[Mage: The Awakening 2e] Chimerical Objects

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

Magic: Chimerical Objects

As seen in Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition: The Fallen World Chronicle Anthology. Buy it here. Of all the Mage stories I have read, this one resonates the strongest. What is the antagonist? A powerful shadow spirit? An Abyssal Intruder? Are the mages moral or horrible?

Chimerical Items are only mentioned in the Astral Realms book starting on page 116
I'd say that pulling a Chimerical item from Astral Space would require Matter 4 + Mind 4 (and depending on what it is may take Prime 2 or Spirit 2 or whatever thrown in).
I'd also say that to walk BODILY into the Astral (which is not mentioned anywhere in the new or old books outside of using an Iris to get there) would require Space 5 + Mind 4 (Life 2)
It's easier to transfer an item INTO Astral space than to pull one out.

Chimerical Items Many mages dream — literally or metaphorically

— of bringing treasures from Astral Space back to

the Fallen World. Mages see relics of great power,

machines never invented by humans and icons embodying

abstract concepts, and imagine what could

be done with such items if they were real. Sleepers,

too, dream these dreams — they grasp wealth, hope

or the Holy Grail at night, and they wake up in the

morning with empty hands.

To bring an item back from Astral Space is an

exceptional thing, and can only be accomplished

through exceptional means. Such items are generally

referred to as “chimerical” and are usually recovered

in one of three ways: inspired creation, manifestation

or conjuration.

Of course, the world is a mysterious place, and other

means of recovering chimerical items may exist. In

particular, it’s hard for mages to dismiss stories where

people wake up and find that they really do clutch an

item that they touched in dreams. Perhaps it’s just a

Sleeper fantasy, or perhaps it’s something more.

Inspired Creation After encountering an item in Astral Space

— whether accidentally or as part of a great quest

— a person may be inspired to try to re-create that

archetypal item in the real world. This is particularly

true of items with a simple application: swords, staffs,

books and sculptures are common examples.

Most often, the inspired individual slaves away for

weeks, months or years, sometimes visiting the dream

of the object repeatedly and other times working

from a single, half-remembered vision. Mages may act

knowingly, understanding why they do what they do

(even without understanding the mechanics of the

craft). Sleepers may become obsessed or half-mad as

they produce work far beyond their own natural skills.

At last, when the crafting is complete, the need to

create drains away.

Such inspired creations frequently have no magical

significance. They are works of art or invention that,

however incredible in their own right, have no greater

relevance to mages. At best, such creations qualify as

enhanced items. At other times, these creations possess

a clear mystical quality. Mages and Sleepers can

craft imbued items and Artifacts in this way without

the need for spells. A chimerical item’s Mana must

still come from an outside source, but Sleepers often

find that their dreams show them the way to a Hallow

before they begin the real work.

Not every act of creation is literal. Sometimes, a

person re-creates an astral object by re-creating the

imagery that surrounds the object. Consider a ham-

Astral Artifacts

By definition, an Artifact is an object directly

connected to (and most often originating in)

the Supernal Realms — not one tied to Astral

Space. When it comes to chimerical items,

however, Storytellers may wish to mix and

match some of the rules of Artifacts and

imbued items. In particular, chimerical items

may have a higher Durability than normal,

grant a degree of Status to their owners and

even allow mages to use their Mana pools to

power their own spells — just as Artifacts do.

So although chimerical items may not be

tied to the Supernal Realms, these items are

still connected to something beyond the Fallen

World and qualify as something special. It’s

the degree of this connection that determines

whether a chimerical item is considered an

Artifact, an imbued or enhanced item, or just

an ordinary object with a strange and mysterious

story.

archetypal item in the real world. This is particularly

true of items with a simple application: swords, staffs,

books and sculptures are common examples.

Most often, the inspired individual slaves away for

weeks, months or years, sometimes visiting the dream

of the object repeatedly and other times working

from a single, half-remembered vision. Mages may act

knowingly, understanding why they do what they do

(even without understanding the mechanics of the

craft). Sleepers may become obsessed or half-mad as

they produce work far beyond their own natural skills.

At last, when the crafting is complete, the need to

create drains away.

Such inspired creations frequently have no magical

significance. They are works of art or invention that,

however incredible in their own right, have no greater

relevance to mages. At best, such creations qualify as

enhanced items. At other times, these creations possess

a clear mystical quality. Mages and Sleepers can

craft imbued items and Artifacts in this way without

the need for spells. A chimerical item’s Mana must

still come from an outside source, but Sleepers often

find that their dreams show them the way to a Hallow

before they begin the real work.

