Rotes - Assorted Supplements

At Ease
Mind 2

Resonance and mystical quirkiness tend to set mundane humans on edge around mages. While some unscrupulous mages might directly take control of other peoples' emotions to circumvent this problem, most subtle Traditionalists prefer to give off "harmless" vibes. With this rote, the Traditionalist seems more like an eccentric but otherwise harmless individual, instead of a strange and potentially threatening outsider.

System: The mage applies this rote to himself. Successes allow the mage to send off a weave of harmlessness and calm along with his normal resonance. This negates interpersonal relationship penalties for resonance on a one-success-for-one-die basis. Note that the mage must also generate a duration from the successes scored. Also, this effect does not require constant concentration, but does count as a running effect.

Smoker's Timing
Time 2

A fair number of Tradition mages are smokers - probably a by-product of the stress of the lifestyle. Smokers have their own library of small tricks and amusements relating to their particular vice. As such, this rote relies more on the superstitions surrounding smoking than upon any sort of Tradition paradigm.

The smoker's timing relies upon the well-established urban legend that any time a smoker waits for something, he need only start a new cigarette and it'll arrive. The smoker can be waiting for traffic to move, for a meal to arrive, for a bus to show up - all he has to do is pull out a smoke, light it and take a drag. The phenomenon almost always takes place nigh-immediately thereafter.

System: This rote is very simple; the smoker doesn't so much force an event to happen as garner a precognitive timing and happen to light up a cigarette at just the right (or wrong) time. A more powerful version of the rote might actually cause the smoker to alter time and circumstance in accord with lighting up a cigarette, though! Use the usual Arete roll successes to determine how close the smoker cuts his prediction. With only one success, the smoker probably makes it through one drag before having to crush out his cigarette and deal with the attendant problem (damnit!) With four or five successes, the event probably happens just as the smoker finishes a cigarette.

Node Raider
Prime 3

Sometimes, there's just not enough time to wait for a Node to refresh a mage's Avatar, or to generate Tass, or to refuel a chantry... sometimes a mage needs Quintessence right now, and there's no choice but to rip that energy straight from the Node at hand. Node raiding is a long-established practice, once used commonly to steal enemy Quintessence while simultaneously denying the foe the Node's resources. In this modern age of dying magic, it's regarded as a much more criminal act, but occasionally mages don't have much choice...

The mage need only arrive at the site of the Node, as usual, and fire off the rote to steal its Quintessence. Ripping Quintessence in this fashion is quite deleterious to the Node, but it's a nigh-addictive rush of power to the mage - the mage can feel the pulsing, raw energy of creation course through his Pattern in a surge of magical might. Of course, any guardians that the Node may have - be they Technocrats, spirits or shapeshifters - are likely to be quite incensed by this sort of behavior.

System: The mage reseats his Pattern with respect to the Node's Quintessence stream, then calls on this rote to tear its power out in a tremendous stream. Each success causes the mage to immediately absorb one Quintessence from the Node. The mage can also redirect this Quintessence into a Periapt or other storage medium without further casting. An extended ritual of the spell causes the mage to gain quintessence as successes are scored, instead of waiting until the end of the ritual.

On the down side, the Node is suppressed for a number of days equal to the successes scored - it won't generate any Quintessence or Tass in this time. Worse still, every ten successes causes the Node to permanently lose one level of power. If a Node drops to a rating of zero, it's destroyed and no more power can be drained.

Fate Mark
Entropy 4

While some Traditions rely on a Binding Oath (Mage p. 164), especially before acknowledging the responsibilities of a Master, many rely on simple Fate Marks for recognition. The caster places a simple mark on the patterns of destiny around the mage, a sort of metaphysical bend that's recognizable to anyone with Entropy senses. A mage can customize this bend, so a true Tradition Herald may have a mark, a messenger may have a special mark, or a traitor might have a mark. It's customary to place a Fate Mark on a newly founded chantry, and some cabals also Fate Mark all of their membership. Of course, with a dearth of Masters of Entropy, Fate Marks aren't easy to come by - but that also makes them more difficult to counterfeit.

System: A Fate Mark is essentially a metaphysical "tag." It carries the Resonance of the individual who cast it (so an onlooker can tell who made the mark if he recognizes the Resonance,) and can take on a unique sigil so that it's distinguishable from other marks. Such a Fate Mark is rarely permanent. Usually it's renewed if the subject takes on a job and continues to carry it out over time. Removing a Fate Mark is also possible with this level of Entropy. A Fate Mark may additionally mark an area or chantry - so a specific mark might indicate "This Chantry is property of the Northern Wind cabal" or "This Node is a place of danger."

Node Spike
Prime 3, Mind 2

The Node Spike rote is one of the more fearsome modern magics - it serves as a response to the Technocracy's recent trend of "tagging" Nodes with Resonance and then tracking down people who've used the Node and thus become carriers of that Resonance. The Traditionalist performs a symbolically painful or poisonous act - self mutilation, drinking something mildly acidic (painfully so) or otherwise generating a strong aura of anguish. Then, the mage casts that concentrated hate and pain into the Node itself. The next time the Node's accessed with Prime magic, this psychic spike lashes out at the hapless Node user.

System: Successes scored on a Node Spike translate into duration, telling how long the Node remains tainted, and into effect dice like a mental impulse used as an empathic attack. The Node Spike generally causes pain, nausea and disorientation, although its effect level is resisted by the victim's Willpower roll. If the Node Spike manages to best the victim's Willpower, the hapless mage is overcome with wracking agony and stunned for a number of turns equal to the net successes of the effect. A more powerful variant uses Mind 3 to actually make the Resonance so strong that it's telepathically damaging; treat as a Mind attack. Once fired off, the Node Spike is discharged. Since this relies on tainting the Node's Resonance, it doesn't require Time to hang an effect; the Node itself is altered, just as if the Mage had turned a dull chunk of metal into an effective blade. More esoteric versions of this rote might use Time 4 to hang an effect (usually Forces) so that when the Node's accessed, it fires off an actual physical attack.

Coffin for a Fisher
Matter 2, Spirit 3

Old Ghana tradition tells that a fisherman once asked his son to make a special coffin that looked like a fish, so that when he died, the fisherman could continue his fishing in the spirit world. The son honored the father's wish, and the practice became common among those who so loved their work that they wanted to bring it with them even in death.

System: The mage must enchant a special coffin that's built specifically for this purpose. The coffin should somehow symbolize the job that the decedent wishes to take into the afterlife.

The player must defeat the local Gauntlet and roll enough successes to affect all the items desired, though each one could be enchanted separately if the mage is not sure of his skill. When the coffins and trappings are buried with the corpse, they appear in the spirit world as well. Thus, a ghost could be outfitted with royal jewels, weapons, or just the relics of a favored pastime. Even if your chronicle's mages rarely interact with ghosts, this is an ideal way to satisfy the deceased and keep them occupied, so that they don't cause problems by haunting the living.

The Avatar Storm (if you use it) and the Sixth Maelstrom (if it happened in your chronicle) tend to distort this Effect, and sometimes relics are destroyed before they can manifest in the Shadowlands, though that is solely at the Storyteller's discretion.

Cold Water's Blessing
Matter 2, Prime 2

As water gives life, it holds the power to protect. Evil magic can be dispersed by cold water, and villainous sorcerers rendered powerless. Even vicious naglopers lose their powers temporarily if dipped in water.

System: The mage must somehow hit the target with cold water - whether by tricking it into a river or throwing a bucket of water at it. The mage channels the water's power to heal, promote life and wash away evils. The water soaks into the target and its power becomes primal energy that washes off evil magic (that is, its Pattern is dissociated with Matter and turned into cleansing energy with Prime.) Successes scored on the effect are used to unweave whatever magic that the subject might have, be it a malign enchantment or a special power.

The Prime magic already invested allows the mage to discriminate between magic with a friendly, positive Resonance or an evil, malignant one, so the Effect does not inconvenience a sorcerer who has no ill intent. With Time magic, the caster can cause this Effect to "wait" on the target and then use successes to unweave a later evil spell or Effect that the subject might try to cast - Effect successes counter the supernatural powers of the subject. Thus, an evil sorcerer dunked in water several times (with an extended use of this Effect) might find his next few spells fizzling.

Counter-Irritant
Life 2

In addition to mundane surgery, some healers in Somalia used a counter-irritant, a heated nail or metal rod. The rod was heated, then applied to an injury. Obviously, such a practice cauterized the wound. Medicine men believed that the scream of the patient also allowed the pain to escape from the body, and that the patient's recovery subsequently quickened with less chance of infection.

System: The mage applies a cauterizing instrument to a wound. (Hopefully, the character has at least rudimentary medical knowledge; cauterizing a wound improperly can lead to shock or even death.) The subject must be allowed to scream - with that scream comes out all of the pain from the injury. A full turn after the Effect is completed, the subject no longer suffers penalties from that particular wound for the duration of the Effect. The caster can also choose to use some of the successes to speed the healing of the wound - each success cuts mundane healing time into a fraction: with two successes for healing speed, the subject heals in half the normal time; with three successes, a third of the normal time and so on. Since most people believe in the efficiency of cauterization and sterilization, this Effect is usually coincidental.

Dogon Divination
Entropy 1, Time 2

Dogon and Yoruba priests use a ceremonial tray in conjunction with 16 kola nuts in order to divine the future. The priest holds the tray in his lap while he quickly passes the nuts from hand to hand. As he passes the nuts back and forth, some fall out and make marks on the tray's flour-dusted surface. Once he is finished, the priest reads the pattern left in the dust and uses it to contrive a sacred poem. That poem offers insight into the future or into the actions that a subject should take.

System: Like the more traditional forms of Time Sight, this rote allows the caster to glimpse indirectly into the future. The mage does not actually see what will happen; rather, he gets an idea of what patterns are emerging and how actions now can help to avert a bad fate later. Though the ritual always gives some result, the successes on the Effect give an idea of how accurate and clear the advice is. With only one or two successes, the Mage may get a poem that seems cryptic or only peripherally related to events at hand, while with more successes, the reading inspires a poem that eerily parallels current events or shows an obvious and clear threat looming in the future. Interested Storytellers might want to actually look up some Yoruba poetry to find a passage appropriate to their chronicles.

If the Storyteller feels a little overworked by having to fit a mystical African poem into his chronicle, he can simply advise the players as to a specific course of action - if the characters follow through, then the Effect's successes can be used to enhance a later use of an Ability, in the usual fashion of Magic Enhancing Abilities (see Mage Revised, pg. 155.) Such successes are not cumulative; one divination must be fulfilled before another can give insight into the future.

Find the Guilty
Mind 2

In Gabon, death is often attributed to malign influences or evil spells. The power of a person's ill will toward someone else figures prominently in some other societies, too. Though it's too late to do much after someone has died, a priest can still find the killer - or at least someone who harbored resentment or hate toward the victim. This can open the door to finding out why and how someone was killed, or whether there are hidden, malign feelings seething beneath the surface of an otherwise proprietary occasion. Should a dark secret come out in this fashion, the priest might well learn of some impropriety on the part of the deceased. Such a ritual is good for closure: Those who harbored hatred toward the deceased can let it out, while the priest can also uncover and resolve problems that the deceased may have left behind.

To find the guilty, the priest dons a ceremonial headdress, complete with ritual scars, paintings and hairs. The priest then dances among a group of villagers until his feet cause him to stop. Since the headdress may not include holes for the eyes, the priest stops only when the magic prompts him to do so. The person in front of whom he stops is the one whose grudge or disaffection figures somehow in the deceased's demise.

Because this ritual relies upon dance, mask and other cultural icons, the caster must work with a group that understands the ritual's purpose. Among the African tribes that used (and still use) this ritual, everyone understands its purpose after a death; if it's used among people who did not understand it, the ritual carries no weight and thus does not function - though the caster could explain the nature of the ritual beforehand.

Note that this ritual normally is only used with men. Tradition holds that women must not look upon the mask.

System: Though this spell does not actually call upon the spirit of the deceased, it lets the caster pull on the emotional strings of those around him. Since everyone involved knows what's happening, their thoughts and memories regarding the deceased are fresh in their minds. Even if individuals try to bury such thoughts, the caster's magic can sense and pull out the general feeling; once the caster stops his dance in front of a guilty survivor, he can proceed with normal or magical questioning to figure out why such feelings were there.

Roll the Effect as usual; the mage need only score enough Mind successes to sense the mental impulses of guilt or resentment harbored by one of the ritual's onlookers, and his magic draws his dance to that person. This is often done as an extended Effect: While the mage dances, he lets his mind wander out and sense each person separately, rather than trying to grasp the entire group at once. In game terms, the player rolls for the Effect separately against each onlooker, with the mage moving on with his dance until he finds a guilty party or fails to find anything.

Naturally, appropriate Mind techniques can defend against this Effect. However, a guilty party who wishes to shield his thoughts deliberately must use the normal mental defense rules - for a Sleeper, that means spending a point of Willpower to gain a resistance roll.

Sense the Nagloper
Life 2, Matter 1, Time 2

The malign influence of naglopers can cause illness, fatigue and even death. Since the nagloper's mystic powers enable it to keep its victims in slumber, Bantu witch doctors devised a powder that, rubbed into a shallow wound, would burn when a nagloper neared and thus awaken the victim.

System: The magician makes a shallow cut in the living flesh of the subject, then rubs in his magical powder while murmuring protective words. Time magic holds the Effect in place until a nagloper approaches, its presence revealed by its unnatural connection of living and unliving (with Matter and Life.) At that point, the powder begins to burn and itch, awakening the subject or at least alerting him to the nagloper's presence (with Life magic.) Successes can be diverted to duration (so that the powder keeps itching longer, possibly to wake up a deep sleeper) and to distance (so that a nagloper can be detected before it gets within reach.)

This formula sometimes alerts the subject to the presence of vampires other than naglopers, if indeed naglopers are a sort of vampire at all....

Halt the Nagloper
Life 2, Matter 2, Time 2

The dread nagloper often sneaks into tents and huts to feed upon the energies of the occupant, but it can be halted by a proper enchantment. A false kerrie (club) placed in the doorway serves as a focal point for the spell; when the nagloper tries to cross the threshold (walking backwards to conceal its approach,) it freezes over the club, unable to move so long as no one speaks within its hearing.

System: The Time magic hangs this Effect in place on its focal point, the club placed in the doorway. Once the nagloper steps over the club, the Effect paralyzes it. So long as nobody speaks within its earshot, the nagloper cannot move for the Effect's duration. An Effect cast with only a few successes lasts only a few turns, and might merely inconvenience a nagloper; with mutliple successes, the creature could be entirely paralyzed for some time. Traditionally, an individual inside is also protected by the rote Sense the Nagloper, and that individual wakes up and goes to fetch the head of the village, who decides what to do with the beast.

This rote sometimes works on vampires as well, though not reliably.

Healing Figurine
Life 3

Figurines of animals or people, especially those associated with benevolent intent, can help in the healing process. A carved figure with a magical container at its center can hold healing energies; placed in a room, that figure's energy helps to heal the occupant. Also, an individual can insert and remove a nail from the figure so that its power flows over him. A mage can prepare such a figurine and give it to a friend, or even make one that permanently gives off healing power so that anyone near it benefits.

System: People in the area of a healing figurine just naturally seem to recover quickly - they sleep well, their wounds heal without difficulty and they fight off sickness. The mage "plants" his successes on the Effect into the figurine; when it is in a room with injured people, or when someone thrusts a nail into it then pulls the nail out, the figurine unleashes some of its power. The successes stored allow the figurine to heal people just like a simple Life Effect, though generally healing takes a full day of rest for each health level (it's neither instant nor wholly vulgar.) If the figure runs out of successes, its power is exhausted.

With enough successes, a mage can permanently render a figurine a healing Artifact. Such a figurine causes everyone in its vicinity to heal at the accelerated rate of one health level per day (excepting aggravated wounds.) Such a creation is very potent and requires a great many successes.

Masquerade to Adulthood
Correspondence 2 or Spirit 3

Coming-of-age rituals are common to many cultures - from body piercings to midnight stories that pass on the knowledge of manhood to drunken revels with sports buddies, every culture has its own way of acknowledging the transition from child to adult. In some African cultures, the transition is as symbolic as it is physical: The supplicant dons a specially carved mask and perhaps even a costume or voluminous robe. The outfit protects against eavesdropping or malign spirits during the ceremony and also serves as a transition - a child dons the mask, but it is an adult who removes it. Since many cultures include secret societies, the masked supplicant can listen to the words of the elders and learn the secrets of his family or tribe then push the dangerous knowledge to the back of his psyche as the mask removes accountability.

System: This rite serves as a part of a coming-of-age ritual but, when performed with the help of a mage, actually defends against spirits that eavesdrop on secret societies or interfere with the rite. Masquerade to Adulthood also works as a change to the supplicant's mind. The mage overseeing the rite performs this ritual over the ceremonial mask and costume. Effect successes with Spirit can be used to make a ward against spirits. Once the mask is removed, the ward ends (if it lasted through the whole rite at all, depending on the Effect's duration.)

Successes used to mute the supplicant's Pattern ties (with Correspondence) reduce the intensity of anything connected to the supplicant's childhood. The ritual turns boy into man; things that had an arcane connection to the child have little or no ties to the adult. Thus, a favored toy that counted as a moderate arcane connection could be reduced to having no special ties if the mage casting this Effect scored enough successes. This doesn't stop the newly released adult from building new arcane connections with old things, of course.

Painting the War Dance
Matter 2 with Mind 2 or Time 2

Bushmen painters carry small gourds with their own special mixes of color and use brushes teased out from feathers or sticks to make the strikingly vivid rock paintings for which they are famed. They are so skilled that they need not hunt; instead, they travel from gathering to gathering, telling tales and making paintings in exchange for food and shelter. The most skilled among the Bushmen painters, it is said, could evoke motion and a semblance of life from their pictures. Simple figures danced, moved and performed the stories that the Bushman painted.

System: With paints mixed by hand from various natural sources, the magician draws and colors an image of a story. Then, the mage channels his own thoughts and images (with Mind magic) or past events and history (with Time magic) into the image, and the paintings move and take on their own semblance of life. The picture shows the scene that the mage paints, playing out history or the tales of painters choice for the duration scored on the Effect roll. Most painters use an extended Effect, spending a great deal of time on the painting. With Time magic, such paintings can show old battles, hunts and scenes from life; with Mind magic, the mage can create whimsical and fanciful tales. The Matter magic allows the paints to move and spread across the rock after they are applied.

