[Mage: The Slenderman Plot] Zero-X (Part I)

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

Zero-X: A Story About the Dead (Part I)

by Chimera (Hannah Nyland), Azazel & Eos (Jerad Sayler)

“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.”– H.P. Lovecraft

Out of Character, the entire plot took place over the course of the entire week of Halloween in 2014 and over 60 hours of game play.

What follows is a transcript of the debriefing led by neophyte Chimera, Sleepwalker Agent Eos, and Chimera’s fetch Azazel created via memory transcript and telepathic transfer. It is not to be retained in physical or digital copy or media in any format. Those with a need to know must request the information retained herein and gain permission from neophyte Chimera before it is passed on in the same way it was recorded. This transcript in Classified: Top Secret\\Memetic Transcript Only. Prepare for telepathic transfer…

Story Parts:
1. Part I
2. Part II
3. Part III
4. Part IV
5. Part V: The Monster

Foreword:

This is a story about dead people.

Oh, don’t get me wrong. There are always the living, for better or worse, and you’re going to be hearing about plenty of them here. But sometimes, the dead are the ones who hold tightest to our thoughts. They were all someone to us, once; now they’re each just a handful of memories and a body, frozen in time at the moment the spirit departed. We think of those bodies and try not to ask too many questions, knowing that most of them can never be answered. To the human mind, the unknown is a festering pit of anxiety, and death is the final unknown.

This is a story about dead people and I’ve been asked to tell it. Using STARK’S records and accounts I’ve heard from those involved, I aim to piece the tale together. Casstiel, Kairos, Nergal, Seraph and Eris – those are our primary actors here. The five of them together pack a hell of lot of magical firepower.

They used it.  - Chimera

Reviewing the transcript records behind Adept Chimera I shall be providing what insights I retain from my former Master, Casstiel, and from my own previous involvement with related events. Did that sound okay Boss? – Azazel

What am I supposed to even put for this? I’ll just chime is as needed okay? - Eos

April 10th, 2014

Chimera: Okay guys, this is what my old master would call a “hot wash.” We go over all of this so we can get it on record while it’s fresh. I’m… I’m hoping that putting it all together will make it easy… to deal with. So… with as much detail as possible…just talk it through from beginning to end. I’ll start.

Chimera: Nergal, Kairos and Casstiel are recovering from an eventful and harrowing journey into the Tenemos-

Azazel: And I don’t blame them. Ah, it seems I have the most background to provide here. Since 2011 Nergal has been tied to a powerful Acamoth, an Abyssal entity called The Darkness that Thirsts through a dark bargain. The bargain allowed the entity to take residence inside the Moros’s soulstone, a large coin made of gold and lead. The deal was struck to grant him the ability to wield the Acamoth’s substance as an ephemeral klaive he dubbed the Soul Reaver (great video game btw).

Azazel: I also do not blame Nergal for making this deal. We came toe-to-toe with a group of Scelesti nilists who were stubborn on wrecking the world and the Azazel: Horsemen had been hopelessly outgunned. In order to survive their next encounter Nergal reached for power and received it… for a price. Always a price.

Azazel: After the nilists were defeated and dear friends lost they were left to piece their lives back together. The Acamoth had been slowly seeping into the Tenemos through Nergal’s Onerios, the subconscious of his soul intrinsically connected to his soul stone…. And well, his soul.

Azazel: As you can imagine, despite best efforts to control and contain his passenger the Acamoth started to use Nergal’s soulstone to influence his soul proper and through him the Tenemos… and through that the Bakken oil being harvested throughout North Dakota. So the Five Horsemen and friends from the Bridge of Souls ventured into the Tenemos to call upon entities powerful enough to contain and control the creature.

Azazel: It… didn’t go exactly according to plan and in the end the mages had to penetrate the blackest part of the small Onerios realm within Nergal’s subconscious where the Acamoth was in residence and purge it into the waters of the Ocean Orouboros on the very edge of creation. Nergal was no free of nightmares and free of the infection, but there were consequences they didn’t know about yet.

Chimera: The three came out of the ordeal physically and spiritually drained, but then it seemed they’d have a little time to kick back and relax. All is well with the world.

Chimera: Ha. Right.

Chimera: Early that morning, Eagle Butte explodes. I’m told it made a very pretty light show, but between the chaos, fire and emergency responders, I doubt that was the foremost thought on anyone’s mind.

Chimera: Kairos’ subsequent post-cog reveals troubling things. The butte goes up in a blinding flash of light, raining sprays of flaming oil down on the valley below.

Azazel: Kairos’s understanding of the fundamental truth of absolute time also allowed him to note that the same time the Butte detonated due to some kind of volcanic or seismic activity was the same time they were in the Anima Mundi banishing the Darkness that Thirsts back into the Abyss.

Chimera: But, just before the butte erupts, a set of Native American symbols flare up for a split second. And the last one to appear is this:

Chimera: Nergal’s sights reveal death and abyssal resonance hanging thick in the smoke-clogged air, all charged with spiritual energy that buzzes like a live wire. Another thing: A veritable unkindness of white ravens perch on the Butte under mage sight, whispering to him: “The white king comes for thee.”

Something was bound here. Was.

Azazel: It is also worth noting that these same pale ravens, spirits of death and omen we determined, were sited around Beulah and outside the Horsemen Sanctum starting approximately around January 2013 until this time. If encountered again they appear as ravens the size of a small dog and pure white in feathers and beak with black shark-like eyes, black tribal markings on their feathers, and spider legs they flex through the air with like a vampire squid of tarantula. This was the last sighting of the ravens. During the incident at the Sanctum the Horsemen used the Crucible, a magical holographic radar and map of their territory allowed them to follow the first unkindess of ravens to Eagle Butte. During that encounter the ravens stated:

“sErVe We DeStInEy, YoU sHaLl SeE. fUtUrE cOmEs SoFtlY, tHe WhItE kInG cOmEs FoR tHeE – FoLlOw Me!” It seems now that the White King was a reference to the entity that was released.

The ravens also stated at a later sighting, more immediately before the Horsemen embarked on the attempt to get rid of the Darkness that Thirsts immediately preceding these events that: “Thirst in the ocean, a bridge unburned, one has departed, another returned.” In hindsight this most likely was a warning that destroying Nergal’s soul stone by throwing it in the Astral Ocean Orouboros and that in so doing the act would return the Acamoth to the Abyss and free the trapped entity it was incubating under Eagle Butte.

Chimera: It’s still early, hours before daylight. They make their way back to their car in the cold and the darkness, the things they’ve seen weighing heavy on their minds. The Acamoth is dead, but even in death some aspect of it is coming back to haunt them.

Azazel: That is not precisely correct boss. Abyssal entities are simulacrums of entities in the fallen world. They come from someplace outside reality and are forced to imitate and bind themselves to some sets of mad rules in order to exist as an intruder. They are anti-reality, anti-truth, and it is hard to kill something that may lack the concept as part of its composition. This may explain why some long-lived Abyssal manifestations are so virulent and hard to destroy. They can evolve and spread, not conforming to any magical or physical laws. In any case, the Acamoth was not destroyed but cast back into the Abyss. No doubt it could return if circumstances align but it is doubtful it would have the same influence and power it had before It most likely would be bound by a different set of rules relating to how it managed its incursion the next time.

Eos: I shudder to think. Thanks Azzy, I really needed more nightmare material.

Azazel: I do not recommend dreaming about entities that exist in the Astral. Made (or bound in this case) by the laws of ideas, being of “dream stuff” sometimes thinking about them, dreaming about them, could be enough to bring them back or create a copycat entity.

Eos: Wow… was that supposed to make me feel better. Sure thing, I’ll do my best not to have bad dreams. And if I do I will pray it’s not real-ish.

Chimera: In the week that follows, Nergal spent more time recovering; sleeping, relaxing and performing oblations to mend his damaged soul.

Azazel: What attracted the Darkness that Thirsts to make contact with Nergal and offer its Faustian deals was due to Abyssal resonance he picked up from carrying some of the waters of the Ocean Orouboros (a Astral representation of the Abyss at the edge of the Anima Mundi) in his soul back in December 2011. He did so as a favor to the Temenic entity known as “Death,” one of the Endless, the first fundamental archtypes of the universal subconscious. She represents the personification of all mankind’s dreams, ideas and imaginations on an anthropomorphized death. Coming full circle, Death returned the favor during the events immediately preceding this incident when she fought the Acamoth alongside the Horsemen. It makes me wonder if she had been running a much longer game the whole time. After all, the Acamoth was exceedingly volatile and powerful. Its influences, especially through Nergal, were threatening the Tenemos by the end. But what if Death set it all up in order to position the Acamoth for banishment in the first place? Prior to early 2012 Nergal was no longer getting more than 3-4 hours of sleep a night as a result of the Acamoth calling to him and the residual effects of the waters. With the “daddy” of the entity in this incident destroyed, he pretty much did nothing but eat and sleep for a couple weeks.

