Lt a ye ee 171 fb PK oe GOLUB NRO Meo EcSECRETS AND SURVIVORS BRYAN ARITIOR, KRAIG BLACK WELDER, JOHN CHAITIBERS, ‘SAITICHUPP, LE@NARD GENTILE, ITIUR LAFFERTYSee 35) SY Le “al Wrens CREDITS Authors: Bryan Armor, Kraig Blackwelder, John Cham- bers, Sam Chupp, Leonard Gentile, MurLafferty. World ‘of Darkness created by Mark Reine Hagen Storyteller game system designed by Mark Rein*Hagen Development: Bill Bridges Concept: Jess Heinig Interior Art: Marko Djurdjevic, Leif Jones, Brian LeBlanc, Alex Sheikman, Ron Spencer Cover Art: Jason Felix Layout, Typesetting & Cover Design: Aileen E.Miles STONE MOUNTAIN, GA 30083 USA CAME STUDIO ©2003 White Wolf Publishing, Inc. Al rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission of the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and for blank character sheets, which may be reproduced for personal use only. White Wolf, Vampire, Vampire the Masquerade, Vampire the Dark Ages, Mage the Ascension, Hunter the Reckoning, World of Darkness and Aberrant are registered trademarks of White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. Werewolf the Apocalypse, Wraith the Oblivion, Changeling the Dreaming, Werewolfthe Wild West, Mage the Sorcerers Crusade, Wraith che Great War, Trinity, Dead Magic 2: Secrets and Survivors, Tradition Book: Dreamspeakers, and Manifesto: Transmissions from the Rogue Council are trademarks of White Wolf Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. All characters, names, places and text herein are copyrighted by White Wolf Publishing, Inc The mention fo reference to any company ot product in thes pages isnot a challenge to the tademark or copyright conceme This hook uses the supernatural for settings, characters and themes. All mystical and supernatural elements are fon an intend for entertainment purposes only. This book contains mature content Reader cretion Fora free White Wolf catalog call 1-800-454-WOLF. Check out White Wolf online at herp /fwww.white-wolf.cory; alt-games:uhitewol and ree-games fp storyteller PRINTED IN CANADA.PROL@GUE: THE IDES @F FEBRUUS How long? How long had itbeen, the high priest wondered, since he had first, been imprisoned? A longtime had passed, Larch was sure of that. Thousands of generations of spider, béetle and worm had played out their sad ltele lives in front of him, illumi nated by the glowing nimbus that surrounded the ancient Etruscan. And the murals of his tomb, whose colorshad once been so vivid, had faded to muted hues where they had not worn away entirely. Larth had watched it all. A. mortal mage would have been left insensate by the ‘magic that bound the high priest, but Larth had ceased to be mortal long before he had been entombed, Still, the swirling nimbus of light that surrounded Larth and wove time and space into a net to trap him had longago begun to fail. Where it had once glowed so bright as to illuminate his entire tomb, the light now barely illuminated the figures of the fishermen in the mural opposite him. Another century, Larth imagined, pethapstwo, and he wouldbe free. Almost no time atall for one such as he. Then, at last, he would learn what had transpired in Tarchna since his imprisonment. Because his tomb had remained sealed since the night the triumvirate of magi from Rome's Cult of Mercury had ambushed him, Larth had long ago pre pared himself for the worst. If upstart Rome had not conquered his beloved Tarchna, surely the priests whoknew of his home among the city’s dead would have come to free him from this awful prison. But they had rot come, nor had his fellow lucomones from the other city-states, though their powersof divination musthave told them of his plight. No, the only possibility that ‘made any sense was that the Romanshad wanted Larth eliminated before launching an attack against Tarchna and had sent their lackeys in the Cult of Mercury to ensure this was done. That Tarchna’s priests had never come tohis tomb afterward meant the attack must have succeeded. That the lucomones had never come meant that Tarchna wasonly the frst ofthe surviving Etruscan states tobe attacked. Even without his long-lost powers of divination, it had always been clear that not just Tarchna, but Etruria itself had been subdued by the upstart republic. How long ago had it been? How long since his people, his nation, all he'd ever cared for had fallen to dust? Suddenly, soundsinterrupted Larth'sreverie, Sounds likesomething wasscrapingon the masonry ofhistomb. Then light, dazzling light. It had been so long since Larth had seen any light besides that radiating from his prison. Could the light he had thought still so bright have really been so dim? The high priest’s ancient eyes struggled to adjust to this new light's brilliance. As they did, Larth could just make out the form of a woman stepping in front to face him — at least, the priest thought it to be a woman. The strange garb she wore rade it difficult to discern gender in the blinding light now flooding Larth’s tomb. Tn a.strange language, the yes, Larch ‘was sure his rescuer was a woman now... she addressed someone off to his right. The priest saw no one there. Then, he concentrated, his eyes piercing the veil be tween worlds. Aha, a shade, also strangely garbed. S this was to whom the woman spoke. If it still be Larth’s heart would have leapt into his throat. This woman wasaspeakerfor thedead, ashehadbeen. Could it be that Etruria still stood? That the priesthood stil existed and had finally come to free him? Then, the ‘woman addressed Larth, and his dead blood grew colder still At first, she addressed Larch in the same language shehadspoken tothe shade in, but when shesaw Larth’s brow furrow at its incomprehensibility, she spoke again inatongue Larth wasquite familiar with, one he'd heard over and over again during his imprisonment as he replayed the details of his ambush and capture in his mind. Latin. The woman spoke Latin. Could it be that the scions of Romulusstill ruled above in Tarchna after so very long! Reflexively, Larth attempted to raise his right hand to stop the hated words from coming —and irmoved Larth had thought that the glow from the chains of time and space thar imprisoned him had merely faded in intensity in comparison to the flood of outside light that now illuminated his tomb, but there was more to it than that. The woman entering the tomb had brought some- thing with her, something that had worn away at the magics that bound Larth. The net woven round the high priest was fragile now, little more than a shimmering cobweb. “...ob ancient scion of Caine,” the woman contin ued, “reveal to your descendents’ lowly servant how she might free your incorruptible flesh from this tomb that has held you for so very long Inconceivable. Not only was this woman prattling ‘on in the hated tongue of Rome; now she'd mistaken him for one of the undead tomb skulkers that infested lesser lands necropoli and fed off theircitizens. Had the Romans conquered Etruria and then, in their igno- tance, allowed the grave demons — demons the lucomones had banished to the simpler lands surround- ingEtruria—to overrun thesacrosanct tombsof arth’s forefathers? Larth had to know. Larth flexed the divine spark that burned within hhim, and the magic binding him for untold centuries was sloughed off like so much dead weight. He took a step forward and smiled wickedly atthe womgn whohad so stupidly dared to invade his home and prison spout. ing Latin and mistaking him from the accursed of the Hebrew god. Too late, the woman seemed torealize that something had gone terribly awry with her and her master’s plan, whatever it might have been. “Please,” she pleaded, still speaking in the hated tongue, “I'm here to help you. “Oh, donotconcem yourselfover th: also in Latin, “you shall indeed help me. , Larth spat, Like the worms that forever managed to wriggle their way inside of Larth’s tomb, the high priest's mind slipped into the mind of the undead!’ thrall. The crea. ture screamed and then began pabblingin her annoying nonsense tongue. No matter, the priest didn’t need to understand her language to learn what he needed to know. Images flooded his mind. Of undead creatures seeking one of their own elders entombed in. ‘Tarquinia.... Of how one of these entities intended to devour the ancient’s blood and very soul and ofthe lore of death they all hoped to plunder from both tomb and soul. Incensed, Larch pushed deeper into her mind to learn of Tarchna and Rome. And he leamed what litle she knew, but enough to confirm his worst fears. Etruriawaslongdead. Rome too, though not before the upstarts builtan empire greater than Alexander’sand held it for more than a thousand years. Rage welled up inside Larth, He'd been entombed formore than two thousand years. His nation and all its people had been wiped from the pages of history, with litele more than a smattering of examples of its art and literature having survived to the present. The final irony was that what litcle was known was passed on by Erruria’s conqueror, Rome. Tewas just too much to bear. Larth’s mind withdrew from the woman, whom he now knew to be called Lucrecia della Passaglia. She dropped hard to the floor of the tomb. This apparently alerted the shade, whom Larth now knew was called/Anton, to the fact that something had to be done to save his mistress, so he stupidly moved to interpose himself between the high priest and the woman, Larth was not amused Larth reached within his robes and drew fortha simple silver key, pointing it past the blustering shade at a mural of a set of double doors flanked by two men garbed much like Larth himself: “Mighty Vanth,” the priest began speaking in a language dead fortwo millen- tia, “grant me, your humble priest, egress to thy realm.” A seam appeared between and around the two painted doors, and then, quite suddenly, they swung backtoreveal a twistinghallway of black basalt, wherein dark noisome things skittered and chattered. Catching sight of this, Anton’s face contorted into a mask of absolute terror. “Greetings, servants of Charun, Lord of the Dead,” Larth spoke in his dead tongue, unmoved by Anton's plight. “Ibid thee welcome to the lands of the quick and offer you these tender morsels as sacrifice. Do my will, and I promise you many, many more.” ‘At this, a horrible buzzing erupted from the crea- tures’ ranks, a buzzing not so much heard as felt: As Larth concentrated, the buzzing resolved itselfinto a chorus of voices, speaking as one. “What have you to offer, priest, that we may not just take?” “offer you freedom to indulge your darkest desires, coh Charontes | offer you slaughter on a scale not seen in eons. I offer you the bodies and souls of all those usurpers who dwell in the city above. | would see them all butchered, their city razed and lost Tarchna resur- rected atop the bones of their Tarquinia’.” “No, Great Nesna Nethshrac, do not do this thing,” a voice called out in the mother tongue. Larth whirled to see that two more oddly dressed people haddared to intrude upon histomb,each bearing ‘metal torch from which an amber glow radi- ated. “Who are you, that you speak the language of my people and would dare to stay my hand from its righ teous vengeance” “My name is Massimmo Pallottino, and the mem- bers of my family are che last survivors of the Etruscan priesthood. “Absurd,” spoke Larth. “Ifthat were true, you would certainly join me in my que ish the usurpersand bring back the glory of Etruria “Great Priest, those who brought ruin to your king domare long dead, their empire dust. The people in the city above are innocent of the crimes you would punish them for. My initiate and I sought to free you from your prison at long last and would have done so had not this woman, a servant of this land’s vampiric nigromancers, not interfered.” : “e matters not who freed me or their motivations. fordoingso. I was wrongfully imprisoned for more than two millennia while the people above picked clean the bones of my—our—civilization. They will be made to pay. The only question is whether you and the novice will stand with me or against me. What say you.” “If you can not be dissuaded from your course of genocide, then we must stand against you.” “So be it. What say you, Charontes?” From behind the portal, a veritable wave of the chittering, inhuman creatures fose up and then leapt through the door. Anton and Lucreaia vanished under their monstrous, dark-blue forms. “Yourgetms are agree able to us, Nesna Nethshrac,” they buzzed excitedly. Massimmo began to speak the ancient charms of binding the beasts of the Underworld, but wasstruck by a flury of the Charontes beforehe could bringhis magic to bear against them. “Hold them fast, but do not kill these two. instructed Lath. ‘A pair of Charontes held Massimmo fast, and one narrowly grabbed hold of the mage’s apprentice’ right arm, Many others flooded outside like an ill wind, the violence of their exit extinguishing the lights that had illuminated the tomb's interior, and plinging the mau soleum into darkness. At his wits’ end, the apprentice mage hurled a minor spirit-wracking rote at the Charontes holding fast to his arm. Enraged, the creature wrenched the young man's arm back hard, bending it the wrong way at the elbow, and backhanded him across the face, its wicked claws drawing deep gashes across his eyes. The apprentice landed near the open door of the tomb, yet,”scrambled awkwardly to his feet and ran staggering out the tomb’s open door. “Thinkaboutwhat you're doing, NesnaNethshrac,” Massimo pleaded. “Our kind is charged with protect ing the living from the Restless Dead that would harm them. We pledged our lives to that cause.” Larth tured to face the ‘priest’ suspended before him, eyes narrowing in anger. “I'Ilhave youknow, I died 20yeats before I wasimprisoned by the Roman dos,and ‘onthe day] became immortal, pledged my eternal half life to protecting the people of Tarchna. In that I may have failed, to my eternal shame, but | will se to it chat they are avenged, so help me gods. And no Roman sympathizer like you is going to stop me.” “Roman sympathizer? Listen to yourself, Great Priest. Think. I am no sympathizer—there are no sympathiz ets. What's more, there are no Romans. The Roman Empire fell to barbarians hundreds of years ago.” “Lwill hear no more of this. Charontes, teach this ‘priest’ the value of silence At this, the two spirits tugged on the mage’s arms. The right arm popped from its socket with a ere, and the man gritted his teeth hard, cold sweat pouring from his brow. There was a sharp gasp from the comb’s entrance, Larth spun at this to find himself confronted with two more intruders on his sanctuafy, a tall man with flaming red hairandasmall, lean, raven-tressed woman. “More foreigners. Charontes, here are two new sacrifices for yon. Kill the trespasser.” Needing little encouragement, the two Charontes hurled themselves at the newcomers but were stopped dead a meter distant by some unseen barrier. As the spirits struck the unseen ward, a medallion in the woman's outstretched hand glowed a cold blie. Larth recognized the symbol on the medallion — the Seal of Solomon, Larth whirled on the injured mage lying on the «ground at his feet, hisface contorted by rage. “The Cult of Mercury,” the ancient priest screamed, “You claim to of Etruria and dare to ally yourself with the ssimmo protested, raising his good arm in a gesture of peace. “I's not like that. They aren’t what you think. And I didn’t know about—’ Silence, falsepriest,” shouted the NesnaNethshrac, pointing hisfinger at Pallottino. “Enough of your lies. Larth Fulumchva, Lucomones and Nesna Nethshrac to the dodecopoli of Etruria, name thee false priest, blas phemer and traitor to the Etruscan people. In the name of all that was done to myself and our people, I give to Bo Deab TAG ILthee the Release of the Agonizing Death. May Vanth flay the flesh from your shade and Charun hammer your soul to jelly.” Ac these words, Palloctino began to writhe seream- {ng in agony on the floor of the tomb, only to explode into dust a moment later. Throbbing with power, hisdivine spark now fanned toablazing brand, Larth turned todeal with the intrud ers, when the fire blazing within himself began to burn him. Wherever this inner fire erupted from, he began to rot, the years he had denied to the grave for so long now taking their toll on his undying form, ‘aking full advantage of Larch’s debility, the tall man raised a wand of gleaming orichalcum at the priest. Itsend erupted with fire and ah carsplitting crack like a thunderbolt, and Larth felt his torso explode, showering the tear of his tomb with blood and gore. The pain was incredible, but Larth knew such an injury would not, could not, kill him, Still, he was terribly injured, and his own magic had burned him: He would not be imprisoned again. Now was the time to flee. Calling to mind the rote he'd used earlier, Larth again pointed hissilver key atthe door mural, intending totransport himself oasafe portion of the Underworld Instead, the portal opened to reveal enormous roiling clouds of spirit jetsam, ridden by a hundred Charontes. Suddenly the terrible burning erupted from inside him again as he lingered on the edge of the open spirit doorway; there was another sharp report from behind, then another, and a sudden loss of balance as he fell through the portal. Falling end over end, he saw the portal far above him wink o Larth’s broken body came to rest with a crash Above the high priest, a whirling mass of Charontes faltered in their flight, only to dive down and land next tohim. Larth struggled to make his broken, rotted form rise, but to no avail. As he lay there, waiting for the ‘Charontes to fall upon and devour him, Larth heard their incessant buzzing grow toa fever pitch. And then, he heard a voice behind the buzzing, or over it, or within. It whispered to him reassuringly, promising surcease ftom his pain and sanctuaryamongst her brood. “The End is nigh,” the kindly voice whispered. “The time of Epopteia comes, when your kind will be undone. But you will survive this time of trouble, as you have survived so very much. And I will help you to grow strong again, that you might serve me.” ‘And as she spoke, Larth saw in his mind!’s eye the future unfold before him as chad so many centuries ago. ‘And what he saw was both wonderful and terrible beyond imagining. of existence.INTR@DUCTICN: THAT \X/HICH This second volume of the Dead Magic series is titled Secrets and Survivors. The rmagics explored herein are largely forgot: tenby the modern world —but they'renot exactly dead. Someone, somewhere, stil practices these old ways, and can be ap- proached to teach them to a new generation. That doesn’t mean it will be easy finding these rare, few mages, or that they'll want to be found, much less be willing to teach their ancient secrets to whomnever has the temericy to track themdown. These wayshave been kepthidden for a reason, either because their practitioners despise the modern world and don’t want to taint their old tradi- tions by subjecting them to it, or because they hold dangerous power their wieldersdon’t want to share —or that rivals don’t want to see unearthed. The Traditions can no longer rely on their own ways to escape the predicament they're in, with the 10 Deap Macc Il FTAA TE CL TR TRE OE PR Ee. Avatar Sto worlds, the ing across the Gauntlet between ers missing in action, and the Tech ingitspower. [t's time tofan out across the world and rediscover what was ost, reconnect with the forgotten magical heritages of many cultures, and discover new methods of reaching for the unastain able: Ascension. R@GUE COUNCIL, TRAVEL@GUES Spusring this new Rogue Couneil. The Spl nocracy cer he enigmatic rm across the world with mysterious edictsand clues, urging them to explore the forgotten cosners of the planet for lost magic thatstil inexplicably survives in thehands of unknown mages or elder spirits. es to mages hinxisinvolvedin, contro lly follow these messages, Aswithanything th versyarises. Many wholbur some distrust them and wonder what their real purpose is: To truly reawaken a lineage to the past, orto rouse entities best left undisturbed? Some mages so greatly fear this endeavor that they actively attempt to thwartit, goingsofarastoattack mages who pursuesuch research. Of course, the Technocracy also distrusts anything these Reality Deviants engage in, and it also movesto investigate these messages from the Sphinx — apparently, these messages aren't just delivered to the Traditions, spurringspeculation about mad purpose to turn both sides against one another in open warfare. The truth behind all this furious activity is un- known, buteven those whoside with the Sphinx wonder: Are the End Times finally upon us? Is Ascension truly at hand? Oris this the last gasp of dying worldview, the