Fathom

To become a Deep One is to immerse oneself in the deepest, darkest depths of the mind. Fathom requires a Minor Merit to pursue.

Fathom

History

Fathom is the Pact of Triton, a Godhead associated with water, secrets and predation. They are an entity as mysterious as They are fascinating, with remarkably little information about Them available to anyone beyond the most ambitious of scholars– but perhaps given Their association with secrets, this is by design. Even still, all Godheads wish to spread their influence one way or another, and Their Pacts serve as a vehicle to do exactly that.

Fathom itself is as respected and revered as it is feared and reviled. Many who may hear of it have sought it over the years for both its power and, perhaps, out of a desire to achieve the enlightenment it may bring them. Many more find it pernicious and terrifying, hunting those who bear Triton's Pact. For this reason, most Deep Ones are largely reclusive, bending the world around them to their wills from the murky depths of their hiding places.

Acquisition

The mind is a sea of information, its true depths and power impossible for the mundane to understand on their own. There are those that are capable of not only understanding the mind, but also going as far as to force their will upon it. Such a feat is simply impossible for the mortal brain – it is physically incapable of doing so even at the highest levels of intellect. No, to touch the minds of others requires an enhanced brain, one modified through a Pact with the Godhead Triton.

To form such a pact, one must realize how vast the mind is and acknowledge how truly limited one’s mortal capabilities are. Sometimes this comes from an intellectual epiphany, other times it’s experienced during existential crises. Some have even formed a pact when taking psychedelic drugs.

In any case, when the right conditions are met, one would feel as if their mind was touched. It’s as if their mind was latched onto by some otherworldly power, becoming altered both Metaphorically and physically at once. If one welcomes the transformation and allows it without resistance, they will find their mind permanently altered and will thus be able to reach out to others in turn.

Living as a Deep One

Those with the ability to touch minds often find that they are cursed by knowledge. It takes great discipline to resist using one’s powers when the act of reading emotions comes so naturally, even to beginners. Many relationships have been ruined as the Fathom starts to manipulate the emotions and memories of their friends and family. This typically leads to Fathom feeling a sense of loneliness and isolation as they begin to question if any of their relationships remain genuine.

Some Fathom create strict rules for themselves and build habits to avoid using it on certain people or in certain locations. Some have difficulty with even this much and choose to live in solitude, away from other people entirely. Some lose themselves in their quest for information, even resorting to murder just to pry knowledge from a deceased’s mind.

As one might expect, keeping one’s identity as a Fathom hidden is incredibly important if one intends to live with any semblance of normalcy. Most will avoid conversing, helping, or even trading with a Fathom entirely, assuming that any interaction would have been manipulated. Once discovered, a Fathom is usually faced with the choice of spending a great deal of time and effort altering memories to cover their tracks or simply moving to a new location lest they are hunted down and killed.

That is not to say that being a Fathom is all bad. There are those who are able to take full advantage of the abilities they have been granted, adeptly rising up the social ladder or dedicating their entire lives to research. Some even become so powerful that they don’t care if they’re discovered as few would dare challenge them.

Mageburn Symptoms

• Lesser: Headaches, Eye Pain, Accidental Influence Upon Others
• Moderate: Temporary Loss of Select Emotions, Memory Rot, Brain Fog
• Greater: Paralysis of Varying Degrees, Mind Link
• Memory Rot: An unfortunate side effect of trying to manipulate memories. The Fathom focuses so intently on creating too many details or creating too long of a memory that their own memory starts to get distorted. This is incredibly jarring and can cause extreme paranoia, believing that they themselves have been manipulated.
• Mind Link: A rare consequence of trying to manipulate emotions on too many people at once. The Fathom’s mind becomes overwhelmed and is violently torn to shreds as it tries to process too much information.

Spells

As a pact forged with the Godhead Triton, Fathom utilizes the Metaphor of Imber for casting.

Link

The Fathom Links their mind to another. This spell is the method by which the Fathom establishes a connection to other minds and no emotional or memory manipulation can occur without one. The process is fairly simple and even beginners can do this without much effort. The Links are invisible and pass through solids, making them impossible to spot or disrupt through mundane means. Once connected, the Link is maintained until the Fathom severs the connection or the minds are separated by enough distance.

A Deep One may learn to Syphon through a Link by Journeyman.

Empath

Once Linked, Fathom can read and even control the emotions of others. There is nuance to this ability that goes beyond simply making someone happy or sad. Only surface level emotions are easy to manipulate and doing so must be done with care if one is to avoid arousing suspicion. Manipulating dormant or complex emotions are difficult and will be very jarring to the target if there is no reasonable explanation for them to experience said emotions.