Chimera: Kairos clued Casstiel in on what they discovered in the aftermath of the investigation, and the two head to the Bridge of Souls’ sanctum library in San Antonio to research Native American symbols and spiritual bindings. Their efforts catch the attention of Seraph and Eris, who quickly found themselves drawn into the investigation.

April 15th, 2014

Chimera: The first killing. Wanton Janus calls to inform Kairos of a body in Riverside Room 215B of the Commons Hotel – a shitty hotel if there ever was one - located in a subdivision of Minneapolis. No name given, no authorities on the scene, though the murder must’ve occurred sometime the previous night. All things considered, unusual circumstances.

Chimera: Another strange thing? Wanton Janus ends with something to the effect of: “The spirits have said the killer is something you’ve seen before,” Although the Horsemen are not exactly at a loss when it comes to enemies, the Denarians jump to Kairos’ mind as a distinct possibility.

The Cabal found their handiwork once; the diced up body of a priest. This sort of thing seems like their style based on what Wanton said about the state of the corpse being “cut up.”

Frankly, I think it would’ve been easier on everyone involved if he’d been right.

Azazel: Wanton Janus is a sleeper spiritualist with a gift with shamanism who travels around the western North Dakota region. He met the Horsemen back in July 2010 when he assisted them in dealing with another Native American entity called “Granny Death” or “Spearfinger” being summoned by another shaman. It is possible that this entity which escaped from the butte may have been a native American cryptid that was somehow trapped and corrupted by the Acamoth. In any case Wanton has been a helpful resource for the Cabal with his inside information on the rumblings of the supernatural community in the area. Another reason Kairos would be worried about Denarians again is simply that the last time Wanton Janus called them about a corpse it was the mutilated priest that put them in direct contact with the Knights of the Blackened Denarius.

Chimera: Kairos gets ahold of Casstiel and the five (Eris, Seraph, Cass, Nergal, and Kairos) meet up in the Horsemen Sanctum. He informs them of the phone call and his suspicions; all involved agree to give the body a look. They take the usual precautions; setting up a Save Point, a draw of the tarot, and scrying the hotel room before entry. Casstiel scrutinizes the local resonance and senses traces of supernal magic, but no active spells. Satisfied, he opens up a portal and the group walks through into a scene of utter carnage.

Azazel: I also suspect in hindsight, that the reason the hotel wasn’t crawling with police was because the mage’s directly involved with the victim were holding off all mention of the murder to the authorities and were preventing anyone from discovering the body. It’s possible the caucuses in Minneapolis knew the individual responsible for this murder and were ensuring the the Horsemen would clean their own house.

Chimera: I confirmed that with Witness actually. He was notified of the victim since he works sometimes in the region. The victim was a Famulus. A Guardian of the Veil Suspector who was tracking his killer (or running from him) and that is exactly what the Guardians in the local concillium were doing. Giving the Horsemen, whom they did not want to encounter directly, a chance to deal with its “internal business.”

Azazel: Ah, it all makes sense.

Tarot Draw: Six of Swords

A good time for travel, obstacles overcome, dealing with the baggage of the past.

Chimera: This is the part where I have to stop and think long and hard on how to describe what they saw next, because words don’t do the contents of that room justice. And I wasn’t even there – STARK later obtained images of it for me - and the thought of it still makes my stomach turn.

Eos: It was bad. He was just toyed with, torn apart slowly, and by someone sadistic who was really enjoying himself. I’ll never forget thinking I had no idea magic could do some much carnage.

Chimera: The hotel room is in shambles, and eerily silent. Furniture is scattered around haphazardly, most of it in pieces, and the patio window is shattered, decorating the room in broken shards of glass. Blood is everywhere; sprays on the walls from high speed impacts, a dark stain on the ceiling, and dried puddles on the ground. Joining the bloodstains on the walls are a series of tight burn marks. Abyssal resonance clogs the air, and Casstiel can already feel a migraine coming on. It’s strange – very strange – that the body is undisturbed and the place a crime scene, because the fight that caused this had to have made a lot of noise.

Oh yes, there’s also a decapitated body lying stomach-down on the floor.

What’s left of the man barely resembles a human being anymore. Nergal’s perceptions with The Grim Sight indicates the cause of his death was him having his head forcibly removed – no big shock there - but dear god, did he suffer before that happened.

Azazel: Nergal actually had trouble determining if the decapitation or the highly focused telekinetic strike to the brain finished him off. They were done near-simultaneously.

Chimera: The man is a patchwork quilt of lacerations, stab wounds, and third degree burns. Chunks of his skin have been torn off in bloody patterns, and his hands and knees sport ugly defensive wounds. The bone in his right arm juts out at a near right angle from his mutilated arm, his hand clenching futilely around a hand gun. Nergal scanned and listed less obvious injuries.

Shattered ribs. Clear blunt force trauma to the torso and legs. Multiple internal organs ripped apart and freaking crushed from the inside. I could go on...

Chimera: All that is bad enough. But what takes the scene to a whole new level of sickening is just how obvious it is that the killer toyed with his victim before finishing him off. The Abyss touches this place, but there’s also a great deal of lingering supernal energy; a telltale sign of conflict between two mages. The victim was healed with Life magic, but by his attacker… then tortured and healed again. This wasn’t a fair fight. This wasn’t even a slaughter. This was a game. Cat-and-mouse, and this is what happens when the cat finally gets bored and evaporates the mouse one nick at a time.

Chimera: They find the man’s severed head out on the patio; nose smashed in, half the skull caved in… imploded in on itself - and pulverized brain matter plainly visible through the gaping hole. His blue eyes are bloodshot and glazed over, his expression twisted into a nightmarish grimace of agony and sheer, determined rage. He fought. It didn’t matter.

Chimera: In life he was Orion, Guardian Suspector, though the five wouldn’t be finding that out for quite some time. The photo ID in a nearby duffel bag reads “Victor Asbury”. Kairos’ post-cognition spells pegs him as a plain looking man in casual clothes, sandy blond hair in a buzz cut, face freshly shaven, and eyes as alert as they are cold. Under various unveilings of mage sight, he resonates purpose and a chilling, single-minded certainty. The room is still relatively orderly at this point, cleansed of sympathy, and there’s concealment and a weak space ban over it - the sort you’d throw up on short notice and most likely done by Orion for his temporary lodgings. Eight or so minutes before his death, he’s sitting on one of the room’s two single beds, tracing a finger over an open Gideon Bible and muttering to himself as he eyes a few torn scraps of paper. Working through some sort of cipher in his head, presumably. The packed duffel bag is by his side. Though Orion seems calm and controlled, he’s clearly working in haste.

Chimera: Then the half slit door of the room’s closet opens, just a bit, and from it comes a soft mew. Orion jerks towards the sound, a grim look on his face and suddenly holding a pistol. Beady eyes stare out from the shadowy closet, as a little gray hand – a hand like an infant – reaches out at adult height and pushes the door just a tiny crack wider. Just like that it’s managed to rewind its personal timeline, gone through time; Kairos estimates about a day back, although the way it was done shouldn’t be possible even with even Mastery of the Time Arcanum.

Azazel: Yes, the best a Time Mastery could do is rewind time a few seconds or shunt himself a few seconds into the future. The only way it could be done conventionally would be with the Save Point spell that Kairos used earlier. But if the timeline rewinded then the caster could change course based on the foreknowledge and wouldn’t actually need to time travel to avoid the same situation they were rewinding time to avoid. Additionally, the Save Point can only be cast every twenty four hours, the rivers of time can only be bound that tightly together. Also what the entity did next was even more impossible with our current understanding of Supernal Magic…

Chimera: A split second later, the door explodes off its hinges. A new figure looms in the darkness, half lit up by a red blazing sword. He takes a step forward, nimbus flaring with frenetic light and black oily smoke. Orion jumps to his feet, and then – nothing.

Chimera: Nothing for seven straight minutes. Time covering that segment had been erased and Fate was occluded. Things still happened during that time, and we know how long the blank is, but someone did the Supernal Equivalent of blocking the recording of video and audio in this place and for that time. When the blank spot ends, the Suspector lies dead and broken on the ground, and the room looks like a war zone.

