DariusSolluman, Jesuncolo

Abyss Arcanum

New Arcanum: Abyss

Purview: Abyss, Paradox, Disbelief, Acamoth, Fallen World, Anti-Prime, Quiessence, Abyssal spirits, traveling to and from the Abyss, smothering magic, destroying spirituality. To a lesser degree, darkness, vice, corruption and failure. This is the Arcanum that is forbidden, the Ars Abyssal, the mysteries of the blackness that seperates the Fallen World from the Supernal. It is the art of Paradox, the mastery of Quiescence, the death of Magic - but also the freedom from the lead weight of the chains that bind Mages to the Fallen World, a way to reach out and beyond to the Supernal with an ease that is difficult to imagine. It is corruption, but with the promise of salvation, if one is strong and sure. Few mages have the moral fiber to daily look into the Abyss, the Abyss looking back - fewer have the strength to win the blinking contest with the unblinking monsters that lurk therein. Any mage may learn the Abyssal Arcanum as an Inferior Arcanum with the aid of a teacher, such as a Nefandus or certain Abyssal spirits, akin to the Acamoth. The Nefandi may learn it as their Ruling Arcanum. A mage who studies Abyssal lore has their maximum Wisdom capped at (10 - Abyssal Arcanum). So, a Mage that is an Adept of the Abyss may not have a Wisdom greater than 6. Such is the price paid for learning truths man was not meant to know.

The Arcanum is beta, and is yet to playtest. There is no actual rule about how you learn the Arcanum, but there are a few options I suggest: Any mage from any path could learn Abyss, but its always considered an Inferior Arcanum. So it takes 8 x new dots experience points to learn. Whether a new character can or not start to play with dots in Abyss, is left to the Storyteller. Personally, I suggest no. A Storyteller might force a Wisdom roll to not gain a new mild derangement or to worse a serious one, without Wisdom loss. If he likes a darker World of Darkness, he could treat learning Abyss as a sin for a Wisdom 3. I dont consider Abyss inherently evil. Dark is not necessarily evil. A completely new path with Abyss as its only Ruling Arcanum, and no inferior arcanum. As any mage, he woud have 2 arcanum at 2 dots, one at one dot, and a free dot. At least one dot must be Abyss. The Storyteller could rule this new path is immune to derangement gained through learning Abyss, as well as not, if the upper option is applied. Anything else. This is meant to be a tool mostly for Storytellers.

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Abyss Arcanum

Fallen Powers
When talking of Fallen Powers for the Abyss Arcanum, its about every supernatural effect not native of the Supernal Realms. At the first dots in this Arcanum, you can target thaumaturges and psychics (see Second Sight), vampires and their Disciplines, werewolves and their Gifts, prometheans Transmutations, changelings Contracts, sin eaters Manifestations and so on. The only powers that can be targeted by this Arcanum are supernatural merits (like those of thaumaturges and psychics), and supernatural powers from the other major archetypes, and only if they are rated with dots. You can affect a power at the same dots of your Abyss dots. You cannot target the Supernatural Traits (Blood Potency, Primal Urge, Gnosis and so on). A single Pattern cannot contain more than one Fallen Power obtained by Awakened magic before the fifth dot in the Abyss Arcanum. You cannot replicate Fallen Powers that have a direct and integral bond to the nature of the supernatural creature. Example: Coils of the Dragon, most of Mother Lunas Gifts, most Disquietism Transmutations, and so on. It is also impossible to learn Cruac, Theban Sorcery, Werewolves rites and the like. For more info on supernatural creatures you can read Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, Promethean: The Created, Changeling: The Lost, Geist: The Sin Eater and other archetype books.

Attainments as Fallen Powers?

Reading through the Abyss Arcanum could easily make you realize that rotes about the Fallen Powers are very specific, and give the most when combined with other supernatural creatures. In case you dont have or use vampire, werewolves and other supernatural creatures, you might want to modify a little the Arcanum to work on legacy attainments. Attainments are this way considered supernatural but not Supernal. In case the number of dots in the Arcanum used in the powers are not listed, look at the requirements, and take the highest dots in arcanum as reference.