Not every act of creation is literal. Sometimes, a

person re-creates an astral object by re-creating the

imagery that surrounds the object. Consider a ham-

mer that, in dreams, kills frost giants and channels

lightning; such a hammer could be re-created by a

mechanic who uses a crowbar as a lightning rod and

wields it in a fight against gangsters on a winter night.

Often, the elements of a mystery play factor into the

creation of an inspired chimerical item, and this should

be no surprise — although mystery plays occur as part

of an Awakening, they are as tied to Astral Space as

they are to the Supernal Realms.

The astral objects that inspire mortals are almost

always found in the Temenos, and some have been

re-created in the Fallen World again and again over

generations. Each generation of dreamers returns to

the same archetypes, and each attempts to bring the

same objects to life. When the material objects are

destroyed or lose their meaning, they are made anew

— while their inspirational archetypes are eternal.

Manifestation Not all astral objects can be reconstructed in the

Fallen World. There are items of such power and symbolic

weight that they can exist only in the realm of

thought and dreams — items of archetypal purity and

ineffable nature. But although these items can never

be carried to the mortal realm, their shadows can

manifest briefly with the help of powerful magic.

In much the same way goetic mages manifest their

inner demons, certain mages have learned how to

manifest chimerical items. Such an item appears to be

simultaneously in Astral Space and the Fallen World,

but in fact, the Fallen World manifestation is a sort of

illusion. It’s the astral archetype given material form,

matter attempting to reflect a higher truth. Such a

chimerical item is typically an object of great power

— the keystone to a whole realm, the thunderbolts

of an astral god or the symbolic representation of a

powerful concept such as love, healing or death.

Conjuration Truly powerful mages take manifestation a step

further. Instead of summoning the shadow of an astral

object in the Fallen World, they tear away a piece of

Astral Space itself and give it physical form. They

sacrifice the ideal in the name of materiality, and

cannibalize the subtle soul for gross resources. Some

mages compare the conjuration of a chimerical item

to the creation of a soul stone. Needless to say, this is

powerful and dangerous magic — but the chimerical

items such magic creates are potentially unequaled.

As with the consequences of any alteration to Astral

Space, the consequences of removing a chimerical item

from the astral landscape are ultimately unknown.

There are those who believe that such an act would

cause the item to become unique in the physical

world — that by removing the archetypal book from

the Temenos, human beings would find themselves

unable to write new books over the coming years,

decades or centuries. Without templates in dreams,

the theory suggests, nothing new can be made. This

is a worst-case scenario, but nonetheless, many mages

tread cautiously when it comes to vandalizing the

collective unconscious.

In addition to natural magical properties, conjured

chimerical items also maintain a special link

to Astral Space — by focusing on such an item, a

mage can travel to its home realm relatively easily.

Any mage can meditate on a chimerical item and

enter its native plane in Astral Space, even outside a

Demesne or Hallow; in addition, reduce the normal

number of successes required on the extended Wits

+ Composure roll by the chimerical item’s imbued

item or Artifact rating

Chimerical Manifestation

(Matter •••• + Mind ••••;

optional Prime •••)

The mage manifests an object from Astral

Space in the real world, giving the object form

and power.

Practice: Making

Action: Instant

Duration: Prolonged (one scene)

Aspect: Vulgar

Cost: 1 Mana

The mage must focus on a particular object

in Astral Space; his sympathetic connection

to the object modifies the casting roll. (Consider

any object the mage has encountered in

his own Oneiros — including objects brought

from other realms of Astral Space — to be

intimately connected to him.) When the object

manifests, it appears identical to the astral

object in every way.

If the object qualifies as an imbued item or

an Artifact, the mage must also have Prime

4 and supply Mana for the object’s Mana

pool. However, the mage does not need to

be capable of casting any spells the item

may contain.

Chimerical Conjuration

(Matter ••••• + Mind ••••

+ Spirit ••••)

The mage tears an object from Astral Space

into the Fallen World.

Practice: Patterning

Action: Extended

Duration: Lasting

Aspect: Vulgar

Cost: 1 Mana

This spell functions similarly to “Chimerical

Manifestation,” but the effect is permanent.

The spell’s target number is equal to the chimerical

item’s imbued item or Artifact rating

(minimum 3).

