[The Secret World] The Lore of Samhain (2012 - 2016)

Samhain 2012: The Cat God

1. TRANSMIT - Inititate the Samhain signal - TRANSITION - initiate the darker half - ERROR - spam the the black bee frequency.

SECURITY SCAN - shhh, the spyware is unaware. THREATS DETECTED - none, nil, naught, black infinite zeros, immense immeasurable emptiness. Move along. Nothing to see here.

LISTEN - the screaming, the pain, the broken bones crackling in flame.

WITNESS - the summer curtains call. Time to reap what you have sown.

Initiate the nights out of time. When boundaries between worlds collapse - a structures imbalance, perhaps - all creatures come and all things mingle. Prepare the feast of the dead. Tonight's festivities will begin in three, two, one... Commemorations must be made. Sacrifices. Tell them Tigernmas. Who held your heads on the Plain of Prostration?

EMBRACE - the naked shingles of the world.

LISTEN - the nameless aimless petition for prayers. No need to leave the door ajar. The burderend with sin will find a way in.

But why this night?

Come a little closer, we won't bite.

A night for divination. LISTEN - the heartbeat of the girl standing in the mirror. She waits for a boy to peek over her shoulder. So cute, so sweet, such silly superstition. There's no love, little girl, only filth and ambition.

Hop-tu-naa, trol-la-laa.

Note: Hop-tu-Naa is the name of an ancient celtic festival celebrating the start of the New Year, beginning on October 31st by their calendar.

Note:  Samhain is one of the 4 major Gaelic seasonal festivals (and also celebrated by neopagans and wiccans) along with Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh. Samhain is celebrated from sunset on 31 October to sunset on 1 November. As a seasonal festival it represents the changing of the seasons from Fall to Winter. As a religious sabbat it also represents the time when the veil between this world and the afterlife is at its thinnest point of the whole year.


2.  LISTEN - the screaming, the pain, the broken bones crackling in flame.

Commemorations must be made. Sacrifices. Tell them Tigernmas. Who held your heads on the Plain of Prostration?

No one.

Ten hundred and three thousand noses crushed. Taste and see. Nothing is free

But hy this night?

Winter is death, darkness is fright. Each year, the weather channel portends both in good measure.

LISTEN - skrak, skrik, skrawlivik. the old gods, myths and beasts all scamper. Think rats trapped in a hamper. But they know how to survive and how to claw through.

HINT - it's nights like this; it's people like you. Initiate the hounding horrors.

The room here you were when... The eyes of the man that... The words she screamed as... Fear sears into memory, takes the mind hostage, keeps the content alive.

The old ones don't die; they dig trenches in your nightmares. They bide their time, drinking sherry and playing cards, waiting for the tin-din of summer symphonies to pass. Waiting for the night when...

Note: Tigernmas was a High King of Ireland, who died on Magh Slécht while worshiping Crom Cruach, a diety that required human sacrifices

Note: The "Plain of Prostration" is a translation of Magh Slécht, named because it was one of the primary places for worship of Crom Cruach

Note: Girl looking in the mirror refers to a method for a girl to divine who her true love would be -- She would light two candles at midnight, then sit in front of a mirror and eat an apple. She would then brush her hair. An image of her future lover/husband would appear in the mirror behind her shoulder.

3. Everyone gathers on Samhain.

Hop-tu-naa, trol-la-laa.

Call the tribal assemblies. Light the bonfires. Slaughter your animals for the winter. Soon the fields will be frozen. Soon there'll be nothing left to grind but teeth and imaginations. It's only a few long months in the dark.

By why this night?


4.  Your ancestors made the appointment. The dates ere carved into the earth in blood.

REMINDER - rituals were meant to purify the land, guide the lost spirits, defeat the evil ones, rouse the wasting sun. PAYMENT OVERDUE - darkness demands to be acknowledged. Commemorate, challenge, fear it.

Fear it.

The curtains still open; every year, though they've lost faith in you, the spirits still come.

Rush-hour traffic bursts both ways. Cuchalainn came through. Nera too. Today's breed of traveler is a little different. The openings are crowded with the worst of them and the sickest of you.

Fais-do-do-do.

Commemorations have dwindled; relations are at an all-time low.

The man who skins witches has moved onto myths. Makes it an annual retreat. Spends his summers in nightmare trenches, then sneaks through in search of new curtains to tear, new faces to wear. The old and weak have learned to heed, for they can suffer and they can bleed.

Just as Irusan.

Oh yes, indeed.

Note: Cuchalainn is a warrior-hero of Irish mythology that was known for ability to go into a battle frenzy when fighting

Note: Nera is a warrior of Irish mythology that had a vision of the future given to him by the dead on Samhain night.

Note: Irusan was the name of a minor deity of cats

5. WITNESS - myth - mythos - to make a sound - to scream.

Hop-tu-naa, trol-la-laa.

Dreams are personalised myths. Myths are communal nightmares.

FINAL NOTICE - light bulbs won't save you from payments owed. Go head, dustbust the dead, sweep old bones under the rug. The darkness doesn't care. Its ledgers are up-to-date.

BUT WAIT - order now and you'll get thirteen.

Look at the little guisers today. The nightly crawl through suburban sprawl.

"What are you supposed to be?" "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!"

The children scamper through the richest neighbourhoods. The boys throw rotten eggs at cars. A great cold is coming. An old witch closes the curtains of her crypt. She's given up on the world. There's no point in going out anymore. In lighting fires to see all this.

Let them reap what they sow.

What claws at the curtains of Halloween? The devils know.

Hop-tu-naa, trol-la-laa.

Samhain 2013: The Pumpkin King

1. Our wisdom flows so sweet. Taste and see.

TRANSMIT - initiate Samhain signal - RECEIVE - initiate the wicked gourd cadence - OH, GREAT PUMPKIN, WHERE ARE YOU? - initiate urban mythos procedures - NINE, TEN... NEVER SLEEP AGAIN - initiate the Stingy Jack beacon - WITNESS - Samhain and the Tree House Horrors.

We relate to memes, sweetling. Living stories. Data with agency. Let us introduce these stories ten. They'll come knocking on your skull, these tales with teeth from the gourds that grin, saying, "Little pig, little pig, let us in!"

Note: Samhain is one of the 4 major Gaelic seasonal festivals (and also celebrated by neopagans and wiccans) along with Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh. Samhain is celebrated from sunset on 31 October to sunset on 1 November. As a seasonal festival it represents the changing of the seasons from Fall to Winter. As a religious sabbat it also represents the time when the veil between this world and the afterlife is at its thinnest point of the whole year.

Note: Stingy Jack is an Irish folklore

2. Once upon a time, there was a groundskeeper. Ask him what's in his flask. So many windows to stare through at the Innsmouth Academy. "O, Donnie Bedloe, Donnie Bedloe, Donnie Bedloe..." Say it into the reflecting panes of glass. Those gormless, bovine-jelly eyes... Not quite looking. He's not quite looking at you right now.

3. Once upon a time, there was a hermit. Knock upon the birch coffin: one-two-three. Did an echo knock back-back-back? In the night, if you think you hear a noise, and you call out to a loved one, and their voice answers back - "all is well" - and you still feel the disquiet, then listen. "All is well." Did you hear chewing? "All is well." Did you hear crunching? "All is well!" Did you hear grinding? Oh, sweetling, fly-fly-fly!

4. Once upon a time there was a bath tub. There was lipstick. There was a mirror. There were words. The red-stained ice cubes clinked. You know the story, or so you think. There are devils in the details. There are ghosts of guilt haunting the silence. Miss Chen, Miss Chen, O won't you confess?

5.Once upon a time, there was an email. Is information distilling into a super-weird substance? Can it grow every time it transmits? Can data develop feelings? Can those feelings be hurt? Hell hath no furry than a meme scorned. That's silly! Right? From our personnel experience, sweetling, it is not.

6. Once upon a time, there was a note, written on a page torn from the notebook in a dead man's pocket. Yo-ho. Yo-ho. Mister Hills, Mister Hills, O won't you confess? Wait! Who are you? Why are your innards so purple

7. Once upon a time, a story started with love. Then the black rider came. Love was covered over in pox and lumps and pustules. Good fortune is sometimes ugly. The dead do not take kindly when the living beg for beauty. Sometimes vanity smells like sizzling flesh.

8. Once upon a time, there was Stingy Jack. Heaven and Hell barred their doors. Be careful how many lanterns you gather. Never know what you're guiding in out of the dark. The story, has three layers, to hear dearest Andy tell it. He'll leave out the bit about his urine-soaked pants. Surely, he will. Who is that selling pumpkins. Who dies? Who lives. You get what you give - you get what you give - you get what you give!

9. Once upon a time, there was a diary. Opening a book is opening a door. Opening a book is making a promise. You should be weary of more than paper cuts. Eh, sweetling?

