[Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen] Artifact: The Robe Revised

 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 Robe of the Dethroned Queen

“She leaves this Robe of mystic night, so we might dwell beyond Their sight.”

The following is a conversion and upgrade of the Artifact: Robe of the Dethroned Queen to Mage: The Awakening Second Edition rules.  I also made it much more powerful to scale in the current campaign.

Sources: The Merit as written, straight out of Mage: The Awakening  2nd edition.  The Artifact example I converted is from our current campaign and straight out of the Reign of the Exarchs sourcebook.

The Robe of the Dethroned Queen 

(12 dots) Artifact: 6 Experience Points: OOOOO OOOOO OO

Description:

The Robe's Current Form

The Robe itself is a long, heavy woven mantle adorned with a few bronze plates and a simple rope tie. It has a complex, almost medieval pattern to it, like a knitted Book of Kells, with Atlantean runes in place of Latin letters. Its length and cut resembles a Greek Orthodox vestment more than any classical garb typically associated with it in myth. Inside the Robe where the shoulders meet the neck the “tag” or seem has Greek letters describe a Rote, it is a Grimorie. The words on the outside in Atlantean runes are part of a powerful veiling spell.

History: 

Some speculate, that the Robe has been gradually changing its style and form over the centuries to better keep itself hidden from the notice of the Exarchs. The Robe of the Dethroned Queen was said to carry the power to conceal power from the Exarchs on high. When an Awakened magician wears the Robe, she is all undetectable by the Exarchs. Even against other terrestrial mages her power becomes difficult to sense or assess.  While wearing the Robe of the Dethroned Queen, Qherephis managed to rule her people with arcane power without ever attracting the attention of agents of the Exarchs. With the Robe simply in their custody, the Seers of Witchend managed to occult their power for decades, rendering their idyllic little town hidden from wizards who would pervert it. The Robe even hid the town from the destructive resonance of hype and excess popularity that sometimes consumes such small towns. Thus the easy-to-miss hamlet became the hiding place of an ancient artifact simply by not attracting attention to the artifact’s inherent powers of occultation.

Basic Stats:

Durability 6, Size 5, Structure 11, Holds 22 Mana, Armor 3/3

Effective Gnosis: 6 (Mage accessing the Artifact can use any combination of Gnosis and Arcana on a given spell on the item)

Effective Reach: 6

Yantra: +1 path tool for Acanthus

Determining usage: In general, it takes 22 successes on an extended research to figure out how to use the items power.  Opacity is 6 to study the item itself.

Wisdom Sins:

1. Wearing it - The Robe defies the cosmic station of a Fallen World being’s position beneath and in sight of the Supernal world — it was never meant to be worn on Earth and used against the Exarchs. As soon as it is put on the Mage can roll Wits + Gnosis to notice this problem.  Refusal to remove it calls for a Wisdom Sin for all but those with Falling Wisdom Ratings.

2. Learning the Rote - Learning the Seer Rote "Shed the Lines" (Space 4) aka "Cut Threads" is a Wisdom Sin for anyone of Wisdom lower than or equal to 6.

Active Effects:
1-2. “Under a Bushel" (Prime 2)
The caster can use the Robe to cast either Cloak Nimbus or Supernal Veil as spells.

3. “Shred the Lines” (Space 4)
Wearer can cast Space 3 “Cut Threads” which targets and frays all Sympathetic connections on the wearer simultaneously if the right Reach is applied.

4. “Vanish from the Liars” (Forces 4 + Fate 2)
Allows the wearer to cast a version of Forces 2 “Invisibility” and combined Forces 2 "Control Sound" that hides the wearer from Seers and those under the influence of the Exarchs. The caster spends a Man, rolls Gnosis + 6 and successes cloak the caster from the perceptions of the agents of the Lie.”  Caster will also notice when they use this spell that they can see the Robe but not themselves. Is this because They are now under the influence of the Exarchs?

5. Grimorie (1 dot)Can learn a three dot Seer Rote (Space 4) “Cut Threads” only it’s called “Shed the Lines” for 1XP, Skill: Occult.  You gain the 9s again quality if the Robe is warn when this Rote is cast.  Reading the Rote from the tag on the inside of the Robe while casting grants the Rote quality as typical for Grimorie use.  This can not be accomplished while wearing the Robe.

Passive Effects:

 1. “Timeless Style” (Matter 6 + Time 2)

The Robe changes to keep up with styles, may transform when worn to a hoodie. The caster has no control over this and when it does so it spends 1 Mana.  There are no measurements on how often it updates itself.