desperate writhing of magicasitfinally des, killed by the vvietory of the Technocratie paradigm? For more information on the Rogue Council, see Manifesto: Transmissions from the Rogue Council. FRemM EAST Te WEST Dead Magic 2: Secrets and Survivors explores old ways from around the world and from different eras. While the magics of the Australian aboriginal natives never really died out, the magic of ancient Etruria hasn't had a true practitioner since the fall of Rome. Mages seeking these secrets —no matter how alive or dead — should keep one admonishment in mind: Tread carefull Sad Islands in Strange Seas: Polynesia explores the South Seas islands and their magical traditions — largely ignored by modern Traditionalists and Techno- cratsalike. From Hawaii and Easter Island to Samoaand New Zealand, the ways of the kahunas are explored, including the fascinating powers of wis, tarus and ‘mokomai (head-hunting). Wide Awake in the Dreamtime: Native Australia reveals the hidden landscape of the Dreamtime, em powering the spirit world of Australia. Only those who trulyliveon the land and areinitiatedbyitcanknow the Dreaming — all others are blind to its gifts. But once you've tasted che Dreaming, youmay not wanttoleare, for no other place will seem like home. ‘And the Beat Goes On: Shakti and Shiva takes us to exotic India and exposes us to forbidden Hindu rites dedicated to Shakti in her apocalyptic form of Kali, the ‘World Destroyer. Aiso detailed is her husband, Shiva, whose followers vie with Kalis cultists to prevent the premature end of the world. Modern mages can involve themselves in this struggle and reap many magical secrets — but at what cost? Yh fa, yew \ Wes Vr MMey ag WARNING! This book deals with some dark-and nasty themes — things like Ragnarok, evil tikisdedicated| to deep sea gods, an immortal liche, and Kali herself, the goddess of raw destruction. Oddly ‘enough, there is no Black Dog Game Factory logo. That doesn’t mean you shouldn't act mature when! fading some of this material; we justfigure that you know what to expect bynow and don’t need a logo to hold your hand and warn you away from the| gritty stuff Just co make it clear: this book is recommended for mature readers, That said, we don’t recommend you read this with salacious intent. These themes are explored in| the context of the World of Darkness — a ho Phrlls, but to honestly express the material covered you can’t talk about Kali without considering] some disturbing images. Sure, chis stuff can be! spooky — that's part of the point —but it should ward others, I's all part of playing a hort roleplaying game. In the Shadows of the World Ash: The Norse delves into the ancient ways of runesinging and fate- weaving, still kept alive by a hidden few but usually taught only to thove willing to relive the All-Father's sacrifice on the World Tree —a dangerous stunt not many mages could survive. The ways of the runes are harsh and unforgiving, butalso powerful and brimming with wisdom from the wells of fate. Singing by Moonlight: European Shamanism ooks at the diverse practices of Celtic, Finnish, Germanic and Slavic peoples: the shamanic songs, spells and ‘Wonders still remembered in epic and story, but rarely practiced by magesin thisday andage. Some ofthese old ‘ways still hold power and can be renewed by those willing to put in the hard years of study and fieldwork ‘The Lost Empire: Etruria uncovers the supernatu- ral secrets of the Etruscans, the civilization that birthed Rome but was later subsumed by it. The Ides of Febmaus prologue told the tale of che unearthing of an efder horror. This chapter reveals different perspectives on that event, along with rotes, Wonders and creatures ‘once associated with Etruscan magic. airs weyTIO TE EL TEM TORE TN Te-was raining in Seattle and the natives were happy. It had been a long, dry summer thanks o global warming —and the city, used tobeingconstandly washed clean, hadbegun to take ona nasty funk: The alleys recked of stale piss and the whole are of land around the ‘a___| Sound had developed a fishy odor Michael “Mutt” Eimut walked down Pike I Stree wth his leather hackpack ul to busting He kepe upa fase pace, his eyes scanning lft and right for the Kon-Tiki restaurant, where he was suposed to have been 10 sminutesago, When he foundit, hisforehead erinkled abit. The Xoon-Tiki looked too forgotten toberel toohokey toexisinthe 21century. The arcing ouriger beam poked up from the front ofthe A-frame struccure and curved upwas From itscarved tip hung a crcked lamp that swung forlomly in the cold wind Mutt thought he might have seen places like this before ‘lot of restaurants and hotels built in the early "60s tried to take on a patina of mystery. They put thatching over the shingles, aed afew bamboo poles and gave everything an exotic Polynesian feel in order to pander South Pacific exoticism to Americans, for whom everyching had been rendered banal by the thoroughly sterilized Eisenhower era There was no street aumber, but Kon-Tiki was clearly the place he was supposed to be. Mutt expected the dark, z-wood door to be locked, but it opened smoothly, ‘itl Pee VEL a BaP BEY ‘iy a lad Inside, Kon-Tiki was absolutely black. He considered the posibility thathe might be walking into.a Technoeracy trap, ‘and his stomach began to chutn, “Mute was preparing to call a moon spirit to provide some light when he heard a low, accented voice ask “What's your name, boy” Un “Good,” said the voice, "You're the guy. | wasn't sure. sly Mutt," replied the soung mage “Tem late, actually.” “You're les late than anyone else has been, That makes you ea. Inthe middle ofthe vast, open space, a bonfire roared to life in the center of a poo! of placid water. Inthe flight, Mutt noticed the profusion of grotesque, carved wooden ik staring at him from everywhere. Some were ta standing, others perched on poles, locking down at him. Smaller ones rested on the dusty old chairs that had’t seen. any use since Kon-Tiki closed down in 1973. He'd seen these carved idols before, and they dalways seemed silly, a remnant of partculaely odd American taste. Now, however, in the firelight, there was something powerfully creepy about therm A figure sitting infront of the flaming fountain rose and approached Mutt. The shadow offered its hand, ard Mutt shook it, which seemed somehow odd falsely intimate, SAD ISLANDS Iv STRANGE SEAS: POLYNESIA 13since the backlighting prevented Mute from seeing the other man's face. “My name's Momana. Call me Mo.” “Sure,” said Mut, figuring it was a fake name anyway. “So you can actually get me out of Seatele without getting caught?” So how hot on your heels are the Techies?” “A Man in Gray and some MIBs showed up yesterday looking for me at my mom's place, but she told them I had ‘moved outand hadn't given hermy new address yet. They were {inclined to wait around, but our house, which l awakened, was prety hostile to them, so they sid they'd be back later.” “Awakened your house, huh? Is that why they're on your” “Matt's voice took on a hard edge when he answered “They’ce on me because I'm following the religious heritage of my people, the Salish tribe, and they don’t like it “Noneed to gethostle with me, kid 'velivedit over, and cover and over. That's why I help people in your shoes, yeah? Speaking of which, weld better start making some moves toward getting you saved. You'e sure you weren' followed?” “Lhave a whole flock of raven spirits following me and they haven't seen a thing, sono, I don think so. And ean | see your face? Talking t0 you without seeing your face is getting creepy.” “Sure. Butyou might find that creepy, too." Mo gestured and a line of torches on poles flickered ta life. Mo's appearance startled Mutt, bute tried not to show it The older man had deep grooves carved into his face and complex, spiraling tattoos that covered all of his exposed head and most ofhisneck: He looked vaguely Asian, but not «quite, and the longhair briefly made Mutt think Mo might be from another Native American tbe: “Wow,” ssid Mutt. "Nice tattoos” “They'tenottattoos,"snid the oklerman blundy.“They'te ‘oko. It’s a Mace tribal tradition. The diference between a tattoo and a moko islike the diference between adoodle and coat of arms: one is casual, the other is fundamental to the wearer's family and spiritual life.” “Mate looked around. The carved wood ofthe tikis bore ‘amodest resemblance tothe totem poles carved by his people and, chought of in that light, seemed almose comforting. “Is this the only place you could arrange to meet? I's kind of an ‘odd choice, don’t you eink?” “Don'tknockit. We're saferhere than any otherplacein Seattle.” "Why?" “The tikis keep anyone from spying on ws.” “These goofy old things?” said Mutt glancing at the big carved idols. “Yeah, ifthe Technocracyisscaredby bad taste ‘These are just cheap knock offs anyway, right!” “Thecheesy ones that used tobe here were. made these and brought them from Ao Te Aroa myself” Deap Macic tt iden i cy Ce 7 Hinge g ' pega ey avis Tey, "Oh," said Mutt. “You made these?” “Yes” "Wow," sid the youngman,"Thattakesalotof kook" “A lot of...?Oh, yea, it does. But somebody has to do this right! Or else the world becomes a landscape of plastic and glass and chrome for as far asthe eye can see, and that’s ‘not really my style.” “Mine either.” "So dont be knockin’ Tiki- Maori tndton holds him in exceedingly high reverence. He was the fist man and the fist teacher. He aught the arts of may to humanity and he still acs as an ntermediarybetween the worldofsprt and the workthing. ‘And speaking of things, you got everything you'e bringing” “Yeah.” said Mutt, glancing at his leather backpack “Ifyou need to make a bathroom stop, you'd better take care ofit before we leave Kon-Tiki. We have to take my waka —my canoe —allong long ways. on the ocean. Are youokay with that? You don’t get seasick or anything, right?” Muct laughed “TI sad something funny, hu?” “Vm in a lot of trouble if I can't deal with a canoe ti “You're right, but why do you say that?” “My totem is Ocean.” Mo nodded approvingly: “Good. That should make things easier. Last guy I helped out this way, also a ‘Speaker — city guy, yeah? — had Train as his torem. Guy was ‘unstoppable: Great ina fight, great at geting around on land, but rake him on the water he was useles.” “How'd that curn out?” Notso good, but we both lived. Hehad some other, ub, allieshe could call nin apinch, andit’s good because we saw a lot of Tech action when we made a port call in San Francisco.” “That where we're going?” “Nope. Won't even be stopping there this time around ‘Too dangerous these days." “Then where are we going’ “Beautiful, exotic Polynes: “Uh...” began Mutt. "That's prety far, isnt” Mo shrugged. “According to the Sphinx, i's exactly where you need to be.” "You from these” “Yup” “Dreamspeaker”” “Nope.” Mutthad assumed that Mo wasa Dreamspeakerlike him, and that chat was why the olderman had contacted himabout leaving the city just when he needed it most. He found himself growing suxidenly suspicious ofthe tattooed man. "What Trad you from?” fm not. I'm a tohunga.” 1 whee aft i Ae iy ide Ver fear ME alt Hy“What's thae?” “That's what they calla mage in AoTe Aroa.So,ifyou're all set, ler’s head down to the water then, yeah? No calking after we leave Kon-Tikior the Techies mightpickusup. Once wwe geta ways out tosea I'l give you the ull spel about where we're raking you." They slipped out the front door, Mo locked it and they began the six-block hike through the rain to Puget Sound. ‘Mutt found himself growing sad, marking in te-moko represents the individuals standing within is tribe, sub-tribe and family. The marks of ako show vocation and level of accomplishment as well s [gencalogy. If man is a warcior, a portion of his facial markings represents that. eis aizhunga he Maoeerm fora mage) he has a mark to show that aswell, Not oly does the moko indicat its wearers rade, separate mark} reveal how accomplished he is at what he does, reveal ac glance fe is simply amman-atanmns ora battle-tested Fradition terms) an Initiate, an Adept ora Master. Unlike the tattoos common in the westem world ‘oko aren't applied with néedles, but with a fine chisel alhacyoss bone. In addition to its pigment, the whi gener- ally leaves deep grooves inthe skin as wel, ranting the ecipient’ face aslight resemblance to carved wood. This cn'tanaccident. The Maori were (andstill are) excellent [craftsmen and carvers, and they use the same decorati motifs with every medium they carve on, whether it be wooden canoes, tiki, jade pendants or flesh. ‘The word formokocomesformthe name ofRusnumiokoy the lst (and unborn) child of Rangi, the Maori goes Bhe earth, Ruaumoko is the god of earthquakes and! elcanism and his name means “the trembling current that Ruaumoko is kicking his mother’s belly again. Maori held that Ruaomoko, through hisearthquakes Jand volcanic activity, was responsible for the deep, un- [even grooves they saw on the land and drew connectors and) may present significant social repercussions, fany tohurga who does not get te-moko is at a profound! AY f ving ery ‘When they got co the water, Mo pointed out whe his canoe was hidden Seattle had been improving the waterfront fora while to appeal to the city’s rampant yuppie population; that luckily included putting ina numberof bushes. From behind arow of hashes the two mages pulled a beautifully carved outrigger canoe and carried it to the water. ‘The twogotin andstarted palling, Thecanoesticedcleanly through the water, and it amazed Murz how quickly i went ‘Once they gotten well away from lind, Mo said, “Tm sping to need to have you doa lot ofthe rowing. There wil be times when bedoing...thingstogetustherefisterandl might beable totalk, but ll ned my handk re. You okay with that? “Mute shrugged. “Sure. [can’t believe you just left this canoe there where anybody could find it.” “People don’t pay attention to anything these days, ‘They'e so used to being spoon ed if something isn lit in neon, off it doesn't come at them from theit TV screen or computer monitor, they mis it. Its one of the pathetic consequences of the current paradigm. We call them ‘unAwakened fora reason right? Sure, somebody might have found it, but i's only a canoe, right? One of hundreds up in this area, and i's to big to steal easly, s0 they're not likely tobotherwithit.’snotlikeitfliesoranything. Atleast,” Mo paused a moment, “not without me in it it doesn’ Mutt and Mo paddled fora while. Mo kept looking up at the night sky, getting his bearings. When hey were both paddling and he knew they were going in the right direction, Mo spoke again, WHAT IS POLYNESIA? *Youknow what mean when talkaboutPolynesa right?” “Uh, I don't know. I's like Hawaii, right?” Mo sighed. “They don't realy stres geography much in schools these days, do they?” Mutt shrugged. “Depends on the school, I guess.” “Polynesia is the name given to the various islands thoughout the South Pacific. Think fit asatriangl with its points at Hawaii, Ao Te Aroa and Rapa Nuic” “Where? have no idea where those last two places are.” Oh, Iques the pakaha terms would make more sense to you Hawaii, New Zealandand, ub, what'sitcalle... asterlstand. Or Lalslade Pascua, as’ called by its new owners. Nothing really Polynesianabout Rapa Nuithesedays. Allisoriginal inhabitants dled out, but I'l be getting to that, You ready for your lecture?” “Uh, I guess” “You'd hetterbe, yeah? Thats where we're headed now.” “Yeah, unless you'd rather stay in Seatle.” *No, man, I really need to get out of town.” “Well, there it is then. So where was 1 The fist Polynesians left southeast Asiaandsetcled Tonga and Samoa Sap Sans IN STRANGE SEAS: POLYNESIA 15 2 wah aye wn vad tanh, pie et f° i {about 1000 BCE. That was enough fora while, yea the fertility tikis did theic job maybe just a little too well and before long the populations of both of those islands Were straining the resources ofthe islands, “These crazy voyages were made in double canoes, joined together bya wide central platform to transport and shelter people, taro roots, yams, chickens, dogs, drinking water and food for the trip. They knew what they were doing, yeah? And given that they were going against the prevailing winds and ocean currents, it took a lot of knowledge ofseamanship an ‘onand afairamount of magic just to make it. “So they got into their fancy canoes and they filled them with chickens and taro wot and sweet potatoes and all the ‘ther food staples of the Polynesian peoples and launched themselves onto the open ocean. With the people went the kahuna, the mages who used spirits and magic to make the journey alittle faster and easier. Still, can you imagine giving ‘uptheonty island you'deverknown ogo look or another that might be 10, hundred ora thousand miles away? Inacanoe? “From Tonga and Samoa they colonized Te Henua Enata around 300CE. A couple of centuries later another wave ofcolonization took the Polynesians north to Hawaii and southeast to Rapa Nui. The last portion of the Polynesian diaspora took the Polynesians to Rarotonga and Tahiti and environs around 600, and to AoTe Aroa, amy island, around 800." “Ao Te Aroa is New Zealand, right?” “Yup. A lot ofthe islands are known by other, Euro- pean names these days, but I refuse to use them because they leave a biter taste in my mouth. “Once the Polynesians settled Ao Te Aroa, they were the most widely spread people on the face of the planer, effectively controlling-an area roughly twice the size ofthe continental United States,” “How do you know all this stuff?” “Well, I've been around fora long rime and I've kept ray eyesopen the whole time, for one thing, yeah? And when I'm ‘ot running around making magic and saving the ases of ‘mages who've gotten themselves in trouble I'm a professor of Polynesian culture at the University of Auckland. Nifty huh?” “Wow.” “Temakes for an interesting life I'l give it thet. And since I'm the professor, here's your ftse question: What's the difference between a kahuna, a tuhuna and a tohunga? “Ldon't know what any of them are, so [have no idea what the difference is between them “Okay, fair enough. They'te all three diferent words for thesamething. A kakunaisa Hawaiian mage atuhunaisamage from Te Henua Enata, and aug is whae am, amage from AoTe Arca. Butt’sll te same thing. The words ust shifted linguistically litle between islands, that'sall Weal practice ‘una, avery loose catchall phrase for Polynesian magic.” 