Chimera: The killer is gone. But his massive Dai Katana wreathed in the fires of hell, his resonance, his bizarre time-traveling familiar – it all adds up. This was the work of an old friend. Prodigy.

Chimera: It’s been two years since the Horsemen saw him last, though not for lack of trying; Prodigy seems to slip through every mundane and magical attempt to locate him, possibly a side effect of his new status as one of the Mad. It’s difficult to say what his capabilities are now, or how far gone he is, but even just judging by the intensity of his resonance, he’s a hell of a lot more powerful than he used to be.

Azazel: Prodigy was a former cabalmate too. Part of the Five Horsemen’s circle awakening. His tragic slip to being addicted to befouling his magic with the Abyss really started after he saw the leader of the Denarians, Nicodemus Archelone, manipulate paradox with ease. Since then he adopted the policy of learning to fight fire with fire and when the Denarians threatened the world he went full Darth Vader. December 27th, 2012, as the Horsemen along with Jack Bismuth and Seraph descended into the Underworld, Prodigy stayed behind to hunt the Denarians working for Nico’s wife Tessa. When he did he encounter the strange entity that he claimed as an ally or familiar. When we returned from our harrowing adventure to the bottom of the Underworld Prodigy had moved out of the Sanctum, had killed the remaining Denarians and went rogue with his new companion, hurling more power and control of paradox then we had ever seen. This was the first time that we were aware of that he stepped out of line and really started harming people with his fixation with Abyssal magic.

Azazel: As one of the Mad, Prodigy had been transformed through some strange alchemy, and became a boogeyman of the Awakened world. He had unbelievable power and far more understanding of the Ars Mysteries but his soul had been damaged and was leaking anomalous supernal energy into the world. He had lost his sanity for good. This combined with the loss of Loudon in the Underworld on that same trip was very hard on the Horsemen. Prodigy’s re-emergence as a stone cold killer was a sickening shock to his former cabalmates.

Chimera: The Horsemen wanted to first try to rehabilitate Prodigy somehow, save him if he can be saved. That would be contingent on if he could be captured to make the attempt. The scene in front of them didn’t bode well but the remaining Horsemen were unwilling to try to kill their former best friend out of hand. In this fight he’s used his sword - the Blood Fang – a Cabal weapon meant for the protection of friends and loved ones, to torture and murder. This is not a sin that can be ignored.

Azazel: Seeing one of the Horsemen’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (They referred to these highly powerful Imbued items as WMDs) turned to such a vile end goaded the Horsemen to action after all these years. All the WMDs are powerful items the Cabal made together and were considered Cabal assets that should not just be used for personal use but as a utilization of their Mantles. The Bloodfang was an Imbued Klaive of a Dai Katana and contained a significantly powerful spirit called the BloodFire. It also had a powerful jewel called the Blazing Diamond which they recovered from the shaman who summoned SpearFinger. The jewel displayed the ability to generate hellfire (destructive power said to only be available to Infernal Demons) and to take in blood to grant omens and prophesies. The BloodFire also desired to burn up and consume blood and it granted great control over the hellfire that the sword of commonly wreathed in. It is a terrible weapon, and not one that could be reproduced. A plan to neutralize Prodigy would need to consider the blade as part of the primary factors.

Chimera: The five (Seraph, Casstiel, Eris, Nergal and Kairos. Members of the Horsemen and Bridge of Soul’s Cabals) voted and were in unanimous agreement; it’s finally time to track Prodigy down, to whatever end. Seraph and Eris stayed to clean up the scene and contact the local concillium authorities. The rest headed out.

To be continued...

[Mage: The Awakening 2e] Lore: The Nativity

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

Lore: The Nativity

Sources: 
1. The Nativity as seen in Intruders: Encounters with the Abyss sourcebook for MtA 1ed
2. Anne Singleton was originally taken from the nWoD SAS: Bad Night at Blackmoon Farm
3. Kirsten, Troy, and Lovers taken from Keys to the Supernal Tarot sourcebook for MtA 1ed
4. Abyssal Resonance Merit is taken from the Banishers sourcebook for MtA 1ed
5. Purification ritual  inspired by Hellblazer issue #1 regarding the binding of the demon Mnemoth
6. Artwork taken from The Secret World and Secret World Legends video games
7. 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.

Plot Summary:
During Cups Runneth, this group of Guardians and their allies track down Kirsten Singleton, daughter of Anne Singleton who was conceived by a cult leader, awakened in the womb, past her powers to her mother until her birth and then continued to exhibit amazing magical adeptness.  Without any knowledge of the Magi her small fractured family was on the run for over five years while she caused paradox, disbelief and bad luck everywhere she went.  They were hunted most fiercely by the Guardians of the Veil and the Seers of the Throne, suspecting she could be a mage messiah to be snuffed out or protected.

When Task Force MASONPIRANHA catch up with her (the PCs) they find that her powers have been corrupted and her soul tattered by the Abyss.  Whatever she was or appeared to be before, she now is a Nativity with Supernal Magic, horribly damaging to magic itself.  While Witness leads their pursuers on a merry chase and contemplates having to murder the child, Chimera and Persephone figure out a solution.  Through her hidden Archmastery of Death, Persephone is able to repair the threadbare soul of Kirsten, using the Practice of Excision, and restoring her soul to that of an Awakened.  

Chimera takes Anne and Kirsten (now Shadowname Magpie "Maggie") under her protection and sets them up in Jamestown, North Dakota.  Under the watchful eye of her powerful spirit allies and spy networks she took Magpie on as an Apprentice.  Witness is elevated to the rank of Magister within the Guardians of the Veil and Chimera is now considered a Famulus.

((Disclaimer: The following information is not for the faint of heart. The Nativity is perhaps one of the vilest Abyssal Intrusions there is and one that sticks in the mind forever.  It involves the desecration of mothers, babies, fetuses, souls, and poor children who live a cursed life.  Thankfully this is all a work of fiction, and one where (in our plot) they actually managed to find a way to solve the problem that led to the happiest conclusion possible.  Archmastery for the win, and not an avenue I had considered when I designed the plot because we didn't originally have Persephone directly involved in the plot.))

Researching the Nativity

Action: Extended - Intelligence + Mental Skill (capped at size of the roll for a given topic)
Research Time: 1 day without a good library, 3 hours will an appropriate library.
Appropriate Libraries: Genetics, Fate, Possession, Satanism, Mage Order Lore, (Occult specs of the previous topics)
Successes =  Facts 0 The numbers are the progression of facts as the characters accumulate successes from various sources.

False/not related information is in Red and is pure speculation, myth, rumor, urban legend, but don't help with the situation at hand.

Blue information is on-the-nose for what they are looking for.

Information found through Google-Fu:
1. Ever seen movies with evil children?
2. Ever seen “The Omen”?
3. Through history, there have occasionally been children who seem to be at the center of ill fortune.
4. See: Fetches and Changelings for replaced children….  family curses
5. Rumors of indiscretion surrounding conception or result of rape or being a gypsy
6. Always bastard children where they are not sure who the father is, or the father disputes the child being his
7. Rumors of bestiality being involved… (father was the devil or a jackal, a beast)
8. Related to Black Eyed Kids?

Occult Sources:
1. Those children are in nearly every case said to have been immaculately conceived

2. Immaculate Conception tied to messiahs and god manifestations, the virgin birth — in which a child is conceived outside of man with the power of the divine — is considered to be the province of myth and religion. The most recognized example is, of course, the conception of Jesus. The child fostered within Mary’s womb was not given to her by a biological father, but instead born of the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit. That is by no means the only example of such conception in myth, however. Various theologies offer gods born of mortal women with no human fathers (Mithras, for instance). Still, all of this is the domain of legend alone, right?

3. Virgin Birth ambiguous, could mean simply no conception from intercourse. Supernatural conception is the only requirement.

4. The offspring, son or daughter, suffers from an elevated number of childhood ailments, but such a thing isn’t particularly abnormal. Colic, asthma, eczema: such diseases are seen as unfortunate, but not out of the ordinary. The child likely appears a little pale and frail, but not every kid is going to be a ballerina or a football star. Wise onlookers notice that such frailties are not the extent of the strangeness surrounding such a child.

5. Some may notice that strange things happen around the child. Not to him, precisely, but bad things happen in his presence. Potential repeat childhood trauma of major accidents in proximity to the child.

6. Even more bizarre happenstance: animals and birds will spontaneously die, illness and electronic disruption within close proximity to the child but never happen TO the child. Computer malfunctions when the child tries to use them.