10. Once upon a time, there was a frustrated writer. Before him, there was a scared little boy. Both of them did a deal. Never mind the ritualistic particulars. They each agreed to write a story, and each received a head full of undead whales. Who's that peddling tentacular memes? His fingers bleed ink and his nails gleam.

11. Once upon a time there was a hiker. 3 am pavement is a kind of purgatory. White lines blur by like souls screaming silently to perdition. O, Chloe Mercer, Chloe Mercer, Chloe Mercer. To die will be an awfully big adventure.

Bonus: The Wisps

Our wisdom flows so sweet. Taste and see…

TRANSMIT - initiate the ignis fatuus signal - RECEIVE - initiate the hinkypunk pattern - A VAPOUR SHINING WITHOUT HEAT - illumine the Local Legends of New England - WITNESS - The Wisps.

The light off in the distance. The flicker at the edge of reason. The people of Ireland, England, and Wales tell stories of a glow made by the fairy folk or elemental spirits. They brought those stories with them to Solomon Island. Perhaps they brought something else. There are a thousand variations of the story, but always there is a distant ghost light drawing travellers from the safe path.

Call it the hobby lantern or the friar's lantern. Call it the will-o-the-Lantern or the will-o-the-Wisp.

They have seen the wisps down in Kingsmouth town. Even the most skeptical citizen believes in the wisps. Everyone has a wisp story there, sweetling. But unlike most local folklore, which happens to distant relations of relations, these are tales that happened to the teller.

The wisps congregate in the woods, observing customs unknowable. There is a tree out there. Some call it the Halloween Tree. Most simply say, "The Tree," and everyone knows what they mean. They say the wisps are attracted to the tree. Or that the tree births the wisps.

But all agree that the wisps obey the will of the Jack.

Do you know the story of Jack, sweetling? Ask Danny Defrusne. Ask Deputy Andy. They will tell you a version. They will tell you of Stingy Jack, the sinner who tricked the devil. The sinner welcome in neither Heaven nor Hell. He wanders between worlds, carrying his dreadful light.

But there is another story, sweetling.

We speak of Jack the Lad. Jack was born in Ireland in 1889. He wandered the roads, with charm in his pockets and silver on his tongue. He played the fiddle and fiddled many and many a maiden. He hopscotched away from famine and landed on Ellis Island in 1907. He ended up in the cold fog of New England. He travelled the roads, played his music, and charmed his way up many and many a skirt. He had the voice of an angel yet not a penny to show, so he took up labour as a farmhand for Archie Henderson in Kingsmouth.

Now Archie Henderson was known as a strange duck at the best of times. Some called him a sorcerer, but never to his face. Archie had a daughter, Samantha, pale of skin with fire in her hair and heart. Father and daughter fought often. One night, she ran out of the house, quivering with rage. Jack, who liked a woman with heated blood, waited outside of the Henderson place, fiddle in hand, singing a song. It took some doing but soon she gave up her lips for a kiss. Then more. Soon it was, Samantha and Jack lay down in the good earth in the pumpkin patch for the first time… And Old Man Henderson chose that one time to follow his wayward child outside.

Jack looked up from Samantha's naked body to see Henderson looming over. To his daughter, in a voice of ice, he but gave a command to dress. But Jack was in line for an altogether fiercer punishment. Henderson said words older than continents and Jack felt himself change. "You've defiled my farm, boy. You've spilt your seed where only mine should grow. Now you'll reap what should have grown." Terrific pain and Jack felt the bones of his skull split, felt a heat where his eyes should be. He ran east, to the river and looked down at his face, only to see a Jack-O-Lantern where once had been flesh and face.

Jack-of-the-Field. Gourdheart. Lord of the Patch. We call his name.

Everything tends to be true, sweetling. Whichever Jack rules the patch of Kingsmouth, the ghost lights, the wisps, come when he calls, and dance in the night. There will always be a glow, at the edge of sight and reason, leading the unwary off the road.

Samhain 2014: The Broadcast

1. Our wisdom flows so sweet. Taste and see.

TRANSMIT - initiate the broadcast day - RECEIVE - initiate bands 3 to 30 MHz - WHO KNOWS WHAT EVIL LURKS IN THE HEARTS OF MEN? - initiate that oldtime radio - I AM THE WHISTERL, AND I KNOW MANY THINGS, FOR I WALK BY NIGHT - our buzz is your signal for the Signal Oil program - WITNESS - the Number Station

2. Listen, sweetling. Listen.

Listen for the first two bars of "The Lincolnshire Poacher." Listen for the music of Jean Michel Jarre. Listen for "¡Attención!"

3. We call upon their names: Nancy Adam Susan, The Swedish Rhapsody, The Gong Station, the English Woman, Magnetic Fields, Tyrolean Music Station, 3 Note Oddity, The Counting Station, Papa November, and The Lonely Patriot.

4.  Entities made of signals. Beings made of message. It tickles our empathy! We flirt with those heady strings of numbers, those cosmic sonnets - we blush - we burn - a strange melody - a beep - a child's voice - a woman's voice - synthetic - distant - valentines in slinky static. We'll cop your cipher

5.  People noticed the numbers sometime after World War II. Rumors breed like beetles under the floor. No government has acknowledged the existence of these phantom stations, and still they play. The numbers live and breath and move without paying much care to the speculation of the ears.

6.  Two numbers station enthusiast meet at a diner. They guzzle damn good coffee. They shiver at electronic feedback. "Once you listen...it changes you," one says. They show each other forearms filled with tattooed digits.

7.  They trade theories: it's spy games on the air waves - it's extraterrestrial commandments - it's behavioral programming from the queens, and every city is a hive - it's a century-long, global prank - we are in a divergent universe, and it's the mother reality trying to guide us home. They go back to tend their shortwave radios, listening and dreaming conspiratorial dreams.

8.  Somewhere, a scientist sits in his lab. He listens to Golden Age radio dramas to relax. It's how he learnt English. He practices parroting the radio voices, the dramatic intonations, the sinister laughs. His presenter voice. Radio waves! If he could just find the right resonance, life and death could communicate. In despair, he ends his life. As he dies, he realizes how he could make it all work.

9.  Somewhere, Dave Screed listens in on his shortwave radio. Hissing, numbers, laughter. He hears something that voids his bowels. No amount of thumping dryers or Q-tips can remove it from his ears.

10.  RECEIVE: 623665877307462356034308570682039057

Listen for the voice.

"Jingle sung and patter said - radio's more fun when you're dead."

Shows aired on the Number Stations:
Death Robbery
Ghost Hunt
Northern Lights
The Hitch Hiker
The House in Cypress Canyon
The Shadow People
The Thing in the Fourbleboard
Three Skeleton Keys
The War of the Worlds

Samhain 2015: The Seven Silences

Our wisdom flows so sweet. Taste and see.

TRANSMIT - initiate the sparagmos signal - RECEIVE - initiate the dissection cadence - MAMA DUCK SAID, "QUACK, QUACK, QUACK, QUACK" - initiate the suicide song - BUT NO LITTLE DUCKS CAME BACK - seek the seven nightmares - WITNESS - the Seven Silences.

Impossible, they said. Improbable? That one touched by Gaia could give back her gift. That one imbued with anima, could end their meat sentence prematurely. How to do it? How to cut out the bee inside? It took her decades, with little hope to support her. Can you imagine wanting something that badly, sweetling?


Backtrack. Initiate playback. A room. Now windows. Could be anywhere. Could be in Venice. A woman lays on a table. Doctors and mystics go to work. "Is she a compatible candidate?" Heads nod. "Latent occult abilities." Heads nod. A glass jar filled with firefly lights sits in the corner. Only it is not a jar, and it is not a firefly.

UNLAWFUL EXPLOIT DETECTED! They did a wrong thing, sweetling. They kept a captured bee in that container. They artificially placed the bee in that woman. They made her like you, but not like you. Suddenly she could hear us, and our voice may have not sounded too kind.

Fast forward. Initiate playback. A woman lays in a bed. She performs surgery on herself via dreams. She has seven scalpels, and their names are: Basiphobia, Dementophobia, Gymnophobia, Coulrophobia, Paranoia, Claustrophobia, and a scalpel yet to be named. Sparagmos. The bee came undone.

The Council of Venice has found her, you see. They had made her their agent. They erased the frightful records of her past. But they could not erase the past within her. They did not comprehend. They did not suspect that a terrible drive, given years to work, can do impossible things. How could she live a lifetime knowing what she knew? How could she live forever?

We sing a sad song for Lorraine. We sing a sad song for Callum. Mama duck and little duck. We tried to warn her about the nature of the park. But her ears were not tuned then, you see. She could not hear our shouts. Not back then.

Samhain 2016: The Rider Cometh

1. Our wisdom flows so sweet. Taste and see.

TRANSMIT - initiate the endless signal - RECEIVE - initiate apocalyptic cadence - AND I LOOKED, AND BEHOLD A PALE HORSE: AND HIS NAME THAT SAT ON HIM WAS DEATH - when four equals one - WITNESS - the Rider.

