Out of Character (OOC):
Source: As seen as in the Astral Realms source book for Mage: The Awakening 1st Edition, updated to Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition.
The following is an Artifact that was claimed by The Five Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the cabal in our last Chronicle, Mage: The Horsemen. It was discovered in one of the ancient garden/prisons on an outcrop of the crumbling Spire Perilous in the Anthropic Redoubts during the Story: Shores of Ouroboros, Yule 2011.
The books is an Astral item and therefore in its natural state can only exist in Astral space. For years Casstiel, as former Lorekeeper of the cabals, had the codex remain in his Oneiros. It may have been possible to pull the Artifact out of Astral space by created a Chimerical vessel for it but since Casstiel could enter his own Oneiros without a Hallow and without putting his physical body into a coma it was largely unnecessary.
When Casstiel became an Archmage (and slowly slid into NPC-hood), the resource was at risk to being unusable unless it was gifted to another cabal. If non-Traveler mages were allowed to use it freely when it was an Archmaster resource, there would be risk of Casstiel violating the Pax Arcana. Casstiel was already on a sort of "house arrest" for his previous violations of the Pax, trapped in his Golden Road and unable to act upon the world. He had no intention of breaking any more rules.
To ensure that the Codex would remain accessible to his friends and allies he used the Practice of Dominions (in this case using Mind 8) to expand the item into its own realm in the Tenemos with only a few means of entering, a secret only shared with those who still would need access. Instead of a tome that could be riffled through by a single mage, the Codex is now a vast library to be explored.
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 Codex of Lost Pages
Temenic Library
Source: As seen as in the Astral Realms source book for Mage: The Awakening 1st Edition, updated to Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition.
The following is an Artifact that was claimed by The Five Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the cabal in our last Chronicle, Mage: The Horsemen. It was discovered in one of the ancient garden/prisons on an outcrop of the crumbling Spire Perilous in the Anthropic Redoubts during the Story: Shores of Ouroboros, Yule 2011.The books is an Astral item and therefore in its natural state can only exist in Astral space. For years Casstiel, as former Lorekeeper of the cabals, had the codex remain in his Oneiros. It may have been possible to pull the Artifact out of Astral space by created a Chimerical vessel for it but since Casstiel could enter his own Oneiros without a Hallow and without putting his physical body into a coma it was largely unnecessary.
When Casstiel became an Archmage (and slowly slid into NPC-hood), the resource was at risk to being unusable unless it was gifted to another cabal. If non-Traveler mages were allowed to use it freely when it was an Archmaster resource, there would be risk of Casstiel violating the Pax Arcana. Casstiel was already on a sort of "house arrest" for his previous violations of the Pax, trapped in his Golden Road and unable to act upon the world. He had no intention of breaking any more rules.
To ensure that the Codex would remain accessible to his friends and allies he used the Practice of Dominions (in this case using Mind 8) to expand the item into its own realm in the Tenemos with only a few means of entering, a secret only shared with those who still would need access. Instead of a tome that could be riffled through by a single mage, the Codex is now a vast library to be explored.
The Original Codex
Books — particularly nonexistent books — share a peculiar link with Astral Space. Books that were never finished, books that were censored and books that exist only in legend can all be found in one realm or another, whether in astral libraries or in private hands.
Humans are often inspired to re-create the Codex of Lost Pages in the material world when they notice a page missing from a book of their own. A person who obsesses over the lost page, who attempts to locate it through whatever means possible, may begin dreaming of the Codex. She may begin writing obsessively in a language that appears to be gibberish, but gradually assemble these writings into a single great tome — the Codex itself.
Appearance: Various based on perception, this one is a large tome of sown together worn pages like some ancient scrapbook.
Determining usage: In general, this takes 16 successes on an extended research action to determine how to use the Artifact.
Effective Gnosis Rating: 4
Gnosis (4+) + Mind (4+) is rolled, one Mana is spent and an effect combining Mind 4, Space 2 and Time 2 effects is triggered. The roll is modified based on the reader’s sympathetic connection to the book or topic that would have contained the lost page. Each success yields one clue or secret on the topic in question in the form of scraps of material. This is an extended action (unless reach is used) based on the users Gnosis/casting time.
