead of an outward form. Taoist cultural roots treat the body as a microcosmic model of all Creation; breath is a pulse of power through the self that links it to stars, planets, mountains and rivers. Other cultures admonish students to “return to breathing” to remember the original source of power, while some cultures link specific breathing techniques to complex images, colors and occult achievements. Pranayama can be used while moving, but not be used in conjunction with any form of speech. While pranayama is subtle, it’s incompatible with High Speech.