[Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition] Sleepwalkers & Proximi

Out of Character (OOC):
Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler
Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum

Dreaming Awake: 

Sleepwalkers & Proximi

My comments are in yellow and are regarding my reviews of the system and my own personal and Storyteller's perspective recommendations for use in our Chronicle. 

Sources: The following text, as written in grey, is straight out of the advanced "beta" version of Mage: The Awakening 2nd edition.  Additional materials edited from Original Posting in 2015 by Dave Brookshaw of Onyx Path Publishing as part of Mage 2nd Ed Open Development.

Additional explanation is in this font, when it helps drive the concepts home.

Sleepwalkers

By its nature, the Lie is imperfect. As insidious as the Curse is, it is not flawless, and entropy works on everything given enough time. For these reasons, and in certain cases, out of very specific design, there are people who escape the Curse without fully Awakening.

I said “I’m a wizard,” out of frustration. She shrugged and said “so what.” I got mad and I showed her so what. It didn’t faze her. “I’ve seen weirder,” she told me. Instead of the sick feeling I used to get around Sleepers, I felt good. I felt safe. I felt less crazy. She remembered everything, better than I did even, and there is literally no one in my life who has helped me keep my head on straight. You’re jealous of my position, my power, my skill, I’d have none of it if it weren’t for her. Seriously. You find a woman like that, you marry her.  
-Lana Marie of the Trees

Free of the Curse

Sleepwalkers don’t suffer the Curse. They don’t see the Truth the way that the Awakened do, they don’t understand the Supernal, but it doesn’t bother them the way it does Sleepers. They don’t increase Paradox. They don’t cause Dissonance, and they don’t forget what they’ve seen.

All Shapes and Sizes

Some people are Sleepwalkers because they just don’t experience the Curse. A minority, though, have their own unique powers and strange innate abilities that set them apart from humanity. Perhaps it’s a connection to the Supernal that the human mind cannot fathom, even the Awakened mind. Perhaps they draw on a connection to some other source, and that shields them in some ways from the Lie. Maybe it’s just that the strange accept the strange. While not always brought into Awakened society, the Fallen World hides a wide spectrum of human beings who qualify as

Sleepwalkers, though they may never have any run-in with direct evidence of the Supernal or abyss. Any character possessing Integrity and a Supernatural Merit that reflects an internal talent or inborn ability is immune to the Curse. Having a cursed camera that shows you when people will die does not make you a Sleepwalker. Being able to know what a serial killer is thinking due to a strange ability to get in his head does push back the Curse.  Drinking the blood of a vampire does not make you a Sleepwalker, but developing mystical powers from that bond would. Being a kin to shapeshifters and half-spirits would make you a Sleepwalker.

Sleeper to Sleepwalker
Forcing a Sleeper to become a Sleepwalker is possible with the Weaving Prime spell Stealing Fire, something desperate or conniving Awakened have always known. It’s a brutal experience, though, and is always considered an obvious Supernal power for the sake of determining if the spell causes a breaking point and Wisdom roll. Even if the spell is successful, the Sleeper is not a Sleepwalker until after it is cast. Even then, once the spell’s duration expires, Quiescence takes effect on any memories of obvious magic the temporary Sleepwalker witnessed.

Aside from the brute-force method, mages don’t know how to make people Sleepwalkers any more than they know how to make people Awaken. Any of the potential roads to Awakening could, falling short of triggering an actual Awakening, coax a Sleeper into Sleepwalking. The Orders have dedicated countless studies to determine if being the blood relative of mages makes someone more likely to Sleepwalk, but if it does influence things it does so in such a subtle way that it’s impossible to prove. The raw power of the relative has no effect; for every apprentice whose child sees her cast spells and remembers, there’s a near-archmage with only Sleeping children

and grandchildren.

Skilled, cunning, or otherwise powerful Sleepwalkers often have no problem fitting into Awakened society should they be allowed to know it exists. They make useful members of any cabal and Consilium, as they can do things mages are too preoccupied to handle or simply do not have the same affinity for. While it’s unlikely that any Awakened polity would put a Sleepwalker in a position of absolute authority over cabals or have them make declarations about magical matters they cannot understand, that doesn’t mean that some Assemblies, Caucuses, cabals, and even Convocations haven’t found special positions of respect for qualified Sleepwalkers in their midst. Some Awakened sneer at this practice, or disallow it locally, but it does happen.