Passive Effects: The Codex behaves as if it has Preserve Astral Object cast on it with an indefinite duration.
Yantra: +1 Path Tool for Mastigos
The Astral Palace of the Codex of Lost Pages
Shortcut to the Temenic Realm:
To travel directly to the Temenos and arrive in the Codex a mage must go to one of the two Sanctum Hallows (Bridge of Souls or Horsemen) and write a page of personal thoughts and ideas in a personal diary. Remove a full page of written content and burn it at the center of the Hallow. Other things can also be utilized: a page from a diary, first edition book, some form of rare knowledge that exists in very few places. The rare knowledge must have a known or intimate sympathetic connection with the character that destroys it. This forges a sympathetic and mental connection between the Astral Palace and the character. One page of personal content must be burned per character.
Connection forged, the characters can then take advantage of the astral shortcut to an isolated Tenemic realm. They then meditate and when they gain 5 successes on the meditation roll they cross the Astral Threshold (1 Mana) and arrive at the Astral Palace created by Casstiel which projects the infinite contents of the Codex of Lost Pages.
Appearance of the Library:
The Astral Palace of the Codex of Lost Pages is an infinite library of books in symmetrical rows and hallways that extend in all directions, forming perspective fractal patterns of shelving. Ambient light seems to be generated by all objects within it... The few gaps that can be seen behind the rows open into an endless space of pitch black nothingness. It doesn't take long to notice that instead of true books, this library contains laminated sheets in small folders. Billions of them.
(All this looks remarkably similar in appearance to the Tesseract in the movie Interstellar)
Accessing lost knowledge:
While in the Palace, once per story a Cabal (or subset of characters) can make teamwork roll all using the same Attribute + Skill. Each actor is penalized by the sympathetic link to the topic they wish to learn about. The primary actor is the character with the strongest sympathetic connection or highest dice pool. Each success of this roll gleans vital clues to the topic at hand.
The Codex re-arranges itself to provide pages close to the topic as the seekers wander. Only one topic can be researched at a time because it would confuse this mechanism (like trying to Google two very different things but putting both in the search bar, the results get... stupid.). Subjective time inside the library is approximately one hour per roll, while in the outside world only a minute goes by.
After one topic has been researched the Codex needs approximately needs a month (next Story) before it can be used by those same characters again. If a Cabal breaks into groups and doesn't research at the same time they can visit at different time intervals and research multiple subjects, but with fewer people to dedicate to the effort.
One of the biggest benefits of the library is that one success does not reveal one secret or clue but rather a complete subtopic of info. Instead it allows for teamwork relying on Attributes and Skills rather than raw Gnosis and Mind dots. It also isn't affected by the casting time of the group but rather each roll is a subjective hour of time.
It should be noted that this realm is one emanation of the Codex that exists in the Tenemos. While the pathways of association and connections have been heavily restricted so that access to the larger Tenemos is highly unlikely, it might be possible for other Astral travelers to wander in from one of the Codex's other emanations or parallel library realms.
Books — particularly nonexistent books — share a peculiar link with Astral Space. Books that were never finished, books that were censored and books that exist only in legend can all be found in one realm or another, whether in astral libraries or in private hands.
The Codex of Lost Pages is a compilation that belongs to a realm of lost and half-imagined lore, a place that has destroyed more scholars than it ever enlightened. The Codex collects single pages that have disappeared from books in the Fallen World — a page destroyed by fire from an ancient grimoire here, a page torn out of a teenager’s diary there.
Humans are often inspired to re-create the Codex of Lost Pages in the material world when they notice a page missing from a book of their own. A person who obsesses over the lost page, who attempts to locate it through whatever means possible, may begin dreaming of the Codex. She may begin writing obsessively in a language that appears to be gibberish, but gradually assemble these writings into a single great tome — the Codex itself.
Some speculation holds that a similar Artifact exists in digital form, archiving missing websites and dead links. So far, there have been no reliable references to such an Artifact appearing as a chimerical item.