16 Deap Mack Il - Le iaery“Is there more than one word for the unAwakened? Because if there are, and if t's important, 'm going to have to start writing ths stuff down.” “No, don't worry about it. There are different words, suppose fromthe differen islands, butmostof the mages! know just call them makaainani. That basically means commoners." HAWAlk (WESTERN POLYNESIA) “Polynesians from most ofthe islands speak of a home- land tothe west that they call Hawaiki.Ittakes on kind of a legendary sheen ina lor of the stories that get told about it — the great original homeland of the Polynesians — but it basically allreferstothe same place: western Polynesia, which ‘comprises Tonga and the Samoas. “While Hawaiki may have a certain panache among Polynesians the realities the situation —asfaraspractitio ners of hund ate concemed, anyway — ate kindof pathetic. The earliest Polynesians, those of Tonga and Samoa, dh hhave much kil with magicatall. They made do with a litle Correspondence to get where they were going and 2 few minor agreements with spirits to help them out once they got there. That was petty much it. And that was back in the so- called “good old days” Life in Tonga and Samoa must have been too comfortable, of something, because they never got ‘much beyond that rudimentary level of magic. “The lsc 200 yearshave further devastated Hawai making {tashadow even of ts pathetic former self, and that’s pretty sad, because even at its mystical and cultural height i never was the seat and shining homeland thatthe legends made it out to be. Tenca “The initial colonisation of Tonga took place about 3000 years ago. Back chen they were real hell-raisers. They init ated the long, violent history of warring kahunas along, long time ago, although from what I've come to understand, theit magic waspretty lameand not particularly frightening You're probably abettermage than most of those early Tongans, and you're only, what, 252 They spent so much time fighting, though, that they just didn’thave time tolear the principles ‘of magic in any depth. The ancient Tongans get a Tot of ‘comparisons to the Vikings. War, to them, was a noble and eclfying pastime, while peace was a boring state best lefe to women and children. As they expanded out from island to island, they spread their violene approach to the world. At their peak, the Tongans had extended ther island empire so farasto include Nive, Tokelau, Samoa and partsof Fj twas ‘an impressive feat, particularly given their weak comprehen sion of huna. Stil, think they squandered so much energy backthen, and had somany oftheir greatest wariorsklled off that, overtime, they lost loc oftheir drive. There wasatime when they were fierce warriors, but over time all of theit movers and shakers cither colonized other parts of Polynesia ‘or got themselves killed Wye Beal et sony! fl “For centuries, che Tutt Kanokupolu,akind of high ciel, wastheruleofthe Tongans.andheleradson other islandsand hha a swarm of wives and got all kinds of other advantages, but the power of Tonga started waningassoonasallthehot blooded youngster went off tocolonize Te Enua Enata.Aftera while it ‘was pointless tobe the Tui Kanokupolu because Tonga had lost allits vigoe and driv, bu I'l get to that in a second, “Modem Tongans confuse me. On one hand, they clara tobe aggressively independent, and they can prove i, because they'ethe lastisland monarchy inPolynesia. nallofPolynesi, they'e the only ones who refused to become a colony for Europe. That's a big deal. On the other hand, they still did everthing they ould toforeswear their Polynesian heritage in favor of a European model. That goes double for anything involving religion, yeah? Once the missionaries went to work ‘on them, they tosed out the old ways in under a generation. “Given the weaknessoftheirkahuras,itmakes more sense, 1 gues. Tanga stl has small andl of ld kahuna living on some ofits more remote islands, but cheyre mostly navigators using Heelge Magic. So far as can tell — and could be wrong, ‘because don'tspend much time in Hawaikithesedays— Tonga ‘has ony one fully Awakened mage, Saloe Fu, and not only is thea cranky old bastard, but he can't seem to do much magic beyond the occasional simple apprentice's roe. Pathetic, yeah? SATIGA “That said, Tonga still has the advantage over Samoa. (Only Rapa Nui is more pathetic asthe Polynesian work goes. Missionaries did a real number on Samoa. More than any cother Polynesian people, the Samoans have tumed their backs on their heritage and become Bible thumpers. And poverty-atrcken Bible thumpers at that. It's like a fuckin’ trailer park in the middle ofthe Pacific Ocean, yeah? Not to ‘mention they allrek of rancid coconut milk. I's disgusting “Twomissionariesin particular, the aptly named Charles Barffandhis brother in-dogma John Williamscame onto the island around 1830 and went berserk with the conversions. “They got hundred and hundreds of Samoans to swear off the old religion, but they weren'tquiteaseffectiveasthey needed tobe, poor guys. The pious Reverend Williams wound up as the main course in a good old-fashioned Tongan barbeque, and nota minute r00 S000, | say. Unfortunately, the damage ‘was done and, ike heads on a hydra, more missionaries came pouring in to take his place — pushy, self-righteous bastards —and in time they had their way with the entite population cof Samoa, all however many islands of it. Its now known as the Bible belt of the Pacific, and thas no, no practitioners of una. The irony hereis that thinkacluster of —whatdothey call them! — Celestial Choristersas taken up residence on ago Pago, and that's it for Samoa’s Awakened population. "Okay, I don'e want to talk about Hawaiki any more I depresses me. Let's ge to the good stuf.” ‘SAD ISLANDS IN STRANGE SEAS: POLYNESIA i sy hastiend (ata "na HY las RE tetEASTERN POLYNESIA TEHENUA ENATA (ITIARQUESAS) “You've heard of Marquesas, right?” asked Mo. Muttstoppestto think about it fora moment I don't know why." “There wasashow onthe television afew yearsagocalled ‘Survivor, yeah? They filmed it there.” “wasstudying with ourmedicine man ightaroue then, said Mutr, “so I never saw it, but my sister talked about ita lot.” “The rightful Polynesian name is Te Henua Enata, which means The Land of Man. This is where we can start talking about the ral tuna. Te Henua Enata isthe central jewel in the crown of Polynesian magic. When the early Polynesians eame east from Hawaii, ¢ was Te Henua Enata that the found and colonized back in 300 CE. “Technically, Te HenwaEnata comprises rwoarchipela- ‘gos, the north islands of Nuku Hiva (the modem capitol), Ua Pou, and Ua Huka; and the southern islands of Hiva Oa, ‘Tabuata and Fatu Hiva. There are some other little islets that poke up here and ther along the archipelagos; they're rarely inhabited, so they're good places for doing long rituals that ‘you don’t want anyone finding you performing — just don't do anything that causes the ocean to get mad, because they'te not far enough above sea level ro provide you with much protection. The people and cultures of both archipelagos are the same, so they're appropriately lumped together. “Te Henua Enata is where tattoos wee fit invested with spiritual and magical abilities and where the tuhunas started using tks for more than just boosting ferlity. There was a flowering of interest in magic beyond the simple shortcut techniques necessary toget them from A toB. As at as|'mconcerned, and I've studied this stuff for along time, Te Heenua Enata isthe eal birthplace of na, the Polynesian magical tradition. It was also one of the most savage, barbaric and out of control places on the planet at the time. “And thee diet included atleast one item that you don't sce much of these days” Long Pig “You know what long pig in his voice “No? “T’sakind of meat Ifyou'te ever offered any, think you smay want to decline.” What sie “Ws wha they call human meat." Murt hesitated a moment before answering“! chink you're bullshitting me.” “No, I'mnot, actually. The meat of the human animal tastes ‘vaguely like pork, and when it’s skinned and roasting on a spit, itlooks vaguely like along, skinny pig. Depending on who you talkto, the tastiest bits ae either the big, smooth muscle at the base of the thumb or the litle muscles in the face.” feah, but yeah? asked Mo, chuckle Dead Mast I ofhindoeng tn “So was that sort of thing... common." asked Mutt “Well” began Mo, “let me put i¢ this way: There's « theme of cannibalism cunning throughout the history of Polynesia that’s impossible to deny. Overpopulation makes People more expendable, and ch islands hada long history of ‘overpopulation — still do — thanks to the habitual use of fertility tikis. Consequently, cannibalism and human sac fice were both relatively common there. The prevalence of cannibalism varied a lot from archipelago to archipelago. I was pretty rare in Tahiti for example, but rampant through- cout Te Henva Enata. Not infrequently, when the Polynesians first mer the early European explorers, they'd crouch down beside them and squeeze their legs and pinch their butts as a ‘means of simultaneously insulting the pale neweomers and assessing how substantial they might he teat. One ofthe big cases that gota lot of coverage in Europe involved a woman, named Anne Butchers, the girlftiend of the captain of a ship called the Cumberland. They landed on Rarotonga in 1813, and they were hoping to convert some of the natives. Alas, she gotall uppity with an old and revered thinaand literally threw a Bible at him, so the inhabitants of Rarotonga killed “Forawhilein he 18° century, European museums, ‘Hermetic mages and collectors of eddities developed a strange fascination with the dried mokoed heads from Ao Te Aroa. A few silos brought one or two ofthe things back and all ofa sudden everybody had to have one just to show how fabulously worldly dhey were, yeah? They! must have been powerfully drawn tothe sheer exoticism or something, because they traded vast quantities off ods, including guns and ammunition, to the Maori ople for them, The demand outstripped the supply pretty fas, yeah? But it wasso lucrative chat Maor chiefs started killingtheirown slaves, applyingte-moko tothein hheads posthumously and then selling them tothe Euro- peans as the heads of powerful old chief “One Major-General Robley wrdte a book about it in 1896 called Trafficin Heads. The practice wenton for years until I chink some law was introduced top th Import of body parts, or maybe imported tattooed heads st stopped being fashionable among the European} eatocracy. In any case, Europeans may have called the pMéaorisavages,but hey had quiteaculureofheadhunting of their own, yeah? Over the course ofa few decades, thousands of heads were shipped from Ao Te Aroa to England and other European countries. Enough Maori slaves were killed to make a significant dent in the population, and thar was ata time when the populatiog was already dropping due to exposure to the filth pakaha's diseases. What | wanc to know iswhereall tha ‘mokoed heads are now and to what ue they'te being put. Lan they didnt all wind up in museums,and ate her. Herbones—at least the ones they thinkare hers —ate buried on asmaller island called Musi I'sbeen almost 200 years and the Europeans — those that know about it, anyway — are sill talking about that litle incident. I guess they didn’t notice the welcome sign hanging from the palm trees: Now entering Polynesia. Welcome tothe food chain, “All the Polynesians practiced cannibalism, especially atoll islanders. Many of the Polynesian Islands, especially Te Hens Enata and Rapa Nui had quite a history of cannibal: ism, though for different reasons. “In Rapa Nui, food became scarce toward the end, and cannibalism was a means of eking out the sparse supplies. “In Te Henua Enata, however, where intertibal warfare ot particularly nasty, cannibalism was a cruel tactic with ‘which tobedevil yourenemies while simultaneously appeasing thegods. Any offering ro the gods was called ia, which means fish, and anyone from an opposing tribe could be used as ka ‘Once caught, they would be hung upside down by hooks When they were needed, they'd be brought down and taken to the execution blocks where the mu, the ritual assistant, would bash their brains out witha giant ironswood club, “The cannibalism of diferent individuals was performed for different reasons. When women and chiklren were eaten, it yn sa YNN fedbg seem to have been just fr food, unless they were kahunas, in which case their skulls were considered particularly precious Kahuas and warriorskilled inbattle were eaten toabsorb their power. Throughout Polynesia, che head was thought tobe the pooling place for mana, spiritual power, Quintessence, what hhave you and tattooed heads even more so, the sullsof the vvanguished were kept forthat reason. The more skullsorheads you had, the more power you had to draw on. In Ao Te Aro, fahunas would ereate whole Quintessence bareries made of dried mokoed heads; they're called mokoma “But, yeah, to get back to the topic at hand, caniba was a bigdea in the South Seas. Throughout Polynesia, there was no worse insult than to eat a member of your enemy's family. The popular bragging protocol afterwards wast loudly announce to Your enemy that you were picking his sn, daughter, wife or whatever from between your teeth. Ofcourse, thatkind of blatant behavior jst begged fore ‘months later, it would be dhe opponent who would be picking his teeth. Kahunas in particular were notorious or those kinds cofhigh inks Ittakes alt of understanding to perform magic its shame ir doesnt require lite tact or couth as wel “So, have you ever eaten anybody” Mutt teased, smiling bution, 3 six ‘SAD ISLANDS IN STRANGE SEAS: POLYNESIA 19 TMA TA 2 ys“We'renottalkingaboutme ight now,” saidMo.“We're talking about the history of Polynesia. Um trying to tell you something about che place you're going. You might want to pay attention.” “Before the pakahas, the Europeans, showed up, the population of Te Henua Enata lingered right around 50,000, and the perfect climate allowed the people loc ofspare time togetintotrouble, so they were constantly fighting cannibal ining one another, getting extensive tattoos and delving into the mysteries of huna. It was here that Polynesians really leamed magic. Unsurprisingly, it was also here that the Kahuna wars saw thie most violent conflicts. Long before the arrival ofthe Europeans, there were three addtional islands inbetween thenorthandsouth slands—Ua Vonata, UaPoa and Oroa Hiva—butal three of those islands were, over the course ofthe kahuna wats, destroyed or otherwise made to disappear. Ua Vonata was blasted off the planet by the volcano beneath it, Ua Foa sank beneath the waves over the course of afew days and Oroa iva, which had che largest tubwna population in al of Polynesia, just disappeared one ‘night and nobody has any idea what happened to it. I wouldn't surprise me if t had heen tured into a Horizon Realm of somesort, frankly, but that’ just speculation on my part. [think cha, in pare, because fit had been destroyed, somebody would have been crowing about it THE KAHUNA \W/ARS “Yeah, let there be no doubt, between around 700 CE and 1400 CE, the various tuhunas, kahuna and toungas of Polynesia ruled this part of the world and went a litle crazy in pursuing thei various egocentric agendas. I've spent.a lot ‘of time using various Ants to go back and experience what happened, and the degree of violent, vulgat, outrageous magic that was being tosted around was phenomenal. The Enatan euhunas in particular were just crazy, man; they liked their long pis, they liked cheir tattoos and ehey loved big, violent conflict. Ie was a ich and tumultuous period for the South Seas mages, and probably not one that most folks ‘would really wane to bring back, o be perfectly honest “Te Henua Enata is where everything kicked off. A couple of euhnas gor into a squabble over who was more qualified co perform a tau ritual forthe chie?s son, and they ‘began fighting with magic. 1 wasn't long before the chief told them to take their magical duel away from where bystanders could get hurt, s0 they took their battle out onto the open ‘ocean, lewascrary, it was violent, it was hug, but one of them finally submited, amasingly enough, without dying. That was the only rime that happened; mest warsbetween kahunas ‘went on fr decades and ended only when one or the other met a messy end. Both of them developed taste fo large scale magical combat after that, however, and they both starved fights with other mages not long after. It was only a Year or so before tuhunas al kahunas were tossing tsunamis, lavaand thunderbolsat each other with certain epulariy 0 ‘Dea Maat I Ws we Y “ sometimes wonder if that last wave of Polynesian. colonization might have been drivenby people wantingto get away from the main battleground ofthe kahuous. ‘The big fights took place around Te Heaua Enata and the Hawaiian Islands, but Tahiti, Rapa Nui and Ao Te Aroa occasionally got drawn in, “Do youever get the feeling that you were bor too ate? [Every time I think about kahuna wats, Ido. “Evento thisday, the natives of Te Hlenua Enata remain among the least Europeanized of all che Polynesians. There are Christian churches, bucorganized religion has yeto really be accepted here the way ithas in other places, and it damn sure hasn't been sucked up the way it was in Samoa. And the twhunas of Te Henua Enata are still among the finest in Polynesia, It was here that the tiki fist became the wide- spread staple of Polynesian magic that itis. The Enatan artisans are superb — almost as ood as those of Ao Te Arca FATUHIVA “The whunas of Te Henua Enata are scartered through- coucallof the islands, but there's actually a cluster of them on FaruHiva. And, berteryr, they te notateach othe'sthroats, although they gota tle riled up in the late'80s.I'you want powerful kis kid, Fata iva the place to go, but you might have to work to get there. Not only does the island not have alandingstrip, butit’snot easily accessedby boat, sothe banal modem world iasn'tdonea very goodjobof moving in onthe teritory yt. Frankly, given the shrewdness shown by the Enatans and the uter backwater nature of the island, 1 wonder ifs ever a blip on the Tech boys screen. “Huau’s not the only old tradition they practic, though, if you know what I mean 30 ifyou wind upon FatuHiva and somebody tas lookingatyoua litle hungry, you might want toleave, yeah? Nosensein xing yourhead while on vacation" Mo laughed and Mut followed his lead, but inary Mutt was starting to think that Mo was much too fascinated by cannibalism for his comfort He channeled is nervour- ness into padding. When he locked down atthe moonlit water itastonished him to see how fat the canoe was going HAWAI “After Te Hera Enata, though, Hawaii isdefnicely the liveliest ofthe Polynesian islands — from a magical perspec- tive, anyway. “The Hawaiian archipelago orginally comprised nine big, wild and powerful islands, one of which, Molokini, was essentially lost in the kahuna was, although you can stil see the very tip of i sticking up out of the water. To this day Hawaii remains one of the main movers and shakers in the Polynesian worl After the Enatans, the Hawaiian kakinas were probably the most skilled and enlightened in Polynesia The magic ofthe ocean, spirit and war were thei special 1 hahunas dl not pull cele punches. They're the‘ones who came up with a bunch of the nastier war magic — suided fireballs, death prayers and the lik, “The islands held a lot of people, and a lot of them stutied fina 10 one degree or another. At its peak, Hawaii's population was around 500,000. “And i all crumbled inthe fice of contact with the filthy Europeans, who inrxtuce, sa mater of cours, measles ilu naa tuberculosis dysentery, smallpox. typhus typhoidand worse. “Allofthe Polynesian stands pretty muchfllowa similar pattem, andifyouremembernothingels from thstrp, let this stick in your head: The islands were violent places where fahunas held aloe of sway, probably too much sway. Life may not always have been stable, but it was good, and family and tribe were the focal pointof life. When the Europeans showed up, they brought diseases with them that decimated the popu- lation ofevery island they landed on. Polynesian women dida't have the same uptight Christian approach to sex as their Furopean counterparts they were willing partners forthe sailors on the ships, who infected them with syphilis and jonorthea for their kindness. The population implosion ener~ vated the islanders, and made them relatively pliable forthe pushy, tyrannical missionaries who vilified their priests and reviled theirsacred traditions. Misionaresshotkahunas, burned nikis razed temples, Fanned tattooing and forced their lame as, white-man’sreligion on thedispirted Polynesians, eaving atonce proud people a shadow of ts former self” ‘Mutt could not see the look on Mo's face, but he could hear the anger in his voice “But,” continued Mo, “you're an American Indian, so 1'm not celling you anything about the sneaky, land -greedy Europeans that you didn’t already know. “The population collapse robbed the Polynesian mages of thei followers and the arrival ofthe Europeans fundamen tallyaltered the mindset of the people, which interfered with the performance of magic, The kahuna were far better at wat magic than healing magic, unfortunately. They could make volcanoes erupt, raise or sink whole islands, but nothing in their repertoire —met of them, anyway —could cue these strange and lethal new diseases. “Within a hundred years ofthe frst European contact, Hawai’s population had literally been decimated. At the tur ofthe 20% century there were only around 45,000 native Hawaiians left on the entire Hawaiian archipelago, “And, again, the missionaries pulled no punches at turning the people against the kahunas and their old magical ways. Christianity spread almost as fast as the syphilis the Europeans brought with chem. Maybe the Hawaiians had grown tired ofthe constant wars ofthe kahunas by then and were fed up with being bystanders and sacrifices as the Aahuras gor in their vst, violent squabbles. “Once the direction things were going became clea, the local mages started taking action. The kahumnas sank several European ships — the Lassiter, the Vandergroot, the White . : WB uae ge CT die ee wy Weyyrs ‘af Yr iety ry Osis ‘ ahha fits eS et dy EL MPa Sab Bd * TA Rook: Theyall mer their ends by magical means, but itwas too litee, too late. The kahunas sacrificed a number of Europeans —ovely intrepid sailors and misionares for the most part — and made a litle headway, but, gin it wastoo litle too late (Once word reached Europe ofthe exotic tattooed heathens of the South Seas, there was no stopping the influx ofthe curious, the greedy andthe obsesed. The Europeans kept coming and asthey came, the paradigm ossifed, smackingthe kahinas with Paradox. Since those feisty Polynesian mages were used to ‘making things happen on a bigscale, the scale of theit Paradox was devastating as well. More kahunas el before Paradox than fell before the direct actions of Technocras. Mind you, com- pared to what we think of as Pardox today twas nothing, but