Once this Effect ends, the figures stop moving and become normal paintings.

Reflecting Bane
Mind 1 or Spirit 3; optional Life 3

Though evil spirits and thoughts can cause harm to people, those malign influences can be reflected with a proper mirror or a polished, reflective statue. Sometimes the spirit sees its reflection and is frightened; in the case of evil thoughts, the whispers of malice are reflected away from the target and dispersed into nothingness. Shamans often place a mirror or reflective statue next to a sick individual to protect him from the evil influences that caused the sickness.

System: A reflecting mirror or statue wards against the evil influences of spirits or mental attacks, depending upon how it's enchanted. One designed to reflect malignant thoughts uses Mind magic, of course, while one built with Spirit magic defends against evil spirits. Such an Effect has the usual shielding/warding defenses, though naturally mages most often employ this rote for someone else's benefit. The statue defends against ghosts or other supernatural powers that might harm the subject. If Life is added, the figurine or mirror also speeds the subject's healing.

Sing Down the Rain
Matter 3, Forces 2

Chanting old prayers or hymns to the dead, the magician can coax ghosts into riding their clouds closer to a desired location. As the dead shepherd the clouds along, the magician convinces them to send down some life-giving rain. Shamans used this Effect to guarantee good crops; modern magicians might use the rain for cover, to slow pursuit or just as a show of power.

System: The magician croons a short poem or song that calls to the clouds and their ghostly riders. The magic nudges the clouds to a desired destination with Forces while causing them to give up some of their moisture with Matter. The resulting saturation varies with the mage's successes: One or two successes bring a brief sprinkling, while five or six successes send down a reasonable quantity of rain over a small area. An extended ritual that scores 10 or 20 successes could deluge an entire village. The difficulty might vary by one or two points if it's cloudless or particularly humid on a given day.

Soothe the Dead
Spirit 3

In Nigeria, priests warn that the remains of the dead must not be disturbed lest their ghosts return to haunt the living and cause catastrophe's like poor crops and droughts. To warn the people and to avoid drawing attention from malignant spirits, priests use a voice disguiser - a long, decorated tube that causes the priest's voice to take on a booming, dissonant quality. Not only is this distinctive to living listeners, but it reminds the dead that they are remembered.

System: The mage must use a ritual trapping of some sort, often an actual voice-disguising tube, in order to make his voice known to both the living and the dead. As a mundane reminder to the living, the speeches of the mage hopefully prevent Sleepers from digging into things that they shouldn't - though in a place where this sort of thing is unknown, it may well draw curiosity from onlookers.

To the dead, the voice of a mage when it comes through this device becomes resonant, commanding and soothing. Knowing that they are remembered, ghosts continue their slumber without disturbing the living. The mage's Effect roll soothes ghostly passions, causing them to sleep; if the mage manages to best the ghost's Willpower in an extended roll, the ghost falls into a torpor and does not bother the living for at least eight hours, or until some object of significance to it is disturbed. (In Wraith terms, the mage can force a wraith into Slumber; the wraith Slumbers for a full eight hours unless its Fetters are disturbed. An unwilling wraith can use Pathos to fight off the Effect with the power of its passions, or spend Willpower to resist in the same fashion that a living individual might resist a Mind Effect.)

Warding Heads
Spirit 3

Carved heads are used in western Africa to ward off the influence of malefic spirits. Placed in shrines or at the edges of villages, the heads can be designed to frighten, and thus dissuade hostile spirits, or they can be made pleasant so as to mollify. Sometimes the heads are actual masks that are used in masquerade rituals; other times, they are simple figurines placed in tiny shelters where they stand watch over the village.

System: The mage carves and paints a wooden head, possibly as a hollow mask. The process of building the head imbues it with the mage's power, so that it acts as a ward against spirits. With enough time and effort, the mage could actually make it permanent; in such a case, the head is treated as an Artifact and its ward works as long as the head remains intact and the ward unpenetrated.

Walk to Too'ga
Spirit 3

This disturbing ritual is thought to protect the mage after death on his journey to the afterlife. The magician cuts off his own small finger (taking two health levels of lethal damage) and focuses his power through that sacrifice. Once the magician dies, be it of age or through mischance, his soul moves on to the afterlife unhindered by evil spirits or hazards. Obviously, since the lands of the living and the dead are now separate, this ritual does not help the mage in a physical walk to the Deadlands - rather, it defends his soul after death in the Underworld.

In earlier days, Walk to Too'ga allowed the subject to walk easily to the afterlife along the Orange River, but that land of the dead is no longer present in the world of the living. Indeed, this ritual was once so simple that anyone could perform it, but now it requires the use of magic.

System: In game terms, a subject protected by the Walk to Too'ga is unlikely to become a ghost - instead, his spirit moves on to its final rest, unhindered by material concerns. If some driving need forces the spirit to remain as a wraith, the Walk to Too'ga protects and shields that wraith: The ghost enters the afterlife shrouded from harm and near a hospitable place in the Tempest, probably somewhere in the Dark Kingdom of Ivory (see Wraith for information about the Underworld.) In short, the spirit is unlikely to remain as a haunt, and even if magic is used to communicate with it, it arrives safely in a comfortable afterlife instead of the torturous hells that dot the Underworld.

Animal Shift
Life 4

Long ago, the ancient gods chose animals to represent them on earth. This ritual allowed a follower to assume the shape of an animal that was sacred to his chosen deity. The change was temporary, allowing the priest to exact revenge on his enemies or to spy on those who claimed to support him. However, the shifters were careful not to let others know of their ability, for they were unable to use their magics while they wore the form of an animal.

In a private ceremony, the priest lit a handful of incense and recited a prayer to the Anunnaku. He then requested the aid of his patron and burned a hair, a scale, a feather or other small token from the animal he had chosen.

System: As with more common Verbena magics, this rote enables a mage to shift into the form of an animal. However, it's limited by the strictures of belief placed on its effectiveness: The mage can only assume the form of an animal sacred to a Mesopotamian god, and she cannot use her magical powers while in that form. For these reasons, the rote is not a common one; other shapeshifting powers tend to be more efficacious for Adepts and Masters. However, it's a good, quick solution if the mage only needs an animal form for a short time.

Mershakushtu Qurdu
Entropy 3

Mesopotamians had an uncanny understanding of the mutable nature of reality. They realized that history was not set in stone; something could be uncreated more easily than it was created. This was the reasoning behind the

Mershakushtu Qurdu (Victorious Marduk) ritual. At the beginning of each year, the temple priests declared a period of renewal, complete with feasting, song, companionship and other festivities. The highlight of the holiday was a ritual reenactment of the legendary battle between Tiamat and Marduk.

Since Tiamat could not be killed, it was reasoned that she was gathering forces and waiting in Arallu for a time when she could rise from the abyss and wreak her vengeance on the world, returning the universe to a bitter sea of chaotic nothingness. The only defense humans had against such a powerful entity was their knowledge of her former defeat. The Babylonians thought that if Tiamat's chains were not strengthened by this ritual, her power would slowly eat away at history, until Marduk's victory was undone and she could finally break loose.

This rote strengthens a Pattern's placement in the consensus. By casting this rote and then reenacting an event in front of a group of Sleeper witnesses, a mage may slowly alter their perceptions of reality and, over time, shift reality to accommodate small magical Effects. The more witnesses who believe the performance, the more effective it is. Likewise, the more times the ritual is performed, the stronger the Pattern becomes.

System: This rote is not intended as a panacea for mages who are dependent on vulgar magic. Reality can be changed, but not easily or quickly. A mage who uses it might not see results in a single lifetime. However, the rote has short-term as well as long-term uses. A mage who works as a tour guide in a museum that has a fascinating Civil War display can strengthen the importance of a specific battle, garnering more tourist money for the museum and the site of the battle. A mage who drives an ancient Ford pickup but brags about its durability and takes friends on camping trips to show them how well it holds up probably won't have his car break down for months - or years. Magic rolls involving the object of the casting gain one die for every three successes the caster accumulates on this ritual. A botch removes successes but does not necessarily negate the entire Effect.

Stay the God's Hand
Entropy 1, Life 1 or 3

The Mesopotamian gods were unpredictable in the best circumstances, and at their worst their capriciousness could be deadly. The most common sign of having fallen into disfavor was an illness. Often the victim had actually offended a temple ritual and was suffering from a curse as a result. Ailing individuals requested the aid of a temple physician to diagnose which god was causing the sickness. The doctors removed the curse, demanded payment, and divided the money with the official who had invoked the curse in the first place, leaving them both the richer and the dupe grateful to be well.

Performed as a pair, these rotes allow a mage to discover the cause for a lingering malady and attempt to treat it accurately. The mage lights an offering of incense and recites an appropriate invocation. Then she puts one hand on the victim's forehead and meditates for about half an hour, during which time she empties her mind. Eventually, an idea starts to form, and as the last embers of incense die out, the mage can identify the cause of the suffering. To treat the illness, the mage must request a favor from a higher power, in return for a small service. This "higher power" can be anything or anyone - from a spirit to a policeman to the mage's boss. If the favor is granted, the answer comes to the mage in the form of a dream or vision. However, if the mage then fails to perform the promised service, she's stricken with the same symptoms she removed from the victim.

System: Either one of these rotes is useless if performed alone. Without knowing the source of the problem, it is impossible to cure it. Likewise, understanding the problem doesn't help if the mage does nothing about it. The caster's understanding of it is limited by his paradigm; what might be an imbalance in the cycle of life and death to a Euthanatos is perceived as a discordant voice in the universal Song by a Chorister. The difficulty depends on what the actual problem is; pneumonia or other "natural" causes are more easily detected than vampiric possession, for example. The normal difficulty of the treatment is 8, lower if the mage agrees to perform some exceptional service for her higher power. The cure should fit both the disease and the mage's paradigm, and therefor offer a clue to the root of the problem.

Weeping for Tammuz
Entropy 3

Tammuz was a mortal shepherd, beloved by the goddess Istar. When he died, Istar went to the domain of her sister Ereshkigal, goddess of the Underworld, and demanded that he be returned to the living. Ereshkigal agreed, but according to divine law, a soul could not leave unless there was another to take its place. Istar was trapped, and the earth began to wither and die. The gods declared that Tammuz must be taken back to the Underworld so that Istar could leave and the land would prosper. Upon her return, Istar worked out a bargain with the gods: Tammuz would be returned to her, though only for half the year. In addition, his sister Gestihanna would be taken to the land of the dead in his place.

Every year at the beginning of the planting season, Sumerian cities held re-enactments of the return of Tammuz to the Underworld. Each city took its most beloved young man and buried him alive. The entire population dressed in black for eight days, and the priests and priestesses of Istar dressed in black for a month, mourning the symbolic death of the god.

This rote works best for Choristers, Hermetics, Verbena and other mages whose paradigm stresses selflessness. By giving up something that is important to her, the mage may ensure good fortune in a certain endeavor.

System: The mage doesn't have to bury someone alive but can bury an object of great personal significance instead. If the rote is cast successfully, the mage may add a number of automatic successes to a specified task in the future. The Storyteller chooses the number of successes (generally one to five,) depending on how important the item was to the character. This sacrifice is permanent.

Enuma Anu Enlil

[Please Note: The Rotes in this section make use of particular divination techniques detailed in Dead Magic, page 53.]

Adad
Correspondence 2, Entropy 2, Spirit 1

The omina contained in the Adad relate to meteorological phenomena. The amount of rain, the direction of the winds, the pattern of lightning or the sounds of thunder all carry significance. The omens discerned from this Effect usually involve the fates of a people or their homeland. When scouting locations for new Chantries, modern Hermetics sometimes use this ritual to track the fates of cities. A vague reading might reveal a general trend in the near future ("prosperity") while an especially thorough reading might foreshadow a specific event ("a breach in the walls.")

System: The divination of Adad ties in to the spiritual aspect of a location, as well as its future fate. Successful divination tends to reveal emotive and economic trends. A mage is unlikely to discover details about a specific building, but might learn that the city is going into decline or that a celebration will bring an influx of money.

Istar
Correspondence 3, Entropy 4, Spirit 3

The motions of the stars and the planets hold secrets for those familiar with the omina of Istar, in particular the fates of nations and their leaders. The futures of kings, advisors, princes or presidents, governors and mayors are all hidden in the sky. The omina in this Enuma sequence tend to be highly metaphorical, but predict broad changes.

System: Assuming that the mage can interpret the metaphors of Istar (in which an Intelligence + Academics roll may be useful,) he can divine the general fates of an entire nation and its ruler. This divination is very general and is not specifically tied to events: The mage probably won't learn that the ruler has cholera or that the nation will suffer an earthquake shattering its most prominent city, but could get a general sense that malaise hovers about the ruler or that a terrible disaster will soon come to the land.

Samas
Correspondence 2, Forces 2

Samas, the sun, doesn't actually move. But because the Earth revolves around it, the sun seems to travel across the sky. The ancients understood that the sun's path changed a little every day, a fact less known in our ignorant modern times. The variations are small, and the corresponding omens are vague but frequently come to pass. The omens discerned from Samas don't fall into any neat category; a mage might learn the fate of crops, the economy, the weather, diplomacy or anything else.

System: The omina of Samas are the easiest to read; only the path of the sun and the stars and planets visible at sunrise or sunset are relevant. When using Samas, the mage lowers the usual divination difficulty: successes gained from Samas can subsequently be used to improve the accuracy of other divinations, by lowering the difficulty as much as 3. Extra days spent in observation don't lower the difficulty of this effect.

Sin
Entropy 2, Prime 1, Spirit 2 or Entropy 4, Prime 4, Spirit 4

All the complexity of the heavens pales next to that of the moon. Its phases, color, brightness and path through the sky are all significant. Eclipses are particularly meaningful. The omens told by the moon are as broad as those by Samas but tend to be straightforward. The more powerful version of this Effect allows the mage to see truly great changes or calamities.

System: The divination difficulty for a reading of an eclipse is high - increase the magical difficulty by 2 or 3, just because the Effect is presumed to be taxing - but even a few successes could reveal something momentous. Entire chronicles might turn on one such reading. Additional nights of observation do not lower this difficulty.

Anunnaku
Entropy 3, Prime 3, Spirit 3

The abundance of Paradox, Quintessence or Tass along with the actual Patterns of the heavens reveal the fates of the Awakened in the broadest sense of the term: mages, vampires, demons or anything else that haunts the World of Darkness. The Bau of Babylon read the pattern of the stars nightly to learn the fates of the city's demon summoners. Although this sequence of the Enuma Anu Enlil is disseminating slowly, and mostly among the Hermetics, this Effect has proven critical in several recent Tradition victories over the Nephandi. The will of the Void reveals itself in the stars; a successful reading exposes the quality, if not the specifics, of Nephandic activity to come. Because the stars are different from every viewpoint (a phenomenon known as "parallax,") an accomplished astrologer can determine the future of local events involving the Nephandi.

System: This divination is specifically useful in foreseeing the fates of supernatural beings. With a few successes, a mage might gather a sense of vague foreboding. Multiple successes could indicate an illuminating insight into the warped plans of some potent malefic entity: an ancient vampire, Earth-bound demon, or a Nephandus and its colleagues. As with all such divinations, the results are not wholly detailed or accurate, but can provide a picture of things to come: Whether an enemy plans to attack, retreat or hide; whether a specific type of supernatural influence is involved; whether the mage's current actions will lead toward victory or defeat. This divination can also be used to observe the ebb and flow of Paradox, Quintessence, Entropy and so on, and reveal the significance of such fluctuations.

Namburbu
Correspondence 2, Entropy 4, Life 2, Prime 2, Spirit 3

What the sky has foretold must come to pass, but the ritual of Namburu can make the results of predicted events less severe. This Effect is not a divination at all, but rather a defense against grim portents.

The ritual involved five steps. First, those involved must seclude themselves from the rest of the world, either literally in a hut or symbolically within a circle. The participants shave and wash themselves while tamarisk incense purifies the area. After the mage in charge of the ritual sacrifices a goat, he rings a copper bell to draw divine attention. Finally, the participants offer food and incense to the gods as they beseech the heavens to prevent the omen from coming true.

System: The mage casting the ritual rolls the Effect normally, but can be assisted by other mages. For every five successes, the realization of an omen diminishes in some way. A riot might instead be a few scattered violent crimes. The murder of a king might be an extended illness instead. Most omina are so vague that the actual effects of this ritual are hard to determine. This ritual may only be used once for any given omina. Storytellers must take care that this ritual doesn't become a substitute for other preventative action.

Babylon and Hermes

Zisurru
Correspondence 2, Spirit 2

The prototypical ward against demons. By spreading flour in a circle and lining the circumference with the statues of protective deities, the mage creates a boundary that cannot be crossed by Umbral spirits. Anyone within the circle who is inflicted by an Infernal ailment gains a temporary reprieve until the circle's effects dissipate.

System: When creating the circle, the player rolls for the Effect as normal; the Correspondence component allows it to cover a large space all at once. Any Umbral spirit who wishes to enter the area must roll its Willpower against a difficulty of 5 + the number of successes the mage scored on the zisurru's creation roll. The circle temporarily ameliorates the effect of a demonic curse or illness; the symptoms are suppressed unless the rating of the power that caused the ailment exceeds the mage's successes on the circle creation roll. The Effect fades at sunrise, and the area must be rededicated if it is to offer any protection.

Surpu
Life 3, Spirit 2

Babylonian sorcerers had purification rituals for every type of ailment. But if the cause of some sickness or curse could not be determined, healers used a catch-all ritual called Surpu, or "the burning." Developed to remove the curses of demons that healers initially knew little about, this ritual treats the symptoms when the disease cannot be named.

The ritual begins with an exhaustive listing of all possible sins, enumerating any potential cause for the subject's affliction. Then some item is slowly dismantled and cast piece by piece into a fire. Usually, this means peeling an inion or stripping dates from a branch. The flames symbolically purify the patient.

System: While this ritual does not actually cure diseases or remove curses, the symptoms subside for a number of days equal to the mage's duration on the Effect roll. The severity of the symptoms determines the amount of Effect successes that must be generated to suppress the symptoms. After the ritual expires, the symptoms return with full intensity. The ritual takes most of one evening to cast successfully.

The Life magic used in Surpu alleviates symptoms. The Spirit component counters curses and demons that may afflict the victim - or, at least, allows the mage to soothe pain caused by malevolent forces.

