((In Character (IC):
Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Chronicles of Darkness - Mage: The Awakening (Fallen World Chronicle)
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler
Borrowed & Edited from Original Posting in 2014 by Dave Brookshaw of Onyx Path Publishing.))
((Out of Character (OOC) material in (())s ))
((Out of Character (OOC) material in (())s ))
Oh the Places You’ll
Go…
From: The Earth-Rim Runner by Daduchos Duelmaster Gabrielle
Aside
from high strangeness and Supernal truths, Mages have some common (and
less-common) types of supernatural “real estate” linked to their Awakened state.
Most mages will encounter a few of these and as his powers, experience, and
Arcana advance they will encounter more and more. The more he understands about this extensive
and fragmented cosmology the better he understands how the invisible and
spiritual forces of the universe interlock over the material plane. This post will focus the closest to home.
The Fallen World
Aliases: The Material Plane, the
Physical Plane, The Corporeal World, the Phemeral World.
This
is home base. The world the Sleepers
live in. It is not any safer than some
of the other places. In fact, this state
of existence which Pentacle mages refer to as “The Lie” or “The Fallen World”
is actually an overlap of many of the fundamental forces of the universe. It is a nexus, a crossroads where many places
touch.
In Twilight
Natives: Ghosts & Spirits
The
Twilight isn’t actually a place that overlaps with the physical world but is a
state of being. Beings in Twilight exist
in the same place as the physical just out of sync with the material. Ghosts, spirits, and other ethereal beings
exist in Twilight and cannot be seen, heard or touched without powers of
Manifestation or special Numina to make themselves known. They are able to witness and hear everything
that happens in the physical if their powers of perception are strong enough to
notice the physical world. Generally
Ephemeral creatures can float around, walk through walls and travel freely so
long as their own understanding of their state isn’t limited by existential bias
or as long as the buildings or items don’t exist in a spiritual or ephemeral
form also in Twilight.
The Death, Prime and Spirit Arcana allow mages to be able to interact things in Twilight and Death and Spirit can allow mages to gain the Twilight State but without becoming truly ephemeral (which requires a great understanding of these Arcana and Life to actually transform a person into ephemera). The Mind Arcanum also allows a mage to project their Astral Body into the world where it exists in Twilight.
Depending
on how spiritual, resonant, or populated a location determines how hard it is
for beings to manifest in Twilight.
Unmanifested entities are essentially just a fog of spiritual potential
with very little awareness until they successfully manifest.
The Gauntlet
The
Gauntlet is also not a place but is not a state of being either. It is the level of psychic interference there
is between the Shadow and the physical planes. This interference appears
strongest in populated areas and weakest in remote areas, especially ones torn
by some form of significant event.
Resonance easily permeates the Gauntlet in its most basic motes and the
resonance of overlapping areas in the Shadow and corporeal directly correlate
with each other. The Spirit Arcana is necessary
to interact, view or cross the Gauntlet and into the Shadow Realm (covered
later). A greater understanding of the Mind
Arcanum is necessary to project one’s self into the Shadow ephemerally.
Sanctums
Safehouses,
ritual chambers, and laboratories, a Sanctum is a mage’s safe place. Order
Caucuses and Consilia maintain large, communal Sanctums, often serving as
libraries and ceremonial spaces. Everything from a cabal’s rented apartment to
a Mystagogue Athenaeum or a Seer of the Throne transport nexus is a Sanctum. Sanctums
are the places were a mage is safest and can perform his art in ideal
conditions. Sometimes these are communal
buildings, Cabal, or private locations and can be anything from a house to
rented office space.
Hallows
Prime
(pun intended) magical real estate, Hallows are places where Free Mana gathers.
Perhaps the most coveted resources, especially if they are large, intersect
with a Ley Node, or produce edible Tass. Many Consilia have strict laws against
theft or vandalism of Hallows, but that doesn’t stop inter-sect rivalries;
Seers and Pentacle mages sometimes murder one another for a potent wellspring
of Mana.
Ley Lines and Nodes
Visible
to any form of Mage Sight, a ley line is an invisible current of energy running
through the Fallen World. Leys naturally follow the Fallen World’s features,
contoring to flow between esoteric features like Shadow Locii and Avernian Gates,
or spots of strong resonance but mages can move them with Weaving spells of
Prime. Where leys intersect, they create Nodes – places where the Fallen World
seems energized or drained. When a Node happens to be on top of a Hallow, the
Mana the Hallow collects picks up a powerful resonance, so some mages engage in
geomancy to carefully align positive Nodes onto their Hallows and prevent
others from poisoning their mystical landscape.
