[Mage: The Awakening 2e] The Gate, Ouroboros & The Place Between

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 Gate, The Ocean Ouroboros, & 

The Place Between

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.  The Black Zodiac and Fobax are a side item to major plots and this plot line in facilitating his redemption is actually a side-arc, completely done in Play-by-Post as part of the extended story called "Light that Falls."  The Fobax redemption arc summary can be found here for brevity, at the beginning of the Secret Order of the Gate post.

In order to save Fobax and stop the Ninth Calamity, Chimera reached 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.  But to learn the Parametric Language that allows the Gatekeepers to command Gulmoth and travel the Place Between Chimera must traverse that place to the hovel on the shore of Ouroboros and entreet with the Other, the Gate...

Sources:

- Gatekeepers & the Gate from Seers of the Throne sourcebook for MtA1e

- The Gate as seen in Left-Handed Path sourcebook for MtA1e

- Na'Thraka as seen in The Summoners sourcebook for MtA1e

- The Gate as seen in Astral Realms sourcebook for MtA1e

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

- Flavor from The Laundry Files: The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross

- Mechanics on the Place Between developed using post by 21C Hermit on 22 April 2018 here
- Mechanics on the Place Between developed using Legacies: The Rehashed found here

The Gate: Warder at the Threshold

The orders are clear on the subject of the Abyss. The anti-reality and the things that intrude on the Fallen World from it are the very antithesis of magic and must not be allowed any foothold. The Seers of the Throne believe the Abyss to be under the control of a solitary Exarch, the Gate, who occupies a Satanic role in their hagiography, representing those trapped in liminal states, and who must never be worshipped.

The Seers don’t regard some acts that would get a Pentacle mage branded as Left-Handed, or even crimes at all. The Ministries positively encourage treating Sleepers as resources just as long as the human race survives in miserable spiritual infancy. Destruction of magic is acceptable if it is the only way to keep secrets out of Pentacle hands. When it comes to dealing with external entities like the Abyss or Lower Depths, though, the Exarchs become jealous gods. Seers are forbidden to worship the Abyssal Exarch of the Gate, but secret Ministries of Scelesti Seers flaunt the restriction in

return for secret advantages in the sect’s never-ending power struggles.

The Eleventh Exarch

Among the Seers of the Throne's secret masters, there are ten great Seals, one for each of the ten Exarch lords of each Arcana. The greatest of these are the four Archigeitors.  The eleventh Seal is The Gate. He is not worshiped, rarely spoken of, and always feared.

Do not speak of The Gate. The Seventh Lesser Seal is the Dark Man at the Crossroads. She keeps the passwords to the Abyss that a mortal might use to cross the threshold — or that something from the Abyss could speak to enter the material plane. The Seers of the Throne fear him above all other Hidden Masters.  It is said even the other Exarchs fear the Gate.

The Exarchs rose upon one great idea: they could rule a world with limits and Flaws. But before the Fall, the cosmos could not be defined or contained. It gave birth to limitless wonders and horrors, and beyond the will of Atlantis’ mages. It made its own rules, unanswerable to even the High Speech.  It refused to bow to any Lord of the Aeon.

The Gate changed that. The Gate found a world beyond the world, where mocking reflections existed, but no self-sustained existence did. The Gate discovered the Abyss, or perhaps only named it —  maybe these acts are one in the same. His name (or hers — few of the Exarchs have definite genders) is the legacy of this act. The Exarchs don’t want to destroy the Fallen World, but it can’t be their prison without the Abyss. They let a bit of the rot that dwells Beyond reality blind every soul.

They owe The Gate everything, but the other Exarchs’ visions always say: do not worship him. Do not speak to her in your dreams. Of course, not everyone listens.  The Secret Order of the Gate, the hidden Ministry is founded upon doing pretty much exactly that...