Adaptations of Babylon's Magic

Ansu Ishten
Entropy 3, Matter 3, optional Life 3

This traditional warding incantation draws its name from the first phrase uttered by the caster: "Ansu Ishten," meaning God is All. The rote designates a specific object or person who will be kept safe from various sorts of harm. It is useless against magical attacks, but provides a nominal measure of protection from various accidents, attacks, diseases or other unfortunate events.

The caster invokes a protective deity with a brief preliminary chant, then recites the types of harm that will not affect the object of the rote, in a rather Seussian fashion ("It won't be crushed beneath a train, it won't be left out in the rain, it won't be dropped in boiling fat, it won't be eaten by a cat.") While the sing-song rhyming technique is useless for most paradigms, a pattern must be established for the incantation to work. A Virtual Adept might use a repeating string of code, while a Hermetic might place the object within a runic circle and walk around it, adding a measure of protection each time he reaches a certain point on the circle.

System: The player wishing to use this rote must detail every form of misfortune from which the object of the spell will be protected. Storytellers, by all means, exercise creativity! In the above example, the object might be dropped in boiling acid rather than fat - a fate that is within the confines of the ward, yet still unpleasant. Each success on the roll adds 1 to the difficulty of an attack in that medium. Since the ward does not provide absolute protection, the Effect is coincidental. As always, the Effect only lasts as long as the duration garnered by the mage's successes; this rite is not a way to gain permanent immunities. The Entropy component defends against mischance while the Matter magic specifies the exact types of harm that leave the object unscathed. Life magic can optionally fortify a living subject against such injury.

Audience of Inanna
Correspondence 2, Matter 2, Time 1

Say goodbye to obsolescence. Originally an Effect to prevent impotence by placing a figure of Inanna on the head of the bed, the Virtual Adepts have adapted this ancient ritual into an Effect that allows older computer hardware to exceed the limitations imposed by cutting-edge software. With this Effect, a 286 can run Windows 98 at peak performance or a Pentium III can execute algorithms meant for Crays. Software can function regardless of operating system. Usually vulgar, although one Virtual Adept supposedly funds his research entirely with this Effect.

System: The Audience of Inanna rote enhances all manner of computability - the Effect simply requires that Inanna be invoked into the system (often with special desktop wallpaper, a figurine on the tower case and some convoluted lists of charms and incantations stored in high memory.) Success speeds the processor, boosts its connectivity and improves its performance standards; generally, each Effect success increases the computer's performance by a factor for the duration - one success helps a 286 to limp along, but with 10 successes on an extended Effect, that same 286 could become the equivalent of a Pentium for a day or more.

Berate the Demon
Matter 3, Spirit 3

In Babylon, everything was thought to be the potential home of a demon, including materials used in ritual magic. Some Babylonian mages prepared their foci by yelling at the demons inside. The mage declared himself a representative of the gods and informed his tools that they had better obey him. Vague threats seemed to work best.

While this Effect is not yet in wide circulation, many Traditions are developing permutations to suit their paradigms. Sons of Ether seem particularly fond of berating their equipment, but so far it has only been effective on tools the berater created himself.

System: If the Effect is successful, the difficulty of the next extended ritual involving the berated foci is lowered by 1. Consider this a specific form of Magic Affecting Abilities (Mage Revised, pg. 155.) The Effect improves the spirit/material tie of the focus in question. Some speculate that egotistical willworkers have the most success with this rote.

The mage need not reach into the actual Gauntlet to perform this Effect, so it does not suffer from problems like the Avatar Storm.

Kispu
Correspondence 3, Entropy 3

Originally a ritual to secure a soul easy passage to the land of the dead, modern Euthanatoi have adapted Kispu for a more specific purpose. By sacrificing a large animal and reciting the names of the gods of the dead, the ritual protects a recently deceased person from becoming a wraith, and her existence proceeds to whatever awaits afterward. The Hollow Ones call this an "Enfant Abortion."

System: The corpse need not be present, but the subject of the ritual must have died less than 24 hours before the ritual is begun. The mage must acquire more successes in an extended ritual than twice the subject's Willpower. The subject goes peacefully into the great beyond, with no lingering traces or attachments. If the subject already became a wraith, he can still be dispersed into nothingness with this rite, but the ritual fails if the wraith has gained awareness of its new state already (that is, if the wraith's Caul has been removed.)

Cuicuilco's Demise
Forces 5, Matter 4

Cuicuilco was a great city in the Mexican central highlands, until its destruction in A.D. 150 by an erupting volcano. Teotihuacan went on to become the most powerful remaining city of the region. Some mages speculate that Cuicuilco's demise was planned in a fiery disaster to end its potential threat, while others attribute its end to the act of angry gods or unfortunate tectonics. Whatever the case, some sort of ritual has been handed down that points to magical influence.

The mage must sacrifice a human victim, as might be expected for magic of the Mesoamerican sort, in order to awaken the power of the volcano (fire gods and what-have-you, after all.) In some versions, the victim might actually be thrown into the volcano; in others, the subject is merely slaughtered near the volcano's base. Either way, the ritual is dangerous, since it is unlikely that the mage will get out in time.

System: Effect successes generate tremendous tectonic forces and pressurization of material in the heart of a chosen volcano. With enough successes on such a ritual, the mage could theoretically cause a volcano to erupt, perhaps destroying an area just as Cuicuilco was destroyed. Such an Effect is a phenomenal feat, easily requiring twenty or more successes for even a marginal result; a mage who scores fewer successes might succeed in getting some unpleasant burbling and maybe a single stream of lava from a volcano, but no spectacular eruption. Don't botch.

Heart for Huitzilopochtli
Life 5, Prime 5, Spirit 5

The Aztec practice of human sacrifice is well known. Scholars of the occult theorize that they used such rites to feed bloody, demanding gods, perhaps even vampire priests. What is conclusively known to mages today is that the power of human suffering can be channeled through rites of human sacrifice - but the price in terrible Resonance is high indeed.

The Aztecs considered themselves the chosen people of Huitzilopochtli, and to him and their other hungry gods they sacrificed a regular train of human hearts. The Aztec creation myths even state that the monster from which the world was formed demanded human hearts in exchange for the growth of crops.

A hideous and terrible rite, this power requires the mage to cut open the chest of a victim and tear out his heart. The blood of the victim is drained into a fire, spattered across the altar or sometimes even swallowed by the demented magician. As the mage pulls the heart from the struggling, screaming victim, he tears out the subject's life force and devours it for magical power. Aztec magicians probably offered up that power to their gods, but greedy and psychotic mages of the modern era might well try to capture such power for themselves.

System: The mage must literally kill her victim and tear out his heart. Nothing less suffices for this rite. The subject must die, typically on the wrong end of a ceremonial knife. Once the subject expires, the Effect captures the victim's life essence and spirit, then shatters them into power for the mage. The mage starts casting this Effect as she plunges the knife into the victim's flesh and finishes it as she tears out the heart; each success scored on the Effect channels three points of Quintessence directly into the mage or into any entity or receptacle prepared and waiting (the Quintessence can be split up, if desired.) If the Effect generates five or more successes, the victim's very Avatar is sundered - Gilgul - in the process. Quintessence generated by this Effect typically has the Entropic Resonance of Death, though in some very special cases of sacrifices to fertility or agricultural gods it might have the Entropic Resonance of Renewal.

Every time a mage uses this Effect, he gains a point of Entropic Resonance. Aztec priests were terrifying figures with distorted, sunken countenances and a maniacal obsession with gathering victims for their gods. Any mage who delves into this rite risks following their path. Furthermore, using magic of this sort is certain to bring down the ire of any other mage who discovers it: The Aztec empire had many enemies among its neighbors, because the constant demand for bodies sent the Aztecs to war with so many surrounding cultures.

A botch on this rite is hideous indeed: Some ancient power decides that the mage's sacrifice is insufficient or incorrectly performed. The exact effect is, as always, left up to the Storyteller, but a horrendous and lingering death is not a bad start.

Blood for the Gods
Life 2, Prime 1, Spirit 3

The Aztec priests had dozens of sacrifices addressed to specific gods. In the sacrifice to Huehueteotl, for example, captives were drugged, thrown into a pit of fire and dragged out of the blaze with hooks. Then their hearts - still beating - were pulled out and thrown back into the fire. The Aztec gods rewarded such sacrifices with power. A few modern paradigms, usually bleak and demonic, address this ritual to different gods.

System: Successes on the Effect roll determine the duration of the gifts granted by the gods. The specific gift depends on the deity to whom the ritual is addressed. Spirit magic attracts divine notice, while Life incorporates the god's boon into the mage's Pattern. A modicum of Prime is required so that the Pattern can assimilate the powerful influx; one mage who performed this rote without the requisite Prime acquired a disturbing Resonance noticeable even to Sleepers a few days before he spontaneously exploded in a bloody spray.

This Effect increases one Attribute or Talent by 2, or grants some minor special characteristic, and earns the mage a frightening Entropic Resonance. The Storyteller determines both, based on the nature of the deity who received the sacrifice. A botch means the god was not pleased.

Note that this rite is not quite the same as the rote Heart for Huitzilopochtli and is marginally easier to cast; the intervention of the gods doubtless smooths matters. However, it does not grant the mage the same level of raw power. Rather, it gifts the mage with some benefit from the gods - perhaps making him phenomenally quick for the duration if the sacrifice goes to Tezcatlipoca, who often appears as a jaguar, or giving him a fearsome visage and the ability to breath water, if sacrificed to Tlaloc the rain god.

Our Enemies are Delicious
Life 3, Spirit 3

The Aztecs had something like the neighborhood backyard barbeque, but the meat was particularly rare. The Aztecs conquered new people constantly not only for sacrifices, but because they were an empire of cannibals and their delicacy was captured warriors. After the priests sacrificed hundreds of prisoners, the corpses were returned to the warriors who had captured them. The corpse was then served at a banquet thrown by the warrior and attended by his friends, neighbors and relatives.

Aztec cookouts demanded the proper decorum. Exotic foods garnished the dead, and the warrior's friends were expected to compliment the host on the quality of the meal.

If an Awakened priest performed the sacrifice, however, the flesh imbued the cannibal with strength. Entire armies cannibalized their prisoners to give their warriors that bit of the departed soul that lingered. The priests only used this rote before critical battles, to prevent addiction among the ranks.

System: If a person eats a corpse prepared by this rote, raise all of his Physical Attributes by 1 but lower his Social Attributes by 1 as well. The corpse must be eaten the day it's prepared. (In some paradigms, the cook - not the priest - performs this rote on the corpse.) Each day after, the cannibal loses a dot on one of his Physical Attributes and regains one on his Socials, until they all return to their original ratings.

The rote has two dangers. First, ritual sacrifice and cannibalism risk a strong Entropic Resonance. Second, a cannibal can become addicted to the powerful delicacy. Each time a character eats meat prepared with this rote, roll the character's Willpower (difficulty 5, but quickly rises if he cannibalizes such corpses regularly.) If the roll fails, the character's got a corpse habit; lower his Physical Attributes by 1 of he doesn't indulge at least once a week. A month of cannibalism-free living and plenty of spent Willpower cures the addiction, if not the Resonance. Of course, the Effect is usually built to last at least a day. A shorter version can be cast if the mage simply can't score enough successes, but the amelioration of social decay doesn't speed up.

The Ball Game
Life 2

Sometimes a sacrifice just has to go off without a hitch; that's when you start pulling hearts out of athletes. The Aztecs and Mayas made their slaves play a soccer-like game with a huge rubber ball; both teams were ultimately sacrificed, but the winners were pampered first. Perhaps the game amused the gods, or just worked up the competitive juices, but the players made worthy sacrifices.

In modern nights, several groups have adapted this ritual to their paradigm. The Caballeros Aguila, a Tijuana street gang, holds victims at gunpoint and forces them to play football in an alley before they sacrifice them to Tezcatlipoca, the Aztec god of war and death.

System: If the successes rolled on this extended ritual exceed the difficulty of the subsequent sacrifice, lower the difficulty of that sacrifice by 1 if it involves a participant in the game. The sacrifice is rolled separately. A botch raises the difficulty of the sacrifice, or means that the gods didn't enjoy the game....

Visionary Bloodletting
Mind 1, Spirit 2

Sometimes when you lose lots of blood, you start to see things. The Aztecs and Mayas did, anyway. They used lancelets to pierce spiritually significant body parts like ears, genitalia and tongues. Sometimes they ran knotted string through the punctures to really get the blood flowing. The dizzy hallucinations that such bloodletting inspired were thought to be important messages from the gods.

System: The nature of the vision varies with the number of successes rolled on the Effect. With one success, the mage might see a momentary and incomprehensible image. With four or more successes, a Mesoamerican god (or one from a different pantheon depending on the mage's paradigm) appears to the mage, offering cryptic advice or revealing its message through a particularly vivid hallucination. Typically, the sacrifice of blood causes the spirit to be favorably disposed toward the mage, so it usually gives useful advice.

While the mage's vision may present useful information, sincere worshippers use the rote simply to commune with the divine. Spirit magic contacts the gods (or accessible Umbrood, if the mage's paradigm excludes deities,) while Mind draws upon the deepest symbols and associations within the caster's brain to translate the spirit's message into a meaningful hallucination. The mage regains one or two Willpower points at the end of a successful casting, more if the effect was particularly successful or the hallucination particularly enlightening. (Storyteller's can, of course, give significant information through such visions, though a Storyteller should not be compelled to try to predict the exact future of a chronicle.)

While experiencing the hallucination, the mage is unaware of his surroundings and may be vulnerable. Although the mage may be awakened from his vision, the effect is ruined if something snaps the mage from his reverie. Typically, the blood loss and piercing inflicts two levels of lethal damage; since the mage is deliberately injuring himself, this damage cannot be soaked, even magically.

Barring certain uses of Life magic, a mage can only use this rote every other week or so. Copious amounts of blood lost on a regular basis make a man lightheaded, to say the least.

In some paradigms, Visionary Bloodletting leads to a seeking.

Cup of Itz
Life 2, Prime 1

One Mayan fresco shows a priest sacrificing his own blood that he might hold the power of the gods. A large decorated bowl with a paper in it is used to catch the blood, and the paper is then burned; smoke from the paper travels through a hole above the altar into the sky with the gods. In return, the gods grant the supplicant a bit of their divine energy, which similarly comes down from the sky and into the priest. The rite is clearly similar to other forms of sacrifice used by some Tradition mages (see Heart's Blood, Mage Revised, pg. 182,) but this version is a bit more fearsome - the typical Mayan form of the ritual required the mage to pierce his genitalia with a long needle and squeeze out the blood for the enchantment.

System: Successes generated on this effect allow the mage to bleed out his own life and turn it into Prime energy, as with the Heart's Blood rote. However, the addition of the Life magic gives the mage an opportunity to minimize the worst effects of the damage; although it can't prevent the injury, at least the mage needn't suffer overmuch from the pain of the rite. Mayan priests probably indulged in some hallucinogens or narcotics along with the ritual - or, at least, that's what Technocratic historians posit.

Waiting to Exhale
Entropy 3, Spirit 2, optional Correspondence 1+

This rote is like the Cup of Itz, but a group of women - usually relatives or close friends - contributes blood to the ritual. The smoke from the bloody paper wafts up to the gods, who in return protect the women's homes, neighborhoods or even cities from unfortunate accidents. With modern adaptations of this ritual, this rote reduces the likelihood of anything from fires and heart attacks to skateboarding injuries and burned TV dinners.

System: Spirit magic ensures that the offering reaches the gods, while Entropy allows changes of fortune. Each success on the effect extends the duration of this rote or raises the difficulty of any harmful coincidental Entropic effect in the area by 1. If Correspondence is used, successes can also contribute to the range of the effect beyond the place where the ritual was performed. The ritual takes one night to cast. Use the Acting in Concert rules (Mage Revised, pg. 154) if more than one mage contributes blood to the ritual.

Obsidian Steel
Matter 4

A razor-sharp and knappable rock, obsidian was the staple material for Mesoamerican tools and weapons. Though crafting the obsidian pieces into shape required careful work, a well-sculpted piece could serve as a short knife, a scraping tool or a tooth on a piercing weapon. Even modern science recognizes obsidian's incredibly fine edges, useable even for surgery.

As a weapon, then, obsidian was deadly. The only drawback was its fragility; pieces larger than an arrowhead shattered when striking with any force and broke against stone or metal. A powerful priest, however, could make obsidian durable. By bathing the finished weapon in blood, hardening it in fire and sharpening it against stone, the mage can give the obsidian strength to pierce nearly any armor.

Obsidian Steel seems like a simple Matter transmutation, giving obsidian the durability of hard stone or metal. Pieces treated in this fashion do not crack or shatter, and their edges can penetrate even hide, wood or, in some cases, metal. The rote's effects are often coincidental: If a lucky piece of obsidian doesn't shatter when it hits something, who can tell?

System: Successes scored for Obsidian Steel cause the treated pieces - generally, nothing over the size of an arrowhead unless the magic is vulgar - to become more resilient. Pieces could be placed in a club so that it can pierce and slash armored opponents with ease. It can also be used to make piecemeal armor. Of course, the mage must score enough successes to make the effect last long enough to be useful. A permanent pattern change (with Prime added) could make an Artifact; it's rumored that there are still a few rare clubs out there so enchanted.

Jaguar Cloak
Life 5, Matter 3, Prime 3, Spirit 2

Fierce warriors showed off their battle skills with grisly trophies. Some dressed in the skins of jaguars or other dangerous animals. Just as the Norse berserkers wore bear skins and gained the bear's ferocity, Mesoamerican warriors drew upon the jaguar's speed and hunting prowess. A few could even transform themselves into jaguars and run through the jungles at great speed or slay their opponents with claws.

Of course, few warriors had the magical skills to actually transform themselves, but their priests knew rituals to enchant jaguar skin cloaks and armor so that the warrior could transform when he wore them. Warriors met with the priests periodically to renew their cloaks, undertake secret tasks and maintain the power of their jaguar skins. Kills in battle also maintained the magic of the cloaks.

System: A jaguar cloak or skin enchanted with this rote is attuned to a specific wearer. Through Life magic, the skin recognizes only its owner and grants him the power to assume the form of the jaguar. A strong-willed and fierce warrior can even control the transformation, briefly gaining claws or a nasty bite without fully turning into a beast. When the wearer transforms, the Matter magic causes the cloak to become part of the wearer - in effect, it becomes his skin, and turns back into a cloak when the wearer reverts to his normal form.