even then lifting islands ut of the ocean and dropping them con the heads of your enemies was vulgar as hel, yeah? “One of the most notorious Void Seekers was Captain, James Cook, defile of Polynesia. Cook was an accomplished explorer and diehard Technocrat, buthe methismatchat the hands of a couple of Hawaian kahunws — Pokualani, ‘the Witch of Molokai and Kaleokaluhiv, “the Soul-Claimer," in 1779. Europeans made a big deal out of his ‘tragic, un- timely’ death, but froma Polynesian standpoint, the only sad thingabout Cook's death is that was so longi coming-On the bright side, he was such a scourge to the Polynesians that the actully succeeded at the impossible: He got two kahunas, bitter rivals a chat, wo work together to take him out.” “Damn,” said Mutt, *You sound realy bitter toward this Cook guy.” “You'te right. I am,” said the tattooed tohunga, “but 1 hhave good reason. He and his men killed the fist cohunga I studied huna with in Ao Te Atoa.” “Now you arebullshitting me. That had to have been..." Te took a second for Mutt to put two and two together, but when ic dawned on him, he just said “Ob,” and fll silent. It suddenly made sense to him why Mo knew so much. “Fora while in Hawai there wasa group ofkahinas and sort of stil i, guess, who tried tobe like close neighbors or family, yeah? They called themselves the Kopa Loei, but it didn’t work out all chat well fora numberof reasons. Fore- most, kahunas,by their very nature, ae better suited totalking to gods and spirit than to each other. There's something in the kahuna ego that doesn’ want to be upstaged, yeah? So a bunch of Hawaiian Kahunas started trading notes and seeing what might come of joint cooperation and they got results, but not good ones. Last 1 heard, they called too much attention to themselves and buckled under the pressure of a new erusade by the Tupua Nui, what they called the Tech- rnocracy. The year 2000 was a bad year to be a kahuna in Hawa’ A few of them, the more obviousones, the ones who can’t tone down their volcanic tempers, were hunted down. Irscared a lor of people. Most of chem just dropped out ofthe KopaLLoei movement andstil practice theirmagicasa quiet, peronal thing, Some of them just moved to another island, where the Technocracy wasn't so aguressve. And, lastly, $ ehthose strangely pro-social kahunas who couldn't part with the idea of working in tandem with others, forged an alliance of sorts with formal Tradition mages — your tradition, the Dreamspeakers. Youcan sill finda lotof them here, and they still call themselves the Kopa Loei, but ifyou fll forthe line that they represent all Polynesian kahunas, tuhumas and tohungas, you're in for a rude awakening when you start ‘dealing with some of those old badass tukinas on Enata “On the bright side, the Hawaiians have recovered pretty well Their isandsare sill used as getawaysand tourist traps by holes, but they've also done pretty goodjobof declaring large chunks of the islands, officially of unoficialy, off-limits to whites. Wander onto the wrong road on the wrong island and ‘even tochy you can still wind up a a sacrifice to Pele. Great people, the Hawaiians. You gotta love that kind of spirit, yeah? RAR@T@NGA (Coex ISLANDS) “You remember when I was telling you about Tonga that they had some pretty good Correspondence magic, yeah? ‘Well it was Rarotonga that took that and ran with it Rarotonga has the best seafaters and more Correspondence Masters than any other island in Polynesia. “The two big islands on this archipelago are Rarotonga sand Rakahanga, buechere ate 15 islands otal, sof whichare atolls. You got that!” Musighed. I guessso If known this wasgoing tobe ‘a geography lesson, | would have brought pen and paper. What ian atoll, anyway?" ‘Volcanic Islands, Atolls and Coral Islands “Ab,” said Mo, “I'm glad youasked. So, youhave three kinds of things that stick up out of the ocean, yeah! Volcanic islands, atollsand con islands. You know what vlcanicislandis. An arolisformed when com fornsinaingaoundthe underwater slopes ofa volcanic sland an growsaroundehe islandeven ater the volcanic island selhasroedaway.A.cora andi what happens when the coral fli the ring of an tol and becomes asolid mass. A lot of times islands will just sink under the waves duo earthquakes orsubsidencein the ocean flor, yeah? Butas ‘ongas the coral can get sunlight, it can keep growingand create islands on its own. And while coral doesn't grow quickly, it generally grows more quickly than the sea floor subsides. “Coral sands ako happen frm time to time when ong ‘need an sland to all hei ow They appeal othe coral prt, ot just make the coral grow ad boom, instant land. Nothing really grows on these sland because there’ no soil, but, hey, f Youjustneedaplacetopackyoursantum isworksfine. Better, there'snovoleano to worryabour and ifthe oceans stato ise o¢ an earthquake lowers the sea floor, you just make more island. TAHITI (S@CIETY ISLANDS) “Tahiti just the les ofthe nine islands on the archi ‘pelago; the other well-known island in the chain is Bora Bora. “Tahiti suffered thesame indignitiesastheocher islands, but it was prety low-key before the Europeans showed up and it 22 -Deap Mace It h remmainss0 tothe resent day. The Tahitians never were uiteas cout of contol as residents of Havait or Te Hera Enata ‘Cannibalism was never big there and the haus were always a litte more focused on keeping ther islands in balance — by staying in harmony with spirits and keeping the mana flowing well — than in kicking each other's axes. lc ofthe Tahitian ‘ahusas joined in withthe Dreamspeakers ever before the Kopa Lecicidandl think TabitisstillapopularplaceforDreamspeakers to goto leam about a diferent apprcach to shamanism. That's kind of where expect you to wind up, eankly “France upsetalotof the Tahitian kahunasby detonating ‘nuclear weaponson the atolls of Moruroa and Fangataufa'm rnocsuce what che poincof thac was. Were they actingon their ‘own, orwere they pawns? Werethey chreateningthe kahrnas! Wiping out a powerful Node? Getting rd of some potent enemy? I'm still not sure. The upshot, though, was thatthe people of French Polynesia were pissed of. estruck a nerve and reinvigorated the drive for independence from France, which isa good thing as far as 'm eoncerned. “The locals are now making the recur to traditional Polynesian culture a pririy, and the Kahunas are clestly benefiting from that: tkis and tattoos have gone from being banned ro being all the rage, and while i's not alot, t'smore to work with than they had a century ago. T@KELAU “Located vaguely between Samoaand AoTe Aroa, Tokelau isthree lageatollsanda bunch of slands, around 120 of them, Jooselyafliacedby language andculture-Like Samea, Tokelau has been infested with Christians, but ouside of the religious aspects oflfe, Tokelau is about a purely Polynesian as youcan ‘get, and, believe me, the farther from the main islands you get, theless Christan the populace becomes. On the tiny slandson the outskirts of Tokelau, some no bigger than football fields, the old Polynesian ways are still observed, an there are a few wily okt kahimas practicing magic on their island sancta, undisturbed by the pious sheep ofthe main islands —and alot ‘of the magic they practice is pretty dark. “Outside ofthat, there's not a lot to say about Tokelau. Igetsmno tourists, has no airport, no harbor, no cats, no guns and no interest in joining the modern world. Its population is miniscule andi doesn't offerenough forthe rest ofthe world toswoop in and get a better grip. “fl were looking fora place olay low, Ud probably head there. Or, etter ye, to Tuvalu, but Tuvaluisjusta litle too far off the beaten path ' die of boredom. If that’s where we have to take you to ger you tosaety,chough, we will. Take a ‘book and have some means of purifying yout wate, because running water i just a myth here “If you do make it to Tokelau, though, I wouldn't go looking forthe other mages i! were you. Spirits of the Oceanic Voids “This pabulum that tourism companies are trying to sell you this image of Polynesia as a litle bit of paradise, is 4 oabullshit, yeah? In a mundane vein, overcrowding, poverty “And don't think that the Nephandi aren't just as radiation poisoning, rising seas, soulless culture-pandering presentin Polynesiaas they are in the restofthe world. Those and lockstep conformity are all specters that gods I just mentioned? Some of them have underlie the lives of modern Nephandic cults devoted to their retum, Polynesians, Spiritually, how. and more than a few Sunday Chaistianson Tokelauand Tonga known to goto some of the old places on the islands late at night and pay homagetoother, less human, gods. “Butle’schange the subject. Is time to talk about my home island A@TEARGA (Wew ZEALAND) ‘AoTe Aroameans ‘LandoftheLong White Cloud. Beautiful, yeah? Tove it. im not crazy about what the Europeans have done withit, but frankly, itcouldhave been much worse ever, there are some old Polynesian gods and taniuhas — “demons? —slumberingin the wa ter between islands (or sunken islani whom we wouldbe berteroffnot wak. ing up. Oddly enough, their wor shippers seem to be fond of Tokelau. "A few of the tikis around the is lands really are idols unfortunately, and most of them are to these darker spirits Toru, the god ofthe chasms of the deep ocean; the tua, the demons that can assume any shape at will; Ratu-Mai-M’bula thesnakedevil whode- voursistands from the roots up; Honoyeta, the plague-god; Miru, the de- ‘mon-goxdess who makes men drunk and then con- sumes them: Kahoali, the god who rewards “Ao Te Aroa comprises two big islands, the north island, with its live voleano,and the south island, Ao Te Aroa is ancient, but full of mana still, and ofall the Polynesian Islands, it was settled the ‘most recently. Volcanism keeps the mountains high and the land young. The erust hasn't ‘even fully cooled and you can see the geysersand soak in the hor springs if you like. Ao Te Aroa was part of Gondwanaland mil- lions of years ago, and i's been around since then. The first Maori people only — settled there about 800 years ago, and we've been human sacri fice; Auraka, theall-devour. ing; Kukulau, the goddess of lies, her sister Arohitohi, the goddessof mirages (and the bane of navigators). So if you find a strange tikt and you're not sure whatitis,unlessyou're really good at identify. ing such things, I'd say don't touch it, Especially if you're around Tokelau, ‘SAD ISLANDS IN STRANGE SEAS: PELYNESIA ve ’ jee shay fe oh liiN ayefety ‘esha careful withthe mana. There are many, many Nodes left in ‘Ao Te Aroa that haven't been touched yet by the pakehas (chat means foreigners, not unlike the Hawaiian term haole) “The people are just as primal. The frst attempted landing bypakehas was made in 1642 by Abel Tasman, the guy ‘Tasmania is named after. He tried to land, but the Maori natives caught and ate several members ofhisrew,convine- ing hima to beat a hasty retreat: Go us, yeah? “Ie didn't last, though, and the damned Brits started setling in like we'd invited them. Our tohungas caught them by surprise by using magic, which resulted in their calling in the Technocracy and things just go ugly. Suffice ictosay that a lot of blood was shed on both sides. “We were losing ground until the mid-"70s, but Maori tribes ate pretty tightly connected and we've leamed some good techniques for dealing with the damned pakehas — threatening to blow up the New Zealand parliament, for one. “Sothese days, AoTe Aroaisone ofthe few places where the native people are actually making headway.” Muct was tying to remember all the facts that Mo was presenting him with. “But what about your magical history? ‘What about che culture and legends? I it surviving allthis warfare orate you ust becominglike the people you're fighting?” “You want legends and myths? We have lots of them, and theyre being tang in the schools. Our language isan oficial language of New Zealand, to. You like stories? How about a Mauistory, yeah? Mauiisthe epiteme ofthe Polynesian hercshis stories are told from Samia to Hawaii — where they named a wholeislandafterhim—to AoTe Atoa. Thisisthestoryoffiow Maui died. One day, the great fisherman Maui decided to ‘overcome death forall thehuman race, sohe ound Hine-mui-to- othe Great Woman of the Night. She was a death goddess, yeah?Somehowhe got the kleatharithe were abletocrawl back into the womb of the death goddess, that he would conquer death. Sohe waited until she was sleeping, transformed himself ‘ntoalizad and crawled up between her legs and inside her. He 1was almost to her womb when she woke up. She clenched her smuseles and crushed him to death, and Maui's long career of heroics came toa bizarre end, and that’s why humans die now. How's that? You like that? I gota milion of them, yeah?” “Hey said Mut, “Isn't that an island up there?” "Yeah, Lknow, we're almost there, but there's one other key island that I should mention, if only to give you the ‘opportunity to learn from theie abundant mistakes Karr ISLAND “My people, che Maori are lucky to have in cheit keeping ‘one of the most powerful Nodes in the southern hemisphere. It's off the coast of Ao Te Aroa, but not too far, and it is one of the fewsuccess stories in theconflict against modem banality andthe desecration of sacred places. That place i called Kapiti sland “Shorty after setting the mainland of AoTe Area, Kapil ‘was settled by two Maori tribes, the Muaupoko and the Ngati ‘kahungunu who cared for the Node and even shared itoccasion- 4 Deap Mlaaic Il He ea NG Hig Spun ally with shapechangers, notably liand-changers and occasion ally even Rokea or wolf changers down from Ausralia, “Everything was fine, more or les, until the early 19° century, when everybody just started getting @ litle out of contol. Both tribes, which hae been geting along for nigh on 700 years, started fighting, the lizard changers went missing, che wolfchangersstopped coming down from Australia entirely, and all the magic done on Kapiti stared to get tinged with a resonance that I can only describe as wend or uwholesome. “Fora while things got ugly. Whaler set up bases ther for awhile, andlater the Node had tobe hidden from the Europeans ‘who started clearingthe sland for, ofall things, farming. A good the quarcersof the island was cleared but numberof touargas sgoctogether and didsomenasty tricks with movingthe mana of the iland around and preventing thee crops from growing “We thought we were inthe clear when they decided to give up farming, But then they decided that if it wasn't good. forfarming, it must be good for rapping, but thereweren'tany animals worth trapping, so they introduced Australian bush- tailed possums tothe island, and they took to the place ike they owned it. The energy got worse “The tohungns decided to take matters into their own hands, and through the judicious use of dream magic and sorcerous tiki, we convinced the politcal powers that be © make the island a nature preserve “Ie gets better: In 1949, a law was passed requiring a permittosetfooton Kapiti: In 1975, the Maori people started working ver effectively at gaining more control over our native lands, and we've made alot of progress. The Technoe- racy has been trying to get at the Node on Kapiti for over a century now, but the Maori people have established enor mous legal roadblocks for them and the tohungas have warded the Node very effectively with some potent tiki. “And since about 1999, when everything else in the world went haywire, the energy of the island has finally straightened out. I'm not sure what that means, but its made tending the island easier, and we've even seen some of the lizard-changers on the island again. “Ifyou ask me, that just goes to show what can happen if you put yourself in the hands of few good Maori thungas! THE TRAGEDY ©F RAPA NUI (Easter ISLAND) “Ldon’t even like talking about it, but one of the cultural Jewels in the Polynesian chain, che island where magic was ‘mostapartof the culture, the island where mages were the most influential in theculture a large, collapsed under the weight of its own warring kahimas. The story is more about the pathetic ‘egos of a few idiot mages than anything else— that and the toll. taken by chat kind of egoism on everyone involved “Never heard of Rapa Nui? You have, you just don't ‘know it. The island has taken on a lor of other names time. You probably know i as Easter Island, although its VP IY Sy, HAL aE ofaproper name these days, according to Chil, the country that claims sovereignty over it isthe Isla de Pascua. “Now, bear inmind thar Rapa Nutisoverathousandmiles away from the next piece of habitable island and 2000 miles away from the nearest mainland, which is Chile. A number of ‘canoes set sail from central Polynesia, mostly Hawaii and Te Heenua Enata; again, {think they were trying to escape the kahuna wats. When the Polynesians landed, they discovered thatthe climate wasn’t nearly as nurturing as that of most of Polynesia, Of all che crops that had fed the Polynesians throughout thei island hopping, only one, the sweet potato, would grow on Rapa Nui, probably because the sweet potato wasnativetoSouth America. So they startedoff compromised “OF couse, hey had theie Fertility iks with them, so the ‘slandpopulation grew by leapsand bounds, Theislandreached its population peak of 10,000 ors right around 1550, not long before the Eutopeans showed up. Butback then their kahoas were a big deal. They promised to protect the people from the “bd kahuna” they had just escaped, and the people, in turn, promised to serve the hahinas, and the secrets of magic were handed down very carefully based on reasons that had more to do with politis than magical talent or enlightenment “The makaainan, or commoner, followed thei favorite ahunas like modern sports enthusiasts follow their favorite football or ericker players. Only unlike modern days, hack then they served their kahunaslike groupies, not because they wwereforced to,butbecause they wanted topleas the haunas They saw where the power was and they wanted to side with the most powerful kahuna. For their part, the kahunas were invested increatingthe biggest spectacle, the biggest demon- stration oftheir magical abilities to impress their followers. “And it worked. The kahus were the monarchs of Rapa Nui, and they had quite «deal going for themselves. And not wanting to get ple into the kahuna wars of Central Polynesia any mor, they decided to ward theisland withextremely powerful tks wo keep other kahunas fom seing what they'd pulled of “The kakunas on Rapa Nui were obsessive specialists in enormous kis, and they created the largest and most power- fultikison theplanet, the moa, toinhibitthe Correspondence Effects that ocher mages might use to get to Rapa Nui. What they had going was, in fact, « competition to see who could create more, bigger and better tkis. ‘So, the kahunas were tassing around vast quantities of ‘mana, yeah? And they were making these enormous mag, but thenthey demanded thatthe malaananitake them to theirstone platforms around the island, Personally, think thatthe kauaas ‘were jus soused to tossingaroune magic that they didngiveany consideration to what they were asking the commoners todo. “Butthe commonerstookitinstride and they founda way to get those moai to ther placforms: They uses rollers made of logs. That part was pretty clever it’s hard to move enormous sone monoliths afterall. Thepar that wastcleveris the fact that they used every single tree on the island as a roller ‘Without tees the soil had no cover and the rich voleanie sil ata aA foe pls ir 4 rike got washed away into the ocean. Without trees, they couldn't buildhouses. Without trees they couldn't buikcanoesto go get more tees, or seeds or anything. Remember, Rapa Nui isover a thousand miles away from anyuhere. And while that didn't stop them when they had canoes— they made 2000 mile trips track and forth tothe South American mainland, afterall — there wasn't alot they could do without using the canoe. “For their part the kahunas proved themselves to be utterly worthless, With ll the anti-Correspondence moaiup, there was no way they could use magic to leave the island t0 etmore trees, atleast not without destroying every oneofthe thousand or 50 maai they'd spent the last few centuries creating. Essentially, while the Rapa Nuians were great at making tiks, getting them to do something to save them. selves was a lost cause. They tried ordering — ordering — spiritsto bring hack tres or tree spirits tothe island, and that only resulted in what amounts to warfare berween the physi- cal and spiritual world, The kahunas began performing increasingly desperate and ugly magic — human sacrifice, appeals to demons, that kind of thing — and then suddenly the kahuns were all gone. Vanished. The rongorongo tablets | found in