2. A rider approaches.

Listen, sweetling. Hooves beat the earth at thunder decibels. All the world becomes Ichabod Crane looking for a bridge to escape, clip-clop. clip-clop.

3. A rider approaches.

And power was given unto him over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.

4. The Rider is here!

Some will say that he is Cain -- the brother killer fled from the Land of Nod. And some will say that he is Tithonus -- blessed with mortality but not with eternal youth, forever babbling in the wretched ruins of himself. And some will say that he is Utnapishtum, who survived the great flood and was gifted by the gods with eternal life. And still some will call him Ahasver, Matathias, Isaac Laquedem, or the Wandering Jew.

5. It does not matter what you call him, sweetling. The geas laid upon him compelled him to cut out his own history. All memory disdains him. We, who are knowledge, cannot recall. The only truth is that he cannot die. Whatever his crime, his punishment was severe. Sisyphus and Judas got off easy!

6. He is imprisoned in his never-ending flesh. And that flesh is a prison for a legion of demons and horrors -- all of the devils bound by Solomon multiplied by ten and by ten, again and again. His only relief comes when he releases them. He always regrets it, always tries to regurgitate the beasts in the company of heroes. Better out then in. Eh, sweetling?

7. His horse brings apocalypse. And some say four, but there is only one! War, Pestilence, Famine, and Death -- he wears and exchanges all of their masks in the ridiculous mummers play that the terrible geas laid upon him compels him to perform over and over. The only audience he wishes to impress is oblivion, but it never applauds.

8. And what of the clues you follow, sweetling? The mysterious text, fragments, and maguffins. We know, we know. They are clumsy contrivances. But understand, the Rider is the one that leaves them and writes them. He would rather warn you more plainly, but the terrible geas laid upon him prevents it. He wants you to defeat him.

9. Poor Rider. There are some places still where the farmers arrange the rows in their fields in such a way that on Sundays the Eternal Wanderer might rest there. And still others say that he can only sleep upon a plough, or that he cannot know respite until the deep December.

The Hollow Men
By T. S. Eliot

Mistah Kurtz-he dead
A penny for the Old Guy

I

We are the hollow men

We are the stuffed men

Leaning together

Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!

Our dried voices, when

We whisper together

Are quiet and meaningless
As wind in dry grass

Or rats' feet over broken glass

In our dry cellar

Shape without form, shade without colour,

Paralysed force, gesture without motion;

Those who have crossed

With direct eyes, to death's other Kingdom

Remember us-if at all-not as lost

Violent souls, but only

As the hollow men

The stuffed men.

II

Eyes I dare not meet in dreams

In death's dream kingdom

These do not appear:

There, the eyes are

Sunlight on a broken column

There, is a tree swinging

And voices are

In the wind's singing

More distant and more solemn

Than a fading star.

Let me be no nearer

In death's dream kingdom

Let me also wear

Such deliberate disguises

Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves

In a field

Behaving as the wind behaves

No nearer-

Not that final meeting

In the twilight kingdom

III

This is the dead land

This is cactus land

Here the stone images

Are raised, here they receive

The supplication of a dead man's hand

Under the twinkle of a fading star.

Is it like this

In death's other kingdom

Waking alone

At the hour when we are

Trembling with tenderness

Lips that would kiss

Form prayers to broken stone.

IV

The eyes are not here

There are no eyes here

In this valley of dying stars

In this hollow valley

This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms

In this last of meeting places

We grope together

And avoid speech

Gathered on this beach of the tumid river

Sightless, unless

The eyes reappear

As the perpetual star

Multifoliate rose

Of death's twilight kingdom

The hope only

Of empty men.

V

Here we go round the prickly pear

Prickly pear prickly pear

Here we go round the prickly pear

At five o'clock in the morning.

Between the idea

And the reality

Between the motion

And the act

Falls the Shadow

For Thine is the Kingdom

Between the conception

And the creation

Between the emotion

And the response

Falls the Shadow

Life is very long

Between the desire

And the spasm

Between the potency

And the existence

Between the essence

And the descent

Falls the Shadow

For Thine is the Kingdom

For Thine is

Life is

For Thine is the

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

This is the way the world ends

Not with a bang but a whimper.

1. Mistah Kurtz: a character in Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness."
2. A...Old Guy: a cry of English children on the streets on Guy Fawkes Day, November 5, when they carry straw effigies of Guy Fawkes and beg for money for fireworks to celebrate the day. Fawkes was a traitor who attempted with conspirators to blow up both houses of Parliament in 1605; the "gunpowder plot" failed.
3. Those...Kingdom: Those who have represented something positive and direct are blessed in Paradise. The reference is to Dante's "Paradiso".
4. Eyes: eyes of those in eternity who had faith and confidence and were a force that acted and were not paralyzed.
5. crossed stave: refers to scarecrows
6. tumid river: swollen river. The River Acheron in Hell in Dante's "Inferno". The damned must cross this river to get to the land of the dead.
7. Multifoliate rose: in dante's "Divine Comedy" paradise is described as a rose of many leaves.
8. prickly pear: cactus
9. Between...act: a reference to "Julius Caesar" "Between the acting of a dreadful thing/And the first motion, all the interim is/Like a phantasma or a hideous dream."
10. For...Kingdom: the beginning of the closing words of the Lord's Prayer.

On Monday, the official twitter began tweeting more clues and images. They take the form of burn manuscripts, with difficult to read text.


@TheSecretWorld - "Only the anointed eyes shall see. #Samhain2016" Tweet published on 24 Oct 2016.

The rider cometh!
You will know him on the
-The last line is illegible-.

@TheSecretWorld - "@KlausvonRichter You will know him. #Samhain2016" Tweet published on 24 Oct 2016.

You will know him on the island of the magus king,
when perdition's portal closes and guardian stands outside.

@TheSecretWorld - "The four-in-one. The one-in-four. Through the tome, you will know him. #Samhain2016" Tweet published on 25 Oct 2016.

the land beyond the forest,
spectral couple departs
You will know him in the ghost story town,
when the legion of the wolf is.... raohs.... 

[Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen] The Atlantean Highborn

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 Atlantean Highborn

The following is a pseudo legacy first imagined by Korri Smith with the help of Mathew Hagen.  It has since been adapted for use in MtA 2e for use by Korri's Character Witness and Hannah Nyland's character Chimera, who's souls hold the heritage.

Sources: The original mechanics for the Atlantean Highborn were copied from the Arete system laid out in World of Darkness: Mirrors but after many tweaks (halving growth rate, additional costs to powers, removal of automatic successes, etc) it was determined that the Legacy was too prone to becoming overpowered if Masteries and Skill Tricks were purchased strategically.

Most Diamond Order mages know the legends of the five Atlantean kings and queens who followed the Exarchs into the Supernal Realms and built their Watchtowers on the sublime shores and became known as the Oracles.  But what of the Atlantean nobility who did not return to the Fallen City, the kings in exile and the queens in hiding? The stories of the Diamond Orders have little to say on the inheritors of the Atlantis’ legacy.

It is said that the royalty among the Awakened City hid among the peoples of the newly fallen world, just as the priests, warriors, scholars and spies did, and oftentimes stepped down into a position of service among the nascent orders.  But they could not truly disguise their true natures, the parts of them that were more than the common magi who now sought direction in a Sleeping world.  Their souls were marked by the greater understanding of truth that revealed them as the true rulers of a lost Kingdom, and because of this truth, their souls were somehow different and retain memory, authority and connection to their past lives.

Over the years, as the kings and queens of Atlantis passed from the world, their souls would continue to cycle through the eternal Wheel of Incarnation, being born again and again in the fallen world. Not all incarnations Awakened, and those that did needed the help of the Watchtowers, as all mages’ souls do. But when the Highborn’s soul did Awaken, it was strong, and the hidden truths of the first Lords of the Spire resonated within their breasts.

Nobility is not a guarantor of merit, however. Many Atlantean Highborn fall to hubris, giving in to the arrogance that their superior abilities lead them to upon Awakening. But just as many rise to heights of Wisdom, and lead the magi around them to do the same. Either way, one of the Highborn cannot help but influence those around them by their sheer excellence.

Nickname: Exiles

Orders:
Atlantean Highborn can be members of any Order, but are less likely to be members of the Free Council than the Diamond Orders. They almost never join the Seers of the Throne, as a part of their souls still remember the ancient betrayal of the Exarchs.

The Adamantine Arrow boasts the greatest number of Atlantean Highborn, who find that their skills are rewarded and honed by the military traditions of the order. They dedicate themselves to the warrior-philosopher ideal, and find themselves in the position of First Talon or Thunderbolt Guardian usually well before their peers. If they survive the travails the order frequently finds itself in, they often rise to the position of Adamant Sage.

