[Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition] Yantras

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

                                       

         The Implements of Magic: Yantras

“Give me lever and a firm place to stand and I will move the whole world….”

- Archimedes

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: Yantras, as written in grey, is straight out of the advanced "beta" version of Mage: The Awakening 2nd edition.  With additional explainations as part of the Mage 2e Open Development blog on at Onyx Path Publishing posted by Dave Brookshaw.

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

Mages can cast spells while blindfolded and naked, without moving a muscle, but that makes for dull play, so in Mage you’re rewarded for describing how your mage casts her spells. Rewarded with dice.

So What are Yantras? 

Magic is the act of transforming will to power. A mage needs no more than that — just the ability to think clearly enough to form an imago is enough to work magic. But mages are also humans, and humans find the focus necessary to form and maintain all but the simplest imago at the drop of a hat is elusive at best. Instead, mages do what all humans do: they use semiotic shortcuts. Just as a first-grader may learn “Roy G. Biv” as a mnemonic for the colors of the rainbow, so a mage uses symbolic times, places, words, items, and movements as a key to forming an imago. The Diamond call these keys “Yantras,” after the Sanskrit word for a mystical design or apparatus. The Free Council prefer the more prosaic “Instruments,” focusing on their grounding in humanity’s acts of creation, while the Seers know them as “Chains,” mystic signatures burned into the Fallen World by the hands of the Exarchs. Sleepwalkers and Sleepers alike often mistake the medium for the message, believing that the Yantras associated with a given working are in and of themselves sources of power. This belief — that anyone can work Supernal magic with the right combination of items, motions, and words — is sadly mistaken. To a mage, they are aids to concentration and keys that unlock parts of an imago held in memories.

Semiotics

Each Yantra has a meaning above and beyond the Yantra itself — to the mage who wields it, a crystal rod is a tool of clarity and a means of action at a distance, of touching beyond one’s grasp. To some mages, it is a symbol of male sexuality. Others see it as a means of channeling power and removing illusions. Still others see it as a tool of command. All of these things are true — this crystal wand is a reflection of the Crystal Wand that casts a shadow on the wall of Plato’s cave.

Focuses - Mages use items, places, events, and actions with Supernal weight to help focus their mind on the spell they’re casting. The Diamond Orders call these correspondences Yantras, while the Free Council calls the Instruments. Seers of the Throne refer to them as Chains.

In order to use a Yantra, a willworker has to recognize a specific symbolism in the tool. That reflection then factors into her arcane understanding, enabling her to use that symbol as the foundation for an Imago. Rather than drawing a picture of what she wants freehand, she instead has a stock image she can trace or use as inspiration. The more Yantras she uses — whether different interpretations of the same tool or different tools altogether — the more basis she has for her Imago, making it easier to form.  Naturally, using Yantras in this way has its limits — if the mage can’t fit any of the symbols associated with the Yantra into her working, she can’t use it to bolster her magic. 

A Guardian might set up a Chamber of Veils that she uses to hide truths and reveal secrets, but unless she can connect her Supernal understanding of the Chamber of Veils to a place of healing, it won’t help her when a cabalmate stumbles through her door holding his intestines in place.

Unlocking the Imago

When a mage uses a Yantra in the working of a spell, she adds bonus dice to her spellcasting dice pool. The number of dice varies by the Yantra that she uses. These bonus dice can help eliminate penalties to her spellcasting pool, or provide bonuses. A mage can only get so much help from Yantras — after offsetting any penalties, the maximum bonus from all her Yantras combined cannot exceed +5 dice.  A mage may want to use as many Yantras as possible in her spellcasting, especially for powerful acts of magic. She can, however, only access so many pieces of Supernal knowledge at once. To reflect this, the number of Yantras she can apply to a given spellcasting pool is limited by her Gnosis. 

If she uses one ritual item in many ways, each individual use counts as one Yantra for this limit. it takes time to draw upon the Supernal sympathy of objects and actions. A mage can draw upon one Yantra as a reflexive action when casting a spell; each further Yantra extends the casting time of instant spells by a turn. Ritual spells already take long enough to incorporate as many Yantras as the mage is able and willing to use. Someone who wants to interrupt an involved casting thus has plentiful opportunities to snatch away mystic items, block out the light of the full moon, or just shoot

the mage in the head.

A. Location Yantras

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

1. Demesne (+2 Yantra to Ruling Arcana)

A willworker might enhance her ritual space with a soul stone, turning it into a weak form of Verge.

