[Mage: The Awakening 2nd Ed] New Legacy: Advocates for the Dead

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

New Legacy:

Advocates for the Dead

"Lone is the way of the Necromancer.  Dark is the path to the secret knowledge" -Merlin

The following is a new legacy for use in our Chronicle: The Dethroned Queen and for immediate use by the character Persephone, played by Keri Sayler. 

Design by: Hannah Nyland and Jerad Sayler

Sources: Draws upon mechanics within the Giest: The Sin-Eaters (1st ed) and Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition.

Campaigners straddle the thin line between life and death more precariously than most. Every one of these mages has a harrowing and morbid tale to tell of how they became what they are, often involving immense personal sacrifice or even their own deaths. The one constant in these stories is that their transformation always includes the cannibalization of a Geist, earning them powers more typically associated with Sin Eaters, Mist Walkers or Fogmen.

Whether out of altruism, duty, or hope of personal gain, Campaigners dedicate their lives to helping the dead. Different mages of this Legacy have different approaches – providing counseling to ghosts, making their un-lives more pleasant, searching for ways to resolve their Anchors, and helping them get revenge for those who wronged them in life are all likely choices. Whatever their reasons, Campaigners are fueled by an almost supernatural zeal when it comes to their work, not surprising when their very presence invigorates nearby specters – many ghosts report feeling a kind of spark when meeting a member of this Legacy, or the brief sensation of what it feels like to be alive again.

Even the kindest, most benevolent Campaigner has a darker side – their drive is often a boon in their work, but it also makes them ferocious enemies. That, combined with their complete lack of reaction to killing tends to unnerve other mages less inured to death. More often than not, they are pushed to the fringes of the mage community, though a rare few do manage to rise to positions of power.

Sin Eaters tend to have amiable but uncertain relationships with Campaigners. In many ways, they are better equipped to understand their missions and powers than other mages are, and this makes them natural allies. The goals of Campaigners and Fogmen - particularly those of the Advocate and Pilgrim Archetypes - tend to dovetail nicely, and it is not unheard of for a Krewe to include one of these mages among their number. Even in the worst cases, members of the two groups usually still have a grudging respect for the others’ abilities.

Yet there is almost always a lingering tension between Campaigners and Sin Eaters, however close. The destruction of one of their “better halves” is one of the worst sins a Sin Eater can imagine, far worse than even torture, rape or mass murder. All Sin Eaters are well-acquainted with the stains left behind by suffering and death; even without knowing the truth of how a Campaigner came by their powers, they can sense something a little disconcerting about them. If the truth comes out, most Sin Eaters will react with utter revulsion – some even with violence. Sometimes, though, their origins can be forgiven or overlooked, and this tends to be where the strongest Sin Eater and Campaigner friendships are forged.

Orders: 
The Adamantine Arrow and Mysterium are the most likely Orders to accept members of this Legacy – Arrows can appreciate their strong drive and sense of purpose, while the Mysterium treasures the extensive information on ghosts and the Underworld that they bring to the table. The Guardians tend to distrust their strong loyalties to Sin Eaters and ghosts, but may be enticed by their strange abilities which are similar to Death magic, yet are not supernal and inspire no paradox. The Silver Ladder, for the most part, find them unpresentable and uncouth. Their focus on what’s dead, gone, and in the past – all part and parcel with ghosts – does not endear them to Free Councilors either, who prefer to keep their eyes looking to the future.

Parent Path: Moros

Nickname:

Murderers is the derogatory term – it was originally written as περθω – ancient Greek for Persephone, or “to murder”. Campaigners is the more polite term for these mages.

Suggested Oblations: 
Investigating a haunting, providing counseling or advice to the dead, exorcism, meditating with or interacting with an Anchor, helping Sin Eaters

Yantras: 
Teamwork with your Guardian Ghost or Ghost Familiar (+1), recently killed a non-sapient being (+1), recently killed a sapient being (+2), casting in an area with heavy Death resonance (+2), blood or bones (+1), integrating a death-based artifact or cultural symbol in the casting (+1), succeeding on a death or ghost-based Occult roll prior to casting (+2).