Among the Silver Ladder, the Exiles find the opportunity to express themselves toward Atlantean ideals, and seek to bring the Awakened community together under the promise of a new Atlantis.  However, it is among the Silver Ladder that most Highborn seem to fall to their hubris and become the great monsters and tyrants that led to the fall of the First City in the first place.

Highborn among the Mysterium find that they have a knack for rediscovering the lost treasures and lorehouses of the Time Before, which leads to rapid gains of status and prestation.  They quickly become some of the foremost explorers and loremasters of the order.  Unfortunately, their meteoric rise often upsets their peers, and they quickly find themselves without friends or allies when the temple walls come crashing down.

The Guardians of the Veil are often suspicious of the unexplained aptitudes of the Atlantean Highborn, and the few who adopt the Law of Masques usually find it a challenge to rise in status in the order of spies.  When they do finally gain the trust of their peers and superiors however, they often become Susceptors or Epopts as their excellence qualifies them for the most difficult and dangerous missions.

Very few Exiles are drawn to the Ranks of the Free Council.  The order denies the truth that resonates in a Highborn’s soul; The First City was very real, and she was a queen who ruled over it.  However, on occasion the skills and aspirations of an Atlantean Highborn coincide with the Free Council’s cause, and they are often the first among their peers to make advances in bringing the light of the Supernal into focus for the Sleeping masses.

Appearance:

Atlantean Highborn tend to dress well, and are drawn to the elite fashions of whichever society they are found in. They also tend to be in excellent physical health, but this is not always the case. Rare is the slovenly Exile, however, and even those that are overweight or out of shape are usually well groomed.

Organization:

There is no organization among the Atlantean Highborn. Once, during the height of the Roman Empire, a number of Exiles met to bring about an organization that would allow them to pool their strengths and restore their place as kings and queens of the Awakened, but this meeting quickly devolved into a conflict of peers as each tried to establish her position at the top of a pecking order.  The sad fact is, Atlantean Highborn do not generally work well together, and usually only accept another’s authority if it suits their goals.

Background: 
There is no rhyme or reason to who Awakens with the soul of an Atlantean Highborn. The Guardians of the Veil and the Silver Ladder have drawn up extensive family trees for any Highborn who becomes known, but there seems to be no significant indication that the souls of the Exiles pass through genetic lineages.

Exiles that exercise and expand their supernal authority (however hard to substantiate) tend to have high Social Attributes, Skills and Merits.  High concentrations of the Highborn possess the Daimon merit.  Many Daimon remember who they really are and have vast resources of past knowledge and ancient memory.  They also can be potent and overbearing, even damaged by so many cycles of remembrance.

The heirs of Atlantis also tend to have high-levels of the Ancient Echoes merit, giving them memories and flashes of insight all the way back to the beginning...

Note: It should be noted that the heritage of a soul is not something that can be validated easily. The Exiles discover through deep soul searching and internal exploration and claim their status as something they are outside of an Order of Legacy.  There is no formal system of validation and such a system would require studying the Exile's soul with Death magic, visiting past lives through Past Life Regressions or travel through the deepest parts of their Oneiros.  At the end of the day, its impossible to tell without a doubt that these souls are somehow the lost royalty of an ancient Awakened nation.

Part of being an Exile is being labeled as a charlatan or a messiah (sometimes both).  Despite their high charisma and inherent nobility they are often seen as frauds for what they claim.  Many hide their beliefs about the nature of their souls under a bushel.  The issue of what exactly the Atlantean Highborn is a political hornet's nest of speculation.  Hope, however, tends to win out.

New Merit: Atlantean Highborn (•••••)

Prerequisites: Awakened, Character Creation only

Effect: You were born with the soul of a King or Queen of Atlantis and grants you two benefits.

Wisdom Yantra:  Your soul is it’s own Supernal Truth, and a powerful Yantra for spellcasting. When casting a spell, wether ritually or instantly, you may choose to spend a Willpower point to incorporate your soul into the spell as a Yantra. The effectiveness of your soul as a Yantra is measured by your Wisdom; Wise souls are more flush with Supernal power. You are still limited in the number of Yantras you may incorporate into a given spell based on your Gnosis.

Supernal Authority: Additionally, your soul’s age and power resonate strongly with ancient supernatural creatures. Spirits, goetic entities and Supernal beings recognize the history you bring to bear. You gain 9-again on all social interactions with such beings. If another effect would already grant you 9-again, you gain 8-again, instead.

Drawback: Your soul can be used as a powerful Yantra by other mages, as well. When used as a human sacrifice they gain your Wisdom as a Yantra bonus, in addition to the benefits of human sacrifice. Additionally, just because all spirits, Goetic entities and Supernal beings respect your inborn authority does not mean they like you; in fact, you may have powerful enemies that you do not remember due to the actions of your past selves.

Supporting Merits:

Merit: Daimon (•••)

Source: Tome of the Watchtowers p. 66

Effect: “Daimon” is the original Greek word from which the modern English “demon” is derived. The Greeks regarded the daimon as an intermediary between the gods and man, distinct from the free-roaming malevolent spirit of Mesopotamia. Comparable to other Paths’ guardian angel, faerie kin, power animal or ancestral protector, the daimon shares an intimate personal link with the bearer of this Merit, but also partakes of the Supernal Realm that is the daimon’s birthplace. A mage’s daimon is far older than the mage, at least in an ontological sense, and has access to knowledge, wisdom and modes of thought or being that are beyond mortal ken. Mages of any Path can purchase this Merit.

This Merit acts similar to the Dream Merit (p. 82 in Mage: The Awakening). The mage with this Merit, however does not need to spend an hour in sleep or trance to receive a clue from his daimon. He merely spends one turn in meditative concentration, and the Storyteller rolls his Wits + Composure in secret, with the same results as described for the Dream Merit, except that success provides only one clue. This clue comes from the daimon, and similar to dream clues, is cloaked in allegory and metaphor.

Ancient Echoes (• to •••••)

Source: Banishers p. 40

Prerequisites: Awakened (Banisher or Storyteller’s permission); must be purchased with bonus Merit dots at character creation

Effect: Some mages have stronger connections to the past than others. While many mages may eventually be able to track their ancestry back to survivors of the Fall of Atlantis, few have direct remembrances of actual experiences just before, during or just after the Fall. Mages with this Merit, however, can capture snatches of memories of life in Atlantis or other events of their past history in the Fallen World. This Merit may reflect reincarnation or memories of the fallen grafting themselves onto a new body; this Merit is most common among Banishers who experience some measure of memetic transmission.

Mages with this Merit sometimes gain insights into their craft or into some aspect of the relationships among the orders. Banishers with this Merit perceive it as either a blessing or a curse (or sometimes both) for it not only gives them insights into the workings of their targets but also reminds them of a past they fervently wish to either ignore or destroy.

Déjà vu (•): The character experiences a sudden sense of having done or witnessed something in a past life up to 200 years ago, i.e., something that happened during the Victorian era (19th century) or later (20^th century). The character may receive simply a feeling (“I feel as if I’ve walked down this street before when it was cobblestones instead of asphalt.”) or a more profound “memory.” (“I followed a man into this library and through this hallway once before — long ago. There was a locked door and then the restricted books section.”)

Memory’s Thin Walls (••): The character’s memory or seeming memory extends back as far as 400 years (the 17th century). The more recent the memory, the more vivid its details are to the mage. (“I remember watching fascinated as a child while some of my uncles shoved heavy crates of tea into the waters of the harbor.”) or (“I remember the stars were in the same position in the sky when a man darted across my path fleeing something indescribable and unspeakable — much like that!”)

Memory’s Open Door (•••): The character can remember something (or something similar) having occurred as far back as the 13th century. (“I’ve seen the signs before in this very house — a plague house!”) Mages can sometimes experience premonitions based on past events at this level of the Merit. (“The earth shook here once before, and I feel it growing restless again.”)

Stepping Backward (••••): The character’s memory can extend as far back as the beginning of the Common Era (1st century) and the amount of detail remembered may seem to place the character back in time, though this is certainly not an instance of time travel. (“I was known as Eudoricus, and even then I hunted down those who sought to reinfect the purity of the Supernal with the taint of the Fallen World.”)

Echoes of Fallen Atlantis (•••••): At the highest level of this Merit, the character seems to remember aspects of Atlantis itself. Banishers usually find clues for a possible starting point to track down a specific artifact or the key to locating an “old soul” in the modern world. Mages with this level of the Merit sometimes receive insights into the ways of old Atlantis. Both mages and Banishers sometimes experience this level with hallucinatory-like intensity or as a waking nightmare; the memories are far more symbolic than literal, which makes it a frustrating affair to attempt to visualize Atlantis as it was.

Merit: Potent Nimbus (• or ••)
Effect: Your character’s Nimbus has distinct and powerful effects on witnesses. At one dot, add two to your character’s effective Gnosis when determining her Nimbus Tilt (see MtA 2ed p. 90). At two dots, add four to her effective Gnosis for that purpose. Additionally, add your dots in this Merit to any rolls to flare your character’s Nimbus.