The Awakened are strange, maddening people to be around. Imagine the most insular subculture you’ve ever come across, where the members have their own bizarre rituals, jargon, and shared references, then multiply it by a thousand. Then curse almost everyone else to be driven mad by exposure to that subculture even as they inevitably forget it. It’s little wonder that mages have few friends, but cling tightly to those they do; they’re still people, no matter their differences, and feel the same need for human companionship as anyone else. Who’d be a mage’s husband, wife, daughter, son, sibling, servant, boss, co-worker, lover? What sort of people walk in the Awakened world without signing the Watchtower themselves? What does their relationship to mages do to them?

Moments of Genius

Some Awakened believe that a Sleepwalker who is exposed to Awakened society or magic on a secondary level is less likely to Awaken then, say, a totally ignorant Sleeper who just stumbled across the Truth. The logic goes that by regularly exposing them to the radiation of the Supernal, they’ll tend to not have moments of complete Gnostic revelation, much like the Thai nuns who do not allow themselves to learn among the priests and believe that understanding and enlightenment will simply come to them while they go about their mundane tasks. There is no solid way to study this phenomenon, to prove or disprove it, and so it remains a traditional assumption, but one that is

challenged from time to time.

The Exceptional Sleepwalker

This section is meant to act as a guideline to reflect what happens most often in the Fallen World of the Awakened. These are trends. Some people buck trends, and sometimes trends are based on old data. If a player has had a Sleepwalker involved in the Consilium for decades, and wants that character to Awaken one day, a Storyteller should facilitate it in-game. “It doesn’t happen because the books say so,” should never trump player agency and the telling of a good story at the table.

Shield Maidens & Flag Bearers (Spell Holding)

The truth is, technically, anyone with a sympathetic tie to a mage can carry spells for her. The Diamond believe that in the Time Before, this was often an agreement between the Wise and their companions. Dissonance means that attempting this sort of thing only works with Sleepwalkers, and even attempting it with a Sleeper is considered a crime by most Awakened jurisdictions.

It works like this: Just as a Mage can maintain a number of spells herself, depending on Gnosis, she may place spells in keeping with a Sleepwalker if they have a connection and the Sleepwalker understands and agrees to what’s going on. The first part of the equation is based on familiarity and intimacy. Basically, a person with a Medium connection to a mage can hold one spell for her. A person with a Strong connection can hold two. The spells no longer count toward the mage’s Spell Control but remain under her command and may be relinquished or canceled as normal. The Sleepwalker has no command over the spell, despite his soul holding it.

The second part is where things get hazy. Attempts to hang spells on unwitting assistants or associates fall flat and fail every time. Telling the Sleepwalker what is going on works. A full explanation of the inner workings of the Supernal isn’t necessary, and many mages use the symbols of the Fallen World to great effect when trying to explain what they’re doing. Couching these explanations in traditional religious practices, super technology, or philosophical dressing works so long as the basic truth remains. “I am using you to make me stronger,” or “I will use you

to keep me safe,” for example, no matter how the explanations are spun otherwise.

From there, the Sleepwalker must agree of his own free will. Often, there is a bargain involved, but at the end he must agree without magical coercion. (Attempts to magically coerce in these situations mean the spell in question fails.) Some of the older, organized, and studious Sleepwalkers of the Mysterium surmise that these deals go back to some ancient covenant between the Awakened and those still Sleeping and hint that there are many such covenants that Awakened have simply never bother to explore.

Casting spells to be held by a Sleepwalker is a double-edged sword for both parties involved. Carrying the magical workings of a mage makes the Sleepwalker a target for her enemies, both to deny the mage of the resource, as well as turn the spells against her and take advantage of the sympathetic tie through the Sleepwalker. While a Sleepwalker needs to be made to understand, roughly, what she’s signing up for, the Awakened do not always let their companions know the kind of magical target that will be painted on their backs as a result.

Archetypes and Concepts

What makes a Sleeper into a Sleepwalker? Is it more than just a coincidence or a hiccup in the careful plans of the Exarchs? That’s difficult to say, and no formal studies have been (or even could be) done on the subject by Awakened scholars. That said, trends certainly exist. The following list of concepts and character inspirations are meant to give players and Storytellers ideas on how to populate their Fallen World with those tragically aware, and how they manage to survive and maybe thrive in a world that seems impossibly out of their grasp.

