Out of Character (OOC):
The cards of the First Tarot aren’t uniform. The backs of the cards sport a variety of patterns. Some
look Celtic in design, others Chinese, and some bear art that looks distinctly Native American. The design of the cards often represents the culture of the area in which it was found (this is one reason why the rumor about the Tower and the Hierophant being from Atlantis persist, because they are the only cards with Atlantean runes on them). The art, likewise, boasts a wide variety of styles and mediums.
Even the cards themselves aren’t all made of the same material. Some are wood, some are thick paper or vellum, and some appear to be made from beaten metal. The more recently discovered cards (including the Page of Cups and the Seven of Wands) seem to be made from cardstock and printed using modern techniques. Overall the appearance of each card is historically anachronistic and don't conform to expectations.
Artifact: The First Tarot ••••• •••
Item Specs: Size 1; Durability 2; Structure 3; (Single card or deck has the same stats)
Outside Fate/Time based Merits or circumstances can make the cards harder or easier to use as well. These bonuses and penalties are usually derived from Merits such as Dream (if specific), Destiny, etc. For example, if the subject of the reading directly involves causing a Destiny to be fulfilled the roll can receive bonus dice equal to the dots in Destiny. If the subject does not relate to these merits then they act as penalties. If they involve a subject's Doom aspect of the Destiny Merit or don't involve that destiny at all, then those Merit dots act as a penalty.
The following is a breakdown of all the cards that have been uncovered by the characters in the Dethroned Queen, our current mage chronicle. It features who bears the card, what it is made out of, the circumstances of where it was found and what the card looks like. The following is Player Character knowledge and shared among all active players. Please note, the pictures in this post are actually what the cards look like as far as imagery.
Also... this is only about half the plots we've ran this Chronicle. This is not a full list of Stories we have done but only the ones that were ran by Jerad Sayler and included a Tarot.
The second card was was found by the Horsemen Cabal in our previous Chronicle - Mage: The Horsemen. It was discovered in the burial chamber of an elder vampire calling himself Bashinipal in an ancient Babylonian temple to Sin, anachronistically discovered in Afghanistan in the summer of 2012 during Story: The Ruins of Ur. It was lent to a Mysterium mage Rook (Michael McGough) for study, in exchange for his help in stopping the ancient vampires within and the Seers trying to storm the temple. The chamber in which it was found hadn't been opened in over 4,000 years. The card itself was The Chariot and it was made from a thin clay tablet and written in Sumero-Akkadian cuneiform. Symbolically, the card represents Ascension and the concept of Gnosis. Not so coincidentally, the temple hosted two sphinxes guardians that protected a legendary artifact, an actual flying chariot that was driven by the sphinxes. After the cabal used it to make their daring escape, the chariot flew off without a driver and has never been seen again.
The third card was given to Seraph (Mathew Hagen) of the Bridge of Souls cabal by an Archmage named Aldous when the cabal encountered him in Machu Picchu. Aldous introduced himself during a backpacking trip in June of 2013, during Story: The Hermit. The card was, of course, the Hermit, and was another woodcut in the old English style.
Soon after the events of Story: The Hermit, The Bridge of Souls cabal discovered an post-Atlantean Seer dream prison during Story: The Vault, in Machu Picchu. To ensure the Seers excavating the site didn't release any badness or kill any ancient prisoners they broke in and discovered the Castle Discordia on the edge of the Anima Mundi in Astral space. The prison was built to contain a fallen Exarch known as the Architect who was also corrupted by an Abyssal god called The Mirror at the End of all Things. Once the Cabal released souls and stabilized the prison, Seraph (Mathew Hagen) found the Four of Cups made from some razor-sharp thin piece of Obsidian, impossibly crafted. Some times when Seraph looks at it he sees a card that shouldn't exist, the Prisoner, instead of the Four of Cups.
The fifth card was found by Indra's (Alanna Keith) cousin David when it was discovered among his possessions in the aftermath of David Thanksgiving 2013 with Indra's family during Story: Family Secrets. Indra's Proximi family is the result of an Autherian heritage and Fae blood, and secret part of a Guardians of the Veil eugenics program. When David gets kidnapped by a hobgoblin, Witness (Korri Smith), Indra, Nergal (Andrew Buchman) and Kairos (Ethen Reed), have to get him back. Witness chases the kidnapper into Arcadia itself to bring David back, who Awakens and assumes the Shadow Name of Ritter! The card itself was the Six of Cups and appears to be a playing card from the late 1800s. It is yellowed and smells like vanilla. In the end, Witness takes Ritter on as an apprentice and Indra decides its time to leave the Horsemen and join the Adamantine Arrow. Ritter still holds the card.