Ruling Arcana: Death (special).

Related Skill Specs: 
Occult – Ghosts, Underworld, Death, Kerberoi, Sin Eaters, Geists.

Requirements: 
Gnosis 2, Death 2. Occult 2 and one related skill spec. Merit: Ghost Familiar or Guardian Ghost. Merit: Supernatural Lore - Ghosts/Underworld (at least two dots) OR Merit: Mythologist. Must kill and eat a Geist or make a deal with a Kerberoi.

Attainments:

1. Crossing the Threshold: 

You gain the Advocate Archetype, one Threshold of your choice, and one Key of the Geist you ate. In addition, you get a bonus to all social rolls against Ghosts and Sin Eaters equal to your dots in Death unless they’ve got a compelling reason to have a negative impression of you (in particular, learning how an Advocate for the Dead got their powers will often trigger intense hostility). Even then, the bonus still applies to Intimidation rolls. A Campaigner never makes a Wisdom check for killing.

Requirements: Initiation 

2. Brink of the Lower Mysteries: 

You gain a limited number of free dots in Manifestations equal to your dots in Death, which may be placed among the Manifestations in any combination with the exception of Caul; because the Campaigner does not actually have a Geist of their own to merge with, they are not able to access this power. Upon increasing your dots in Death, you get an equal number of dots to place in Manifestations; however, you cannot buy more Manifestation dots through XP, and they may not be redistributed later. A Campaigner uses mana to power these Manifestations where Plasm would normally be used; the total cost for using a Manifestation and its add-ons in this way is always 1 Mana. In rolling, use the same Attribute + Skill + Manifestation pool that the ability would normally use.

            Requirements: Gnosis 2-3. Death 3. A second relevant specialty from the
            list.

3. Ice Cold Hands: 

At this level, the Campaigner is a powerful conduit for ghosts; they are perpetually surrounded by a writing aura of death resonance. While within 30 feet of the Campaigner, ghosts treat all objects and creatures (save for the Campaigner themselves) as though they were under the effects of the Open Condition. In addition, the Campaigner can now use Deathmasks as though they were a Sin Eater – this includes the ability to use new Keys through them, additional Thresholds, skill bonuses, social bonuses and penalties, Numen, etc. Some Deathmasks also contain Plasm, which cannot be directly used by a Campaigner, but may be useful in trading with ghosts or Sin Eaters. To determine how many you can carry, halve your Gnosis and subtract 1 – that is, you can always carry one fewer Deathmasks than a Sin Eater at the same Psyche.

            Requirements: Gnosis 4-5. Death 3. Occult 3.

4. Spare Me Over: 

You gain a Sin Eater’s Resistance to poison and disease – add your Gnosis to rolls to resist such effects. You are also immune to possession and mind influencing effects used by ghosts and Kerberoi. Finally, you can turn a single item with which you have the Connected sympathetic connection with (including Soul Stones) into a Keystone Memento which you can use with your Sin Eater powers. In all ways, this functions like the Sin Eater ability.

Requirements: Gnosis 6-7. Death 4. Another relevant Occult specialty.

5. O Death, Where Is Your Sting?: 

Unless your body is completely destroyed or mangled beyond all hope of repair upon death, you return to life at the next sunrise, in perfect health. Each time this happens, your maximum Gnosis cap decreases by one. Aside from lowering Gnosis instead of Psyche, this functions in all ways like the similar Sin Eater ability.

            Requirements: Gnosis 8-9. Death 5. Occult 4.

Example Implementation: Persephone

Threshold: The Torn (death by violence)

Key: Stigmata Key

The Stigmata Key uses blood and sacrifice to assert dominance over the spirit world. To Sin-Eaters, blood is more than a bodily fluid — it is the river of life, and it has been used both to propitiate and to bind both ghosts and spirits since time immemorial. Manifestations unlocked by the Stigmata Key allow Persephone to influence or even harm ghosts and spirits, to bind them in place, and to mimic their special properties. 

