[Mage: The Awakening] Fetishes Indepth: Part III: Usage Systems

((Out of Character (OOC) Document))
Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen

Venue: Mage: The Awakening (Fallen World Chronicle)

Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler

Cannibalized from Werewolf: The Forsaken Source book: Lore of the Forsaken)) 

Fetishes In-Depth

A Pentacle Academy lecture series by Daduchos Gabrielle and Thunderbolt Guardian Anton (MD), Dean of the Adamant College.

Part Three: Usage Systems

It’s hard to tell fetishes and awakened objects apart from afar; a werewolf holding a supernaturally-charged club could have an awakened weapon, or a fetish or a klaive (another kind of fetish). The essential difference is this: awakened objects have their own spirits. Fetishes are objects that always have some other spirit bound into it.

Definitions:

Talen – A low-power, one use Fetish.  It actually isn’t a Fetish but has a measure of a spirits power invested into it.

Awakened Object – The spirit of an object has awakened naturally and is not beholden to anyone and has the resonance traits of the object itself.

Fetish – An object which has had a spirit dedicated or bound into it.  It is dormant when not in use.

Fetish Weapon – An object with a spirit dedicated or bound into it that doubles as a weapon.

Klaive – A weapon deliberately created to house a martial spirit and make a very potent Fetish Weapon.

Fetishes never occur without some kind of supernatural assistance, while objects can awaken naturally. Objects don’t have to be stirred into action via Harmony, Essence or Spell; they are their own masters to an extent. Can an object be both? Thyrsus surmise that it is possible, although the process would damage and probably completely smother the artificial spirit’s powers. It is likely more trouble than it’s worth.

FETISH: NUT S & BOLT S

All fetishes share common traits and ways of interacting with mages and werewolves. This section covers the day-to-day interactions between a fetish and a user, naming practices, how long fetishes last, their physical resilience and how they perceive the world.

Durability & Aggravated Damage Resistance:

Fetishes automatically have their Durability increased by their rank. This supernatural reinforcement allows them to resist aggravated damage.  Normally aggravated damage ignores durability.

Talens are fragile, impermanent things and have no supernatural reinforcement.

So, a three-dot fetish that appears to be a small stone would have these stats: Durability 2 (reinforced to 5), Size 0, and Structure 5.

A talen made from an identical stone would be Durability 2, Size 0, and Structure 2.

Destroying Fetishes:

Fetishes can be damaged and broken. When a fetish takes more damage than its Durability and it’s not destroyed, subtract –1 from any activation rolls. If the damage equals or exceeds the Structure of the fetish, it is broken. The spirit bound into it is immediately, and explosively, blasted into the Shadow.

The spirit inside the Fetish is safe from direct damage.  Spirit magic can still be used to attack the spirit directly but the Enhanced Durability must be overcome as if it were an armor rating.  If the stats of the spirit are not known then the corpus must be approximated, usually equivalent to the structure of the item.  In most cases it is much easier to destroy the Fetish then roust the spirit from within.

FETISH LIFESPANS

Like all living beings, fetishes don’t endure forever, which explains why the world is not littered with the fetishes crafted over the millennia. Still, level-three fetishes can live as long as a human (often much longer than many Uratha), and higher ranked fetishes may be passed down for generations before their time is up. Eventually the bindings formed at the fetish’s creation degrade, and the spirit gently returns to its place of origin in the Shadow. The binding object may quickly degrade as well without the spirit’s presence, aging to the point of uselessness within a few minutes of the unbinding — even if the object should naturally endure much longer, the shell crumbles. This isn’t universal, however; an old fetish knife might rust a bit, yet still remain in one piece.

The bindings on a fetish can be re-dedicated by performing the fetish rite, but this has all the same risks as the normal fetish creation rite. If the user flubs the ceremony, the fetish is ruined. Most spirits are hostile to this process (in one sense, it’s denying them parole); the user suffers a -2 to his dice pool during the re-dedication, although, if successful, there is no further animosity on the part of the spirit. Some fetishwrights look upon rededication as “cheating” the spirit and refuse to do so; others care damn little about the feelings of the spirit within.

FETISH LIFESPANS:

Talen - 6–12 months

Rank One - 1–5 years

Rank Two 5 – 10 years

Rank Three - decades

Rank Four - centuries

Rank Five - millennia

AUTONOMY

Unlike awakened objects, the spirit inside a fetish has an extremely limited ability to interact with the world. It rouses from slumber once in a while to fulfill the function or functions for which it was created, it may pulse the occasional emotional impulse to anyone touching it and it may be triggered by a sudden influx of Essence. 