Mages most often decorate their ritual spaces according to their Orders — a Mystagogue’s ritual space may be a storehouse of knowledge that reflects the Order’s Tarsi Archive, while a given Libertine may fit hers out as a machine shop or embed the soul stone in a sacred tree.

As long as a spell that 

qualifies for the bonus doesn’t leave the Demesne, it doesn’t risk 

Paradox unless a Sleeper is present at some point during the 

spell’s duration. Spells are still subject to Dissonance and Sleepers suffer Quiescence.

A Demesne is of most use in ritual casting. It provides a prepared, sacred space where the mystic can work without the interruptions of the Lie; only a few (such as a dojo used by an Adamantine Arrow to practice sacred weapon forms) are of any use with instant spells and then only in defense of the Demesne. Beyond that, the construction and sacred tools within a Demesne determine what magics it can apply to. 

A Libertine’s machine shop helps with spells that build, repair, or dismantle. An Arrow’s training room helps with spells involving duels, preparation for battle, and self-mastery. A Guardian’s Veiled Room helps with spells of disguise, misdirection, and uncovering truths.

2. Environment (+1 Yantra)

Places and times in the Fallen World can bring about the Supernal if they reflect the spell a mage is using. 

An Acanthus may use the sun at noon to see through falsehoods, while a Magistos might use the light of the full moon reflected in a pool of water to scry across vast distances. Location is just as important — many Obrimos seek out churches to perform spells of persuasion, command, and stewardship. 

Different places of power may grant heightened resonance with the Supernal for different Paths, Arcana and spells. Loci, Hollows, Hallows, Underworld Gates, the Hedge, Desecration spots, etc… This includes Hallows, Leylines, and Nodes.

Some wizards prepare ritual spaces that contain multiple Yantras — combining a favorable environment with Atlantean runes and magical tools into a summoning circle. Such a location combines three Yantras in one place — but inexperienced mystics must take their time, and a mage’s enemies will soon learn where best to strike. 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 their actions unconsciously reflect the Supernal attributes of a place.

3. Supernal Verges (+2 Yantra)

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. 

In a Pandemonic Verge, any spells that use the Mind or Space Arcana can draw upon the Verge’s power, be that a long ritual to superimpose two locations or a simple spell to fuddle an opponent’s senses. 

A mage in the appropriate 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.

As long as a spell that qualifies for the bonus doesn’t leave the Verge, it doesn’t risk Paradox unless a Sleeper is present at some point during the spell’s duration. Spells cast in natural Verges are not subject to Dissonance but Sleepers suffer Quiescence as usual.

B. 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.

Some mages use actions as Yantras to get out of a bind — even stripped naked and chained in a cannibal killer’s dungeon, a théarch can speak words of High Speech and focus upon the Imago of a spell. 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.

1. Concentration (+2 Yantra)

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 and 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.

Effect: Concentrating on an spell with a Duration greater than a turn provides +2 extra dice. If the mage is hurt or takes a non-reflexive action while the spell is active, it ends immediately.

2. Mantras "High Speech"  (+2 Yantra)

A trained mage can use 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. As a Yantra, High Speech is very versatile. Many mages know enough to declaim control or dominance, or to repeat the words over and over again 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 meta-language of the Supernal cannot hide in the shallow grammars and inflections of the Lie.

Effect: If the mage has the High Speech Merit, vocally intoning her Imago confers a 2-die bonus. As it takes time to speak the words, she cannot use this Yantra reflexively — it always increases the casting time.

Also known as Glossolalia or Speaking in Tongues...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:

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

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. 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.

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.

Atlantean (Extended High Speech) – This extremely rare form is the actual language of the kingdom of mages of the 3rd 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.

3. Mudras "Rote Mudras" (+skill Yantra)

Mudras are somatic spell components, 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. 

Mudras 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.

Effect: Using a Rote’s mudra adds the user’s rating in 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. Mudras do not require the mage to actually use the Skill beyond remembering the gestures of the mudra; a mage cannot spend a turn hacking in order to then claim a Computers mudra for a spell.

Errata: Mudra Yantras cap at +5 each. It's still possible to, say, give yourself Athletics 5 with one spell before casting an Athletics-based rote for maximum effect, or buy a superhuman skill with a Gnosis above 5, but it won't benefit rotes.  (Suck, being able to do that was the good thing about Rotes)

I would assert that a mage could spend a turn enacting improvised Mudras and gain a +1 Yantra bonus by doing so.

The following Merits is approved for play:

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.

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

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.

Darshana - Darshanas are particular gazes and facial expressions. 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 well known 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.

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.

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. - 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.