Forbidden Names

Among the Seers who dabble in the dark arts or belong to the Secret Ministry, he is most commonly identified as male and has many names and titles: the Gate, the Gatekeeper, the Lonely Exarch, the Warder, the Fearful Reconciler, the King of Zero, the Forbidden Exarch,  the Eleventh Exarch, the Old Man, the Dark Man, the Dark Man at the Crossroads, the Old Man at the Sea, the Man in Black.  Among most mages of all stripes the being on the edge of Astral Space is usually referred to as The Other, short for the Other Aeon.

Among other Scelesti he is not universally thought to be an Exarch but is still usually identified as male.  He is more commonly thought to be an emissary Aeon from the Abyss itself, the hovel in which he lives is an embassy from the Outer Reaches.  Some Scelesti think the entity is more like the lure of an angler fish, more for attracting victims to a much much larger and more powerful entity, a greater Abyssal god, maybe even an Annunaki.  Living in the astral blood of the dead dragon Ouroboros, this gatekeeper entity has names separate from those among the Seers.  They call this entity Yog-Sothoth, The Key and the Gate, Aforgomon, Umr at-Tawil, the Key and the Guardian, The Lurker at the Threshold,  The Beyond One, Opener of the Way, The All-in-One.  It is also thought that this being is the Elder Diadem (a Daimon of a larger realm) of the ocean itself, the astral representation of the Abyss.

Yog-Sothoth is much more than an ambassador from the Abyss.  It is the Abyssal God responsible for allowing all passage through, into and out of the Abyss.  It is the ultimate Gatekeeper, but furthermore it is the Gate(s) and the key needed to open them.  When mana is consumed, it is feed to Yog-Sothoth to appear the Gatekeeper.  Like Papa Legba and Saint Peter in Voodoo tradition, the holder of the keys to all magic.  Through him all magic becomes possible.

Entreating with the Gate is an important milestone not just for Gatekeepers but for orthodox Scelesti on the path to becoming one of the Baalim, a Master Scelestus.  In order to become a Baalim, they must secure an Elder Diadem which is burned into their bodies and souls forever.

Returning Power

For many years, there has been a story circulating amongst the Pentacle orders that there is another, more sinister reason that the Seers destroy Atlantean Artifacts. According to a defector that left the Seers of the Throne in the 1950s and joined the Free Council, there are particular ceremonies that the Seers use when they are destroying Artifacts. The item is actually sacrificed to the Exarchs, and the magical energy stored within the Artifact is released back into the Supernal World to strengthen the Exarchs’ manipulations of reality.

Whether or not this story is true is unknown. Some Seers have heard of it and dismissed it as misinformation spread by the defector, who may have actually been a double agent for the Seers after all. Other Seers have considered the story and suggested that there could be some truth to the story, although it’s unlikely that they are sacrificing the Artifacts to all the Exarchs. They did not elaborate any further, apart from saying that perhaps the Seers who follow the will of the Gate would stop at nothing...

The Hollow: Citadel of the Other

At the edge of Astral Space, among the Aeonic Citadels on the shore of the Ocean Ouroboros, a small hut appeared shortly after the Fall. No soul that has entered has ever left without turning to the service of the Abyss, so it is impossible to describe what it's interior might be like.  A soul walking nearby along to shore of Ouroboros often hears a wailing, sobbing voice of no discernable gender. Is this the Other’s voice? A victim’s? A convert’s?

The Other is a small, old man. He has dark skin, but wrinkles, missing teeth and ubiquitous small scars have obliterated any signs of ethnicity. Souls often find him tending a fire just outside the Hollow. A small walking stick usually lies across his knees. He’s friendly, but he doesn’t blink or smile. The Other is the most well known representation of the Gate, and this is where the majority of mages go to entreat with it.

There is no record of the Other having ever used force against a visitor. But there is something wrong with the Other. After a single innocuous conversation, one mage had nightmares about him that drove her to suicide. Another sorcerer said that, for an instant, she saw the Other’s stick turn into a child’s spinal column and skull, and that metal thorns grew in his footsteps.