the spirit world don't give any indication of what happened o them. I've rried seinaformyself whathappened ‘gain and again, but the moaiput off such a powerful locking ‘ura that I cant see anything. Someone tore powerful than | might be abl to figure our what happened, but ve no idea. "Anyway, once the kahunas were gone, the makaainaniwere really focked, They had no trees, thei soil was so depleted it could no longer grow even sweet potatoes, they were ovespopu- lated, and nobody alive knew magic beyond afew very minor Herige Magic Effects. Butthe followers ofthe respective kas stilwouldn'tgive upservingtheirformermasterjustincasethey came hack. So the fllowersof one mage would tipoverthe mai oftheir opponents. And then itwasreciprocate. And then the fist gous, cranky ae hungry, would capture and eat someone from the opposing team. And it degenerated from there. Even- ‘ually, all the maai were knockeu over and cannibalism brought the population down to a more manageable level, “Things might, might have come back given a few en: lightened souls and. few generations, burthen the Europeans showed up with their guns and Bibles. Worse, these were Spaniards, and they were all about slaving, s0 they took the strongest remaining Rapa Nuians to serve as slaves on the mainland. And then the missionariesshowed up and started “eivilising” the survivors. At that point there were, at most, ‘few hundred surviving apa Nuians. And, again, they were in such pathetic shape by then that they swallowed the bullshit fed to them by the missionaries and anything that hadn't been toppled was, and anything that hadn't been destroyed was, including the tablets that contained the one writen language developed by the Polynesian people. The script was called rongorong ans there ae places in the workd ofspritswhereechoesofsomecfthetablesean tillbe found, and that’show [know as much as Ido about Rapa Nui don’t ery eihulayns hitbelieve there's anyone on the island with the blood of the original Rapa Nuians flowing in their veins these days, and while i’sa tragedy, [sometimes think ic might just be best to forget that Polynesians ever settled the island at all “And that,” said Mo, “isthe story of Polynesia. Or as much of i as you need to know right now since we're at our destination.” “We're there already?” "You must be a berter paddler than you thought, yeah!” “Whar island is ie” “What island do you want it to be? asked the wily old tohunga, RULES acy's seeming victory, the last organized Craft of mages in Polynesia, the Kopa Loei opted to throw theit loc in with the Dreamspeaker Tradition after holding out for centuries, Huna (a very generic, all-encompassing term for the trans-Polynesian magical tradi tion) is now practiced predominantly by unaligned kakuras, tuhinas and tohurgas (the Hawaiian, Marquesan and Maori terms for a mage, respec: tively) performing their Arts privately on descreed island sancta free from Technocratie sway. “These cunning mages have a colorful and violent his- tory. The tribal natute of the Polynesian Islands led to a pronounced tendency for different tribesto clash —Tabitian against Hawaiian, Samoan against Fijanand soon, One does not live so closely with voleanoes and the primal ocean and remain unshaped by those forces “The mages of Polynesia, with greater ability both 0 travel and to fight chan their unAwakened kin, clashed frequently and violently during the battles of che great lhionas fom around the year 1100 until 1500, making frequent use of powerful battle magic and, of course, the ubiquitous tiki “The kahunas and tohurgas of Polynesia follow asystem of ‘magic that losely corresponds to the Sphere sistem used by the Traditions Ahi (Forces) ‘Aka (Spirit) ‘tea (Comresondence) Hau (Life) Mana (Prime) Manawa (Time) Mea (Matter) Neoneo (Entropy) Noiono'o (Mind) The followers of Hun have taken the mystical prin- ciples above and created some devastating (and some merely annoying) batele magics and Wonders, which we present here for the reader's edification, Re@TES ‘AHIU NALU(R@GUE WAVE) [++ ENTROPY, ¢* FORCES OR ++ ENTROPY. @R © CORRESPONDENCE, #¢ ITIATTER, ¢ PRITE] Battesbetween kahunas were coramon inthe high ageof 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 oat (or of his feet, i he was standing near, in or on the wate). Polynesian mages used rogue waves primarily as distractions or harrying tactics. ‘System: The wave summoned is three feet high plus one additional foot foreach success onthe Arete roll Ifthe 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 earget momentarily and knock him into the ster butlitle more than tha. A wave sis feet or higher will cause one level of bashing damage to the target ‘Since the ‘Wave was such a common tactic, there were several ways of creating the Efet. The mage could tamper with probailcy alee (with Entropy #) and augment the resultant wave (with Forces #), tamper with probability lor (and forego the Forces Effect) of, in a pinch, he could actually create the wateroutofthinair(Matter*, Prime») andshape itwith Correspondence. The ist two methed can only be wed ‘onthe ocean or in very large lakes, but they are always coinciden: tal. The lst method canbe use in any body of water, bu can ceasily be vulgar, at the Storytellers discretion. AKUA KUTTIU HAKA (GUIDED FIREBALL) [eee FORCES, +# PRITIE, ¢¢¢ SPIRIT, @PTIONALLY W/ITH © * CORRESPONDENCE] Haven kahunas wereknown forcalling lame spirit hune down their enemies. Those who ran afoul ofa kahuna ‘were often known to stay near the ocean just in case one of these tertying creatures was sent to dispatch them. ‘System: The hun creaesa fireball using conjunetional ForcesPrime ffcct and then calls. upen a vengeful fire spirit to ‘come inhabit the conflagration and hunt down the mage'sen- emies.Theakulnumhaka moves very fastandcan eal utran t le Pehuman on foot;atargtin afast-movingoutrager canoe oracar, ‘on the other hand, might be able to escape the akua kumu aka. Once the fire pirithas burned its target to death, thee fizles and the sprit returns whence it came. ‘The optional Correspondence Efect is only necessary if the akua kumu haka is going to operate outside the kahuna’ line of sight. ALA WAI (SHORT WATERS) [eee CORRESPONDENCE] Anthropologists have no idea how Polynesian culture spread to far over the small and widely prea islands of the South Pacific. The answer i easy: They wed magic. Bychantingand wilingthe watestobesmallerthan they seemed, a kahuna could go five miles with every stroke of his paddle in the waves. With the aid ofthis rote, a competent mage can cros the Pacfic in aremakably shor period of time System: This rote is one more version of the Seven League Stride (Mage, page 159). ANA’ANA (THE DEATH PRAYER) [eee CORRESPONDENCE, ¢# LIFE OR o@ © CORRESPONDENCE, #¢@ SPIRIT] “The wiard wars of Polynesia have let modern Kahunas with a large repertoire of deadly rotes; among the most popular of these isthe death prayer. The kahuna casts this rote in her sanctum by beating out amartial rhythm ona drum and chanting the reasons why she wants her target to die. The target, meanwhile, begins tosicken almost immediately, and ‘has only a limited time to seek out the kahuna she offended. ‘Systems If he kana i sing Life magic, the target will sicken and die over the course of three days following the completion of the rote. While this rote issimilarto (ifslowerthan) recs sed by many Tradition mages (Rip the Man Body,ctal.), it has the advantage of being coincidental, as the target simply scemsto catch something horble and de. The dea need not be anything dramatic (and suspicious) like Ebola — anthrax, pheumonia, influenza, appendicitis and systemic strep infections are all quite capable of killing a target in three days. Ifthe 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 thesame way. Altematively, the spirits could simply cause a freak accident to befall the target: He ‘might, for instance, trip over piece of litter and fall into traffic or the pilot light on hisstove might gout, fillinghisapartment with gas that then explodes, or he might be pulled under the water by aiptide. In any ease, spirits can be pretty creative. HeenaLu (W/AVE WALKING) [+ FORCES OR #¢ MATTER] Polynesian islanders are surrounded by water. I sur ‘rounds them at all times and it is, undoubtedly, among the ‘most limiting factors in thee existence. While canoes mii gate scine ofthe water’slimitations even anovice kahunacan wa WYER MEC oH des Sint Jr Meh eli te og new aia walk across the tops of the waves without difficulty, making brief forays rom shore or even traveling from island to island with relative ease. ‘System: Only one success is require extra successes are best spenton duration, especially for traversinglong distances. ‘Thistote iscoincidental fa shallow reeforstring ofsmallatolls is nearby — onlookers will assume the mage is walking in shallow water rather than on the water itself, Otherwise, che rote is vulger. Movement speed is normal for both walking and running, as ifthe mage were walking on grass If complex actions — such a combat — are performed son afer casting, the Storytellermay requirea Stamina + Athleticsroll toavoid seasickness losing the roll causesnausea and a-2 penalty tall dice pools until the character can get to stable ground. KAUITIAHA (SACRIFICE) [+e Prime, «« SPIRIT] Sacrifice plays a key role in Hawaiian magic. Placating spints through one means or another is « 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 for the rote), the kahuna is able to harvest the escaping mana freed bythe death. While cis has many drawbacks, there are times when a kahuna i willing to rk almest anything for extra fuel fr his magical work. System: The kahuna throws his sacrifice into the vol ‘cano and uses Spirit to catch the departing ghost and Prime to reap its Quintessence. A chicken will yield a point or two, 2 goat or apg upto five and a human being wil yield a fll 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 and only if the sacrifice is giving up isi rely 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 trustingsoul 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 Enttopic Resonance. Kue@HA (THE PASSION PRAYER) [+0 CORRESPONDENCE, ¢® LiFe, ¢¢ IMINO] Wearing only leis of the most fragrant flowers, the kahuna sits (generally in his sanctum or asimilat locale) and. beatsa primal heartbeat rhythm on his drum tonite passion in one target of his choosing. ‘SAD ISLANDS IN STRANGE SEAS: POLYNESIA eerySystem: Roll Arete after each full hour of drumming; this roe is, obviously, best performed as an extended action. Oncethe| accurmulateda number ofsuccessesgreater than the targe’s Willpower, the target is overcome by pute, unadulterated ust for the mage and does everything possible tobe with che mage sexually. The Storyteller should roll the target's Wits + Awareness every time the mage’s player rolls Arete to determine fhe or she intuits what the mage isup if the tanget catches on and interrupts the passion prayer before the kahuna rolls enough suecesses, the rote is ruined, TheBfers las for one hourpersuccessand affect the target jon. Using thisrote on anyone whom, also.a good way to provoke the target and his or her every friend and family member into war on che mage if used inappropriately. TlaHu (Steam) [+e FeRces, «© Prime] Thisrote tumsa large volume of water billowing white clouds skyward —andsca intheareaofeffect. Thissudden, sealding astisaporent (and Popular) form of bartle 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 vison, efec tively creating a smoke screen, but itis also a devastatingly lethal attack, inflicting standard Forces damage on anyone caught in the sealding vapors. ‘Some hakunas willing to se vulgar Effects have usd this rote toflash-cook opponents floating on the surface ofthe water (orin theirbath tubs). Used on the open ocean or on alake, rote affects only the top few inches of the water's surface. This rote affects nothing afoot or deeper under the water in any way. Mlaikal (THESEAWARD PULL) [+ ITIND] “The age ofthis spell becomes ohesed with reaching the diving in and swing out as far as posible. Iwas one of the simple ways the mages of Polynesia had of eliminating their enemies. Obviously, others detain the target and prevent him from reaching the water forthe duration ofthe Effect, he won't drown (growing gills putting on scuba gear also work) but any determined kahuna wll watt strike atthe right time (ana have suprises waiting in the water for his tages well).FSi a Gos The kahuna wes potent Mind magicto implant a deep andl overtding obsession inthe tages pyehe TMAN@ KAHEA ‘Al(SHARK CALL [+«* C@RRESPONDENCE, « » ITIND] arks were (and, toa degree, still are) constant compan- ions 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 Corespondence magic to transmit his mental call to all sharks in the local water. If the mage willie, hecan 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 kakuna who summoned them ihe wes the former version of this rote, but if he uses the ater version all bets are off Because of the shark taboo, female mages cannot use this rote. Variants of this rte ean call other kinds of creatures ‘Cctopi, whales, or any other marine lie avaiable Tf UPUNI PALAHALAHA W/IRI (CeRaL ISLAND BLeemn) [ee Like, ee PRIME, «© « Time] ‘Under most citeumstances, coral islands rake centuries to gow. Mages who like to have islands to themselves often don have that much patience andso they put the coral intc fast forward, causing a reef to bloom upward toward the sun like a crystatine cloud. System: The conjunctional LifeTime Ecc causes the tiny coral onganisms ro buildup the reef a 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 _performingit at night orata depeh greater chan 80 fect (the depch ‘a which coal erally rows). Cleverkahuswill ete islands indeepwaerbysingthisote repeatedly tocreatecorl boulders thataccrete around a floating coe- Once the boulder ha grown toa significant size (a shousand feet, say), the mage will let the boulder snk ino the depths. He will en these down ,one afer another, until he has created a suitable island foundation, Note: Coral stands are largely sterile and don’t erode into fertile soil the way voleanic islands do. Most kakunas (who want trees and crops on their islands) will use this rote only if they have no means of creating a volcanic island. Pee W/AIULA (PeLe's BL@@D) [+e CORRESPONDENCE, #** OReeee FORCES, ¢# MATTER] ‘The forcesof volcanism were instrumental inshapingall ofthe Polynesian Islands andits effects are stifle ina variety cof ver eal was, like regular volcanic eruptions on Hava This rote grants the kahuna a degree of control over those clemental forces of creation, allowing her to summon the lifeblood ofthe planet itself System: The lesser form of this rote uses Forces and Matter magic toopen up volcanic fisure somewhere within the mage’s line of sight, reaches deep into the planet and brings lava pouringout while the Forces ##® variant causes full-scale voleanic eruption. Not only is the former version easier to perfor, it's easier to contr. “The lava brought abou by the lesser version is relatively slowmovinganduntkelytocatch any buethe slowest ormost accident-prone enemies, upon whom it inflicts aggravated Forces damage (thatis to say, thee dice of aggravated damage per success rolled by the kahuna’s player). In the case of a full voleanie eruption, the Storyteller is the final arbiter of the mayhem caused by such an enormous and violent feat. Amazingly, these totes are coincidental throughout most of Polynesia (aswell as the Philippines, Japan and Iceland) and a handful of other places in the “Ring of Fite,” the wolcanicaly ative tone circling most ofthe Pacific Ocean. Elsewhere they ate gost vulgar. ReKEAOLE[ ee Lire, ¢#¢ SPIRIT] The mages of Polynesia are more familiar with the Rokea, the sharkchanger, than with an other changing breed (and far more familiar than they would like to be). Whereas the true ‘shark is consideted good luck, kahwmas consider Rokea brutish, lethal painsin the ass (even ifthey 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 agin for 10 minutes pee success. the layeriswillngtoaccepta +1 dificulty modifier, fhe can choose which form (human or shack) the rargerevers to, Since the shark-changers detest their human form (except ‘when mating) forcing them intothat form really pissesthem off Rokea wil member the face of ay mage who uses this ote and mark him for a quick and messy death \WAIPUILANI(W/ ATERSPOUT) [see Feces] ‘A tomado over water produces a waterspout, a funnel ‘shaped pillar of watersometimes hundreds of feet wide extending from the waters surface up to the clus. While such a sight is tray awesome, its tses are relativel imted athe few haus ‘who even remember this rote use it primarily to enthrll of ‘entertain. It has been noted by a few mages, however, that vwaterpoutsaragret way todealwith Technocraeyhelicopers System: Forces magic can generate the waterspout in clther of ewo ways: If there are resonable clouds in the area, Forces magic manipulates the local weather pattems tocreate thenecessary funnel activity toereate the pout. This version can be coincidental if the mage is careful ‘SAD ISLANDS IN STRANGE SEAS: POLYNESIA vo a SMa tht‘Alternatively, che mage can use the sheer power of the Forces Sphere to cause the whieling spout of water toshoot up from the water's surface, even on a perfectly clear day, This version i always vulgar. WONDERS Te kahunas of Polynesia were extraordinarily resource- ful i figuring out ways of enchanting the relatively scarce resources provided to them by thei voleanc island habitats ‘The Maori tohunges, in particular, excelled at injecting art into their Ars: From the ubiquitous eikis, to the elegant jewelry, to the elaborately carved canoes and the wooden ppanels that stood infront oftheir homes and communal halls — Maori arc remains some of the most complex and well- wrought in the world. And such finely crafted pieces lend themselvesespecially well to use.as Wonders of varioussort. FLOATING IL Level 1 Wonder Floating ol prevents a person ftom sinking deeper than tan inch in water. If something pulls the wearer under, the moment she is freed she rockets back up to the surface as though she were a balloon full of ai (foreunately, the oil protects against the bends as wel), Floatingeil was initially concoctedto prevent drowning Je may seem redundant, given that children throughout the Polynesian Islands learn to swim at a very early age, but floating oil was formulated primarily to protect the kahuaa's family from predation by enemy mages. In theory, a thick coating of flating ol applied to the feet would als allow the wearer to walk along the surface of the water, but only those with a Dexterity of 5 (or higher) would be advised to even try such a thing. Kahnas distill floating oil from palm oil and juices extracted from the swim bladders of certain fish. A mage with even a single dot in Matter is likely to know how to brew floating oil the difficulty comes in obtaining enough swim bladders for 2 whole application (because swim bladders typically come from deep water fish) Hal(PENDANT) Level 1 Wonder The omate pendants of Ao Te Aroa ate caved either from greenstone (jade) or whale bone. They can be found nade of other substances (including plastic) but only these two substances will take on the proper magical charge. Several vaetesofhecantbefoundchroughourNew Zealand, bur the two most common are the hei-tiki and the hei-matau. HeieMatas ‘The het-mazau pendant is mentioned a fr back as the smyth of Mauione of the principal Polynesian gos. Reser- bling an omately carved fishhiok, the het-matai git ts wearer with good lick at al times while he's over wate. Deap Mack 1 fats g ‘ath ‘en ; way. IS [Twice per game-day —solongas the wearer ofthe he ‘mata isi the ocean or on iin. a boat (planes don't count) —he can re-toll any die that comes up "I." Ifthe player rolls athorrble bocch, he can use both of thes e-oll at once Hei-Tiki ‘Thehei-thi pendancisasmaller,lesspocent versionofthe true tkis (Gee Tiki, below); as such, tis a Fetish containing minor health o fertility spit The hei isa syized human form witha large head that composes about haf the pendant’ssize. The mouth is generally to onesie or che other and the eyes are tradition- ally inset with pau shell (oF Haliots iris, os Westerners are wont to call i). The remainder of the body features an oversized ahomen, legs in squatting position, heels together with hands testing on the thighs. Te e'-tiisunquestionably a phallic symbol, and difer- entvesionsofthe eth revel that togreaterorlester degrees. “aoe women used to wear hes to prevent barnes and ‘men wore them for increased virlity. Most heh pendants created by modern thungns are less explicitly fr fetiliry and ‘more commonly for general