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

• 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.
• Adamantine Arrow – most Mudras tend to be kata or martial arts forms. This forms the foundations for Adamant Hand.
• Mysterium – These Mudras tend to be dramatic and full of occult symbolism and traditional finger waggling and wand pointing.
• Silver Ladder – These Mudras tend to invoke authority and are bold, calling upon divine lordship and commanding attention.
• 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.
• Seers of the Throne – All of the above, depending on their Ministry. The Panopticon tends to the subtle like the Guardians.  The Paternoster to a combination of religious symbolism and gestures similar to the Mysterium.  The Hegemony invokes authority like the Silver Ladder, the Adamantine Arrow's martial mudras appear similiar to those of the Praetorian, and the Ministries of Mammon and the Pantechnicon resemble Sleeper gestures like the Free Council.

Merit: EXTEMPORANEOUS AFFINITY (••, •••• OR •••••) 

Source: Banishers p. 41     Prerequisite: Awakened

Effect: The mage has developed the ability to cast improvised spells of greater potency than is usual. This could be the result of an absence of formal magical training or representative of a mage who prefers to shape spells on the fly.

At one dot in the Merit, the character gains a +1 die bonus to improvised spellcasting; at four dots, the character gains a +2 dice bonus, and at five dots, the character gains a +3 dice bonus. Only improvised spells gain the benefit of bonus dice and it functions as a Mudra Yantra.

This Merit is intended to represent a character who has been using magic for a decent length of time without much in the way of formal magical education. Banishers who prefer to burn books rather than read them are also likely candidates for this Merit.

Drawback: As a result of this constant improvised learning Rotes costs two experiences instead of one.

4. Runes (+2 Yantra)

An intersection between incanting in High Speech and concentrating on an Imago, some mages use runic High Speech to enhance the power of a spell. Most use the boost from a runic Yantra to boost a spell’s Duration; the need to scribe the runes onto the spell’s subject makes them less useful for most other castings. Anything that disrupts the careful shape and arrangement of the runes makes them an imperfect description of the spell’s Imago, ending the effect.

Some mages inscribe the runes of a healing spell onto their cabalmates in the form of mystic tattoos that heal injuries, while others paint or carve them into solid objects to make them

harder than diamond. 

When using runes on a person, a mage may paint her subject, scribe the runes with a tattooing gun, or brand them right into the subject’s flesh. Properly drawing runes takes time equal to the mage’s ritual interval.

Effect: Runic casting adds +2 dice to the mage’s spellcasting pool. If anything damages or disrupts the runes while the spell is active — whitewashing runes painted on a wall, or slicing through a runic tattoo — it ends immediately.

The following Merit is approved for play:

Glyph Lore (Supernatural Merit: • to ••••) – Requires High Speech, Intelligence 3, Occult 3. Each dot allows the mage to know and translate one of the Glyph forms below automatically. They can also reproduce these glyphs for purposes of reverse-engineering Rotes and converting them to use a different style.

There are Four types of traditional Glyph writing:

Traditional - To the Diamond orders, this represents the purist form of written Atlantean (what is left of it). The runes look strangely similar to many languages and mystical symbols, but do not match any of them precisely. Some rare runes have an appearance so alien that human eyes have difficulty fully perceiving them (maybe one is written in 4 dimensions), but mages sometimes distrust such examples for fear that they are designs born of the Abyss.

Illuminated - The Illuminated category includes pictograms and even actual illustrations whose lines draw the eye to follow them to their hidden meaning. Classical runes often have pictographic elements; the sign of the Death Arcanum resembles a skull, for example. Beyond Classical variations are pictograms that, to Sleepers, look nothing like their Classical counterparts. Mages see the hidden meaning instantly in the pictogram’s curves, shading and negative space. Obscure Mayan codices sometimes display examples of the form. So do Renaissance paintings that (thanks to the influence of Seers of the Throne and Guardians of the Veil) usually hang in private collections or behind vault doors. These pictures reveal the runes’ meanings using the geometry of their composition and their symbolism. The Illuminated form is commonly used by mages from non-literate cultures and thus is held in low esteem by mages who believe the Awakened Nation possessed a truly literate society.