There are many such stories. In some, the Other even comes into the material realm, where he wears many masks. He might be a cannibal pharaoh stricken from the records of the Old Kingdom, or the Dark Man at the crossroads who represents the devil in hoodoo bargains. Scelesti worship him, but he only tends a simple fire and invites visitors to enter the Hollow and rest.

Identification
Despite several hypothesis developed through various texts borrowed by the Scholomance and despite the similarities among various powerful Abyssal entities I think more is attributed to the Other than is factual.  I do not believe the Other is the Black Pharaoh.  I do not think he is the Crimson Prince or Crimson King.  He may, however, be the entity referred to as the Man in Black, a being who appears all around the world and leaves Gulmoth and Scelesti in his wake.  He may also be Maerlyn (but maybe not Merlin): a being that crawled from the primordial chaos after the Fall and claimed to be a sorcerer (like you would expect the Gate to).  If he is Maerlyn, this would mean he was responsible for the creation of the Bends O the Bow.  I am not sure what the full implications of those last two associations would be.  The Man Black (an alternate identity of Maerlyn) is a mischievous entity who creates havoc and who's motives seem alien, which is in opposition to the Gate's apparent neutral stance at the Hovel.  And what about the good stuff that Merlin did? The Diamond Orders all advertise that he was a Mysterium Acanthus... - Fobax, The Black Zodiac

The Thirteenth Exarch
This lore increases the number of known and named Exarchs we have heard of to thirteen.  The ten of the Tetragrammaton Arcana, the Dethroned Queen, the Fallen Exarch and the Gate makes thirteen.  This is significant if the Gate is actually the being known as Maerlyn and created the Rainbow Artifacts and particularly the final Bend.  Maerlyn, the 13th Exarch, created Black Thirteen of the "shadow of magic itself." Does this mean the Zodiac demons contained within are somehow Abyssal?  No Abyssal taint has been noted on the few other Orbs that have been studied and recorded except for Black 13.    Significant implications here and quite worrisome... - Azazel

The Last Ocean: Ouroboros

Beyond the Sidereal Wastes, explorers find a desolate beach on the shore of a light-absorbing sea: the Ocean Oroboros, Astral reflection of the Abyss. Along the beach, travelers find the citadels of the Aeons, mighty beings who represent the Arcana. All but one of them manifest in pairs matching the Path Arcana. The final Aeon, the Old Man of the Abyss, lives alone by a ramshackle hut.

Mages can go no further than the shores of Ouroboros. Even touching it is tantamount to entering the Abyss, and destroys the fool who does it. Mages sometimes cast things they don’t want into Ouroboros. This includes memories, souls they wish to damn, and even material items they’ve converted into ephemera for the journey. One need merely imagine the act of throwing something in your (Astral) possession away and it vanishes forever.

The Citadels are the Last Refuges.  They sit on a shoreline of dream-stuff: rusty metal sigils, crumbling idols and bones litter the beach. Oroboros waits beyond. Awakened sagas say that it was once the great dragon responsible for separating the material realm from the Supernal planes. The Celestial Ladder thrust through Ouroboros like a spear; it bled forth an ocean that swallowed its body. The depths poured in to the Abyss, and the Abyss welled up inside the sea of dream-blood, leaving the Last Ocean of Ouroboros behind. The shallows of the Ocean are the limits of Fallen being. Ouroboros is the Abyss in the form of a dead dragon’s black blood. 

Creatures crawl from Oroboros to seek succor in realms of thought, or to engage in some dark mirror of the quest for enlightenment. Some believe that this is why the Acamoth seek out powerful souls. After all, the Abyss is a realm of falsehoods and twisted wisdom, so its denizens must steal virtue from other domains. The Ocean also congeals into strange shapes: three-legged, scaled things with umbilici that snake back to the water’s edge, or headless birds with fanged mouths on their breasts.