7. People feel uncomfortable around him. Some sense how misfortune swirls about him know to stay far, far away.

8. The mother is fiercely protective of her baby. At first, such protection seems normal, but her overprotective nature can become downright vicious

9. Mortal Response – will be subtle, no direct connection to investigations on the part of mortal authorities. Unofficially they will wildly suspect and ostracize the child over time and incidents for suspected powers not confirmed. Psychological breakdowns are common and communities may tear themselves apart as a result.

10. The child may be innocent and completely unaware of its influences on the world.

11. This is an Abyssal incursion, only real means of exile is the death of the born child

12. Intrusion cannot be exiled during pregnancy without also killing the mother, the only real and permanent means of banishment.

Event Indicators of Nativity
1.  Localized events usually bizarre and not long term (within miles/city limits)
2. Rain of blood occurred
3. Flock of crows ran into building
4. Strange events and deaths at hospital
5. Power surges, powerful storms
6. Natil star or astrological alignments or phenomena
7. Flock of birds damaging aircraft or property

Order-Only Info:
1. When they are negative/evil Seer and Diamond Orders alike call this The/a Nativity, or Children of the Nativity or Nativity Children.

2. Theories hold that they are tainted, rather than by other supernatural means, when supernal resonance is involved there is Abyssal taint involved…

3. The souls of children spawned by the Nativity are strange and tattered, providing some mages who study them glimpses into what is assumed to be the Abyss.

4. Strange relationship with magic - Such children are Paradox magnets and abyssal batteries drawing the attention of the Abyss quite strongly.

5. Children of the Nativity are conceived by a mote of the Abyss taking root in the womb.

6. Some Guardians believe that there is a method, using the Death Arcanum, to “operate” on the soul of the child.

7. Where there is one there may be more, gathered together or spawn by the long-term presence of one.  

8. Most instances of Nativity children coming to the awareness of the Awakened result in the death of the child.  Worse yet, their effects can accumulate and the bad luck and paradox can be amplified.  Some Scelesti are rumored to cultivate groups of Nativity children for Abyssal Yantras.

9. Death Arcanum can also be used to manipulate the soul of the Acursed. (Scelestus?)

10. Speculation that many “chosen ones” have come before but are dealt with before they can reach their full potential. These souls will continue to try to be resurrected until successful and their continual recycling between the supernal and the fallen world increases the chances of Abyssal corruption.

11. Of course, one could always exile the child to a place where he can do no harm to the magic of mages. Crafty and cruel mages, however, recognize that they can harm their enemies by “relocating” the child into the territory of those who oppose the mages.


Indicators & Risk factors of Nativity Child Conception:
1. Victim of serial killer or violent (suspected but unconfirmed rape) victim recovers.

2. Violent supernatural exposure with prolonged hospital visit where soul/sanity damage resonates suffering with the Abyss which impregnates victim

3. Mother killed someone by passion, accident, or design in a violent manner

4. Woman suffers from wasting disease or illness, passes the brink of death, and miraculously recovers. Sudden pregnancy follows (perhaps a cost or concentration of that negative energy). Cancer victims specifically risky.  Cancer goes into remission, viruses are only found as dead microscopic husks, dangerous bacteria are gone.

5. The previous conception events combined with a very very easy pregnancy. Little to no morning sickness or discomfort or pain.

6. Previous conception events combined with pregnancy with strange cravings for toxins, drugs, stimulants, or chemicals not compatible with human life.

7. Nothing short of full-abortion procedures nothing natural or external will harm the pregnancy. The Abyss repels negative influences.

8. Previous indicators tied to a birth event (Fate/Destiny)

9. Ovulating sleeper witnesses vulgar spell with minor or no paradox occurs. Sleeper witness usually completely forgets the spell witnessed (Casstiel, Nanashi, and Persephone cast magic in front of Anne but she was already pregnant).

10. Not impossible that an already pregnant victim in which fetus or embryo becomes corrupted by similar incidents.

11. Mother killed someone by passion, accident, or design in a violent manner, pregnancy usually assumed to be result of incest or abuse. Violent death resonance pulls upon aberration/killing family members/entropy resonates with Abyss and corrupts womb.

12. Speculation that the small souls passing through the Abyss from the Supernal (normal cycle of souls) catches a small bit of exposure or taint. Similar to why childhood cancer is a force in the world.

13. Sometimes the spark of the Supernal in the womb is what attracts abyssal interference. It is speculated that children who would have an important destiny, could be the support of the Oracles, the coming of a mage messiah, could be snuffed out before it is allowed to mature by the forces of the Exarchs or the power of the Abyss to continue the subjugation of the Fallen World.

14. Attempts to abort the fetus fail, or may appear successful and the woman immediately conceive again (as if the abyssal mote can transpose onto a new embryo). Those involved with the procedure could experience negative fate-driven consequences.

15. Innocence - While the Abyss patches his tattered soul, this does not necessarily engender the child toward horrible actions. It is enough that he is surrounded by awfulness, with bad luck and Paradox bleeding off of him in imperceptible waves. Assume that the child is like anybody else. He can be good, he can be bad. If he’s raised poorly, perhaps he becomes selfish and even cruel. If he’s raised well — or is just plain good of heart — perhaps he’s downright altruistic. The Abyss is not what makes the child bad, or even good. While the Abyss waits within him, it exists in a null state, non-sentient, simply allowing the child to force an awful effect on the surrounding world.

Fixing a Nativity:

1. Adepts and Masters of Spirit or Death may be able to make some magic that at least mitigates the child’s negative effect on the world (though, of course, doing so may very well invoke a Paradox as per the child’s persistent Abyssal infection). Such magic must deal with the child’s ragged soul. Of course, this is never simple. The child can have his soul severed. Doing so only disengages the soul, but the Paradox Generator effect is still in place around the unmoored soul. (Worse, the child then begins to endure the effects of soullessness.)

2. Surgery effects: The disentangled soul must then be handled. Placing it in a Soul Jar negates the effects of the Paradox Generator — though, if the soul is released, the effects begin anew.

3. Spells cast to recover a lost soul don't work on the child, because his soul isn’t empty, it’s just frayed.

4. Soul Binding can merge the unmoored soul with the Abyssal “blank spots” in the child’s current soul, but doing so can be disastrous for the boy: yes, this removes the “taint” (as well as the Paradox Generator and Bad Luck Battery effects), but it also gives the boy a severe condition or derangement (either Schizophrenia or Multiple Personality Disorder) as a result of two warring souls within.

5. It is possible to completely sever the child’s original soul and moor in a new one, but this brings about the difficulty of actually finding such a soul. At least one Mysterium history of Abyssal Nativity suggests that such a soul was acquired from the child’s mother, in her last eerily nurturing act. Of course, in such instances, the mother was usually on the verge of death already.

6. A few mages, particularly those within the Guardians of the Veil, have ways of “operating” upon the soul, in a kind of spiritual surgery. Doing so is by no means simple. First, every child born of an Abyssal Nativity is different, and no old roadmap works when it comes to extricating oblivion from a tattered soul in an effort to repair it. Second, the time to perform the ritual is double what it would normally be per a mage’s Gnosis Finally, as the spell is performed, the child’s effect remains active, and magic is harder to work, with the mage courting Paradox all the while. Only a Death Adept is capable of performing this kind of magic, and even that is more a “rumor” than something that is easily proven or true. Legends suggest that such spells require great sacrifice on the part of the caster and of the target — anything from blood to loved ones to replacing one curse with another

7. Creation of a new Soul – requires mastery of the five subtle Arcana: Fate, Prime, Spirit, Death, Mind and is completely theoretical.

8. Rumors also exist of old purification rituals — available to mage and mortal alike — that might be successful in purging the Abyss from the child’s soul, but few are aware of what cost that may have on the child’s body or psyche (or on the caster of such rituals). Still, some who know of the Nativity seek out such practices.

9. Even the rituals themselves are hard to find: recipes carved into the pipes in the labyrinthine tunnels beneath cities, pages pinned to altars in jungle temples, programmed responses born into the madness of Goetic demons and spirit Countesses.

10. The rituals are long and require a great many “pure” reagents, anything from a drop of water from the world’s five oceans to the blood of one of the few truly innocent men in the world.



The Purification Ritual
Mechanics: One roll, teamworked: Resolve + Occult and -1 for each failed requirement.  Ritual is a pass or fail.
Requirements:
1. Magic can help you cheat at these requirements, Persephone could help with this greatly!
2. Need a drop of water from each of the five oceans blessed by a particular type of African Shaman, of the Sangomas tradition
3. Ritual chant in an ancient African tongue from South Africa
4. Symbols need to be carved into flesh (maybe marks can work instead?) but can be healed with magic afterwards
5. Rare hallucinatory plants provide +1-3 bonuses
6. An eyeball must be swapped between the lead ritualist and the child
7. Pint of blood from a truly innocent person
8. Ritual takes 7 hours to complete, dusk to dawn roughly
9. Everyone involved loses a dot of Wisdom or Integrity automatically

((The following are the mechanics we used for our Nativity, not information that can be found via research))

Nativity Abilities:

Impending Danger:
The child wrecks havoc on the Danger Sense Merit, always going off, an ambush is poised to happen.  This can look crazy under Fate Sight as well.