Palimpsest - The Palimpsest form takes its name from an ancient practice in which used papyri are scraped enough to allow scribes to use the pages again. While this recycling is supposed to leave “blank” space for the new writer, the original characters can often be recovered. The Palimpsest style refers to a style of writing in which runes are inscribed in an overlapping pattern. Scribes take stylistic liberties with the supposed Pure form of the runs to create complex occult sigils, geometric patterns and even illustrations. Some of these have been compared to the geometric artwork found in the Islamic world. There is some overlap among the Palimpsest style and others. Palimpsests are commonly used to strengthen combined spells, but some mages simply prefer the style, and others hold that it is the “true” way to write the Atlantean language. There is enough stylistic variation to make it unlikely that Sleepers would recognize the relationship between Palimpsest and Classical forms, but an Awakened eye spots the runes in either case. Palimpsests are difficult for neophytes to decode; apply additional –1 penalty to Intelligence + Occult rolls. Also grants an additional +1 Yantra bonus to Combined spells but this cannot be done in combat.

Vulgar - What constitutes Vulgar High Speech runes is largely a matter of taste, with the Diamond holding that their script is pure and other forms are ignorant variations. But the fact of the matter is that there are several ways to write the runes for magical purposes. Many of these alternate forms are actually integrated into other written languages, such as Classical Chinese, Aramaic or Sanskrit. While the alternate forms always differ from the standard versions of each language, the shape of the lines and subtle variations on key characters carry the power and messages of the runes. Some mages call this these types Vulgar script because it utilizes languages developed in the Fallen World, but some adherents reply that the so-called Classical form is a recent invention designed to create a “pure” Awakened language that never really existed, distilled down from the sacred marks of many examples. A few bold mages hold that their particular version is the primordial tongue — not the Classical runes. They have the advantage of observation, since glyphs replicate the patterns mages observe when using various forms of Mage Sight. On the other hand, Vulgar forms display the same patterns, though writers sometimes use unusual variations. For example, a calligrapher might rotate the “perspective” of a glyph a few degrees to alter the curve of a stroke. Nevertheless, the core pattern remains constant.

C. Tool Yantras:

Each mage maintains at least a handful of magical tools, mundane items that have a symbolic link to specific kinds of magic. Almost no mages rely on just a single tool. Even if she only uses magic appropriate to its symbol, it’s too easy to take the tool away from her.

Effect: Each item used as a Yantra adds +1 die to the spellcasting pool.

1. Path Tools (+1 Yantra)

Each Supernal Realm has its reflections in the Fallen World, and a mage knows the Tools of magic that align closely to her Path. While mages with a background in Sleeper occultism recognize that the Path tools show up in several traditions, their direct elemental or Tarot symbolism is the Lie’s corruption of the Supernal Realms’ truth. Each Path has five Tools, each of which has a specific magical function:

Coins/Pentacles/Disks (The World, Cycles of Power): Coins or other symbols of material wealth, which represent construction, repair, and inanimate or intangible things that last beyond mere human lifespans. It is the Tool closest to the Fallen World, and so is often used to manipulate it directly, for money or other resources.

Pentacles represent all forces of the cosmos in alignment, they can be changed geometrically with different magic circle. Coins are the most common disks and represent time and the sun, jewelry can also be used.

• Acanthus: Defaced US silver dollars, arcade tokens, glass beads, CDs
• Mastigos: Old Soviet coinage, pennies pressed with images of Alcatraz or other famous prisons
• Moros: Coins buried with the dead, small gemstones, spent bullets (especially those that killed someone)
• Obrimos: Computer processors, gold currency from various nations, pentacle-shaped circuit boards
• Thrysus: Bottle caps, commemorative coins, dog tags

Cups/Chalices (Life, Female Power): Cups or other drinking vessels can invoke healing, intuition, perceptual magic, and gathering together. Drinking from a shared cup is a common way to spread a spell among a group. It’s often seen as a symbol of female sexuality, though what that means depends on the mage.

Eggs, distaff (forked stick), spheres, ovals and orbs also represent the cup.

• Acanthus: Plastic novelty cups, whiskey glasses, pewter mugs
• Mastigos: Tin cups like those used in prisons, iron cauldrons, any simple, unadorned cup of iron, brass, or leather
• Moros: The cup from which a person took his last drink, china coffee mugs, crystal wine glasses
• Obrimos: Fonts, chalices used in religious ceremonies, souvenir mugs from the Petrified Forest
• Thrysus: Survival canteens, homemade cups, copper sinks

Mirrors (Reflections): These may be actual mirrors, polished plates, or reflecting pools held in containers of the appropriate material. They represent sight, soul, and the self, and are the Magical Tool most commonly used when the mage would work a spell upon herself.  They also work well for scrying and divinations.

• Acanthus: Make-up compacts, silver hand mirrors
• Mastigos: Polished brass, two-way mirrors
• Moros: Reflective surgical light fixtures, polished grave marker plaques
• Obrimos: Steel shaving mirrors, electrical transformers
• Thrysus: Reflective glass, polished copper plates

Rods/Staves/Wands (Aiming, Male Power, Towers, Rulership):  Rods, wands, or staves are symbols of control — the ability to point and have a thing happen. Pointing a rod is a way of singling out a specific victim, while holding one is a symbol of rulership and command. It’s also used as a symbol of male sexuality.