Ouroboros has one virtue: a mage can cast almost anything into the Abyssal deep, formally declare

his sacrifice and concentrate (this costs a Willpower point) to divest himself of it forever. Ouroboros’s waters wash over him and claim the abandoned trait.  It vanishes from all realms... A mage who casts away his sight can never see through a pair of eyes again. A mage who casts away his body might vanish, while his sleeping material body collapses into dust. Most visitors are content to use the phenomenon to relinquish cannot cast away anything that is not theirs, and such definitions are based on symbolic truth instead of any form of legalese.


Most recently Witness (played by Korri Smith) cast the Robe of the Dethroned Queen into the ocean.  It did not stay gone though.  The impossible, the Artifact turned up in the Scepter Dream realm and Jack somehow retrieved it when they got out of the Dream of Sutterton Farms, pulled from the ocean and Astral Space.  An impossibility with only one explanation, that the Gate must have retrieved it for the Queen.
Nobody knows what happens to mages who give their souls, minds or selves to the Last Ocean. Tradition holds that the Supernal Realms lie on the other side of Ouroboros, but no astral barge or sailing ship has ever crossed the gulf. Ouroboros is the end of everything. Still... names are whispered about those who return as shells and sensory organs for the Abyss itself.  They whisper "Qlipoth." 

The Five Horsemen have visited the shore of Ouroboros on at least three occasions.  While always greeted politely by the Old Man, none have dared speak to the Gate.  Persephone, Kairos and Nergal all made their crossing of the Threshold from the shore. Nergal gathered the waters of the ocean for Death of the Endless here, and later dropped his corrupted Soul stone and banished the Darkness that Thirsts out of reality.  

The Place Between

The Letigium and her pack of Gulmoth escorted Chimera outside and onto the street. The air was dense, heavy, silent but for strange bass, infrasound Chimera could feel only in her bones and odd buzzing reverberations. Her eyeballs were jiggling in her skull, making things hard to focus on for more than a split second at a time. The sun beats down on them like a hateful stare but the heat from the sun is actually better, cooler than the humidity and fetid hot coming up from the street, from the the shadows.

Chimera chanced a look at the sun glaring down at them from a empty night sky. The sun's outline was red as smoldering coals, all but the corona was eclipsed, maybe the moon, in a total lunar eclipse that never ended. All light here had more of a reddish hue than it should. And the night sky wasn't empty. There were no clouds, sure, but there were a few stars here and there, tiny bits of red in a black sky. They were going out. The stars were going out.

The only exception to the red light was what was in the direction the group was walking. The street in front of the Letigium looked grey then greenish, the intensity of the shift changed with the speed she walked. There were brief hints of blue in the center of where their perceptions were headed at eye level. Just brief hints,when her walking speed jumped.

"You get places faster here than the Fallen World, not just because space is warping but time as well. Away from us reality accelerates towards entropy, what we approach is a collapsing universe instead of an ever-expanding one," The Letigium continued her lesson like a well practiced tour-guide.

"Maybe this gives you hope? A new big bang is a new beginning maybe? Or maybe it's just another death. Maybe all lights go out instead..." She smiled wickedly over her shoulder, taking in any tell of Chimera's expression, the face is more of a death-grimace.

Chimera gave her nothing but the continued flat look of an unimpressed Seer master. Inside she was very disturbed by the implications. The red shift was everything speeding away from each other faster than the speed of light, then what astrophysics said was possible. Accelerated past entropy constants, a malicious and rapidly approaching Heat Death of the Universe, as if the Old Gods were sucking the energy out of the cosmos through a straw. Where they headed, a blue shift, accelerating closer to a total collapse of reality itself. In the middle, this place.

The planet was a tomb, a carcass that was fucked until the soft parts were eaten by vermin, bones used in profane rituals, then fossilized and dusted by a million years of aging but not reclaimed by wildlife or bacteria. The mess was then slow roasted by a dying star, that never expanded to consume the planet, until the surface reached an even char and yet is somehow still completely recognizable as the school the group just left.

Odd infant cooing sounds and clicking come from a dilapidated brownstone nearby, "Don't dawdle." The Letigium waves her hand in the direction of the sound dismissively and presses on.