DariusSolluman, Jesuncolo

Abyss Arcanum

Initiate of the Abyss (Abyss )

I look with eyes open in the depths of the night, and behold the inevitable truth. The world floats in an infinite void, without meaning or reason; the few fey sparks on her are fleeting embers in the endless, chill night. But secrets lay within the void, and I have begun to plumb for them. The corruption of the human soul becomes clear next to the stark purity of the Void.

Eyes of Night
Practice: Knowing Action: Instant Duration: Prolonged (One scene) Aspect: Covert Cost: None Allows you to operate perfectly well in the dark. You suffer no penalties for blindness, even in magically created or otherwise unnatural circumstances. This sixth sense is not reliant on sound, scent, or any other sense; it is often expressed as an extension of feeling.

Storyteller could grant a bonus to scrying attempts: from +1 to +2 in case of very powerful or recent Paradoxes, or penalities from -1 to -2 for very old ones. Additionally, it grants a +1 bonus to examining the resonance of any Abyssal phenomena.

Song of the Abyss

Practice: Compelling Action: Instant Duration: Lasting Aspect: Covert Cost: None Target a single spell the mage knows is incoming, and shares at least one Arcanum with (as with Counterspelling). If the spell is Covert, it becomes Improbable; if Improbable, it becomes Vulgar. If the spell is already Vulgar, Song of the Abyss has no effect.

Scent of Vice
Practice: Knowing Action: Instant Duration: Concentration Aspect: Covert Cost: None Allows you to know what anyone elses Vice is, by sight.

Ignorance
Practice: Compelling Action: Instant Duration: Prolonged (one scene) Aspect: Covert Cost: None Sometimes Sleepers should forget they witnessed a Vulgar or Improbable spell. This spells is the best to assure the Veil isnt cut: calling the Abyss, it creates a little Disbelief aura. Within the mages sensory area, all Sleepers witnessing Vulgar or Improbable magic

Dream of a Dream (Abyssal Sight)

Practice: Unveiling Action: Instant Duration: Prolonged (one scene) Aspect: Covert Cost: None The mage obtains his Mage Sight. He can percieve the metaphysical weight of the Abyss. The spellcaster becomes aware about Paradoxes that triggered in the area, and a general idea of when it happened. The mage needs Time 1 to know the exact time. The 3

DariusSolluman, Jesuncolo count as having 2 less Willpower dots to forget the effects.

Abyss Arcanum

Read the Fallen Flux

Practice: Knowing Action: Instant Duration: Prolonged (one scene) Aspect: Covert Cost: None Detecting the threats of the supernatural is important, and even more if they are unknown and dangerous to mages. A mage with sufficent knowledge of the Abyss Arcanum can use this spell to know who to target to find magic of the Fallen World. The character percieves the presence of a Fallen Power user. Every success after the first pierces penalities to read the hidden aura.

Eyes of the Fallen World

Practice: Knowing Action: Instant, subtract targets Resolve Duration: Concentration Aspect: Covert Cost: None After knowing a creature has Fallen Powers, the mage can cast this spell to identify their function. The first power identified is the one more used. Then, for every other success the other less used, if present.

DariusSolluman, Jesuncolo

Abyss Arcanum

Apprentice of the Abyss (Abyss )

I garb myself in the void; like a velvet robe, it surrounds and hides me from my enemies, guarding me from their magic. I call up the Quiescence of Sleep, or push it away. By my secrets arts, I hide my magic from the eyes of Sleeper and Awakened alike. I cry to the Void, and the Void heeds my word.

Share the Dream

Practice: Unveiling Action: Instant Duration: Prolonged (one scene) Aspect: Covert Cost: None Grants Mage Sight, as per Dream of a Dream, to another.