ealch and wellbeing A minorspirtofhealth or fertility i bound into the he tk, benefiting the wearer in one ofthe fllowing ways. The wearer of the hei-tikiguins one extra Bruised Health Level while she wears the pendant * The wearer ofthehe-kigetsone extadiefrallSoak rll. ‘The het grants the wearer the equivalent of one «extra pointof Stamina for the purposes of performing stremt- ous, extended duration activities (swimming, running, climbing, magi rituals, et). This blessing applies any tine the wearer engages in such activity ‘The wearer ofthe heist perormsall healing Effects at a difficulty (One person can wear multiple he pendants, but real heitkipendantsare rare enough that findingone,noessfour islkely 10 be qutea task unless ones (orisaclose friend of) Mao cohunga— and while the Maor area gracious people, they're not likely to offer their Wonders casually to any random tours, acquaintance o recent bud] KAHU HURUHURU (FEATHER CLOAK) Level 2 Wonder (Of the better known Wonders ofthe Maoe, the feather cloak isthe mos prized for the many blessings ieconfers (ots ‘wearer. Not only is it heauriful i also ads to che wearer's social abilities in part by granting hima a pronounced degree of regal bearing char is dificult ignore [While wearingche beautfulkabuhuruburs, the thing snakes all social ols at 3 dificult. Furthermore as long as ‘the mage is wearing the feathered cloak, he gets three dice of automatic countermagic against any hostile Effects. ‘Creating kahu huruhura is extraordinarily demanding, ‘even for the creation of an artifact, and the ohunga must makeiby hand, unassisted. Bleached mua (fax fiber) must be spun, ‘unto yarn, woven and shaped. To this base the mage artaches hundreds of feathers from the (immensely rare) albino kiwi A ‘mage wanting to add color to the cloak may also attach green feathers from the wood pigeon, red feathers from the New Zealand parrot or the blue-black feathers ofthe tui bird] Mexemar Level 3 Wonder ‘Ancient Polynesians from Hawaii to Ao Te Aroa be- lieved that mana (Quintessence) pools in the head, even in the heads of corpses. To take advantage of that, certain Fahunas would collect heads in a “mana battery" of sorts and create a link between themselves and the talisman, allowing them to call on the Quintessence whenever they needed it. [The heads must be whole and in good shape. They must be dkied and ether woven together by che har, carefully stacked together ina pile facing out or displayed on a specially carved stone skull rack. To complete the mokomai, the kahuna must weave ina ponerfil Coresponsience3/Prime 3/Spiri 3 fect. ‘Once the kahina has completed the creation roe, he ‘may use the Quintesence stored in the mokomai as easily as thar stored in his own Pattern. The Quintessence in such a device retums only slowly, however — one point per week, although a mage i free to use a rime 3 Effect to channel Quintessence into the mokomai faster. Furthermore, any ‘mokomafully drained of Quintessencemusthere-enchanted cor the heads lve ther ability to store mana The head of normal persn willold one point of Quintes ‘sence, the head of a kahuna or powerful warrior will hold two ons and the head ofachief with proper te moko (See Tek, above) or a Rokea (or other changer) will hold three points.) @He-KUI(BATTLE Wis) Level 4 Wonder ‘Thecho-kuiisanenormous, bushy headdress of pounded leaf fibers that warriors wear into battle. To modern eyes it looks a bit like a bushy, straight-hair wig, and it ean be dyed nearly any color (brighter colors are thought to impart more ferocity in the wearer, so violent red, nauseens green and vivid magenta are popular). The oho-kui resembles an enor- ‘mous mane radiating out fom the wearer's fae and down his tack. Some als incorporate a large tk mask av an additional invimidating element. “The purpose of the oho-lai is to protect the wearer by absorbing attacks a function i does quite well. While not courlandishly powerful, Hawaiian warriors have long coveted cho-kuis forthe protection they grant in bate. {The oho-kui does two things for its wearer: Iegives him three extra Bruised Health Levels and three automatic suc- cesses on all soak rolls while he's wearing it. The oho-kui regenerates the Health Levels at the rate of one per full day of rest") 32 Deab Macc II We + te thn % eh el Seder) f Mle “eg hea Panu INe-Nul (THE CHAes DRUIT) Level 5 Wonder ‘One of the most devastating weapons in the kahuna arsenal, the pahu ino-nui isalso, luckily, the rarest, with ony two ever known to have been made. The pabu ino-nui isan enormous drum six feet long by five feet in diameter. Its suspended from a frame with the drum head perpendicular to the ground and played by a siting drummer using a pair of inch-thick rounded wooden drum sticks. Itsappearancealone is interesting, but mere appearances give no indication of what the drum can do: The pahu ino-nuiiseasily comparable to the greatest war magics of Hermetic House Flambeau The user ofthe chaos drum begins by beating the drum in time with the weather. A beautiful day with calm seas ‘would equate to a slow, steady beat while atypical storm would indicate a slightly faster, slightly more complicated, rhythm, Even played softly, the penetrating reverberationsof the pahu ino-nui can be fee through the earth a quarter ofa mile away and heard even farther away than chat. Once thedrummerhasplayethat basic baseline rhythm for 15 minutesor so, connecting to the cart, thesky and the water, che drummer can begin picking up the pace. The faster and more complex the rhythms, the more violent the weather becomes. Playing the chaosdrum isserenuousactivity. A character with a Stamina of two will be able to play for, maybe five ‘minutes before the muscle fatigue in his forearm keeps him fromeven holding the drumsticks. Any mage not nexcellent physical condition (Stamina 5) who wantstogeethe mostout ‘of the pahu ino-nui should use Life magic beforehand to increase hisStamina, orhe's likely totire longbeforeheeven gets to the more interesting and violent weather. ‘And the effects ofthe chaos drum get very interesting and violent: After an hour of working up the elements, the drum whips up multiple simultaneous typhoons, 40-foot storm surges, electrical storms tsunamis, earthquakes, gey- sets, water spouts, violent voleanic eruptions (above and below the ocean), and even meteor swarms, ‘Through all ofthis, the mage, sitting in a 10-foor cecle of absolute calm, won't even feel so much asa bese of a single drop of rai. [The full effects of the pabu ino-nut are up to the Storyteller, but after the first full hour of drumming, the damage inflicted on individuals (and structures) isassigned as per an ongoing Forces 5 Effect.) TIkIs ‘Thetnpéraincech iin Yolpuain wagichae te understood in the context of its history. ‘The tiki has deep roots in Polynesian culture, clarifying. in agi cl hacer ton toc. flocsPolynesian people continued moving from island to island, the tiki remained a key element in the magic of the kahunas. ‘The tikiisa representation ofthe first man (whose name was “Tik? or “Tiki”). Through the process of ancestor wor- ship, this ise man took on demigod status and the name “Tiki” became acommon term for any representation of man, ‘Throughout Polynesia, the rik has hecome a personification of the human race as a whole. It isa symbol of the right of hhumanity to coexist with spirits in the world, a physical contract” of sors substantiating humanity’ place in the universe. To the kahuaus, Tiki isa sort of divine ally in the world of the spirits, a kindly ancestor advocating for his offipring. Consequently, most uses of Spirit magic have ikis asa focus, and on some islands the kahunas use tikis focus in one way or another forall or most oftheir magical Effects. ‘And the tiki is used as the basic pattern for all Wonders, fetishes in particular, throughout the South Pacific ButTikiiseven more than tha ofthe phallusand the divine procreative power of Tane, the creator-god. In the Austral Islands south of Tahiti, -r0a (the word for tall, standing vik figure) remains the slang term for the penis. All of these sexual elements ate, at r00t, linked and directly connected to the first use to which, ‘magically active tikis were put: to increase fertility Lastly, the god Tiki is a.god of creation (ahove and beyond procreation) and, for that reason, he is the god of Aahunas, artists and artisans throughout the South Pacific Tikis represent an old, old form of performing magic, one ‘more familiar to the more “primordial” Traditions like the Cale of Bestasy and Dreamspeakers, Similar items, magical and otherwise, can be found throughout the world, but especially around the Pacific Rim. For example, a tiki is closely related toa rupilak (see Dead Magic, page 134). Templesto the Polynesian gods and saneta of practicing Jahunas will almost always be surrounded by an aray of ikis, either free-standing or perched atop poles. DEFINITION A tiki isa carving shaped toresemble agod orspirit. Tikis are known throughout the South Pacific and Hawaiian is- lands mainly, but all seem to share the same mystical purpose: Tikis are created to house spirits. Every tiki c« spirit. Since no two spirits are alike, neither ar Tikis are often carved out of wood, but sculpted stone tikis are relatively common as well, particularly in cereain parts of Polynesia (the giant carved heads, or moai, of Rapa ‘Nuiare tis and, in cher prime around 500 years ago, were some of the most powerful tks in existence, each contain- ing one powerful spirit or aswarm of lesser spirit all bound fnto the tiki). “Tikis range in site from the site of thumb (often worn ‘as lockets) ro several feet high. They can be starkly simple or decorated with jewelry, skulls or other bones, cloth or the bright feathers of tropical binds "Tiki" wasalsothename wig AE if Wey yr WMT ty [hr ety fats ny ee Ee i 13 clk sul} st Some tikis are so abstract that they bear very litle resemblance toa manatall, butin many cases, thismayhave been intentional on the artisan’s (or the Kahuna’) par. Some tikis perform destructive magic, and so the ikt would need 10 appear as something else, lest che target ge suspi- cious (the other way of handling this problem, of course, is tomake the tkiso smal that iecan beeasily hidden near its intended target. Inshort individual iks varyradicallyfromone another. ‘That said, tkis char share a common purpose share certain characteristics. Fertility tks, or example, tend wo be longer and more phallic, while war tikisaresquatterand haveamore malevolent appearance. Likewise, certain materials are bet- tersuitedtotiksof a particular type, Wood and bone, having once been alive and still containing the memory of ie, make ood fertility ikis, while stone (with the exception of green stone orjade) doesnot. Longterm wardingtikisand ikisthat potentially ave o withstand a lotof wear and tear — either from the passage of time or asa side effec of being caught berween two warringhahinas—arebettr carved from tone CREATION ‘A kahuna must carve or sculptany tikihe hopes to use for ‘mystical purposes. Although there are exceptions, trying to enchant a tiki created by someone else is generally a useless endeavor. The mage must have at least two dots in Crafts to create a tiki Fora wooden tiki, the mage must choose the type of tree best suited tothe tiki he hopes to make. The wood of certain trees is more attuned to certain kinds of magic. In Hawaii, for ‘example, most tikis are made from the woed of the obia- pane, a type of native apple tee. tome tikis require igneous rock — rock formed under immense heat and pressure and associated with voleanic activity. Some stone tikis may require even more specific types of stone — black basalt with gold flecks that has never seen sunlight, for example, or obsidian raken from. the sea floor. ‘Once the mage has carved the basic figure ofthe tiki, he ‘may need toadomnitwithother importantelementsof the tiki — the feathers ofa certain bird, a certain kind f decorative seashell or particular color of fabric, for example. ‘Once the mage is finished with the physical process of tiki creation, she can begin with the magical elements. The first step isthe ritual cleansing of the tiki of harmful ‘or troublesome native influences. Ths, as with all che subse- {quent steps of tiki ereation, is done as an extended action. Dependingon the substance being worked (wood spritstend tobe more fractious, but less difficult to exorcise while stone spirits are typically amenable to enchantment but they are ‘extraordinarily dificult to appease or exorcise, and they can provide a great deal of antagonism for the mage) The number of successes necessary on an Arete roll for the cleansing ritual is 25 for wood and 50 for stone. The ‘SAD ISLANDS IN STRANGE SEAS: P@LYNESIA 3B ay ¢ an ay hae at i Hehprocess, obviously, takes a number of days and the mage should plan on getting a lot of sleep before the cleansing, because he's not likely to get it once the ritual has begun. (Once the tiki has been cleansed, the hahuna places @ numberof different Effects into the tiki, One enchants the tiki so as 10 make it a natural Quintessence-sink so that ambient Quintessence is drawn to the tiki. Another Effect binds a spitit ofthe appropriate type into the physical vessel ‘ofthe tiki, Some kahunas weave an Entropy Effectinto the tiki that facilitates the sprit'stasks with sheer happenstance —a blessing on the spirit, to pur iti the simplest rerms. Uses: The tikl isto Polynesian magic what software appica- to the Virtual Adepts: the central means through which long-term magical Effets are wrought. Tikis are lim- ited only b uation and power of their creators. ‘There are some kahunas who do nothing but create tikis once their power and enlightenment reach the requisite levels. ‘These ean be compared to Sons of Ether who spend all their time tinkering in their workshops — it's not an exciting life, bur i's rewarding to those few who are content with it. Many tiki perform dull but important magical work: ‘They keep the fish populationsalonga certain ref thriving: they wand off blight spirits from crops and disease spirits from villages: they may repel tsunamis, dampen earth- ‘quakes, slow the rate at which the creating kahuna ages oF perform any of a thousand other subtle tasks considered important by the kahuna ‘A sampling of some ofthe primary types of tks appears below. While the Storyteller is free to use the ones given, he isalso urged to come up with others of his own invention. TIKIS AND PARADOX: As with all popular magics there are ways of erating tikis chat do not rely on Spirit magic. While these often have significant advantages over the Fetish tikis, they have one predominant disadvantage: Theis Eects car be vulgat. Spirit magic used with rikis, on the other hand, works with the grain ‘of reality, not against it, and consequently does not incur Paradox. Some of the tks lated below (the wad tiki, for ‘example) are, oddly enough, coincidental if spirit magic is used to make the tiki a Fetish but vulgar otherwise. There are a number of reasons for this. ‘The magical nature of tikis is obvious; it's one of the reasons they are so popular (and the key to the tiki fad thar swept North America froin the '50s tothe late "60s). Not only are tikis powerful tools for a kahuna, but they emanate a sense of power, a certain exotic mystique that even the unAwakened can fel: Consequently, when something un- canny occurs in their presence, it is perfectly in line with ‘expectations (either conscious of unconscious), and noone is particularly sup the ia a That effect is even more prominent throughout the islands of Polynesia. For that reason, anywhere in the South Pacific che definition of what counts as coincidental (with respect to tikis) is much broader than it would be in, say, Cincinnati, Ohio, the Banality capital of North America How much vulgar tiki magic a Scoryeller opts to overlook is uuptohim, bute should remember that outside ofthe fewbig cities in Polynesia (Auckland and Honolulu being the big- gest) the paradigm stil hasa good deal more give than it does anywhere in North America, particularly when it comes to tiki, a form of magic that has been in use inthe South Pacific for over 2000 years, Note that this is true for practitioners of una. A non-Polynesian mage who leams some ofthe bases of South Seas magic and tres to use a tiki in weird, modern. ‘ways (to broadcast TV signals, for example) is just asking for a Paradox backlash. Tyres Fertility Ti The original tiki figures were dedicated entirely to pro- tecting the fertility of eops and increasing the fecundity of those within the tik’ area of effect. Irwas through the use of fertility tikisthacthe Polynesian peoples were able tosetle so ‘many islands so effectively in such a brief peri. Due to the success of the fertility tkis, the Polynesian people were able tosettle all across the South Pacifie— taking the magical art ofthe tiki with them, Fertility tkis poorly used, itshould also be noted, played a key ole in the overpopulation and subsequent tragedy on. Rapa Nui Effects: Fertility spirits are some ofthe oldest and most established thar mankind has striven to placate. Those bound into fertility fetish tikissupporcthe general health of those in thetik'srange frighten away impsofimpotence and increase the likelthood of pregnancy. Fertility tks thac don’ use spirits accomplish the same general goals witha Life 2, Entropy 2 Effect, possibly with a fect acting as a constant low-level aphrodisiac Fertility tikis are generally more rounded and usually resemble smal, stylized humans with squat bodies and short, pudgy limbs, like a baby. Passion Tiki Like fertility tikis — but quite abit more intense — are passion tikis, which cause those i the tik's ange tofall prey to their camal urges for anyone and everyone nearby. While aagood numberof these primal Wonders have been destroyed {nosmall few by shocked Chorister missionaries afer falling prey toa prank efiected by a well-placed passion iki), many of them were created and deliberately shipped to North ‘America during the tiki fad ofthe ‘60 by Hawaiian kahuna angry at the exploitation and destruction of Hawatian cul- ture. These items may yet linger inthe basements, artisanddens ofsenescenterstwhile swingers (nodoubt nexttoacrate of Martin Denny LPs), waiting to be discovered by theie innocent and unwary grandchildren... Effects: Passion tikis contain spirits of lust and passion that, over the space of an hour (ors0),removeall inhibitions and gently nudge those within range into acts of playful, experimental sexuality. While the experience itself ean be ‘reat fun, the consequences ean be... problematic. ‘The Talisman version of the passion tiki weaves in a Mind 3, Life 2 Erect chat anestherzes sexual inhibitions while simultaneously piquing desi ‘Appearance: Passion tkis look a great deal like fertility tikis, only ithyphallic and withthe countenance frozen in a perpetual impish grin, Lore: There are rumors of a Cultist of Ecstasy who collects pasion tkis. His collection allegedly contains over 20 passion tks, culledover yeas of devoted efforc anda great deal of travel throughout Polynesia. One can only wonder to what end he might put such a collection. War Tiki ‘The war tiki followed the fertility tiki in short order. No sooner had the Polynesian people radiated ourward to new islands than they developed a whole new tribal identity and began warring against each other. ‘War vikis, as their name implies, assist the mage with, matters of warfare. When a mage creates a war ik, he and everyone it is intended to help bleeds onto the tik asa part of the creation process, Once the tikt is completed, all those “recognised” by the tiki will benefit from a number of atvan- tages when engaged in combat in the tiki’ line of sghe. Exfects: War tikis house spirits of rage and combar that hhelp in a numberof diferent ways. The most common form of war tiki grants the following abilities: -1 on al dificulties to ht, one extra die for ll Dodge rolls and one extra di for allsoak rolls. The spits of war area varied lo, however, and exactly what form their hatte blessings take may vary. The Talisman version of the war tiki weaves ina Life 3 Effect that grants an extra dot in Strength, Dexterity and Stamina, so long as the recipient is engaged in physical combat within line of sight ofthe tik Appearance: The war tikiismore primitive looking than the fertility tiki, ltele more than a tee trunk carved with a stylized snarling human face. Jagged bits of shell may be used forthe exposed teeth of the war tiki, and the eyes are most often carved from human bone. Guardian Tiki Distances that seem small by modern plane and auto- mobile standards were daunting to the pre-Technocracy Polynesians. Ifa rival kahuna attacked your village five