The ninth card was discovered by Seraph (Mat Hagen) and Casstiel (Jerad Sayler) when they teamed up with Witness (Korri Smith) to destroy a swarm of Shard Crows that descended on Colorado Springs in May 2014 during Story: One for Sorrow (Act I). The abyssal crows were same that tore Seraph's wife's soul out of her body when she gave birth to their son. Seraph faced his literal demons and confronted the memories that drove him to destroy his emotions completely. When the creature/swarm was destroyed they found themselves in its nest in the Deep Shadow. In the nest Seraph found the The High Priestess, with its strange and futuristic combination of plastic, polymers and shiny light-weight metals. Like the creature, the priestess on the card bears the resemblance to Seraph's dead wife. Casstiel also found out that the Panopticon are watching Seraph's son.
The tenth card was recovered by Seraph (Mat Hagen) in August 2014 during Story: One for Sorrow (Act II). Seraph, Eris (Jenny), Witness (Korri Smith) and Casstiel (Jerad Sayler) hatch a plan to get the Panopticon off the trail of Seraph's son. Do do so, they plan to break into a NSA intelligence node in RackSpace in San Antonio and erase all evidence of the child's existence. During the heist, they run into Kain (Ethen Reed) and Mute (Hannah Nyland), two demons on a similar extraction mission against a network Lynchpin of the God-Machine. They discover that the Panopticon had already dispatched agents to kidnap the boy. Casstiel holds of an Ochemata as the rest of the team rushes to the family who adopted Xander. The card bears the image of Seraph's son Xander, now known as the mage "The Gamer," attending his second year at the Pentacle Academy. The card is The World. After repeated violations of the Pax Arcana, Casstiel is put on house arrest, forced to remain in his Golden Road until he has curbed his behavior. To continue to care for the people he loves, he creates a non-archmage-level Ochema named Frekki to continue in his stead.
Ever since the the Acamoth, The Darkness that Thirsts, was defeated by the Horsemen cabal, something horrible had been unleashed. Starting in May 2014, Eagle Butte exploded and a sinister force started killing supernatural creatures and devouring their organs, the Slenderman. Nergal (Andrew Buchman), Kairos (Ethen Reed), Frekki (Jerad Sayler), Seraph (Mat Hagen), Eris (Jenny) and Persephone (Keri Sayler) teamed up to defeat two threats during the events of Story: Zero-X. Prodigy (Jon Talley-Richter) returned an Mad Scelesti and started killing mages he felt were a threat to him. Nergal found a card, that only exists in the First Tarot and not know in any other tarot, after Prodigy was killed by his former cabalmates in August 2014. The card is XXVI (26) The Prisoner, and seems to allude to some future event... it is made from some kind of thin shale and silicon and is oily to the touch. Also during Story: Zero-X, Kairos (Ethen Reed) found The Tower, after the Slenderman was destroyed in October 2014. The card appears to invoke the World Trade Center bombing of 9/11/2001 and smells of burning jet fuel. The back of the card claims to be from the WTC Gift Shop.
The thirteenth First Tarot card that was uncovered was by Kairos (Ethen Reed) during Story: The Ring in December 2014 through January 2015. Kairos, Nergal (Andrew Buchman), Frekki (Jerad Sayler) and Chimera (Hannah Nyland) celebrate Yule and host a visitor who leaves a powerful Artifact of the Dethroned Queen in his wake. Seers from the UK follow the trail, trying to re-acquire the Ring and the Horsemen Cabal is dragged into the politics of the Red River Valley Concilium (Fargo). In the end, Kairos rejects the Mystery Commands of the Exarchs and nearly is destroyed when he squares off against an Ochemata and becomes an Archmage. The card was The Fool, and appears to be a Joker from a set of normal playing cards.
