Out of Character (OOC):
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
The Temenic Realm of Death
Sources:
1. The Realm of Death is as seen in Astral Realms sourcebook for MtA 1ed
2. Death of the Endless from Neil Gaiman's Sandman and Death graphic novel series
3. All adapted for Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
The following is In-Character Research that was accomplished by Chimera (Hannah Nyland), Witness (Korri Smith), Persephone (Keri Sayler) and Panoptes (NPC played by Alex Van Belkum) during the events of the story Cups Runneth in our current Chronicle.
The Realm of Death
In the Fallen World, Death is one of the universals that occur to all humans who remain human, and eventually even to those who do not. As a result, the realm of Death is one of the largest and most powerful realms in the Temenos. The realm of Death connects to almost all other realms in the Temenos. The realm of Death is not focused on suffering or dying. Instead, this is a realm that is the astral version of all of the many images of the afterlife that humanity has imagined in its long history.
Although mystics who dream of this realm sometimes confuse it with the Underworld, the realm of
Death is a very different place. Instead of being the actual home of the dead, this is a realm composed of humanity’s dreams about death and all that comes after. Although actual ghosts can sometimes be found here, they are visitors and not natives. Also, unlike the Underworld, the realm of Death contains all of the gods of the dead ever imagined by mortal minds. A final difference with the Underworld is that the realm of Death has a single supreme ruler — the archetype and personification of Death itself, which is one of the most powerful archetypes in all of the Temenos.
Entering the Realm of Death
Note: Shortcuts, and Jack has one. Graveyards in the Metropolis has also been used.
Traveling to the realm of Death is relatively easy, because of its size and power. When already in the
Temenos, characters need merely seek out a portion of any realm that is closely associated with death and dying, including battlefields, especially grim prisons, graveyards, funeral homes, poorly run hospitals and similar locations. When a character in one of these locations touches someone who recently died, the connection to the realm of Death becomes clear, and the character need only follow the connection.
Entering the realm of Death from the Fallen World is also relatively easy — the characters need only touch a human body that has died within the last three days. Characters who do this and then fall asleep or meditate need only spend a point of Mana and make an extended meditation roll with eight successes. All characters visiting this realm end up in the outer reaches of the realm of Death. Characters who all touched the same dead body all arrive at the same location in this realm.
The Form of the Realm of Death
This realm has a consistent and easily mapped form. It is roughly circular — the outer edge consists of the Outer Reaches, which is the realm of recent death and dying. In the center lies the vast and dread house of Death — the supreme ruler of the entire realm. Between the Outer Reaches and Death’s House are a vast assortment of realms, each of which is a different one of the many hundreds of versions of the afterlife that humanity has imagined.
The Outer Reaches
Note: Desolate, post-apocalyptic
The Outer Reaches is a limbo-like realm where the inhabitants of the Temenos and those ghosts who find themselves in this realm wander ceaselessly, uncertain whether to go forward or remain where they are. Most of the terrain consists of graveyards, mortuaries, old battlefields filled with bleached skeletons and similar locations. However, there is also a host of more exotic sub-realms, such as the ruins of a dead city, where all inhabitants were killed by plague or nuclear war.
Some of these areas overlap with other realms. For examples, the lifeless and ruined cityscapes overlap with the Metropolis. The one common feature is that all these sub-realms are devoid of anything or anyone living. No plants grow, and even all the rats and cockroaches are dead.
A few of the strangest of these realms are filled with complex, but utterly mindless, robots perpetually cleaning and repairing pristine houses and shops in a sub-realm where all life died long ago. Many of these realms have no inhabitants, or at least no sentient inhabitants, but others are inhabited by residents and archetypes of the Temenos who appear as ghosts, and occasionally by actual ghosts from the Underworld who have found their way into this realm. Some of these inhabitants appear as walking corpses or skeletons, while others are spectral shades that are unable to physically interact with the world.
Although some of the inhabitants of these subrealms arrived from portions of the Temenos, none ever leave the realm of Death on their own. However, many can be convinced to leave by an outsider such as a visiting mage. Others regularly move from one of the realms of the Outer Reaches to another, often not by deliberate choice. Moving from one sub-realm to another is somewhat tricky — each of these realms adjoins other realms that are relatively similar. A dead town depopulated by plague might be next to one destroyed by nuclear war, one that is a similar dead village inhabited by zombies and another that is a very different plague-ravaged hamlet.
To find a particular realm, travelers must often pass through a variety of similar realms. Moving from one realm to the next always involves entering an enclosed location that is devoid of all light and cut off from all views of the outside. Then, the character must leave via a door that was not the one he entered through.
However, the room need only be dark an instant before opening the door to the outside. Going into a basement with multiple entrances, shutting the doors and briefly dousing the lights is one of the easiest methods of traveling. Normally, this mode of travel is random and simply results in the character ending up in one of the adjoining realms of the Outer Reaches. However, making a successful meditation roll and focusing on either a specific Outer Reaches realm that is reasonably similar to the one the character is in or simply on some feature of the realm that is different results in the character opening a door leading into the desired realm. Only the character actually opening the door can make this meditation roll. Opening a door in a dark room shut off from the outside is also the only way to move deeper into the realm of Death.
Those who seek to move further into this realm find before them a vast series of doors — each leading to a different one of the many hundreds of different versions of the afterlife that humanity has imagined or feared during its long and imaginative history. For almost all inhabitants of the Temenos and many ghosts, entering into one of these afterlives is a one-way journey. All of these many doors can be accessed from any of the realms of the Outer Reaches. All someone must do is sincerely desire to move on to a specific afterlife and open the door.
Ghosts in the Realm of Death
Visitors to the realm of Death meet a great number of residents who closely resemble people the visitors once knew when they were alive, and occasionally people the visitors know who are still alive. These scenery people are merely reflections of the characters’ thoughts about these people. However, in addition to scenery people, residents and the various powerful archetypes that inhabit this realm, the realm of Death is also home to a few spirits from the Shadow Realm and a moderately large number of ghosts. The path between this realm and the Underworld seems exceeding open and well-traveled, although the vast majority of ghosts arrive in the realm of Death accidentally and no mage who has examined either this realm or the Underworld has found a physical gateway between them.