 Awareness

Under extraordinary circumstances, the Storyteller might allow a fetish to react to a situation. Examples might be when called to act by Rank 5+ spirits of its choir or descant, or when exposed to an inordinate amount of Essence. In such cases, it may even be able to use a portion of the ability it possessed while free. Here are some quick and dirty rules you can use:

• A fetish experiencing a brief moment of autonomy can activate any of its powers as needed.

• For anything that would normally require Finesse, Power or Resistance rolls — roll a number of dice equal to the fetish’s Level + 3.

• For rolls involving resisting the fetish’s power when not in the possession of its owner — what it was created to perform — the dice pool equals the fetish’s Level x 2.

NAMED FETISHES

The spirits bound into talens or one-dot fetishes really don’t care if they are referred to by name or not.

The spirits inhabiting two-dot or higher fetishes may become unruly and obstreperous if not given the respect of a name. Even if the spirit itself had no individual name in the Shadow, it understands that being bound into an object gives it a measure of individuality. Many users don’t give a damn about whether a spirit feels respected or not, and admittedly they have the position of power — but others feel that any object with such power, certainly with a spirit entity giving it its identity, deserves at least a formal name.

Fetishes often have two or more names — a descriptive name and an individual name.

The names in sourcebooks are normally descriptive names — evocative of the fetish’s power or nature.

The individual name is usually in the First Tongue, and is coined especially for the fetish’s fusion of material object and immaterial spirit.

It’s not appropriate to punish players for failing to name their fetishes, but it might be appropriate to reward them for using the names. If a user calls on his fetish by name in a respectful tone just before invoking its power, it may be appropriate to offer him a +1 bonus to the activation roll.

FETISHES & THE REST OF THE WORLD

Technically, only werewolves and other creatures with Harmony or Essence can use fetishes in the natural state of things. A Host might be able to inject a fetish with Essence to activate it, but a vampire has no way of contacting or bribing the spirit within.

That’s the rule, but it does get broken.  That said, when allowing non-werewolves to try using a fetish, there are a couple of hurdles they must overcome. Assuming that they know an object is a fetish in the first place, they have to figure out what the fetish is supposed to do — with klaives, it’s easy to tell that the thing is a weapon, but not so easy to guess what its precise ability is.

The more demanding task is to wake it up, or activate the fetish. Non-Uratha lack Harmony, which puts them at a severe disadvantage here. When a player rolls Harmony, the werewolf is effectively attempting to place her mental state in balance, letting her spirit nature reach out to the fetish without losing control. A human can’t mimic this state. He can’t give the fetish what it expects to feel. Uratha can override a failure of Harmony (or simply save time) by channeling a flow of Essence into the device.

Supernaturals that can generate Essence, the food of spirits, can do this as well. Even normal humans could cause the fetish to function if they can naturally generate the right kind of Essence due to their emotional state, the actions they are trying to perform or the emotions of those around them. This is a Storyteller call based on the situation.

If the creature is capable of learning the fetish’s purpose and providing it with Essence, use the system below. All non-Uratha suffer a penalty for wielding an unattuned fetish equal to -1 per dot of the fetish.

Dice Pool: Manipulation + Occult

Action: As per the fetish

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The fetish does not function, but may activate to exact retribution on the offensive upstart attempting to become its wielder.

Failure: The fetish does not activate.

Success: The fetish functions normally.

Exceptional Success: The fetish functions normally. The character reduces the penalty to his dice pool by 1 the next time he attempts to activate it.

DETECTING A FETISH

When not active, any spirits inside a fetish normally slumber, making them pretty difficult to detect; essentially, they become as hard to detect as an Uratha in Hishu form.

Fetishes are spirits wrapped in/combined with a corporeal object — pretty effectively hidden from at incidental supernatural “radar.” A mage or vampire should not get the supernatural heebie-jeebies from just passing near a dormant fetish. Of course, a bronze axe embossed with unknown runes and symbols is cause for at least some investigation.

A fetish must be handled in order to properly evaluate its potential power or Focused Mage Sight (usually Second Sight) is needed to accomplish this roll.

Dice Pool: Intelligence + Occult or use of the standard Scrutiny rules

Action: Instant

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: You get a misleading idea as to the nature of the object, perhaps guessing the exactly wrong thing.

Failure: You gain no insight to the nature of the object. It does not seem spiritually significant.

Success: You can see a glimpse of the spirit bound within the item (if any) and a hint as to its function.