Unless stated differently under a particular Manifestation’s description, a character unlocking a Manifestation with the Stigmata Key may choose to take a point of lethal damage in lieu of spending a Willpower point, or a point of bashing damage instead of spending Mana to power a Manifestation. The damage must be deliberate and ritualistic in nature. Damage inflicted in combat (whether upon the Advocate or by him) will not satisfy this requirement.

Manifestations (Death 7): Boneyard 4, Oracle 3, 

The Boneyard

Attribute: Wits

When a Advocate calls forth the Boneyard, he allows plasm to flow forth from his body to stain the surrounding area with plasmic residue. In this way, the Advocate may extend his senses across a large area and affect his environment in ways associated with the Key used to unlock the Boneyard. While the Boneyard is unlocked, the Advocate’s body must remain in a trance-like state. The Advocate's body need not rest in the center of the Boneyard, but he must be somewhere within the affected area. If taken by surprise (not an easy thing against the master of a Boneyard), the Advocate typically loses his Defense against attackers. This Manifestation ends instantly if he suffers any damage. If his body is otherwise disturbed, he may attempt to retain control of the Boneyard with a Resolve + Composure roll.

The basic (one-dot) power of the Boneyard allows the Advocate to create a plasm-tainted area within a particular area whose size is governed by his Manifestation rating and his activation successes.  While the Boneyard is unlocked, the Advocate can generally sense any particular person or thing within the affected area which she wishes to locate without a roll, provided that the object of her search is not actively hiding from her (either magically or through mundane means). She can project her senses to any spot within the Boneyard and examine the area as if she were standing there. Many Keys allow the Advocate to use more esoteric senses from any vantage point within the Boneyard.

Once the Boneyard is unlocked, the Advocate can unlock additional Manifestations as desired, and can target their effects against anyone or anything he can perceive within his Boneyard. If an additional  Manifestation is unlocked using the same Key as the one used to unlock the Boneyard, the Advocate may add the Boneyard’s activation successes to the next activation roll. If the Keys are different, however, the Boneyard’s activation successes do not apply.

Boneyard Activation

Cost: 1 Mana

Dice Pool: (For Stigmata Boneyard) Wits + Occult + Boneyard rating

Action: Instant

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: 

The land is thirsty. The Boneyard fails to manifest, and the character loses two extra points of Mana.

Failure: 

The attempt to manifest the Boneyard fails. 

Success: 

The Advocate creates a Boneyard lasting for one scene. With Boneyard 1, the radius of the Boneyard is equal to (activation successes x 10) yards. With Boneyard 3, this radius increases to  activation successes x 100) yards. With Boneyard 5, this radius increases to (activation successes) in miles. Once its confines are established, the area covered by the Boneyard is fixed and cannot be modified by the Advocate. Once established, the Boneyard cannot be dispelled prematurely, and the Advocate may not create any new Boneyards while a previously unlocked Boneyard still stands. However, an Advocate may attempt to replace an already existing Boneyard (whether one he created or one created by another Sin-Eater) with a new one, either to improve the Boneyard’s qualities or to assert dominance over a Sin-Eater. In the latter case, whichever Boneyard has more activation successes takes precedence over the other one. The Boneyard’s radius is fixed — although it is initially centered on the Advocate it does not move with her. Activation successes modify many higher-level Boneyard powers but only while the mage remains within the Boneyard he created.

Exceptional Success: 

The mage recovers the Mana spent in unlocking the Boneyard. If wounded, the Advocate may still maintain the Boneyard with a successful (Resolve + Composure) roll, but not if he is rendered unconscious or leaves the Boneyard.

