[Mage: The Awakening 2e] The Secret Order of the Gate

Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen
Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition
Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler

Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum

The Secret Order of the Gate

In our current Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition Chronicle "The Dethroned Queen" Chimera (played by Hannah Nyland) and Jack Bismuth (played by Alex Van Belkum) having been learning about the Abyss from Fobax, an ex-Scelestus who runs a shop with the rest of his Cabal at an occult pawn shop that can only be found by those that are looking for it called The Black Zodiac.  Dedicated to spreading the knowledge of the void for the purposes of protecting mages (without judgement on how it will be used), The Black Zodiac's goals loosely align with the Browncoats.  The Browncoats (Reaper, Chimera, Jack and Ritter) are intent on fighting the Abyss from a more permanent existential level using very ambitious and cutting-edge research (such as trying to deconstruct SoulFire).

Fobax, has a very dark past.  He quit being a Scelestus when a Gulmoth took everything from him.  Besides losing his wife and daughter he also lost his ability to feel positive emotions.  Chimera and Jack are bent on releasing Fobax from this unbreakable pact with the Gulmoth called Na'Thraka, The Ninth Calamity. But the entity is a representation of complete oblivion, and supposedly exists in 9 dimensions simultaneously, making it nearly impossible to destroy completely.  It can be banished back to the Abyss but it has pacts with other Scelesti that keeps it active. It is a very popular Gulmoth for assassinating other mages, making it a danger to any mage trying to fight it directly.

They discovered that the thing's form extends into the place between the Fallen World and the Abyss itself, a place traversed by Scelesti and infected with Gulmoth.  Its called the In-Between, the Between, the Place Between or the Upside Down.  In order to destroy the Ninth Calamity, they must find a way to block it out of the In-Between, isolating it, so it can be destroyed.  Unfortunately/fortunately, Jack and Chimera have managed to bypass aspects of the metaphysical block on Fobax's brain chemistry, and as a result, Na'Thraka is coming for Fobax. SOON.  To that end they need a Gatekeeper, one of the initiated to the Secret Order of the Gate.  

Chimera has gained temporarily possession of a soulstone of one of the Gatekeepers but unlocking its Attainments would require a soul to be unfixed by a Legacy and years of study.  There is no time for it.  So instead Chimera reaches out to a known Gatekeeper in Los Angeles, a young girl who is called the Letigium.  They make an Oath before the Thief of Names and the Letigium begins training Chimera in the metaphysics of the In-Between.  The Upside Down can be traveled and utilized with knowledge of the vile Attainments of the Legacy...  The Ninth Calamity is coming and time is running out.

Sources:

- Seers of the Throne sourcebook for Mage: The Awakening 1st Edition

- Left-Handed Path sourcebook for Mage: The Awakening (1st & 2nd Edition)

- Na'Thraka as seen in The Summoners sourcebook for Mage: The Awakening 1st Edition

- Celestial Flange from World of Darkness: Chicago sourcebook for nWoD

- The Gate as seen in Astral Realms sourcebook for Mage: The Awakening 1st Edition

- Fobax & The Black Zodiac originally designed by Lucas Powell Cencerros

- 21C Hermit on 22 April 2018 here
- Legacies: The Rehashed found here

This Legacy is only listed in copies of the Cruciatum held by certain Seers of the Throne. According to Seer lore, the 11th great Exarch, the Gate, was responsible for harnessing the Abyss and using it to part the Lie and Supernal. Although speaking of the Gate is taboo, one Seer Legacy is said to serve her still, maintaining the strange border between reality and the Void.

A Mythic Seer Faction:

The Seers admonish their mages to not listen to the Gate, the eleventh Exarch. Although one of the Exarchs, the Gate created the Abyss and divided the Supernal from the Fallen World. However, a small number of Seers do listen to the Gate. They form a small Ministry working to advance the Gate’s goals within the Fallen World. The Gatekeepers are to most Seers simply a rumor; most mages in the order will never meet one of the members, and many believe they are nothing more than an anecdote told to new recruits to scare them. However, the Ministry does work in the background, their existence hidden from all but the most senior members of the order. Many of those that do know about them fear them and their work.

The Gatekeepers study the Abyss and believe that the void between the Supernal and Fallen World is very much a part of the Exarchs’ plans for the Fallen World. After all, many pylons already try to prevent Awakenings by widening the Abyss. The Gatekeepers believe this is only part of the Gate’s plans. They know that the Abyss is a tool to be used to further the Exarchs’ actions, as long as it is carefully controlled. Much of the Gatekeepers’ work involves researching ways to use the Abyss as a tool to further the Exarchs’ will. 

By keeping a tight rein on the intrusions, the Gatekeepers believe they can advance the order’s goal of destroying the Pentacle mages much more efficiently. Where they can find a way to control the Abyss, they use it to cause as much disruption of the Pentacle orders as they possibly can.

The Gatekeepers use rotes that were allegedly taught to their highest-placed members by the Gate himself. These rotes allow the Ministry’s mages to carefully manipulate the Abyss, without resorting to using Abyssal magic. It is not perfect control and the results of spell failure is often fatal for the mage and normally results in an uncontrolled Abyssal intrusion much greater than the one being created.

The Gatekeepers study any lore they can pertaining to the Abyss, with the exception of actual Abyssal magic itself. They keep the lore a tightly controlled secret, and they will often confiscate any lore that’s turned up by the rest of the Throne. They usually turn up without warning and simply take what they want before disappearing just as quickly. Any mage who tries to prevent them is normally killed on the spot, without mercy. Those that aren’t wish they had been — or at least the rest of their pylon do. 

The sect’s other major function is to bring Abyssal intrusions under control before they pose a danger to the Seers of the Throne. It is this role that has kept the Ministry from being attacked and hunted to extinction by the rest of the Seers.

The Gatekeepers know more about controlling intrusions than the rest of the Seers, and they will simply appear once a major intrusion occurs, no matter where in the world it happens. One task the Ministry does perform for the order — although it is rarely performed — is the punishment of mages who have displeased the Exarchs, particularly when the Abyss is somehow involved. Being handed over to the Gatekeepers is always a death sentence for the mage in question; no one has ever returned to explain what went on. Rumors exist that they feed the guilty to the Abyss, although other theories postulate that the Gate herself consumes the convicted somehow.

It’s important to realize that the Gatekeepers do not serve the Abyss. In fact, any mage who succumbs and starts using Abyssal magic is quickly killed to prevent the taint from spreading through the rest of the order. There is, however, a very fine line between using Abyssal magic and using the Abyss as a tool.

Playing with the forces of the Void  puts an immense amount of strain on the sanity of the Ministry’s mages. Many of them carry several derangements, and several are actually considered completely insane. Seers who come in contact with them are usually terrified of them, and many have reported nightmares after simply looking into the eyes of a Gatekeeper.