Merit: Potent Resonance (••)
Prerequisite: Gnosis 3+
Effect: Your character’s Signature Nimbus is particularly overbearing. Whenever a character scrutinizes her Signature Nimbus with Mage Sight, he’s subject to the effects of her Immediate Nimbus and its corresponding Tilt.

[Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition] Legacy: Transhuman Engineers

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

Legacy Conversion:

Reaper's Transhuman Engineer

"The Apocalypse is nigh, and it will be digital and broadcast live!"

The following is the Legacy conversion of The Transhuman Engineers.  These are the specific Attainments developed and used by the character Reaper, played by Zac Israelson in our second Mage Chronicle: The Dethroned Queen.

Sources: The original source material is from Legacies: The Sublime, adapted for use in Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition.

Disclaimer: This does not follow the exact guidelines of creating Legacies per the MtA 2e Corebook but deviates creatively.

Overview:

In the 1960s, Gordon E. Moore (one of Intel’s co-founders) predicted that, at the perceived rate of technological progress, the number of transistors on a microchip would double every 18 to 24  months. He’s been right for 40 years, and this theory was canonized as “Moore’s Law.” Some might say that this idea applies to all current technological and scientific development. Over the last century and into this one, progress looks truly exponential. In every field, whether robotics or pharmaceuticals, artificial intelligence or biotechnology, the evolution of human knowledge arcs upwards with an astounding curve. What humans have achieved during the last two millennia pales in comparison to what humanity has achieved during the last 100 years. And, in some fields, what humanity has realized in the last 10 years easily dwarfs everything of the last 100.

Enter the Transhuman Engineers. The mages of this Legacy believe wholeheartedly in the ever-accelerating growth of technology. They see the entire depth and breadth of history as a slowly gathering storm of possibility. The Fallen World has taken its time building steam to this level of raw potential, but that is how it should be.

If a child accepts an allowance raise of a single cent that doubles every week, he doesn’t see any significant growth for what feels like forever. But, as the weeks go on, he finds that, suddenly, his allowance skyrockets, and his meager piggy bank can no longer hold the sudden rise in his childhood income. In a year, this doubling allowance would bankrupt the planet. This world has taken a long time to get to here, inching forward step by step in its crawl toward development. But this is now the point at which progress is only just beginning.

With technology advancing in this way, the mages of this Legacy believe humanity will soon reach a point of Singularity. In mathematics, a singularity is a point at which calculation breaks down. A curve leaps to infinity. Technological singularity is the same, except here humankind’s progress will grow to a point that nothing can stay the same and everything must change. Artificial intelligence surpasses our own. Lifespans stretch forever outward, granting everyone equal eternities. Flesh  and machine merge. In this scenario, humans are no longer human, but post-human.

This is what the Transhuman Engineers want, and this is what they try to achieve. They know that other mages do not share the Engineers’ view, but so what? The Engineers see themselves as the Prime Movers, the catalysts who push the envelope just a little bit further. They truly believe that they usher humanity toward the light at the end of the tunnel. The Engineers don’t know what exists beyond the light. Is it another Atlantis? Something better? Will the Fallen and the Supernal Worlds reunite? Will all of the Sleepers have their eyes torn open? Will all things unite and become one? The Engineers don’t know. They only know that they will help this to happen, and that everyone who stands in the way of progress is the enemy of a greater future.

Orders: 
The majority of Engineers come from the ranks of the Free Council, if they come from an order at all. The past is obsolete, so why cling to it? The process is forward. The future is key. The Prime Movers believe that technology captures a little bit of the Supernal. No one should waste time looking backward, and, hence, the Free Council and the Transhuman Engineers are an easy fit. It’s the only fit, however. A few mages from the Mysterium join the growing numbers of Prime Movers. The mages who catalog and study the strange finds in the order’s treasuries of lore sometimes feel attracted to the possibilities of this Legacy.

The other orders are less comfortable with the Engineers’ mania for progress. The Guardians of the Veil, for instance, grow uneasy at the thought of “sharing” magic or “inspiring” the mortal herd. Magic must be concealed, lest Paradox rear its head and power fall into foolish or unworthy hands. To the Guardians, the Prime Movers represent an open door — straight to the Abyss. Therefore, the Guardians feel themselves duty-bound to prevent the Engineers’ chaos. The Guardians keep a close eye on the Prime Movers, waiting for the day the Guardians have to move in and “fix” the Engineers’ egregious errors. The Adamantine Arrow and Silver Ladder both think the Engineers are nuts. The Prime Movers want to change the world beyond recognition, rendering both orders pointless. For the Engineers’ part, most don’t care much for war or secret power: That’s all so last millennium.

Appearance: 

Transhuman Engineers see themselves as a progressive, driving force and tend to dress the part. Every mage interprets this in her own way, but most Prime Movers dress more ostentatiously than their counterparts on the Path of the Mighty. The Prime Movers favor power suits, loud outfits and haute couture fashions that call attention to themselves. A few Engineers parade around in garish

makeup straight from cyberpunk movies such as Blade Runner, or adopt industrial piercings and unconventional tattoos (binary code, JavaScript, faux-circuitry).   Prime Movers all love gadgetry, from iPods to PDAs, from lowgrade microchip implants to “smart shoes”; this gadgetry provides the surest guide to this Legacy’s members. 

Background: 

Transhuman Engineers can come from any race, creed, culture or income bracket within the developed world or advancing regions such as India. The only core tenet they all share is an unswerving interest in both technology and its effects upon culture. Anybody from a computer science student to a bleeding-edge pop culture blogger will do.

Most Engineers tend to be educated, and, thus, possess high Mental Attributes and Skills (especially Academics, Computer, Crafts and Science). That doesn’t forbid these mages from being social creatures as well. They often act as the muses or false competitors for real inventors and scientists, and that takes the ability to understand and manipulate others, making Social Skills such as Empathy, Persuasion and Subterfuge common.

The Prime Movers share no common Awakenings, though many have claimed to “see” a literal singularity in their vision — meaning a point in which all things seem to merge and become one. Such a moment usually happens just before the mage finds herself in the Watchtower. Outside of that small feature, an Engineer’s Awakening is as unique as anybody else’s.

Organization: 

The Transhuman Engineers have an informal organization. Although many mages of this Legacy like to stay in touch with each other to commune and plan, constant communication is not required. Once an Engineer’s apprenticeship ends, he can choose to live the rest of his life without ever meeting with another Engineer. Few will condemn him for that.

That said, the Prime Movers do create opportunities for members to gather. The most important are the Legacy’s “Expos.” Once a year, invitations go out (via e-mail or text message) to the various Engineers. They meet at a prepared and protected location and show off what they’ve done and seen. Some Engineers create elaborate technical displays, whereas others hold a number of disquisitions and colloquia on any number of subjects — from medical nanotechnology to the artificial intelligence of upcoming video games. Other Engineers just sit in the bar and drink. Past Expos have been held on a hidden floor in the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, in the desert near Los Alamos,  and in the tunnels below the Visvesvaraya Industrial and Technical Museum in Bangalore. At least a third of the Engineers do not come physically, but attend the Expos via some manner of telepresence.

The Engineers occasionally build communal citadels in the Obrimos fashion. They don’t care for peaceful cloisters; innovation is not found in a vacuum. Prime Movers place their citadels where people and ideas gather and compete: in downtown city centers, on the most traveled highways and byways or among the throngs of students at huge universities. These places are the Engineers’ war zones. Yes, nearby populations present risk, but these densely populated areas also the most fertile breeding grounds for raw possibility. The next generation of inventors, programmers and powerful minds won’t be found wandering around a meadow. Such dynamic personalities will be in the thick of things, and so that is where the Engineers go, too.

Every Prime Mover has a favored area of technological interest or expertise, called her “crusade.” A mage’s crusade gives her a number of pet projects upon which to work. A Prime Mover whose crusade is portable computing devices might attach himself to an industry insider in an effort to inspire that individual. Or the mage might be the industry insider. Of course, an Engineer’s crusade is by no means static, and can change without warning. Mages who share a crusade may form cabals, or simply work together from time to time to further common goals.

Concepts: 

Early adopter, hacker, identity thief, inventor’s muse, metrosexual philosopher, tech blogger, video game designer, war driver

History 

The Engineers are unexpectedly numerous for a relatively new Legacy. Their history, as such, is not particularly long. They do claim an unofficial heritage of various mages, however. The Transhuman Engineers trace their heritage backward to various Free Council mages over the last century. 