The Realm of Liminality

Names: The Place Between, the In-Between, the Between, the Realm of Liminality, the Upside Down, the Abyssal World, the Liminal Emanation, the Other World,

Most mages reject the theory that alongside the Fallen World and the overlay of the Supernal World seen with Mage Sight there may exist an Abyssal World at also reflects and overlaps the Fallen World.  

Other mages are less sure, having caught glimpses of this "Abyssal World" with those same mystic sights in places were Abyssal Verges and Paradox Anomalies have occurred.  Who would want to look further?  As a result, the vast majority of the worlds mage population (including even most Scelesti) don't know that such a place exists.

And it does exist. The Place Between is an Emanation Realm of the Gate, perhaps the Gate IS the realm. It is an Emanation Realm of the Abyss and the Space Arcanum. It is a twisted border-realm which appears much as the world where the realm was entered, however everything is twisted, rotten and corroded. Everything new in the real is a ruin, covered in thick scrawled sigils, the sun pale and the stars a sickly red arranged in foreign formations. To those who have studied the Abyss it looks an awful lot like a Qlippoth Nightmare Realm, however not as extreme. In this realm, the Abyss can manifest freely without the enervating effects of reality, for it is not truly an Emanation Realm of the Supernal, but the true shore of the Abyss.It IS perhaps the inside of the hovel on the shore of Ouroboros. The Citadel of the Other is the Astral representation of this place...Now you know what is inside...

Know best to Gulmoth and the hidden Seer Ministry called the Secret Order of the Gate, the realm is mostly empty but for the Gatekeepers and their attendants. Gatekeepers whisper that the Forbidden Exarch bargained with the Abyss so that it would curse the world with the Lie. The Gate stood between the Fallen World and the Abyss to conduct its negotiations. Members of his secret Ministry learn to enter that the Liminal Emanation, which resembles a ruined, distorted mirror of the material realm. Abyssal entities haunt the Place Between, and spatial distortions allow for shortcuts between mirrored locations. Irises manifest in Abyssal Verges, or at the site of the most extreme Space Paradoxes.

Distance is a fragmented, tenuous concept here. The mage uses esoteric insights to find shortcuts, so that even though he takes a normal pace in the Place, he moves much faster relative to the material plane. If a traveler cannot find or make an exit they become trapped in the Place Between. Since Abyssal manifestations easily hide and slip into the realm and there is no clean food or water to sustain life, the traveler is probably doomed to a slow death. On the other hand, Intruder possessed Gatekeepers occasionally DO come back...
The realm has no true natives. The transient Gulmoth population tend to be scathing but more interested in tempting and bargaining than immediately trying to devour explorers. This is perhaps because the realm forces them to define themselves with inherent vulnerability. Gulmoth stalk the wasted borderland, corrupting and consuming what Resonates with them. They are especially interested in beings and objects fresh from the Fallen World.

The conspiracy within their ranks of the Seers of the Throne, those initiates of the Secret Order of the Gate are priests of the Other Aeon and enjoy privileges in the Place Between. Sometimes, for reasons even the Secret Order of the Gate is yet unaware of, when exiting the Place Between a traveler may find himself in the shores of the Ocean Oroboros, usually near the hut of the Old Man. Such mages are in the flesh, not their dream form. Thus he uses Health in place of Dream Health, which leaves him vulnerable to true death. The Ecstatic Winds function as normal but the Amnion can be raised as normal.  The victim then has to face either a hard road back to the physical world or back into the Place Between after a brief visit.

Anomalies and Features

The Place Between is a direct reflection of the Fallen World with some significant changes.  The cosmic entropy constant is accelerated.  Objects and buildings appear significantly aged even when their Fallen World counterpart is brand new.  When the sun is visible its red and always in a state of total lunar eclipse.  The realm is affected by the space/time shifting of relativistic speeds and the entropy of the Abyss draining all visible light.

The Place Between shares many traits simultaneously of both a Supernal and Abyssal Verge.  But whereas a Supernal Verge of Pandemonium would normally have a Mind Arcanum component (however subdued), the Place Between only resonates with the Space Arcanum because of its resonance with travel and liminal spaces.