Casting this spell is an act of hubris, requiring

a mage with a Wisdom higher than four

dots to make a degeneration roll

Chimerical Items and the Oneiros Most chimerical items described in this chapter

— along with most chimerical items likely to be

found in a chronicle — originate in the Temenos. The

Temenos houses the majority of the great archetypal

treasures, along with the majority of astral objects

crafted by mages. In the Dreamtime, very few “crafted”

items exist at all, and claiming chimerical items from

its realms is a fairly unusual occurrence.

Items appear in Oneiroi, too — memories of real

items, fantasies, subconscious symbols and more.

There’s nothing that prevents a mage from trying to

bring these items back into the Fallen World, and

although it’s rare that such a chimerical item possesses

magic — few imbued items or Artifacts are found in

Oneiroi — these objects have uses of their own.

A chimerical object taken from a person’s Oneiros

is intimately linked to that individual. The object

can be used to create a sympathetic connection to

that person, or to take advantage of that person’s

vulnerabilities; depending on the exact nature of the

object and the person involved, an individual may

suffer a penalty on all rolls of one to three dice when

confronting an opponent wielding a manifestation of

his psyche. (This is similar to the effect of a bane on

a character possessing the Destiny Merit.)

A chimerical item from one’s own Oneiros can

also prove useful. If a mage draws an object from his

mind, he can sacrifice one dot of Willpower to give

the chimerical item Willpower of its own equal to the

mage’s (newly adjusted) Willpower score. From that

point forward, the mage can spend the Willpower

invested in the object instead of his own. Once that

Willpower is depleted, however, the chimerical item

fades away forever.

Astral Treasures What follows are examples of items that originate in

Astral Space. Some are chimerical items that can be

found in the Fallen World, while others exist purely

in the Inner Realms.

Astral Bubble (Artifact ••••••) One of the most terrifying astral artifacts is the Astral

Bubble. Existing only in Astral Space, this Artifact

can only be acquired from an astral archetype of at

least Rank 5, but the only way to acquire one is to

do a significant favor for one of these potent beings.

Astral Bubbles always takes the form of transparent

sphere about the size of a plum that looks much like

small but heavy glass Christmas ornaments. To use

this item, the owner must spend a point of Mana and

physically throw the bubble at the target, who cannot

be a native of Astral Space. This Artifact can be used

on spirits and ghosts as well as on the astral bodies of

mortal visitors. If this Artifact strikes the target, the

target is allowed a single Composure + Wits + Gnosis

or Finesse + Resistance roll. If the subject rolls five or

more successes, the Astral Bubble bounces off them

and reappears instantly in its owner’s hand. If the

subject rolls fewer success, the bubble slides seamlessly

and painlessly inside the target, coming to rest

in the center of the target’s body. The bubble causes

no discomfort and has no affect on the target until

she attempts to leave Astral Space. Any human, spirit

or ghost that has been affected by an Astral Bubble

cannot leave Astral Space by any means. As a result,

mages and other living humans in Astral Space who

have been struck by one of these items cannot wake

up — their bodies remain in a coma until they are

released or someone uses a spirit or other being to

possess their bodies. The subject can act normally in

Astral Space, but cannot leave.

The only ways to remove this bubble and leave

Astral Space are for the target to obtain the aid of an

archetype of Rank 5 or higher. Such beings can easily

remove the bubble, and may be convinced to give it

to subject. Alternately, the subject can convince the

bubble’s owner to remove it. In both cases, doing so

requires that the archetype or owner touch the subject

and roll a single success on a Composure + Wits (or

Power + Finesse) roll. If this roll succeeds, the bubble

appears in the being’s hand, and the subject is free

to leave Astral Space normally. Although Astral

Bubbles exist only in Astral Space, unless in use, they

automatically return to the owner’s Oneiros, where

the owner can automatically retrieve the bubble if

she travels through her Oneiros on the way to the

deeper portions of Astral Space. If the owner travels

into an Astral Space without first going through

her Oneiros, she can call the Astral Bubble into her

hand by making an extended meditation roll with a

target number equal to the difference between the

meditation target number for her Oneiros (12) and the

target number of the plane of dreams she currently

occupies. The owner can make one roll per turn on

this task. Becoming the owner of one of these items

involves first acquiring it, and then making a successful

meditation roll and spending a point of Mana

and a point of Willpower. If someone wrests an Astral

Bubble from the grip of the bubble’s owner, the new

owner can gain control of it by making a contested

meditation roll and spending a point of Willpower and

a point of Mana. The owner must also make this roll

but need not spend either Willpower or Mana. If the

prospective thief succeeds, he is the Astral Bubble’s

new owner. If he fails, he is automatically affected by

the bubble, without the need for the current owner

to spend a point of Mana