Abyssal Antenna:
Abyssal Detection Abilities & Peripheral Mage Sight– Feel cold around the child, hear eerie noises in static, white noise, high-pitched whine, or feel queasy and unsettled spiritually.

Condition: Frailty:
Child has at least till physical or mental illnesses and -1 to all physical rolls

Electronic Disruption:
Electronics mess up in her presence, narrative effect only.

Ill Omens:
Anomalies and bad omens seem to surround her.  Narrative effect only, dead birds, dead animals, moths, dead bugs found around places the child has been recently.

Paradox Generator:
Part of the child is oblivion, emptiness, a consumptive and eradicative force, magic is hampered -2 to all spells within a mile. Within half a mile radius the entity generates +4 paradox, and +2 between half a mile and a mile. Also, within the half-mile radius paradox increases by double (+2 instead of +1) for each additional Vulgar spell cast by a given mage in a scene.

Bad Luck Battery
Under Fate Sight tendrils of sudden probability, dark and tenuous, lash out from the child and embrace negatively affected subjects like a frog’s tongue catching flies. The mage may conclude that the child is performing these magical feats of his own will, despite the fact that the youngster seems wholly unaware of it. Stressful actions around the child take a -3. If the child is watching a failure can be turned into a Dramatic Failure.

Locations she has been and immediately around her manifest bad luck by reducing dice tricks: no 10 again, 1s subtract from successes, roll twice and take the lowest, failures are made dramatic failures, exceptional successes only count as regular, stuff like that... progressively get worse over time in an area.  Have fun mix and matching the trail of bad.
Animal Agitation:
In the child’s presence dogs howl, birds fly into one another, a swarm of locusts suddenly rises and flies head-on into a wall. Some animals attack: bees might sting, a cat may hiss and swipe. Others may instead simply flee. As a result, the child may never possess any dots in the Animal Ken Skill. Play up dead crows and lots of bugs!  Feeds into Ill Omens.  Animals suffer -1 to Composure.

Mother Hen Effect
The mother gains Condition: Suspicion when the child reaches 1 and gains Condition: Paranoia when the child reaches the age of 3. Both center around protecting the child.


Supernatural Entities and the Child

Vampires feel as if they’re encountering another of their kind, or some mindless, feral monster: they must roll for Predatory Aura accordingly. Failing that roll indicates that the vampire feels in the presence of something ancient, empty and wretched. Drinking the blood of the child is both nourishing (two Vitae points per Health level consumed) and debilitating (for 12 hours after drinking from the child, the vampire suffers a –2 dice penalty to all rolls).

Werewolves find that their hair stands on end in any form when encountering the child. Worse, if at any point the werewolf must roll to avoid Death Rage while in the presence of the child, that roll is made at a –3 dice penalty.

Ghosts & Spirits flee the presence of the child. Most spirits won’t come within sight of him. Those that remain within 50 yards in both the Shadow and the physical realm suffer a –2 dice penalty to all rolls. This applies to ghosts, as well, who are capable of seeing the child’s soul and its deathlike/entropic stains.


Under Mage Sights

Active Death Sight – stain of death all around the child but not touching the child, like a Sin-Eater only more intense.

Focused Death Sight - shows the tattered soul and the abyss peeking through. Particularly bizarre side effect when used upon the child: the mage gazes for a moment into the Abyss, staring clean through the rotten holes

Fate Sights – The child’s actions or in-actions in tangled in probability and loaded movements of importance

Prime Sights - shows half of the child’s aura is a consumptive black hole — as if she is in fact missing part of his soul (but Prime does not let you see the soul itself)

Life Sights – Child is sickly, frail, but stronger than she looks, weaker in other areas, malformed, imperfect.

Time Sights – Bad things have happened around the child, bad things are coming.  Nothing bad ever happens directly to the child, instead that badness is inflicted and reflected on the people around her.

((Since Magpie was an Awakened Mastigos mage and was turned into a Nativity after her birth she bucks many of the norms of what Awakened mages have seen with this Intruder phenomena.  In many ways she is and was special.  Since she had magic, and therefore was harming it with her lack of understanding of Paradox, Quiescence, Disbelief, and the proximity of the Abyss, it seemed appropriate that she would also have the Abyssal Resonance Merit.  Tweaked for Mage 2.0.  Thankfully they never got into a combat or casting situation in front of the child without first understanding all the dangers...))



Merit: Abyssal Resonance (• to •••••)

Effect: All Sleepers have a shard of the Abyss within them, but characters with this Merit resonate strongly with the Abyss. The character has little or no control over this Merit, but any mage around her certainly feels its effects.  Dots in this Merit allow access to various effects based on the Abyss’s growing intrusion into the character’s soul. This Merit is progressive, that is, a character can and does find that her Resonance with the Abyss increases the more contact she has with Awakened magic. In game terms, each level of the Merit is a prerequisite for the next.  Paradox rules can be found here.

Merit Drawback: So much exposure to the Abyss is dangerous for the character’s sanity. Every time the character increases the rating of this Merit, she must make a Wisdom or Integrity check.  Failure may result in derangements or a Paradox Condition.  Also, mages with this Merit always have nimbuses that relate to or call to mind the Abyss (shadows darken, objects grow cold to the touch, etc.)

Eyes of the Abyss (•): 
The character can automatically sense Paradoxes and even potential Paradoxes. Whenever a mage casts a vulgar spell within 100 feet of the character, she senses it. No roll is required. The character might perceive this information as a scent of saltwater and smoke, or a cold shudder down her spine or the sounds of wailing and screaming as if from a great distance. If the player makes a reflexive Perception (Wits + Composure) roll, the character can pinpoint a direction.  If she is in the presence of the mage who cast the spell, this roll allows the character to identify him.  This is very similar to Peripheral Mage Sight or the Unseen Sense Merit.

Skin of the Abyss (••): 
The Abyss protects the character from attempts to identify or analyze him. Any Unveiling or Knowing spell cast directly on the character is considered vulgar in aspect, as is any other spell designed to gain information about or otherwise analyze the character (including Scrying).  Focused Death or Prime Mage Sight causes a Wisdom check at current level.

Beacon of the Abyss (•••): 
Merely being in the presence of this character invites Paradox. All mages within the scene (roughly 50-foot radius) with the character increase their Paradox pools whenever any mage casts a vulgar spell as the Locality Pooled Paradox Game Hax. For example, if one member of the cabal casts a vulgar spell (Paradox base dice pool of one), the next mage to do so, no matter who it is, has a Paradox base dice pool of two. If the character with this Merit is a mage, she is not immune to the effect, and neither are any allied mages in the area. The Abyss does not discriminate.

Claws of the Abyss (••••): 
Containing a Paradox within one’s own body is often a wise decision, better a few points of bashing damage than insanity or the chaos of an Anomaly. A character with this Merit, though, can worsen the damage thus inflicted. The user expends a Willpower Point when another mage in the scene tries to absorb Paradox as Backlash. Any damage from containing a Paradox upgrades from Resistant Bashing damage to Resistant Lethal Damage.

Abyssal Warden (•••••): 
The character unconsciously understands and can manipulate the gateways between the Fallen World and the Abyss. Whenever a mage Releases a Paradox within view of the character with this Merit (that is, the character doesn’t absorb the Paradox within his own body), the character can try to force a Manifestation by spending a Willpower Point. The user rolls a Clash of Wills:  Resolve + Gnosis vs the victim mage’s Resolve + Gnosis (resistance is reflexive). If the user succeeds, the Paradox becomes a Manifestation (as if the ST had 5 Reach) regardless of the results of the Released Paradox roll.

[Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen] Analysis after the Scepter

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

Lore: Analysis after the Scepter

The following is in-character (IC) results of research and analysis by the mages after the events of the story: The Scepter, part 3 of the Dethroned Queen metaplot.  The analysis takes place, in-game in August 2017.

Sources: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition corebook, Reign of the Exarchs sourcebook for MtA 1ed, and Keys to the Supernal Tarot sourcebook for MtA 1ed.