minutes after you started paddling to a distant island to collect feathers from the sacred parrots, under most condi tions you wouldn't know until hours or days after the fact, Wee yey i yay Wh 1 With feta AA de elt hare oe wig and probably too late tocatch him. Bur with a guardian tiki, you'd know the moment your nemesis made his appearance and you'd be able to get back in time topreventat least some cof yourfamily members rom being sacrificed and butchered for meat Effects: A guardian tiki housesspitits tha eport back to the mage who created it. Typically the mage will give the spirits very clear instructions concerning which events to convey and which not t. Kaunas who dislike using spirits can get the same effect by placing a combination Correspondence and Entropy Ef fect on the tiki. The Entropic element is added so the ‘Correspondence Effect will kick in only under certain ci. cumstances "Let me see whats happening in that cave only if thereis violence,” orl want to hear every word that is said when there are others in this temple but me"). Appearance: Hugeeyes and sometimeseats) are thekey featuresofa guardian oki Typically half the figue is made up ofthe squat litte body topped by an oversized head that, in tum, has oversized, slightly malevolent eyes and strangely sqquared-off ears Ward Tiki Ward kis deny access to certain persons, spirits or phenomena, and as such they are extremely useful and ‘concomitantly common. Wardtikiseanbe used topreventan enemy from entering village, repel a cannibal spirit or keep 4 tsunami from inundating a village. A ward tiki can ward against only one thing, but there's nothing keeping a kahuna from putting an array of ward tikis around his home to keep variety oftheatsat bay — one for lavaflows, one for Rokea, ‘one for disease spirits and so on. Effects: Wardtikishouse spirits of trifeor repulsion that ‘work to repel the thing the tiki wards against. This is usually very subtle. Lava flows will branch and nareowly miss the warded area, hostile people will get lost orsufferaccidents on theirway tothe warded area, and soon. The closer the thing warded against gets to the warded area the less subtle the spirits will be until they finally resort to extreme tacts, including blunt physical force. Kahuras who prefer not to use spirits can obtain similar results by weaving a simple Correspondence 3 Ban into the enchantment that simply creates a wall of force through which the specified entity or thing eannot pas. A less vulgar variant uses an Entropy 3 Effect to put coincidental obstacle after coincidental obstacle in the way ‘of those things or entities waded against. the ching warded against isalive, a Correspondence 3/Entropy 4 Effect woven inwillseeroithar the body of the individual warded against simply gives out before reaching the area protected by thetiki, betrayed by an increasingly serious series of sprained ankles, inexplicable pain illneses, hear attacks, cancer and strokes. ‘SAD ISLANDS IN STRANGE SEAS: POLYNESIA ira th a5 hae 0 Hie cy hsiien’Appearance Wadia peel i clog ba cme eut of guy pee (lboogh 9 eeu eck il) Tore The moo ants on Raga (abe known Ear an lade Pca) ae vad sk butonesof ss do: A100 had been evan ith Sontmmgl tal xcied om hk pons Sheu Felyean ane one led Wath buldsratcntdto ware {Neda apa Nudie mea cof the moai, they should have been able to ant of ang Sean te, at he pation fe deel oe eed 1000, was defn ants moter poplin set esl wer wn pation eo under 3,000. Did che wards fail? And if they did, what werner nude ak dah sear conel by hundreds of enormous (and powerful) ward tikis? Sorcees TK Te tg iS ci ties rid oor hel ga eye pe cae Effects the impact they wanted. The sorcerous tiki was agape iy of crag galactic Djsgptnng becom to perform magic more easily. Where the blood comes feo ses kl ie ag Is fend or that of sc The bal set not bebuman ba lem coe fer ann The ro «etic ain det properdon athe amount of blood that is spilled on it. When the mag complete pel for elch he wed the hs ites th ode nthe fac The mage makes ood cic othe sorcerous tiki immediately prior to performing the Ef- 1” fect he wants assistance with. For this, he measures Mod pai fom yeu The inal pins forced owering hovel ical umber oe Arete roll (-1 modifier to difficulty for every two blood points). Thenext 12 blood pointsreduce the effective ppointsofblood (asperthe“Correspondence Ranges” tbc on pre 23 ofthe Mage cr bo). Ls, esos panothe ego ond cnt Arce lr every 10 pom of ol he sea ed Tuna allselsbut pons A peson ca ls ell pos thot king Wf, esters rtenone ett oon ech damage pr Hod pol Example Keahimot, a yume lane an evn enue Spdicte menbes who hog hs enc oa fom underhinandtumeticino anager Hehastwo goats he's willing to sacrifice to the sorcerous tiki, each, with four points of blood. Keaulumoku wants to affeet the Syndicate member with Analana, the Death Prayer (see Rotes, above). The rote is ‘coincidental (anyone can get sick and die — it happens all the time) and the highest Sphere needed is three dots. The target is distant, raising the difficulty by one, leaving Keaulumoku witha difficulty ofseven, To perform animpres- sive feat at such a distance, the kahuna would normally need nine successes. Keaulumoku only has an Arete of three, soit could take a while to get the Effect he's looking for. Luckily, Keaulumoku has a sorcerous tiki “The mage puts the tiki in the bottom ofa large wooden. bowl and exsanguinates both goats into the bowl, giving him eight points of blood to work with The firstsix points ofblood reduce hisdificulty by three, leaving him with adifficultyoffour. Gettingnine successes at that dificulty is eaie, but still nothing to sneeze at He uses the last ewo points of goat blood to reduce the Correspon- dence range by one, then, thinking better of it, he opens a ‘vein and adds four points of hisown blood (leavinghimalittle weak). And he spendsa point of Willpower fora free sucess. These last sx points of blood reduce the effective Corre- spondence range rom "Described Location" to" Very familia.” Instead of needing nine successes, Keaulumoku only needs six. Furthermore, the extra points of his own blood that Keaulumoku fed the tiki phim over 10 points, giving him an extra die on his Arete coll, giving him a total of four dice (and one automatic succes). So, thanks tothe sorcerous tiki, instead of needing nine successes ata difficulty of seven, he needs only five successes ata difficulty of four —a much more manageable feat. ‘And a few hours later, somewhere in Jersey City, New Jersey, a Technoerat hacks up a piece of lung. The Fetish version of the sorcerous tiki uses spirits of communication, possibly corrupted ones. It's not entirely impossible that a sorcerous tiki could cause some kind of interference with the Digital Web or the Web of Faith if used a great deal in regions where either of those Webs was in hicavy use. Virtual Adept and Technocrat alike would be smote thanalittle surprised toseeatkiicon on theirscreen, The Talisman version of the sorcerous tiki requites a potent Prime 4/Correspondence 3 Efect be woven in during the creation ofthe tiki. “Appearance: Sorcerous tiks ae relatively small, rarely standing more than 10 inches tall. fall the traditional kis sorcerous kis are the most naturally proportioned, having a head tha is just alittle too large for their strange bodies. The heads of sorceroustikishave argeeyesand small, jagged teeth, {either shark teeth or jagged shards of shell embedded in the wood). The most disturbing thing about sorcerousikisisthat they have full heads of real, long human hair. Some crafters, aves Mey NT YE’ ‘| ae ‘| i pa fy ft" Hei hr lt ig ty of sorceroustikis have used entire human scalps fo this, but thar degree of authenticity isn't necessary: adhering loose ‘human hait with tar or sap works just as well. provided the hha is at least six inches long. Lore: Christian missionariesreferred to sorceroustkisas “devil dolls"and mistakenly assumed thatthe rikis were some form of demonic idol. Learning that the “devil dolls" could absorb several times their own volume in blood did nothing to adress the missionaries’ concerns. Because ofthe missionaries’ efforts (and because oftheir unquestionable utility) sorcerous tikis re the rarest of al the tiki varieties listed here. Fortune Ti K.ahunas who want to benefit from uncommonly good luck create fortune tikis to assure thar things turn out well for them, while kahunas wishing to bring bad luck to en- éemiescan do just that by plantinga bad luck ki inthe home ‘of their adversary. Effects: Spirits of good fortune are bound into tikis designed to bring good luck, while spirits of bad luck are bound into tikis with that function. ‘The Talisman version of the fortune tkiineorporatesan Entropy 3 Effect. Some kahunas want the benefits of their fortune tikis even when they're far ftom home. If they're $0 inclined, and have the proper Arts, they may weave in a Correspondence 3 Effect as well, allow their good luck to follow them even across great distances. Obviously, kahunas using tik to eause bad luck can incorporate the Correspon- dence Effect as well, butsuch magic isrelatvely easy tosense and counter using Correspondence 2 and 3 Effects, respec- tively. Mages without Correspondence (or Sleepers, for that matter), could be infor a very long streak of bad luck. Appearance: The fortune tiki smiles and, even if the smile is half demented and half malevolent, it’s still the only ‘one of the traditional tikis to do so. Those carving fortune tikis claim that the look on the tik’ face is the mad joy of havingsuch good fortune,although there aresome whoclaim that the luck broughe by the fortune tiki brings a strange madness with it as well The fortune tiki is carved from the wood of the ohia- apane tree, aspeciesof apple native tothe islands of Polynesia Small pearls are used for the eyes. Dormancy Tiki On islands where voleanic activity is more preva- lent, dormancy tkishave been used to lessen the frequency of voleanie eruptions or even stop them altogether. A ring of dormancy tikis must be placed around the voleano facing inward. Effects: Dormancy tikis house spirits that soothe spirits of voleanism. They lull the spirits of eruption to sleep, preventing the voleano ftom erupting and thereby safeguard- ing those living on the island. SAD ISLANDS IN STRANGE SEAS: POLYNESIA is Of+ Dormancy tikis must be carved out of igneous rock. They tend tobe somewhat ‘oblong, with high conical heads. The eyes of dormancy tikis are made of polished obsidian, Lore: It should be noted that during the kahina wars, at least one mage and his extended family was annihila entirely when his most reviled enemy, unbeknownst to him, replaced his dormancy tikis with antagonizing tkis, spurting the voleane spirits into an eruptive fury utterly destroyingall lifeon the island and increasing the size ofthe island by three times over the course of a year. CHRONICLE NeTES The essence of a Polynesian chronicle should be the unknown. For a Westem mage, accustomed to a European worldview, life in the South Pacific as it was experienced by the mages ofthe regions is difficult to imagine. The bound- aries between humanity and the primordial are thinner here and while the people are naturally gracious and pleasant, passions can be volcanic. Tewas those heightened passions that led tothe ongoing conflicts between the mages of Polynesia during the age of high Polynesian magic (circa 700 to 1300 C.E.) The enor- mous wars conducted by thekahunasof the South Pacific were things of legend —easily the equal of any European conflict ‘The plentitude of Quintessence and the lack ofa set belief pparadigm our on the open ocean gave the kahunas immense freedom to shape reality as they saw fit (though Reality had its ways of fighting back if a mage went truly overboard, pethaps helping to explain the rise and fall of both cultures and islands), Even after 200 years of the Technocracy care fully sweeping evidence under the earpet, the South Pacific stil reveals its rich magical history through a profusion of tikis sunken islands, haunted islands, eannibal spirits, sum- bering voleano gods and stranger things. ‘Modem Kahnas may know some of the lore that has been passed from mage to mage, but much of the magical history of Polynesia has been lost, and those things that have been last can often be inadvertently stumbled over. The Storyteller i invited to explore some of these ideas in his Chronicle. Among other ideas to look at: 1. Byall appearances, the Kopa Loei Crafthas splintered, pressured on one side bythe Technocracy and pulled on the ‘other by the invitation ofthe Traditions. Those kahumas who ‘opted not to join the Dreamnspeakersare scattered throughout Polynesia. Are they ell content to observe the old ways in solitude on their islands, or are they up to something? 2. Polynesia’s links to Southeast Asia may not serve it well. Some of the Yama Kings (essentially, demon lords) of Asia may have theireyeson one or more ofthe island clusters inthe South Pacific. Two in particular, Hahano Fakami and Honoyeta, are discussesin more detail in 1,000 Hells, White a pee srl 7s L 8 seat ‘eh Wol?s guidebook on these devils and thei foul kingdoms for Kindred of the East. 3. Two (or more) kahunas have come into conflice with each other, and the forces thatthe twoate bringing to bear on fone another threaten totake on the hostility ifnot the sheer scope) ofthe old battlesbetween Polynesian mages. Through some connection (the Sphinx, perhaps) the players’ cabal is called in to intervene before the Technocracy takes matters into its own hands 4.A violent earthquake pushesan island up from the sea floor in or near Polynesia —an island that shows evidence of havingbeensettledand hometoastrangely advanced culture before plunging beneath the waves. Is it Atlantis? R'yeh? ‘Mat And whats with all the strange statues of ishdeities? ‘Whole chronicles can be built around the risen island notion, The characters may need asistance from a local ‘mage, one familiar with the magical history of the South Pacific. Wasthe island sunken out of pite by powerful mage during the kahuna wars? Did the island house a Nephandic cult?fso, what kinds of dark knowledge mightbe found there to tempt the unwary? Or, have the Nephandi so grown in power that they raised the island as pat of some new warped and monstrous plan? 5. The Technocracy, now growing comfortable with its de facto vietory over the Traditions, opts to engage in some mop-up work of some of the smaller Crafts, including the few remaining kahinas ofthe South Pacific. The characters are called in on a last ditch effore to save the magical lore of Polynesia. Do they give the Technocracy a more tempting target? Do they engage the Technocracy directly? 6. An all-kahuna game could bea blast and an exotie change of pace if your players are getting tired ofthe grity, urban side of the World of Darkness. The mages from around Polynesia all have slighty different approaches to magic. A sauna from Fijior Hawaii will have totally different take on ‘magic from atohurga from Ao Te Atoa—at least a diferent asthatofa Verbena and a Euthanatos. After bit of research, the Storyteller (and perhaps the players) should fel free to design the Polynesian “Traditions.” As guidelines, think about what raw materials for magic the islands ofthe South Pacific offer tothe mage: Oceans and voleanoes offer alot to the prospective student of Forces, Likewise, an island with a heavy shark or octopus population might provide a strong impetus for a mage t0 learn Mind magic. One of these Polynesian “Traditions” might specialize in storm and vol- «ano magic (Forces); another tradition might be particulaely skilled in navigating the ocean and might therefore focus on ‘magical means of getting from island to island (Correspon. dence); another mighe focus on working with the local flora and fauna (Life, Mind), while another might emphasize the spirit workd and working with tikis (Spirit). The names, specialties and mystical or philosophical underpinnings of nyt eg TAthese “Traditions” are up to you and your players, and could serve to take your game into some innovative new places. 7. Another plot link to Kindred of the East could ‘connect your game to both Asiaand America, The Kuei-in, thevampiresof Asia, are intenton making inroads intoNorth, ‘America and they are making grea strides in San Francisco, butthey arestill limited in thetr wareffortbyhow many Kuei- Ese Ar Za Meg YN as wh 8. nad gn te jin they can bring over. It would serve them well to have a base of operations somewhere between Asia and North ‘America, and Hawaii (or any other Polynesian archipelago) would serve perfectly. The native kahunas, however, might have other ideas. A kahuna vs. Kueijin chronicle could be a sreatvarianton the more standard mage vs. vampire concept.AT tt PRL TE AD Oo FRAT TLL TEL TEE TREE TM! FA] MESSAGE FROM: AGENT SPENCER he a TO: SUPERVISOR, ARCHIVE, PROTECTION E20 SH RE: Beauvoir Project. Agent Beauvoir has enjoyed limited success. Attached please find information file: RJ 1 multimedia file (Road Train Footage) BS) 1 transcript of interview Bemiy) 1 intercept of journal entries, decrypted 1 action plan summary and recommendation Sincerely yrs, Agent Spencer MEDIA FILE ATTACHED. Transcript is below. u rm TIME MARK: -10:04:02 There are no maximum speed limits on certain roads in this part of the world The Road Train in question, an imported Peterbilt tractor with intermodal con- tainers, was proceeding with all excess speed in high gear, making way north, an hour out of Adelaide TIME MARK: - 6:03:05 Driver notes increase in evening fog conditions. Very unusual for the dry climate. No reduction in speed noted by logs Wie AWAKE IN THe DREAMTIME NATIVE AUSTRALIA Wee YEU SUG RE, Hg Bre ay ATS ea ’ Wit eT } tTIME MARK: ~4:23:58 Visibility distance dropping considerably. Road cameras are the only thing keeping the train on the road. The fog is like a wall and driver is clearly Fighting vertigo as he struggles to keep the train on track. TIME MARK: -2:23:45 Interior lights dimmed. Static patterns on tape, in keeping with paranormal activity TIME MARK: -0:46:08 Seconds to crossportation, internal audio picks up the driver's curses and a strange wailing sound. Analysis identifies this sound as a native instrument called a didgeridoo. Side view mirrors vibrate from sonic impact. TIME MARK: 40:03:45 Crossover conplete.. light with strange blue striations is noted. No further recording input. Truck break-up sounds noted on tape. TIME MARK: +5:06:02 Glass shattering many minutes after final recording of the crash Lends one to believe there may have been human involvement in break-in of the cabin, See evidence tag #345-B INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT: Operative Klein, tech on duty at time of incident SPENCER: So, Operative.. Klein is it? KLEIN: Yes, Klein. Look, this ign’t something I need my lawyer for, is it? SPENCER: Absolutely not. Thie isn’t a formal investigation. I’m just trying to get a grasp on the situation. You understand. it’s not every day this sort of thing happen: KLEIN: Yeah, I get it. OK. SPENCER: So, what do you do for us here’ KLEIN: Heh. I guess you could say I'ma geek for the Technocracy. I am the alpha nerd in this part of the world for unconscious indigenous cultural phenomena and the resulting dimensional instabilities. SPENCER: Yes, I read your thesis on the quantum dissonance in the ruins of Catal Huyuk, and your paper on Ojibwa medicine practices and the resulting hypospatial instabilities concerning them. Very interesting work, Mr. Klein. KLEIN: Thanks. SPENCER: But you must have a hard time staying busy in such a specialized field. Ts that why you were on watch last night? KLBIN: Yeah. We. all us fellows.. have to have a shift on «the Board,» as we call it, from time to time. SPENCER: I see. And this "Board" is the front end to the downlink from the Kirlian Tmaging Platform? KLEIN: Yep. We call it the «Ley fye» around here. sounds cooler that way. SPENCER: And you were sitting at the Board, working on the Tessary Distributed Processing project, at the time the Event occurred? KLBIN: We have to work on the Tessary during all minimal labor sequences that faren‘t logged for recreation. Besides, it’s kind of fun. SPENCER: Describe for me what happened near 300 hours, please. KLBIN: T noticed that the Coober Pedy zone’s Q-Score was spiking big time, and 1 began issuing maneuvering orders to the Ley Hye to prosecute. SPENCER: The Q-Score is a correlation of D-space valences in an area versus the regular normal baseline, correct? KLEIN: Yeah, it’s supposed to show D-space activity in an area. Basically, a long-range Geiger counter for interphasic activity.SPENCER: Can you explain why the Q-Score logs show a spike building well in advance of the 