The life expectancy for a Gatekeeper is rarely more than a few years. No one is sure just how many mages belong to the Ministry across the world at any one time, although even the best estimates have more than two dozen active members. It’s believed that the order has sometimes fallen dormant for long periods, only to be reactivated by the Gate whenever work needs to be done with the Abyss.

The Gatekeepers

The unspoken word is the Lord upon which all else depends. The Seers of the Throne have one great taboo: do not invoke the Gate. She is the Lonely Exarch at the borders of existence. He watches the Abyss, and in watching it, gives it form and power. She opened a terrible, necessary door to envelop the Fallen World in a spiritual desert: a cloak of madness that bars the Supernal Realms to all but a few powerful, eccentric wills.

That’s the taboo. Like all taboos, people break it from time to time. Seers disobey, search and usually don’t find anything. Sometimes, they’re caught and punished. A few become Scelesti, and claim to serve the Gate. That’s a lie— they’re only slaves of the Abyss.

A few succeed. They find the Lonely Exarch. They join a Legacy that’s had many names over the centuries. The Secret Order of the Gate is its latest incarnation, founded over 100 years ago by a pylon that lost three Soldiers to the Pentacle (especially Nameless mages who joined the Free Council) and two more to treachery — rivals who hit them when they were down. That sowed the seeds of doubt, fueled the quest for power beyond the accepted Iron Seals. In 1901, the last three found the Gate in Chicago.

Some say they used an Artifact called the Celestial Flange to call her from the Place Between. So began the Secret Order and its mission. It is the demi-Ministry of the Gate, the Warder, The Fearful Reconciler, King of Zero. They love him. They worship her utterly. That slowly, invariably drives them mad.

The Serpent and the Tree: 
The Secret Order’s inner doctrine speaks of the Serpent and the Tree. The Tree is the Fallen World, growing from filth up to the Supernal Sky. The Celestial Ladder was inevitable; the Tree always climbs, using the smaller life within in to manifest that fecund desire. If it ever grew too tall, it would envelop the heavens in its unclean tendrils and choke existence to death.

It must be pruned, dismembered and hurt from time to time. The Exarchs did it when they cut down the Celestial Ladder, and the Gate does it still, with the blackest, sharpest blade of all: the Abyss. That’s the anti-reality’s purpose. It’s the Serpent, Niddhog gnawing at the World Tree — but it too must be restrained. The Serpent and the Tree live in symbiosis. Unbeing seeks being, and devours it. Being fills the void until it’s either stopped, or suffocates.

Theory:
Unbeing seeks Being and devours it. Being fills Unbeing and suffocates it. The World Tree grows from filth to grasp and choke the Celestial, and so it must be gardened with the Serpent's venom. When the Serpent gnaws at the Tree's heartwood, it must be rebuked and sent back to the Void it came from.

That’s why the Secret Order of the Gate calls Abyssal horrors into the world, and why it banishes them when they stay too long or eats too deeply into the Tree. They let the Serpent prune the world in small pulses of destruction, designed for symbolic import. Killing a city is excessive; killing the man who represents the city is good enough, and the manner of his ending is the rite that controls that symbolic power. So the world is left a smaller place — Fallen, but alive — without raising poisoned branches to the heavens.  

It almost happened once, they almost lost reality completely.  In ancient Egypt, but the largest branch was pruned.  It didn't die completely though, it has the most tenuous thin ties to reality.  Too small to find.  The Gatekeepers destroy all evidence of the Red Word they can find.  It must never succeed in supplanting the tree. 

The Secret Order believes in two paths of service: the Opening Way and the Warding Way. Openers summon Abyssal manifestations; Warders banish them. The perfect Gatekeeper performs both duties, but few can maintain the balance. They see too much. Their minds break in one direction or the other and they pick a side. The Gatekeepers call themselves the truest Seers of the Throne, and say the Ministries are foolish for denying it, and leaving the Lonely Exarch in exile.

Initiation: 

Initiation Requirements: Gnosis 2, Space 1, Nameless Order (Ministry of the Gate) 1, Status: Seers of the Throne 1 (but no higher than 3) , Condition: Mystery Commands, must not have any Prelacy Attainments.

For those who already advanced far in the Iron Pyramid, both Prelacies and Status can be abandoned through various methods to ensure the Seer is ready to accept the gift of Parametrics.  Merits commonly seen among the servants of the Gate include Occultation, Infamous Mentor (Gatekeeper), Summoning Circle (Abyss), Master Exorcist, Otherworldly Lore (Gulmoth), Void-Scourged, Abyssal Resonance,  Abyssal Familiar, Mystery Cult Influence (Secret Order of the Gate), Allies (Cultists), and Retainer (Gulmoth).

The Secret Order maintains much layers of secrecy, more than usual Legacies. Only those who are thoroughly vetted by the Order can apply for initiation to the Legacy proper. While Awakened cultists are given preferential treatment, they are expected to abide by the cult's laws and even the existence of Sleepwalker superiors within the Mystery Cult.

All of the Gatekeepers are apparently handpicked for the Ministry by the Gate himself. A potential Gatekeeper must have had a direct interaction with the Abyss in some way before the Gate will even notice her. If she survives with her sanity mostly intact, the Exarch appears to her in her dreams only once, and gives her cryptic instructions on how to contact the Ministry. If she is able to unravel the meaning of the dream and acts on it, she is inducted into the Ministry and effectively disappears from the rest of the order.


The first time a new Gatekeeper enters the Place Between, their persistent Mystery Commands Condition shifts to reflect the will of the Gate itself.

Parent Path or Order: Seers of the Throne of any Path are accepted. Pentacle mages, Apostates and other outsiders are not.  Nameless are potential candidates, if they can be recruited to the Ministry first.

Nickname: Gatekeepers (formal/polite), Breachers (slang/derogatory),

Suggested Oblations: Singing hymns to the Gate in the Parametric Language; Meditating in the Place Between; Drawing the Gate's Iron Seal upon the mage's body; Exposing Sleepers and Sleepwalkers to the Abyss; Ritually interacting or summoning Gulmoth, bringing objects from the Place Between into the Fallen World.

Concepts: Scholar, mystic, insightful madman, monster hunter, scholar of forbidden subjects

Ruling Arcana: Space

Chains (Seer Yantras): The Iron Seal of the Gate (Patron Tool +1), Site of a recognizable Abyssal anomaly (+1); mantras spoken in the Parametric Language (see special rules below); runes written in the Parametric Language (+3); debris brought back from the Place Between (+1, +2 if its corresponding counterpart in the Fallen World is destroyed); Succeed on an Occult roll relevant to the spell (+2), seek to tear down an element of the Fallen World, or build up one that has grown too weak (+1), go to lengths to maintain your façade of normality in a manner relevant to the spell (+2), deal with reality in the cold, unfeeling manner you wish you could treat it every day (+1, +2 if this imposes a Negative Condition upon yourself).