Codex of Lost Pages OOOOO OOO (8):
Item Specs: Size 1; Durability 3; Structure: 4; Holds 16 ManaAppearance: Various based on perception, this one is a large tome of sown together worn pages like some ancient scrapbook.
Determining usage: In general, this takes 16 successes on an extended research action to determine how to use the Artifact.
Effective Gnosis Rating: 4
Effective Arcana Rating/Reach: 4 (Cannot exceed this amount of Reach)
Triggering Use: In order to locate and read a lost page preserved within the Codex, a person must focus on the page’s (presumed) contents and flip the tome open.
Triggering Use: In order to locate and read a lost page preserved within the Codex, a person must focus on the page’s (presumed) contents and flip the tome open.
Gnosis (4+) + Mind (4+) is rolled, one Mana is spent and an effect combining Mind 4, Space 2 and Time 2 effects is triggered. The roll is modified based on the reader’s sympathetic connection to the book or topic that would have contained the lost page. Each success yields one clue or secret on the topic in question in the form of scraps of material. This is an extended action (unless reach is used) based on the users Gnosis/casting time.
Passive Effects: The Codex behaves as if it has Preserve Astral Object cast on it with an indefinite duration.
Yantra: +1 Path Tool for Mastigos
To travel directly to the Temenos and arrive in the Codex a mage must go to one of the two Sanctum Hallows (Bridge of Souls or Horsemen) and write a page of personal thoughts and ideas in a personal diary. Remove a full page of written content and burn it at the center of the Hallow. Other things can also be utilized: a page from a diary, first edition book, some form of rare knowledge that exists in very few places. The rare knowledge must have a known or intimate sympathetic connection with the character that destroys it. This forges a sympathetic and mental connection between the Astral Palace and the character. One page of personal content must be burned per character.
Connection forged, the characters can then take advantage of the astral shortcut to an isolated Tenemic realm. They then meditate and when they gain 5 successes on the meditation roll they cross the Astral Threshold (1 Mana) and arrive at the Astral Palace created by Casstiel which projects the infinite contents of the Codex of Lost Pages.
Appearance of the Library:
The Astral Palace of the Codex of Lost Pages is an infinite library of books in symmetrical rows and hallways that extend in all directions, forming perspective fractal patterns of shelving. Ambient light seems to be generated by all objects within it... The few gaps that can be seen behind the rows open into an endless space of pitch black nothingness. It doesn't take long to notice that instead of true books, this library contains laminated sheets in small folders. Billions of them.
(All this looks remarkably similar in appearance to the Tesseract in the movie Interstellar)
Accessing lost knowledge:
While in the Palace, once per story a Cabal (or subset of characters) can make teamwork roll all using the same Attribute + Skill. Each actor is penalized by the sympathetic link to the topic they wish to learn about. The primary actor is the character with the strongest sympathetic connection or highest dice pool. Each success of this roll gleans vital clues to the topic at hand.
The Codex re-arranges itself to provide pages close to the topic as the seekers wander. Only one topic can be researched at a time because it would confuse this mechanism (like trying to Google two very different things but putting both in the search bar, the results get... stupid.). Subjective time inside the library is approximately one hour per roll, while in the outside world only a minute goes by.
After one topic has been researched the Codex needs approximately needs a month (next Story) before it can be used by those same characters again. If a Cabal breaks into groups and doesn't research at the same time they can visit at different time intervals and research multiple subjects, but with fewer people to dedicate to the effort.One of the biggest benefits of the library is that one success does not reveal one secret or clue but rather a complete subtopic of info. Instead it allows for teamwork relying on Attributes and Skills rather than raw Gnosis and Mind dots. It also isn't affected by the casting time of the group but rather each roll is a subjective hour of time.
It should be noted that this realm is one emanation of the Codex that exists in the Tenemos. While the pathways of association and connections have been heavily restricted so that access to the larger Tenemos is highly unlikely, it might be possible for other Astral travelers to wander in from one of the Codex's other emanations or parallel library realms.
No comments:
Post a Comment