The best explanation any mages have come up with is that occasionally a gateway to the realm of Death opens in the Underworld and draws any nearby ghosts into this realm. However, this pathway is not two way. Once a ghost has entered the Temenos, the ghost cannot easily return to the Underworld. This limit also prevents ghosts here from entering Twilight or materializing in the Fallen World. Just as the vast majority of the other residents of the Temenos, the only way ghosts can visit the Fallen World is if they are summoned there.
Some of these ghosts are difficult to distinguish from the residents, and many ghosts have no idea that they are not still in the Underworld. Many ghosts are unconsciously drawn to afterlives that fit their actions and beliefs when they were alive. However, some of the more powerful and self-aware ghosts have learned to use their Numina to help improve their station, moving to portions of this realm that they find most comfortable or in a few cases setting up sections of this realm that they control. The Neighborhood is one portion of the realm of Death that is controlled by and mostly inhabited by ghosts.
The Neighborhood
This section of the Outer Reaches is inhabited solely by ghosts — the inhabitants can instantly tell if someone is a ghost or not. The Neighborhood is unconnected with any of the afterlife realms, but unlike the rest of the Outer Reaches, the Neighborhood is close to being a separate realm within the realm of Death. The Neighborhood consists of a large area walled in by a solid fence of polished black stone. Within, the Neighborhood is a strange jumble of times and places. Each inhabitant lives in a dwelling almost identical to the one she inhabited in life; 1930s rooming houses with electric lights and radios sit next to small Roman villas, row houses from China’s T’ang dynasty, and Mongol yurts from the days of Genghis Khan. Most of the inhabitants have been in the Neighborhood for many decades or even centuries and know each other’s languages.
The inhabitants allow visitors who are not ghosts to enter the Neighborhood, but forbid any from settling there. Some ghosts welcome visitors from the Fallen World, and are anxious for news of their descendants or other legacies they have left behind, such as the popularity of books or songs the ghosts wrote. However, since most ghosts here are a century or more old, such news can be difficult to come by. Also, some ghosts are firmly convinced that the actual Fallen World exists in the Temenos and that any talk about how the entirety of the Temenos is some sort of shared dream of humanity is total nonsense.
Some ghosts know information of use to mages and reveal it if provided with information about the descendants, businesses or creative works the ghosts left behind. However, some ghosts become enraged and attack the characters or fall into deep despair and refuse to answer questions if presented with unpleasant information such as their descendants all being dead or their creative works being long forgotten. Scholars of ancient history often find the Neighborhood itself to be a treasure, and spend hours or days examining the details of the houses and lives of some of the older inhabitants, who can easily become annoyed and attempt to drive intruders asking annoying questions off.
The Many Afterlives
The realm of Death is most known for containing hundreds of different visions of the afterlife, each of which is presided over by the appropriate demons, gods, goddesses and judges of the dead. Here, visitors can find various Christian and Muslim Heavens and Hells, the Jewish Sheol, the Taoist Island of the Immortals, the dreary Roman afterlife across the river Styx, the joyous halls of Valhalla, Hel’s bitter cold realm and a vast multitude of others. In these realms, a student of ancient religions can find details of ancient belief unknown to mortal scholars. Also, in some of the oldest versions of the afterlife, dedicated mages can sometimes find a few tiny hints and traces of Atlantis, usually in the form of residents who claim to remember it. The vast majority are lying or deluded, but some may not be. With the exception of the small number of ghosts who inhabit these realms, all of the souls in torment or paradise are scenery people or residents, and the various gods, goddesses, spirits and demons are all archetypes of various Ranks. Some devout mages come to talk with their deities to pray and ask advice, but although these beings all accept prayer and may dispense advice, any revelations obtained from such beings are purely personal — true Supernal or divine knowledge cannot be obtained in the Temenos. However, visitors to the Temenos should remember that just as all the rest of the gods of the Temenos, the deities and other powerful archetypes who control these afterlives firmly believe that they are the actual gods, goddesses, demons and divine servants that are worshipped in the Fallen World. Treating these beings as nothing more than corporeal dreams can swiftly earn the beings’ ire. Most can easily destroy a mage’s astral body, and many are able to perform more lasting and dangerous attacks.
Characters who wish to enter one of these afterlives must abide by the rules of that particular afterlife. Characters wishing to enter most afterlives must either negotiate with the being guarding the entrance or pass some test. Being a devout believer in the faith associated with a particular afterlife almost always guarantees a character free entrance to that particular afterlife. Failing that, knowledge of the faith combined with deferential respect show to the guardians and rulers of the realm are usually the minimum necessary to be allowed to enter. Others who wish to enter may be requested to obtain some gift or perform some service Mages can attempt to simply use their magics to fight their way in. However, the gods and other beings that control the various afterlives are all at least Rank 4 archetypes and react poorly to intruders who attack them or attempt to ignore their authority.
Without careful preparation and great power, mages who attempt to enter an afterlife without permission and interrogate the inhabitants almost always end up having the intruders’ astral bodies turned to ashes. Also, unless the character has permission to enter the particular afterlife, rolls to use Space magics to attempt to covertly enter suffer an automatic –2 dice penalty.
Also, entering an afterlife in this fashion automatically draws the attention of any rulers and guardians of this realm. These beings then rush to deal with the intruder. Depending upon the nature of the afterlife, mages who attempt to remove an archetype, resident or ghost from the afterlife may find this attempt greeted with anything from grateful joy to steadfast refusal. A few afterlives lack guardians. The two most notable are the Void and Nirvana, but as noted below, these realms contain their own dangers.
The Void
Note: This is different to Death (Endless) than the waters of the Ocean Orouboros. Perhaps she wanted Nergal to get the water in an effort to study this? Even she fears this place, as she fears herself.
The most baffling and potentially terrifying of these afterlives is the one that is most commonly referred to as the Void. Instead of being a separate sub-realm, the Void can be most easily described as an absence of a realm. The Void can only be found by individuals who are seeking non-existence, or those who are deliberately looking for the darkest and most static portions of the realm of Death. The outskirts of the Void consist of open and empty meadows or fields under a moonless night. Walking further into the darkness leads the character into the Void itself. Here, there is a total lack of any sensation — no light, no sound, no smell or taste and, most strangely, no touch. Everyone inside the Void is adrift in endless, empty darkness.