2.“Recursive Occultation" (Mind 6 + Space 2)

The Robe can Occlude a Sanctum or even a town but it chooses how to employ this, not the caster.  Gives Occultation 6 on the wearer and is considered always on.



Sigil of the Seers of the Throne

3. "Robe Tracking" (Hidden Effect)

Certain Ministers and Exarchs know exactly where the Robe is when it is used… it actually makes the person trying to hide from the Exarchs more visible to these few. They bid their time.  Curious mages must overcome Opacity 6 for deep information that reveals this effect.

4. Primium Alloy (2 Dots)

The coin-bangles on the Robe are made of an alloy of Lunargent and Orichelcum created with magic and a nuclear furnace.  It is light as Aluminum, non-conductive, non-corrosive, flexible but virtually unbreakable.  It is the color of bronze and has a variety of unique properties:  Each point adds +1 Armor to any material it is added to that exceeds its normal cap.  The wearer also adds +2 to counterspell

Reference: Primium Alloy Rules

Merit: Primium (O to OOOOO)

Alloy of Lunargent (magically rarefied silver) and Orichelcum (magically rarefied gold) created with magic and a Nuclear Furnace… with methods lost since the immediate post-Atlantean timeline. Creating it takes powerful Matter mastery spells to re-arrange the molecules of both metals to combine them along with the supernal truth of nuclear fission (not fusion) to make them mesh together as a byproduct of splitting atoms.  To attempt to create this material in the modern age would require a mage to construct a nuclear power plant with a blast furnace chamber capable of sustaining temperatures akin to the surface of the sun. The result is Primium, light as aluminum, non-conductive, non-corrosive, flexible but virtually unbreakable.  It is the color of highly polish Bronze and seems to glow with a bronze coloration:

Effects:
• Each point of Primium adds +1 Armor to any material it is added to that exceeds its normal cap and stacks with magical but not mundane armor
• Each dot adds +1 to Counterspell rolls by the wearer
• Each point adds +1 durability to the materials it is worked into
• Weapons made with it do Aggravated damage to vampires (from Orichelcum’s association with the sun) and werewolves (from Lunargent’s association with the moon)
• It can effect beings in Twilight and does regular corpus damage to spirits and ghosts and most incorporeal supernatural creatures.

Reference - Merit: Artifact Rules

Artifact (•••+, Special) Effect: Your character possesses an Artifact, an item from the Supernal World which is both a physical symbol of magic and a unique item independently empowered create to sorcerous effects. These items possess their own Mana stores, and have their own effective Gnosis and Arcana with which to generate effects. They can cast these effects when harnessed by an Awakened owner who has researched (or divined through Prime) the manner in which the item works.

• Determining usage - In general, this takes successes on an extended research action equal to twice the Artifact’s Merit dots.
• Dot Rating - To calculate the cost of an Artifact, look to its single greatest effect, and map it to a spell effect. The base cost is equal to the highest Arcanum used, or three, whichever is higher. Each additional effect adds to the cost, but only half the highest Arcanum used (rounded up)
• Utility Attainments - Including a Utility Attainment in a spell effect (for example, an Artifact that can cast at Sympathetic Range) increases the cost by one dot for each Attainment included.
• Mana - Item can store Mana equal to twice the dot rating.
• Effective Gnosis Rating - The item’s effective Gnosis is equal to half the dot rating, rounded up.
• Accessing Mana - An owner can access the item’s Mana as if it were her own, or can use it to fuel the Artifact’s abilities. The Artifact can also use its Mana as part of its own activation.
• Effective Arcana Rating/Reach - The Artifact has effective Arcana equal to the highest Arcanum used in its various effects.
• Reach/Paradox - Artifacts cannot Reach beyond the “free” Reach for their Arcana ratings on their own. If an Artifact risks Paradox, the user can spend Mana to mitigate Paradox (in any combination of her own or the Artifact’s Mana pool, up to her Gnosis-derived limits) and may choose to contain the Paradox herself. Otherwise, the Artifact automatically releases it.
• Triggering Use - Every Artifact will use its effects under different circumstances, determined when you create the Artifact. For example, an Artifact might cast its effect the moment it is first seen by human eyes, or whenever it’s dropped on the ground.
• Combining Ratings -If an owner accesses the Artifact’s effects, she may use her own Gnosis and Arcana, the Artifact’s, or any combination thereof. 
• Path Tool Yantra - Every Artifact is also a Path tool Yantra worth +1 dice for mages of the Path of the Artifacts’ highest Arcanum.