The Stigmata Boneyard

Skill: Occult

While this Manifestation is active, the Advocate can perceive ghosts anywhere within the Boneyard’s radius. The mage also automatically senses pathways to the Underworld which exist anywhere within the Boneyard’s radius. The Advocate cannot perceive ghosts outside his immediate presence through a Boneyard unless it has been unlocked with the Stigmata Key.

Stigmata Boneyard ••

The mage can ward a location within the Boneyard against spiritual intrusion,

forbidding all but the most powerful of ghosts to enter her domain. The mage must roll (Presence + Occult + activation successes). The radius of the protected area is generally equal to five yards per Mana spent. However, wards of this nature tend to conform to structural boundaries, so if the radius is approximately equal to the area of the house in which the Advocate stands, usually the ward will be coextensive with the house’s walls instead of forming a true circle. Any ghost will be unable to pass through the ward’s boundaries unless the ghost’s Power exceeds the successes rolled for this power. A ghost who cannot pass through the ward will also be unable to target anyone inside it with Numina. Any ghosts who are already within the confines of the ward when it is erected will be trapped within unless powerful enough to escape.

Stigmata Boneyard •••

The mage may create wards which endure even past the termination of the Boneyard itself. For every extra Mana spent, a ward created with the 2-dot version of Stigmata Boneyard will endure for one hour after the Boneyard is terminated. For every lethal level of damage the mage inflicts on herself, the ward will persist for one full day after the Boneyard falls.

Stigmata Boneyard ••••

Having mastered the art of warding, the Advocate progresses to the more difficult art of binding. With this power, the mage can temporarily bind a spirit or ghost to a location, sticking the entity’s spiritual body to the spot like a butterfly caught in a web. The mage must roll (Wits + Occult + activation successes, resisted by the ghosts’s Power). If the roll is successful, the ghost will be bound to a spot within the Boneyard’s area of the Advocate's choosing for one hour per Mana spent in activating the power.

With an Exceptional Success, double the number of hours the ghost is bound. If the mage  voluntarily suffers two levels of lethal damage, the ghost will instead be bound for one day per plasm spent. While bound, the ghost is incapable of leaving the location to which it is chained and it suffers a dice penalty on all Numina equal to (activation successes + 1 per lethal health level suffered by the mage, which is normally enough to render most ghosts helpless.

The Advocate may choose to negate the Numina penalty as she wishes, and she can also free a bound ghost as a reflexive action. The mage may also compel any ghost she has bound to materialize or dematerialize as she wishes, and she gains a dice bonus equal to the activation successes on all Social rolls to influence or manipulate the ghost.

The Oracle

Skill: Intelligence

Many legends speak of the insight possessed by the dead and of their power to warn the living of future events. Indeed, the term “necromancy” literally refers to the practice of divining the future through communication with the dead. The Oracle Manifestation draws upon this chthonic wisdom, allowing the Advocate to access the special perceptive abilities of her geist. To anyone capable of detecting plasmic energies, a Advocate who has unlocked the Oracle is noticeable for her eyes, which glow with a spectral force. The basic power of the Oracle is simply to augment the mage’s Active Mage Sight. Specific Keys refine this perception in appropriate ways.

Oracle Activation

Cost: 1 Mana

Dice Pool: (for Stigmata Oracle) Intelligence + Occult + Oracle rating

Action: Instant

Roll Results

Dramatic Failure: 

The activation attempt fails, and the Advocate may not attempt to use any Oracle-related power for the rest of the scene.

Failure: 

The attempt to unlock the Oracle fails.

Success: 

A pale mist of plasm steams from the Advocate's  glowing eyes, visible only to ghosts and other supernatural creatures. For the duration of the scene, the mage adds a number of bonus dice equal to the activation successes to all Wits-based rolls to observe and understand phenomena relevant

to the Key used to unlock the Oracle.

Exceptional Success: 

Additional successes are their own reward.

The Stigmata Oracle

Skill: Occult

With this Manifestation, the Advocate gains special insight into ghosts and other Twilight beings. The basic power allows the mage to add her activation successes to all Wits-based rolls to observe or understand anything pertaining to ghostly activity in the area.