The fourteenth card was acquired by Jack Bismuth (Alex Van Belkum) during the events of Story: Gears of Epiphany in September 2015. Over
Labor Day weekend the Pentacle Academy students Jack Bismuth, Reaper (Zac Israelson), Chimera (Hannah Nyland), Overwatch (Andrew Buchman), Ka'Kari (Justin Hutchings) and Caissa (Ethen Reed) follow omens of destruction back to North Dakota. They deal with earthquakes, encounter the Hollow Men (Mothman spirits), destroy a metal dinosaur and clockwork lion guardians and uncover a vital lynchpin of the God-Machine that has been disrupted and must be restarted.. with blood! The card is The Wheel of Fortune, and appears to be made from a hunk of supernally charged metal that resonates with the Primal Wilds. Symbols are etched into its surface.
After the destruction of the Slenderman, some of the children Proxies that were under his sway returned to normal. Others did not. A year later, when Milo, brother to one of the Slenderman's victims is in the cross-hairs of Kevin Haus, the Observer, and his deadly Proxies, it's up to the Pentacle Academy students to finish what the other mages started during Story: The Collective in Halloween 2015. Jack Bismuth (Alex Van Belkum), Reaper (Zac Israelson), Chimera (Hannah Nyland), Overwatch (Andrew Buchman), Ka'Kari (Justin Hutchings) and Caissa (Ethen Reed) were forced to destroy the Observer, but not before Chimera was sucked into the Qlippoth's Abyssal nightmare world. Then, it's up to the Archmages Nergal (Andrew Buchman), Frekki (Jerad Sayler), and Kairos (Ethen Reed) to use Jack's spells to get her out. Afterwards, Overwatch finds the fifteenth card, The Hanged Man. The card is printed on glossy material, like an old Polaroid photograph with sharply colored ink, and depicts the Slenderman.
It is a year of danger and adventure until the cabals encounter another card of the First Tarot appears. One of the Pentacle Academy students, Cyberline Hand, steals some Artifacts from the San Diego Heirarch and fled the Pentacle Academy. It's up to Templeton (Sean Bergman), along with Witness (Korri Smith), Jack Bismuth (Alex Van Belkum), Reaper (Zac Israelson), Chimera (Hannah Nyland), and Overwatch (Andrew Buchman), travel first to the Blood Orchard of Griffith Park in Los Angeles to the Seer-controlled town of Witchend in Berkshire (England) to rescue Cyberline Hand from her own destiny during Story: The Robe in October 2016. When the mages obtain the Robe from the Pylon's Other Gallery, Jack also finds The Empress card. The card is heavy, and made from high quality materials with gold and silver plating and embossing.
After the Triforce cabal's trip to the Underworld during Story: The Heist, people are losing their souls all of the country. The common thread is a phone game app called Unicorn Crossing. Templeton (Sean Bergman), Jack Bismuth (Alex Van Belkum), Reaper (Zac Israelson) and Chimera (Hannah Nyland), track down the Demon responsible, capture and Angel and do all they can to restore what was taken to power the mysterious Infrastructure during Story: Unicorn Crossing in February 2017. Among the wreckage of the server room, Reaper finds another tarot card unique to the First Tarot, The Lady of Shadows, created from a clear plastic.
Project Tet, the Guardian conspiracy surrounding the Keith/Penrod/Pendragon Proximi Dynasty has caught wind of a child, born Awakened, a possible Heiromagus. The child is that of Anne Singleton and Troy Bell from Story: The Lovers, and mages from all factions have picked up the trail long thought cold. Chimera (Hannah Nyland), Witness (Korri Smith), Panoptes (Alex Van Belkum) and Persephone (Keri Sayler) have to track them down and keep the girl safe. What they find they couldn't anticipated and Chimera is forced to make a choice to free the girl from a botched destiny and save her from her pursuers, during Story: Cups Runneth in November 2016. At the end, with her new Apprentice Magpie, Chimera finds The Lovers card and gets the Ten of Cups back from Maggie and her mother.