These mages acted as muses to various significant figures of scientific and technological development and are said to have helped shepherd the destinies and inventions of paragons such as Nikola Tesla (genius of electrical engineering), Wernher von Braun (pioneer of rocket  technology), Philo Farnsworth (inventor of the TV) and Allen Newell (originator of theoretical cognitive AI). V.V. V.V. is the Free Council mage who first crafted his soul in an effort to help push society toward a technological singularity. He takes his shadow name from the initials of a prominent science fiction author whose novels and essays helped introduce the idea of the Singularity. The founder of the Prime Movers believes that the Fallen World is on the cusp of a technological singularity, and that forces conspire to keep the Fallen World from going further. By driving technology forward with compulsive devotion, the Transhuman Engineers can help bring the world to Supernal enlightenment.

V.V. is still around. Few mages see him anymore; he is rumored to be working on “something big,” though precisely what it is remains a secret. Mages who’ve worked with V.V. say he has a number of leading Sleeper scientists and inventors as his cronies, and what he is planning will change the world forever — one way or another. V.V. leads a fluctuating cabal of mages young and old. Prime Movers consider it a great honor to be invited to meet V.V. and help him achieve his goals. Some mages who meet with him return to the world a month or a year later, wild-eyed with newfound enthusiasm for their crusades. Other mages do not return at all.

Society and Culture 

While the Engineers have an informal (some would even say scattershot) organization, they still have a formalized culture. The Prime Movers endeavor to instill in their apprentices similar values, ideas and teachings. What these apprentices do with such lessons is up to them, but the Legacy considers it important that they all begin with a few shared precepts. 

Action and Inspiration:
For mages who think about crafting their souls in the forge of this Legacy, it comes down to the simple question  of what do the Engineers do? The Prime Movers don’t require their mages to “do” anything except support technological progress. That’s it. Many mages ignore technology, or show contempt for it. The Engineers think this is short-sighted. Like it or not, they say, technology is the ladder upon which humankind climbs. 

To eschew technology means to forego progress.  And progress is everything: it is the way the Fallen World will bridge the Abyss and reach the Supernal. To the mages of this Legacy, progress means using technology and be seen using it. Many Engineers stay on the bleeding edge of technology. These early adopters buy whatever comes to market, no matter how expensive or impractical. If the product comes emblazoned with the hottest or weirdest technological buzzword, the mage probably wants it. Teraflops, telemedicine, bioinformatics, Bluetooth, pixel-shader effects, Turing tests — these are the words of the Prime Movers, and this language changes and grows daily. Owning the latest, gee-whizziest techno-toy is not mandatory. In fact, some Engineers cherish antiquated technology such as BBS’s or ham radio. Slipping off the bleeding edge, however, does tend to reduce status within the Legacy.

Transhuman Engineers don’t just use the latest technology. Some of them create it, too. A number of Prime Movers are themselves inventors, programmers or scientists. They try to push the limits of technology and magic alike. They imbue machines with magic; they use magic to further their scientific and technological research. (Of course, they realize that magic cannot be technology’s sole component or driving force. Humanity must be able to harness and create technology for it to drive humankind toward the Singularity.) These mages do not work in isolation, and prefer to surround themselves with other mages, Sleepwalkers or even Sleepers who can contribute to whatever overarching design goal drives these Engineers.  Engineers of this stripe are found in wildly varying fields — their crusades might mean helping map the genomes, building the world’s largest Wi-Fi Internet-access “bubble” or helping to feed starving nations through biotechnology. No field is off-limits.

Still other Transhuman Engineers motivate and inspire their Sleeper colleagues. These mages become muses for the creators and architects of new technology. An Engineer could anonymously e-mail an inventor tips, tricks, insider information or even stolen or classified data. Alternatively, the mage could develop a close, personal relationship with the Sleeper. The Engineers often become friends or lovers to mortals they perceive as innovators like themselves. If this means buddying up to a video game designer with an interest in artificial intelligence, so be it. If it requires becoming lover to an inventor on the political and cultural fringe, then that’s what’s necessary. The Engineer can help shepherd the individual’s progress, which might mean salving a damaged ego, leaving little “hints” behind illustrating mistakes or corrupted data or helping to foster much-needed

competition (for competition breeds progress).

For example, a Prime Mover might build an Enhanced or Imbued device that does something just outside the current range of expected technology. The device provides a feature or service that has long been sought after, but has not yet been achieved. Perhaps the Engineer offers a robot that can run (a long-existing stumbling block for inventors of bipedal robots), or maybe designs an engine that uses fuel more efficiently than anything in current production. The Engineer can show this “prototype” to a handful of Sleeper inventors (either by bragging about it or by purposefully leaving the specs where a Sleeper can find them) and say that, gosh, he sure hopes nobody beats him to market. With that said, the mage can stand back and let the competitive tech sector go to battle over designing the same or similar prototypes. What once needed magic becomes real. The Prime Movers say the trick has worked dozens of times.

Core Tenets 

Tutors of the Transhuman Engineers teach their apprentices the following tenets. An apprentice doesn’t have to agree with these precepts, though open disavowal of them may earn her more than just a disgruntled look. More than one Engineer has lost status within the Legacy by mocking one or another tenet when other Engineers could hear.

1. Unopposed Progress

Innovation cannot be opposed. People who block advances in technology are enemies of the Transhuman Engineers. The world moves toward an ineluctable point, a wonderful and necessary sublimation in which primitive humanity (i.e., the human race as it is now) becomes something greater, something different. Anyone who places roadblocks in the way of this objective is hurting the world. Such a person denies the Supernal. Most Engineers take a subtle approach. If a pharmaceutical company deems a potential new drug non-profitable and tries to bury the project, an Engineer might steal the formula and give it to someone who will produce the drug. If a politician stands in the way of pro-technology or scientific legislation, the mage might dig up some dirt on the politico (an affair, an old DUI charge, a scandalous investment) and blackmail her into “going with the flow.”

Not all Prime Movers are so restrained, however. Some Engineers engage in acts that other mages see as dangerous or cruel. In the case of the aforementioned politician, the Engineer might forge evidence of a scandal (easily done with magic), threaten her or her family — or worse, simply assassinate or brainwash her. If a group openly opposes animal testing, even when such experimentation can save human lives, a Prime Mover might “dissuade” the group from further interference. It’s regrettable if such dissuasion takes the form of coercion, torture or turning the members into lab animals themselves, but sometimes maintaining progress means making hard decisions. In this way, Engineers can become extremists as their Wisdom drops. Where once they might have taken a delicate tack in removing the obstacles of innovation, they eventually decide on more excessive (but “necessary”) tactics to preserve the flow of information and advancement.

2. Unfettered Access to Technology

Not only should progress remain unopposed, its benefits must be available for everybody’s benefit. How can technology change the world if it stays in the jealous hands of an elitist few? Many Engineers strive to expand access to modern technology. Why shouldn’t the homeless have cell phones? Why can’t a small African village connect to the Internet, have its own website and be entirely wireless? Whatever technology the Engineers possess, others should equally be allowed to have. In some cases, this means the Engineers purchase or steal technology, and distribute it among the masses like some kind of tech-obsessed Robin Hood. In other cases, the Prime Movers teach others how to pilfer their own tech. Perhaps the Engineers impart the secrets of hacking wireless networks or using peer-to-peer (P2P) pirate networks. The Engineers agree that the power of technology should be free, and one should make the utmost effort to keep it that way.

3. Anti-Corporate Attitude

This Legacy upholds a somewhat counterintuitive — some might even say hypocritical — outlook toward corporations. Without funding from big companies, a lot of technological research just wouldn’t happen. And yet, the Engineers still purport that corporations ultimately hurt advancement more than helping it. The reason for this is that corporations are driven by their profit margins; any technology advanced by the corporations is geared toward their bottom line. How many possibilities have been pushed aside in the name of money? The corporations are not altruistic. They don’t push the envelope based on humanity’s needs — only the needs of their stockholders.

In fact, tutors in this Legacy teach their apprentices a number of corporate-level conspiracies.

The pharmaceutical companies keep the cure for cancer hidden, because imperfect drugs and therapies make too much money. The oil companies similarly suppress the engines that run by splitting water molecules. The electric companies (in tandem with various world governments) keep Nikola Tesla’s papers under wraps — not because he designed powerful weapons that could fall into the wrong hands, but because he designed technologies to deliver free wireless electricity. A number of Engineers claim they have proof of such conspiracies, though few will show the evidence to anybody outside the Legacy. (And, in the Chronicles of Darkness, of course, many conspiracies are true.)

4. Technology Will Become Magic

The Transhuman Engineers believe that true technology invites magic from the Supernal and enlivens the Fallen World. Occultist Aleister Crowley called magic "the art of causing change according to Will.” The Prime Movers say technology fits that definition, too. As humanity controls the physical world more completely and more invasively through technology, brute matter becomes imbued with meaning. Technology, therefore, is the only part of culture (not art, politics or academics) that actively draws down and captures this mystery.