Aegis of the Void

Practice: Shielding Action: Instant Duration: Prolonged (one scene) Aspect: Covert Cost: Special Redirects the magic of other mages that would harm you. If a direct magical attack targets you, you may spend 1 Mana and roll your Gnosis + Abyss. If you get more successes than the Potency of the spell cast, the spell is forced to hit someone else, as with a Havoc Backlash. You have no direction over who the spell now targets. With Abyss 3, you may specify that the spell hits anyone of your choosing except the casting mage. With Abyss 4, you may specify that the spell hits anyone of your choosing, including the offending mage. While using Aegis of the Void, the mage appears to be suffused with unholy darkness to Mage Sight.

Eyes of Sleep
Practice: Ruling Action: Instant Duration: Prolonged Aspect: Covert Cost: None Summons forth the Quiescence of Sleep, temporarily beholding the world through the eyes of a Sleeper. Although the mage remains Awake, he counts as a Sleeper for all other purposes save his own spells while Eyes of Sleep remains in effect, including adding dice to Vulgar Paradox rolls and invoking Disbelief.

Abyssal Garb
Practice: Shielding Action: Instant Duration: Prolonged (one scene, or optionally, 1 day) Aspect: Covert Cost: None (or 1 Mana to extend the Duration to 1 day) Invokes the Abyss around the mage, guarding them from harm. Provides their Abyss in points of Armor, but not against damage dealt in a grapple.

Close the Sleepers Eyes

Practice: Veiling Action: Instant Duration: Prolonged (One Scene) Aspect: Covert Cost: 1 Mana One Sleeper per success does not count as a witness for Vulgar magic for the rest of this scene, nor do they invoke Disbelief.

Hide the Overt Hand

Practice: Veiling

DariusSolluman, Jesuncolo Action: Instant Duration: Prolonged (one scene) Aspect: Covert Cost: 1 Mana Turns the next several Improbable or Vulgar spells cast by the mage into Covert, up to the number of successes rolled or the mages Abyss rating, whichever is lower. If the duration ends, all unused chances to turn spells Covert are lost.

Abyss Arcanum

Ability: Free from the Abyss

Normally, mages are their own worst enemies, their magic calling down baleful forces beyond their control. A mage with at least Abyss 2 is largely freed from such concerns, and automatically reduces their Paradox pool by their rating in the Abyss. Even if afflicted by Paradox, they add their Abyss rating to their Wisdom for calculating the severity.

Call Imp
Practice: Ruling Action: Instant and contested; target rolls Resistance reflexively Duration: Prolonged (one scene) Aspect: Covert Cost: None Calls forth an Imp of the Abyss (as per Mage: the Awakening, pg 273). Such spirits are drawn to the Fallen World only unwillingly, and often are as troublesome to the summoner as they are to any other mage present, unless bound with stronger magics (such as Command Spectre or Bind the Angel of the Void).

DariusSolluman, Jesuncolo

Abyss Arcanum

Disciple of the Abyss (Abyss )

I stare at the blackness, and see the glimmers of light and truth behind it. I sail the depthless oceans and chart courses where no stars guide me, speaking to intelligences far older than humanity. By my word is their attention directed towards those who oppose me, and away from those I wish. I infuse Quiescence as lesser mages direct Mana, returning Sleepwalkers to Sleep or making a talisman cursed to my one time fellows. The magic of others twists within weak cages of minds, and madness follows in my wake.

Imbue Quiescence
Practice: Weaving Action: Extended Duration: Lasting Aspect: Vulgar Cost: None Imbues the Quiescence of the Abyss into a place or thing. Thus imbued, such Quiessent devices count as Sleepers for purposes of determining Vulgarity and paradox. Cunning masters of the Abyss have also Imbued such items with benefical effects, such as Fate Charms or Talisman-like qualities, encouraging mages who find them to keep them secret. It requires Abyss 4 to Imbue Quiescence into a Hallow or Demense. Imbuing Quiescence into a Hallow must overcome the strength of the Hallow, having a Potency that exceeds the rating. Imbuing Quiessence into a Demense must overcome the Potency of the spell that created the Demense plus the number of Soulstones empowering the Demense. If successful, the Demense is destroyed, but the soulstones used to make it are unharmed. This is in addition to the normal effects of making an area Quiescent.