The Damned-sel:

He’s got “being a victim” down to a fine art. It started out in high school when he realized he could get out of a lot of classes by faking injuries or making minor injuries look much worse. By now, he’s made more money on soft-tissue damage than most people without a degree in anything will make in their whole lives. He’s also got an uncanny knack for being at the site of magical meltdowns and Abyssal explosions. He’s been kidnapped by the Seers twice. Luckily, he’s as good at minimizing danger to himself as he is at faking it. Currently, he’s got plans in the works to blackmail a rival cabal’s leader for violations against the Veil that he carefully engineered  ersonally. His Awakened friends call him “a walking adventure hook” with great affection and more than a few scars.

Skills and Merits: The Damned-sel is always running a social game, so high Subterfuge is important. That said, he’s found nothing works better with mages than telling them the truth, and he’s sharpened his Wits to a razor edge. He’s drawn to the Curse and has some low-level Supernatural Merit, or else the Sleepwalker Merit at one dot. Really, his edge is in how he plays

the game, not any special power.

The Occult Investigator:

Not everything occult is Supernal, thanks to the corruption of the Abyss and other supernatural influences on the Fallen World. The Occult Investigator is often called in when the Awakened have assessed a Mystery and discovered its source to be something in the occultist’s area of expertise, or else to handle as much as she can when the Mages are otherwise occupied. She works closely with them and has a knack for analytical thinking in the midst of chaos and otherwise mind-warping terror. She may be pretty broken on the inside, but it almost never shows.

Skills and Merits: Naturally, the Occult Investigator has high Occult and Investigation. Before all this, she had some other occupation that exposed her to the world of the occult, and that other occupation gave her one other skill at a high rating. (As a medical examiner, she’d have Medicine. If she’d been a cop, maybe she’s got Brawl and Firearms.) She may have retained Professional Training. She’s a Skill-heavy character thanks to her years surviving by her wits. She may have become a Sleepwalker via frequent exposures to the supernatural. She is the very definition of Deadpan (see Merits below).

The Hacker:

His bosses are great with magic and sort of suck at life. It’s complicated, but basically the cabal ran sloppy and caught the Hacker’s attention. At first, he was just interested in stealing some easy money and getting a look at the curiosity. But the curiosity turned into a Mystery and that turned into real exposure to a world almost as interesting as computer science. So he tracked them down, showed him what he found about them, and how easy it was for him to dig in. The cabal’s members saw the wisdom in getting the Hacker on their side rather than doing anything drastic. Now he’s got bosses, more or less, and they know about as much of what he does as he knows what they do. It’s a good arrangement.

Skills and Merits: Computers, obviously, but the Hacker’s not some Internet-forum wannabe; he’s broken into half as many actual buildings as he has servers, and he has the Stealth and Larceny to show for it.

The Devil’s Little Helper:

She looks good in a dark hood, can wear a pentagram without a touch of irony, and is as fashionable as she is theatrically mysterious. She could have a pretty successful career as a small cult leader and freelance spiritualist, but she prefers to hire her talents out privately to cabals of mages. It’s not that you think she’s especially magical, though she claims to be a seventh-generation witch. She’s just got a knack for time management and people skills. Sure, she’s got a working knowledge of LeVey, Golden Dawn, Kabalah, and ritual traditions not found on Wikipedia. But the real service she offers is talent with smartphones, scheduling, and HR-style public relations. So when the cabal has need of a powerful and intense ritual, they call the Devil’s Little Helper; she activates the phone tree, and a coven of ready ritualists are on hand in under three hours.

Skills and Merits: The Devil’s Little Helper actually has her own functioning Mystery Cult, and a handful of other Social Merits she can bring in when the cabal needs it. More than that, she’s charming and likable, naturally talented with Presence and Socialize. She’s not a complete phony, being a legitimate medium, but that comes up far less often than her other traits.

Sleepwalker Merits

The following Merits are intended for characters with a hint of the supernatural about them. All confer Sleepwalker status on the character, but are not permitted for Awakened characters.

The following merits are approved for play.

Merit: Sleepwalker (•)

Prerequisite: Integrity

With this Merit, your character is considered a Sleepwalker.

Effect: The character is immune to the Curse, causes no Dissonance, and follows the other guidelines for Sleepwalkers in this section. This Merit is not necessary for a character with any other Supernatural Merit involving an internal power, or any supernatural template.

Merit: Banner-Bearer (• to •••)

Prerequisite: Sleepwalker

Any Sleepwalker can carry the burden of extra spells for an Awakened, but you are especially capable.

Effect: Through personal, inner strength, you are able to carry one additional spell for an Awakened mage per level of this Merit.