Travel and even keeping your bearings is very difficult and traitorous in the Place Between.  People tend to get lost easily despite how easy the intervening space appears to be.  Space folds and warps strangely and apparent distances expand and contract both physically and perceptively. STs can multiply or divide distances in the Place between by the rating of the Extreme Environment Tilt for a given area.

While gravity remains unchanged, it can be in different directions and change suddenly as space is warping the direction of the gravitational force, usually along with piece of terrain that used to be the ground. Objects sometimes roll uphill, fall sideways or float if caught between two gravitational axises. There are also small Thuraes and unstable Irises ripped into into other planes sometimes aligning with Abyssal Verge in the Fallen World or other planes.

Space folds into fractals and contorts itself within the Place Between and create a variety of extreme weather and environmental conditions. What makes it an Extreme Environment are areas of extreme heat or cold, shifts in direction of gravity, intense pressure, vacuum, sudden micro-decompressions. Radiation, toxic gases, heat lightning, very rare but acidic precipitation, very high/violent winds, flying abrasive material and particles. In general the realm in its calmest places is described as humid, hot and light from the eclipsed sun is red shifted and weak.

The Place Between is sterile, without bacteria, micro organism or viruses. The only exception to this rule are Gulmoth and other Abyssal intrusions and manifestations that may take the form or substance of these micro organisms. This doesn't mean that food and drink found in the Place Between is safe for consumption. All such edibles almost always have light irradiation, severe spoiling and soiled with toxic chemicals. Explorers should bring their own supplies and exercise great care of contamination when breaking them open. Even with this care its very common that explorers that do not insulate themselves with Shielding spells will contract mild radiation sickness and food poisoning if they breath in, swallow or eat anything in the realm.
The messed up thing is that the Place Between is pretty nice and safe compared to other parts of the Abyss I have designed (future posts promised).  This is one of the places in the Abyss that is closest to Earth.

TILT: Extreme Environment

While characters are exposed to these conditions, they suffer the level of the environment as a penalty to all actions. After a number of hours/scenes equal to the character’s Stamina, he takes bashing damage equal to the environment’s level once per hour. In the case of a Level 3 exposure, the damage is lethal instead of bashing. Fourth-level environments cause lethal damage each turn after a number of turns equal to the character’s Stamina. Any damage caused by levels 2–4 exposure leaves lasting marks, scars, and tissue damage. Damage caused by Extreme Environments cannot be healed until the character is back in a safe environment.  Examples: Level 1 - Light snow, heavy storms; too cold to sleep safely; air. pressure causes shortness of breath; sweltering sun can cause first-degree burns. Level 2 - Heavy snow; cold causes physical pain and potential hypothermia; sun quickly causes first degree burns, can cause second degree burns with time; minor radiation poisoning. Level 3 - Desert exposure; heat rapidly causing second-degree burns; moderate radiation exposure. Level 4 - Desert sandstorm, severe hurricane, tornado, tsunami.

Between Being and Unbeing

The symbolism of the Place Between is that of liminality, the silence of non-existence between every point of existence. The following is an exhaustive list of the unique laws and aspects the Place Between display:

1. Space Yantras: The realm can be used as a +2 Environmental Yantra for the Space Arcanum.  While the realm shares a lot of traits with a Supernal Verge, Space spells do not have unlimited Reach but this is offset by the lower starting Paradox levels.

2. Summoning Gulmoth: The realm grants a +2 bonus to rituals and spells to Summon Abyssal Entities (other than Supernal Summonings).

3. Abyssal Incursions: The Storyteller's Abyssal Incursion roll during a Supernal Summonings is a Rote action.

4. Paradox: Space Magic does not automatically risk Paradox, all other Arcana spells do risk Paradox (Starts at a pool of +1).

5. Dissonance: All active magical spells risks Dissonance at the end of every scene.  10 dice are rolled as the Integrity pool for Dissonance rolls.  Objects in or taken from the Place Between cause the same issues with Dissonance (see rules below).