Rote Skills: Occult, Subterfuge, and Survival

Appearance: 

The Legacy is hard on members’ psyches. After seeing the glory of the Gate, Gatekeepers stop caring about worldly things. Personal grooming begins to slide. Dirty, torn clothes are common, as long as these don’t give them away. Secret Order mages understand that appearance-conscious Seers would treat these signs with suspicion, so they carefully prepare themselves for social occasions, adopting a bland mask to get them through trivial meetings.

Without these precautions, Gatekeepers would simply take the quickest route to their goals, subtlety by damned. They’d mutter in the Parametric Language, kill anyone who stood in their way and in all likelihood, self-destruct after being found out. The Legacy is adept at maintaining a façade of normalcy, but it’s still a façade; they don’t care about the everyday world. If they could get away with it they’d give it nothing more than the cold glare, filled with unshakeable zeal — a look that hangs about them no matter what their appearance.

After seeing the Gate's full glory, many Gatekeepers stop caring for the mundane world utterly. Only the need for secrecy to deflect the suspicions of other Seers keep them maintaining social facades. Gatekeepers dress and act blandly as not to draw attention in the presence of other Seers, but quickly falls back to an abandon of normalcy in their unshakeable zeal.

Background: 

The Letigium

The Seers of the Throne implicitly recognize treachery and disobedience as a means of climbing the Pyramid, so even when confronted with a true taboo they are far more likely to try exploiting rather than kneel. Not all of them succeed, however, and only the most duplicitous and dedicated of Seers find the Legacy without succumbing to the many dangers on the path.

All Gatekeepers are Seers of the Throne; all consider themselves loyal. The worldly Throne’s failed them, but they haven’t failed it. Most were on the losing side of political struggles. They fled the death-knell of some trivial Ministry or lost a bid for rank in the Iron Pyramid. Beyond that, Gatekeepers tend to come from academic backgrounds. It’s hard to find the Secret Order, so to even start the journey, a prospective member has to explore locked archives and ask dangerous questions. To avoid the social stigma of studying the Gate, the mage also needs to know how to keep secrets and lie smoothly. These traits come in handy after initiation, both to hide her affiliations and disguise her damaged psyche.

It has been speculated that since every Ministry subjugates mankind with a core lie. Is the core tenant of the Ministry of the Gate to use the Abyss to subjugate mankind?  Instead, the Guardians of the Veil believe that the Ministry subjugates mankind by giving everything definition (even the undefinable), given structure to the universe with their Parametric syntax.  The Supernal's unknowable nature cannot exist in such a world.  As the minority, if they win, they topple the Iron Pyramid, lock out the Exarchs, the Oracles and stop all Supernal Magic completely.  They become the ones with the power, the only ones with access to magic and a connection to their patron.  They win.

The Secret Order of the Gate proper is a Legacy dedicated to the worship and emulation of the Gate, the Lonely Exarch of the Abyss whom even the Seers dare not invoke. Despite the Pyramid forbidding the worship of the Gate, there are always Seers who seek power beyond taboos. Many fail in frustration, are punished by their superiors, or become Scelesti. Only a few initiate properly into the cult and survive long enough to join its upper echelons in true service to the Gate.

The current Order, about a century old, is only the latest incarnation of the Legacy. The metaphor of the Fallen World as a Tree threatening to choke the Supernal skies, and the Abyss as the Serpent who works to prune the Tree's roots, appears frequently in what records the Pyramid has amassed about the Abyss, enough to unnerve those who know about the Secret Order. Even the Gatekeepers themselves intuit and worry that they're not the Gate's only servants, for when putting down raving Scelesti who delude themselves the Gate's servants they occasionally find symbols pertaining to their mythos and the Place Between.

There is a rumor among the Mysterium that the Free Council of Assemblies, a sect that rejects the unknowable and mystery of the Supernal in favor of a scientific lens, used the powers of the Gate during the great refusal...

Organization: 

No Gatekeeper shares a pylon for long. She leaves it, murders the other members or converts them. She already has to lie most of the time; increasing that by having “unenlightened” Seers nearby would be intolerable. If a Secret Order member manages to convert other Seers they form a pylon devoted to the Gate’s mission. They’ll spend an increasing amount of time away from the Throne’s hierarchy. Ironically, their agenda helps them advance despite this, because so many Gatekeeper pylons earn respect for fighting Abyssal intrusions — in most cases, intrusions they themselves created.

Aside from the natural strata of the mystery cult that is the Order, Gatekeepers loosely divide themselves to followers of the Way of Opening and the Way of Warding. Openers, at least when their actions are revealed, are indistinguishable from Scelesti to outsiders as they encourage Abyssal manifestations to teach the Fallen World its rightful place. Meanwhile Warders are often mistaken for dedicated enemies of the Abyss as they fend off Abyssal manifestations with uncanny expertise. An ideal branch contains both Openers and Warders, but the two Ways often schism with each other.

So while the Legacy isn’t big enough for a complex organization but it does recognize the roles of Openers and Warders. An ideal cult contains a balance between the two. Openers have effectively thrown their lot in with the Abyss, though they’d never admit it. Instead, they believe that the Abyss needs to be employed more aggressively.

Many Openers think humanity should suffer through a great Abyssal tribulation that ends in a smaller world with a less arrogant population. To the Secret Order, hubris is the Tree’s desire for growth, expressing itself through its human components. Curing it with a lasting, terrible darkness would protect the Supernal Realms. Warders channel their fear of the Abyss into a passion for opposing it, though that doesn’t mean they’ll block the Secret Order’s plans, either.

Gatekeepers believe that the three founders are still alive. One is the Lord Warder, one is the Lord Opener and the last is the hidden Minister of the Gate, who has attained true balance and lives in a crumbling citadel in the Place Between.

Mystery Cult Attributes

Purpose: The Secret Order, like many sub-cults of the Exarchs inside the Seers, started as a bid for power amidst the Seers' usual job hazards. It has since evolved into a full-fledged cult, far beyond a fringe pylon and its influences, but yet falling short of a true Ministry.

Relic: Rumors whisper that the Order's founders used an Artifact called the Celestial Flange to contact the Gate from the Place Between. Just what exactly is the Flange, or whether it even exists, is information closely guarded by the elders of the Legacy.

