Mysticism

Mysticism

  An overview of Mysticism. Mysticism does not require a Minor Merit to pursue.

History Far back within the annals of time and across the Godlands, those with souls have always possessed the potential for wielding its potential, for insight and for interacting with the supernatural. Metaphorics Metaphorics is the study of Metaphor, for gleaning and interpreting its presence. Divination A Mystic can divine the prevalence of Metaphor in a person or object. They may only detect the strongest Metaphor at first, eventually assessing the strength of every Metaphor within that individual. This is rarely ever more than a gut feeling when attempting to assess which Arcana someone has, yielding a clue rather than a guarantee. By analyzing Metaphor and ruling out possible reasons for its prevalence, a Mystic can get closer to uncovering actual truths, or simply develop a habit of avoiding specific kinds of strong Metaphor in order to manage risk. The power of one's Arcana directly corresponds to the potency of its Metaphor. The alignment of one's personality or past correlates to the potency of related Metaphor concepts. The presence of Arcana within material or fauna without a soul is more cut and dry, but still not foolproof. The Arcane Potential of an individual not yet initiated will confer a sense for that Metaphor. Absentia cannot be divined except by the Blighted as it feels like 'nothing' and one must be 'nothing' to divine it. Unlike standard Divination, the Blighted can use this to non-verbally identify their own kind, as Absentia is only present in sources affiliated with Nihilos. Scrying The art of Scrying entails applying Divination to targets remotely, usually through a reflective surface such as a crystal ball, a mirror, or a reflective pool of water. It may also be used to eventually 'see' through these reflective surfaces, bridging them together in the minds eye, and the most advanced among them may transmit these images reflected upon the surface to other Mystics doing the same provided they have seen the receiving object. Scrying is a very murky process and its clarity varies depending on the Mystic, and Scriers will be able to spy upon communications between other Mystics if they scry the receiving surface. Acclimation Mystics are sensitive to the presence of souls around them, and may feel the presence of a nearby soul but not where it is; they may instead use their senses to magically understand the true location of the invisible or camouflaged such as the Apparated. Mundane Stealth skill and the various methods of magical concealment or illusion may be used to obscure one’s soul and location from a Mystic provided these skills are of a higher tier. Animal Familiars and Automata are often utilized to hunt Mystics, as that which has a soul does not automatically alarm them, and they are also vulnerable in crowded areas teeming with souls. Soul Arts Soul Arts are the processes of using one’s own soul to interact with the supernatural. Athame By meditating upon a Metaphor with an object no bigger than they are, a Mystic can awaken it to supernatural Metaphor while they hold it within their hand, enabling them to damage any form of incorporeal Metaphor while dissolving an Apparator's control over it. Causing harm with an Athame will expel any being Possessing an individual or object. Immunity to a Metaphor will not make something incorporeal immune to the physical damage of an Athame. Fetter Athame do not remain so when they leave the hand, and Fetters are ranged weapons which extend the relationship between Mystic and Athame to any distance for a few minutes. They are created by igniting Alkahest of the chosen Athame Metaphor and the tier one wishes to harm in the make of the object. Exalted Conjuration dedicated to this purpose allows a Fetter to be recovered and reused. Thrown weapons, nets, explosives, arrows, bolts, and bullets may all be used as Fetters. Artificed devices may not wield Soul Arts unless they are made with a Soul Star. Familiary Mystics may form a Spirit Familiar from a part of themselves, developing a bond over time with that Familiar. They are created by forming an Athame of a chosen Metaphor, and then undergoing a ritual to form one. See Familiary. For Animal Familiars, see Animism. Summoning Cambion may be Summoned by a Mystic using an Athame attuned to the appropriate Metaphor, using a ritual specific to that Cambion which is listed on their page, always burning Alkahest equivalent to their total amount of skill. Ensorcelling Glyphics may be used to further apply rules to how that Cambion may behave, enslaving it to the whims of the Mystic. While it is enslaved, its skills and Arcana will not improve until it has been destroyed and sent back to its Plane. They may not be Sundered for Alkahest if Summoned. Specific Cambion the Mystic knows may be Summoned. Their Spell Reserves will be depleted upon their destruction, reincorporating after a few weeks; their soul will be fragmented if destroyed within their home Plane. Sundering By first immobilizing any being, a Mystic may plunge a held Athame into their body and crystallize their soul into a geode of Alkahest equivalent to the maximum Spell Reserves they had. The Metaphor for that Athame must match the Metaphor crystallized, and anything else is lost. Sundered Alkahest must still be purchased with SP; refer to the Seasonal Points list for pricing. Arcane Potential and the Arcane Reserves of Fauna may not be harvested in this way. Harvested Spell Reserves must first be actualized with a soul; Ghosts inherently possess at least Novice-level Arcana through their Poetics. Sundering is seen as an abhorrent act by many cultures across the world, as it denies a soul reincarnation and any chance at an afterlife. This is referred to as a True Death, fragmenting the soul in such a way that it is slips between the Planes and into the void. Funerary Rites A ritual for assuring the dead pass on using the light of Luxium, allowing restrained Undead and Daemons to pass on and be reincarnated. This is accomplished by touching someone who has died in the last day or so, accurately canting about their life as onlookers speak in remembrance, lessening the weight of every attachment they possess and helping the soul to feel its natural pull towards Aarda and the Aetherium beyond. Fathom can be used to remember everything about a person by consuming the brain, making it difficult for a soul to hold its attachments. Equivalent skill in Meditation can be used to refuse even the Last Rites of Fathom, while the Blighted are claimed by Nihilos as an Endless rather than becoming Ghosts. Rituaali Skilled Mystics may learn and possibly develop complex rituals which alter the soul in such a way that unique relationships with Metaphor and strange abilities may be fostered. See Gramarye for the rules surrounding Rituaali.