These tools can easily be built into more practical tools or into the flesh itself. Sometimes they represent monuments like obelisks, spires, towers,

• Acanthus: The minute-hand of a clock, an aluminum baseball bat, a lava lamp, a halogen flashlight
• Mastigos: A bar from a jail cell, a brass trumpet, a set of scales, a flag pole
• Moros: A shovel used to bury the dead, an ivory-headed cane, a diamond stickpin
• Obrimos: A radio antenna, a steel trumpet, depleted uranium
• Thrysus: A wooden bat, a length of copper piping, a wooden staff decorated with bottle caps, slivers of glass and other urban detritus

Swords/Weapons (Command, Control): Weapons, most normally knives, are symbols of thought made action — any spell that takes direct, decisive action on the world (or a person) can benefit from a weapon. While often used to harm, weapons also represent the mastery of intellect and will over the world.

They protect life and deal out death, Weapons usually cannot be too modern unless a member of the Adamantine Arrow or Free Council since they are the only ones who have devised ways to Dedicate weapons of the modern age.

• Acanthus Weapons (Precision) – Especially rely on hand-eye coordination. They tend to be light impaling tools. Western Acanthus prefer rapiers, small swords and bows. Members of the Path have been known to favor darts, atlatls, light spears, crossbows and Chinese straight swords. Examples: Rapier, bow, rifles, pistols,Switchblades, blackjacks
• Mastigos Weapons (Agony) – Weapons that leave ragged, open wounds or packs a sting that bruises deeper than it seems. Mastigos blades are either curved, as a saber, or wavy, as an Indonesian kris. Thorns and spikes often enhance the mage’s chosen weapon. The Path adopts various forms of the lash as well: the thorny branch, the chain and the whip. Examples: Curved sword, whip, daggers, cruel weapons such as scourges or a Cat of Nine Tails, hooks, torture tools, tasers. Brass knuckles, machetes
• Moros Weapons (Breaking & Uniting) – Weapons that are usually blunt. They symbolize the twin crafts of creation and destruction. A warrior-alchemist uses a smith’s maul or mortar. Hammers are also associated with the lands of the dead. Other maces and clubs also find favor, but there is no small number of Moros who find the symbolism of Breaking and Uniting in simple stones, and sharp adzes and axes. Examples: Hammer, mace, crushing weapons, short swords, blowtorch or welder, scalpels, weapons of opportunity (claw hammers, screwdrivers, lead pipes, etc.)
• Obrimos Weapons (Legion) – Weapons are military arms, including long and straight swords, spears, tridents, bladed shields, crossbows and longbows. All of these weapons are expressions of military power, implying that the mage is one small part of a great crusade or secret order of warriors. Examples: Double-edged sword, spear, noble weapons such as a Katana, explosives, tasers
• Thyrsus Weapons (Hunt & Hearth) – Always practical. Killing human beings is not their primary use. The Thyrsus bow is a hunting tool, and his ax splits wood. The Path’s weapons are designed as if the Thyrsus lived in the Primal Wild. They are tools that a hunter might use to survive in the wild. Implements include the sling, atlatl, hunting spear and club. Examples: Axe, sling, hunting weapons, staff, survival knives, poison,

2. Materials (+1 Yantra)

Each Path has specific materials that elevate a Magical Tool from merely an object to something resonant with a Supernal Realm, as well as weapons that can replace the traditional knife.

Errata: Resonant Mana allows the use of a Persona Yantra worth 1 die, it doesn't increase existing persona yantra sources by 1. (This might not sound like a big difference, but trust me, it works out!)

• Acanthus: Glass, crystal, silver, reflective materials, Lunargent (Perfected Silver), Emeralds, Cedar, Wool, Fruit, Bramble, Birds,

• Mastigos: Iron, Wrought Iron, brass, leather, worked materials, Siderite (Perfected Iron), Volcanic Rock, snakes, nightshade, sulfur, brimstone, silk, meat,

• Moros: Lead, bone, gems, buried materials, Gold, Stygium (Perfected Lead), diamonds, yew, moths, cinnamon, linen, vegetables, 

• Obrimos: Steel, petrified wood, gold, diamonds, Orihelculm (Perfected Gold), copper, conductors, electronics, rubies, oak, dogs, saffron, fleece, bread