Modern technology comes closer than anything else to letting a Sleeper feel like a mage, too: will it, and it shall be so. Flick a switch, press a button or type a password and a thousand hidden forces and electromechanical djinni are at your command. All of this ever-increasing knowledge and power converges in the Singularity. The Prime Movers believe the Exarchs won’t be able to keep up with their Sleeping prisoners. The scientists will catch the Exarchs in their Lie and expose the secret, Supernal underpinnings of reality, the technologists will apply their discoveries and, thus, will the entire world be transformed.

Religion? Politics? Art? The Transhuman Engineers don’t think those fields bring Supernal influences to the Fallen World. At best, religion, politics and art are amusements; at worst, they are deceits to propagate the Lie. Only technology can change the world. In this way, the Prime Movers’ views are very limited, and they clash sometimes even with the rest of the Free Council. Libertines acknowledge technology’s power but do not focus solely upon it. The Engineers do.

Magical Technology 

Prime Movers make frequent use of Enhanced and Imbued technological items. They even find a few Artifacts of technology that somehow captured Supernal power. An example might be an Imbued MP3 player that uses Forces and Space magic to pick up frequencies from across the world — or Mind magic to hear the thoughts of people nearby. Transhuman Engineers make heavy use of Enhanced items, which allow for subtle advantage out in the field (and the Engineers prefer to avoid Paradox for obvious reasons). Usually, an Enhanced item in the hands of a Prime Mover simply provides an equipment bonus toward its use — a laptop that gives a bonus when performing research, a cell phone that offers advantage when transmitting viruses to other cell phones or a Taser weapon that fires with unerring accuracy. Prime Movers almost invariably dedicate technological devices as magical tools. (These often relate to an individual mage’s chosen crusade). Any Free Council mage can do this as his order tool, of course, but Transhuman Engineers may dedicate high-tech Path tools, too. The device echoes a classic Path tool through its form or function: similar to a mirror, a picture phone captures an image; a Taser is as much a weapon as any spear or dagger. And what could represent an Obrimos mage’s affinity for Forces better than a device that actually carries and manipulates energy through circuits and batteries?

Gadget Acquisition 

Transhuman Engineers usually own a great deal of technology. It is not unusual to see a Prime Mover saddled with two iPods, a GPS device, wireless headphones, smart sneakers, a PDA, a keychain full of flash drives, a digital camera the size of a credit card, a handheld gaming device and a couple of different digital phones. Their sanctums are often similarly loaded with gadgetry: robotic “toys,” kitchen appliances that connect to the Internet, LCD screens on every wall acting as windows, several PCs and so forth. Prime Movers often own a number of “black” technologies (i.e., items that have yet to be mass-produced or announced to the public) such as stealth surveillance devices, transparent silicon circuitry, hologram monitors or biometric eye-scanners. Such items are not only expensive but, in many cases, impossible to actually own. Some Engineers are wealthy, but few are wealthy enough to support their excessive “habits.”

Transhuman Engineers don’t always stay within the law. Mages of this Legacy are not only allowed to use magic to pilfer new technology, they are encouraged to do so. If progress is meant to be unopposed and available to all, the Engineers see little issue with taking it for themselves using the tools at hand. The Engineers’ overwhelming passion for technology can hobble them in some circumstances. They rely so heavily upon their gadgets that being without them is tantamount to total helplessness. Woe to the unfortunate Prime Mover who finds himself in the wilderness without GPS tracking, a digital phone and an air-conditioned weatherproof tent.

Vogue Tech

While all technology is created equal in the eyes of the Prime Movers, some forms of tech are more “in vogue” than others:

AI: Artificial intelligence is a crusade among many Engineers. In true AI, the mechanism would transcend itself and deterministic programs would become creative thought. Right now, two schools of thought compete for attention among the Prime Movers. One theory says that artificial intelligence should be made in the image of humans and that computers should learn to think with the free logic of which a human is capable. Other mages seek what is called “emergent technology,” in which the system intelligence is given the adaptability of an ant colony. While  individual ants are stupid and capable of only the simplest acts, an entire colony performs complex feats of creation and survival. These “multi-agents” might help resolve urban traffic flow,  information retrieval, medical diagnosis, even pizza delivery.

Cyborgs: 

The Prime Movers have their share of cyborgs among them. A “cyborg” isn’t a full-blown Terminator, but simply a human who has technology integrated into his body. Examples include pacemakers, tracking devices, microchips that monitor health and life signs and digital phone receivers planted in the ear. Some Engineers have “environmentally reactive” chips planted in the flesh of their arms. When an appropriately-fitted Engineer enters his home, the chip sends a signal to various parts of the house. Windows dim, lights turn on, coffee begins to brew or the house greets the mage in a pleasant voice.Other mages conduct more radical experiments with chips implanted into their brains. With these chips, mages can control a mouse cursor or machine without touching it, because the chip allows them to do it just by thinking about it. Microchips in this fashion can also curb addictions and mental illnesses. So far, “brainchips” all require enchantment — but the Engineers think their experiments will lead to devices that Sleepers can make and use.

Communication: The last decade has seen an explosion of communication technologies. The two paragons of this technology are the Internet and the digital phone. With this one-two punch, the world can be informed of events nigh-instantaneously. If a bomb goes off in Berlin, a remote town in Alaska can hear about it (and see pictures of it) minutes later. The Internet similarly gives everyone a voice. All are free on the Net, unhindered and equal. (The “blogger” phenomenon is a perfect example of this, and one a number of Engineers join, as well.) The Engineers want to push these technologies until humanity has what amounts to a “hive mind.” With the aforementioned brainchips, information can be relayed immediately through the global mind without hesitation or filter — someday. Some other technologies and sciences (genegineered crops, cloning, medical tech) are regarded highly by the Transhuman Engineers but don’t often make an appearance as a Prime Mover’s crusade. While many of these technologies are touted as the “next big thing,” most mages of this Legacy have a greater knack for “hard tech” than these particular crusades.

Other Precepts 
The Transhuman Engineers follow a number of lesser “guidelines” that complement their overarching principles. These precepts are less likely to be followed with obsessive diligence, and instead provide a list of general characteristics that a mage in this Legacy might possess.

• Many Engineers complement their Forces and Prime Arcana with Matter magic. This enables their magic to control or create technology in almost any way they can imagine.

• The Libraries of the Prime Movers are often more technologically byzantine than those of other Free Council mages. Engineers establish labyrinthine networks, each concealed behind firewalls, wireless access keys and biometric scanners. Some Transhuman Engineers spread their Libraries out over hundreds of DVD-ROMs or USB JumpDrives. Some Prime Movers actually make their own storage devices, items that others cannot understand to hack.

• As Obrimos, the Engineers embody a kind of strength. They generally believe they are the only mages willing to guide the world toward its proper end (an “end" meaning “new beginning”). They are used to conflict, and do not avoid it. That said, despite their strengths, the Legacy openly defies the usual organizations of the Obrimos. While some mages on the Path of the Mighty find a power

in uniformity, the Prime Movers disagree. They believe that, as individuals, they unconsciously work toward a singular harmony. Forcing homogeneity breeds predictability, complacency — weakness, the Engineers suggest. Therefore, the mages of this Legacy are sometimes at odds with their Obrimos allies.

• Despite relying upon technology, the Prime Movers are not without occult interests. In fact, they usually inscribe their tech devices with occult symbols. In addition to the Atlantean sigils common to all mages, the Engineers often draw upon astrology and alchemy — the precursors of physical science. Some cobble together their own symbols, often mashing together various alchemical symbols (for example, the symbol of gold with a lightning strike through it, to represent the microscopic gold wiring in every computer chip).

Induction 

It’s not too hard to join up with the Prime Movers. For this reason, the Legacy has an unusually large number of mages in its ranks. A mage who wants to join the Transhuman Engineers faces only one test: impress me. That’s all it takes, is to impress a current standing member. Of course, impressing a Prime Mover isn’t easy, as many of them have seen it all (or believe they have). The nature of this impression is unique to each tutor. It can be as difficult and drastic as a mage showing how she podcasted from the top of Mount Everest. It can be as simple as designing a cool new GUI (graphical user interface) for a hip, pop culture website. What amuses and astounds one

Engineer might bore another one.

Shadow Names 

When a mage crafts his soul in this Legacy, he chooses a new shadow name. Prime Movers often base their names on influential or revered figures of science or technology. (An Engineer usually picks someone who is dead out of respect, and also to make sure the Engineer doesn’t get confused with the still-living individual; someday, they might be in the same room.) One Prime Mover might call herself Tesla (or merely Nikola), Edison or Einstein. Prime Movers also choose names of particularly visionary science-fiction writers (again, also deceased) such as Asimov or Heinlein. Other Prime Movers choose “l33t” hacker names, the names of technological products or

titles of characters from tech-friendly pop culture (maybe the film Tron). The name generally reflects the mage’s personality and his crusade. A mage devoted to non-linear emergent artificial intelligence might call himself Turing, since Alan Turing is perceived as the father of modern computer science and helped define the Turing test, a way of testing how well a program can truly mimic human behavior. (Alternately, a similarly-interested mage might name herself after a prominent computer game character in “honor” of artificial intelligence.)