The latest and nineteenth card was found by the strange and enigmatic Ikiyouyou (Alanna Keith) when she is hired to escort the mages to a salt cave in Germany during Story: The Scepter in June 2017. Ikiyouyou, Templeton (Sean Bergman), Witness (Korri Smith), Jack Bismuth (Alex Van Belkum), Reaper (Zac Israelson) and Chimera (Hannah Nyland) find themselves trapped in the Stepford Suburbian hell of Sutterton Farms, an Astral dream world and defensive measure of the Scepter Artifact itself. They are driven to recover their very identities, relearn their powers, face their fears and desires, and seize control to escape! When the characters awaken back in the cave, Iki spots the Ace of Wands.
As of this post, 19 of at least 80 (78 + 2 unique ones so far) cards of the First Tarot have been discovered by the mages in our chronicle, about 24% of all cards in total. But if the Mysterium deck was only missing ten cards (80%), then when did they lose some of the other 68?
Cartomancy
“Cartomancy” is just a fancy word for using cards for divination. In Mage terms, though, any mage that uses cards (Tarot or otherwise) as a focus for his magic is a cartomancer. This section provides a look at the practice of cartomancy in the context of Mage and provides some systems for playing a cartomancer character.
The Awakened Cartomancer A cartomancer doesn’t possess skills or magic that are much different from other Awakened mages. What is different is how the mage uses the power he has. Cartomancers
all engage in divination, even if they lack the expertise in Fate or Time magic to cast spells that allow knowledge of the future. In addition, they use a random draw to assist them in other magical tasks. This does not require a special deck, but it does require that the mage make a study of the Tarot and can interpret a card in the space of a few seconds (the Cartomancer Merit is described below). Once the mage has mastered this art, a draw from the Tarot can enable him to cast magic with greater confidence, and lessen the risk of Paradox.
All five of the orders include cartomancers, but they are more likely to be apostates or adherents of the Tarot pre-Awakening than to have been trained in the cards by an order. None of the Pentacle orders regularly trains its members in cartomancy, nor do the Seers of the Throne. An individual mage who practices cartomancy, however, might train a pupil in using the cards for magic.
Of the five orders, the Mysterium has the highest number of cartomancers in its ranks, and the Path most likely to take up the practice is unquestionably the Acanthus. Again, though, any mage can become a cartomancer.
In our current chronicles there have been four Cartomancers. Casstiel (Jerad Sayler) and his Ochemata Frekki. Casstiel taught his former apprentice Chimera (Hannah Nyland). Recently a Fortune Dealer named Templeton (Sean Bergeman) has joined the party.
Merit: Cartomancer (• to •••)
Prerequisites: Awakened, Occult •, Occult (Tarot) •, Wits •••
Effects: A cartomancer is never without a Tarot deck. In the myriad possibilities of the Tarot lies true magical power and a way to make Awakened magic fit a bit more seamlessly into the Fallen World. A
mage can become a cartomancer without training by another mage, but must still fulfill the prerequisites.
Divinatory Eye •
This level of the Merit represents basic familiarity with the Tarot with respect to Awakened magic.
This has two effects. First, the character gains their Tarot Deck as a +2 Tool Yantra to all attempts at divination, including spells that attempt to see the future or uses of the Dream Merit, if she uses a Tarot deck in the attempt. Second, the character has the Tarot Deck as a Magically Dedicated Tool (+1 Tool Yantra, -2 to Paradox). She can also dedicate individual cards as Arcana tools (+1 Tool Yantras), but she needs a way to find a particular card quickly in a crisis situation if this is to help.
Interpretative Draw • •
Before casting a spell, the character draws one card from her Tarot deck. Depending on what the card is, it can help her cast the spell or warn her against it. The system for this can either be a dice roll or a literal random draw from a Tarot deck. The card draw is treated as a separate situational Yantra with an applicable bonus based on the roll or interpretation.
If you choose to use a random draw from a deck, the Storyteller and the player must interpret the card in relation to the spell being cast and the situation at hand. If the card indicates that the casting is favorable, apply the bonus as described below under “Success.” If the card is something extremely favorable, the Storyteller may deem it an exceptional success. But by the same token, if the draw indicates something truly disastrous, the character suffers a failure or a dramatic failure.
The dice pool, should you choose to use that system, is Wits + Occult. Drawing and interpreting the card is an instant action, meaning that the character casts the spell on the following turn.