• Thyrsus: Wood, copper, stone, natural materials, mercury, Hermium (Perfected Quicksilver), sapphires, vines, cats, musk, fur, wine

3. Order Tools (+1 Yantra)

An Order’s Magical Tools draw upon that Order’s symbols rather than those of the Supernal world directly, focusing magic in a way that matches their teachings. The formal magical style of the  Diamond Orders and the Seers of the Throne all resonate through the same tools:

• The Adamantine Arrow (Attack & Defend) – The Arrow use martial tools as symbols of conflict and martial weapons, as well as declaring the self a weapon with body modifications, scarring, or tattoos. They are very pragmatic in their use of modern technology.  Weapons are perhaps the greatest Order tool they use.
• The Guardians of the Veil (Disguise & Conceal) - The Guardians use cloaks, masks, and veils as symbols of things hidden and revealed. Some use make-up kits, camouflage clothing and unassuming uniforms or generic outfits can also be dedicated. Prefer modern technology in its ability to conceal, encryption, etc.
• The Mysterium (Knowledge) - Books, scrolls, codes, writing, media and language as tools of knowledge and communication of that knowledge. These tools are all about preservation and transfer of information. Monuments, mysterious occulted puzzles, Illuminated ruins or art.
• The Silver Ladder (Authority) - uses signs of authority to as tools of status and persuasion. Crowns, mantles, cards, signets, scepters and seals make excellent marks of power.
• The Free Council (Humanity/Technology) - are an oddity among all the other Orders. Each Libertine learns a style of magic that draws from Sleeper occult beliefs, and their magical tools demonstrate that eclectic learning. A Libertine raised in Wiccan beliefs may use the trappings of that religion, while one who studies sacred architecture may use geometric tools.  They use Modern technology – computers, phones, sciences/math/physics used displayed or tools and ancient technology – ancient clocks, fantastical devices, platonic tools, ancient batteries.

4. Patron Tools (+1 Yantra)

The Seers of the Throne do not work their magic alone. Ascending through the priesthood of the Lie drives a Seer to serve her patron Exarch. 

Once she gains an Exarch’s notice, it tests her. If she succeeds, she becomes a Prelate, and she can use her patron Exarch’s symbols to draw on its power. Each Exarch has its own symbols — its own strings that it uses to puppet the Fallen World like a broken marionette. A Prelate can use her Exarch’s strings as Yantras for her own magic, but each individual Exarch has its own symbolic resonance that limits what Prelates can do with its blessing as a tool. For more information, see the Prelacy Merit. Other mages, such as the Scelesti, sometimes bargain for Patron Tools of their own.

The Word – Called Patron Tools each choose a sigil or word that they must display to use it as a tool. The Seers of the Throne do not work their magic alone. Ascending through the priesthood of the lie drives a Seer to serve her patron Exarch. Once she gains its notice, it tests her. If she succeeds, she becomes a Prelate, and she can use her patron Exarch’s symbols to draw on its power. Each Exarch has its own symbols — its own strings that it uses to puppet the Fallen World like a broken marionette. A prelate can use his Exarch’s strings as Yantras for his own magic, but each individual Exarch has her own symbolic resonance that limit what its prelates can do with its blessing as a tool.

• The Panopticon – Sigils and Words of Sight, Eyes, and Observation. Space Magic.
• The Paternoster – Sigils and Words of faith, organized religion, Prime Magic.
• The Hegemony – Sigils and Words of unity, oneness, singularity of purpose, socialism, nationalism. Mind Magic.
• The Praetorian – Sigils and Words of war, weapons, combat, the military might. Forces Magic.
• Mammon – Sigils and words of greed, corporatization, capitalism, wealth, banking, secular power. Matter Magic.

5. Dedicated Magical Tool (+1 Yantra, -2 Paradox)

Each mage has a Dedicated Magical Tool — an item that synchronizes with her Nimbus and that feeds in to her understanding of magic. 

A Thyrsus who trusts to nature to provide may not have much by way of possessions, but his walking stick is his staff, and he uses it even for spells that do not benefit from its symbolism. A Botswanan Libertine who learned the magic of the Sangoma may tap a rhythm on her drum even when the noise has no bearing on her spells, as the drumming is part of her Nimbus.

The Dedicated tool is often the first Path tool that the mage used, or something that she grabbed at the moment of her Awakening. If it gets destroyed or lost, she can replace it — but at a price. She must use her chosen tool as a Yantra in every spell she casts for a month (counting against her limit), regardless of whether doing so gives any benefit. 

Effect: Using a Dedicated tool as a Yantra penalizes any Paradox dice pool by –2; the mage can also use it as a Path or Order tool.