6. Skill Penalties: Skill Rolls dealing with directions, travel, distance, mapping, navigation or Survival take a -3 penalty.

7. Extreme Environment: All parts of the the Realm have an Extreme Environmental Tilt rated from 1 to 3 and do Resistant damage.  The rating of the Extreme Environment corresponds directly correlated to how distance in that area is either multiplied or divided.  A rating of 1 is by far the most common.

8. Perception Penalties: With the warping of the realm and its spatiality all Perception checks except for taste and touch take a -2 Penalty.  This penalty does not stack with the -3 Skill penalty even if the Skill rolls are heavily relying on mundane senses.  Instead, the highest penalty is used.

9. Infested: While the realm looks desolate and mostly empty, devoid of all life. There are lots of Gulmoth here either seeping in from the Abyss via Thuraes, Gulmoth cast-offs from summonings or left here by Gatekeepers.  All Gulmoth are considered to have the Materialized Manifestation and cannot have a Twilight Manifestation.  One of the benefits of dealing with Gulmoth in the realm is that they are forced a shape with its own Bans and Banes without hiding in Twilight.  If they lose all Corpus they can heal as a Spirit does in the Shadow.  If they lose all Corpus and Essence they are banished back into the Abyss.

10. Space Entry/Escape: Attempting to use Space magic to Teleport or Portal into or out of the Place Between automatically fail, only Thuraes, special locations and rituals allow for an explorer to enter the realm or escape back into the Fallen World. in the Place Between.  The Place Between is considered another plane of existence and is resistant to use of Space Magic across realms as if it were the Underworld of the Hedge.

11. Resistant Spatiality: Using Space magic to teleport or portal inside destinations within the Place Between does not work as the realm's space resists folding in any helpful way (unless you have the Parametric Language or have the special Attainments of Gatekeepers.  Using Space magic to help navigate takes a -3 penalty but functions as normal but can only boost or assist in navigation rolls and escape rolls outlined below.

12. Traveling the Liminal Realm: Within the realm an explorer can attempt to devise a relatively linear path to a location in the realm that corresponds to a destination in the Fallen World.  Depending on how successful the roll, this dangerous place can get somewhere much faster on foot then in the Fallen World.  To attempt to navigate the twisted maze of the Place Between an explorer rolls Resolve + Survival (-3 total penalty and Environmental Tilts may make this worse).  A roll represents a Scene of travel and at the end of each Scene the party takes the damage for the Environmental Tilt they are in the majority of the time. Results are as follows:

• Dramatic Failure: Take a Beat, Lose a Willpower point, Gain the Lost Condition, you gain no progress to navigating to where you are trying to reach and must discard the Lost Condition before you can roll again which takes another Scene/Hour.  You also will most likely run afoul of a strong Gulmoth or a pack of lesser Gulmoth.
  
• Failure:  You can travel no faster than normal Speed but make no progress towards your destination.  You may also have to dodge a Gulmoth or run into a narrative obstacle. 
• Success: You plot a course for the duration of the Scene to your destination.  Narrative elements along the way do not impede your travel time/speed/distance and are considered included. The amount of ground you cover during that time correlates directly to distances in the Fallen World.   is equivalent to your base Speed (or lowest Speed of the party) to the Power of your Successes +1. Speed can be calculated into Miles per Hour to determine how far the group can travel in a Scene (1 Hour): Speed is feet per second (or yards in 3 seconds) x 60 seconds x 60 minutes divided by 5,280 feet in a mile = MPH or how much distance you cover in the Fallen World in miles.  Once you arrive at the realm's reflection of your destination in the Fallen World you still need to find a way out near your destination.
• Exceptional Success: Additional successes dramatically increase the ground covered and effective Speed.  Your travel is boring and relatively safe thanks to your effective navigation. In addition, take a Willpower Point and gain the Informed (Place Between) Condition.  At your destination this will come in handy for finding a pathway back into the Fallen World. 