A mage enchanting a jaguar cloak must score enough successes for the item to have a worthwhile duration and empower the cloak to affect its owner. The wearer risks the normal problems of transformation: His mind may become feral if he remains too long in the shape of a jaguar. Thus, the secret warrior societies that used such cloaks often accepted only the most strong-willed and brutal warriors - those with the presence of mind to retain their intellect and with enough animal cunning that they already seem like a jaguar (thus having a good Resonance to work with the spell.)

The jaguar cloak renews its power through its warrior's deeds in combat. As the wearer slays his enemies, the enchantment channels the anguish of departing spirits into magical energy (with Prime and Spirit magic.) The spirit energy floods into the warrior in a wash of ecstasy that feeds the cloak. Each person killed by the wearer in heated battle adds another day to the cloak's enchantment. Eventually, the warrior becomes blood hungry and seeks out battle both to further the cloak's power and to sate his own increasingly animalistic appetites - some warriors even gorge themselves on the organs of their foes, as if the mere rush of souls is not enough to satiate them.

Few dare to use these cloaks in this day and age, but rumor has it that, in the Amazon, there are men who run as jaguars.

Quahuitl
Correspondence 2

When the Spaniards first encountered the Aztecs, the precision of Tenochtitlan far outstripped that of any Spanish city. Spanish land measurement varied from province to province, while the Aztecs had developed a rigorous understanding of land measurement.

System: Anyone could use a quahuitl - a cord cut to a specific length - for measuring distance. However, a mage can empower a quahuitl with specific properties - sort of like the Aztec version of zoning. An area cordoned off with lengths of quahuitl, probably over several turns as the mage sets and resets the length of cord, can be warded against improper intrusion or exit. Functionally similar to the Ward effect in Mage Revised (pg. 159,) this rote demonstrates how a mage might do a common effect under a specific paradigm.

Patterns of the Long Count
Prime 1, Spirit 1

As the sidebar The Exact Date of the End of the World (pg. 65) explains, the Mayas thought that the earth and the spirit realms were governed by cyclical patterns of time. Depending on the god who carried a particular span of time, certain occurrences were more likely. And the Awakened who could perceive patterns saw tendencies in the passage of time and the motions of the spirit realms.

System: The mage reads the Long Count, also perceiving the patterns that exist among the dates of the calendar. For the duration of the effect, lower the difficulty of effects involving one Sphere by 1. This is just one pattern that can be found in the Long Count. Troupes might devise their own, perhaps making Paradox backlashes more severe on a certain night or increasing the rate at which Quintessence can be drawn from Nodes. Just keep the bonuses low and be sure that the prevailing cosmic tendency fits the story.

The patterns discerned by the reading only apply to effects cast by mages who believe in the cycles of the Long Count (ultimately, the caster perceives the tendency, but that doesn't make it real to others.) At the Storyteller's discretion, this rote might also give the character insight into the state of reality given the current Long Count. A botch means that the mage has misconstrued the pattern; let the lying about difficulty numbers begin.

Schedule of Heaven
Spirit 3, Time 1

The divine patterns of the Mayan Long Count governed not just the earth, but the many Mayan spirit worlds as well. During certain periods of time, minutes to millennia, the planes of existence came closer together. Modern Dreamspeakers who still observe the Mayan ways read the Long Count to determine the best times to step sideways into the Umbra.

System: A student just learning the intricacies of the Long Count might know enough to locate one or two times a certain Near Umbral Realm that is most accessible; a Master, however, can discern more propitious times even for Realms in the Deep Umbra. Successes on this rote lower the difficulty of crossing the Gauntlet. Successes can also increase the usefulness of the reading, revealing the best times and Realms to the mage. The Storyteller can also decide how accessible certain Realms are depending on the needs of the story or the date of her chronicle's Long Count.

A botch could mean missed opportunities or useless frustration. On the first night in two hundred years that it's been easy to travel to the Deep Umbra, for example, the mage believes it impossible.

Note that the Schedule of Heaven doesn't necessarily sidestep other travel problems like artificial Gauntlet strengthening or the Avatar Storm; it does, however, help the mage in sensing useful Junctures, times when the Umbra gains strength within a certain area. This can also be useful in determining when a close correspondence between spirit and material worlds might result in a surplus of Quintessence that can be harvested by someone with the appropriate knowledge of Prime.

Epiphany of the Muse
Mind 2, with Entropy 1, Prime 1 or Spirit 3

The nine Muses, daughters of Zeus, are said to inspire new ideas in the minds of men. This rote is a formalized prayer to call upon their inspiration for some insight or new thought. The mage sacrifices to the Muses something of value - distinctive cuisine, expensive jewelry, a magical artifact. The Muses, in turn, gift the mage with their insight.

System: The Storyteller can use this rote as an excuse to give the players some information that they're not getting from their current situation's clues. This should not replace roleplaying, obviously, and even if successfully cast does not have to be answered in the way that the players necessarily desire. A Muse of poetry could hear the prayer and inspire the character to some great work of rhyme to bemoan his current situation of being locked in a room, but give him no insight into how to escape his confines. Muses are fickle things and most often give artistic inspiration; cryptic clues are not guaranteed but they are possible. The Mind effect opens the mage's perceptions while the secondary Sphere looks for patterns or literally calls to the Muses: Prime or Entropy seeks out ebbs in the currents of magic and probability around the mage while Spirit actually summons a Muse.

Legion's Life
Life 2, Prime 3

Somehow, the Cult of Mercury managed to pull off an Effect that the modern Traditions consider impossible. The underlying trick hasn't been figured out, but the rote apparently works. When the Romans put together a legion of soldiers, they formed a tightly knit group of warriors who fought, loved and died together. That closeness made their Patterns so tied to one another that the legion magicians - who likewise worked in groups - could draw from the whole of the legion for their Effects. Somehow, the Mercuric magicians discovered a way to bleed off just a little energy from everyone in the legion and convert it into Quintessence - something that should be impossible, since Quintessence freed from a Pattern normally goes straight back into the universal pool. Sure, experienced mages could "skim off the top," but these Roman mages drew upon great stores of energy and used them to fuel their battlefield magics.

System: This rote only works on a set of "bonded" Life Patterns; they must be human, and there must he at least twenty. For the purposes of this rote, "bonded" Patterns are those that have gone through significant shared adversity and triumph. The Roman legions probably got their strong mystic ties from their discipline, martial experience and homosexual bonds. For every twenty Patterns involved, the mage can eke out a single point of Quintessence without causing any actual injury. Successes scored on the Effect determine the maximum amount of Quintessence a mage can harness. For a really large army, several mages must work together. Such a draw can only be done once per day, as Life Patterns must have time to stabilize their Quintessential flow.

Maze of the Minotaur
Mind 3, optional Correspondence 4

Through Sacred Geometry, early craftsmen formed mazes that confounded an individual's sense of direction. Daedalus in particular built for King Minos a tremendous and nigh-inescapable maze, in which dwelt the Minotaur. Through the confusing magics of the maze, Daedalus insured that anyone wandering within became utterly lost until discovered and devoured by the Minotaur.

System: A craftsman can lay an enchantment into a maze or complex during its construction; indeed, the Order of Reason used such techniques in some of its early fortresses and the New World Order almost certainly uses a variant for its offices. Cast over an area, the enchantment befuddles the sense of direction. Objects are arranged just so to confuse the traveler, and the area proper is prepared during construction so that interlopers become disoriented ("You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike"). Laying the Effect over an area requires the use of Mind to place a mental "fuzz" in the locale. The Storyteller might also require Correspondence if the mage is trying to ward areas that he hasn't personally visited, but since a maze of this sort is typically enchanted by the mage as he builds it, Correspondence isn't a strict requirement. (A mage could theoretically use Correspondence to distort space, but that's a much different proposition from distorting a subject's sense of space.)

Focusing this Effect on an individual causes the victim to doubt his path, and can even make the subject question a map or set of explicit steps. This is not amnesia but a subconscious loss of sense of direction and memory: "Did we take a left or right the first time we came through here?" Such an Effect relies solely on playing with the victim's perceptions and thus only requires Mind 2 (plus the appropriate Correspondence if the mage is using the Effect from a distance). Individuals may find their way out of the maze by accumulating more successes on a Wits + Enigmas roll than magical Effect successes scored by the mage who laid the trap. Since most mazes are constructed over years, this could take some time.

Manipulating an area to become confusing could be anything from moving a potted plant in front of the door to entirely rearranging the furniture and repainting the walls bright orange. Most often, this Effect can be considered coincidental - anyone can lose her way.

Mind of the Ant Hill
Mind 4

Based upon the tactics of the Roman phalanx, this rote allows for subliminal group tactics. Naturally, the New World Order developed similar group tactics, but their roots can he traced ultimately to organized combat as established by Rome and its predecessors.

System: For every success on the Effect roll, the group has a die that any member can call upon in combat. This die, once used (successfully or not) is exhausted from the pool that the group can call upon. War machines can be used as foci to lower the difficulty, and if cast as an extended rite over the course of time preparing for the battle, the group may have a huge pool to draw upon. A group waiting during the casting of this rote may only prepare for the upcoming battle or engage in combat - the rote must be used immediately beforehand. Note that Correspondence may be necessary to spread the coordination over an extremely large gathering.

Phlogiston Phlux
Matter 2

The ancients believed that fire was the release of phlogiston from burning substances. As a substance burned, it released its phlogiston, which served as a viscous tie; when the phlogiston had all been released, nothing remained but ash. Thus, fire was a tangible elemental form and not a force of nature, nor was it a release of energy any more than the other elements of air, earth and water.

Phlogiston Phlux allows the practitioner to increase or decrease the amount of phlogiston in an object, thus causing it to burn longer or shorter depending on the mage's desire. It also allows the mage to add phlogiston to an element, thus making fireproof objects burn like paper. The mage can also take away phlogiston, so that brittle wood does not even catch fire from a burning coal. Of course, modern science "proves" that phlogiston is not real and that fire stems from other sources - isn't magic great?

System: Depending on the severity of the Effect, the rote could he coincidental or vulgar. A torch burning for an extended period can be coincidental while causing a house to remain unscathed despite direct application of a flamethrower is certainly vulgar. Successes garnered on this Effect alter a subject's soak dice against fire - the mage can give or remove fire susceptibility. Since this is a Matter Effect, it doesn't work on living things. A mage could try to make a version that adds phlogiston to living things, of course... but thus far nobody has (successfully, anyway).

Stoicism
Matter 1, Mind 1

The Greek philosopher Zeno believed that human beings should remain calm and free from passions so that they could accept the unavoidable events of fate and nature rather than struggle needlessly against them. Greek mages such as the Pomegranate Deme looked upon this evolution of thought with interest. Using his refined senses to interpret and emulate the indifference of an observed stone, the mage escapes all sense of pain, grief, joy or pleasure. In effect, the mage invites the stone into his mind, and becomes like a rock: implacable, unfeeling.

System: With a single success, the mage has locked his mind away from the world and can observe it dispassionately. If he chooses to remain stationary and achieves more than one success, his mind becomes as a stone. Torture becomes useless and thoughts fade away to nothing. Alternately, with at least three successes, the mage can act in a deliberate fashion. His thoughts are cold and without empathy, but allow an eerily calm continuance of motion. Some Pomegranate Deme use this detachment to perform necessary killing unpolluted by personal feelings. Reading emotions from the mage becomes impossible, as he has none. Of course, this freedom from lesser drives is not without cost; the mage cannot expend Willpower points for the duration of the Stoicism Effect. All difficulties to Dodge and social rolls are penalized by three while the rote is in use.

Protection of the Golden Race
Prime 2, Spirit 5

By several accounts, the people of the golden age are still out there protecting humanity from monsters and unnatural things in the night. The caster calls upon the closest member of the golden race to protect them from an opponent. A blinding flash of golden light appears, wounding if not killing the attacker.

System: This rote can only be used upon supernatural entities and is always considered extremely vulgar. What actually happens to the creature is left to the Storyteller; the caster literally unleashes the guardian power of the golden race.

Note that this rite does not actually empower the mage - rather, it summons the golden ones themselves. The reactions of the golden ones are unpredictable; as protectors of humanity, though, they are likely to incinerate most supernatural predators so long as the summoning mage is not also a threat! After all, a mage's powers can be just as dangerous to humanity as any vampire's unnatural hungers.

Summoning the golden ones is a difficult undertaking. The ancients have long since left the Realms in which most mages operate. Calling them through the Gauntlet and across the Umbra is a difficult task. Casting this rote is vulgar (difficulty 10), and the Storyteller is the final arbiter of how many successes are necessary to successfully call the golden ones. A mage should never be certain of his ability to call on these saviors for intervention. Note also that a mage must know about the golden ones to be able to call them; learning this rote requires extensive study into Greek legend and culture (best represented by an extended Intelligence + Academics or Investigation roll and a great deal of roleplaying).

Spontaneous Generation
Life 3 or Matter 3, Prime 2

In olden days, philosophers believed that animals and most matter could spontaneously generate out of nothing. Maggots came from meat and horses sprang from the mist of waterfalls. This rote duplicates such spontaneous generation. The mage can't pull a gun or a sword out of thin air, but he or she can turn one thing into something that it is not, even something radically different. The mage simply reaches into an appropriate source and the object or creature spontaneously generates.

Spontaneous generation happens only from certain sources - one can spontaneously generate maggots from meat, mud or corpses, but not from glass or plastic. Horses may spring from waterfalls or great blazes of fire, but not out of wooden doorways or earthen mounds. The player should research a few theories of spontaneous generation. A modem mage must certainly alter this rote; a Virtual Adept might pull a computer chip out of a pile of circuit boards, while an Akashic could grab a spear from a thicket of reeds.

System: The number of successes determines the accuracy and the quantity of material generated (three successes might mean a newborn foal comes out of the mist of a waterfall while ten or more might generate four grown stallions leaping forth at full charge). A mage must alter this rote to make it suitable for modem materials like plastics and alloys, of course.

Wings of Icarus
Forces 4

This rote mimics the legendary flight of Daedalus' doomed son Icarus. The mage straps on a pair of delicate feathered wings held together by wax - a noticeable prop indeed. This Effect uses the natural potency of the wind to lift the user into the air.

System: At least three successes are necessary for this rote to work. Otherwise, the winds in the surrounding area simply aren't strong enough to provide lift. Assuming that the mage manages to catch (or create) a convenient wind, she can fly clumsily for the Effect's duration. It's probably a good idea for the mage to spend some preparation time strengthening the wings, checking for a good wind and so on (that is, using an extended ritual). Strong winds modify the Effect: A brisk breeze might lower the difficulty by 1, a strong tailwind by 2. Of course, in modern times, this Effect is vulgar. Don't botch. Icarus botched.

Lichedom
Entropy 4, Life 4, Matter 4,Mind 1, Prime 3, Spirit 4

Nature ensures that living patterns eventually degrade and die. Age consumes the body, rot overtakes the flesh and the soul moves on or fades away. And perhaps humanity's greatest curse is the knowledge of its own mortality. Among mages, who have some inkling of the spiritual fates that wait beyond life, such terrors can become obsessions. Those determined to hang around after their mortal days seek cryptic formulae designed to skirt nature, restore youth, halt decrepitude and cheat death itself. Some mages end up inviting death, but on their own terms; they use the rite of lichedom.

While the Order of Hermes commonly used potions and rituals to prolong life (and other Traditions created similar Effects within their own paradigms), only within the Order did the dread of mortality and the drive to master magic become so great that a mage risked life and soul for a spell to ward off the reaper. The formula for lichedom, though buried by time and suppressed as heresy, promised a way out. Still, the offer of perpetual existence remains a tantalizing shadow to those mages whose fear of death, desire to finish some great deed, or drive to Master their Art pushes them beyond rational measures.

Ironically, the formula for lichedom is marginally easier to cast than most comparable immortality spells. Indeed, a mage need not even be a Master to use this magic. The temptations of the dark road, perhaps.

While some mages cheat mortality with age-defying spells, lichedom relies on a means to welcome it. The mage surrounds himself with the trappings of his magic and ego. Through the strength of his dedication, he severs his Avatar from the changing, living world about him. At the end of the rite, he kills himself and invokes the final step, which causes his Pattern to linger perpetually on the cusp of life and death. No longer truly alive, yet not wholly dead, the mage lives the half-existence of a liche. Already straddling the threshold of death, the liche need no longer fear its ultimate demise.

The Order's records of lichedom are far from complete, and many Hermetics consider lichedom an abominable state. Thus, the rite is rarely copied or archived; some mages even destroy any records that they find regarding lichedom. Chroniclers and theorists of the Order might keep fragmentary ruminations on the process, but it is certain that no whole and complete copy exists except, perhaps, among the tomes of a liche who still exists today.

Because Order records are so fragmentary, the rite of lichedom is poorly understood, and the steps are often personalized by the few mages who pursue it. The mage starts by building a special edged or piercing weapon (or weapons) with which he kills himself. This weapon is made first because it accompanies the mage through the remainder of the rite. The traditional Hermetic paradigm prescribes that the item be made of silver, though other materials might also function.

Once the weapon is complete, the mage must reclaim every piece of his Avatar and sever all external ties to it. This means that the mage must capture and destroy every Talisman he has empowered and every sympathetic link that he has tied to his soul. He must even murder his own familiar, if he has one. A mage with a fragmentary Avatar must track down and reclaim the lost pieces; one with a phylactery must somehow manage to keep it on his person for the duration of the rite. Brands and damaged pieces of an Avatar do not hinder this portion of the rite, but if some piece of the whole Avatar has somehow been split from the mage, it must be recovered. Once the mage has severed ties to his magical self, he must purge his Pattern of any external magic. Only his own willpower can keep him alive beyond the shadow of death. The mage must isolate himself, with no magic but his own nearby - no magical items, no spells placed by others, no intruding supernatural forces. Surrounded by his magic, he allows it to suffuse his Pattern. Some mages supplement this step by ingesting potions, often laced with their own flesh and blood, thereby internalizing and concentrating the magical energies that they carry. Other mages focus on meditation, sensory deprivation or other mental techniques to hone their personal energies. For a year and a day the mage must wait in solitude, with no other magical spells or beings disturbing his concentration, as he steeps himself solely in his own magical will. Most mages at this step are so obsessed with their magical development that they spend the time to further refine their techniques.