Doctrine: The Secret Order's philosophies hew dangerously close to that of Scelesti, so members are constantly vigilant for signs of Abyssal corruption among their own. Openers and Warders keeping each other in check is one of such mechanisms.

Merit: Mystery Cult Initiation (Secret Order of the Gate)

(• to •••••)

Mechanics: Must be a Sleeper or Sleepwalker inducted in the cult.

• Initiates are taught the mythology of the Serpent and the Tree, gaining an Occult Specialty Skill (Abyss) 

•• A shadow of the Abyssal spark of Sleep worms its way back into the initiate. Sleepwalker members gain the Liar Merit (•), despite not being a Sleeper.

••• The Secret Order is named so for a reason, as members must put up facades after facades. Sleepwalker members gain the Slippery Merit (••).

•••• At this depth of initiation, the member has seen much more than what outsiders can only imagine. Initiates gain the Deadpan Merit (•••), even if they are not Sleepwalkers.

••••• The initiate has gazed into the Abyss, and the Abyss now gazes back. Sleepwalker members gain the Loved Merit (•••), representing a sliver of attention from the Gate.

Merit: Mystery Cult Influence (Secret Order of the Gate)(•••, ••••, or •••••)

Mechanics: Must be a Mage with the prerequisite dots in the corresponding Nameless Order Merit Dots (••, •••, or •••••). Your character has influence over a Mystery Cult without actually being a subordinate member. Perhaps your character is a “power behind the throne” or even worshiped as a deity. Your character benefits from the same level of Mystery Cult Initiation, without having to be tied to the cult. This means fewer responsibilities to the cult, plausible deniability if they’re revealed, and the ability to step away at any time.

Merit: Nameless Order (Ministry of the Gate (• to •••••)

Mechanics: Must be a mage with Status: Seers of the Throne •

• Initiates are taught the mythology of the Serpent and the Tree, gaining an Occult Specialty Skill (Abyss) 

•• A shadow of the Abyssal spark of Sleep worms its way back into the initiate. Awakened members gain instead an instance of the Language Merit (•) in the Parametric Language.  They also gain the Merit: Mystery Cult Influence (Secret Order of the Gate) •••.

••• Awakened members gain two dots of the Occultation Merit, added to their existing rating. This can go over the usual three-dot limit. They may also choose to replace their Order Rote Skills with Subterfuge, Occult, Survival. They also gain the Merit: Mystery Cult Influence (Secret Order of the Gate) ••••.

•••• At this depth of initiation, the member has seen much more than what outsiders can only imagine. Initiates gain the Deadpan Merit (•••), even if they are not Sleepwalkers.  They also gain the Merit: Mystery Cult Influence (Secret Order of the Gate) •••••.

••••• The initiate has gazed into the Abyss, and the Abyss now gazes back. Awakened members gain the Destiny Merit at three dots, with a Doom that will involve Paradox or the Abyss itself.

The Parametric Language

The Parametric Language is the Gate’s occult tongue. The Secret Order believes the Lonely Exarch used it to command the Abyss to open, and tame the newly-Fallen World — and to banish it, so that the fallen World would survive. It is a language that gives comprehensible structures to the Abyss’ anti-entities. It’s a tongue of negatives, that defines things based on what they are not, providing a general conceptual shape — even a prison — for Abyssal entities.

All Gatekeepers know the Parametric Language. They can conduct conversations in it, though its grammar makes this a slow, clumsy process. Its chief use is in dealing with the Abyss.  It sounds like a series of chaotic, guttural syllables and hisses and objectively speaking, it is random noise; it can’t be learned by mages who don’t belong to the Legacy.  Not to be confused with Low Tongue.  This ability is represented by the Merit: Language (The Parametric Language) •

Mechanics: Chanting in the Parametrics counts as a Mantra Chain (Yantra), adding +3 to spellcasting (like High Speech) for spells dealing with all Abyssal phenomena, an additional +1 to spells the specifically targeting Abyssal entities or manifestations, +2 to Paradox Pool, and using it improves Impression levels with Abyssal entities by one automatically if it is used to converse with them and conduct Social Maneuvering. 

Legacy Requirements:

Initiation Requirements: Gnosis 2, Space 1, Nameless Order (Ministry of the Gate) 1, Status: Seers of the Throne 1 (but no higher than 3), Condition: Mystery Commands, must not have any Prelacy Attainments,

1st Attainment Prerequisites: Initiation, (Optional: Spirit 2)
2nd Attainment Prerequisites: Space 2, Gnosis 2, (Optional: Spirit 2), Occult 2, Survival 1, Subterfuge 1,
3rd Attainment Prerequisites: Space 3, Gnosis 4, (Optional: Spirit 3), 6 dots across Occult, Survival and Subterfuge, Nameless Order (Secret Order of the Gate) 2,
4th Attainment Prerequisites: Space 4, Gnosis 6, (Optional: Spirit 4), 8 dots across Occult, Survival and Subterfuge, Nameless Order (Secret Order of the Gate) 3,
5th Attainment Prerequisites: Space 5, Gnosis 8, (Optional: Spirit 5), 10 dots across Occult, Survival and Subterfuge, Nameless Order (Secret Order of the Gate) 4,

Wisdom Sins: Calling What Shouldn’t Be Called

Summoning entities from the Abyss with Gatekeeper Attainments is normally an act of hubris but Attainments Inure the Legacy Member from the crime against reality. The mage not only calls an inherently dangerous entity, but judges whether its presence suits some abstract principle of cosmic balance. Summoning entities without the use of the Attainments are considered Wisdom Sins at a Threshold of Low/Falling for Ranks 3-5 entities and and Stable/Understanding for Ranks 1-2 entities.

Attainments 

The Secret Order of the Gate’s Attainments pass through the Place Between: the border between reality and the Abyss. This is where the Gate dwells, and some Gatekeepers even believe that she is the realm. The Place Between looks like the material plane area from which a Gatekeeper enters, except that everything is twisted, rotting and corroded.  It looks a lot like a Qlippoth Nightmare Realm...  New buildings are ruins covered in thickly-scrawled sigils. The sun is pale and the stars are red, arranged in unknown constellations. The Abyss manifests freely. Think of the Place Between as the shore, and the Abyss as waves of an inscrutable ocean.  It is an entire realm that represents the hovel on the shore.

The Attainments conform to the roles the Gatekeeper takes, whether Warder or Opener.  Such attainments are marked as choices limited to only one role or the other. However, if the Gatekeeper has retained a sense of balance, he may remember that he must be both Opener and Warder to truly embody the Gate. Those who do so can brand himself with a Paradox Condition caused by his own magic, wait for it to settle in his Pattern, Scour it out, and spend the resulting Mana to change which effect this Attainment grants access to.