These dedicated tools can be of benefit even when the tool has no semiotic link with the mage’s desires, limiting the risk of paradox when casting Vulgar magic.

Despite the ambiguous wording you can use Dedicated Tools for both the -2 Paradox mitigation and the Path Tool +1 in the same spell. The wording in the book wasn't totally clear on this point.

Note: The Cartomancy Merit functions as a Dedicated tool but uses the same rules as the listed Merit.  The following Merit is approved for play:

Merit: CARTOMANCER (• TO •••)
Source: Keys to the Supernal Tarot p. 13
Prerequisites: Awakened, Occult Specialty – Tarot, Wits •••

Effects: A cartomancer is never without a Tarot deck. In the myriad possibilities of the Tarot lies true magical power and a way to make Awakened magic fit a bit more seamlessly into the Fallen World. A mage can become a cartomancer without training by another mage, but must still fulfill the prerequisites.


The Cartomancer Merit is progressive. Each dot is a prerequisite for the next dot. So your character cannot have the “Interpretive Draw” ability unless she first has the Divinatory Eye” ability

Divinatory Eye (•): This level of the Merit represents basic familiarity with the Tarot with respect to Awakened magic. This has two effects. First, the character gains a +2 to all attempts at divination, including spells that attempt to see the future or uses of the Dream Merit, if she uses a Tarot deck in the attempt. Second, the character can dedicate a Tarot deck as a magical tool. She can also dedicate individual cards as Arcana tools, but she needs a way to find a particular card quickly in a crisis situation if this is to be of much help.

Interpretive Draw (••): Before casting a spell, the character draws one card from her Tarot deck. Depending on what the card is, it can help her cast the spell or warn her against it. The system for this can either be a dice roll or a literal random draw from a Tarot deck.
If you choose to use a random draw from a deck, the Storyteller and the player must interpret the card in relation to the spell being cast and the situation at hand. If the card indicates that the casting is favorable, apply the bonus described below under “Success.” If the card is something extremely favorable, the Storyteller may deem it an exceptional success. But by the same token, if the draw indicates something truly disastrous, the character suffers a failure or a dramatic failure.
The dice pool, should you choose to use that system, is Wits + Occult. Drawing and interpreting the card is an instant action, meaning that the character casts the spell on the following turn.
Roll Results:
Dramatic Failure: The spell is the wrong choice for the situation. If the mage chooses to cast it, the player rolls a chance die. A dramatic failure on this roll is treated as a Havoc Paradox, whether or not the spell was vulgar in aspect.
Failure: The spell isn’t the best choice, but it might work. Apply a -2 to the character’s casting attempt if she chooses to go through with it.
Success: The spell is a good choice given the situation. Apply a +2 to the character’s attempt/ If the character has the High Speech Merit and chooses to spend the next turn chanting, this bonus stacks with the High Speech bonus for a total of +4.
Exceptional Success: The spell is exactly appropriate for the circumstance. The player receives a 9-again bonus on the casting roll.

Instinctive Draw (•••): The character can now use the Interpretive Draw ability as a reflexive action, meaning that she can draw, interpret and cast in the same turn. Alternately, the character can draw, interpret and then chant in High Speech, thus gaining the High Speech Merit along with the bonus from this Merit (if any) on the following turn. Although the mage does not have to cast the spell if the draw isn’t favorable, the mage can only make one draw per spell, even if the draw is a reflexive action.

D. Sympathy Yantras:

Rather than defining the “what” of a spell, sympathetic tools define the “who” — the person, place, creature, or institution upon which the mage forces her will. She may have a person’s sympathetic name or a lock of his hair, a ghost’s Anchor, a chunk of concrete taken from a building, or a company’s articles of incorporation. Whatever the case, the Yantra represents the subject of the spell, allowing the mage to build it into the Imago or access an Attainment to use her own  sympathetic connection to the subject in order to cast across Space or Time.

Effects: A mage must use a sympathetic Yantra in order to cast a spell using the Sympathetic Range or Temporal Sympathy Attainments; it does not give any bonus dice when doing so.

1. Material sympathy (+2 Yantra)

These represents the subject as he is now, or at the time the mage wants to affect him. It could be a piece of the target’s physical substance, or a recent photograph or recording; an item the subject created within a month is also acceptable.

2. Representational sympathy (+1 Yantra)

These are something that represents the subject though she has changed since — an old lock of hair or photo of the subject as a child, for example.

3. Symbolic sympathy (+0 Yantra)

These includes indirect representations of the subject — a person’s sympathetic name, drawings, caricatures, or posed and costumed photographs. 