Skill Tiers

Novice A Novice understands x and does y. Apprentice An Apprentice understands x and does y. Journeyman A Journeyman understands x and does y. Expert An Expert understands x and does y. Master A Master understands x and does y.

Variant - Illuminary Illimunaries are those enlightened to the study of Blighted, which are normally unknown the world over. These souls mired in Absentia obscure themselves from study, murdering, manipulating, and politicking their way out of discovery and policing their own to prevent information from getting out. To be discovered as an Illuminary is to live with a target on ones back by Alítheia, a deeply entrenched Blighted conspiracy puppeteering an entire world from the shadows as they war with a secretive faction of equally unknown insurgents combating them, the Antidikos. The major change that a Mystic experiences upon fully believing the 'truth' is that they are exposed to Nihilos through Arcadia every night as they dream. It seeps into their madness, allowing seeds to grow and fester. Many Mystics at this stage simply step back and pretend to ignore a haunting truth that cows them into submission; they are the type to pull you aside, and tell you to stop talking about such fantasies... or they might end you. You may call yourself an Illuminary once you have discovered - and begun to believe - forbidden accounts of these monstrous creatures, or you have become one yourself. Even scholars of the Arcane will balk at their existence, dismissing such things as children's fable and hearsay; the very words Null, Devorare, Rusulka, Scourge, and Nightwalker are far removed from their sensationalized, mythological counterparts: the creature under your bed, the vampyre, the succubus, the evil wizard, and the werebeast. Such acts beyond the mundane are blamed instead on insanity, the Fae, mad wizards, beast races, and dragons. Those who go public with this information will may one day fall ill and perish, or they are murdered by a temptress, torn to bits by animals, or have their homes invaded; they are discovered stabbed, pale from stroke or heart attack, or mutilated. They are discredited at every turn, their reputation tarnished with scandal. They are accused with crimes falsified under complex narratives, planted evidence that sees them incarcerated, enslaved, or executed. Illuminaries with promise are abducted and forced to join the ranks of Alítheia, or perish. For additional faction-specific Illuminary abilities, see Antidikos and Alítheia. Blight Hunting Illuminaries may learn from Blight Hunters- the Antidikos- the exploitable weaknesses and needs of the Blighted, developing techniques for shielding themselves from them. They begin to transition from prey to predator, often at a great cost to their humanity. See Antidikos for techniques and inventions known only by its members. Soul Arts Detachment Detachment refers to those who undergo the ritual of subduing ones emotions through an ascetic banishment of all wants and desires, further excising all Saol from the body to the point that they are considered temporarily Undead akin to Draugr; while they are like this, Rusalka cannot influence them, read their emotions, or siphon Saol from them. The Ritual of Detachment may only be performed by oneself at Expert Mysticism once taught by a Blight Hunter, and entails at least a month of isolation to either enter or leave this detached period. Gestalt An invasive procedure possible with Mastery-tier Malediction, Capellation involves segmenting the blood or ichor of ones body with multiple hearts and