Exceptional Success: If the object is a fetish, you learn the nature of the spirit within, and can guess at the power level of the fetish.

Possible Penalties: Fetish is dormant (–2), character is not a werewolf (–3)

FETISH-BOUND PERCEPTIONS

The spirit or spirits within a fetish slumber for most of the time, only experiencing wakefulness during an

Essence flow. This is most often when an anxious Uratha expends Essence to activate the object’s powers or when the fetish is around an extremely potent source, such as near a powerful locus. For more powerful (and hungry) fetishes, merely being around activities that generate Essence flavored to the inhabiting spirit’s taste may also stir the fetish to wakefulness. For example, a four-dot klaive may begin to stir when around any kind of combat. Even some sporting events like a boxing match might nudge a powerful weapon into wakefulness. While awake, fetishes experience reality in fragmented glimpses caught by random senses. Remaining awake is a troublesome task, particularly if there isn’t a specific task related to the fetish’s purpose immediately at hand.

COMMUNING WITH FETISHES

An Uratha can check on the state of a fetish by offering it Essence while concentrating on the mood of the fetish. An Uratha’s relationship with a fetish does not end after creation or attunement. Just as a fetish’s magical nature is difficult to discern, so too is it difficult for an Uratha to learn the “mood” of a fetish. By offering a gift of Essence in a show of chiminage (not to activate, but as a gift), she can stir the spirit inside to wakefulness and attempt to glean its emotional well-being.

Fetishes below three dots are rarely cognizant enough to communicate their dissatisfaction or approval. The more powerful the spirit bound into the fetish, the easier it is for an Uratha to discover its general mood. The general modifier to this roll is equal to (5 — fetish’s rating), so there is no modifier for five-dot fetishes. Note though, that this is not a conversation. An Uratha might discover that his klaive axe is unhappy, but not know why it is unhappy or how to fix things. To understand more exactly, an Uratha must perform the Rouse the Fetish rite.  These actions may be approximated with the applicable Spirit Arcanum Spells.

Dice Pool: Wits + Occult + Primal Urge

Action: Instant

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The spirit within seems angry, even if it didn’t formerly have cause.

Failure: You learn nothing about your fetish’s mood.

Success: You know the general emotional state of the spirit — content, hungry, happy, angry, etc.

Exceptional Success: You learn the particular incident that affected the fetish’s mood, or the targets of its emotions — for instance, a klaive that’s angry at the pack’s Elodoth for talking the pack out of that last fight.

Possible Penalties: Spirit’s power (5 — fetish’s level), spirit is displeased with the Uratha (–2), spirit feels exceptionally well taken care of (+2), Uratha outranks the spirit (+2), Uratha has not attuned the fetish (–S2)

HONORING AND CARING FOR A FETISH

Fetishes do not need to eat to survive (one of the benefits of being a fetish), but they still hunger for

Essence flavored with the correct resonance. Most gain enough Essence from regular use to slake this thirst, but either from disuse or misuse they can become hungry — the leading cause of an unhappy fetish.

Fetishes want to be used; moreover, they want to be used in ways that generate the correct flavor of Essence that they crave. Klaives want to fight; umbral wings want to experience the joy of flight. Then again, fetishes can also be fed by just being around the right kind of Essence or by engendering the creation of the right kind of resonance.

As a rough rule of thumb, a fetish needs to be appeased a number of times per season equal to its dots. Talens count as level 0, and need no appeasement — although a terrible Uratha can still piss them off. If they rebel they still are not expended until used. Owning a five-dot fetish is a great advantage, yet keeping the thing from turning on its owner is a tricky business. This is not meant to be a bookkeeping nightmare for players or the Storyteller; if it seems like one system too many, ignore it. The rules for honoring a fetish are just another way of reminding the players that the fetishes are in a manner of speaking alive, and that roleplaying and interacting with them does not end with the fetish creation rituals. The easiest way to do this is just to write down the seasons when the characters acquired the fetishes — let them keep track of their deeds of appeasement.

ACT S OF APPEASEMENT

Paying attention to the “living conditions” of their fetishes is important to most Uratha and Thyrsus. Additionally, werewolves of Harmony 8+ are expected to cater to all of their fetishes, including talens, or lose their enhanced harmonious state — misusing fetish is the same as being rude to a spirit, a Level 7 sin against Harmony. 

While these acts should not need to take up hours of game time, they should become a part of play. Acts of appeasement between play sessions should not count, unless they are related in detail to the members of the pack or cabal (Downtime actions spent on this are acceptable).  Deeds of appeasement should be recorded by the player.