There is no archetype in charge of this portion of the realm of Death. Mages who have studied it assume that it is the expression of mortal fears of isolation and nonexistence. The Void is potentially one of the greatest dangers present in the Temenos, because this realm is a trap. Anyone who spends too much time here goes from being merely lost and disoriented to losing all sense of herself. Once this occurs, the character is unable to move within the Void and so can never find a way out. She also forgets how to wake up and so is unable to leave Astral Space and return to her body. More than one mage who has entered the Void has been overcome by this realm and remained trapped here until his body died.
There is only one good reason to enter the Void — to locate a ghost, archetype or other being that is trapped there. However, such ventures are always fraught with risk. Characters who spend time in the
Void must make a Resolve + Composure roll every 10 minutes to retain their orientation and sense of themselves. Failing this roll causes the character to suffer a –2 dice penalty to his next roll. Unfortunately, success means that the character still suffers a –1 die penalty to this roll. Character who roll dramatic failures lose all sense of themselves and cannot leave (even by awakening) without help.
The Space 2 spell “Scrying” can determine if someone is inside the Void and can also locate the individual, by using the spell repeatedly and triangulating. However, all penalties to the hourly Resolve + Composure rolls also apply to the use of any Space magics inside the Void. The safest way to retrieve someone from the Void is to use Space spells such as “Portal” or “Teleportation” to arrive by the person’s side and then use the same spell to leave. However, using “Portal” to enter the Void always requires at least three successes, no matter how good a sympathetic connection the character has to the individual he is trying to rescue.
Those who forget themselves inside the Void cannot be contacted using Mind magics and cannot be returned to consciousness inside the Void. Rescuers can only attempt to lead or teleport the person out, at which point they rapidly returns to awareness. Anyone rescued from the Void is likely to be exceedingly grateful for the rescue. Rescuing someone from the Void is an excellent way to obtain the cooperation of an inhabitant of this realm.
The Void is also a good place to dispose of enemies — any archetype of Rank 3 or less can become lost in the Void just as any mage or other mortal. Some unscrupulous mages, including the members of the
Seers of the Throne, use Mind magics to befuddle the astral bodies of enemies the Seers find in the Temenos. Before the Duration of this spell expires, they dump the person into the Void. If the Mind magic does not wear off for several more hours, the character may lose awareness of herself before she can recover enough to escape.
Nirvana
Notes: The Oneness, "Head to the Light"
Just as the Void is a realm where all inside it are sufficiently lost and isolated that they lose all sense of themselves, Nirvana is a realm where all inside lose all sense of themselves because they are so closely connected to everyone else within the realm. Everyone in Nirvana is under the effect of a permanent version of the Mind 5 spell “Network,” so everyone is in constant telepathic contact with one another. Regardless of what someone may think of this idea before entering Nirvana, the actual experience is profoundly transcendent and utterly beyond description.
Once in Nirvana, characters can make extended Wits + Resolve rolls to attempt to sift through the mass of thoughts their minds receive every second. Doing this allows visitors to learn a particular piece of information known to someone in Nirvana. Characters may make one roll every 10 minutes, with a target number between 5 and 15, depending upon the obscurity of the information. Something known to many members of a certain culture, sub-culture or organization typically has a target number of 5, while something known only to a single individual always has a target number of 15. Of course, to even have a chance of learning such a unique piece of information, someone who knows it must actually be in Nirvana.
Archetypes and ghosts of various enlightened mystics can be found here, but ordinary ghosts and worldly archetypes are rarely found in Nirvana. However, Nirvana also contains dangers — the longer someone is there, the less she wishes to leave. Someone who does not initially wish to remain in Nirvana must make a meditation roll every 30 minutes to keep focused on the task she wishes to accomplish. The babble of thoughts provides a –1 die penalty to this roll, and any failure increases this penalty by an additional –1. A dramatic failure on this meditation roll means that the character has lost all desire to leave Nirvana, and refuses to leave it without being forced to do so. Mages who visit Nirvana and succumb to its lure allow their astral bodies to remain in Nirvana until they are removed, which can easily be fatal. Anyone who has been in Nirvana for more than a few days will have succumbed to its influence and will actively fight any attempt to force her to leave.
The Palace of Death
Most realms contain at least several powerful archetypes and are divided up into a variety of linked sub-realms. However, many lack any sort of central location or any sort of single ruler. The realm of Death not only contains a central location that is effectively the heart of the realm, but is ruled by one of the most powerful archetypes in all of the Temenos, the archetype of Death.
The Palace of Death is located at the exact center of this realm. Characters can easily find this palace by simply always walking in the direction of the most obvious, and in many cases the most frightening, portion of the various afterlives. Characters can even walk directly from the Outer Reaches to this palace I they can make a successful Wits + Occult roll to find the way. Any character with one or more dots in the Death Arcanum automatically knows which direction the Palace of Death is in and need not make any roll to find the Palace of Death.
Regardless of what portion of this realm the character comes from, approaching this palace is always the same — the character walks down a flat black road, with trees made of bleached bones lining either side. The night is always dark, and there is never more than a sliver of moon in the sky. The palace itself is also made of bleached white bones and radiates such a palpable aura of death that everyone seeing the palace must make a Resolve + Composure roll to approach. Those who fail can gather their courage after an hour and try again, but they cannot otherwise enter unless forced or their fear is eliminated by magic. Moros mages with at least one dot in the Death Arcanum and other mages with at least three dots in the Death Arcanum are sufficiently attuned to death that they do not need to make this roll. In addition to containing countless skeletal servants, this sub-realm also contains hundreds of powerful ghosts. In addition, every deity, angel or spirit who is worshipped as a judge or guardian of the dead regularly visits to pay obeisance to Death.
Gods and Archetypes of the Realm of Death
A large number of the archetypes found in this realm are gods or direct servants of gods, such as angels. Religious mages who wish to understand more about gods and worship almost always visit this realm. However, the answers found here can be quite confusing, since every possible version of every god who deals with the dead exists somewhere in this vast realm. Mages who spend time talking to the more accessible deities often return with all manner of spiritual insights. All accepted theories about the Temenos clearly state that no one can learn anything in the Temenos that was not at some time known to someone in the Fallen World, and so true divine revelations cannot be found here. Nevertheless, these beings know more about death and the dead than any other entities that mages can communicate with.
As a result, a great many Moros mages come here to attempt to understand more about death.