A Deep One by Expert may learn to Apparate into Imber, resembling an aberrant version of how they perceive themselves at lower Frequencies, and diminishing down to whispers of murmuring thought towards higher ones. They may also learn to possess others this way.

Memory Sculpting

Contrary to popular belief, even the powerful minds of a Fathom cannot actually read the minds of others - not without physical access to their brains, that is. That being said, they can still affect the mind beyond controlling emotions. Fathom can also alter the memories of those they’ve Linked to, although the process is mentally taxing. Even the strongest Fathom must be touching their target and they can only work on one memory at a time.

The only way for a Fathom to truly read a mind is to consume it, literally. Upon both Linking to and making physical contact with a deceased’s brain, the Fathom can get a sense for where the information they want is located. They can proceed to tear out that section of the brain and eat it to gain the information they seek. Alternatively, the entire brain could be consumed in order to gain all of the victim’s memories.

If they have a way into Avernus, a Deep One may learn Remnant utilizing the Metaphor of Imber once they have mastered Fathom, but this may only be conducted within a body of water such as a lake, or the depths of Lacon overlain with Avernus.

Psionic Field

Deep Ones are famed for their mental manipulation, but they are also capable of utilizing their powerful minds to achieve psychic feats. They are capable of projecting a field of psionic Imber in a radius around their body (equal to their Link range) which allows them to impose their will on anything within it. It is an incredibly taxing thing to do, however.

The Psionic Field offers a Deep One lots of extra spellwork opportunities based on their magical repertoire. They could conceivably Apparate the field to make bubbles, melt people into gas with Resonate, sense souls in their field, and the strongest of them can even fold space.

The Athame of a Mysticism can block or momentarily disrupt the Psionic Field by cutting it; they can sense its location with their Acclimation. For those who can visualize it, the field appears as a globe of wandering tendrils formed by conceptual Imber, snapping to targets who enter the radius of the field, or to objects by intention of the wielder. The Link is merely one of these tendrils, consciously reinforced; it may be cut or blocked, too.

Tiers of Mastery

Novice

At novice, a Deep One is just starting to learn how to use Links.

• Link:
  • A novice has a range of 10’ and eye contact must be established to Link to someone.
  • They may only manipulate one Link at a time.
• Empath:
  • A novice can read surface level emotions without eye contact.
  • They may amplify or dampen emotions, but their influence is like a hammer to the psyche and is quite jarring for the victim.
• Memory Sculpting:
  • Unavailable at this tier.
• Psionic Field:
  • Unavailable at this tier.

Apprentice

Having become comfortable with the process of forming and maintaining Links, an apprentice will usually be shifting their focus onto figuring out Memory Sculpting and finer uses of Empath.

• Link:
  • An apprentice has a range of 20’ and eye contact must be established to Link to someone.
  • They may maintain three Links concurrently, though they may only actively manipulate one Link at a time.
• Empath:
  • An apprentice can discern prominent emotions clearly at a distance and even without eye contact.
  • Manipulating emotions feels less jarring, but is still fairly obvious.
• Memory Sculpting:
  • Performed at a range of touch.
  • An apprentice may overwrite very recent memories (up to 5 minutes in the past).
  • Generally, they may only get away with altering details about events they know happened or witnessed themselves.
  • The memories they add are often hazy and it’s difficult for the subject to recall much of anything.
• Psionic Field:
  • Unavailable at this tier.

Journeyman

A Journeyman Deep One begins to foster their Psionic Field beyond just a Link, establishing a useful weapon.

• Link:
  • A journeyman has a range of 25’. Eye contact is not required, but they must see their target’s body to some degree.
  • They may maintain three Links concurrently, though when doing this their power is diminished significantly.
• Empath:
  • Finally, the journeyman is able to manipulate prominent emotions without having to worry too much about getting caught.
  • They may seamlessly make emotions come and go as they converse, meaning most won’t even think they’re being manipulated.
• Memory Sculpting:
  • Performed at a range of touch.
  • Memories up to an hour in the past can be overwritten.
  • The journeyman has become skilled enough to make clear memories that include dialogue and fine details, though more complicated memories are cumbersome.
• Psionic Field:
  • Extends up to 5' from the caster.
  • Can only move 100 lbs at a time.
  • A field may be projected and objects may be telekinetically manipulated with great difficulty, similar to physically moving them.

Expert

With full access to their repertoire of spells, an expert Deep One is a force to be reckoned with.