E. Sacrament Yantras: (+1-3 Yantra)

A sacrament is any Magical Tool symbolic of the spell in question that the mage destroys during casting. Many times — though by no means always — it also provides a sympathetic link to the subject of her spell. 

She may infuse bread with herbs and spices to make those who share the loaf work together smoothly. She may burn a man’s driver’s license and passport for a spell that removes him from government records. She may fire a male figure out of clay then crush it to powder when changing her body to match her gender. If she can find one of her enemy’s Magical Tools, she has both a sympathetic link and a sacrament for any spell that would hurt him.

Some mages go further than finding or creating things to sacrifice during casting. Some engage in quests into the other realms of the Fallen World, leaving the flesh behind to uncover items with magical properties of their own. Destroying them during casting can make a spell flare with power. Particularly twisted mages kill animals and murder humans for the magical power. The surest way to kill a powerful enemy with magic is to sacrifice something close to him — a beloved pet, or a family member.

Effect: Most sacraments grant a +1 bonus. If the mage has to spend significant effort to find the right item or component, the bonus increases to +2, or +3 if the item comes from somewhere

other than the material realm.

The following Merit is approved for play:

Spell Components (Supernatural Merit: •••, ••••, or •••••) – You carry pouches of spell components in the form of herbs and substances to act as Sacrament Tools. You always have what you need on hand to maximize the effectiveness of your workings. Once per story you can spend your dots in Spell Components, and gain a +1, +2, or +3 Sacramental Yantra Bonus on a single extended cast spell. This can stack with other correspondences worked into a spell but cannot exceed a +3 total. These dots recover at the end of a story.

F. Persona Yantras: 

(+1-4 Yantra)

Some mages invest in their cabals and in their Shadow Names, coming up with whole new personas as willworkers, independent — or at least, significantly divergent — from who they were as Sleepers. A persona binds a mage’s magical style, her personal mysteries, and her Shadow Name into an identity that, over time, leaves its mark on the Fallen World. By playing to this fictional persona, she can tap in to a level of Supernal sympathy. 

Her actions must play in to her personal story, however — a fortune-teller or faith healer can’t use her persona as a Yantra to harm another. By contrast, the faith healer could use his persona not just for healing, but to bolster his reputation and give his words greater gravitas, making people more likely to believe him.

Effect: A persona Yantra keys in to the mage’s Shadow Name and Cabal Theme Merits, providing +1 to +4 dice. Dedicated Tools

The following Merit is approved for play:

Magical Tradition (Supernatural Merit: ••) (See Magical Traditions sourcebook or Second Sight sourcebook) - Your character has studied a particular Sleeper occult tradition, its body of beliefs and spellcraft, and can glean special magical benefit from working within that tradition. Knowledge of a tradition itself is represented by the Academics or Occult Skill Specialty, while this Merit represents a special kind of knowledge available only to the Awakened that allows a mage to learn the rote spells of that tradition. Whereas Sleepers cannot evoke magical results from these rotes (although they might erroneously believe the spells do work in some unseen fashion), mages with this Merit can divine the Supernal echoes reverberating in the tradition’s myths and symbols, and so gain special magical benefit from them.

Prerequisites: Occult 2, Specialty Skill in Occult of Academics for that magical tradition. The merit can be bought multiple times for different traditions but can only be bought once for each point of Gnosis.

Benefits:

• Sleeper Acceptance: When casting a MT Rote Sleeper witnesses do not add +1 or additional dice tricks for risking Paradox.
• Conditional Duration: Tradition rotes benefit from the Fate 2 “Conditional Duration” Attainment. Even if the casting mage does not know Fate 2, he can incorporate a conditional duration into the tradition rote casting.
• Spell Control Mitigation: Tradition rotes seem more tightly woven into the fabric of the Fallen World; they don’t cause as much mystical interference as other spells or rotes. The first tradition rote cast upon someone does not count toward that person’s spell control. Any successive tradition rotes cast upon him will count normally — until the first spell expires, and then the next active tradition rote in line inherits its mitigation effect, and so.

Restrictions:

• Foci: The mage must use a culturally appropriate focus to cast the tradition rote.
• Environment: Some rotes require that the spell be cast at a particular time (midnight) and/or in a particular type of place (cemetery).
• Rote Combinations: Tradition rotes cannot be cast as a combined casting with non-tradition rotes.
• Group Casting: All those participating in a group casting ritual must know the relevant Magical Tradition Merit (in addition to the usual Arcana requirements), although only the group leader must know the rote.