Anubis: Jackal-headed God of the Dead
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Description: Although the religion of the ancient Egyptians is now followed only by a few eccentric neo-pagans, it was once a major religion and almost every educated person has heard stories about and seen images of Anubis. So, although he is no longer as powerful as he once was, his power remains considerable.
Storytelling Hints: Anubis (or Anpu) is associated with fairness, given his role in the weighing of souls. He is therefore considered more approachable that many of his fellow death-gods, given his judicial impartiality.
Rank: 5
Attributes: Power: 12, Finesse 15, Resistance 12
Willpower: 24 Essence: 50 Initiative: 27 Defense: 15
Speed: 34 Size: 6
Corpus: 18
Influence: The Dead and the Dying 5
Numina: All Ghost Numina
Ban: He must always deal fairly with the living and the dead.
Death of the Endless
Quote: You’re here early. I wasn’t expecting you until next year.
Description: One of the most powerful archetypes in all the Temenos, Death is known to every human who has lived. As death is something that is universal, unknown and ultimately powerful, dreams of death are ancient and mighty. Meeting Death requires another Resolve + Composure roll with a –2 dice modifier. Only mages who have visited the Underworld or who possess five dots in the Death Arcanum do not need to make this roll. Anyone who fails instantly wakes up in a cold sweat.
All descriptions of Death are different, but the most common involve a bleached grinning skeleton, a faceless hooded figure carrying a scythe or an attractive woman dressed all in black. Most deeply religious people see one of the various images of the angel or spirit of death found in their faith.
Storytelling Hints: In addition to knowing more about death and the dead than any other being in the
Temenos, Death is also one of the most dangerous beings in all Astral Space. If Death wishes, its touch can kill, destroying not just the character’s astral body but slaying the character’s physical body. With a touch, the character’s astral body is automatically destroyed, and the character’s physical automatically takes a number of levels of aggravated damage to cause her to instantly die. Medically, the cause of death most closely resembles a heart attack — the character’s heart simply stops beating. Mages with Life 4 can use the spell “Healing Heart” to save the character’s life. Even a single success saves the character’s life, because one dot of aggravated damage is restored.
Dealing with Death
Dealing with Death can be exceedingly rewarding. Death can answer any question about the dead, revealing the location of a secret diary or a horde of buried treasure buried in the ruins of a cellar whose location was known only to a long-dead scholar, or recite the entirety of a lost Classical Greek play. Although Death cannot reveal any information about Atlantis and any statements Death makes about the nature of the afterlife are as suspect as all similar statements about unknowable subjects are in the Temenos, Death is still one of the greatest sources of information in Astral Space.
Unfortunately, Death never gives its information away for free. Death always asks a price for the secrets it reveals, and Death’s price is never low. Death sets a different price for every secret and can never be bribed with promises of riches. Threatening Death results in responses ranging from grim amusement and a raised price to the immediate murder of the individual foolish enough to do so.
There is one payment Death always accepts — life. Any inhabitant of the Fallen World who is willing to give her life for a secret can learn this secret before she dies and can also ask Death to reveal this secret to her companions. If this is desired, the character can even ask for the secret and wake up, but she will die within 24 hours, and no known force can save her life. Characters who die in this fashion always appear as ghosts who serve in the Palace of Death. However, the person must willingly accept death and cannot be doing it for any reason other than a sincere desire for either the secret or the uses to which it will be put. Attempts to use magic, blackmail or similar methods to convince someone to give her life in this fashion always causes Death to instead kill the person responsible for the coercion and then reveal the secret.
Without someone willing to give her life for a secret, Death sets its own price on any piece of information asked of it — Death never bargains and all offers are final. Usually, payment is in advance, but Death is willing to accept later payment. However, the terms are always exceptionally strict: the questioner must swear to provide the desired payment within one lunar month (28 days), and if she fails, she dies 28 days after she receives the information.
Death rarely asks for information, because Death knows all that it needs to. Instead, its requests always involve the dead in some way and can include activities in the Fallen World, the Underworld and the
Temenos. Death’s requests involving the Fallen World range from locating and repairing a tomb to saving a particular graveyard from destruction, recovering a body and restoring it to its rightful burial place (a task that can be far from easy if the body is a mummy in a museum), laying a ghost in Twilight to rest by fulfilling some last request, carrying a message from the dead to the living or occasionally slaying someone. Typical victims of the last request are humans or magical beings that have lived for an unnaturally long time — vampires and mages using magical objects to extend their lifespan are the most common targets.
Requests involving the Underworld usually involve locating a particular ghost and delivering some message to it. These messages are often enigmatic and sometimes completely defy all attempts at translation. On a few occasions, the ghost vanishes immediately after hearing this message.
Death’s requests involving the Temenos can take almost any form, from persuading a ghost to come to the Underworld to carrying a message or negotiating a treaty with another powerful archetype. All of Death’s requests can also include performing all manner of enigmatic activities such as erecting a statue or stealing some rare or unique object and either giving it to someone in particular or destroying it.
Rank: 7
Attributes: Power: 20, Finesse 20, Resistance 25
Willpower: 45 Essence: Effectively unlimited Initiative: 45 Defense: 20
Speed: Effectively unlimited Size: 5–7 (variable) Corpus: Effectively unlimited
Influence: Death and the Dead 7 Numina: All
Ban: Death must hold to any deals it makes.
Story Hooks
In general, the only reason someone visits this realm is academic interest in theology, seeking to ask a question of someone dead, either a real or legendary figure, or to ask a question of Death itself.
Story Hooks for the Outer Reaches or the Afterlife Realms
Some visitors come to the afterlives to talk to or seek advice from the gods or judges of the dead there.
However, only the most devout or desperate mages usually try this. However, many come seeking one of the residents or ghosts residing in either the Outer Reaches or one of the various afterlife realms. In addition to many thousands of ghosts, some of whom are more ancient than those normally found in either Twilight or the Underworld, this realm also contains versions of every walker or archetype based on a real person who has ever died. As a result, there are vast stores of knowledge here. Persuading a resident of the Outer Reaches to share his knowledge or finding a way to convince one of the rulers or guardians of an afterlife realm to allow a group of living beings from the Fallen World to talk with a ghost, resident or archetype in its realm can be quite challenging. Doing either may require everything from taking actions in the Fallen World to aid a ghost’s descendants to keeping the memory of a walker alive to the characters finding themselves caught up in the eternal machinations of divine politics, where gods use any willing servants to attempt to gain advantage over their divine rivals and allies. Many questions can be answered here, but the price can be complex and is often more expensive than it first appears.