First Attainment: Shadow of Unbeing

Requirements: Initiation, (Optional: Spirit 2)

Concept:

After initiation, the Gatekeeper’s life has been forever changed, most disconnect with what they now consider ‘trivial’ things, their lives and souls scarred by their exposure to the Gate. This however grants them a deeper insight into the nature of the Abyss than any Scelestus will ever have, the blind, foolish slaves that they are. Instead of seeing the overlaps of the Supernal and Fallen World the mage may also use their Mage Sight to look into the Abyssal World, or at least the Place Between.  The Gatekeeper's Mage Sights are forever tainted with the wisdom of the Gate. The Gatekeeper chooses one of these two options for this Attainment based on their Legacy's Path (Opener or Warder) within the Order:

Mechanics:

(Warder Only) Abyssal Mage Sight - Mage Sights now reveal traces of Abyssal magic, phenomena and corruption. This effect cannot be turned off. Mage Sights function as normal but now highlight paradox, and Abyssal resonance and so forth, in addition to the normal information.  These sights will reveal truth and resonance without fully revealing nature (Unveiling vs Understanding). Phenomena include: Scelesti Nimbi, traces of Abyssal Numina, Influence and Manifestations as well as recent Quiescence. If the subject is using any concealing power to hide, then this will provoke a Clash of Wills. Detecting the Abyssal Nature of anything without a test.

(Opener Only) Peer Across - For a Mana the Gatekeeper can peer directly across the divide and see what is lurking in the Place Between, seeing Gulmoth and anything else lurking in the direct parallel to the Fallen World (similar mechanics to Spirit 1 "Exorcist's Eye" with one Reach to peer across into the In-Between).  This would also allow them to cast magic that reaches into the Emenation Realm.  Peering across lasts as long as the caster maintains concentration.

(Spirit 2 - Optional) Uncalling the Called - If the Gatekeeper is a Apprentice of Spirit he can selectively wrap himself in the medium of the Place Between. He can use this to touch Abyssal entities even when they’re in Twilight, the Shadow or the Place Between, and can even reach inside people and objects to interact solely with the manifestation, without harming whoever or whatever it inhabits. He can strike the entity or pull it out of its host.

The Gatekeeper can spend a Mana to allow them to perceive, interact and converse with Gulmoth in Twilight or in the Place Between for a scene Mechanics work as a tweak to the Spirit 2 Attainment "Spirit Eyes" but the effects only extends to the Gatekeeper and carried possessions. Such interactions are unnatural to observation, even moreso than interaction with spirits, for the Gatekeeper phases through intervening objects and creatures to touch solely the Gulmoth. This naturally works well with the Gatekeeper using the Parametric language to speak with the Gulmoth to ease the relationship.

Second Attainment: Shroud of the Borderland

Requirements: Space 2, Gnosis 2, (Optional: Spirit 2), Occult 2, Survival 1, Subterfuge 1,

Concept: 

The mage partly enters the Place Between. He appears to be semi-substantial and his appearance also changes. He’s close to the Abyss, and seems to mutate and ripple in its presence. The Gatekeeper enters the Place Between only partly, the liminal nature of the Emanation allowing such a feat. When using this Attainment she takes on an uncanny mien; she may seem translucent, or grow scales and tendrils that match no earthly creature. His eyes may weep blood or mucus, his flesh becomes leathery or pale and diseased, his arms might appear lengthen into spindly, clawed growths, or various other unnatural, unhealthy, Abyssal appearance may take place. But it’s an illusion, formed of the interaction between his Nimbus and the Abyss’ anti-existence. This also permits the Mage a certain degree of freedom of movement otherwise unattainable and resistances against reality and anti-reality.

The Place between is by no means a safe location, however it’s sympathy to the Space Arcanum is used by many Gatekeepers for Paradox-free, risk minimized travel. Furthermore, as it’s entrance is limited to Gatekeepers and Abyssal entities, it is one of the few places they can remain safe, and away from either Pentacle or Seer Mages who have discovered their true identity.

Mechanics:

The Shroud creates a variety of effects. The shroud can be activated with an Instant Action and lasts the scene for no cost. Reach spent on Instant Cast and Advanced Duration (a Scene) and the effect has a Potency of the GateKeepers's dots in the Space Arcanum:

The Uncanny Mein - While the uncanny mein is a mere illusion, but disquieting enough to grant the Gatekeeper a bonus to Intimidation and other applicable equal to their dots in Space. The Gatekeeper can also ward himself against petty Fallen obstructions with the power of the Place Between. This permits the Mage to pass through any obstacle that could conceivably be made to be removed, passing through doors, handcuffs, and out of straight jackets to name a few. This state functions as Break Boundary for the duration of the Attainment.  The Gatekeeper is not intangible however, only less tangible.

Traversal - With the Uncanny Mein activated, the Gatekeeper can spend a Mana point to "tag along" any time someone or something enters the Place Between within her sensory range.  For a Willpower Point, a Gatekeeper can follow-through a previously opened Thurae (an entrance into an Emanation Realm) into the Place Between in locale area around them if they are able to isolate and lock on to the Resonance of the gateway that opened before.  Only the Gatekeeper is allowed to shift into the realm using these techniques.

(Spirit 2 - Optional): The Gatekeeper chooses one of these two options based on their Legacy's Path in the Order:

(Warder Only) Lurking at the Threshold - The shroud allows the Gatekeeper to resist the powers of the Abyss.  When the Gatekeeper activates their Space Armor the mage (in addition to the normal effects) adds their Space dots to Withstand against Abyssal entities' Numen and Influences.  If a Clash of Wills is called for instead it's rolled with Gnosis + Space.

(Opener Only) Supernal Disruption - The Abyss is close enough to disrupt incoming magic, diverting its energies into counter-universes and corrupt metaphysical realms. Being cloaked in anti-reality Should the Gatekeeper raise her Space Armor while this Attainment is in effect, she adds her Space dots to her Withstand rating to any incoming Supernal spells.  If a Clash of Wills would be called for the Gatekeeper instead rolls Gnosis + Space.

Third Attainment: The Walk of Liminality

Requirements: Space 3, Gnosis 4, (Optional: Spirit 3), 6 dots across Occult, Survival and Subterfuge, Nameless Order (Secret Order of the Gate) 2,

Concept: From her experiences in the Place Between, the Gatekeeper understands that distance and direction is meaningless. She can impart this revelation to others, bringing them into sympathy with the Place Between. With this power and a little Paradox the Gatekeeper can rip new holes into the Place Between.  Through intoning the Parametric Language, the Gatekeeper can fray the skein of reality about her, creating an overlap with The Place Between.