This spell summons forth the Abyss, reinfusing it into a mortal that has slipped the bonds of Slumber but is not yet Awake. They contest with Resolve + Gnosis. If the spell is successful, they cease being Sleepwalkers, returning to Sleep and counting as Sleepers for all pertinent reasons. Over the next several minutes, and until the spells Duration ends, they also forget the truth of Magic, although not their associations with any mages they may know. It requires Abyss 5 to return a mage to Slumber.

Sail the Starless Ocean

Practice: Weaving Action: Extended Duration: Transitory Aspect: Vulgar Cost: 1 Mana Tears open a wound in the Fallen World, a portal leading directly to the Abyss. Travelling their bodily, the mage finds themselves engulfed in impenetrable darkness, a void so complete and oppressive as to smother away sanity and hope and faith. The connection between the Abyss and the Fallen World is highly erratic; the non-space of the Abyss can make some journies far faster than they would otherwise be, and others far longer. Make an extended Intelligence + Occult roll, for a target of 5

Return to Slumber
Practice: Perfecting Action: Instant and contested; target rolls Resolve + Gnosis reflexively Duration: Prolonged Aspect: Covert Cost: 1 Mana 7

DariusSolluman, Jesuncolo successes. The first roll represents only a second in the Void; the second a minute, the third an hour, the fourth a day, the fifth a month, and so on. It is impossible to tell time in the Void, nor do those in it require food or rest. These rolls must be made before returning to Creation, regardless of where in Creation the mage wants to return to. Any magic used in the Void is treated as being Vulgar with Witnesses, and the Paradox Pool is rolled with the 8-again property. Ironically, however, it is far easier to sense the Supernal realms from the Abyss; double the base casting roll. Spirits of the Abyss, such as the Acamoth or those summoned by a five success Paradox Backlash, frequent the Abyss, and many will be drawn to the light and life of any Mages that tresspass that blackness.

Abyss Arcanum rolled on Shadow the Road, the target loses a number of dice from any attempt they make at performing magic by your Abyss rating.

Chart a Sunless Course

Practice: Perfecting Action: Instant Duration: Special Aspect: Vulgar Cost: 1 Mana Strengthens a targets connection to the Supernal, thinning the Abyss that lays between the Fallen and mystic realms. For a number of spells equal to the successes rolled, the target gains a number of dice from any attempt they make at performing magic by your Abyss rating.

Beckon the Eldest Gods

Practice: Weaving Action: Instant and contested; target rolls Resistance reflexively Duration: Prolonged (one scene) Aspect: Vulgar Cost: None Summons an Abyssal Spectre of any rank, known or unknown, to the mage. Such entities are always massively resentful of being pulled into the presence of the Fallen World, and the summoning mage is frequently the closest and easiest target at hand to vent that frustration. (Authors Note: I didnt feel like formally writing the rest of the Spirit analogs; treat Abyss as Spirit for dealing with Abyssal Spectres)

Command Spectre
Practice: Ruling Action: Instant and contested; target rolls Resistance reflexively Duration: Prolonged (one scene) Aspect: Covert Cost: None Issues a single, simple command per success to an Abyssal Spirit.

Shadow the Road

Practice: Fraying Action: Instant and contested; target rolls Composure + Gnosis reflexively Duration: Special Aspect: Covert Cost: None Shadow the Road makes it more difficult for other Mages to use their magic, twisting the connection they have to the Supernal. For a number of spells equal to the successes

Shatter the Mind

Practice: Fraying Action: Instant and contested; target rolls Composure + Gnosis reflexively Duration: Prolonged (one scene) 8

DariusSolluman, Jesuncolo Aspect: Covert Cost: 1 Mana If successfully cast, the target is left with a Derangement of the Storytellers choice. Shatter the Mind may also be used reflexively if you are aware that you are the target of a spell; if successful, your opponent is at -2 to resist. With Abyss 4, you may chose which Derangement to inflict.

Abyss Arcanum

Temptation
Practice: Ruling Action: Instant Duration: Transitory Aspect: Covert Cost: None If the target has the oppurtunity to engage in their Vice, they must pay successes rolled in Willpower to not do so.