In the Fallen World, Death is one of the universals that occur to all humans who remain human, and eventually even to those who do not. As a result, the realm of Death is one of the largest and most powerful realms in the Temenos. The realm of Death connects to almost all other realms in the Temenos. The realm of Death is not focused on suffering or dying. Instead, this is a realm that is the astral version of all of the many images of the afterlife that humanity has imagined in its long history.
Although mystics who dream of this realm sometimes confuse it with the Underworld, the realm of
Death is a very different place. Instead of being the actual home of the dead, this is a realm composed of humanity’s dreams about death and all that comes after. Although actual ghosts can sometimes be found here, they are visitors and not natives. Also, unlike the Underworld, the realm of Death contains all of the gods of the dead ever imagined by mortal minds. A final difference with the Underworld is that the realm of Death has a single supreme ruler — the archetype and personification of Death itself, which is one of the most powerful archetypes in all of the Temenos.
Entering the Realm of Death
Note: Shortcuts, and Jack has one. Graveyards in the Metropolis has also been used.
Traveling to the realm of Death is relatively easy, because of its size and power. When already in the
Temenos, characters need merely seek out a portion of any realm that is closely associated with death and dying, including battlefields, especially grim prisons, graveyards, funeral homes, poorly run hospitals and similar locations. When a character in one of these locations touches someone who recently died, the connection to the realm of Death becomes clear, and the character need only follow the connection.
Entering the realm of Death from the Fallen World is also relatively easy — the characters need only touch a human body that has died within the last three days. Characters who do this and then fall asleep or meditate need only spend a point of Mana and make an extended meditation roll with eight successes. All characters visiting this realm end up in the outer reaches of the realm of Death. Characters who all touched the same dead body all arrive at the same location in this realm.
The Form of the Realm of Death
This realm has a consistent and easily mapped form. It is roughly circular — the outer edge consists of the Outer Reaches, which is the realm of recent death and dying. In the center lies the vast and dread house of Death — the supreme ruler of the entire realm. Between the Outer Reaches and Death’s House are a vast assortment of realms, each of which is a different one of the many hundreds of versions of the afterlife that humanity has imagined.
The Outer Reaches
Note: Desolate, post-apocalyptic
The Outer Reaches is a limbo-like realm where the inhabitants of the Temenos and those ghosts who find themselves in this realm wander ceaselessly, uncertain whether to go forward or remain where they are. Most of the terrain consists of graveyards, mortuaries, old battlefields filled with bleached skeletons and similar locations. However, there is also a host of more exotic sub-realms, such as the ruins of a dead city, where all inhabitants were killed by plague or nuclear war.
Some of these areas overlap with other realms. For examples, the lifeless and ruined cityscapes overlap with the Metropolis. The one common feature is that all these sub-realms are devoid of anything or anyone living. No plants grow, and even all the rats and cockroaches are dead.
A few of the strangest of these realms are filled with complex, but utterly mindless, robots perpetually cleaning and repairing pristine houses and shops in a sub-realm where all life died long ago. Many of these realms have no inhabitants, or at least no sentient inhabitants, but others are inhabited by residents and archetypes of the Temenos who appear as ghosts, and occasionally by actual ghosts from the Underworld who have found their way into this realm. Some of these inhabitants appear as walking corpses or skeletons, while others are spectral shades that are unable to physically interact with the world.
Although some of the inhabitants of these subrealms arrived from portions of the Temenos, none ever leave the realm of Death on their own. However, many can be convinced to leave by an outsider such as a visiting mage. Others regularly move from one of the realms of the Outer Reaches to another, often not by deliberate choice. Moving from one sub-realm to another is somewhat tricky — each of these realms adjoins other realms that are relatively similar. A dead town depopulated by plague might be next to one destroyed by nuclear war, one that is a similar dead village inhabited by zombies and another that is a very different plague-ravaged hamlet.
To find a particular realm, travelers must often pass through a variety of similar realms. Moving from one realm to the next always involves entering an enclosed location that is devoid of all light and cut off from all views of the outside. Then, the character must leave via a door that was not the one he entered through.
However, the room need only be dark an instant before opening the door to the outside. Going into a basement with multiple entrances, shutting the doors and briefly dousing the lights is one of the easiest methods of traveling. Normally, this mode of travel is random and simply results in the character ending up in one of the adjoining realms of the Outer Reaches. However, making a successful meditation roll and focusing on either a specific Outer Reaches realm that is reasonably similar to the one the character is in or simply on some feature of the realm that is different results in the character opening a door leading into the desired realm. Only the character actually opening the door can make this meditation roll. Opening a door in a dark room shut off from the outside is also the only way to move deeper into the realm of Death.
Those who seek to move further into this realm find before them a vast series of doors — each leading to a different one of the many hundreds of different versions of the afterlife that humanity has imagined or feared during its long and imaginative history. For almost all inhabitants of the Temenos and many ghosts, entering into one of these afterlives is a one-way journey. All of these many doors can be accessed from any of the realms of the Outer Reaches. All someone must do is sincerely desire to move on to a specific afterlife and open the door.
Ghosts in the Realm of Death
Visitors to the realm of Death meet a great number of residents who closely resemble people the visitors once knew when they were alive, and occasionally people the visitors know who are still alive. These scenery people are merely reflections of the characters’ thoughts about these people. However, in addition to scenery people, residents and the various powerful archetypes that inhabit this realm, the realm of Death is also home to a few spirits from the Shadow Realm and a moderately large number of ghosts. The path between this realm and the Underworld seems exceeding open and well-traveled, although the vast majority of ghosts arrive in the realm of Death accidentally and no mage who has examined either this realm or the Underworld has found a physical gateway between them.
The best explanation any mages have come up with is that occasionally a gateway to the realm of Death opens in the Underworld and draws any nearby ghosts into this realm. However, this pathway is not two way. Once a ghost has entered the Temenos, the ghost cannot easily return to the Underworld. This limit also prevents ghosts here from entering Twilight or materializing in the Fallen World. Just as the vast majority of the other residents of the Temenos, the only way ghosts can visit the Fallen World is if they are summoned there.