Mechanics:

1. Condemn the Line - The Gatekeeper can replicate the "Lying Maps" spell. Potency of the Effect is equal to Space Dots and Withstood by Resolve.  Reach is assigned to instant use and Advanced Duration (Scene), requires a Touch Attack or an Aimed spell. The Gatekeeper only has to roll three successes on navigation rolls to counts as an exceptional success on when using this Attainment on subjects carrying debris from the Place Between (mechanics on objects from the Realm and the Place Between itself will be covered in a future post).  To know how to get from here to there is to tacitly accept the Lie. By means of this Attainment, the mage twists the subject’s sense of direction,  making him certain that the best route from where he is to somewhere else is one the mage desires. She could, for instance, convince the subject that the road to a dangerous Verge is actually the way to his mother’s house, or that the mage’s sanctum is in another part of the city. If the subject actively, carefully navigates using a map or GPS or the like, the navigation roll is a single chance die, and even on a success it feels wrong.

2. Tear Thurae - The Place Between calls to the Gatekeeper, and she calls back. Whenever she invites Paradox to any spell using the Space Arcanum, she may spend two Paradox Reach and a Mana (Instead of the Storyteller) to open a Thurae into the Place Between.  This is their primary means of creating a way to and from  the Emenation Realm.  The Thurae stays open for the number of rounds equal to the Gatekeeper's dots in Space and only Gulmoth and other Gatekeepers can use the invisible Iris to enter the realm.  Gulmoth immediately shift into whatever Manifestation they use automatically.

3. Repair Reality - The Gatekeeper can close Thuraes or Irises created by other Scelesti by spending a Mana and rolling a Clash of Wills against the creator of the gate or the potency of the opening itself.  The Thurae remains open for a number of rounds equal to the Gatekeeper's dots in Space.

(Spirit 3 - Optional:) The Gatekeeper becomes recognized as an experienced walker of the Place Between, and he knows the secret steps of its denizens. The Gatekeeper chooses one of these two options based on their Legacy's Path in the Order:

(Warder Only) Cut away the Poison - Replicates the effects of Spirit 3 "Erode Resonance," allowing the Gatekeeper to easily remove the Open or Resonant Conditions on a target from an Abyssal source for no cost.  The effect is Lasting.

(Opener Only) Entreat with Unbeing - Replicates the effects of Spirit 3 "Spirit Summons" but summons Gulmoth instead.  This can only be done in the Place Between and summons Gulmoth within the realm or for a point of Mana from the Abyss itself into the Place Between. The mage sends out a call to the nearest Gulmoth within her sensory range. Conversely she can summon spirits she knows personally. She may send a general call and the nearest Gulmoth will answer, or she can specify the type of spirit by Resonance or Sympathetic Chain (Yantra) to target a specific Gulmoth (sometimes by Sympathetic Name). The Attainment does not work on spirits above Rank 5. Reach is spent on making the Attainment an Instant Action, Advanced Duration, and a Reach to give the spirit a single, one-word command to follow. The spirit is not compelled to complete a task if it cannot finish the command before the Duration of the Attainment elapses.  

The manifestations are not any more well-disposed toward the Gatekeeper as any other, but doesn’t necessarily hate him; rather, it it will use its presence to twist and destroy something emotionally or magically significant if it can. It does not always appear overtly, and might impersonate or possess a material plane native. The mage has no special ability to command it and doesn’t need the mage around to sustain itself.

Gatekeepers use the Attainment to communicate with Abyssal entities or destroy them. Abyssal beings visit in the Place Between easily, but it forces them into the semblance of form they’re forced to wear on the material plane. (If this wasn’t the case, the entity would either be incomprehensible, or drive the Gatekeeper completely mad.) Gatekeepers strike pacts with the Abyss here, but they also use it as a dumping ground for creatures who’ve overstayed their welcome on earth. These banished entities can return to the Abyss is they wish. Most do, though many still haunt the Place Between.

In the physical world, if the Gatekeeper conducts a Supernal Summoning, they can choose to inflict a Rote action on the Abyssal Incursion dice roll.  Incursions bring Gulmoth for the mage to talk to in the Fallen World without having to create a way from the Place Between for them to cross.  The entity has the characteristics of an Abyssal Manifestation that appears when mages invoke Paradoxes connected to spells using as many Arcanum as the gatekeeper’s Spirit rating.

 If the Summoner botches the summoning in the later stage it is possible the same effects as normal happen, as the Summoner’s Magics have proven insufficient to bend the Abyss to his will. In any case, the entity is able to push it’s way from The Place Between into the Phenomenal World with ease, slipping from the shore onto the mainland. The Gate herself takes no action with regards to these intrusions, except in the most dire, apocalyptic circumstances such as the arrival of an Annunaki, or the unchecked formation of an Abyssal Iris or Verge.  This is an Abyssal Summoning. But not a reckless summoning like the slaves of the Abyss, the Scelestus perform. This is ordered, structured, and based on Parametric Symbology. Which is why if you fuck up, you get burnt, same as everyone else. You’re trying to summon the Abyss with Parametric Language.

4. Dwell in the Between

Requirements: Space 4, Gnosis 6, (Optional: Spirit 4), 8 dots across Occult, Survival and Subterfuge, Nameless Order (Secret Order of the Gate) 3,

Concept:The Gatekeeper's long dwelling in the Place Between now marks her past steps. After a scene of retracing her own steps, reminiscing past experiences in the Place Between, the Gatekeeper warps space into pathway whenever he wishes.  The Gatekeeper may employ Sympathetic Range to connect to the Place Between, bypassing the gulf between the Fallen and the Supernal.

Mechanics:
1. Dweller Doorways - The Gatekeeper has a strong connection to the Place between and can now enter and exit the Place Between wherever they wish. For the cost of a Mana they create a portal using the Attainment that follow the same mechanics as Space 3 "Co-Location" with Reach assigned to Instant Cast, Advanced Duration (See Space dots, Scene to much longer), making the overlap visible and in a stable portal form. The Attainment either requires the mage to touch or use an Aimed spell at the target, even if the target is the air where the portal will be. Anyone is able to perceive and use the portal. Doing so requires a Sympathy Chain (Yantra) of some kind with the Realm, an object from the Realm or anything else reasonable except the Gatekeeper theirselves. The portal is bi-directional and leaksAbyssal Resonance into the place in the Fallen World where it was opened.  This taint can be traced but most won't have the ability (or the desire) to follow the Scelestus into the Emanation.