More research posts:
1. Research on the Dethroned Queen
2. Artifact: The Robe Revised
3. Artifact: The Ring Revised
4. Artifact: The Scepter Revised
5. Scenes from the Scepter

Iki, Jack, Chimera conducted a successful divination using the First Tarot Cards and got clear results, even after absorbing the difficulties of trying to divine without a complete deck. We've confirmed that the cards are tied Fate-wise to the Artifacts, but not directly. 

Questions and answers from their divination session are as follows:

Question: What is at the end of the "path" the Dethroned Queen wants to set us on? 
Answer: An opportunity for one of you to take the fight to the highest.  Transcend the fallen world.

Question: Are the Emissary or the Arbiter still around today carrying out their agendas? 
Answer: Their agendas are still playing out and are relevant in the world, they themselves are long gone and only exist in the cycle of the Diamond Wheel.

Chimera: Which really raises the question of who the redhead we saw in the post-cog of the telephone call was, since we assumed she was the Emissary. We discussed the possibility that it is still her in some fashion via time travel shenanigans, as we puzzled out that the Queen was the Exarch of Time through other methods. We're also quite sure that time shenanigans apply to the Artifacts themselves; The Robe saved itself from the destruction of being cast into the Ocean Orouboros by "rewinding" to a previous state when it was on Jack's shoulders.


Question: Where do the Queen's allegiances lie? Exarchs, Oracles, or her own path?
Answer: A coin tossed and falling, only to repeat again before it lands, thousands of times. Finally, it lands perfectly on edge. She's created a third option.

Question: If we take the path the Queen is laying out for us, will we retain our own agency in the end? When we "transcend" would we be doing so as a player, or a pawn? 
Answer: Depends on the choice of the person who takes the path. There's some sort of choice available after the transcendence that currently makes this unanswerable.

Question: Where is the Queen now?  Where would we find her? 
Answer: Sits in a place outside of Time, sits inside of Time, sits on a throne again.

Chimera: Yes, but which throne? But given the way this dialogue on the phone was phrased: "She wants to see if you are the chosen ones to receive the gifts of the Queen, to fulfill her purpose, to follow the path she laid behind her for others to follow." we can infer that she may have already transcended herself.

Chimera: More speculation from things learned and my own ideas:

The court we saw in the dreams was obviously her court, but probably one in the Fallen World. Our intuition says its not Atlantis. We see the Emissary and Arbiter arguing about how the world should be ruled, and the Queen said something true (but apparently upsetting) in response, because this seemed to cause them to start fighting.

The Queen seems likely to be an Acanthus with a Time bent. But there are some weird nods to the Mastigos Path as well, like some Mastigos specific Yantra factors on the Artifacts, the Scepter creating dream worlds, etc. Also, note that both Cold Smile and Cyberline Hand (who had a connection to her) were Mastigos. This *might be because the Cold Smile claimed and used at least one of the artifacts (The Robe) but there could be other reasons.

We speculated that the Queen may have cults that are still around and pursuing her agenda. Some speculation that Aldones (the Emissary) was leading it, but given the reveal that she and the Arbiter are not around anymore, that's either nixed or gets into Time travel shenanigan territory again. It's also possible her reincarnation has something to do with it, but there is no evidence to support that idea at this time - pure speculation.

Speculation that her court was the primordial version of the Silver Ladder, Cyberline and Cold Smile are also affiliated with that Order. Ritter quoted something from Silver Ladder history: "The Vox values Acanthus not just as practical oracles, but as those who predict when people Awaken to godhood."

We still need to determine who the Adversary is.  There was also speculation that part of her court was the predecessor to the Praetorian ministries. The Artifacts seem setup to counter both Seer abilities and direct supernal abilities, which is kinda interesting and does fit the depiction of her being some sort of third agent.

Seer symbols still were evident in the dreams we have (the pyramid), so she may still agree with aspects of that ideology without holding allegiance to them in general. Her allegiance was suggested to be complicated.

The Queen’s Court & Cult
1. She appears to be an Acanthus, former Exarch of Time!  Beyond the research. part of this is based on the analysis of the physical artifacts and the fact they are Path Tool Yantras for Acanthus.  This is true for the three artifacts we have found so far… right?  Huh... the Scepter is a Tool Yantra for a Mastigos for some reason..

2. She probably had her own cult and Ministry, focused on the aspect of War across Time based on the visions we have had. How the battles don’t win wars, the long-game, empire expansion and building a foundation of society. Predecessors to the Praetorian Ministry (The General) and the Prophet.

3. Fun Fact: Aldones is mentioned as a name in The Yellow King, a short story by H.P. Lovecraft

4. She was building her court (as seen in the visions) immediately after the Fall. The cult consisted of both Diamond and Seer membership, many of which defected to the General after she vanished from history.  It’s possible the fight between the Emissary and the Arbiter represented both Seer and Pentacle membership.

The cult must have dispersed or went deep underground because there are no real mentions of a fallen Exarch cult that match the profile.  But perhaps they have just been waiting for the right ‘time,’ perhaps that time is tied to the decline of the Unity, or the causal/effect of the artifacts starting to show up and fate/destiny is driving them back together like magnets, with the help of the Emissary. It’s impossible to know what the trigger event was.

There was Priests and Warriors in the room, a divide, a schism, which are these two groups though.  Former Praetorian… or former Panopticon?  Seers & the Diamond Orders?  They were arguing how the Fallen World should be ruled… so like a philosophical Ministry M.O.?

What if the Priest-Advisor Neotalba is still around in some form?


The Poem Analysis

“By her grace She leaves this Ring, so we might find the Truth we seek.” 
The Ring lets us see the control of the Exarchs in the Fallen World.

“She leaves this Robe of mystic night, so we might dwell beyond Their sight.”
The Robe allows you hide from the view of the Exarchs and their agents.

“This Scepter drawn She leaves us all, to brush aside Their distant call.”
The Scepter counters Exarchal power (Profane Urim), magic, and seer power in the fallen world.

“She leaves to us this Crown of souls, to twist their thralls to our own goals.”
This suggests that the Crown control people, perhaps specifically Seers and Seer Servitors.  Maybe this sways them from the Seers or the Diamond alike... scary thought.

“By her grace She leaves this last; A Throne whose seat will let us pass.”
Let us pass… to where?  May mean to follow in her footsteps, fight the Exarchs… into the Supernal?


Tarot Cards associated with or found around the Artifacts 

During The Ring

The Fool (First Tarot)

The first step on the long journey. The first kiss from a new lover. The first mistake, the first great triumph. The first footfalls into the office of a new career, or the first fumbling steps of a child. The Fool is the card of beginnings. The symbolism of the card makes the dangers of beginnings

plain. The Fool is about to step off a precipice, and perhaps fall to his doom.  Some decks include a white dog, perhaps barking to warn

the Fool. Most of the time, the Fool isn’t looking where he is going — if he does that, he’ll miss what’s happening around him! It’s easy to see why mages versed in the Tarot often equate the Fool to the Acanthus Path. Tricksters are wide-eyed at the possibilities of the world because they can

see them so much more easily than other mages. But the truth is that any mage, upon returning from the Supernal Realms, newly Awakened, is the Fool on the start of the grand adventure. The Fool is therefore often associated with the Time Arcanum in general, rather than the Acanthus Path, in some

circles — since the Fool occupies the position of “zero,” it can appear alongside any other Key without changing it (1 + 0 is still 1). But even more generally, the Fool can be seen as a metaphor for the Awakened condition. The Fool is the divine madman, the person whose perspective is so different from those around him that he is nearly unable to function in the world. That he is powerful is irrelevant. If he is to be able to communicate and therefore interact, he must find a way to reconcile

the way he sees the world with the way that others see it.

The Hierophant (drawn during the plot)
The Hierophant, known as the Pope in some decks, represents spiritual authority and dogma. He sits upon a throne, as does the Emperor, and carries a scepter or other symbol of his holy office. The Hierophant’s authority, however, comes from above, and the teachings he hands down are not based on lucid observation of the world around him,but upon visions, mysteries and readings of ancient holy texts. The card itself can represent the need to return to or observe orthodoxy or the danger of relying on it too much, depending on its position within a spread. For the mage and the journey through the Tarot, the Hierophant comes after the learning experiences of the previous Major Arcana cards in the path.