Some of these ghosts are difficult to distinguish from the residents, and many ghosts have no idea that they are not still in the Underworld. Many ghosts are unconsciously drawn to afterlives that fit their actions and beliefs when they were alive. However, some of the more powerful and self-aware ghosts have learned to use their Numina to help improve their station, moving to portions of this realm that they find most comfortable or in a few cases setting up sections of this realm that they control. The Neighborhood is one portion of the realm of Death that is controlled by and mostly inhabited by ghosts.
The Neighborhood
This section of the Outer Reaches is inhabited solely by ghosts — the inhabitants can instantly tell if someone is a ghost or not. The Neighborhood is unconnected with any of the afterlife realms, but unlike the rest of the Outer Reaches, the Neighborhood is close to being a separate realm within the realm of Death. The Neighborhood consists of a large area walled in by a solid fence of polished black stone. Within, the Neighborhood is a strange jumble of times and places. Each inhabitant lives in a dwelling almost identical to the one she inhabited in life; 1930s rooming houses with electric lights and radios sit next to small Roman villas, row houses from China’s T’ang dynasty, and Mongol yurts from the days of Genghis Khan. Most of the inhabitants have been in the Neighborhood for many decades or even centuries and know each other’s languages.
The inhabitants allow visitors who are not ghosts to enter the Neighborhood, but forbid any from settling there. Some ghosts welcome visitors from the Fallen World, and are anxious for news of their descendants or other legacies they have left behind, such as the popularity of books or songs the ghosts wrote. However, since most ghosts here are a century or more old, such news can be difficult to come by. Also, some ghosts are firmly convinced that the actual Fallen World exists in the Temenos and that any talk about how the entirety of the Temenos is some sort of shared dream of humanity is total nonsense.
Some ghosts know information of use to mages and reveal it if provided with information about the descendants, businesses or creative works the ghosts left behind. However, some ghosts become enraged and attack the characters or fall into deep despair and refuse to answer questions if presented with unpleasant information such as their descendants all being dead or their creative works being long forgotten. Scholars of ancient history often find the Neighborhood itself to be a treasure, and spend hours or days examining the details of the houses and lives of some of the older inhabitants, who can easily become annoyed and attempt to drive intruders asking annoying questions off.
The Many Afterlives
The realm of Death is most known for containing hundreds of different visions of the afterlife, each of which is presided over by the appropriate demons, gods, goddesses and judges of the dead. Here, visitors can find various Christian and Muslim Heavens and Hells, the Jewish Sheol, the Taoist Island of the Immortals, the dreary Roman afterlife across the river Styx, the joyous halls of Valhalla, Hel’s bitter cold realm and a vast multitude of others. In these realms, a student of ancient religions can find details of ancient belief unknown to mortal scholars. Also, in some of the oldest versions of the afterlife, dedicated mages can sometimes find a few tiny hints and traces of Atlantis, usually in the form of residents who claim to remember it. The vast majority are lying or deluded, but some may not be. With the exception of the small number of ghosts who inhabit these realms, all of the souls in torment or paradise are scenery people or residents, and the various gods, goddesses, spirits and demons are all archetypes of various Ranks. Some devout mages come to talk with their deities to pray and ask advice, but although these beings all accept prayer and may dispense advice, any revelations obtained from such beings are purely personal — true Supernal or divine knowledge cannot be obtained in the Temenos. However, visitors to the Temenos should remember that just as all the rest of the gods of the Temenos, the deities and other powerful archetypes who control these afterlives firmly believe that they are the actual gods, goddesses, demons and divine servants that are worshipped in the Fallen World. Treating these beings as nothing more than corporeal dreams can swiftly earn the beings’ ire. Most can easily destroy a mage’s astral body, and many are able to perform more lasting and dangerous attacks.
Characters who wish to enter one of these afterlives must abide by the rules of that particular afterlife. Characters wishing to enter most afterlives must either negotiate with the being guarding the entrance or pass some test. Being a devout believer in the faith associated with a particular afterlife almost always guarantees a character free entrance to that particular afterlife. Failing that, knowledge of the faith combined with deferential respect show to the guardians and rulers of the realm are usually the minimum necessary to be allowed to enter. Others who wish to enter may be requested to obtain some gift or perform some service Mages can attempt to simply use their magics to fight their way in. However, the gods and other beings that control the various afterlives are all at least Rank 4 archetypes and react poorly to intruders who attack them or attempt to ignore their authority.
Without careful preparation and great power, mages who attempt to enter an afterlife without permission and interrogate the inhabitants almost always end up having the intruders’ astral bodies turned to ashes. Also, unless the character has permission to enter the particular afterlife, rolls to use Space magics to attempt to covertly enter suffer an automatic –2 dice penalty.
Also, entering an afterlife in this fashion automatically draws the attention of any rulers and guardians of this realm. These beings then rush to deal with the intruder. Depending upon the nature of the afterlife, mages who attempt to remove an archetype, resident or ghost from the afterlife may find this attempt greeted with anything from grateful joy to steadfast refusal. A few afterlives lack guardians. The two most notable are the Void and Nirvana, but as noted below, these realms contain their own dangers.
The Void
Note: This is different to Death (Endless) than the waters of the Ocean Orouboros. Perhaps she wanted Nergal to get the water in an effort to study this? Even she fears this place, as she fears herself.
The most baffling and potentially terrifying of these afterlives is the one that is most commonly referred to as the Void. Instead of being a separate sub-realm, the Void can be most easily described as an absence of a realm. The Void can only be found by individuals who are seeking non-existence, or those who are deliberately looking for the darkest and most static portions of the realm of Death. The outskirts of the Void consist of open and empty meadows or fields under a moonless night. Walking further into the darkness leads the character into the Void itself. Here, there is a total lack of any sensation — no light, no sound, no smell or taste and, most strangely, no touch. Everyone inside the Void is adrift in endless, empty darkness.
There is no archetype in charge of this portion of the realm of Death. Mages who have studied it assume that it is the expression of mortal fears of isolation and nonexistence. The Void is potentially one of the greatest dangers present in the Temenos, because this realm is a trap. Anyone who spends too much time here goes from being merely lost and disoriented to losing all sense of herself. Once this occurs, the character is unable to move within the Void and so can never find a way out. She also forgets how to wake up and so is unable to leave Astral Space and return to her body. More than one mage who has entered the Void has been overcome by this realm and remained trapped here until his body died.