Abyssal Verges: 
There is no Attainment for a GateKeeper to easily create larger overlaps with the Place Between.  Instead, once the GateKeeper can use Dweller Doorways they effectively can use Sympathetic Yantras to open traditional portals and other space effects with that realm.  The only caveat is that Sympathetic Yantras to the Place Between are not a come thing (but not hard for a Gatekeeper to get at this point) and the spell must risk Paradox.  This means that a Breacher can design a traditional version of the Co-Location spell to overlap large areas of the Fallen World with the place between and have those overlaps last longer than a scene.  This means they can effectively create Abyssal Verges, outposts of the Place Between in the Fallen World.  A Gatekeeper at the fourth or fifth attainment is perhaps one of the scariest Scelesti in the world.

This ability only allows the Scelestus to enter the Place Between in the place associated with the Fallen World where they stand.  The Gatekeeper can use the same power at any time in the Place Between to create a portal exit back into the realm world but they enter the Fallen World in the most direct parallel to the location of the Portal in the Realm.  Portals back and forth can be used to accelerate travel but if it is used that way its almost always better to just use the Co-Location Attainment "Dweller Doorways" to get where you are going.  The Co-Location Attainment "Dweller Doorways" can also be used within the Place Between but with mixed results.  Since Attainment works just like Co-Location it becomes very easy to toss people into the Place Between against their will.

2. Paradox Environmental Anomaly - The Gatekeeper can choose, when they exit the Place Between to inflict an Anomaly, specifically an Abyssal Environmental Tilt, on the immediate area, carrying corruption back into the Fallen World. The duration of the Tilt is based on the Wisdom of the Gatekeeper (as with Paradox effects) and the area effected covers several rooms or the single floor of a house. The Gatekeeper is not immune to these effects.
Environmental Tilt (The Place Between):
- Distances warp, twist, expand and contract unpredictably (-2 to perception rolls)
- Navigation and survival rolls take a -2 penalty
+2 bonus to rolls to Summon Abyssal Entities
- Area has the Resonant Condition with the Abyss

Wisdom | Paradox Duration
Enlightened | One Scene
Understanding | One Chapter/Day
Falling | One Story/Month
Mad | One Chronicle/One Year

3. Unerring Path - The Gatekeeper is learning to master the Realm of the Gate itself. Navigation rolls, including finding places to cross back into the Fallen World gain Exceptional Successes easily (3 successes make an Exceptional result instead of 5). Also, add the mage's dots in space to the successes to calculate to the speed at which a Gatekeeper can cover distance in the Place Between (Speed to the power of the successes) as the Realm's substance and distance straights in front of the Gatekeeper.
Spirit 4 - Optional: Gulmoth Rank - The Gatekeeper is now recognized as a dweller in the Place Between, and deceives lesser Gulmoth into thinking he is one of them. Similar to the Spirit 4 Attainment "Honorary Rank" The character has an “honorary” spirit Rank equal to her dots in Spirit for Abyssal Entities. Entities sense her Rank as though she were a Gulmoth, and her Physical attacks count as banes to Gulmoth two Ranks or more below her. She may spend a point of Mana to reduce a Gulmoth's Doors against her Social maneuvering actions by one. This effect is Reflexive and can be shut off an on by the Gatekeeper at will.

Additionally, the Gatekeeper chooses one of these two options based on their Legacy's Path in the Order:

2. (Warder Only) Banish Gulmoth - The Gatekeeper can now replicate the effects of Spirit 4 "Banishment" for the cost of a Mana.  The effect has a Potency of the mage's Space Dots and is Withstood by the Gulmoth's Rank.  The Attainment strips a Gulmoth of its ability to act in the world, reminding it of its place. This Attainment strips a number of Manifestation Conditions from the Gulmoth (or its host) equal to the Attainment’s Potency. The effect is Lasting, but the Gulmoth may use its Influences and Manifestations to reestablish the Conditions as normal, after the duration elapses. This Attainment does not work on spirits above Rank 5.  Reach is spent on Instant Casting, Advanced Duration (scene) and the Gulmoth cannot attempt to recreate the destroyed Conditions on the same victim or location until the Attainment’s Duration elapses.  Lastly, one remaining Reach for the Attainment to be used if the Gulmoth is within sensory range.

(Opener Only) Bind Gulmoth - The Gatekeeper can now replicate the effects of Spirit 4 "Bind Spirit." The effect has a Potency of the mage's Space Dots and is Withstood by the Gulmoth's Rank. With this Attainment and the cost of a Mana, the mage may bind a Gulmoth to the world, granting it a Manifestation Condition. The mage may grant a number of Conditions equal to the Attainment's Potency (Mage's Space Dots), and must create any prerequisite Conditions as well, if they aren’t already present. The entity immediately enters the Manifestation of the mage’s choice, and may not leave it while the Attainment remains in effect. This Attainment does not work on spirits above Rank 5. Reach is spent on Instant Casting, Advanced Duration (scene), a Reach swaps the Primary Spell Factor to Potency rather than Duration and a Reach to allow the effect to be generated at the sensory range of the mage. 

Objects from the Upside Down

Visitors to the Place Between may pick up debris in it, and with effort carry it back to the Fallen World. Carrying such a piece saps one Willpower point each scene, until the visitor abandons it or exits the Emanation. Once back in the Fallen World, the object counts as a Sleeper with an Integrity of 10 for the purpose of Dissonance. All debris picked carried back this way count as Sympathy Yantras to the Place Between, and have at least a Weak sympathetic connection to the Emanation itself. The sympathy is stronger the more warped a piece is compared to its Fallen counterpart.  As a regular Tool Yantra it counts as either a +1 or +2 bonus depending on the object and the spell.  Objects also have the Resonant Condition with respect to the Abyss.

5. Reign of the Reconciler

Requirements: Space 5, Gnosis 8, (Optional: Spirit 5), 10 dots across Occult, Survival and Subterfuge, Nameless Order (Secret Order of the Gate) 4,

Concept:A horrific set of Attainments only learned by powerful Gatekeepers, they use of this power to force those subjected to it to suffer a horrific, nightmarish experience resulting in a foray in The Place Between or its outpost, suffering assault by Abyssal Entities, and the Environment of that realm, with little hope of escape. Should they survive, they are returned to the Fallen World weakened, and likely facing a properly prepared and somewhat impressed Gatekeeper.  This level of Attainment allows the Gatekeeper to create a bastion of the Abyss in the Fallen World or to condemn an area of the Fallen World to be permanently banished to the null-space.

Few Gatekeepers ever reach this level of proficiency, their souls grown so deeply engraved with the

Parametric Language, that they are likely close to becoming one with the Gate. At this point, the Gatekeeper can gather about him a section of the Fallen World, and drag it with him into The Place Between. In practical effects, this removes that section of the Fallen World from existence. This Attainment allows the Gatekeeper to twist a ‘bubble’ of space, perverting, fragmenting it, and throwing it into The Place Between.