Stigmata Oracle ••

The mage may scrutinize a ghost to gain information about it. The player rolls Wits + Occult + (activation successes), resisted by Resistance. If the player rolls more successes than the quarry, for each net success, she may ask the Storyteller one question about the ghost. Possible questions include the following:

• Who was the ghost in life?

• What are the ghost’s Anchors?

• What Numina does the ghost possess?

• What are its Virtue and Vice?

• How did the ghost die?

Stigmata Oracle •••

The  Advocate may detect subtle plasmic residue left behind from previous applications of either ghostly Numina or Sin-Eater Manifestations. The player must roll Wits + Composure + activation successes to notice plasmic residue left behind in the last hour. Each additional hour inflicts a cumulative –1 dice penalty. Once the Advocate locates the plasmic remains, she may choose to clairvoyantly observe what occurred when the plasmic residue was left. This power has no cost to find residue Seeing into the past costs 1 Mana to see into the past, and requires a Wits + Occult + (activation successes) roll. For each success, the player may ask the Storyteller one question about the events that took place

[Mage: The Awakening 2nd Ed] Sariras: Relics of Ascension

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

Relics of Ascension: Sariras

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

Sources: The following text, as written in grey, is straight out of the Mage: The Awakening 2nd edition open development for Signs of Sorcery posted 19 January 2017 by Dave Brookshaw. Additional information comes from the Imperial Mysteries sourcebook.

In our first chronicle (Mage: The Horsemen), some of the Horsemen Cabal actually encountered a Sarira that appearsed to be the crystal bones of the god-king Marduk in the Temple of Sin in 2012.  Some of the characters may still be hanging on to the bone parts.  If so, these Artifacts are now revealed to be more powerful than merely crystallized mana in the form of Tass human remains.

In our current chronicle (Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen), we just finished a story in which the characters encountered Relics of a long dead Archmage.  While she didn't Ascend, the Cold Smile created multiple Soul Stones in the form of the Swarming Heart (a crystal heart full of living flies) and the Splintered Sight (stone eyes) that resemble Sariras in many ways...

Ascension affects mind, body and soul:

Every part of a mage Ascends. Some Ascensions appear to leave bodies but these are actually Sariras: discarded Resonance, condensed into physical form. Sariras may be identified by their unusual characteristics such as hearts of glass and pearl-like objects embedded in the flesh. Besides the body, Ascension withdraws aspects of the soul or mind that were divorced from the mage, including magically duplicated minds and soul stones.

A whole Sarira may be a potent Artifact, but it’s even more valuable when it’s cut to pieces and traded to multiple clients. This is a purely economic decision; the whole body will always possess more magical power. Many ancient Sariras only exist in fragments: hands, eyes, femurs, and fingers.

Some willworkers believe that when a mage Ascends, her soul discards her body for the Supernal Realms, but dedicated scholars know that Ascension takes body and soul. An Ascension might appear to leave a body behind, but it’s actually a Sarira: a duplicate made of solidified Resonance and traces of the departed mage’s Nimbus.

Although it resembles a lifeless physical body, the Sarira is not a corpse, but the solidified Resonance of a mage’s physical form influenced by her nimbus and magical style.

Death magic cannot affect a Sarira and most of them do not decompose, but may exhibit strange changes over time. Male bodies have turned to female. Skin has turned to gold. Every Sarira possesses other signs that it is no ordinary body. Concentrated Resonance takes the form or pearls and gems embedded in the chakras and other magical energy centers. Crystal bones and Atlantean tattoos manifest.

Occultists liken the Sarira to a caul, a remnant of birth the Ascended casts away to enter true life. Not all Ascended mages leave Sariras behind, but they manifest often enough to be identified by educated mages. An Ascended mage’s order usually preserves her Sarira as an object of veneration and guards it, because Awakened thieves love to steal them.