Roll Results:
Dramatic Failure: The spell is the wrong choice for the situation. If the mage chooses to cast it, they lose 10s Again dice permutation to the Spell-casting roll and the card is treated as a -2 Yantra and the player rolls a chance dice. A dramatic failure on this roll is treated as a Havoc Paradox, whether or not the spell was vulgar in aspect.
Failure: The spell isn’t the best choice, but it might work. Apply a -2 Yantra to the character’s casting attempt if she chooses to go through with it.
Success: The spell is a good choice given the situation. Apply a +2 Yantra to the character’s attempt.
Exceptional Success: The spell is exactly appropriate for the circumstance. The player receives a 9-again and a +2 Yantra bonus on the casting roll.
Instinctive Draw •••
The character can now use the Interpretative Draw ability as a reflexive action, meaning that she can draw, interpret, and cast in the same turn. Drawing a card and interpreting it counts as a reflexive Yantra on top of the normal Reflexive Yantra you are allowed to have.
Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler
Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum
Artifact: The First Tarot
Part Two
The following is an collection of Artifacts that keep cropping up in our current Chronicle: Mage II - The Dethroned Queen. Characters find them in tombs that haven't seen light in 5,000 years, stuck to the bottom of their shoes, and in the bodies of slain enemies. No one knows what it means, but it implies that an unseen force is influencing the cabals, laying out a path of destiny that they cannot see or hope to change. Perhaps all the cards will come together again. What will it portend?
Source: As seen as in the Keys to the Supernal Tarot sourcebook for Mage: The Awakening 1st Edition, updated to Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition.
Source: As seen as in the Keys to the Supernal Tarot sourcebook for Mage: The Awakening 1st Edition, updated to Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition.
Apperance of the Cards
((OOC mechanics/knowledge))
The cards of the First Tarot aren’t uniform. The backs of the cards sport a variety of patterns. Some
look Celtic in design, others Chinese, and some bear art that looks distinctly Native American. The design of the cards often represents the culture of the area in which it was found (this is one reason why the rumor about the Tower and the Hierophant being from Atlantis persist, because they are the only cards with Atlantean runes on them). The art, likewise, boasts a wide variety of styles and mediums.
Even the cards themselves aren’t all made of the same material. Some are wood, some are thick paper or vellum, and some appear to be made from beaten metal. The more recently discovered cards (including the Page of Cups and the Seven of Wands) seem to be made from cardstock and printed using modern techniques. Overall the appearance of each card is historically anachronistic and don't conform to expectations.
Item Specs: Size 1; Durability 2; Structure 3; (Single card or deck has the same stats)
Researching usage: At least 12 Successes to research with a mage knowledge source.
Dot Rating: 8 OOOOO OOO (4 Experience Points) By themselves, each card counts as a one dot Artifact Merit (even know all Artifacts should start at 3 dots as a minimum)
Utility Attainments: Temporal Sympathy OO
Mana: Unknown, at least 12 Mana, (separated, each card has 1 Mana each)
Effective Gnosis Rating: 4 OOOO
Effective Arcana Rating/Reach: 4 OOOO
Path Tool Yantra: A single card operates as a +1 Tool Yantra for an Acanthus. A single card also acts as a +2 Tool Yantra for Divination spells of any Arcana. In a completely assembled deck, the bonuses are doubled (+2 and +4 respectively).
Dot Rating: 8 OOOOO OOO (4 Experience Points) By themselves, each card counts as a one dot Artifact Merit (even know all Artifacts should start at 3 dots as a minimum)Utility Attainments: Temporal Sympathy OO
Mana: Unknown, at least 12 Mana, (separated, each card has 1 Mana each)
Effective Gnosis Rating: 4 OOOO
Effective Arcana Rating/Reach: 4 OOOO
Path Tool Yantra: A single card operates as a +1 Tool Yantra for an Acanthus. A single card also acts as a +2 Tool Yantra for Divination spells of any Arcana. In a completely assembled deck, the bonuses are doubled (+2 and +4 respectively).
Effect 1 (Conditional/Trigger):
Under proper circumstances, the First Tarot can give you perfect and clear results. The “proper circumstances,” however, are difficult. First, the mage must be completely free of magic when he uses the deck. He must use no Mage Sight or armor spells, no spells to increase his Mental Attributes or make him more aware of connections. He must read the cards without any filters from the Supernal Realms.