Mechanics: In his devotion to the Lonely Exarch, the Gatekeeper reaches the pinnacle of the Way of Opening, or the Way of Warding. Choose beforehand how this Attainment initially manifests:

1. (Opener Only) "To Reign in Hell" - The Gatekeeper now exercises his will upon the Plane of Liminality to create an Abyssal Manse. The user of this Attainment carves out a chunk of the Place Between, fortifying it has their personal territory and isolating a Sanctum for themselves outside the Fallen World. Two Reach are spent on making the effect Lasting, Advanced Scale, one for an Iris (to either the Fallen World or the Place Between)  and the lst is used to key the Iris to whatever criteria the Gatekeeper want.  The area brought under the will of the Scelestus must be contiguous and the Gatekeeper must be standing within the area to be converted.

This Attainment is an extended action (based on the casting time in Gnosis) to create and a Gatekeeper can only have one of these pocket realms active at a time but grants 5 dots in the Safe Place Merit. The Breacher can slowly, over time, move his Sanctum merits into this new area. While isolated, almost a Bolthole (and that Merit from Demon: The Descent might be good to use here if properly implemented), a location in the Place Between is not ideal for everything. Hallows cannot take root here and while the the area is not an Extreme Environment (unless desired), it still has the other traits of the Realm (such as Paradox). So of those can be mitigated with spellcraft, others can not.

This Attainment is a combination of both Space 5 "Pocket Dimension" and mechanics similar to Spirit 5 "Shadow Manse." Unlike the Space 5 Spell "Pocket Dimension," the Abyssal Manse does not need the incorporation of other Arcana to define it. It has air, time, but no Twilight or Shadow. It also contains whatever area of the Place Between is carved out to make the Manse. The Manse also occupies space in the Place Between even if the space cannot be entered, space just warps around the building or area that is part of the Manse and it is impossible to enter without Space Magic and a Clash of Wills. So a threat would have to find the Gatekeeper's Sanctum in the place between and then overcome its defenses to even step foot into it. The Manse is completely divorced from physical reality in the material world unless the mage chooses to set up gateways or an Iris to get there.

2. (Warder Only) "Condemn to Oblivion" - The Gatekeeper chooses to condemn an area, and everything and everyone in it, to be banished from the Fallen World and discarded into the Place Between. This Attainment uses similar mechanics Space 5 "Quarantine" to excise a subject from reality altogether for the cost of a Willpower point, removing all paths from it to the rest of the world and vice versa. For all intents and purposes, the subject simply ceases to exist and reality “fills in” to adjust. One Reach spent on Instant Casting, two Reach are spent on making the effect Lasting, Advanced Scale, one Reach is spent on swapping the Spell Factors from Duration to Potency.  The size of the area that can be Condemned is based on the Scelestus's dots in Space and how they correlate to potency and area on the Advanced Scale table.  Less can be Condemned, such as subjects within the area instead of banishing the whole area itself and is can only be Withstood with the potency of a personal/area Warding spell or other Space magic that may call for a Clash of Wills or the Ranks of the entities within the area.  If the area itself has agency or some level of supernatural ability to control its spatial existence then that is used to resist the Attainment.  The area banished from reality must be contiguous and a Touch or Aimed spell is required to target the subject.

This allows the Warder to destroy Abyssal Verges and other supernatural phenomena that exists within the area excised. Areas of corruption that could harm the Fallen World can be removed wholesale. Unlike the Quarantine Spell the Attainment is based on, the subjects can leave the area that was banished to the Place Between but they enter the nightmare world instead of where they were before. The location immediately assumes the traits of the rest of the Realm, particularly whatever traits were possessed by the reflection of the place had in the Realm before the excised part of the Fallen World replaced it. If anyone was in the Abyssal reflection of the area excised they are shunted out to the adjacent territory.

Spirit 5 - Optional: the Gatekeeper chooses one of these two options based on their Legacy's Path in the Order:

(Opener Only) Feed the Dark Children - This Attainment functions similarly to Spirit 5 "Essence Fountain."  For the cost of a Mana, the Opener can generate a number of Essence in their pattern (or the pattern of a subject) equal to their dots in Spirit.  The Essence can be any of any Abyssal Resonance the Breacher desires in order to feed Gulmoth and pay for their services.  The Essence can be inserted into the Gulmoth directly, transferred from the Scelestus or placed in a victim (withstood by Rank or Stamina)  Reach is spent on making it an Instant Action, one to allow it to work at Sensory Range, one to work at Sympathetic Range (for an extra Mana), one Reach to go to Advanced Scale (allowing for mass targeting) and one Reach to make multiple flavors or Resonance at once.

(Warder Only) Unmake Gulmoth - The Gatekeeper now holds as full control over the entities of the Abyss as he is ever likely to hold, bar Archmastery. The most fearsome Attainment (to Gulmoth) in most Gatekeeper’s arsenal, this terrible magic utterly destroys a Gulmoth.The Gatekeeper can utterly destroy an Abyssal Entity, Unmaking it’s existence by exhaustively defining it in the Parametric Language. This Attainment does not however function on Entities of Rank 5 or higher. Gulmoth cannot spend Willpower to enhance their Resistance Attribute, such is the power of this definition.

This Attainment functions similarly to Spirit 5 "Annihilate Spirit." For the cost of a Mana, the Attainment is Withstood by Rank (compared to the mage's Spirit Dots) and the target can still spend an Essence to roll Power + Finesse in a Clash of Wills (against Gnosis + Spirit), a last ditch attempt to reassert its existence through its Influences. If the Attainment is successfully cast, the spirit is instantly and utterly destroyed — even if it still has Essence, it does not retreat into hibernation, it is simply gone forever.  Reach is spent on making it an Instant Action, one to allow it to work at Sensory Range, one to work at Sympathetic Range (for an extra Mana), one Reach to go to Advanced Scale (allowing for mass targeting) and one Reach I don't have any ideas what to do with it...

Gulmoth don't care about your magic:

Many might see the optional Attainments being focused only on Gulmoth (a rare and terrible entity type) as a major limitation or pigeon hole.  Running around with Gulmoth won't make you many friends.  But, Gulmoth are notoriously hard to control with conventional means.  They have strange biolologies and aspects of being or non-being that are hard to quantify or utilize.  These Attainments give you the ability to trump any slipperiness they may have in reserve.  Even entities not conforming to Spirit (excluding Abyssal Geotics (Acamoth)) are beholden to these powers.  Yes, Gulmoth are rare, but when you have access to the Place Between it becomes much easier to summon up and keep Gulmoth retainers on hand.  An Opener may have a small army of attendant Gulmoth just waiting in Twilight or on the other side of a Thurae.  The Attainments deal with both the issue of Gulmoth being rare and dangerous and getting them around unnoticed.