Hierophant isn’t necessarily a negative card, but its primary function is to educate the mage in what other Awakened believe. This “orthodoxy” might be the Atlantean system of belief, including the Fall of the Celestial Ladder and the formation of the orders, or
the teachings of the Throne and the need for subservience to the Exarchs. Some mages might even fall in with Banishers, and learn a much more unpleasant — but just as regimented — belief system. The important point here is that not only does magic require morality, but that morality very often has a set of established rules and values attached to it. And like Sleeper religions, many of these values don’t have much validity outside their respective beliefs. That is, while the orders might have a great deal to teach, some of the traditions are outmoded and perhaps unnecessary in the modern world. Even so, many mages treat them as though they are inviolable. The Hierophant does not ask that mages critically examine his teachings (though he doesn’t necessarily forbid it, depending on what he represents). He only holds up the holy writ and intones his sacred passages, expecting others to follow.


Some interpretations of the Hierophant among the Awakened are narrower, referring specifically to the Seers of the Throne and the Exarchs. From what the Pentacle mages know of the Seers, they are living representations of how dogma as a guiding principle can be toxic, as they teach that a given set of rules is absolute. Any mage, though, should know that the rules of reality itself are variable depending on which “reality” one is currently in (that is, the Fallen World or the Supernal Realms, or even the physical world as opposed to the Shadow). A system that espouses absolutism is thus flawed, and that is how the Pentacle generally perceives the Throne. Interestingly, though, cartomancers among the Seers welcome this association, and it’s not uncommon to see Seer
cabals use Hierophant symbolism in their heraldry. Solitaries and those few cabals that come together without interference from the Pentacle orders, of course, don’t meet the Hierophant. This has its advantages and disadvantages. The Hierophant isn’t there to impart a system of beliefs, and that means the mages aren’t blind to other possibilities — they never had an authority figure tell them “this is how things are, and this is what you should believe.” On the other hand, sometimes that
kind of structure can be comforting, especially as what a mage “knows” is constantly questioned by the very nature of magical exploration.

During the Robe

The High Priestess (Drawn during the plot)

The High Priestess sits on her throne and waits. She is resting potential, the power of intuition and the collective unconscious. She is spirituality without the religious dogma of the Hierophant, and she is authority without the chest-pounding masculinity of the Emperor. Her power doesn’t stem from her femininity, as the Empress’ does, but from her knowledge, from her introspection and her patience.

In some decks, she is called the Female Pope, perhaps a reference to the legendary Pope Joan, but perhaps a simple reminder that a spiritual leader’s authority doesn’t come from gender, station in life or any other earthly attribute, but from her or his connection to the higher power.

For mages, especially mages of the Pentacle, this is an important point to keep in mind. Magic comes from the Supernal, and no matter how many Awakened a family claims, no matter how long the pedigree of one’s cabal or Consilium (or order, the Free Council reminds them), mastery over the Arcana requires connecting to the Supernal Realms. The temporal, physical concerns, ultimately, are meaningless. Another common interpretation of the High Priestess among the Awakened, of course, is the Guardians of the Veil. The High Priestess is the mistress of her own Labyrinth, mysterious and inscrutable, doling out knowledge that can enlighten or mislead. She does not give up her secrets easily or lightly, and her ceremonial headdress and garb acts as a kind of mask, making sure that it is her station that witnesses see, not the woman (or mage) beneath. Subtlety, for both the order and the High Priestess, are the best defense against persistent inquiry. A dedicated investigator will eventually penetrate the High Priestess’ mystery…unless he redirects him to something else, turning him back into a perpetual Magician, or pushing him forward into the arms of the more receptive Empress.

Although the High Priestess is an early stop on the journey through the Tarot, it is a hint of things to come. A mage sees the lesson of the High Priestess immediately post-Awakening, because she is capable of some of the same feats of magic as her more experienced comrades simply because she has Awakened. Whether she internalizes or retains that lesson is something else again, but she will see it repeated again in her journey, in the Star, the Tower and the World.

The Empress (First Tarot)

The Empress is an expression of the female form made divine. She is Ishtar, Astarte, Demeter and Isis. In some decks, she is also linked to the Virgin Mary, but whatever name is given to the Empress, she is the Maiden matured — the Mother. She is often pictured pregnant, sometimes holding a child. She is a symbol of fertility and plenty. More abstractly, she is a symbol of wisdom, but her wisdom stems from a combination of intuition and natural insight and the experience of years. The Fool’s youth and the High Priestess’ knowledge combine in the Empress.

To the Awakened, the Empress card resonates with the Thyrsus Path and, more specifically, the Life Arcanum. The Empress is a symbol of all growing things, of fertility and fecundity, and of life born anew. As such, she symbolizes the Life Arcanum, arguably imperfectly. The Life Arcanum can heal and cause new growth, but as any Thyrsus knows, Life can also be used to control, warp and even kill organisms. Some Awakened cartomancers look at the destructive side of Life as being represented by the Empress Reversed. Her meaning in traditional cartomancy is somewhat different.

For a mage on her journey through the Tarot, the Empress can be seen as either a stage on this journey or an advisory figure. Someone who Awakens later in life, perhaps when she has a family of her own, must take the lessons that Sleeping life has taught her and apply them to her new outlook
as one of the Wise. Mages that disregard the life experience of the Fallen World are, frankly, fools — the Fallen World is where all mages must live. If the Empress is an advisory figure, she needn’t be a mage herself. Some mages, after surviving that first precarious Fool’s leap, consorting with the charlatan Magician and receiving the blessing and wise counsel of the High Priestess, need the more
earthy (and honestly, more fun) advice of the Empress. And indulging in the sensuality of the Empress is indeed advisable — after her, the journey grows harsh. The strict Emperor and the humorless Hierophant looms close.

During The Scepter

Ace of Wands (First Tarot)
Like all Aces, the Ace of Wands symbolizes the roots and the entity of its element, here it is the root of Fire, the first spark to create the flaming powers of Atziluth, the world of the all-encompassing spiritual substance. Being the essence of Fire, the Ace itself goes nowhere, but stands for the strong feeling that soon might turn into a strong will or plan. There is a spiritual power that has the ability to grow, it is completely up to us whether we use it or not.  The Ace of Wands might turn out to be bad when we cannot control or use its power that starts burning all out of a sudden, and all its riches get burned down before we can use them for good.


Further on the Corrupted Dreams 

Mystery commands so… these must be the Exarchs talking. The opposition.

Temples, erected from marble, chalcedony and obsidian with Greek columns and burning with spells. An embassy to the Supernal

You walk through the streets and people grovel before you. Mages rule with an Iron Fist.
This is all they deserve

The Inner Sanctum decorated.
We rule the truths now

Iron Pyramid on the far wall.
Path to Transcendence
This mark is a Seer philosophy of the Iron Pyramid and the path to transcendence. Why would she have that there? Appropriated from Seer cultists?

Hallow, stronger than any you have felt. It’s like the Supernal touching down on physical reality.
Condoned Bastion of the highest of high. 
A Supernal Verge, how did they manage that?

The courtiers around the throne are divided in half. One side of the room are priests in robes wielding coins, cups, wands, and swords.
Tarot suits symbols

Burning sigils upon them. Wear hats called pshents upon their heads. (Egyptian crowns, not with the cobra look, symbols of wisdom).
Servants of the Arbiter

The other side of the room are warriors wearing Orichalcum with disks of Thaumium with magical weapons, Tridents and spears that you just know can cut through hope and memory as well as anything.
Servants of the Emissary

The Throne is the amazing and hums with power. On its back is the Iron Pyramid, eye of lightning. 
Symbolizing the Panopticon

The Queen, black curly hair pulled back with curls framing her face. Circlet of ten gemstones, dangling earrings of pearls and white and gold metals.
These appear in the same order and stone on the Ring of the Dethroned Queen, they match the Bell the Crown, and the Exarchs and Arcana)

Exarch Message only: 
(This is) an Embassy. (Sleepers enslaved to mages) is what they deserve. We rule the truths now. (The Iron Pyramid) is the path to transcendence. (Verges are the) condoned bastion of the highest of high. (See) the servants of the Arbiter. (See) the servants of the Emissary. (See) her name. OBEY!


Analyzing the Name of the Queen 
Source: It's on the Ring and on the Throne in dreams.

We’ve now seen her forgotten name, all Exarchs have names which are complex geometric matrices of High Speech sigils of incredible complexity.  These names exist on a 10-dimensional scale. (Space) of incredible complexity.  Each of the 10 Arcana in mage sights reveals new details and patterns in the name.  The name/sigil is itself power and an identify. A True Name.  It hurts to look at it (like looking at the sun).  You feel observed looking at it, (LTN effect), Ministry.

You are feeling the her signature nimbus and a Yantra of power for the cult. It’s essentially the nimbus of the ENTIRE Time Arcanum represented.  This forgotten name still holds power in the dream and on the Ring.  This may indicate she retained Exarchal power after her fall or managed to re-ascend which is why it's empowered again.  Either way, her power is still around in some form.  This might be the product of the artifacts existing, but this seems much more powerful.  The name is still “active,” could she still be an Exarch now? A sub-Exarch?