brains operating closed systems which limit the amount of damage Devorare and Aquari can deal in a single spell cast, their bodies now segmented and disposable. Illuminaries who have this done can sometimes survive as a living head with its own closed circulatory system provided they receive regular blood transfusions to make up for the caveat that their blood no longer circulates nutrients throughout their asynchronously throbbing body. Memories are reflected across each brain seamlessly through a self-performed Mastery-tier ritual, although losing a brain is a traumatizing feeling synonymous with dying; as the brains are perfectly synchronized, they cannot be used for split-casting spells. Cost: 500 SP per Heart or Brain. Inventions Nihilam Manufactured from the shorn flesh of Nihil, Nihilam is an addition to any metal which when wielded by a Mystic incurs irreversible damage to equivalent-tier Nihil no matter their Frequency. When these weapons bludgeon, cut, or pierce their flesh- if they are strong enough to cause harm- Nihil lose their ability to sculpt themselves or Apparate that section of their body for several hours, and such weapons can still cause harm to a Nihil should they consume a Mystic wielding one. The process for crafting Nihilam is known only to a select few master-tier Mystics within Antidikos, and these weapons are occasionally given to Mystics in the crosshairs of Alítheia without knowledge of either party. Cost: 1,350 SP Nightbane Nightbane refers to any tool, concoction or device which infuses raw emotion or painful memory into the mind of a potential Nightwalker, forcing them to transform while potentially delivering other debilitating effects that might reduce their lethality. Nightwalkers must otherwise be tracked like animals, as if one were a hunter. The price of these varies incredibly, and they must still match the Meditation, Resistance, or Rusalka skills of the Nightwalker they are seeking to unbalance. Generally consumable versions of Nightbane are preferred. Vizard Antidikos understand the extreme lethality of Scourge, and many of them wear masks charged with the heat of Luxiite to burn Pathos out of the air they breathe, the rest of the garb non-porous and fully closed off. Unless pierced or slashed, this renders them entirely immune to the Pathos of Scourge. Cost: 900 SP. Smiler Orb The Smiler Orb is usually a steel-encased and Miasmite-Aligned sphere surrounding the flesh of a Blighted which has been carved down by a Maltrician to the point they are naught but an orb of suffering only able to 'see' a mirror against an internal eyeball, allowing them to Scry after they learn how during their confinement. They will sometimes unwittingly chirp at nearby Blighted when they inevitably turn to Mysticism in order to sense the world around them and beg for aid, unable to transmit images but able to 'see' through reflections. These orbs are incredibly dangerous and built with countless safeguards while still necessitating that the Smiler Orb is fed. Possessing one paints a target on the back of its owner by Master and Ascended-level Blighted, and many have given their lives to draw out Alítheia this way. Soul Stars may be used to command the Mysticism of a Smiler Orb directly, but Nekron are scarce within Antidikos and its members are sure to warn that Nekron have been historically dragged out and destroyed by Alítheia, even a powerful Dracolych among them had fallen to siege within Avernus, their Memorandum dismantled, soul destroyed and claimed by the void.

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