• Link:
  • An expert has a range of 100’ provided they can see their target.
  • Within 10’, they may passively detect sapient, intelligent minds and Link even without line of sight.
  • They may maintain five Links concurrently.
• Empath:
  • The expert can insert emotions at will and are no longer restricted to only dealing in prominent emotions. This can cause drastic changes in someone’s mood, though this is tiresome to do.
• Memory Sculpting:
  • Performed at a range of touch.
  • Memories up to a day in the past can be overwritten.
  • The expert has become skilled enough to be able to sculpt a memory beforehand and hold it in their own minds until they can make contact with a target; then, once they touch their target they can overwrite their memories in an instant.
  • Memories modified are as clear or hazy as the Fathom wants them to be.
  • Moderately complex memories are no longer draining to construct.
  • It is now possible for the expert to consume a mind to gain its memories, though they must consume the whole brain to do so.
• Psionic Field:
  • Extends up to 10' from the caster.
  • Up to 250 pounds can be manipulated at once, though this weight can be split between many different objects.
  • It is much easier to move objects, though the speed and precision of the movements is still very much lacking.
  • It’s also now possible to utilize other magic within the field, such as melting people into gas with Apparation’s Resonate.

Master

The master Deep One strikes a delicate balance between being something to be in awe of versus something one should fear. They can be benevolent forces or somebody’s worst nightmare.

• Link:
  • A master’s range is as far as they can see for line of sight based targets.
  • Within 25’, they may passively detect sapient, intelligent minds and Link even without line of sight.
  • They may maintain fifteen Links concurrently, but may only manipulate five at a time before feeling diminishing returns on their influence.
• Empath:
  • The master may insert such powerful emotions that it can cause a happy man to instantly break down into tears without a clue as to why.
• Memory Sculpting:
  • Performed at a range of touch.
  • A master is only limited by their own energy reserves; they can construct an incredibly vivid and clear memory and use it to overwrite their target’s memory without much issue.
  • They have become skilled enough to where the victim’s brain will naturally fill in gaps to make the memory seem incredibly believable.
  • They can push back multiple days, even weeks if the memory is not very complicated.
  • They no longer need to consume the entire brain to gain memories, they gain a sense for where the information they desire is located and only need to eat that portion of it.
• Psionic Field:
  • Extends up to 25' from the caster.
  • Up to 1000 pounds can be manipulated at once. Such advanced minds would be able to manipulate many things at once within this cap.
  • They can combine their field with other magics and have gained the ability to fold space, though it’s tiring to do so.
  • They may now learn Remnant if they have a way into Avernus.

Mindstitcher

The Mindstitchers are enigmas; creatures so advanced that it is rare for them to willfully interact with others in any capacity beyond treating them as lesser.

• Link:
  • A Mindstitcher’s range is as far as they can see for line of sight based targets.
  • Within 50’, they may passively detect sapient, intelligent minds and Link even without line of sight.
  • They may maintain fifteen Links concurrently, but may only manipulate five at a time before feeling diminishing returns on their influence.
• Empath:
  • The Mindstitcher may insert such powerful emotions that it can cause a happy man to instantly break down into tears without a clue as to why.
  • They may make targets go into catatonic states of shock.
  • They may block the target’s train of thought.
  • They may use this ability to kill through sheer shock, if the victim does not have at least Apprentice Meditation.
• Memory Sculpting:
  • Performed within the Psionic Field.
  • A Mindstitcher is only limited by their own energy reserves; they can construct an incredibly vivid and clear memory and use it to overwrite their target’s memory without much issue.
  • They have become skilled enough to where the victim’s brain will naturally fill in gaps to make the memory seem incredibly believable.
  • Memories may extend as far back as they would like them to.
  • They no longer need to consume the entire brain to gain memories, they gain a sense for where the information they desire is located and only need to eat that portion of it.
• Psionic Field:
  • Extends up to 50' from the caster.
  • Up to 1 ton can be manipulated at once. Such advanced minds would be able to manipulate many things at once within this cap.
  • They can combine their field with other magics and have gained the ability to fold space, though it’s tiring to do so.
  • Their ability to fold space has allowed them to effectively perform short range teleportation.

Contrivances

Some examples of creations capable of being produced through Practices and Theorems will be listed below. This list is not exhaustive. Otherwise, Contrivances may be crafted from the Deep One's Sundered Imberite directly.

Ensorcelling

Fathom can help with the creation of conjurations that may help deal with mental problems by altering and/or fading traumatic memories, or perhaps instilling the user with calming emotions.

Alchemy

Contrivances made from a Globe of Alkahest could warp space slightly to make blocking against the wearer or striking them challenging.

”My Aqua mentor moves things with his mind, almost like some sort of telekinesis– I'm not sure how he does it, and I'm inclined not to question it…being around him seems to bring my anxious mind peace.” - An Aquari Student

Articles on Welkin

Main Page