Blind the Higher Purpose

Practice: Fraying Action: Instant and contested; target rolls Resolve + Gnosis reflexively Duration: Prolonged (one scene) Aspect: Vulgar Cost: None The target regains no Willpower by fulfilling their Virtue while afflicted by Blind the Higher Purpose.

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Abyss Arcanum

Adept of the Abyss (Abyss )

As Sleepers are to the Awakened, so are the Awakened to me. I know the truth behind the lie, and see my way clearly to the far shores of the Supernal. Spirits of the Abyss accept me as their own, and I accept them as mine - or twist their immaterial flesh to better suit my need. My magic is untainted by Paradox, while that of my enemies twists and falters without fail, leaving them burned and their world twisted. The Void consumes all, as I direct it.

Bind the Angel of the Void

Practice: Patterning Action: Extended (target number = Spectres Rank) and contested; target rolls Resistance reflexively Duration: Prolonged (one scene) Aspect: Vulgar Cost: None Binds an Abyssal Spectre, as with the Spirit effect Bind Spirit (pg 251)

Brand of the Abyss

Practice: Unraveling Action: Extended (target number = targets Wisdom) and contested; target rolls Composure + Gnosis reflexively Duration: Special Aspect: Vulgar Cost: None Afflicts a target with a Branding (as per page 272). The target is afflicted by the most powerful Brand they could normally incur (as in, based upon their highest Arcanum), and lasts as long as it normally would (based upon their Wisdom).

Create Anomaly
Practice: Patterning Action: Instant Duration: Prolonged (one scene) Aspect: Covert Cost: None Creates an Anomaly (as per pg 271). You choose which Realm is most strongly represented in the Anomaly, and describe the general form it takes.

Consume the Fallen World

Practice: Unravelling Action: Instant Duration: Lasting Aspect: Vulgar Cost: None Tear open a gate to the Abyss, letting the Void fly forth into the world. Its acidic touch slowly dissolves anything it lands upon. In full sunlight, the darkness summoned forth lasts for only one turn; otherwise, it lasts a number of turns equal to your successes. Each turn it deals your Abyss in Bashing damage to anyone it was directed at, or who comes in contact with it. If directed against a solid object, it ignore Durability and dissolve your Abyss in Structure each turn.

Feed Pride
Practice: Unraveling Action: Instant and contested; target rolls Resolve + Gnosis reflexively Duration: Prolonged (one scene) Aspect: Vulgar Cost: None The target suffers a penalty equal to the successes rolled for any check to maintain Wisdom while afflicted by Feed Pride, and checks for derangements with a -2 penalty.

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DariusSolluman, Jesuncolo With Abyss 5, Consume the Fallen World deals Lethal damage, dealing twice your Abyss in damage to objects.

Abyss Arcanum

Cleanse the Abyss

Practice: Patterning Action: Instant and resisted; subtract targets Composure Duration: Lasting Aspect: Vulgar Cost: None Remove one Paradox-inflicted flaw from the target. It may be used to undo the link between an Abyssal Spectre and the mage, if they summoned one forth, but it does not banish the spirit directly. Alternatively, Cleanse the Abyss can remove the ResInstant aspect of damage taken suppressing Paradox flaws, although it does not heal the damage so inflicted. It thus becomes possible to use Pattern Restoration or Life Magic to heal such injuries. One point of ResInstant damage is made normal or one Paradox flaw removed per success.

Entry to the Tartarian Sea may be used to allow you to usher several people into the Abyss, or to try and trap another within the infinite black. If used offensively, the target resists with their Defense.

Walk Without Fear

Practice: Patterning Action: Instant Duration: Special Aspect: Covert Cost: None Allows the Mage to immediately reach anywhere else in Creation, or to walk the Astral Realms in the flesh, from the Abyss. They may also approach the borderlands of the Supernal, and clearly see the Watchtowers gleaming through the infinite blackness. Drawing so close triples their pool for any magical effect.