A Sarira doesn’t look exactly like a corpse. Its bones turn to crystal. Its former Path or strongest Arcanum influences its appearance, so that an Ascended Obrimos might faintly glow, and an Acanthus’ hair turns into thorny metallic vines. Jewels decorate its chakras. A Sarira might take the form of a weathered granite statue or humanoid tree. Tellingly, it doesn’t decompose and can’t be affected by Death or Matter spells. Despite its solidity and appearance, it registers as a bundle of potent Resonance, not a corpse or inanimate, material object. Many believe Sariras explain myths about crystal skulls, incorruptible saints’ relics, and Atlantean “dragon bones.”

A complete Sarira possesses the powers of a 10 dot Artifact as well as the following systems, which may change or override the usual rules:

Supernally Incorruptible: 

No spell, Attainment or supernatural power can directly affect a Sarira or its Resonance. The sole exception consists of spells that can siphon Mana. These can withdraw Mana from its Tass-like matrix but can’t replace it. Supernaturally triggered or enhanced external phenomena function normally. You can conjure a ball of fire to throw at it, but can’t make it spontaneously combust.

Divisible: 

Despite their resistance to supernatural powers, Sariras can be chopped into pieces and even destroyed with steady hands and sharp tools. An intact Sarira possesses Structure 50, Durability 5. Each dot of Artifact power maintains the same Durability, and 5 Structure; a 3-dot portion possess Structure 15, for instance. A piece’s power and relative toughness isn’t related to its Size, but its symbolic importance. A leg might be less potent than a petrified pineal gland.

Every 5 points of damage reduces a Sarira’s Artifact powers by 1 dot, and releases its Mana portion per dot (see below) back to the Supernal Realms.

Separating a Sarira into pieces in any methodical fashion requires a successful Dexterity + Occult roll, with a risk of Dramatic Failure, for a process that requires one hour of careful work. Dramatic Failure inflicts 5 points of damage, with the aforementioned consequences. Successes scored indicate the maximum Artifact dots that can be separated, with an absolute limit of 5, though the mage can opt to cut away something with a lower rating of her choice. Having at it with an ax, a prayer and no dice roll, automatically inflicts 5 points of damage and the attendant consequences over the course of an hour, and separates a piece as powerful as the Storyteller wants it to be. (By default, roll a die and halve the result, rounding up. The piece has that many dots.)

Chopping up a Sarira is a Low Act of Hubris. The mage mars a physical sign of Ascension and risks destroying it.

Dynamic Artifact: 

As noted, an intact Sarira possesses the powers of a 10 dot artifact. If divided into portions with lesser dot ratings or damaged, the Sarira’s powers change to accommodate the new dot rankings of each surviving portion. The altered Sarira will manifest powers as close to their original forms as possible. For example, a Sarira with two five dot powers split into two five dot parts might transfer one power to each part. If one of those parts is damaged and reduced to three dots, the power might change to one from the same Arcanum. The Sarira’s powers usually emulate the personality and magical specialties of the Ascended one who left it behind.

Calculate the inherent Gnosis of a Sarira separately for each component part, based on its current state and powers.

Body of Mana: 

A Sarira resembles Tass, and its matrix binds Mana. Use the following guidelines instead of the Mage core’s rules for Mana in Artifacts. Each Sarira dot encompasses 10 points of Mana. An intact Sarira accumulates 1 point per dot per century. Once the Sarira has been divided or damaged to the point where it loses 1 dot or more of value, this process ceases. Spending an Artifact dot’s “share” of per-dot Mana eliminates the dot permanently, and part of the Sarira crumbles or evaporates. Dot loss halts Mana accumulation permanently. Mages interested in preserving a Sarira avoid using its stored Mana.

Resonance: 

Each dot value in the Sarira possesses one Resonance Trait linked to the Nimbus and character of the Ascended mage it represents. This Resonance can’t be magically suppressed or altered, but can be used when the mage siphons Mana from the Sarira or makes bare-skinned contact with it.