Nodes and Leylines can be sought after by other beings.
Irises
An
Iris is a gateway from the material world to somewhere else. Some are open
doors, others have certain conditions or only open at appropriate times. Mages
can circumvent many opening conditions with magic. Avernian Gates lead to the
Underworld, Locii are places where it’s easier to punch through the Gauntlet to
the Shadow World, and rarer Irises lead to more unusual – and potentially
deadly – places. Generally in Supernal
Verges the associated Arcana with the closest Supernal Realm is more effective
and in Abyssal Verges paradox is higher (not to be confused with magical Dead
Zones where magic simply doesn’t work well though Abyssal Verges may cause a
similar effect).
Other
types of Irises include very rate Hellgates to Abaddon, doors into the Hedge and
entrances to Wendings and Chantries.
Supernal Verges & Abyssal
Verges
Verges
are areas where the Supernal World or Abyss is especially strong, overwriting
the laws of reality with the originating realm. Pandemonic Verges are
nightmarish, twisting labyrinths. Aether verges are firestorms. Arcadian Verges
are zones of weird or missed time. Abyssal verges are twisted spots where
reality breaks down entirely. Supernal and Abyssal beings can survive in the
appropriate kind of Verge indefinitely and see and be seen by anyone inside,
which makes them doubly dangerous.
Supernal Emanations
& Abyssal Annunaki
Natives: Supernal or Abyssal Entities
The
rarest, largest, and most powerful Verges contain Irises leading to worlds
where Fallen reality breaks down entirely rather than being twisted – these Emanation
Realms (in
Supernal Verges) and Annunaki (in Abyssal Verges) aren’t fully the Abyss or Supernal World, more like
“Fallen World Verges” within those strata of reality.
Verges
occur naturally, but Abyssal Verges can result from strong Paradoxes.
Sleepers can’t destroy a true Supernal Verge through Dissonance, but their
memories of time inside are subject to Quiescence. Magic cast in Supernal Verges usually isn’t
vulgar and Supernal Verges tend to strengthen magic, especially magic native to
their associated Realm. Abyssal Verges
tend to have higher paradox and hinder the use of magic.
Abyssal Entities: Abyssal beings represent the world
they’re in being corrupted, and use the rules for whichever realm they were
summoned in (in the Material world, this means they usually manifest as
spirits, but can sometimes appear as ghosts.) Material,
Shadow, and Underworld Abyssal creatures are called Gulmoth. Astral abyssal
creatures are Acamoth. Every Abyssal represents some kind of twisting of
reality, which they further with their influences – Gulmoth are spells gone
wrong, violations of physical laws, and warped matter, while Acamoth try to
make the conceptual realms they infect twist into hellish landscapes resonant
with the Abyss. Abyssal entities also
come in harder to define categories such as: Aliens, Outsiders, Procreates,
Reality Flaws, and Entropics.
Supernal Entities: Fae (Arcadia), Demons (Pandemonium),
Shades (Stygia), Beasts (Primal Wilds), and Angels (Aether). Supernal entities
have seem similar to spirits but have no Influences or Manifestations, and don’t
even use Essence—they use Arcana and Mana instead.
Verges & other
Shadow Realm Anomalies
Natives:
Spirits
The
most common type of Verge (Verges are generally torn holes in reality where two
worlds mingle in an unstable and unhindered manner) Shadows Verges are spots
where the Gauntlet (a layer of interference that separates the physical plane from
the Shadow) has been worn to nothing and things can pass freely between
them. Usually mages just call them
Verges. Like other Verges they are semi-permanent,
tied to a location and almost never where there are lots of people. Some may be keyed, requiring a certain action
or resonance to open or may open intermittently as the result of some other
mechanism (examples: triggers such as sacrificial, temporal, conditional,
ritual actions). Spirits and ethereal
entities that get on the near side of the Gauntlet manifest in the Twilight
state.
There
are also other anomalies involving the Gauntlet and Shadow which a mage might
encounter on the material side of existence such as Dead Spots. Dead Spots are places where a certain
singular resonant entity (person, place, thing…) is bolstering the Gauntlet to
the point where nothing, not even the motes of resonance generated by emotions
or correspondences can get into the Shadow. Some Dead Spots are so well
fortified that no Shadow can exist in the same location at all. These places drain life and substance out of
the physical world and can be very dangerous, especially to supernatural
creatures and spirits. Mages may
strengthen the Gauntlet with Spirit magic as a defensive measure for a Sanctum
but don’t usually create a blight such as this.