• Using the fetish at a dramatically appropriate time — one that generates appropriate resonance for the spirit of the fetish.

• Spending Essence to empower the fetish even when its powers aren’t necessary; in effect, giving the spirit within an extra mealtime.

• Improving the lot of spirits of the same descant by acts in the Spirit or material world.

• Ritually honoring a fetish with chiminage — soaking a weapon in the blood of many foes, hanging a wind instrument in a pass where cold mountain winds caress it and so on.

ROUSE THE FETISH ( Spirit ••)

This spell allows a mage to communicate with the spirit of a fetish. It may be used to investigate the properties of a strange, newly won prize or to appease a fetish that is less than happy with its wielder.

Performing the spell usually involves the mage drawing a circle around the fetish with chalk or some other substance meaningful to the spirit bound into the fetish (if known). The ritualist surrounds this circle with First Tongue sigils and chants softly as he focuses his will.  Offerings of chiminage are also helpful, if the nature of the spirit is known.

Dice Pool: Manipulation + Occult + Spirit

Action: Extended (Successes equal to Rank)

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: The caster’s crude query looses something in the bonds tying spirit to object. The spirit flees the fetish.

Failure: No successes are gathered. The caster may try again with a cumulative -1 penalty.

Success: Successes are gathered. The Caster makes contact, and can converse in a limited fashion. The spirit will reveal its nature, Rank and the purpose of the fetish.

Exceptional success: The spirit is more forthcoming, and may relate details about its binding, past owners or other such information.

Suggested Modifiers:

Modifier Situation

+2 Caster knows spirit’s name.

+1 Caster makes offering of chiminage.

–1 to –5 –1 per dot of the fetish

REBELLIOUS TOOLS

One option available to Storytellers is having a fetish that is treated poorly by its owner rebel against its master, failing to work or even turning on him. The drawback to using this option is that it encourages characters to be, well, nicer — respectful of their tools, even reverent to the spirits within. Although this may be a proper course of action when viewed objectively, it also undercuts the notion of werewolves as monsters on the border of savagery. A vicious, arrogant Uratha who works as the pack’s rival becomes less likely to have any fetishes that he can rely on. On the other hand, a rebellious fetish — the sword that turns on its wielder, the ring that slips off in its wearer’s moment of need — echoes back to a great many old stories that were often quite grim. The same is true of the object that is dangerous to use by its very nature, like Stevenson’s bottle-imp or Jacobs’ monkey’s paw. It’s a device that is best used sparingly, yet it can be quite effective.  If a fetish has suffered enough indignity that the Storyteller feels it might turn on its owner — used too frequently for trivial matters, or perhaps used for an antithetical purpose, such as using a shroud housing a death-spirit as a birthing rag — the Storyteller may roll a number of dice equal to the fetish’s rating. If any successes show up, the fetish will turn against its owner in some way, perhaps small, perhaps large. Depending upon the power of the fetish, it may have several options to make known its dissatisfaction.

Note that higher-ranking fetishes may use any and all of the retributions listed for lower ranking fetishes.

Talen, • or •• The fetish resists use. The roll to activate the fetish suffers a -2 penalty. Expending

Essence still overrides the need for an activation roll.

••• The fetish can taint its owner’s Essence (if they have a pool), imbuing it with the spirit’s favored resonance. This makes the character especially “tasty” to others of the spirit’s ilk, and antagonizes that spirit’s enemies. Such a taint will not always inspire an attack by other spirits, but it will influence their actions. Any Uratha suffering this retribution may be treated as one less honorary Rank than he actually is in the eyes of appropriate spirits.  Something similar can happen to mages.

•••• Should a character have only one die left in her pool when performing an action with the fetish, the fetish can hex the character’s luck, turning the single die into a chance die. The Storyteller does this without telling the player until the result is rolled. Any dramatic failure is sure to implicate the fetish — weapons may turn in the hand, fetishes may turn off (or at least seem to) at an inopportune time and so on.

Note: This rebellion can be expanded to other rolls related to the fetish’s area of influence. For example: if you have a rebellious dog spirit fetish, and you have only one die on a roll to befriend a guard dog, it could become a chance die if the fetish is on your person at the time, even if they aren’t using its magical powers. This is somewhat similar to method below, with a fetish blocking your ability to spend willpower on a related roll.

••••• The fetish can block the character spending Willpower to boost a die pool, so long as the action has something to do with the fetish or reflects its purpose. A klaive could prevent a character from spending Willpower to aid a Brawl roll, for instance, as long as the klaive is on the owner’s person at the time. The point of Willpower is not used.