Supernal Tool: 

A Sarira provides the benefits of dedicated magical tool for any mage who belongs to the same Path as the Ascended, but doesn’t require attuning or impose a closer sympathetic connection. Consequently, as the manifestation of another willworker’s Ascension, it cannot be dedicated for any additional benefit.

Sariras in the Chronicle

As material evidence of Ascension, Sariras assure mages that it’s real, attainable — and mysterious. They also signify the fleeting nature of truth in the Fallen World. Use one, and it diminishes, eventually vanishing forever. The fact that they can be split up tempts sorcerers to compromise them for selfish or politically-driven reasons.

Examples:

The King Who Is a Throne (10 dot Sarira)

Structure 50, Durability 5, Size 5, Gnosis 5, Mana 200

One of the few intact Sariras known to exist, the King Who Is a Throne sits beneath an apartment complex in Ordos City, China. Before that the King stayed in Nepal, in a cave reserved for ascetics who practiced body-warming yoga. The Mysterium explorer Yang Zenli sensed its mighty Resonance, gathered a team to acquire it and overcame… Nothing. It was just sitting there. That scared the shit out of him, so he dumped it in a place he figured nobody would look, in a

neighborhood built by real estate speculation but devoid of inhabitants except for security guards and maintenance workers. He now owns that corner of Ordos. Most days, he tells himself he’ll build an Athenaeum there, and develop a community where the Awakened can study in peace. Of course he can’t, because he doesn’t know what to do with the fucking King. He’s read the right scrolls. He’s interrogated monks and archeologists at length. They say that a thousand years ago, the King decided to take the path the Buddha refused and become a Chakravartin, or universal ruler. He became the power behind the Pala Empire but vanished after promising to return with divine weaponry and a plan to bring the world to heel. After 108 days, his servants found his Sarira, seated on a stone stool.

Yang worries about the many, many people who’d kill him for the intact King, but he’s also terrified of attracting the interest of the Ascended being itself. For all he knows the King is an Exarch, or plans to come back, just as he promised.

But he found the King performing a humble service, as a seat for the odd yogi to relax in between periods of exercise. The King Who Is a Throne has fused with his stool. He sat up straight, hands on his knees but elbows out, and he was a big man, too. Throw a cushion on there, and he’d be quite comfortable to sit on. Yang’s research uncovered a history of petty occultists and feudal lords who used the King this way for special occasions. Many of them burned to death. So did their palaces. So did forests and farms surrounding the palaces.

The King has a skull face with sapphires for eyes but he’s a muscular man. Lines of iron trace yogic nadi (energy channels) across his body. This flows into the black scale armor covering his torso and thighs and a spiked crown unlike anything an Asian potentate would wear.

The King Who Is a Throne possesses the following Resonance Traits and their associated keywords: Ambitious, Bright, Burning, Crackling, Domineering, Martial, Raging, Terrifying, Tempestuous, and Thunderous. 

It possesses the power to cast: “Celestial Fire” (Prime ••••), “Psychic Domination” (Mind ••) and “Transform Energy” (Forces ••••). The King was an Obrimos, and lends his Supernal Tool benefit to members of that Path.

The Green Scepter (5 dot Sarira)

Durability 2, Size 2, Structure 10, 48 Mana

When the Thyrsus Kirtimukha Ascended, his flesh turned into moss and earth. His hair became vines. His bones turned into emeralds, and it is said that his true power lay within them. 

Thyrsus elders say that the full skeleton could create new species, but only one femur remains. Ferocious panther-monkey fusions stalk the Nepalese forest near the cave where this Green Scepter lies. Thyrsus Masters have added many defenses over the years, including carnivorous plants and guardian spirits, but mages only visit occasionally to contemplate Ascension or perform high rituals using the Sarira as a tool. 

The Green Scepter’s wielder may cast: “Transform Median Features". In addition, the Sarira acts as a dedicated magical tool for Thrysus.  It's other powers and abilities are as yet, undiscovered.