11. Egress: Finding a way out of the Place Between is even more difficult than finding a Thurae in. Places in the Fallen World that have Thuraes or Abyssal Verges may offer a path back into the Fallen World from the realm.  Closed and invisible irises occasionally open through Abyssal Verges and locations in the Fallen World where the worst Space Paradoxes occurred or are occurring.  Creating excessive and repeated Space Anomalies may create a way out but come with their own serious risks.  Natural exits caused by thin space fabric or folds can be found and opened using some sort of ritual or condition but they are not readily visible in the Place Between, nor do they look like one.  An explorer can attempt to intuit a ritual or action to create or find an Iris by making a Intelligence + Occult (with the -3 Skill Penalty and possible Environmental Penalties) roll once per Scene (hour).  Results are as follows:

• Dramatic Failure: Take a Beat, Lose a Willpower point.  Not only do you fail to come up with a ritual or find a natural Iris but you also botch the chances of finding one in this area.  The explorer is forced to attempt to travel to a new place near their destination in search of a way out.  The failure wastes a Scene on location and no doubt attracts the attention of hungry Gulmoth.
• Failure:  You spend the scene in an area looking for an Iris or trying to develop a ritual to escape but don't find or come up with anything.  There may be an additional narrative obstacle based on Storyteller discretion.
• Success: You find traces of an Iris or other point of egress and come up with some ideas on how it may be opened using a ritual act, key or conditional trigger.  Ritual ideas often look counterintuitive or nonsensical, such as chaining oneself to a wall or maiming one's own feet with a loose piece of pavement.  The ritual or Iris will cost something in harm or sacrifice.
• Exceptional Success: You find a hidden Iris or develop a ritual and you and your party may pass through easily and immediately.  Take an Arcane Beat and recover one Willpower Point.  The egress does not have much of a cost at all.

Gatekeeper Pro Tip: Causing a serious Space Paradox in a future destination may actually make a way for a traveler to escape to that place at a later time.  Of course if you can go to your destination to set that up why do you need to travel the Place Between to get there?  Still, Gatekeepers will create such damage to the fabric of Space in their Sanctums and Safe Houses so they can retreat from an enemy through the Place Between and arrive back at their Sanctum safely and without anyone following them.

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.

For Reference: Dissonance

Dissonance does not only affect the spells of mages, but any exposure to the Supernal. Worse, it makes Abyssal entities stronger. At the end of a scene in which a Sleeper (or object in this case) witnesses (within the Scene) obvious Supernal magic, roll her Integrity (Objects from the Place Between roll 10) as a dice pool, Withstood by the spell’s dots, the Rank of a Supernal entity, or a number set by the Storyteller for other magical phenomena. Dissonance against Demesnes is Withstood by the number of soul stones creating the Demesne. Multiple Sleepers do not roll more than once, but apply a dice trick to the roll in the same way as Paradox rolls.

Dramatic Failure: The phenomenon is unaffected, and the Sleeper suffers a breaking point against Integrity.

Failure: The phenomenon is unaffected.

Success: If the roll achieves successes beyond the phenomenon’s Withstand rating:

• Spells: Each success reduces one spell factor by a level, primary factor last, to a minimum of the lowest level of each factor table. If all factors have been reduced to minimum, any further success destroys the spell.
• Supernal Entities: The entity suffers lethal damage equal to successes.
• Demesnes: The Demesne is suppressed, ceasing to function until no Sleepers have been present for the roll’s successes in weeks.

Exceptional Success: As above, and also;

• Spells: One Reach effect incorporated into the spell is removed.
• Supernal Entities: The damage inflicted is aggravated.
• Demesnes: The Demesne is permanently destroyed. This does not affect the soul stones, which can be used to build a new Demesne.

Legacy Attainments and Emanation Realms are immune to Dissonance. Treat Abyssal beings as Supernal for the dice roll, but they do not Withstand successes and Dissonance heals the roll’s successes in Corpus as well as giving the Abyssal entity successes in points of Essence.

[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.