Cloistered away and empowered by his own spirit, the mage finally takes the last plummet down the precipice of mortality - he must quaff a specialized potion, which requires components harvested from Bygones and materials renowned for their longevity and power (dragon's blood, demonic ichor, mercury, grave dust and other foul, rare and poisonous materials). With the weapons previously created, the mage kills himself and removes the seat of his life - this may mean severing his arteries, piercing his chakra points, or even stabbing his own heart. The fluid of the potion sustains him and halts the death of his body. At this point, if the mage's rite is successful, he becomes an undead corpse and hovers on the boundary between life and death. The rite cements his Avatar and soul to his corpse-like frame, while his Pattern becomes mutated into something between Life and Matter. If he fails...

Clearly, the rite of lichedom is so dangerous that it suits only the rare mage who's desperate enough to try it. Worse still, there is no concrete way for the mage to know whether his formula is successful or correct except to kill himself in the attempt. No two liches have ever used the same formula. It's possible that some steps might be omitted, while it's almost certain that most liches have undertaken unnecessarily terrible steps simply because there is no way to know what the formula requires. For someone willing to undertake this hideous transformation, nearly any abominable sacrifice seems reasonable. Mages who lack the skill to use some of the required magics might well seek out alternate steps to make the rite easier. It's said that crazed wizards hoping to become liches have slaughtered their entire families, undertaken personal mutilations and sucked out the very souls of other mages in order to fuel their transformations.

Once a mage has paid the terrible price and taken the steps that cannot be undone, he becomes one of the undead. His body no longer heals or grows, and indeed may suffer the ravages of time, but it never dies unless slain by magic. If the rite is not performed properly, the mage simply dies; if it is only partially successful, the mage may survive a short time, but decompose and die within a few days or weeks. A successful liche can, barring excessive Paradox or magical injury, expect to "live" forever.

System: Despite its terrible costs, lichedom is fairly straightforward. The mage in question needs to do some heavy research, many rolls of Intelligence + Occult or Investigation, many visits to libraries and mentors, and so on. Such research is best roleplayed. A mage who openly looks into such materials risks the censure of his peers and the possibility of seized records, madness-inducing tomes and righteous hunters who hope to stamp out even the study of such abominations.

The research process is part of the rite. The mage makes his Arete rolls based upon his research and execution of the proper steps. If the mage has done only sketchy research (one or two successes), he may only get to roll one or two dice. Similarly, if he executes the steps shoddily or imperfectly, he may suffer a difficulty penalty, while extreme attention to detail may give a bonus as described under Abilities Affecting Magic (Mage Revised, p. 155).

The final casting of the rite occurs as the mage prepares the potion for the infusion of lichedom. Successes accumulate to generate the duration and degree of success. To finish the rite, the mage must invest one point of Quintessence for each health level that he has and must score enough successes to perform a phenomenal Effect (10 or more successes). The rite is naturally vulgar, so the base difficulty is 9. A permanent duration is, of course, desirable, but if the mage doesn't score enough successes, the spell may not let him exist long as one of the undead. The mage generates successes as he makes the elixir, drinks it and kills himself. Naturally, wound penalties apply to the task of finishing off the potion while the mage stabs or slashes himself to death, so the mage is advised to also use a rite to resist pain.

The final task can be done as an extended ritual, to the usual limits of casting time based on the mage's Arete and Willpower. Note that the mage can only cast the rite himself. This rite cannot be performed for someone else. Since the mage must surround himself with only the trappings of his own magic, the rite also cannot be cast with the aid of any Talismans. The mage must finish the spell using his own knowledge.

With the mage's inward concentration of personal magic and awareness, and the use of Mind and Spirit magic, he manages to shackle his Avatar, soul and consciousness to his body so that they remain even as he dies. The Life, Matter and Entropy Spheres halt his body along the path to death and transform his Pattern into something on the cusp between.

Various omissions or mistakes are possible, and they can have many detrimental effects on the process. Without Mind magic, the mage's consciousness departs as he dies; his body becomes a shell without volition. Without Spirit, his Avatar flees and he becomes a self-willed but powerless walking corpse, with no magical capabilities (and no ability to learn other supernatural powers, since he is not truly a vampire or one of the Risen). Without sufficient Entropy, the body's death processes do not come under control in the transformation to Matter, and the mage becomes hideously decrepit (losing one point from each Physical Attribute, his Bruised health level and all Appearance).

If a mage fails to complete the rite successfully, he simply dies, and the potion has no effect except perhaps to make the corpse twitch, choke and burn spasmodically. If the mage botches the ritual, he manages to kill himself, shred his Avatar (permanently destroying it, perhaps) and generate sufficient Paradox to level his laboratory and bestow an Entropic Resonance on the area. The remnants of the mage's corpse may well become Quintessence-laden chunks of Tass (though a mage would have to eat the pieces to gain the Quintessence) or become inhabited by something else out there.

Once a mage becomes a liche, his body stops being a pure Life Pattern and becomes something else. Sustained by his formidable will and magical prowess, the mage puts off death by keeping it in a sort of holding pattern between Life and Matter. This has several consequences:


 * Once dead, the mage's body becomes cadaverous, gaunt and slightly bluish, like one would expect of a corpse. This raises all Appearance-related difficulties by 2.
 * The liche does not heal naturally. Only magic can heal his wounds. Each health level healed requires the expenditure of a point of Quintessence, so the liche is essentially a thaumivore.
 * A liche cannot die from lethal damage, only aggravated wounds - Pattern damage - can destroy him permanently. Since the liche's body is dead, he takes only half damage (rounded down after soak) from bashing attacks, and gets a full soak roll (difficulty 6) against lethal damage. Lethal or bashing damage may incapacitate a liche and cause his body to become nonfunctional for a time, but eventually the liche overcomes the hindrance. Remember, wound penalties do not affect magical casting difficulties, so the liche can easily use Mind or Spirit magic to send his astral form to gather Quintessence and return to heal the body.
 * The liche's body may continue to decay. Many liches use some Entropy magic to sustain them, but over time they become unconcerned with such trivialities. Without special preservative magic, the liche's body rots at the speed of natural healing: After a day the liche loses his Bruised health level; 3 days later the Hurt level rots away and so on. This rotting is visible and causes the mage to lose Appearance (one dot per health level) as he decays, until the rotting is healed.
 * Liches are sterile, of course. No amount of magic can fix that problem. A liche might simulate sexuality, like a vampire, but ultimately is a half-dead thing with other ways to spend eternity. A liche can eat and drink, and its body metabolizes food, but it no longer requires sustenance.
 * Since a liche is dependent solely upon his own magic to sustain him, the rite burns out connections with any external magical processes. The liche cannot have True Faith, Fae Blood or similar Merits. Any such existing ties are destroyed. A liche can't become a ghoul, vampire or other supernatural creature.
 * Upon completing the rite, a liche gains one dot of both Static and Entropic Resonance. Furthermore, the liche's Resonance is disconcerting not merely to mortals, but also to supernatural creatures. Vampires, changelings, even spirits and the like all recognize the liche as some sort of unnatural abomination. The smart ones flee. Even other mages are affected, and have a tendency to hunt down and destroy liches.
 * As a static creature, the liche can never gain additional Arete - ever. He can continue to improve his Spheres but his enlightenment is frozen along with his body and soul. Ascension has been traded for the chance to exist beyond mortal limits in the quest for magical power. A liche can suffer Gilgul; many do, shortly before they are permanently slain. Still, the liche has eternity in which to study, improve and expand his knowledge of the Spheres, and he's damnably hard to kill, too.
 * Liches cannot have familiars. (You killed yours as part of the rite, remember?) This is true even if the liche never had one in life. The liche's unliving Pattern cannot properly bind familiars.
 * The liche rite cannot be undone with simple countermagic. Most liches also add other protections to prevent unweaving. Should the rite be undone, the liche finishes the process of dying and becomes a corpse. Thus, reversing the rite also requires some way to raise the dead - good luck with that one.
 * A liche can place its Avatar in a phylactery (see the Phylactery Flaw in Mage Revised, p. 300). This is a necessity if the liche does not have sufficient Spirit to hold on to his Avatar and soul during the rite itself; the liche can bind the phylactery with Spirit 3.
 * Liches have a tendency toward insanity. Nobody goes through the rite without gaining at least one Derangement. Over time, most liches become increasingly eccentric, until they find themselves completely unable to relate to the "normal" world.
 * The process of lichedom so greatly changes the individual's Pattern that his True Name is distorted. The subject's old True Name no longer applies. The rite warps its name; someone familiar with the old name and the liche formula might be able to puzzle out the corrupted name (Intelligence + Occult, difficulty 9). There is a True Name for "liche" but each liche also has an individual True Name that is necessary to affect the individual with True Name bindings, banishments and so on.
 * Liches are, of course, Paradoxical, and the rite gives the caster permanent Paradox. The exact amount is up to the Storyteller. Certainly in a low-fantasy game, a liche suffers from a great deal of Paradox.

Atitsiak
Life 4, Spirit 3

Before Christianity replaced many Inuit practices, children were commonly named after the most recently deceased person in the community. The child was thought to inherit characteristics from that namesake, or atitsiak.

System: The atitsiak ritual lets an individual take on the characteristics of one of the deceased. Cast on young children, the ritual may cause the child to grow up with better abilities or talents like those of its namesake. Scoring several successes on this rite might ensure that the child develops the positive characteristics of the decedent.

Also, a mage can briefly adopt the name of a dead person by means of this ritual. This version is a recent Tradition adaptation. The mage's successes allow him to channel into himself the physical characteristics of a deceased person whose name he knows. The Life magic augments natural capabilities while the Spirit magic draws on the spiritual remnants of the deceased for power and a Pattern.

Note that the name borrowed from a deceased person by means of this ritual must come from someone truly dead - a name cannot be borrowed from a ghost or vampire.

Of course, the atitsiak ritual doesn't allow a mage to easily borrow a subject's phenomenal prowess with just a simple success or two. A good rule of thumb is that each dot gained requires one success on the Effect. Additional successes are allocated to duration. An Effect of this sort can't be made permanent, but it can he useful as a tendency - that is, if a child is given the atitsiak of someone very strong, then the child may also grow up to become strong. This is a good justification for a character to improve with experience points.

Confusing Apishtiss
Forces 2 or Mind 2

Innu hunters often favored the flesh of the brant, a migratory goose, which they called apishtiss. Unfortunately, the brant no longer fly over the Innu homes, but people still tell of the magic. Entire villages of Innu once shouted as the geese passed overhead, and thereby confused the birds and caused them to fall from the sky. Hunters gathered them up for later feasting. Often, a good harvest of apishtiss was call for a makusham, or large feast, and many groups met to share the goose's flavorful meat.

Confusing Apishtiss allows a shaman to tremendously magnify his shouts at a target, thus disorienting the enemy. The mage jumps up and down, hollers and slaps his hands together to make as much noise as possible.

System: Successes on this Effect disorient an enemy, causing him to suffer from distractions, raising all his difficulties for the duration of the Effect by up to 3. If the mage scores more successes than the target's Willpower, then the subject is actually stunned and unable to act for a full turn.

Mukashuan
Life 3, optional Spirit 3

According to legend, Caribou Master was once a human, but he lived so long with the caribou that he became like one of them. He ruled over them and allowed people to hunt caribou without fear of reprisals from the spirit world. The caribou were important not only to food and clothing, but to medicine as well. Caribou Master made sure that there were herds for the people to hunt, and that they used the caribou's many parts. Caribou marrow is seen by the Innu as having healing power. Combined with the intervention of Caribou Master or a shaman's helper, the marrow can halt the onset of death or disease and heal grave wounds. A feast of marrow, or mukashuan, soothes both injury and depression.

System: Successes on this Effect heal the subject. Like many other coincidental healing Effects, this speeds the rate of the subject's healing instead of miraculously curing all wounds and symptoms at once. With the aid of Spirit, a helper spirit can be induced to help, or Caribou Master himself may intervene - this vulgar form of the rote heals instantly.

Qayaq's Fish
Life 3, Matter 3

The hero Qayaq is a staple of many Inuit legends. In one legend, Qayaq seeks to cross the sea so that he can be reunited with his family. A friendly spirit creates a magical giant fish out of wood, which Qayaq rides across the waves.

System: The mage carves an animal out of pieces of wood and puts them together. Through the enchantment, the animal comes to life and becomes real, at least for a small time. Successes on the Effect determine how long it lasts and how large an animal the mage can create. Obviously, this Effect is highly vulgar.

Sedna's Blessing
Correspondence 2, Mind 2

Once a vain mortal woman, Sedna was given in marriage to a lone hunter because her family could not afford to feed her. Much to her dismay, her new husband turned out to be Tulugaak in disguise; Sedna shouted for her father to rescue her but in the process fell into the icy sea. The Inuit attribute seals and whales to her creation and say that she lies at the bottom of the ocean.

Inuit shamans dive into the sea to comb Sedna's hair - to wade through the brambles and kelp of the ocean - in order to soothe her vanity and give her company. In return, Sedna sends her creations to the supplicant. Then the shaman and his friends can hunt seals and whales for survival, with her blessing.

Modern mages have naturally found many uses for this simple summoning: A few tweaks can let it call other sorts of animals, and most mages capable of this spell can also soothe the creatures and perhaps rely upon them as allies, not simply as food.

System: With enough successes, the Correspondence of this Effect allows the mage to send his calming impulses over a wide area. Mind magic calls to the animals - seals and whales, in Inuit magic, but possibly others for a modern magician who alters the Effect. Successes are used primarily to expand the affected area, since the caster usually only needs to call one or two animals.

Shaking Tent
Spirit 3

The dangerous communion ritual of the Innu, Shaking Tent is a spectacular display of spirit communication. The shaman enters the cylindrical tent and calls to the spirits through his mishtapeu. Because the spirits live in tshishtashkamuku, it is not always safe for them to come here; indeed, giants and spirits in that land are said to have slain and driven out humans from those places. The animal spirits often come and communicate by knocking, rattling and making other such sounds, which the mishtapeu interprets for the shaman. In return, the shaman sings to the spirits, and the mishtapeu interprets the song for the spirit. People outside the tent can sometimes hear the wailing and rattling, but they never understand it.

Spirits called by Shaking Tent negotiate with the shaman, who may try to garner information from them or persuade them to help in some task. There is always the risk that a spirit will exert its power to punish the shaman or decide to play a little trick on the hapless mortal. For some potent spirits, a little trick may mean dragging the shaman off to tshishtashkamuku, flaying his skin off or telling him secrets that leave him a gibbering fool.

Once in the tent, a shaman opens himself to communion with the spirits by drumming and singing. Instead of letting the spirit possess him, he calls the spirit into the tent itself. Often, the spirit does not waste its power to materialize, but simply makes its presence known by manipulating objects and rattling the tent. The shaman speaks with a lesser helpful spirit to intercede. The longer the shaman drums and sings, the more powerful a spirit he can summon; but this also increases the risk that a dangerous spirit will decide to play with him.

It is dangerous in the extreme to open the tent during the ritual, as the spirit may escape to wreak havoc across the living lands.

System: Successes generated for this ritual are used as for Call Spirit, as described in Mage Revised (p. 187). However, instead of directly calling a greater spirit, the shaman calls a mishtapeu and asks it to intercede on his behalf.

Shishipat's Favor
Life 1

At a makusham, after a successful hunt, an elder brought a container of stored caribou fat and rubbed it into the meat of the shishipat. Hunters ate as much of the fat-covered boiled waterfowl as they could, and the hunter who ate the most had good luck hunting in the following season.

System: A mage calls upon Shishipat's Favor through the old tradition: A feast of boiled goose with caribou fat. The subject of the magic must actually eat the goose. This rote is a form of hunting magic, in which the subject draws favor by properly respecting the value of the goose. Done correctly, this Effect helps in later hunting: The rote allows the mage to gain bonuses to Survival and Athletics rolls, as per Magic Enhancing Abilities (Mage Revised, p. 155), and is almost guaranteed a successful hunt when stalking game. The hunter seems to know where to go to find the animals, and easily tracks and traps them. Modern mages have modified the rote a little the key is to draw on the favor of the hunted subject in some fashion. Animal spirits of various kinds can be appeased through the song and dance accompanying a proper feast, where the animal is given appropriate station. Hunting people is a little tougher, and might require cannibalism....

Sing to the Whales
Mind 2

Through ululating songs, some Inuit fishermen sang to the whales to draw them near. Arctic peoples used the whales for blubber, meat, oil and other sundry necessities. Through various ascetic practices, the fishermen lent power to the shaman's torngak (another type of helper spirit), which in turn gave him the power to draw the whales closer.

System: The caster of this ritual must observe one sort of taboo for at least a week, as must anyone who assists in the casting to the Inuit fisher cults, common taboos were no use of fire, no sewing or no eating berries. Modern mages might make similarly harsh taboos, such as abstaining from the use of electricity. With ululating chants, perhaps something resembling whale songs, the mage draws them closer; similar animal noises might draw forth other creatures as well. The successes generated give the animals an impulse to approach the caster.

Tulugaak's Harpoon
Forces 3, Matter 3, Prime 2

One Inuit legend tells of how the waters of a great flood threatened to cover everything. Though many people tried to stop the flood, none could succeed. Tulugaak, unsure of his skills, nevertheless hurled his harpoon at a Hound of soil, which exploded outward to push away the water.

System: The mage hurls an object - traditionally a harpoon - at a target, which strikes with great force and causes the object to explode outward. The magic causes the fragments to multiply and scatter over a wide area. The successes on this Effect can be used both to create the force with which the object explodes and to multiply its size as it covers the area.

Ahiu Nalu (Rogue Wave)
Entropy 2, Forces 2 or Entropy 3 or Correspondence 2, Matter 2, Prime 2

Battles between kahunas were common in the high age of Polynesian magic, and these often took place on the ocean. A common tactic in these battles was to summon a rogue wave to knock an opponent out of his boat (or off his feet, if he was standing near, in or on the water). Polynesian mages used rogue waves primarily as distractions or harrying tactics.

System: The wave summoned is three feet high plus one additional foot for each success on the Arete roll. If the target sees the wave coming, he can roll Dexterity + Dodge at a difficulty of 8 to get out of the way; if he doesn't see it, he can roll Stamina + Survival to avoid being knocked over. A wave will stun its target momentarily and knock him into the water, but little more than that. A wave six feet or higher will cause one level of bashing damage to the target.

Since the Rogue Wave was such a common tactic, there were several ways of creating the Effect. The mage could tamper with probability a little (with Entropy 2) and augment the resultant wave (with Forces 2), tamper with probability a lot (and forego the Forces Effect) or, in a pinch, he could actually create the water out of thin air (Matter 2, Prime 2) and shape it with Correspondence. The first two methods can only be used on the ocean or in very large lakes, but they are always coincidental. The last method can be used in any body of water, but can easily be vulgar, at the Storyteller's discretion.