Merit: Deadpan (•••)

Prerequisite: Sleepwalker

All Sleepwalkers escape the Curse, but you’ve slipped free of horror itself; no matter what the Fallen World throws at you, you can meet it calmly.

Effect: No matter what faces you, if it’s magical in nature, you never have to make rolls to resist fear or revulsion, and automatically Withstand spells that would impose it. This would include Mind effects made to scare you, or Life effects made to turn your stomach, anything so long as the fear is external. Should the attempts to frighten you play off of Conditions or vices you already suffer from, you are vulnerable, but treat your Composure as two dots higher than it is.

Merit: Fitful Slumber (•)

Prerequisites: The character has suffered three or more breaking points due to exposure to the Supernal or Abyss and is now considered a Sleepwalker, even if he did not start the game that way.

Effect: Because of the regular abuse, your character is able to resist breaking points triggered by all things Abyssal or Supernal with a +2 bonus.

Merit: Loved (•••)

Prerequisite: Sleepwalker

Something or someone loves you. It loves you with enough force and truth that it has changed the way magic flows to and from you. This Merit does not imply a return of these feelings or that you even are aware you are so passionately felt for.

Effect: So long as the person or thing that loves you continues to exist, nothing and no one else can create a Strong sympathetic tie with you, though you can form Strong sympathy with them.

Additionally, if you are suffering wound penalties to rolls, or have spent below half your Willpower, the person or thing that loves you knows about it.

Merit: Proxy Voice (• to •••)

Prerequisite: Sleepwalker, Mentor •+

Your mentor does not always engage with Awakened society, though he or she has some weight there. You often act as a proxy, and are treated as if you speak on your mentor’s behalf. Taking advantage of that, and how your mentor might react to misrepresenting him or her, is something that should be worked out with the Storyteller ahead of time.

Effect: You have access to a given Status Merit owned by your mentor. You can use it when empowered to do so.

Merit: Relic Attuned (•••)

Prerequisite: Sleepwalker

Effect: Your character is not Awakened, but can still access the magics stored in Artifacts. This usage is imperfect, however. Any single activation requires a point of Willpower. Activation rolls for Artifacts can use the character’s Willpower, or the Artifact’s activation dice.

Merit: Ritual Martyr (••)

Prerequisite: Sleepwalker

You have a rare and giving soul, or else some strong connection to the Abyss that the Awakened in your life can’t totally reckon. As a result, during a ritual when things go badly, you are able to take the effects of Paradox onto yourself despite being “merely” a Sleepwalker.

Effect: First, the Paradox Condition must happen during a spell casting you are present for.  Second, the Paradox that happens must be one that would affect a Sleepwalker. Anything related to a Nimbus or other Awakened-only features can’t be absorbed. You collect any Beats as well as the downsides, converting them from Arcane Beats to regular ones in the process. The exchange is an intense one, and so long as you hold in the effects of the Paradox, the Awakened you liberated from suffering experiences the Humbled Condition toward you. You maintain the Paradox Condition until the Awakened in question resolves the Humbled resolution or you choose to release him from the Condition, whichever comes first.

Merit: Ritual Savvy (••)

Prerequisite: Sleepwalker, Occult ••

You have a working knowledge of the tools and symbols in working magic, though you don’t understand the Truth behind them. Despite that, you’re able to gather, sort, and prepare ritual components in a way that increases the efficacy of any Awakened ritual that you help prepare and take part in.

Effect: Roll an appropriate pool to gather or prepare the ritual space: Intelligence + Computers for a Free Council Techné ritual, or perhaps Wits + Occult to gather secret ingredients for a Mysterium ritual the Sleepwalker hasn’t been given all the details on. Once rolled, each success is considered one bonus spellcasting die that the Sleepwalker holds, which Awakened ritualists can then “buy” for Willpower. Each mage participating in the ritual may “buy” a single bonus die, each one depleting

the Sleepwalker’s “pool.” The bonus dice from this Merit do not count toward the Yantra limit of mages’ Gnosis.

Slippery (••)

Prerequisite: Sleepwalker

Your character knows how to coast, when to keep her head down, and how to dodge accusations. The Awaken around you may be doing some shady things, but you look clean and pure no matter what. When accusations fly, you’re underestimated or assumed to be innocent, at least, more innocent, then your Awakened cohorts.

Effect: Spend a Willpower point to activate this effect. Awakened characters will first accuse another viable character if possible. This does not prevent that character from being proven innocent, and suspicion turning back toward yours. But it may buy some time to build a defense or to escape.