Entry to the Tartarian Sea

Practice: Patterning Action: Instant; (if used as an attack, resisted by targets Defense) Duration: Transitory Aspect: Vulgar Cost: None Creates a gateway in a fixed location in the Fallen World that leads to the Abyss. Mages (or worse, Sleepers) that stumble into such a gate may easily find themselves trapped in the Abyss, as they will likely have only one chance to make the Intelligence + Occult roll to find the gate they entered in, and have no other means of escaping.

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DariusSolluman, Jesuncolo

Abyss Arcanum

Master of the Abyss (Abyss )

In hubris did mages cast down the Gods. They did not die; they have slept long ages in the darkness beyond time and space. That which has risen may fall, and that which has fallen may rise again, and when it rises, it shall do so as I command. I call forth the Abyss as a man calls a dog, and I abase myself before its obsidian majesty. It is the prison of humanity and my home, and I stride its endless lengths as a prince. Tis better to Rule in the Void than to Serve in the Supernal.

Forge Ruin
Practice: Making Action: Instant Duration: Prolonged Aspect: Covert Cost: None Transforms an area into a Ruin. Within a Ruin, treat all magical effects as if they were cast within the Abyss, without any of the benefits. Namely, any magic used in the Void is treated as being Vulgar with Witnesses, and the Paradox Pool is rolled with the 8-again property.

Without Fear to reach the border between the Abyss and the Supernal. It then requires 50 successes, rather than 5, on the prolonged Intelligence + Occult roll to navigate the Abyss. It is this ultimate lure that tempts many otherwise good Mages into studying Abyssal magic, as it provides a shortcut around the dangers of building a second Celestial Ladder. It is unknown if a mage who reaches the Supernal can return, or if they simply chose not to. What is certain is that nothing has been seen or heard from again of the few mages that have made the effort.

Tread the Supernal

Practice: Making Action: Special Duration: Lasting Aspect: Vulgar Cost: None Having ultimate mastery of the Void, you may at least attempt to reach the far shore of the Supernal and, as mages did once before, tread the realms of pure magic in the flesh. Such an effort is fraught with danger, as it entails crossing the infinite breadth of the Abyss. It requires the mage first cast Walk

Darken Soul
Practice: Unmaking Action: Instant and contested; target rolls Resolve reflexively Duration: Lasting Aspect: Vulgar Cost: 1 Mana Either kills a Sleeper, or permanently prevents them from ever Awakening. With Archmastery of the Abyss, it may be possible to use Darken Soul on the Awakened.

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DariusSolluman, Jesuncolo

Abyss Arcanum

Nefandi
(Left-Handed Legacy of the Abyss) It is uncertain if it began as a Moros or Mastigos Legacy, but it is certain that the Nefandi can corrupt a willing member of any Path to their cause. It is rumored that the Silver Ladder may secretly train Nefandi, for their unparalleled mastery of the Abyss - a neccesary evil, if the Abyss is to be overcome and a new Celestial Ladder built. If such were revealed to be true, it could destroy the Order. Nefandi learn the Abyss Arcanum as their Ruling Arcanum, losing their previous Ruling Arcana and Inferior Arcanum. All other Arcana become Common to them. They may teach the Abyssal Arcanum to other Mages, who learn it as if it were an Inferior Arcanum. Many spirits of the Abyss (such as Acamoth) may also teach the Abyssal Arcanum as well, to a greater or lesser degree. First Attainment: Requires Gnosis 3, Abyss 2 - Activate or deactivate Eyes of Sleep as a reflexive action. It lasts for as long as the Nefandus wills it to. Second Attainment: Requires Gnosis 5, Abyss 3 - Activate Sail the Starless Ocean as an instant action by spending 1 Mana and rolling Composure + Occult + Abyss. May be activated as a Reflexive action by spending a Willpower point as well. Third Attainment: Requires Gnosis 7, Abyss 4 - Activate Consume the Fallen World for 1 Mana. It lasts a number of turns equal to your Gnosis. Suggested Oblations: Engaging in your Vice, spending 4 hours contemplating a black sky, making a Morality check, causing another to make a Morality check

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