Akua Kumu Haka (Guided Fireball)
Forces 3, Prime 2, Spirit 3, optionally with Correspondence 2

Hawaiian kahunas were known for calling flame spirits to hunt down their enemies. Those who ran afoul of a kahuna were often known to stay near the ocean just in case one of these terrifying creatures was sent to dispatch them.

System: The kahuna creates a fireball using a conjunctional Forces/Prime Effect and then calls upon a vengeful fire spirit to come inhabit the conflagration and hunt down the mage's enemies. The akua kumu haka moves very fast and can easily outrun a human on foot; a target in a fast-moving outrigger canoe or a car, on the other hand, might be able to escape the akua kuma haka.

Once the fire spirit has burned its target to death, the fire fizzles and the spirit returns whence it came.

The optional Correspondence Effect is only necessary if the akua kumu haka is going to operate outside the kahuna's line of sight.

Ala Wai (Short Waters)
Correspondence 3

Anthropologists have no idea how Polynesian culture spread so far over the small and widely spread islands of the South Pacific. The answer is easy: They used magic.

By chanting and willing the waters to be smaller than they seemed, a kahuna could go five miles with every stroke of his paddle in the waves. With the aid of this rote, a competent mage can cross the Pacific in a remarkably short period of time.

System: This rote is one more version of The Seven League Stride (Mage, pg. 159.)

Ana'ana (The Death Prayer)
Correspondence 3, Life 3 or Correspondence 3, Spirit 3

The wizard wars of Polynesia have left modern kahunas with a large repertoire of deadly rotes; among the most popular of these is the death prayer. The kahuna casts this rote in her sanctum by beating out a martial rhythm on a drum and chanting the reasons why she wants her target to die. The target, meanwhile, begins to sicken almost immediately, and has only a limited time to seek out the kahuna she offended.

System: If the kahuna is using Life magic, the target will sicken and die over the course of three days following the completion of the rote. While this rote is similar to (if slower than) Effects used by many Tradition mages (Rip the Man Body, et al.), it has the advantage of being coincidental, as the target simply seems to catch something horrible and die. The disease need not be anything dramatic (and suspicious) like Ebola - anthrax, pneumonia, influenza, appendicitis and systemic strep infections are all quite capable of killing a target in three days.

If the kahuna is using the Spirit version of this spell, Banes or disease spirits might afflict the target to death in the same time frame and in much the same way. Alternatively, the spirits could simply cause a freak accident to befall the target: He might, for instance, trip over a piece of litter and fall into traffic or the pilot light on his stove might go out, filling his apartment with gas that then explodes, or he might be pulled under the water by a riptide. In any case, spirits can be pretty creative.

Heenalu (Wave Walking)
Forces 2 or Matter 2

Polynesian islanders are surrounded by water. It surrounds them at all times and it is, undoubtedly, among the most limiting factors in their existence. While canoes mitigate some of the water's limitations, even a novice kahuna can walk across the tops of the waves without difficulty, making brief forays from shore or even traveling from island to island with relative ease.

System: Only one success is required; extra successes are best spent on duration, especially for traversing long distances. This rote is coincidental if a shallow reef or string of small atolls is nearby - onlookers will assume the mage is walking in shallow water rather than on the water itself. Otherwise, the rote is vulgar. Movement speed is normal for both walking and running, as if the mage were walking on grass. If complex actions - such as combat - are performed soon after casting, the Storyteller may require a Stamina + Athletics roll to avoid seasickness; losing the roll causes nausea and a -2 penalty to all dice pools until the character can get to stable ground.

Kaumaha (Sacrifice)
Prime 3, Spirit 2

Sacrifice plays a key role in Hawaiian magic. Placating spirits through one means or another is a common theme throughout the history and mythology of Polynesia. The sacrifice of living beings to volcanoes was not common, but neither was it unheard of. By performing the proper rituals and tossing a living creature into the lava of a volcano (the volcano is the focus of the rote,) the kahuna is able to harvest the escaping mana freed by the death. While this has many drawbacks, there are times when a kahuna is willing to risk almost anything for extra fuel for his magical work.

System: The kahuna throws his sacrifice into the volcano and uses Spirit to catch the departing ghost and Prime to reap its Quintessence. A chicken will yield a point or two, a goat or a pig up to five and a human being will yield a full 10 points of Quintessence. Certain other creatures (Rokea, old vampires) may provide even more Quintessence, and if they were preying on the kahuna's people, he doesn't even have to worry about the spiritual backlash.

Giving thanks to the spirits of the non-sentient animals is generally enough to keep a mage safe from the potentially negative effects of sacrificing a living being for power, but in the case of human beings, however, things get much more complex.

If, and only if, the sacrifice is giving up his life freely and of his own will - a relatively rare circumstance - the mage suffers no repercussions. That said, if the kahuna's work benefits many people, some trusting soul approaching the end of his life might volunteer to be the kahuna's sacrifice.

Performing this kind of magic can easily result in the kahuna's accrual of Jhor, and those who practice it often are likely to develop a profoundly Entropic resonance.

Kuoha (The Passion Prayer)
Correspondence 3, Life 2, Mind 2

Wearing only leis of the most fragrant flowers, the kahuna sits (generally in his sanctum or a similar locale) and beats a primal heartbeat rhythm on his drum to incite passion in one target of his choosing.

System: Roll Arete after each full hour of drumming; this rote is, obviously, best performed as an extended action. Once the mage has accumulated a number of successes greater than the target's Willpower, the target is overcome by pure, unadulterated lust for the mage and does everything possible to be with the mage sexually. The Storyteller should roll the target's Wits + Awareness every time the mage's player rolls Arete to determine if he or she intuits what the mage is up to; if the target catches on and interrupts the passion prayer before the kahuna rolls enough successes, the rote is ruined.

The effects last for one hour per success and affect the target regardless of sex or orientation. Using this rote on anyone whom one is not already sexually connected to is tantamount to rape. It's also a good way to provoke the target and his or her every friend and family member into war onto the mage if used inappropriately.

Mahu (Steam)
Forces 2, Prime 2

This rote turns a large volume of water into steam, sending billowing white clouds skyward - and scalding anyone caught in the area of effect. This sudden, scalding blast is a potent (and popular) form of battle magic among the Polynesians.

System: This rote affects 100 square feet (10 x 10 and square-ish unless the player states otherwise) of the surface of the water per success. Not only does it obscure vision, effectively creating a smoke screen, but it is also a devastatingly lethal attack, inflicting standard Forces damage on anyone caught in the scalding vapors.

Some kahunas willing to use vulgar Effects have used this rote to flash-cook opponents floating on the surface of the water (or in their bath tubs.) Used on the open ocean or on a lake, this rote only affects the top few inches of the water's surface. This rote affects nothing a foot or deeper under the water in any way.

Maikai (The Seaward Pull)
Mind 3

The target of this spell becomes obsessed with reaching the ocean, diving in and swimming out as far as possible. It was one of the simple ways the mages of Polynesia had of eliminating their enemies. Obviously, if others detain the target and prevent him from reaching the water for the duration of the Effect, he won't drown (growing gills or putting on scuba gear also help) but any determined kahuna will wait to strike at the right time (and have surprises waiting in the water for his target as well.)

System: The kahuna uses potent Mind magic to implant a deep and overriding obsession in the target's psyche.

Mano Kahea'ai (Shark Call)
Correspondence 3, Mind 2

Sharks were (and, to a degree, still are) constant companions to the early Polynesians. More revered than feared, the shark was considered taboo to women, but a powerful totem for fishermen. This rote summons sharks from the surrounding waters to the kahuna (or as close to him as they can swim.)

System: The kahuna uses Correspondence magic to transmit his mental call to all sharks in the local water. If the mage wills it, he can also incorporate the illusion of the smell of blood in their minds, bringing them into a full-on feeding frenzy. The sharks will not attack the kahuna who summoned them if he uses the former version of this rote, but if he uses the latter version, all bets are off.

Because of the shark taboo, female mages cannot use this rote.

Variants of this rote can call other kinds of creatures: Octopi, whales or any other marine life available.

Mokupuni Palahalaha Wiki (Coral Island Bloom)
Life 2, Prime 3, Time 3

Under most circumstances, coral islands take centuries to grow. Mages who like to have islands to themselves often don't have that much patience, and so they put the coral into fast forward, causing a reef to bloom upward toward the sun like a crystalline cloud.

System: The conjunctional Life/Time Effect causes the tiny coral organisms to build up the reef at high speed. Prime is used to fuel the tiny animals; otherwise, they would deplete all nutrients from the water in the space of seconds.

The difficulty of this rote increases by one if the kahuna is performing it at night or at a depth greater than 80 feet (the depth at which coral normally grows.) Clever kahunas will create islands in deep water by using this rote repeatedly to create coral boulders that accrete around a floating core. Once the boulder has grown to a significant size (a thousand feet, say,) the mage will let the boulder sink into the depths. He will send these down, one after another, until he has created a suitable island foundation.

Note: Coral islands are largely sterile and don't erode into fertile soil the way volcanic islands do. Most kahunas (who want trees and crops on their islands) will use this rote only if they have no means of creating a volcanic island.

Pele Wai'ula (Pele's Blood)
Correspondence 3, Forces 3 or 4, Matter 2

The forces of volcanism were instrumental in shaping all of the Polynesian Islands and its effects are still felt in a variety of very real ways, like regular volcanic eruptions on Hawai'i. This rote grants the kahuna a degree of control over those elemental forces of creation, allowing her to summon the lifeblood of the planet itself.

System: The lesser form of this rote uses Forces and Matter magic to open up a volcanic fissure somewhere within the mage's line of sight, reaches deep into the planet and brings lava pouring out while the Forces 4 variant causes a full-scale volcanic eruption. Not only is the former version easier to perform, it's easier to control.

The lava brought about by the lesser version is relatively slow moving and unlikely to catch any but the slowest or most accident-prone enemies, upon whom it inflicts aggravated Forces damage (that is to say, three dice of aggravated damage per success rolled by the kahuna's player.) In the case of a full volcanic eruption, the Storyteller is the final arbiter of the mayhem caused by such an enormous and violent feat.

Amazingly, these rotes are coincidental throughout most of Polynesia (as well as the Philippines, Japan and Iceland) and a handful of other places in the "Ring of Fire," the volcanically active zone circling most of the Pacific ocean. Elsewhere they are grossly vulgar.

Rokea'ole
Life 3, Spirit 3

The mages of Polynesia are more familiar with the Rokea, the shark-changers, than any other changing breed (and far more familiar than they would like to be.) Whereas the true shark is considered good luck, kahunas consider Rokea brutish, lethal pains in the ass (even if they are considered semi-divine.) This rote forces a Rokea out of its large battle-forms, forcing it into its natural form (usually a shark.)

System: Using magic to shape both the body and spirit of the target, the kahuna forces the Rokea to revert to its Breed form and prevents it from changing again for 10 minutes per success. If the player is willing to accept a +1 difficulty modifier, he can choose which form (human or shark) the target reverts to. Since the shark-changers detest their human form (except when mating) forcing them into that form really pisses them off. Rokea will remember the face of any mage who uses this rote and mark him for a quick and messy death.

Waipuilani (Waterspout)
Forces 3

A tornado over water produces a waterspout, a funnel-shaped pillar of water sometimes hundreds of feet wide extending from the water's surface up to the clouds. While such a sight is truly awesome, its uses are relatively limited and the few kahunas who even remember this rote use it primarily to enthrall or entertain. It has been noted by a few mages, however, that waterspouts are a great way to deal with Technocracy helicopters.

System: Forces magic can generate the waterspout in either of two ways: If there are reasonable clouds in the area, Forces magic manipulates the local weather patterns to create the necessary funnel activity to create the spout. This version can be coincidental if the mage is careful.

Alternatively, the mage can use the sheer power of the Forces Sphere to cause the whirling spout of water to shoot up from the water's surface, even on a perfectly clear day. This version is always vulgar.

Sing the Dreaming Earth
Mind 3 or 5, Prime 5, Spirit 5

This rote allows a mage to create an area of Shallowing called a Sleeping Land. The area of the Shallowing is directly related to the successes on the roll. When performed in ceremony, this rite is not considered vulgar.

System: In order to properly Sing the Dreaming Earth, the mage must have a group of ceremonial assistants willing to help the mage with this rite. Non-mages are considered properly trained if they have Occult 4 or Enigmas 4, or Dreamtime Lore of 2 or better. Note that the mage receives one extra die for every five of these non-mage helpers participating. The non-mages actually form living anchors for the initial points of construction for the Sleeping Land. The rote uses the Mind sphere to connect the assistants with the principle ritualist, so that they all work together simultaneously.

Each extended dice roll represents one hour of ceremonial dancing and chanting. The magic flows from mind to mind in the pattern, which is essentially a twisting, curling, snake-like hoop. Each participant in the ritual must be within sight of the other: close enough to see the pupils of each other's eyes. The number of successes required is determined by the number of people involved, and thus the number of points on the looping curve. Assistants Area Inscribed Successes 5 A bedroom 10 15 A suburban house 15 25 A football field or similar large area 20 50 A small town 30 200 A city 40 10,000 A continent the size of Australia 50 The mage must also have at least one Node available to him to supply the necessary Quintessence to maintain the Sleeping Land against the crushing weight of Reason. Think of the Sleeping Land as a giant hot air balloon of Spirit: the raw, free Quintessence from the Node, channeled by Prime, will be the warm air that causes the envelope to rise and attain shape. Finally, using Mind 5 in the rote aids the initial casting and makes the envelope semi-aware and able to discern who should and who should not have access within.

Casting: Either a single mage or a small core group of mages will begin the rite, which will introduce them and then call the People to respond. One by one, the other participants filter through the group or past the initiator. They touch hands with this mage and then begin to walk. When they have gone far enough, they will turn and wait for the rite to continue. Each person participates by walking along the boundaries of the future Sleeping Land with their apprentices.

(Note: See page 54 of Dead Magic II for further rules on Sleeping Lands and Shallow Realms.)

Call the Dreamborn Sibling
Spirit 2

This summons a spirit of the Dreamtime, usually one affiliated with the surrounding area. Because of the flexibility of time in the Dreamtime, spirits rarely arrive on time. It takes persistence to get one of the Dreamborn to come when you call: the People have learned to simply send the Call and wait patiently for Dreamborn to arrive.

During casting, the People will sit for hours meditating and humming a Dreamtime drone, either standing on one foot in the sand or sitting cross-legged. They will become stone-like, looking unseeing into the middle distance. They will breathe so infrequently that they appear petrified. Finally, after several hours of this, they will clap their hands and welcome the spirit they called. Usually there is no visible sign the spirit is near, but those with the sense to see the Dreamtime can see the spirit easily. The shaman will converse with the spirit as if the spirit were as plain as day, and will complain bitterly to anyone standing nearby if they do not see or do not respect the spirit they've called.

System: The only difference between this rote and the standard Call Spirit Effect is that it facilitates speech across the thin veil that is the Dreamtime, whereas Call Spirit does not. Also, it taps into the Dreamtime, not the Umbra; thus, there is no reaching across the Gauntlet. Note that mages who are the kin of a specific Dreamborn can call siblings of that Dreamborn at a -2 bonus on the difficulty.

Dingo's Touch
Entropy 1, Forces 2

Dingoes are known for their ability to get into and out of situations they shouldn't be in. This rote is known for its ability to find a way. Simple locks spring open. Doors are unlocked. Windows slide open. The Dingo gets by, and so do the People.

When casting, the mage walks circuitously this way and that near the area he wishes to target, keeping an eye on his shadow. When Dingo's shadow emerges from his own shadow, he knows in which direction to look for Dingo's Touch.

System: Entropy helps the mage see the weakness in the system, while Forces releases potential kinetic energy to jostle, rattle and otherwise jiggle security systems. The obvious nature of the way out or in is more apparent depending on the number of successes rolled. The Storyteller can choose to ask for a Perception + Awareness or Perception + Security roll if the assistance isn't very obvious. In no event is this rote vulgar: every assistance Dingo gives is purely coincidental.

Dreamborn Rousing
Life 4, Matter 4, Mind 3, Spirit 2

This forbidden rite is used to rouse a quiescent Dreamborn spirit. Only the most powerful Dreamborn spirits can even potentially be roused: the rest have succumbed to reality long ago. When they awaken, they're ravenous for magical power and life force and they have totally lost all sense of who or what they are.

The beginning of this ceremony looks a lot like the common beginning to all the Endless Sleep rituals, except that the ceremony stops and starts in a seemingly random way and the rite ends with the principle practitioner driving a stone shard through his hand and into the body of the Dreamborn itself.

System: The ritual successes generated by this rote are in direct opposition to the rote called Ensure the Endless Sleep. Successes on the roll must go towards first eroding successes generated by that rote, and then are actively opposed by the spirit's Willpower. When the Dreamborn awakens, it will be ravenously hungry for Quintessence. Treat it as a Totem Avatar spirit. It will drain every source of Quintessence nearby and, if there is none, people will start to look really juicy and interesting to it.

Ensure the Endless Sleep
Matter 2, Mind 3, Spirit 2

One of the jobs of the People is to ensure that that which sleeps remains so. The People travel from place to place in their territory performing this rote. Anthropologists have done studies of these complex ceremonies and believe them to be merely worship of nature spirits. However, if the People failed to perform their duty, the Dreamborn would slowly begin to rouse and waken. Then, entities that have been slumbering for centuries would rouse, hungry, and begin to take their sustenance any way they could.

Some of the weaker Dreamborn succumb over the course of centuries because the last bit of their spirit essence is leached away by the tides of the Tapestry. The most powerful (and thus, the most hungry) sleeping Dreamborn are rarely destroyed in this manner.

Generations of Aborigines have created specifically tailored ceremonies for each of the People's sleeping Dreamborn. Each one is different, incorporating a story about the Dreamborn, dire warnings if the Dreamborn should awaken, and honoring and revering the Dreamborn as it sleeps. Many times, the People will leave a token to the Dreamborn spirit should their ceremony not be accepted and the Dreamborn awakens later, when they are far away.

System: Ritual successes on this rote ensure that a quiescent Dreamborn remains asleep. Even one success is enough to ensnare another moontime of sleep, while many successes ensure the sleep for countless generations to come. This rote opposes the dangerous Dreamborn Rousing rote, and has been used in the past to thwart the plans of insane or unwise People who attempt to waken those Dreamborn who are best left asleep.