Second, the mage must be free of distraction. The character must meditate before using the deck
and must keep his mind clear while laying out the cards (per Meditation rules in MtA 2.0). Keeping a clear mind after getting distracted requires a roll of Resolve + Composure with appropriate penalties. The Meditative Mind Merit applies its effect to this roll.
If either of these rules is broken during the reading, the Artifact’s mystical effects immediately stop. The character keeps whatever insight he already received, but any other guesses he makes will have no backing from the Supernal Realms.
Outside Fate/Time based Merits or circumstances can make the cards harder or easier to use as well. These bonuses and penalties are usually derived from Merits such as Dream (if specific), Destiny, etc. For example, if the subject of the reading directly involves causing a Destiny to be fulfilled the roll can receive bonus dice equal to the dots in Destiny. If the subject does not relate to these merits then they act as penalties. If they involve a subject's Doom aspect of the Destiny Merit or don't involve that destiny at all, then those Merit dots act as a penalty.
A single card or the complete Deck can be activated to cast the spell "Divination" (Time 1) for the price of a mana and the spell roll is a Rote Action. However, each card missing from the deck accumulates a -1 penalty (to a maximum of -10, thankfully). Since the Deck is incomplete the probability of this roll being a Chance die is all but certain and the Rote action doesn't apply.
Dramatic Failure: The spells seems to work as normal but the answer is a combination of player interpretation to the Tarot draws and false information provided by the Storyteller.
Failure: The spell seems to work but the player has to interpret the results as best they can from the cards and not the actual plot.
Success: The divination happens as designed.
Exceptional Success: Additional to a regular success, take an Arcane Beat and gain a dot of Dream. Other merits may also work here, such as Destiny, or conditions like Informed.
Effect 2 (Passive/Continuous): Lastly, there is evidence to suggest that bearing a single card hides the owner from "the agents of the Lie." It has been show to obfuscate the owner Seers and even Guardians of the Veil. The effect seems to be unpredictable, sporadic and unsubstantiated and hasn't been tested further yet. Evidence collected is in regards to the Guardians of the Veil operations code named MESONPIRAHNA (MPN).
((I've been treating this as Occultation 8 for now but haven't clarified what exactly clarifies someone as an Agent of the Lie or how the mechanism works.))
((I've been treating this as Occultation 8 for now but haven't clarified what exactly clarifies someone as an Agent of the Lie or how the mechanism works.))
Known Disposition of Cards
The following is a breakdown of all the cards that have been uncovered by the characters in the Dethroned Queen, our current mage chronicle. It features who bears the card, what it is made out of, the circumstances of where it was found and what the card looks like. The following is Player Character knowledge and shared among all active players. Please note, the pictures in this post are actually what the cards look like as far as imagery.
Also... this is only about half the plots we've ran this Chronicle. This is not a full list of Stories we have done but only the ones that were ran by Jerad Sayler and included a Tarot.
 |
| 10 of Cups |
The first card ever uncovered by a character in our chronicle continuity was found by Persephone (Keri Sayler) during Story: The Lovers, in the summer of 2011. This actually happened during our previous Chronicle - Mage: The Horsemen. The card was the Ten of Cups, made out of a thin woodcut with silver metal inlaid for the actual cups. This card was passed to Anne Singleton and Troy Bell when they went on the lamb. The Ten of Cups is the representation of the Kabbalistic Sephiroth, the ten Arcana, and the Tree of Life. On the card the cups are actually positioned in the same positions each Sephirah is depicted.
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| The Chariot |
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| The Hermit |
The third card was given to Seraph (Mathew Hagen) of the Bridge of Souls cabal by an Archmage named Aldous when the cabal encountered him in Machu Picchu. Aldous introduced himself during a backpacking trip in June of 2013, during Story: The Hermit. The card was, of course, the Hermit, and was another woodcut in the old English style.
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| Four of Cups |
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| Six of Cups |
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| The Moon |
The sixth card was recovered by Indra (Alanna Kieth), formerly of the Horsemen cabal in January 2014 during the events of Story: Dream a Dream, where Eris (Jenny), Persephone (Keri Sayler) and Indra (Alanna Kieth) helped the Temenic god of dreams, Morpheus, one of the seven mythic Endless, recover his power after his recent imprisonment by a dream cult. The card is The Moon and is Astral in nature, residing only in Indra's Onerous for the time being. It is gossamer and translucent.