In the Blood: Proximi

Proximi are Sleepwalkers (and may take Sleepwalker-only Merits) that are have Supernal powers, drawing from one of the five known Realms. Some Proximi are born spontaneously, but most come from long family lines of magical heritage called Dynasties, protected, nurtured, and employed by one of the Orders.

Mages call Sleepwalkers who have powers close to true Supernal magic “Proximi.” A Proximus may very rarely have developed her talents spontaneously, but she usually comes from a long family line (or “Dynasty”) of Proximi that share her abilities. She is free of the Curse, but cannot yet see through the Lie. Her ancient blood roots in Supernal magic mean that she has special talents that other Sleepwalkers don’t possess. 

All Proximi have at least one Blessing, an inherent ability to cast a single spell. Proximi are treated as Sleepwalkers except for the following:

• Parent Path: Proximi are always linked to one of the five Supernal Realms, and except in extremely rare circumstances always become members of that Path if they Awaken.

• Blessing Arcana: Proximi may purchase Blessings from their Parent Path’s Ruling Arcana and one other Arcanum, chosen at character creation.

• Dynastic Blessings: Every Proximus has the capacity to learn up to 30 dots worth of Blessings, chosen from the three Blessing Arcana at character creation. Blessings may be based on any spell of up to three Arcanum dots. Proximi characters buy their Blessings from the list for their Dynasty as Merits.

• Mana Capacity: Proximi have a Mana pool like a mage, with a maximum Mana capacity of 5. They can regain Mana by meditation at a Hallow like a mage, and every dynasty has at least one Oblation that can recover Mana in the manner of a Legacy, gaining a single point of Mana each time. Proximi may spend one Mana per turn (taking longer to cast in larger expenditures like a mage) to pay for Blessings with Mana costs and to mitigate Paradox dice. 

• Limited Casting: Proximi do not have Gnosis or Arcana ratings. They use their Willpower as a casting dice pool, penalized for spell factors. They may not use Yantras. Their ritual casting interval is five hours.

• Reach and Paradox: Proximi do not receive any risk-free Reach, but can risk Paradox by Reaching with their Blessings, gaining one die of Paradox risk per Reach. A Proximus can’t attempt to contain Paradox like a mage can, but instead of warping the Blessing, any Paradox successes rolled while using a Blessing completely cancel the effect and cause the Proximus’ Curse (see below) to worsen. Obvious Blessings with Sleeper witnesses provoke Paradox Risk, trigger Quiescence, and are subject to Dissonance in the same way as Awakened spells.

• Errata: Proximi have 1 free Reach for casting their blessings, and add 1 die of Paradox for every additional Reach.

Familial Curses

Each family line puts forward not just a talent for magic, but a sometimes-crippling curse that affects a Proximus’ whole life. This is one of the things that theorists point to when saying that Proximi must have been specifically engineered.

Functionally, a Proximi Curse is a two-part Condition. The first part is a lower-level difficulty that should come up in play, but is not crippling. This stage of the Condition is persistent and cannot be removed even by magic, but generates Beats when it impedes the character. Should the character be forced, by magic or otherwise, to try to escape the curse, the second part of the Proximi Curse kicks in and the character suffers from it until it’s resolved, earning a Beat when the curse reverts to the persistent form.

Family Lines

Many Awakened claim that Proximi Dynasties were created by ancient archmages and are tended to grow by modern mages. That may be true, but there is a growing body of evidence that suggests some Proximi lines do not have identifiable sources, and seem to have grown wild.

Proximi families are well maintained and tracked by various Orders, even actively groomed by them. The family lines are tracked closely whenever possible because not all members of a family will develop into full Proximi; Blessings can skip multiple generations before reappearing.

Place in Society

To the Seers, Proximi families are tools to be utilized and trashed when necessary. The other Orders are usually more humanitarian in their dealings with these strange bloodlines, but not always. Every Order considers at least a few Dynasties to be “theirs,” no matter what the individual Proximus believes; the Silver Ladder tracks the largest number of families. Proximi also appear to Awaken more often than other Sleepwalkers, which most Orders encourage and try to prepare young Proximi for. 

At the moment of revelation, a Proximus loses her Blessings and familial Curse, though the Sanctity of Merits rule still applies. At the Storyteller’s discretion, some or all of the Blessings removed by an Awakening may convert into Arcane Experiences instead of Merit dots.