The Spirit aspect of this ritual opens a portal to the Dreamtime, Mind first confirms the identity of the Dreamborn in question and then begins to lull and soothe the spirit. Finally, Matter is added to strengthen the calcified spirit-body against the ravages of time and erosion.

Goanna's Hiding
Matter 2

This rote causes the clothing worn by the mage to take on a color, hue and visual texture close to that of the surrounding area. It was originally designed to take advantage of the heavy patterns of ochre that the People sometimes wear. This coincidental magic can be explained away by the People's preference for wearing loincloths and such that match their natural surroundings, and for their tendency to wear different colors of ochre paint in ceremonies.

When casting, the mage must stand very still near the texture she wishes to mimic, and then brushes a bit of ochre on her fingers, then on the texture, and then on forehead. As soon as the ochre touches her forehead, that which touches her skin changes color and texture.

System: Successes add dice to any Dexterity + Stealth roll.

Guncotton's Blessing
Matter 3

This rote allows an initiated mage to change the nature of any organic substance to cause it to be a fairly potent explosive. Because of the relative availability of explosives in heavy mining areas, this rote is coincidental in those areas.

The mage goes walkabout with the organic matter in his pockets. After several days, when the matter begins to truly stink, it will dry and then - and only then - is it ready to be detonated.

System: The mage needs carbon-rich matter (which can be as base as feces or as complex as fried chips.) The successes indicate the lethal damage that the explosive will deliver when detonated. The mage must then roll Wits + Technology to properly set the explosive and detonate it. The substance proves to be a crude explosive if examined scientifically, which has led many authorities to believe there are explosive laboratories hidden somewhere in the Aboriginal slums of the cities.

Liquor's Calling
Mind 1, Spirit 2

There are those who say that alcohol replaces the feeling of the Dreamtime for urban Aborigines who have walked clear of the pathway of their ancestors. This rote causes a remote and distant connection with the Dreamtime that soon fades. It requires enough alcohol to make the caster drunk, preferably with the most revolting liquor that he can find. Then, if he doesn't pass out, he attempts to gather the attention of the Dreamtime either by playing the yidaki or rattling the bullroarer while weaving slowly around in a drunken circle. During this trance state, it is as if the user is on tribal land, in tribal ceremony.

System: The Mind sphere helps the mage to focus while intoxicated and the Spirit sphere calls the Dreamtime down to suffuse the mage wherever he is. This rote provides a -3 to all difficulties involving Dreamtime Lore, in addition to a -3 to all difficulties for crossing into the Dreamtime.

The difficulty for this rote increases by two every time it is used in a seven-day period. The numbers of successes determine how long the state remains. The mage must roll Stamina + Survival to avoid throwing up and ruining the preparation of this rote. A botch on this roll means the mage passes out.

Lull the Waking Dreamborn
Mind 3, Spirit 2

The droning call of the yidaki, the singing and chanting of the People, can be turned to many purposes. This rote is most often used to calm a potentially violent or dangerous spirit who has caused damage to the People.

In the early Dreamtime, when there was no membrane separating the reality of the People from the Dreamtime, Dreamborn who were put to sleep this way became part of the natural environment of the world. The end of the Mythic Age caused them to calcify into solid material, creating rock formations of wonderful beauty.

When casting, the People whisper to the wind with verbal caresses akin to calming or quieting a child. Then they play their yidaki, sending waves of calming sound all over the area. Some of the People in attendance must pinch their thighs or bite their cheeks to avoid also going to sleep. The shaman must keep his breath clean and even when lulling his Dreamborn brother or sister. There is a saying, "Nothing can be hurried about the Dreamtime." This process takes as long as it takes - which is to say hours, on occasion.

System: The ritual successes generated by this rote are opposed by a spirit's Willpower roll. Mages who are children to a specific Dreamborn receive a bonus of -2 to the roll's difficulty. If the spirit fails, it experiences a wave of sleepiness and spiritual fatigue that results in its calming down, relaxing and slowly falling into Slumber. A botch on the mage's part will enrage the spirit, while a failure may not be noticed if the Dreamborn is not particularly intelligent or perceptive. The spirit being lulled cannot be under attack or in any danger. The Spirit sphere aspect opens the path to the fractious spirit and begins to appease and slow the spirit while Mind encourages the slumber.

Presentation of the Passage Stick
Spirit 3

This sends a kind of spiritual call out into the Dreamtime of the land around the mage, introducing her to all who are aware of such things. Such a rote requires a Passage Stick focus to work properly, and there are Passage Stick Wonders which perform this rote automatically upon crossing into a new territory. This rote does not allow two-way communication: the visitor announces herself and then waits to see what response she'll get, if any. Note that it is considered extremely inappropriate to traverse the territory of another family group if you haven't performed this rote.

When casting, the mage whistles into the air while holding the Passage Stick in her hand. On the receiving end, the initiated catches a glimmer of a feeling of an encroaching presence on his territory.

System: All those in the area who are initiated and possess Dreamtime Lore 3 or better can sense the presentation with a successful Perception + Awareness or Dreamtime Lore roll.

Sense the Dreamsong
Correspondence 1, Spirit 1

This rote allows a mage who is familiar with the Dreamtime Song to listen to it and examine it for special qualities. Essentially, it allows a mage the opportunity to discern the boundaries and strength of the Dreamtime in the area, what Dreamtime spirits may or may not be nearby, and whether the Sleeping Lands are on the wax or the wane.

The willworker enters into a light trance state by either humming, moving silently in special ceremonial patterns, or by painting himself. The lines of his fingers as he dances, or the lines of paint on his face, soon begin to reverberate silently within the music of the Dreamtime. Then, and only then, does the Dreamtime become clear.

System: Simple Perception + Awareness rolls might give the mage a basic idea of the presence of the Dreamtime, but it doesn't give much information. Sense the Dreamsong will allow a willworker who knows it to see the flows of the Dreamtime as he makes his way through the world, and catch glimpses of the events occurring within the Dreamtime. With Mind 2 added, it could be used as a scan to detect whether someone has ever been affiliated with the Dreamtime. Note: This rote can be used to sense other Shallow Realms outside of Australia.

Songline Soaring
Spirit 3

This enables the mage literally to merge with a Songline and emerge from it at another point along its length. Using this rote, one of the People can cross huge distances across Australia at a fraction of the time it would take anyone else to walk it. This rote utilizes the Dreamtime's spatial distortion to good effect: essentially, the mage does most of his traveling in the Dreamtime.

Humming the Songline to himself, the mage walks into the distance. Thermal haze pelting him, he is soon a vision on the horizon, a dot, and then he's gone. Coming into focus on the other side of his walk, he moves into sight slowly - indistinct, sometimes surrounded in a dust storm. Unless you had timed him, you would never know that he crossed miles and miles of Outback in the same time it took for him to walk a mile.

System: After properly identifying a Songline with the rote Songline Walking, the mage can effectively mimic the Correspondence Seven League Stride Effect. The only difference is that the mage must walk for a period of time before and after the transition to properly utilize the Songline's power, and the mage cannot step off the path of the Songline.

Songline Walking
Spirit 1

This enables the mage to follow the path of a Songline, if she has been introduced to it.

When casting, the mage keeps her eyes open and moistened with drops of life-giving natural water as she walks, humming the Songline that is keyed to the path she seeks.

System: Successes add to the Perception + Dreamtime Lore roll to sense the path of a Songline.

Wurnan Blessing
Entropy 2, Spirit 2

The Law Woman of the tribe comes to a new baby and speaks to the other women about the destiny of the child, giving advice to the women of the tribe as to the child's guidance. This briefly connects the child's spirit into the Wurnan Law, the inter-relationship between all members of the tribe. The Entropy facet of this rote helps to ensure that minor accidents to not befall the baby in its first days.

This rote is of particular use to non-native mages, if they can get a native Law Woman to use it on them, as it will grant them a brief connection to the Dreamtime.

When casting, the Law Woman cradles the infant in her arms and sings a history Songline of her people, explaining to the child his place in the great chain of life. Eventually, she bathes the child's head and then paints his forehead with a dot of white ochre, symbolizing purity.

System: Cast on an Aboriginal infant, this introduces the child's spirit to the Ancestors and to the Dreamtime. Because of the non-traditional education given to all the children of the tribe as they grow, this is just the first step upon the road for the new person. The connection to the Dreamtime is fleeting, but important, an ember that can be fanned for the future. Cast on a non-Aborigine, the successes reduce the difficulty for him to sense the Dreamtime (up to -3.)

Chakra Influence
Life 3 or Mind 3 or Prime 3

In Tantric practices there are seven Chakras, or power points, on the body. One in the genitals, one in the stomach, one in the sternum or solar plexus, one in the heart, one in the throat, one in the third eye and one at the crown of the head. These seven power points are like small engines that fuel the life of a person, coming down from the Heavens through the body and exiting in the form of exertion. This rote allows a mage to control his Chakras and those of others to his own ends.

System: This multipurpose rote is designed to be a way of controlling a body via a certain paradigm. You could easily enhance someone's sexual arousal via the Bottom Chakra (Mind 3,) or you could silence someone's voice with the Chakra in the throat (Life 3,) dull their emotions by using the Heart Chakra (Mind 3,) or even close off their Pattern's Quintessence flow by closing the Chakra at the top of the head (Prime 3.) This rote is multipurpose and could be used for any variety of means to control someone. It is sometimes Vulgar, depending on its use. Body Placement Color Spheres Genitals Red Life 3 or Mind 3 Stomach Orange Life 3 or Mind 3 Sternum Yellow Life 3 Heart Green Life 3 or Mind 3 Throat Blue Life 3 Third Eye Purple Life 3 Top of Head Gold Prime 3

Deity Form
Forces 3, Life 4, Prime 4, Spirit 2, optional Entropy 5

The mage can actually become an Earthly avatar of a god. The mage has phenomenal cosmic power - for a while. Paradox eventually catches up with her, bringing her back down to Earth - hard.

Nonetheless, this makes for a most impressive religious display and may spur a renewal in the god's religion or cult.

System: When first cast, the mage feels fantastic, suffused with power. It gives him a number of Effects at once: Friction Curse (Mage Revised, p. 166) or Telekinesis (p. 167) to represent the deity's raw power, Better Body (p. 171) to boost Attributes, Mutate Form (p. 171) to take on the aspect of the deity (multiple arms for Kali,) Wellspring (p. 185) to replenish power, Spirit 2 to call the deity, and, optionally, Entropy 5, to renew the deity's worship in the modern world - reinvigorating the very idea of that deity among those who witness its avatar.

It requires a minimum of 10 successes to achieve the Effect, which lasts for one scene. Additional successes can extend the effects and damage of the various powers listed above.

The downside of this rote is that it is extremely vulgar.

Karmic Inversion
Prime 4, Life 3

This rote represents one of the possible ways that mages in India have found around Kali's dance of destruction. It allows a mage to take the damage he would normally suffer from an encounter with the Avatar Storm and shuffle it off on another mage. This usually ends up killing the recipient of the shuffled damage.

It first requires the mage victim to be linked to the caster's Pattern through a gruesome ceremony of torture, bloodletting and abuse.

System: The mage uses Prime and Life to tie his Pattern to that of another person. This requires an extended casting during which the mage must elicit pain from the victim to be linked to him. He must also mix his blood with that of the victim (he may want to first be sure that the victim doesn't carry any diseases.) The number of successes required is equal to the Arete + Willpower of the victim - it is much harder to link to a highly enlightened Master then to a newly Awakened apprentice. Once linked, whenever the mage steps sideways and suffers Storm damage, it is delivered onto the rote's victim instead. This rote only works on those with Awakened Avatars - in other words, only a mage can act as victim.

The very act of casting this rote on another mage causes the caster to gain one dot of Entropic Cruel resonance. If the rote causes the victim to die from the damage suffered, the Resonance becomes a level of Jhor. The caster reeks of blood magic and is on the slow decline to corruption. This rote is almost Nephandic in nature and could be considered the gateway to corruption. Player and Storyteller be warned.

Love Me, Love Me
Life 3, Mind 2

The perfect seduction is more than important to a cult that sacrifices people. There is no easier way to get someone to the altar block than making him think that he wants to go there. And there is no better way to lead him than his libido. This rote is usually cast by the mage upon himself in relation to a certain person. A guy would cast it on himself to make himself more attractive to a female. The physical body takes on small changes to make itself more attractive to another ideal. Nothing major occurs, like complete rearrangement of cells or change in hair color; just small changes, such as a clearing up of acne or a slight change in vocal tone.

System: This is a cumulative effect. It starts with a basic meeting where the first Mind Sphere scan is done on the subject and Life magic adjusts to appeal to him. Slowly over time, the person who it is cast upon changes to be more liked by the person who it is connected to. In game terms, this means that the mage gains more dice over time for Appearance and Charisma-based rolls.

A first encounter provides +1 to Appearance, the second gives +1 to Charisma, and further encounters each add one more bonus, alternating between the two traits depending on the nature of the encounters. The total bonus provided between both traits is equal to the number of successes rolled on the casting.

Just like with any other social interaction, the difficulties can go higher depending on how the last encounter went. If a character is completely unattractive to a person, then his difficulty is going to be considerably higher.

This rote is coincidental.

In the Shadows of the World Ash - The Norse
Galdr Rotes

(Note: See page 95 and 98 in Dead Magic II for further information on Rune Magic.)

Help Rune
Mind 1, Prime 1 or 2 or 5

With this rune, the user may fortify his soul in times of hardship.

System: The character sings the runes of Naudhiz (for self-reliance) and Sowilo (for hope and salvation.) For each success on his magic role, the character gains one temporary Willpower point for the remainder of the scene. At the end of the scene, the additional Willpower fades and the character's temporary Willpower is at two points lower than when he began. At higher levels of power, the character may add the rune Thurisaz (for defense and primal force) in order to arm himself (as the Holy Stroke effect on page 183 of Mage) or even channel raw destructive energy at his foes.

Healer Rune
Life 1 or 2 or 4, or Mind 3 or 4

At its most basic, this rune-song simply increases the user's effectiveness as a healer by enabling him to better diagnose injury and illness and to eliminate infections. More powerful rune-singers are able to use this song to directly re-knit damaged bones and flesh. This rune song may be used to provide emotional and psychological healing as well.

System: The character sings the runes of Wunjo (for well-being) and Laguz (for primal life energy) while performing the actions of a mundane healer (Perception + Medicine for diagnosis; Intelligence + Medicine for treatment.) Acts of diagnosis and sanitation (Life 1 and 2) are coincidental, while direct healing (Life 4) is vulgar.

To perform psychological healing (Mind 3,) the rune-singer must sing the runes of Gebo (for the subconscious mind) and Wunjo (for well-being) as he meditates over the sleeping target of the spell. The mage then projects his own mind into the subject's dreams in order to better understand and to deal with the other person's inner demons (roll Perception + Enigmas for diagnosis, Intelligence + Enigmas to attempt to influence the sleeping subject's dreams.) At higher levels of power (Mind 4,) the rune-singer may alter, erase or deal with memories or mental conditionings that negatively influence the subject's conscious actions.

Swordbreaker Rune
Forces 2, optional Matter 3

With this rune, the user may render an opponent's weapons useless or even disarm him altogether.

System: The character sings the runes of Uruz (for defense) and Kenaz (to attune to the forged weapons,) calling upon its power to defend him from harm. The most basic form of this rune song creates a field around the character, deflecting the kinetic energy of attacking weapons. More powerful runesingers may add the Thurisaz rune to the song, causing an opponent's weapons to transform to much more brittle materials which then shatter at the sound of the caster's voice. Both uses of this rune are vulgar.

Chainbreaker Rune
Entropy 1, Matter 1 or Entropy 2, Matter 2 or Entropy 3, Matter 3

With this rune, the user may free himself from any physical forms of bondage.

System: The character sings the runes of Perthro (for luck) and Naudhiz (for problem solving.) For a beginning runesinger, this enables him to locate weaknesses within his bonds and more easily free himself (roll Perception + Enigmas, difficulty 7, and add the number of successes to the character's roll to escape his bonds.) As the character progresses in mystical skill, he will be able to unlock and ultimately destroy bonds with his voice. The first level of this rote is coincidental. The second level is vulgar unless the character is able to successfully bluff witnesses into believing he has performed a mundane act of escape artistry. The final level is always vulgar.

Spearcatcher Rune
Correspondence 1, Time 3, optional Forces 3

With this rune, the user may catch arrows, knives, spears and even bullets.

System: The character sings the runes of Kenaz (for craftwork to attune to the weapons and for applied energy) and Eihwas (for protection.) Time seems to slow as the runesinger becomes acutely aware of the position of each projectile coming towards him. For each success on his Arete roll, the character is able to safely pluck one projectile from the air around him. In order to safely pluck bullets from the air, the character must employ Forces magic to dissipate the heat generated by the bullets' kinetic energy, or else use gloves capable of resisting such heat.

Counterspell Rune
[Special]

With this rune, the user may reflect harmful magical effects back against their caster.

System: The character sings the runes of Raidho (for justice) and Othalo (for protection) to serve as a means of performing Countermagic (see page 154 of Mage.)

Fire Rune
Forces 3 or Matter 5

With this rune, the user may douse fires which threaten homes and other buildings.

System: The character sings the runes for Isa (for cold) and Othala (for home,) and is able to suck the energy out of any fire that threatens a house, building or other dwelling. At more powerful levels, the character may temporarily render the materials of the dwelling unable to burn at all. Both uses of this rune song are vulgar.

Peace Rune
Mind 2 or 4, or Entropy 5

With this rune, the user may calm hearts and minds, allowing cooler heads to prevail in delicate and critical situations.

System: The character sings the runes of Wunjo (for harmony and friendship) and Tiwaz (for order and good judgment.) At basic levels, this runesong projects a sense of calm and peacefulness to those who hear it. More powerful runesingers may outright force listeners to cease conflicts, or even temporarily eliminate the entire concept of conflict from the minds of listeners.

Storm Rune
Entropy 3, Forces 3

With this rune, the user may calm the storms and waves which threaten any nautical vessel.

System: The character sings the runes of Isa (for control) and Ingwaz (for stability and rest,) and for the remainder of the scene, the excess kinetic energy is removed from the air and water, and changes in the local weather patterns are temporarily eliminated. Each success on the character's Arete roll extends the radius of the Effect by 50 feet.