Analyzing the Gemstones
Source: As seen on Ring, Scepter, and Crown

Each stone represents an Arcanum. But why does she have these?  On the bell-clapper of the Ring it's probably to have each resonance (sound/pattern/spell) to show Exarch control across all 10 lens. Attuning to the control of her enemies. 

So, which Exarch control are we seeing?
1. Prime = Diamond = The Father
2. Mind = Ruby = The Unity
3. Space = Emerald = The Eye
4. Fate = Sapphire = The Ruin
5. Death = Onyx = Ther Psychopomp
6. Time = Amethyst = The Prophet, used to be the Queen…
7. Spirit = Moonstone = The Nemesis
8. Life = Amber = The Raptor
9. Matter = Jade = The Chancellor
10. Forces = Aquamarine = The General

Unknown Exarchs
We now seem to know there are more than just the 10 Exarchs:
1. The Dethroned Queen
2. The Architect (mentioned by Seraph)
3. The Mind of the Fallen Exarch (mentioned by Seraph)
4. The Gate - the 11th Exarch, Emissary to the Abyss. Aeon of the Abyss

Further Analysis of the Cold Smile
Cxaxa Qherephis

She was a pre-Almec queen, thousands of years after the Dethroned Queen’s visions.  She was a Mastigos Archmage (interestingly enough the Ring and Robe is a tool Yantra for Acanthus, the Scepter it is for Mastigos), and a major player in the pre-Silver Ladder.

She was not an incarnation of the Queen, more like a wannabe. She had and used the Robe as her mark of divine authority in defiance of the Exarchs. She did her best to emulate the Dethroned Queen, step off of her success and fame/infamy/notoriety.  She used the Robe as a “Quintessence” for her resurrection - she broke herself into Soulstones (Splintered Sight, Swarming Heart, Cyberline Hand’s bloodline and the Robe).

The rise and fall (and rise and fall again) of the Cold Smile is NOT part of the Queen’s Agenda as far as we can tell…  As much as the connection wants to be made, the Cold Smile was an evil mage but her disposition shouldn’t be directly correlated to the queen. Cold Smile evil does not equal Dethroned Queen is evil too.

The Cold Smile claimed to be an Oracle or at least an Exemplar in opposition to the queen. This information implies the Queen is an Exarch and is still around then and today and still works along with the power of the other Exarchs. Is it possible that the reason WE are getting pulled into this business with the Artifacts could have something to do with ancient bloodlines?


Insights from Seraph’s Dream

“Must unite the 10 soul stones”
There is ambiguity on whether this is referring to the queen or another fallen Exarch.  This could this relate to the 10 gemstones (which seem to represent the Arcana and/or 10 Exarchs that are lords over them) somehow?

“Ring, Robe, Scepter, Crown, Throne”
In the same vein as above, not only do we have the total number of artifacts (five) but we seem to have an order and that poem. The 10 soulstones mentioned above, could that relate to the five artifacts? Is there one artifact for each of the five Supernal Realms?

"Queen must not Return” 
Sure, seems clear…. But…. who is providing that?  Consider the source (the mind of a fallen Exarch trapped in an Astral Prison (Castle Discordia) powered by souls and infected with an Abyssal god.) He may have objected from a Exarch before he was also cast down.

 Wait... Didn’t she already return? Did she return to the fallen world from whence she came and then returned to the Supernal. Unless she hasn’t. Which makes sense, the five artifacts might be needed for her to return to the Supernal and these actions are making that happen. Just a theory.

This maybe why they are coming together again. Do you oppose or help this happen? That is the question. What about the return of Aldones, the Emissary?

Seraph’s vision also talks about MATEOAT (The Mirror at the End of all Things)
- This is off-track but MATEOAT was the “parent” of the 9th Calamity, responsible for Fobax’s horrid life and consequences.
- MATEOAT is trapped in the mind of that Exarch at the edge of the Astral Abyss
- Maybe we could study both in prep for destroying them?
- Perhaps a return to the Castle is in order?

“Two Dark Towers...”
Ties and implies that there are two hidden towers, reflections of each other.

 “Apocalyptic Landscape”
Sounds a lot about the Aboleth dream.

Curse of the Ring:
The Ring has a serious flaw in it… the paranoia and playing into expectations  But it lets you see Exarch influence and control on the world. Unfortunately you get obsessed with the ring. You get paranoid, you become addicted to knowing where all the control is, through seeing through these filters.  This is a truth you cannot ignore… and perhaps that is why.  Then you start seeing False signs based on user perception… perhaps this effect can be countered by magic? (The mental paranoia and obsession, not the information flow)

The gemstone immediately centered above the Amethyst gemstone.  This supports the fact that she is/was the Exarch of Time All the Artifacts seem to have a Flaw or Curse worked into them… but why? Was this intentional by the Queen so she could keep track of them? Loopholes? Perhaps the Queen has returned to the Supernal (fuck, maybe she is an Oracle now). And she is keeping tabs on her investments…  Or did the Exarchs or the Abyss corrupt them to keep their power in check and subvert her intent?  This seems to make the Artifacts seem non-viable… but this may not be the case

Curse of the Robe
The Robe also has a flaw in it, at least one Exarch might be able to actually track this. It beacons under Ringsight, but only via Time.  What if the only Exarch that can track you is the Queen, or the Prophet after she went away?

Appears as a Greek Orthodox Vestment but sometimes it’s a Sutterton High hoodie, class of 2017!  Sometimes it has Iky’s Horror’s blood on it. It seems to be designed to conceal the wearer from the scrutiny of the Exarchs.  We would have to assume that it would also work on Seers?

It has an incredibly powerful long-term nimbus.  It concealed Witchend from the outside world and magical scrutiny so they could build their Stepford Suburbia. Trouble is… we have no idea how to control or direct its effects. Actually… even without wearing it could be occluding the Sanctum and/or the Cabal right now.  Then again, it’s in a pocket dimension, doubt it cares though. It conceals itself and then… moves when it wants to…?

Using the robe violates the cosmic station of the Exarchs and “the gods.”  Using it is a big deal... you can feel it.  There is a Rote encoded into the Primium Bangles on the back that is a Seer/Queen Cult version of Sympathy suppressing and cutting spell.

Curse of the Scepter

The cult, the robe, the visions… what’s with the Greco-Roman Motif? Is this because of the expectations of what Atlantis was like over the years?  Multi-verse – what is being dreamed might be window-dressing, it could also be no longer true.

What if the cult in the dream was taking place inside the Scepter instead? It might explain the heavy-handed motifs?  Both the bell and the Scepter seem to “vibrate” to produce their magical effect. What about the Robe?  This may support causality/destiny/chaos/causality angle and principles like String Theory.

It’s designed to Counter Magic, it dispels and blocks Profane Urms!  This is a HUGE deal….




The Destiny of the Exarchs
There seems to be two sides of the debate.  The Queen is “returning” and its bad – a volatile ex-Exarch.  The Queen tried to Ascend (and unless she is still around she either succeeded or failed to ascend) and it’s a good thing that this is happening. Making this a critical time to fight the Exarchs.  But what is the purpose or cause of the dreams? What is the nature of the Fate entanglement that seems to be centered on Chimera and now Jack more strongly than others?  Are the Artifacts just another form of Control?

Phone Call Analysis
Perspective: This is either the Queens or the Emissary’s view.

“Chosen ones to receive the gifts of the Queen” 
“To fulfill her purpose, to follow the path laid behind for others to follow."
“To keep the regalia from the hands of the Adversary.” 
“Stand against the Lie, the Jailers" (Seers)

The Exarch’s Administrators must not take back the Regalia.

Other Notes:
“Gather. Artifacts. Fight. Lords. Save. Fallen.”

Queen Regalia, Lords of Aeon = Exarchs

There were sigils in the rocks around the case for the scepter. But what do they mean?  They were placed by Queen’s cult to await for “the way to open once more.” 

Instead of the Prophet, lore says she was worshiped as “The Ananke” after her disappearance, a servant of Fate and Destiny. The mother of all Ananke.  Ironically her Emissary may be an Ananke or an Ochemata.  Its purpose seems to be to disperse or disrupt Exarchal control

Fate Entangled - You are probably not the only “pawns” on the board. All parties and interests will want to find and claim the Artifacts if they knew the Cabal had them.  Having them stored by an Archmage might help or hinder efforts to hide the items.

By the way... who were those Street Performers in the German city of Kiel?