Slaves of the Throne

While the Pentacle looks on Sleepers and Sleepwalkers as disadvantaged people in need of guidance or protection, however condescending that attitude can get it is better than the Seers of the Throne’s reaction to the majority of humanity. Sleepers and Sleepwalkers are resources for the Ministries, blind cattle to lead deeper into the Lie or tools to be exploited by Seers. The Order is commanded to protect humanity from extinction, but that’s in aggregate; the Exarchs are the symbols of tyranny, and tyrants require slaves.

Successful Seers enjoy a level of luxury and privilege in their mundane lives, supported by the temporal resources of the Ministries and their legion of Exarchal Mystery Cults, sycophants, and servants who have been paid, blackmailed, or simply bought. Particularly loyal Seers receive Artifacts to assist in their dominion over the Sleeping world, the most infamous being Profane Urim.

Profane Urim
Profane Urim take many forms, but most are cloaks, robes, veils, or vestments the user wears. They allow the user to possess the body of any Sleeper she has a Medium or Strong sympathetic link to, and worse — grant the user a Connected sympathetic link while in use. Any Sleeper friend or lover of a Pentacle mage is potentially a puppet for the Throne, but as so many mages are capable of detecting the possession, Urims are mostly used when Seers find it imprudent to be physically present, or when they want literal human shields between them and hostile mages from other Orders.

Systems: a Profane Urim is a 6-dot Artifact capable of casting “Possession” using the Sympathetic Range Attainment. Other, rarer, versions of the Artifact exist with variant powers. Seer characters may combine their Merit dots to buy one.

Servitors
Beyond servants and puppeteer victims, the greatest Seer Ministries command Servitors, human beings twisted into forms pleasing to the Exarchs and granted to loyal Seers as rewards. Some Servitors are enslaved Proximi Dynasties, like the Myrmidon clan who serve Praetorian. Others were the creation of archmasters, like the Hive-Souls: clusters of identical bodies sharing a single mind and soul between them, allowing them to serve as couriers and spies for their Hegemonic masters. Most, though, are Sleepers and Sleepwalkers who have been forcibly transformed through closely-guarded means, like the Grigori and Hollow Ones.

Grigori (Panopticon)

Rather than a ritual vestment, one variant of Profane Urim takes the form of a shroud or grave wrappings. Exclusively granted to Panopticon by the Eye, when a Sleepwalker is bound in the shroud he undergoes a horrific transformation. His body is placed into suspended animation, while his mind and soul are fused to create an ephemeral entity projected out into Twilight as an invisible watchdog and spy. When viewed in Twilight by Mind Mage Sight, Grigori resemble mummified, struggling humanoid forms covered in eyes and borne aloft by six wings made of smoke. Their comatose bodies, safely stored in secure locations, constantly whisper descriptions of what the Grigori see. Removing the Sleepwalker from the shroud is instantly fatal. 

Systems: A Shroud of Observation is an 8-dot Artifact only available to Panopticon Seers of Seer Status 3+. The Artifact consumes one point of Mana a day to maintain the transformation, but is capable of absorbing it from a Hallow, so Panopticon usually keep “Grigori farms” in secure Hallows. The Grigori itself is treated as a Rank 2 Goetia with Influence: Watching, and Resonance with its body and a target set by the Seer controlling the Artifact. The shroud can teleport the Grigori to the vicinity of its target at the cost of one Mana.

Hollow Ones (Paternoster)
The Paternoster Ministry is waited on by slaves who believe whatever their masters tell them, utterly and completely. Victims of human trafficking gangs secretly run by the Ministry as Mystery
Cults are taken by Seers to a closely guarded, secret location in North Africa, a Sanctum housing an aberrant monster from the Lower Depths that “stings” Sleepers who see it, ripping their senses of self away. The results are assigned to high-Ranking Paternoster Seers skilled in Mind magic. Hollow Ones are “blank” human beings; their souls are stable in the state left to them, but without a repeated supply of Mana a Hollow One’s memories and drives drain away to nothingness, leaving a blank canvas for a Seer to write on with spells.

Systems: Hollow Ones are treated as Sleepwalkers, with a few special rules; a Hollow One has a Mana capacity of 5, but cannot refill it himself; he consumes one point of Mana per day. If he has no Mana left to spend, his Mental and Social Attributes reset to zero, his Virtue, Vice, and Aspiration vanish, and he loses all skills. The Hollow Ones’ minds are, however, pliable; Mind spells are automatically Indefinite on Hollow Ones without spending spell factors, Reach, or Mana, but are canceled if the Hollow One “resets.” A Hollow One servitor may be bought as a 2-dot Merit by a Paternoster Seer character with Mind 4+ and Seer Status 3+.