Ward Rune
Correspondence 3, Mind 3, optional Spirit 2

With this rune, the user may prevent those who seek to harm him from finding their way to his location.

System: The character sings the runes of Hagalaz (for chaos) and Othala (for protection and home.) A barrier is created around the character's location (for each success on the character's Arete roll, extend the radius of the Ward by 10 feet) that confuses and disorients anyone who comes across it. Victims quickly lose their sense of direction, becoming lost for the remainder of the scene. With the addition of spirit magic, this barrier becomes effective against ghosts and other spirits as well.

Battle Rune
Correspondence 3, Life 4, Mind 3

With this rune, the user may turn a number of his comrades into a powerful fighting force.

System: The character sings the runes of Ehwas (for teamwork) and Laguz (for vitality and virtue.) For each success on his Arete roll, the runesinger may enchant one person other than himself for an entire scene. The magic of the rune song is spread throughout the group, bringing each member to the peak of physical health. All Bashing damage is healed at the end of each turn, and all wound penalties for Lethal damage are halved for the entire scene. In addition, all members of the group are inspired by the runesinger's confidence, becoming highly motivated and in turn, feed off each other's confidence. Everyone affected by the rote has their temporary Willpower fully replenished until the end of the scene, at which time they return to one lower than their previous level.

Ghost Rune
Entropy 1, Spirit 2, optional Correspondence 2 and/or Time 2

With this rune, the user may summon forth the spirit of a völva (a woman gifted in the arts of prophecy) and question her about the threads of wyrd. This way, the summoner can gain knowledge of the past, present or future.

System: This works just as the Call Spirit Effect on page 187 of Mage, with a few minor differences. The character must paint the runes of Perthro (for divination,) Eihwas (for enlightenment and bridging the worlds of life and death) and Elhaz (for calling upon spirits) upon the corpse, the skull or the grave marker of the spirit he wishes to call upon and then sings the same set of runes. By focusing on the forces of wyrd (using Entropy,) the caster summons forth a female ghost capable of reading the threads of fate. For players familiar with Wraith: the Oblivion, this means summoning a ghost skilled in the art of Fatalism. Otherwise, the ghost serves as a vehicle for the caster's own Correspondence and/or Time magic. The use of Time enables the character to view the past and futures, as the Divinations Effect on page 192 of Mage. Correspondence enables the character to view events in the present, as the Correspondence Sensing Effect on page 159 of Mage.

Baptism Rune
Entropy 4

With this rune, the user may bless a new-born child, ensuring that he will never die as a result of combat.

System: The character sings the runes of Berkano (for birth rites,) Perthro (for luck,) Othala (for protection) and Sowilo (for guidance and salvation) while tracing these same runes on the baby's forehead with pure water. By gently manipulating the child's wyrd, it ensures that he will never in his life fall in battle (or is at least unlikely to do so.) However, this blessing does nothing to protect the child from illness, poisoning, drowning or any other form of death, nor does it guarantee any success in war.

Lore Rune
Correspondence 1, Life 1, Matter 1, Mind 1, Prime 1, Spirit 1

With this rune, the user may identify any non-human supernatural being within his sight.

System: The character sings the runes of Eihwas (for enlightenment) and Mannaz (for understanding the differences between the mundane and the supernatural.) With a single success, the character is able to see all spirits within his line of sight, as well as recognize any non-human supernatural being. This includes the undead, werebeasts, changelings and demons. With two successes, the character is able to differentiate between broad types (telling the difference between drones and abstracts, or between a vampire and a werewolf, for example.) With three successes, he is able to differentiate between categories within each type (different breeds of changeling or bloodlines of vampires.) With four successes, the character has a basic understanding of each supernatural creature's general powers (which Charms a spirit might possess, or a type of Changeling's ability to transform into an animal.) With five successes, the character understands what each creature is capable of (a vampire's power to work black magic and craft illusions.)

For players familiar with White Wolf's other World of Darkness game lines, this does not grant the character any knowledge of those game lines' character types or their ways. The mage will understand related bloodlines rather than such things as Clans or Tribes, and only a general understanding of what a power is able to accomplish rather than specific Disciplines or Arts.

Chiminage Rune
Prime 3 or 4, Spirit 2

With this rune, the user may offer power to spirits in exchange for information and other items of barter.

System: The character sings the runes of Elhaz (to communicate with spirits,) Mannaz (to forge a link between himself and the spirit) and Ansuz (for power and inspiration.) The rote transfers Quintessence from the runesinger's Quintessence pool (or if the need is great enough, from his own Pattern) into the spirit's power reserves. Each point of Quintessence is transformed into a number of Power points equal to the number of successes on the character's magic roll. More powerful runesingers are able to add the rune of Ingwaz (for the power of the earth) to the song, drawing Quintessence directly from the earth itself rather than from his own reserves.

This rote only enables the mage to offer Chiminage to the spirit. Negotiating the deal depends entirely on the character's natural abilities.

Mind Rune
Mind 4

With this rune, the user may take control of another person's mind and manipulate it toward his own ends.

System: The character sings the runes of Fehu (for social advancement) and Isa (for control,) and with the power of his voice seizes control over the conscious mind of another individual. Further singing will allow the character to manipulate the target's memories, in effect brainwashing her. This works just as the Possession and Manipulate Memory Effects on page 178 of Mage.

Charm Rune
Mind 2

With this rune, the user may surround himself with an aura of charm and friendliness.

System: The character sings the runes of Ansuz (for social interaction) and Wunjo (for harmony.) For the remainder of the scene, he radiates feelings of trust, friendliness and charm. While under the effect of this rune song, the character gains a number of additional dice equal to his Arete rating in all Social rolls that are non-confrontational in nature (including fast-talking, seduction, fitting in and performing for a crowd.)

Secret Rune
Entropy 5

With this rune, the user may ensure that information he shares with someone he trusts will be kept secret.

System: The character must be alone with a second individual whom he trusts implicitly, either a family member, a blood-brother or a lover. The character speaks the information to be kept secret, and as the secret keeper swears to keep the character's trust, the character sings the runes of Ehwas (for loyalty,) Gebo (for union,) Perthro (for calling upon the wyrd) and Tiwaz (for oathmaking.) If the secret keeper should ever break the oath and tell anyone else the secret, she will develop a single Flaw, the magnitude of which is decided by the number of successes the caster gains while performing the rune song. Each two successes raises the Flaw level by one. Suitable Flaws include (but are not limited to) the following: Level One: Nightmares, Speech Impediment, Echoes. Level Two: Amnesia, Deranged, Phobia, Echoes. Level Three: Degeneration, Permanent Wound, Echoes. Level Four: Deaf, Mute, Echoes. Level Five: Mayfly Curse, Dark Fate, Echoes. Level Six and Above: Degeneration, Paraplegic, Mayfly Curse.

Spá-kona Rotes

(Note: See page 95 and 102 in Dead Magic II for further information on weaving magic.)

Laying on of Hands
Entropy 1, Life 1, Time 2

Before a battle, a Norse woman would touch her son all over his body, and through her understanding of ørlög would know in advance which wounds he would receive. Although used primarily upon one's blood relatives, it will also work on others. This advance knowledge makes it possible to prepare necessary healing materials (ancient or modern) in advance.

System: The user must touch the subject over the majority of his body while concentrating upon her natural understanding of ørlög. Entropy and Life enable her to sense where the threads of fate touch the person's body, while Time gives a clearer picture of future events which center upon those threads. The greater the number of successes, the greater the details she knows about the future injuries.

While this rote can be used to try and prevent foretold wounds from occurring (through the use of armor, protective magics or other means,) one should be wary when attempting such tactics. Not even the gods can escape their fated deaths, and the Norns will sometimes frown on those who dare try (i.e. Paradox.)

Gørningstakkr
Entropy 2, Life 2, Matter 2, Prime 2 or Matter 5, Prime 2 or Life 3, Matter 2, Prime 2

One of the most famous creations of the spá-kona's art is the gørningstakkr, or wound-proof shirt. By working her magic through her spindle and loom, the spá-kona weaves spells of protection into the very fabric of a shirt meant for her brother, husband or son.

System: Creating the gørningstakkr is always an extended ritual. The spá-kona must speak spells of healing and protection while spinning the thread and weaving the cloth to be used in the shirt. The shirt is then embroidered with runes of healing and protection (Wunjo, Sowilo and Othala are the most common, as well as Kenaz to represent the craftwork involved.) The most basic version of the wound-proof shirt weaves Entropy magic into the shirt to bring luck, and Life magic to heal wounds that are received (the nature of these shirts allow self-healing magic to be applied to the wearer rather than the user, similarly to the way modern Technocracy medical patches can be used even by those not trained in the arts of Enlightened Medicine.) The amount of damage the shirt can heal is dependent upon the number of successes the spá-kona garners while weaving the shirt.

More skilled spá-kona are able to weave shirts that are literally proof against the effects of blades, spears and arrows. Such shirts count as Class 4 Armor (providing four additional soak dice,) but do not hinder mobility. In addition, the shirt converts lethal attacks from stabbing or cutting weapons into bashing damage, as the blades are unable to penetrate the cloth.

The art of weaving may also be used to harm as well as heal. If the spá-kona speaks spells of death and vengeance while spinning and weaving, and soaks the threads in poison, she may create a cursed shirt that will kill the wearer. The shirt is embroidered with baleful and destructive runes (Thurisaz, Hagalaz and Isa, as well as Tiwaz if the vengeance is just.) The wearer of the shirt is affected as if subject to the Rip the Man-Body effect (page 171 of Mage.)

Wyrd Visions
Correspondence 2, Entropy 1, Time 2

At the heart of the spá-kona's craft is the art of knowing. The spá-kona is intrinsically tuned to the threads of fate and can understand the wyrd of many things if needed. By attuning herself to the ways of wyrd, a

spá-kona may divine understanding of the past, present or future simply through personal intuition.

System: The mage must meditate upon the flow of wyrd. Most spá-kona do this while spinning thread. In addition to the sympathetic link between their thread and the threads of fate, the spinning of a multi-faceted spindle whorl creates a strobe of flashing light that aids in meditation (effectively a form of self-hypnosis.) By doing this, the mage is able to gain knowledge of people, places or events in the past or present that will influence present and future events. Entropy magic is used to find those things on which destiny hinges. Correspondence magic is used to skry the present. Time magic is used to divine the past and hint at possible futures.

Sei r Rotes

(Note: See page 94 and 102 in Dead Magic II for further information on sei r magic.)

Summon Völva
Entropy 1, Spirit 2, optional Correspondence 2 and/or Time 2

One of the most basic practices of the sei r worker is to summon and question the spirits of the dead. She will summon the ghost of a woman (usually a spá-kona) gifted in the arts of prophecy and question her about the workings of the wyrd.

System: This rote works identically to the Ghost Rune rote above. However, instead of singing runes, the sei r worker sits on her hen-feather cushion and rhythmically taps her staff while chanting the var lokur. Often, the mage will be assisted by one or more unawakened female assistants who chant the var lokur with her.

Going Under the Cloak
Life 2, Mind 4

By wrapping herself in her cloak and entering a trance, the sei r worker is able to suspend herself between the worlds of life and death, projecting her soul into the lands of the dead.

System: The mage places her cat-skin hood over her head like a shroud and covers herself entirely within her blue cloak, symbolically becoming one of the dead. She begins to chant the gand, slowing her body's natural functions to a crawl until her soul comes forth from her mouth and enters the Underworld. Traditionally, this will be performed while sitting atop a barrow or grave, where the boundaries between life and death are thinner. The mage astrally projects herself into the Shadowlands, where she may move about as if she were a ghost. As with all uses of astral projection, this ability is unaffected by the Avatar Storm.

At present, travel in the Shadowlands is a dangerous undertaking. Storms rage among the lands of the dead, often with a force comparable to hurricanes. These storms tend to spew forth shrapnel, caustic chemicals and even worse. Enter at your own risk.

Sjónhverfing ("Deceiving of the Sight")
Mind 2 or 4, or Entropy 5, or Forces 2

One of the hallmarks of the sei r art in the sagas is the power to cloud the minds of men. With her magic, the sei r worker is able to engulf others in illusion, forgetfulness, fear or even real fog.

System: The art of sjónhverfing draws upon the "evil eye." By chanting the gand, the sei r worker weaves a spell of illusion over all those within eyesight. At the most basic level, the mage may strike all of those in her presence with feelings of fear and dread. Each success from the spell adds one automatic success to any Intimidation rolls. At more powerful levels of skill, she may place illusions within men's minds, causing them to perceive people and objects as something else, or even make people believe that she has summoned storms or even turned the world upside down (completely distorting the victim's ability to tell up from down, or even to be able to properly process the sensory information his brain takes in.) In addition, some sei r workers also know how to physically blind men's sight by summoning thick fog and mist.

Huli Shjálmr ("Helmet of Hiding")
Prime 2 or 3, with Forces 2 or Mind 4, or Entropy 5

In addition to the powers of illusion, the sei r worker also knows the arts of invisibility. Although it is easiest for the mage to make herself invisible (by pulling her cat-skin hood over her head,) she may also use several methods to render another person invisible as well.

System: To make herself invisible, the sei r worker uses her own ritual cat-skin hood, enchanted with the powers of her magic. The magic takes effect instantly as the hood is pulled down. At basic levels, the sei r worker bends light around herself (and can only see in the IR and UV spectrums.) As her power grows, she becomes able to force others to ignore her presence or be unable to even recognize the very concept of her presence.

The mage can make others invisible as well, either by placing her hands on the person's head and chanting, or through the application of herbal powders.

Gand-rei ("Chant Riding")
Mind 4

With the power of the gand chant, the sei r worker is able to project her soul out into the world, entering the dreams of sleeping men, possessing the bodies of animals or even taking the form of a bodiless shade. With the power of the gand-rei, she is able to spy upon others, torment enemies with night terrors or even cause animals to attack.

System: The mage sits upon her hen-feather cushion, wrapped in her blue cloak while chanting the gand. Her soul then exits her body, traveling out towards her intended target. As an astral spirit, the sei r worker may enter the minds of those who are asleep, or she may possess the body of an animal. In the sagas, sei r workers are shown taking the forms of cats, wolves, ravens, horses, walrus and other animals.

Weather Working
Forces 4

By calling upon the spirits of storm and sea, the sei r worker can unleash and disperse powerful storm winds, summon or banish blizzards, and enrage or calm the ocean waves.

System: The mage sits atop her sei-hjallr and chants the var lokur to summon the powers of the Vanir. With the blessings of the ancient gods of earth, sea and sky, she is able to alter the weather in a manner of her choosing. This rote works as the Storm Watch effect on page 167 of Mage.

Other Magics

Wearing the Bear Shirt
Life 3, Mind 1, Spirit 4

Perhaps the most famous signature magic of the Norse, the wearing of the bear shirt (also known as berserking) enables the user to become a terror on the battle field. By channeling the spirit of the bear, the warrior is able to call upon the creature's strength and stamina, as well as its ferocity. Such magic may be among the most universal, as variations of the berserker warrior are found in the cultures of India, Africa and North America as well as among the ancient Germanic and Celtic peoples.

System: To perform the ritual, the user must have a shirt made of bear skin, preferably from a bear he has hunted and killed himself. Offerings must be made to appease the bear's spirit so that it will agree to lend the berserker its power. By drawing upon the natural connection between the bear-shirt and the bear's spirit, the mage is able to channel the spirit into himself. The bear's power then serves to increase the mage's physical strength and endurance, as well as help steel his mind against the pain of wounds, injury and exhaustion.

Singing by Moonlight - European Shamanism
Irish Rotes

Fatherless Birth
Entropy 5, Life 5, Prime 5, Spirit 5

Long before the Virgin Mary, women were giving birth without the touch of a man. Great men such as Väinämöinen and gods such as Raven were born from women who had not conceived them in the normal way. These conceptions were forced, using magic in the form of having the unsuspecting mothers swallowing tainted water, a wortleberry, or a pine needle. Väinämöinen's mother was thought to have been impregnated by the wind itself.

Despite this rote's name, these babies who are conceived through unusual means do actually have fathers -- of a sort. Spirits are responsible for the majority; the only ones without an obvious father spirit are Raven and Taliesin, who fathered themselves. The rote's name refers to the fact that insemination was accomplished by means other than sexual.

To create the Fatherless Birth, it takes exquisite control of all involved Spheres. The target doesn't have to be a virgin, but cannot be someone who has conceived a child before or thinks that she might (i.e. she has a regular sexual partner.) There are other things to consider -- how the mother will react in this day and age of several options for unwanted pregnancies, whether the caster can (or wants to) control the mother and/or child, etc.

System: The target of the Effect must be of childbearing age. The mage uses Spirit to call the child's father, then adds Life and Prime to create the "seed" of the magical child (a berry, a special draught of water, or other innocuous but natural object which must be ingested by the target,) and finally Entropy to place a destiny upon the child (and the ensure that the seed causes a pregnancy.)

Three successes are required on a single roll (no extended Effects;) extra successes strengthen the destiny. This rote is coincidental -- nobody really believes you can get pregnant from a magical berry, so others simply assume the mother simply doesn't want to identify the father.

Major Geas
Entropy 5, Mind 4

A more powerful and doom-ridden version of the Minor Geas (see below.) The Major Geas is not chosen voluntarily -- it is imposed on a target by the mage.

System: Similar to the Binding Oath Entropy Effect, except that Mind allows the Mage to force the compulsion upon a target. If he breaks the rule imposed, willingly or not, he suffers the terrible effects of ill fate. Successes determine how long the Effect lasts. This rote is coincidental.

Minor Geas
Entropy 2, Mind 2

The geasa -- an oath bond magical in nature -- were commonly used in Ireland. They were oaths or promises that had magical weight behind them, outweighing any and all personal morals. Bearers would often take the Minor Geas voluntarily, considering it a supplement to their already significant honor code.

In today's age, a Minor Geas can be used for anything as trivial as helping someone lose weight to forcing them to be polite in a tense diplomatic situation. A mage must always take on a Minor Geas voluntarily, as the Effect is not strong enough to force a will upon someone.

System: Mind forces the target's honor code to be bound by rules he has agreed to follow. Entropy punishes any who break the geas with bad luck. Casting successes dictate not only how strong the compulsion is, but how badly things go for whoever breaks the geas. This rote is coincidental.

Shapechange Curse
Life 5, Mind 4

121

Salmon of Wisdom
Mind 3, Time 2, optional Spirit 2

121

Warp-Spasm
Forces 3, Life 4, Prime 3

121