There is only one good reason to enter the Void — to locate a ghost, archetype or other being that is trapped there. However, such ventures are always fraught with risk. Characters who spend time in the
Void must make a Resolve + Composure roll every 10 minutes to retain their orientation and sense of themselves. Failing this roll causes the character to suffer a –2 dice penalty to his next roll. Unfortunately, success means that the character still suffers a –1 die penalty to this roll. Character who roll dramatic failures lose all sense of themselves and cannot leave (even by awakening) without help.
The Space 2 spell “Scrying” can determine if someone is inside the Void and can also locate the individual, by using the spell repeatedly and triangulating. However, all penalties to the hourly Resolve + Composure rolls also apply to the use of any Space magics inside the Void. The safest way to retrieve someone from the Void is to use Space spells such as “Portal” or “Teleportation” to arrive by the person’s side and then use the same spell to leave. However, using “Portal” to enter the Void always requires at least three successes, no matter how good a sympathetic connection the character has to the individual he is trying to rescue.
Those who forget themselves inside the Void cannot be contacted using Mind magics and cannot be returned to consciousness inside the Void. Rescuers can only attempt to lead or teleport the person out, at which point they rapidly returns to awareness. Anyone rescued from the Void is likely to be exceedingly grateful for the rescue. Rescuing someone from the Void is an excellent way to obtain the cooperation of an inhabitant of this realm.
The Void is also a good place to dispose of enemies — any archetype of Rank 3 or less can become lost in the Void just as any mage or other mortal. Some unscrupulous mages, including the members of the
Seers of the Throne, use Mind magics to befuddle the astral bodies of enemies the Seers find in the Temenos. Before the Duration of this spell expires, they dump the person into the Void. If the Mind magic does not wear off for several more hours, the character may lose awareness of herself before she can recover enough to escape.
Nirvana
Notes: The Oneness, "Head to the Light"
Just as the Void is a realm where all inside it are sufficiently lost and isolated that they lose all sense of themselves, Nirvana is a realm where all inside lose all sense of themselves because they are so closely connected to everyone else within the realm. Everyone in Nirvana is under the effect of a permanent version of the Mind 5 spell “Network,” so everyone is in constant telepathic contact with one another. Regardless of what someone may think of this idea before entering Nirvana, the actual experience is profoundly transcendent and utterly beyond description.
Once in Nirvana, characters can make extended Wits + Resolve rolls to attempt to sift through the mass of thoughts their minds receive every second. Doing this allows visitors to learn a particular piece of information known to someone in Nirvana. Characters may make one roll every 10 minutes, with a target number between 5 and 15, depending upon the obscurity of the information. Something known to many members of a certain culture, sub-culture or organization typically has a target number of 5, while something known only to a single individual always has a target number of 15. Of course, to even have a chance of learning such a unique piece of information, someone who knows it must actually be in Nirvana.
Archetypes and ghosts of various enlightened mystics can be found here, but ordinary ghosts and worldly archetypes are rarely found in Nirvana. However, Nirvana also contains dangers — the longer someone is there, the less she wishes to leave. Someone who does not initially wish to remain in Nirvana must make a meditation roll every 30 minutes to keep focused on the task she wishes to accomplish. The babble of thoughts provides a –1 die penalty to this roll, and any failure increases this penalty by an additional –1. A dramatic failure on this meditation roll means that the character has lost all desire to leave Nirvana, and refuses to leave it without being forced to do so. Mages who visit Nirvana and succumb to its lure allow their astral bodies to remain in Nirvana until they are removed, which can easily be fatal. Anyone who has been in Nirvana for more than a few days will have succumbed to its influence and will actively fight any attempt to force her to leave.
The Palace of Death
Most realms contain at least several powerful archetypes and are divided up into a variety of linked sub-realms. However, many lack any sort of central location or any sort of single ruler. The realm of Death not only contains a central location that is effectively the heart of the realm, but is ruled by one of the most powerful archetypes in all of the Temenos, the archetype of Death.
The Palace of Death is located at the exact center of this realm. Characters can easily find this palace by simply always walking in the direction of the most obvious, and in many cases the most frightening, portion of the various afterlives. Characters can even walk directly from the Outer Reaches to this palace I they can make a successful Wits + Occult roll to find the way. Any character with one or more dots in the Death Arcanum automatically knows which direction the Palace of Death is in and need not make any roll to find the Palace of Death.
Regardless of what portion of this realm the character comes from, approaching this palace is always the same — the character walks down a flat black road, with trees made of bleached bones lining either side. The night is always dark, and there is never more than a sliver of moon in the sky. The palace itself is also made of bleached white bones and radiates such a palpable aura of death that everyone seeing the palace must make a Resolve + Composure roll to approach. Those who fail can gather their courage after an hour and try again, but they cannot otherwise enter unless forced or their fear is eliminated by magic. Moros mages with at least one dot in the Death Arcanum and other mages with at least three dots in the Death Arcanum are sufficiently attuned to death that they do not need to make this roll. In addition to containing countless skeletal servants, this sub-realm also contains hundreds of powerful ghosts. In addition, every deity, angel or spirit who is worshipped as a judge or guardian of the dead regularly visits to pay obeisance to Death.
Gods and Archetypes of the Realm of Death
A large number of the archetypes found in this realm are gods or direct servants of gods, such as angels. Religious mages who wish to understand more about gods and worship almost always visit this realm. However, the answers found here can be quite confusing, since every possible version of every god who deals with the dead exists somewhere in this vast realm. Mages who spend time talking to the more accessible deities often return with all manner of spiritual insights. All accepted theories about the Temenos clearly state that no one can learn anything in the Temenos that was not at some time known to someone in the Fallen World, and so true divine revelations cannot be found here. Nevertheless, these beings know more about death and the dead than any other entities that mages can communicate with.
As a result, a great many Moros mages come here to attempt to understand more about death.
Anubis: Jackal-headed God of the Dead
Quote: <
Description: Although the religion of the ancient Egyptians is now followed only by a few eccentric neo-pagans, it was once a major religion and almost every educated person has heard stories about and seen images of Anubis. So, although he is no longer as powerful as he once was, his power remains considerable.