The seventh card was discovered by Casstiel (Jerad Sayler) and Persephone (Keri Sayler) when they were hanging out with friends and the top three
floors of Hill Manor were pulled into a pocket dimension in February 2014 during Story: A Nightmare on Hill Manor. The card is the Two of Cups and according to the back of the card, its from the New York New York Casino in Los Vegas. Since the Alamo concilium (San Antonio) was already unhappy about a cabal of Apostates on the edge of town the fallout was looking to be serious. As a result, they left their sleeper friends with the card in hopes that (same as Singleton, Bell and Kirsten) would hide them from those who would do them harm in magical society.
The eighth card was found by Nergal (Andrew Buchman) by Death, the Temenic god of the astral Death Realm and one of the Endless after the Horseman cabal destroys the Acamoth called The Darkness that Thirsts that resided in his soul stone and attains Archmastery. He actually found it stuck to the bottom of his foot after crossing the Abyss and returning. Death and Dream both came to the defense of the Tenemos when the Acamoth threatens to spread beyond any attempts at containment. The Horsemen and the heroic Jack Bismuth (Alex Van Belkum) manage to free Death from her possession by the Acamoth and banish it back into the Abyss in April 2014 during Story: What Dreams May Come. The card is Death, and has depictions of Death of the Endless on both sides. Jack also received a silver bell to call her attention when she is needed.
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| Two of Cups |
The seventh card was discovered by Casstiel (Jerad Sayler) and Persephone (Keri Sayler) when they were hanging out with friends and the top three
floors of Hill Manor were pulled into a pocket dimension in February 2014 during Story: A Nightmare on Hill Manor. The card is the Two of Cups and according to the back of the card, its from the New York New York Casino in Los Vegas. Since the Alamo concilium (San Antonio) was already unhappy about a cabal of Apostates on the edge of town the fallout was looking to be serious. As a result, they left their sleeper friends with the card in hopes that (same as Singleton, Bell and Kirsten) would hide them from those who would do them harm in magical society.
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| Death |
The eighth card was found by Nergal (Andrew Buchman) by Death, the Temenic god of the astral Death Realm and one of the Endless after the Horseman cabal destroys the Acamoth called The Darkness that Thirsts that resided in his soul stone and attains Archmastery. He actually found it stuck to the bottom of his foot after crossing the Abyss and returning. Death and Dream both came to the defense of the Tenemos when the Acamoth threatens to spread beyond any attempts at containment. The Horsemen and the heroic Jack Bismuth (Alex Van Belkum) manage to free Death from her possession by the Acamoth and banish it back into the Abyss in April 2014 during Story: What Dreams May Come. The card is Death, and has depictions of Death of the Endless on both sides. Jack also received a silver bell to call her attention when she is needed. |
| The High Priestess |
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| The World |
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| The Prisoner |
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| The Tower |
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| The Fool |
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| Wheel front |
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| Wheel back |
Labor Day weekend the Pentacle Academy students Jack Bismuth, Reaper (Zac Israelson), Chimera (Hannah Nyland), Overwatch (Andrew Buchman), Ka'Kari (Justin Hutchings) and Caissa (Ethen Reed) follow omens of destruction back to North Dakota. They deal with earthquakes, encounter the Hollow Men (Mothman spirits), destroy a metal dinosaur and clockwork lion guardians and uncover a vital lynchpin of the God-Machine that has been disrupted and must be restarted.. with blood! The card is The Wheel of Fortune, and appears to be made from a hunk of supernally charged metal that resonates with the Primal Wilds. Symbols are etched into its surface.
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| The Hanged Man |
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| The Empress |
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| The Lady of Shadows |
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| The Lovers |
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| Ace of Wands front |
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| Ace of Wands back |
As of this post, 19 of at least 80 (78 + 2 unique ones so far) cards of the First Tarot have been discovered by the mages in our chronicle, about 24% of all cards in total. But if the Mysterium deck was only missing ten cards (80%), then when did they lose some of the other 68?
Cartomancy
“Cartomancy” is just a fancy word for using cards for divination. In Mage terms, though, any mage that uses cards (Tarot or otherwise) as a focus for his magic is a cartomancer. This section provides a look at the practice of cartomancy in the context of Mage and provides some systems for playing a cartomancer character.