Verges into the Shadow are rarely naturally occurring and usually have
some sort of catalyst that may be countered or removed in order for the Gauntlet
to slowly heal.
Rat Nests & Spider
Webs
((Natives:
Beshilu & Azlu))
Other
Anomalies at the crossroads between the Shadow and the Phemeral World are
places where the Gauntlet has been damaged.
Sometimes strange spirits and hybrid creatures may chew up the Gauntlet
until it thins to create a verge. These
Rat Nests also seem to have actual swarms of strange rats around them… On the opposite end of the spectrum one could
encounter places where physical and spiritual spiders may spin webs that rereinforce
the Gauntlet to the point where it can create Dead Spots. Neither are good for the spiritual or
physical landscape of an area.
Demesnes
A
Demesne is a weak, artificial Supernal Verge, created by at least one mage’s
soul stone. Mages create them to enhance their ritual spaces and allow easy
access to the Astral Realms, but they’re much smaller and more fragile than a true
Supernal Verge – Sleepers entering a Demesne cause Dissonance, and can destroy
it. Multiple soul stones can be used to
amplify the range of the Demesnes and determine which Arcana are bolstered by
the Demesne. Magic cast within a
Demesnes is almost never Vulgar.
Desecration Sites
Natives: Infernal Demons (aka Infernals or Akothertoi)
Some
locations have been the sites of such travesty, suffering, and depravity that
they gain resonance akin to Abaddon (also know as the Inferno) and Infernals
are drawn to the location in hopes of infesting and corrupting any aspect of
reality they can exploit. Entities of
pure unbridled vice, the Akothertoi greedily corrupt life and take all they
can. The rarest Desecration sites may
support full-on Hellgates if the proper conditions occur but the door never
says open for long.
The Ruins of Before
Aliases: Atlantean Temples, 3rd
Age Sites
Mages
sometimes find strange ruins and temples that seem to have been built before
the Fall, either by Atlantean mages or other cultures (and people, and things
that were almost people, and things that were definitely not people) in the
vanished world Before. Those surviving to the modern day are guarded by
powerful spells, contain deadly secrets, and act as enticing Mysteries to the
Awakened. Despite many attempts, ruins of Before are impossible to date – Time
spells report inconsistent or nonsensical results – or even place into a
typography with one another. It’s not that they hail from Atlantis, which no
longer ever existed. It’s that they each seem to hail from a slightly
different Atlantis,
or a post-Atlantean, hyperborean time that never happened.
Temple Guardians and
the Bound
Some
Ruins of Before contain entities. Mages call those set by the ancients as
watchdogs Temple Guardians, and those which seem to be imprisoned The Bound.
Bound, in particular, are the source of much speculation among the Orders, who
believe they were once Supernal entities exiled to the Fallen World by the
Exarchs. Their rapacious hunger for Mana, and the commandments some Seers
receive to keep them safely imprisoned, seems to bear that out.
((Chantries and Wendings))
((Strange
pocket-worlds obeying their own physical laws, a Chantry is the private
universe of an archmaster, built within her soul. Mages seeking the insight and
wisdom of the Imperial Practices, or just looking for a miracle, trace rumors of
the Irises leading to Chantries of archmasters who might be able to help.
Chantries remain even after their owner dies or Ascends beyond the Fallen World
entirely, becoming Wendings. A Wending is a fragile half-real realm, sought out
as shortcuts and secret routes between realms in the Fallen World by
knowledgeable cabals, but they run the risk of shattering and depositing
travelers into the Abyss and certain death.))
Monsters, Cryptids, and
Genius Locii
The
strange places of the world aren’t sterile and empty. Life persists anywhere,
often warping into unusual forms that become just as Mysterious as their
habitat. Cryptids, humans with paranormal abilities, extinct animals,
nearly-human races like the Rmohals, and other odd beings all exist. Sometimes
a place itself becomes self-aware; a Genius Locus or living place, often
confused for spiritual influence or the result of mages casting Mind spells. There are also Genus Territorialis which is a
literally ghost of a location haunting a location.
((Not
included In Character are spatial pockets, bolt holes, and infrastructure of
the God-Machine. Infrastructure and 3rd
Age Ruins are not limited to the material world and can be found anywhere. Sometimes they can be confused with each other.))
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