300 hour mark, and why you didn’t make a move to prosecute the inter- cept before that point? KLEIN: I, abh, I. SPENCER: Is it true that you were hyper-focused on the distributed Tessary pat- terns and, indeed, competing across the net with some of your peers in the New Delhi Core to solve them? KLEIN: Look, Ms. Spencer. I won't hide that I didn’t have my attention fully on the grid. It’s hard to keep focused at the best of times. It’s like watching grasa grow. And I had silenced the audible alarns because, heck, they go off whenever some miscreant teenage Aboriginal sparks up a blunt, they're so sensitive. But it wasn’t that long before I could bring the Ley fye to bear on the situation. I had it all under control SPENCER: Did you notice a change in the phenomenon when the Kirlian Platform finished vectoring? KLEIN: Actually, no. That was definitely strange. Normally when we bring the ol’ Bye online, it really calms Q-Scores down rather quickly. I keep thinking about Schrédinger, ya know, whenever I... SPENCER: Please just ancwer the question, Mr. Klein. KLEIN: Right. Well, the phenomenon’s effect diameter actually widened and deep- ened after we brought the Ley Eye on. Some tremendous negative co-valences, too, as you saw in the data log. I haven’t seen anything like it since the Soweto incidents back in the Apartheid era. We're talking some serious crossover energy, some kind of peyehogenerative auric propagation with a definitive entropic component SPENCER: Yes, indeed. Well, that’s good enough, Mr. Klein. I just wanted to show you something on the monitor first. They are pictures of the Mr. Frank Guinn, driver of the road train that was crossported. KLEIN: Oh my God. He looks like. like half hie body melted... What the hell hap- pened to him? SPENCER: We're doing everything we can for him, Mr. Klein. T would just hope that, in the future, you will be more careful when you're on the Board. I'm filing this as a reprimand with an advisory that you were clearly earnest during question- ing KLEIN: Reprimand? Is this going to affect my rotation? I can‘t stay here for another Session, I’m getting engaged, and.. SPENCER: Be thankful this event doesn’t affect you like the crossport affected Me. Guinn out there. You're the lucky one, Mr. Klein. Now, if you'll excuse me, T have to go cut there and clean up the mess your inattention has caused. dood day. ‘Wipe Awake IN THE Dreammime NaTIVe AUSTRALIA Avr cheats relays aL Aitymy friends Angela, Darren and Corin Internal Secu They'e going to re-orient the Ley tealth 2s you ate, Xoca, sy won't be long, I'm sure, my own kt-bashed di cket-switching techno am wondering if tran js data connection. I am up ased ethereal router witht time — I guess once you — it would be nice to n. z ‘and the oth imain box will go into: bit key, referenci le ¢ 9 it will do yo nto think the Spi not, then you they send t thing Tw bthe Sphinx: peculi St vanish, and whe from IS found the: e ‘and re-educated) Bas no sign of the trailers. ne Adelaide and Alice Sp play a vital role in re vital to the survival oF 3s in the bush. Without Up and biow away. | My friend Annie in Conti ot to watch the operation as T Wa ino, have the Syndics requisition Mt{WIDE AWAKE IN THE DREAITTTIME: NATIVE AUSTRALIA . a Gryed he ctly get ven tails | ich accord back then: peo site dism @ his colleagues of the day’ sabbaticals traipsing controversial nature. th all the tribal language codes and locations posted, stroke kind of guy. He dew t int out that Aboriginal territor red politically corect: gness to spend neary ev ing as much oftheli Tindale was honored by at first we thought in the world and t thropologists study this va ory (which the ple). Finally, a ait indale managed their non-rati working hat Tindal about the nati it was given ial kinfolk, as long as I ke “ burgers. My ‘ot walking, acros d the questions Ip ‘in asking good. ies, and from thea s Tcame to know mud magic, if you will) ¢ me person, unenbar ‘make apparent and clear ing and generalizing spelling of the tribal n of few miles in any rection {ou wil survive If not, youl be swallowed up bythe : gen My eyi to sand and looked into the eyes ted by, touch, shape, and move through the Dreamtime. Lam just my mind before that acceptance. though the camper van lubricated with beer and to get the feeling, a5 d seeming to vanish it ‘being conned. Usually my sand I had a gut feeling y sensors, I noted no dim 5's dead-dull normals jon, passing road t ial landscape at our ts on the roads. : F in, trying to d gotta know, stors who sleep, Wihitefellas no ed Tinsdale? was whi forthern rs there, ld com to bring my ghost-box, ti ‘it with me. An Aborigh Te was ar er fad been used on it. Ata 5 a fairly lage caves jusing a feather to fen smo the cotton bush-shirt I wore for wie r Went set jetty (hs, oly Ln Me ata return quid ipment, the! determine already uploa the Elders. They puter carrying case Tus jor or a guardian van split open as if yed a makeshift tent. The {in front had an incense tated tugging at my khakis and de ean all nl Somers ete aS Wine AWAKE IN THE DREAMTIME NATIVE AUSTRALIA 47ro placed at my fe fi fireand tossed ahandful ofthese i a2 drone straight into my eyes. T nodded. a sipment didnt think it would hur ‘Then she upended the case and all fi Nn ed suit with all my clothing, even! d shoes. I watched as my! ch smal ithat I had with me, caught: ick in. No matter how! knew that Iwasa ‘lad that these tiny cience would soon be of ust sting there 8 Were no problem: Th : re oblem. They were speci dly would enable me to walk jan T would be able to} ty emotions, st all the seeming ofa d around and at so 1 hhad driven o outstation, and ge world. There w sai, siting “— oe co ‘ me 4 | the Peoples ot d i" damage. My Fony the few sips 7 to the sounds of e ; istence and their w find food and wat ited: Tkept looking for some evi reusing magical energies tofind . them. But I could Find and there was food: the strangest places, places that d by many su Sih a ; ‘over te course of days, Th © neers constructs. after t pimy inner map: it was useless had to release upon makin to the People after It th @ other way. Now, even my Dis ‘Shell, the persona I keep to p ts is starting to dissolve. T canno remember the thought-paths that 7 : ‘it wil unravel shortly if do not remember. only have the Journ i Ag me to “write” all of these words. Het me keep the Journal. dont want to forget who twas it 'me to lead, I said, “I cannot lead. I do not know how to f Le| We will depend on you. Le believed in me, and he le behind me as 1 walked ac he skin that I had been of ‘wind, but not much, at was many days ago. Each food with me, shared t was now almost non-ex -Ltried toreachout you hear.” the cheek. ‘and reserve, or Totem, is describes the lar glk about in. Wall that we would hav or food lke the ow what my D 4 i your ray Th 1 On accepted. You will Dreamborn.” . when will this happen ‘ 4 Grinned. “We go today, 5 . Fthought he meant that we'd be alled the “old movie place’ “Instead, the mob walked deep intothe 0 saw astrange square onthe! Looming up for miles around, It jned movie screen, huge: wile tthe desert sky. Out in the middle of ri vies wel “in this part of the world, 1 knew. But I in the Outback. i TAG hath sastanding, but ‘of the screen remained. like Movie?" Joan asTHEGREAT S@UTHERN LAND - ‘Australia is a unique land, a living mural of diversity, mystery, and conerasts, Australia possesses the wealth and prestige ofa European ‘country, but its proximity tothe Pacific means it is as much affected by Indonesia, China, Japan, and Oceania asthe USA is affected by Canada and Mexico. 70,000 yearsago,peoplecameto Australia for the first time. It is theorized, based on language analysis, that these people all once shared common bond, orat the very least, common language. There are over 600 Aboriginal languages documented today. What caused this Tower of Behelstyle proliferation of new tongues! Per- hhapsitwasthe nomadic lifestyleof the people, combined with the special inter-elationshipsthe varioustribesevolved over time co ensure genetic diversity. Perhaps it was due tothe fact that che People refuse to use words associated with taboo subjects, so any time something was declared taboo, new words had to he created to describe it. Later, in 1788, the European settlers came. When the ‘American Revolutionary War made it impractical for Britain to continue its practice of forcibly exporting criminal from its shores to America, Australia proved tobe a wonderful altema- tive. Inaddiion tobeingaseeringly vast land ital appeared tobe much more harsh climactically, chan North America. Science tells us that Australia has never had a truly {indigenous people. But certainly, those who have made their Jhome in the land for 70,000 years fel that they have a much better claim on i than those who have been in Australia a mere 100 yeats or so. There are some legends among the Aborigines that speak of dingo lightning, snake-, kanga- roo-, and crocodile-men, but these have not been independently verified Despite the Aborigines’ seniority in tenancy, che Euro- pean setlersand their descendantscertainly have made their claim stick over that ofthe Aborigines. Like the American Indians, the Aboriginessoon found that white men tended to ‘want to run them off thei lands, especially where there were precious natural resources to be taken. The whiteellas poi soned billabongs and infected the People with smallpox to reduce their numbers, before the People were forcibly re ‘moved fromtheirtraditionallandsand required to"assimilate” with whitefella culture. Today, the Aborigines are winning back che lands in the cour system. Many Aborigines, on the other hand, have slid into a mie of despondency and have turned away from thet tradi- ‘onal cultural beliefs. It could perhaps be argued that this, 100, isthe fault of ehe Europeans. To a certain extent, the Europeans will agree that theyhave wronged the Aborigines, but draw the line at caking responsibility forthe People's current state of affairs. icy ; yn Sy Wear yr NG f nian wi Certainly, the Australian dominant culture has done people than the United States has done for its Native Americans: national monuments have been renamed, native title has been re- stored in some instances, Aboriginal spirituality and beliefs have been accommodated in police investigations and fa neral practices. Large-scale attempts (0 educate the Enropean-descended Australians in cultural sensitivity to wards their Aboriginal countrymen have been made, Whole areas of Outback have been designated as Aborigine-ruled zones, with their own autonomy and local control. Though it is a thom in the side of the government, there is even an ‘Aboriginal capitol ent compound erected on the awn ofthe Australian Capitol! Sil, there are those who woukdseethesereformserasecand the old ways put back. They rather call Uluru «Ayers Rock.» Unlike the United States, where «Native Americans isconsid- cred «cool» and used to sll aschall games, cars, motorcycles sonp, and expensive handicrafts, the European descendants of ‘Australia don't have much todo with Aboriginal culture. ‘Afteryearsofstrugaling with tsunique identity, Australia has settled down into two cultures ceeupying the same land- scape: the European-based culture around the ocean-kised edges of the continent, and the Aboriginal culture in the great sandy middle. Both cultures are Australian. This division is representative ofa magical aspect of Australia: pri, tis literally a land of two separate, but connected, worlds. COLONIZATION ‘Australia has always been a hotly contested land, ever since the "Great Souther Land?” was discovered. Icall began with a pirate, William Dampier, an English pirate and ex- plorer, was one ofthe first Europeans to char partofthe const that would one day be called Australia. This discovery later led to Captain James Cook’s more in-depth explorations. ‘Unfortunately, Dampier had to retum to port before much more exploration, as his crew was limited by the debilitating ‘condition known as scurvy. For his mission, Captain James Cook equipped a ship called Endeavour to take him farther than he'd ever been before, On this ship, Cook was able co utilize refined naviga tional techniques that allowed him both to better stay on course and to chart land masses in away that created ausable ‘map for a safe journey hore. Cook defeated scurvy by keeping a close eye on the crew’sfood supply and making certain they gocenough ofthe proper nutrients to ward off the ailment. Cook sailed up the ‘easter coast of Australian the year 1770, round Cape York, ‘and landed at Botany Bay. Although natives there a the time initially warned him ‘offand asked him to leave, they assisted him in finding water much, much more for its «indigenous» Sedto replenish his stores. Once he was alone, he planted the Beiih lag inthe soit and claimed the continent for England and named the land as "New Sout, Wales.” The strategic and cultural ramifications ofthis act were not fel fora few years. Australia was well positioned to be a ‘valuable por of al fo British ships traveling the Indian and Pacific Ocean, Though there were other, shorter, routes 10 take, the Durch controlled these routes. England feared war with the Dutch as a reel England needed a new source of shipbuilding uppliesaswell.Cook’s Australiaseemed perfect to address chese difficulties. ‘The crime rate in England soared when the American, Revolutionary War began, because the Colonies could no {onger be a dumping ground for eriminals. Giant ship/als called «Prison Hulls» were moored in British harbors. Land- based jails were tremendously overcrowded. Something had to be done. Sir Joseph Banks, a naturist onboard Cook's survey voyage ofthe Endeavour, suggested that the ne lank would make an excellent place to start a penal colony. His suggestion led to the establishment ofthe First Fleet, which left from England to cross the Pacific. The leader of the expedition declared Botany Bay unsuitable and landed tothe north that location, where they established camp. The tiny colony was named Sydney after the Viscount Sidney, the British Secretary of State who commissioned the voyage. Life was very tough for the criminals forced o immigrate Australia, No only were the ops poor, the ground vas unsuit- able far farming — as far as the Engh were concemed. In addition tothat, eaulwuy,theRainbow Warrior, an Aboriginal war lexler and resstance fighter, lead ambushes and attacks against the coloniss, for they had invaded the tentitory with hich his tbe had long been entrusted. There was only one woman forever four men in that time. Farming was 0 bad that thecolony verynearlystarvedtodeath, There wasn Thanksgiv- ing,1 saving grace by the native people to carry them through, Absent their convenient American dumping ground, the English had begun characterising the Great Southern Land as being a terible place, a place where ore should send criminals. As the economic situation in England worsened, the government changed its tack and began to try and convince subjects to immigrate to Australia. The people who were mostdesiable wer skilled craftsmen and professionals, people who could help build and secure the colony For these killed workers, the Cxowm offered a subsidized pasage ona shipto Australia. Tissubsidzed pasage waslittle ‘more than sterage. The cramped unhealthy conditionsmeane ‘passengers arrived in ill health. Many ded in the eros Those whodid uke the crossngsafely found lange tracts of land just waiting to be claimed. Heedless of Aboriginal resistance, these free settlers decided to hunker down to defend theirnew lands agains all comers. These «squatters, as they were called, were to later become extremely wealthy individuals in the future of Australia as a result of their tremendous land-based resources. ets jejegee ingests | Gold and other valuable minerals created boomtowns and drew prospectors to Australia. Mining became a major focus of activity, especially in the west. Gold, opal, and ‘uranium mining al had their booms and busts Because of Australia’s prominence in World War I, refugees have been arriving since, starting in earnest in 1945 when the government tock steps to increase immigration. The most recent refugees come from New Zealand, where ‘comparatively easy entrance restrictions mean that South- ‘ast Asians irumigrate there and then move tothe Australian coast. Today, Australia san extremely multi-cultural, intet- rational country. The political stugglesand economic forces at work between the descendants of European settles and ‘Aboriginal people (and those who have intermarried) are really nt part this work. Sufice itto say hat likeany huge social problem, it has many diferent sides and you should spend sometime researching i ifyou wish to run a long-term chronicle in Australia. In order togive youa working knowl celge of the Aboriginal side of history, you will have 0 see things through their eyes. THE ABORIGINAL PE®PLES PERSPECTIVE Ie ls theodaed tha the Aboriginal people crowed land ‘bridge of sorts from what is commonly referred to in geo- graphic theory as “PanGaea,” che large mega-continent that existed in pre-history. routonary theory saz that ths iahe ony explana tion for the existence of Aborigines in this land, but the Aborigines know their own creation story quite well, and aan er chay ton end of the ec en, te ‘Dreamtime Ancestors, given human form as a boon for being ‘continuously toyal to their Elders. Asa result, it is Aboriginal ‘humanity's job to take care of and keep sacred, the lands they set tegoed. Thar pipe cell co Ta bd pr them 3 unlan lds wuh te Ea tneomeas whose Uae of texto wae auch dec ‘The police ofthe Auralan goverment toward the Aboriginal people have changed over the years. The oldest ee sintered il sn onexpe of ora oll” or “blank land.” “Terra nullius* meant that nobody owned the land of Australia before colonization. Therefore, Aborigines Fos ech nsteofths lndand secclaing colt ‘what they liked, pushing Aboriginal people off theit land as. they wil (ata happened in Non America). Tote cae he cel Dave Wa taal le, tion,” which said that, because the European settlers’ culture tr incall more anced wd cfc, wold pans rally edge out the Aboriginal culture. Becaus¢ of this policy,the ‘Atop populatin droped around 3000 tnvika Ibecgeeecseatinrecedtsh etiscedteg that Aboriginal people could somehow be assimilated into the Eurocentyic culture of the white Australian people. Unfortu- 1 ¥ Wears ne Sprduns ny : eesnately this policy took the native people out of their cultural context, out of the lands with which they were familiar, and attempted to force them into the mold of the proper citizen of the Commonwealth, Insome cases it worked and the Aborigi- res joined society. In others, it failed miserably “Those who weretaken from theit lands wereconsideredto be lost. This practice held sway for so long that those People who were taken are considered “The Stolen Generation,” although the practice continued for longer than a generation. This process of attempting to “civilize” these people has been blamed for rampant poverty, epidemic drug abuse (in- cluding alcoholism), and widespread homelessness among the Aboriginal population. Finally, out of the assimilation ‘movement, a self-reliance movement emerged which even- tually blossomed into the self-government movement, and the idea of native ttle came into play. In 1992, the Mabo decision ofthe High Courtof Austra- lia recognized the prior claim of Aboriginal Australians. Today, many Aboriginal family groups are trying to reclaim AUSTRALIA'S ITIAGIC their native title to lands that have been taken over by European descendants and some are succeeding, Definitely, the movement towards allowing the remaining Aboriginal tribes thei land and allowing them to shepherd and protect their native title has meant that traditional eulture and practice as been able to thrive again Upunail the Reckoning, Australia was largely ignored by the vast majority of mages, both Technocratic and Tradi- tional, because of its supposed magical barrenness and the perception that, wee there any magical secrets tobe had, the Dreamspeakers had them seven up. The Void Engineers are perilously close to breaking the Kirlian “code” for the Dreamtime. Using grid computing techniques, they wll no doubt discover the Dspace wavelength they have been seeking for some time, When that happens, they will surely seek to “discover,” catalog, survey, and report on the Dreamtime. But for now, atleast, Australia is hardly magi- cally barren Its secrets, however, ae not for everyone, BRINN The magic of Australia i as varied as the 700 NUE ancuages the Aboriginal peoples once spoke The power that flows through the lan is still great, even though centuries have dulled its B user andtechnology and meaern-