The Awakened Cartomancer A cartomancer doesn’t possess skills or magic that are much different from other Awakened mages. What is different is how the mage uses the power he has. Cartomancers
all engage in divination, even if they lack the expertise in Fate or Time magic to cast spells that allow knowledge of the future. In addition, they use a random draw to assist them in other magical tasks. This does not require a special deck, but it does require that the mage make a study of the Tarot and can interpret a card in the space of a few seconds (the Cartomancer Merit is described below). Once the mage has mastered this art, a draw from the Tarot can enable him to cast magic with greater confidence, and lessen the risk of Paradox.
All five of the orders include cartomancers, but they are more likely to be apostates or adherents of the Tarot pre-Awakening than to have been trained in the cards by an order. None of the Pentacle orders regularly trains its members in cartomancy, nor do the Seers of the Throne. An individual mage who practices cartomancy, however, might train a pupil in using the cards for magic.
Of the five orders, the Mysterium has the highest number of cartomancers in its ranks, and the Path most likely to take up the practice is unquestionably the Acanthus. Again, though, any mage can become a cartomancer.
In our current chronicles there have been four Cartomancers. Casstiel (Jerad Sayler) and his Ochemata Frekki. Casstiel taught his former apprentice Chimera (Hannah Nyland). Recently a Fortune Dealer named Templeton (Sean Bergeman) has joined the party.
Merit: Cartomancer (• to •••)
Prerequisites: Awakened, Occult •, Occult (Tarot) •, Wits •••
Effects: A cartomancer is never without a Tarot deck. In the myriad possibilities of the Tarot lies true magical power and a way to make Awakened magic fit a bit more seamlessly into the Fallen World. A
mage can become a cartomancer without training by another mage, but must still fulfill the prerequisites.
Divinatory Eye •
This level of the Merit represents basic familiarity with the Tarot with respect to Awakened magic.
This has two effects. First, the character gains their Tarot Deck as a +2 Tool Yantra to all attempts at divination, including spells that attempt to see the future or uses of the Dream Merit, if she uses a Tarot deck in the attempt. Second, the character has the Tarot Deck as a Magically Dedicated Tool (+1 Tool Yantra, -2 to Paradox). She can also dedicate individual cards as Arcana tools (+1 Tool Yantras), but she needs a way to find a particular card quickly in a crisis situation if this is to help.
Interpretative Draw • •
Before casting a spell, the character draws one card from her Tarot deck. Depending on what the card is, it can help her cast the spell or warn her against it. The system for this can either be a dice roll or a literal random draw from a Tarot deck. The card draw is treated as a separate situational Yantra with an applicable bonus based on the roll or interpretation.
If you choose to use a random draw from a deck, the Storyteller and the player must interpret the card in relation to the spell being cast and the situation at hand. If the card indicates that the casting is favorable, apply the bonus as described below under “Success.” If the card is something extremely favorable, the Storyteller may deem it an exceptional success. But by the same token, if the draw indicates something truly disastrous, the character suffers a failure or a dramatic failure.
The dice pool, should you choose to use that system, is Wits + Occult. Drawing and interpreting the card is an instant action, meaning that the character casts the spell on the following turn.
Roll Results:
Dramatic Failure: The spell is the wrong choice for the situation. If the mage chooses to cast it, they lose 10s Again dice permutation to the Spell-casting roll and the card is treated as a -2 Yantra and the player rolls a chance dice. A dramatic failure on this roll is treated as a Havoc Paradox, whether or not the spell was vulgar in aspect.
Failure: The spell isn’t the best choice, but it might work. Apply a -2 Yantra to the character’s casting attempt if she chooses to go through with it.
Success: The spell is a good choice given the situation. Apply a +2 Yantra to the character’s attempt.
Exceptional Success: The spell is exactly appropriate for the circumstance. The player receives a 9-again and a +2 Yantra bonus on the casting roll.
Instinctive Draw •••
The character can now use the Interpretative Draw ability as a reflexive action, meaning that she can draw, interpret, and cast in the same turn. Drawing a card and interpreting it counts as a reflexive Yantra on top of the normal Reflexive Yantra you are allowed to have.
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