Parent Path: Free Council of Assemblies, Obrimos

Nicknames: Prime Movers, Gadgetheads (derogatory), Engineers, Technomancers,

Primary Arcana: Forces. Secondary: Matter.

Suggested Oblations: 

Convincing another person to try some “new” tech, hacking a system you never hacked before, playing with a newly purchased (or stolen) “toy,” reaching a hidden level or secret in a video game (Easter Egg hunting), ritually inscribing a favored tool with alchemical symbols, writing a computer program, programming a machine to do something it wasn't designed to do.

Yantras: 

Succeeding on a relevant Computer roll prior to casting (+2), Modern technology (cellphones, laptops, iPad, etc +1), Software (+1), Geeky toys (+1), Geeky memes or references (+1, +2 if especially timely, appropriate, or funny), Technology integrated into the caster’s physical body or other transhuman modifications (+2)

Requirements: 

Gnosis 2, Forces 2, Computer 2, Science 2, a related Computer/Science skill spec, the Technophile merit (or a similar merit that indicates technical know-how/aptitude).

Attainments:

First Attainment O “C0NN3C71V17Y"

    A Prime Mover easily manipulates wireless transmissions, even without a receiver. This attainment functions as a fusion of Forces 1 “Tune In” and Forces 2 “Transmission”. While this attainment is active, the mage can effortlessly see and hear free-floating data transmissions – this includes those broadcast by radios, cell phones, wireless modems, etc. Transmitting cables glow before her eyes with streams of data, while she might see a shimmer or even fleeting glimpses of images in the air. Satellite internet and TV programming, closed walkie-talkies, CB broadcasts, and radio transmissions all become open to her senses, as well as wireless communications. In addition, he can hijack any existing signal that he can sense and change the transmitted data or its destination as an instant action. She can shorten or lengthen the transmission, and even change frequency, such as turning a wifi broadcast into a television signal. At this level, she must still work with a signal already present. Mimicking specific sounds or information requires an appropriate Skill roll or access to the data to be transmitted. The signal sent can even be “encrypted” so that only certain actions, like specific keystrokes or frequencies, can receive them properly. Otherwise, they simply turn up as unintelligible “noise.”

     Primary Factor: Potency
     Requirements: Initiation

Second Attainment OO “4C71V4710N"

    

      An Engineer with this attainment becomes a living battery. Energy is generated from countless sources. Walking generates kinetic energy. Sunlight brings in solar power. Touching a wall draws current if an outlet is nearby. The mage simply absorbs all the energy and contains it within her in whatever form it needs to be. The predominant application is that any device near to the mage (within a number of yards equal to dots in Forces) needs no power source other than the mage to operate. A cell phone clipped to her belt never needs a battery. All the appliances in a room receive power just from her presence. And any devices implanted in her body (whether a microchip or a pacemaker) can go forever, theoretically. Even items that require alternate sources of power are fueled by the mage’s presence. A car need both gas and electricity to run, but the mage generates enough raw potential to keep any vehicle going without ever needing to stop for gas or replace a battery.

Requirements: Forces 2, Gnosis 2/3, a second relevant skill specialty.

Optional Component: “F123W4LL” Matter 2. The Engineer’s bond with technology is written into their soul; they do not often make mistakes with electronics, and even when they do, they usually walk away without a scratch on them. They receive natural armor equal to their dots in Matter against damage caused by electricity, electrical fires, robots, digital creatures (such as technology demons and spirits), and modern technology only. This does apply against firearms, but only against newer, more refined models such as semi-auto and automatic; Any firearm that pumps, cocks, or revolves is not protected against., for example It also does not apply against archaic weapons such as swords, flails, and the like. 

In addition, any devices that the Engineer has a Medium or better sympathetic connection to never end up with mundane viruses, spyware, malware, or the like. Others’ attempts to hack these same devices or otherwise sabotage them electronically take a penalty on their die roll equal to the Prime Mover’s dots in Forces.

          Third Attainment OOO “UPG24D3"

          

Prime Movers are a marvel at invention, weaving together even completely unrelated bits of technology into one cohesive device. This functions as Matter 3 “Wonderful Machine”; This spell allows a mage to swiftly superimpose pieces of various objects into one another in such a way as to produce a desired result. With this spell, a mage could, for example, integrate a nail-gun and shotgun together to produce a weapon that fires a barrage of nails with each pull of the trigger.  For each dot of Forces he possesses, the mage may transpose one quality (such as a rotisserie’s generation of heat or its ability to rotate another object within it) from a given mechanical object onto another mechanical object. All objects involved in the attainment must be touched. The effects last a scene but can be made lasting using a Willpower point.

    

      Primary Factor: Potency

      Requirements: Forces 3, Gnosis 4/5, Computer 3, Science 3.

Optional Component: “P47CH1NG” – Matter 3. When using Upgrade, the Engineer may also choose to boost the combined item’s capabilities. The Prime Mover may increase the properties of the item (Damage, Ballistic Armor, Armor Piercing, Durability, General Armor, Accuracy or Equipment Bonus), up to a total bonus on all qualities equal to their dots in Matter.

      Note: the modifications above count as an enhancement to the item and don't stack with other Matter Finishing spells - this means that you can apply one modification to it at a time (Wonderful Machine does not stack with the Attainment) and one series of buffs permanently.  If the items are meant to be used past the Story in which they are made they should be purchased per the Enhanced Item Merit.

     Fourth Attainment OOOO “3XPL017"

    Prime Movers are fond at saying there is no one, on this plane or any other, as skilled with technology and hacking as they are. What sounds like empty boasting may, with the help of this attainment, even be correct. Similar to the Forces 3 + Matter 3 spell "Supernal Hack" At all times the Engineer receives a bonus to all mundane Computer skill rolls equal to their dots in Forces. For a mana a single roll gains the 9-again quality (8-again if the roll already has that quality).  For a willpower point a single roll gains the Rote quality. In addition, while Root is active, any penalties (or Withstood value) caused by mundane or Supernal-security measures on technological devices the mage interacts with are halved.

     Primary Factor: Potency
     Requirements: Forces 4, Gnosis 6/7, a third relevant skill specialty.

Optional Component: “M4C20” – Matter 3. understanding of technology and the principles behind them he expands what Exploit can effect.  The Engineer can apply the benefits of Exploit to all Science and Crafts rolls as well.  Rote actions can instead be used by spending mana.

Fifth Attainment OOOOO “M4S732-B07"

    It is not uncommon for Engineers to become so enamored with their

      tech that they treat it as an extension of themselves, as valuable as a sentient being. With Master-Bot, this idiosyncrasy becomes a reality. This attainment functions similarly to high level Mind magic (Mind 5 "Psychic Genesis") that grants intelligence to non-sentient beings, but only works on modern technology. The Prime Mover targets a single piece of modern technology, software, or network within touch range (the hardware that will hold the AI must be physically present and touched by the creator) and it gains an Intelligence score equal to the Engineer’s dots in Forces. This imbued self-awareness costs a willpower point and lasts a day. 

     The empowered technology starts off at a friendly disposition towards the caster unless it has a compelling reason to feel otherwise (for example, a computer that the Engineer frequently abuses, or a server belonging to his ideological enemies), and is likely to perform any favors he asks of it with a minimum of fuss (note that it is a thinking being, and this sense of good will can be pushed too far). As what is effectively an AI, the empowered technology is also capable of acting autonomously and making judgment calls if the situation requires it, though this does not guarantee that it is acting on human values when it does so. The empowered technology can understand spoken, written, and digital communication by its creator without problem, and communicates itself by whatever means it has; a computer might use its own audio system to speak, while an iPod might communicate with whoever puts on its earbuds through a mashup of relevant songs. By spending a dot of Willpower and a mana, the effects of Master-Bot can be made permanent.

Note: the AI created by Master-Bot functions mechanically like a spirit in many ways but is not a spirit.  It is an intelligence held in a matrix of electromagnetic spell-like attainment effect infused into the hardware of the technology itself but can still be detected as a thinking being by Mind Sight.  I can only perform functions that the device can do (example: a laptop can open its disk drive but not close its own lid, it can ping a network but can't write its own hacking programs).  It rolls Intelligence + Equipment modifier to perform actions on the character's behalf and has no other stats than the durability, size, and structure of what it resides in.  If the object takes full structure damage the AI disperses.  Many Prime movers spend a great deal of time installing and programming in functions and software that the Bot can perform on command.


      Primary Factor: Potency
     Requirements: Forces 5, Gnosis 8/9, Computers 4, Science 4

Optional Component “S3LF-R3PL1C4710N”: Matter 5. When using Master-Bot on a piece of technology, the Engineer may also choose to grant the effects of Matter 5 “Self- Repairing Machine” to the same object. The technology heals points of Structure every hour equal to the Engineer’s points in Matter. If Bot becomes permanent, so does this effect.