Storytelling Hints: Anubis (or Anpu) is associated with fairness, given his role in the weighing of souls. He is therefore considered more approachable that many of his fellow death-gods, given his judicial impartiality.
Rank: 5
Attributes: Power: 12, Finesse 15, Resistance 12
Willpower: 24 Essence: 50 Initiative: 27 Defense: 15
Speed: 34 Size: 6
Corpus: 18
Influence: The Dead and the Dying 5
Numina: All Ghost Numina
Ban: He must always deal fairly with the living and the dead.
Death of the Endless
Quote: You’re here early. I wasn’t expecting you until next year.
Description: One of the most powerful archetypes in all the Temenos, Death is known to every human who has lived. As death is something that is universal, unknown and ultimately powerful, dreams of death are ancient and mighty. Meeting Death requires another Resolve + Composure roll with a –2 dice modifier. Only mages who have visited the Underworld or who possess five dots in the Death Arcanum do not need to make this roll. Anyone who fails instantly wakes up in a cold sweat.
All descriptions of Death are different, but the most common involve a bleached grinning skeleton, a faceless hooded figure carrying a scythe or an attractive woman dressed all in black. Most deeply religious people see one of the various images of the angel or spirit of death found in their faith.
Storytelling Hints: In addition to knowing more about death and the dead than any other being in the
Temenos, Death is also one of the most dangerous beings in all Astral Space. If Death wishes, its touch can kill, destroying not just the character’s astral body but slaying the character’s physical body. With a touch, the character’s astral body is automatically destroyed, and the character’s physical automatically takes a number of levels of aggravated damage to cause her to instantly die. Medically, the cause of death most closely resembles a heart attack — the character’s heart simply stops beating. Mages with Life 4 can use the spell “Healing Heart” to save the character’s life. Even a single success saves the character’s life, because one dot of aggravated damage is restored.
Dealing with Death
Dealing with Death can be exceedingly rewarding. Death can answer any question about the dead, revealing the location of a secret diary or a horde of buried treasure buried in the ruins of a cellar whose location was known only to a long-dead scholar, or recite the entirety of a lost Classical Greek play. Although Death cannot reveal any information about Atlantis and any statements Death makes about the nature of the afterlife are as suspect as all similar statements about unknowable subjects are in the Temenos, Death is still one of the greatest sources of information in Astral Space.
Unfortunately, Death never gives its information away for free. Death always asks a price for the secrets it reveals, and Death’s price is never low. Death sets a different price for every secret and can never be bribed with promises of riches. Threatening Death results in responses ranging from grim amusement and a raised price to the immediate murder of the individual foolish enough to do so.
There is one payment Death always accepts — life. Any inhabitant of the Fallen World who is willing to give her life for a secret can learn this secret before she dies and can also ask Death to reveal this secret to her companions. If this is desired, the character can even ask for the secret and wake up, but she will die within 24 hours, and no known force can save her life. Characters who die in this fashion always appear as ghosts who serve in the Palace of Death. However, the person must willingly accept death and cannot be doing it for any reason other than a sincere desire for either the secret or the uses to which it will be put. Attempts to use magic, blackmail or similar methods to convince someone to give her life in this fashion always causes Death to instead kill the person responsible for the coercion and then reveal the secret.
Without someone willing to give her life for a secret, Death sets its own price on any piece of information asked of it — Death never bargains and all offers are final. Usually, payment is in advance, but Death is willing to accept later payment. However, the terms are always exceptionally strict: the questioner must swear to provide the desired payment within one lunar month (28 days), and if she fails, she dies 28 days after she receives the information.
Death rarely asks for information, because Death knows all that it needs to. Instead, its requests always involve the dead in some way and can include activities in the Fallen World, the Underworld and the
Temenos. Death’s requests involving the Fallen World range from locating and repairing a tomb to saving a particular graveyard from destruction, recovering a body and restoring it to its rightful burial place (a task that can be far from easy if the body is a mummy in a museum), laying a ghost in Twilight to rest by fulfilling some last request, carrying a message from the dead to the living or occasionally slaying someone. Typical victims of the last request are humans or magical beings that have lived for an unnaturally long time — vampires and mages using magical objects to extend their lifespan are the most common targets.
Requests involving the Underworld usually involve locating a particular ghost and delivering some message to it. These messages are often enigmatic and sometimes completely defy all attempts at translation. On a few occasions, the ghost vanishes immediately after hearing this message.
Death’s requests involving the Temenos can take almost any form, from persuading a ghost to come to the Underworld to carrying a message or negotiating a treaty with another powerful archetype. All of Death’s requests can also include performing all manner of enigmatic activities such as erecting a statue or stealing some rare or unique object and either giving it to someone in particular or destroying it.
Rank: 7
Attributes: Power: 20, Finesse 20, Resistance 25
Willpower: 45 Essence: Effectively unlimited Initiative: 45 Defense: 20
Speed: Effectively unlimited Size: 5–7 (variable) Corpus: Effectively unlimited
Influence: Death and the Dead 7 Numina: All
Ban: Death must hold to any deals it makes.
Story Hooks
In general, the only reason someone visits this realm is academic interest in theology, seeking to ask a question of someone dead, either a real or legendary figure, or to ask a question of Death itself.
Story Hooks for the Outer Reaches or the Afterlife Realms
Some visitors come to the afterlives to talk to or seek advice from the gods or judges of the dead there.
However, only the most devout or desperate mages usually try this. However, many come seeking one of the residents or ghosts residing in either the Outer Reaches or one of the various afterlife realms. In addition to many thousands of ghosts, some of whom are more ancient than those normally found in either Twilight or the Underworld, this realm also contains versions of every walker or archetype based on a real person who has ever died. As a result, there are vast stores of knowledge here. Persuading a resident of the Outer Reaches to share his knowledge or finding a way to convince one of the rulers or guardians of an afterlife realm to allow a group of living beings from the Fallen World to talk with a ghost, resident or archetype in its realm can be quite challenging. Doing either may require everything from taking actions in the Fallen World to aid a ghost’s descendants to keeping the memory of a walker alive to the characters finding themselves caught up in the eternal machinations of divine politics, where gods use any willing servants to attempt to gain advantage over their divine rivals and allies. Many questions can be answered here, but the price can be complex and is often more expensive than it first appears.
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