Exodus

To quickly traverse a battlefield, travel far and wide, or craft myriad uses for all sorts of portals– big and small– Exodus can do it all. Exodus requires a Minor Merit to pursue.

Exodus

History

Galdr, and by extension Exodus, is one of the most ancient forms of Arcana; it has existed since before even the Faefolk, likely as far back as sapient beings were capable of wielding Arcana, even. As such, its true origins have been lost to the winds of time. Like the other Galdr, practitioners of Exodus can be found within any society that allows or puts value unto the arcane arts and many that don’t. Many societies rely heavily on Exodii to facilitate the transportation of both people and objects, some of which might even collapse if such supply chains were disrupted.

Acquisition

Mark of Exodus.

Like all forms of Galdr, Exodus is spread from one sorcerer unto another. Unfortunately, only about half of initiates survive.

In order to begin, the mark of Exodus is inscribed into the tissue (be it skin, muscle or bone) using the initiator's aether and then bodily fluids of the donor - most often blood - are offered to the initiate, forcing the student to undergo their spiritual trial forthwith. Exodus has an arguably more perilous trial than the elemental Galdr, with them having to survive a short sojourn into the Aetherium itself facilitated by their Other. It is for this reason that many do not advise taking Exodus as one’s first or only Galdr, as an Other that has previously been awakened is generally more competent at ferrying the initiate back and forth without harm. Still, it can be done either way.

Regardless, the trial is thus:

The initiate must first survive the journey. It is possible that they will die as their Other attempts to ferry them across planes. Second, the initiate and their Other has been separated from them though they are still inherently linked. Their task is to find the Other again, braving the Aetherium’s perils in its pursuit. Lastly, once reunited, the Other will facilitate returning the initiate back from whence they came, and like before, it is possible to die during this process, too. Upon their return, the initiate will have Greater Mageburn symptoms, though they will quickly level out and their symptoms will wane into Moderate Mageburn over the course of a few hours. Rarely, the initiation might last up to a day.

Mageburn Symptoms

• Lesser: Confusion, Dizziness, Lethargy
• Moderate: Strong Disorientation, Headache
• Greater: Aetheric Instability, Muscle Pain, Tachycardia, Panic
• Aetheric Instability: Casting Exodus spells with this symptom may have unexpected effects, such as Blinking a few feet off or creating a Portal to an unintended location. Worst case scenario is that the Exodii in question Blinks into another solid object; it is generally advised to avoid using Exodus in this scenario lest one destroy oneself.

Spells

Like all Galdr, Exodus uses the Metaphor of Aether to cast.

An Exodii’s spells work by mapping different points throughout the planes via the Aetherium itself using their Other as a conduit. They may use their spells to traverse anywhere they’ve both been before and spent enough time within to be reasonably familiar with.

Blink

Blink is how an Exodii moves short distances, from a few inches to several feet. At higher levels, they may even bring people and things they’re touching and focused upon with them.

Portal

Portals are how Exodii transport themselves and others long distances by crafting magical doorways. These doors stay open for one week of time or until subjected to a violent spell of equivalent-tier power, or they are shut, even redirected by another Exodii. Closing a Portal always entails consuming further Spell Reserves. They may be "maintained" by recasting the spell.

Portals only allow objects or entities in motion which are smaller than them to cross, meaning opening one into a river would merely open a wall of water that could then be pulled through by an Aquari rather than spewing it through the portal.

Portals can only be created at short range, up to a maximum of 5 feet away from the caster.

Nexus

At expert and above, the Exodii may attach themselves to a small, isolated sliver of the Aetherium akin to a long hallway. From within this space, they may then graft permanent portals which lead to a spread of locations of their choosing. When the Galsterei utilizes such a portal, they will simply appear on the other end as if manifesting from the atmosphere itself, much like with Blink.

Pocket Dimension

At master and above, the Exodii may create a small space borne from the Aetherium itself yet anchored between it and Antarok that belongs solely to the Galsterei in question. They may utilize other personal magics to ‘customize’ such a place, and time flows as it does on Antarok within it.

Sever

Available to a lesser extent at master, Sever is primarily an Ascendant spell. It is an insidious technique an Exodii may use to stifle other mages. Utilizing their Other as a conduit, they may reach into the soul of another mage and sever their ability to access spell reserves of a particular Metaphor. This process takes an hour, cannot be interrupted and is inefficient, draining the caster of two times the amount of Aether as a standard spellcast.

It may be undone in a few ways, the easiest being Exodii with sufficient skill. Specially tuned artifacts designed for this purpose may also undo it, and further, sufficient skill in meditation will eventually allow for the severance to wane.

Tiers of Mastery

Novice

As a novice, Exodus is extremely limited and fairly unstable.

• Blink:
  • They may blink up to 5 ft. at a time.
  • As a novice, Blink is unstable and the Exodii may end up a few inches to a few feet away from their intended destination.
• Portal:
  • Unavailable at this tier.
• Nexus:
  • Unavailable at this tier.
• Pocket Dimension:
  • Unavailable at this tier.
• Sever:
  • Unavailable at this tier.

Apprentice

Having stabilized their ability to Blink, an Apprentice Exodii may now figure out how to make their own Portals.

• Blink:
  • An apprentice may blink up to 10 ft. at a time.
• Portal:
  • An apprentice may Portal to any location up to 30 miles away from them that they are familiar with.
  • Portals may be up to the size of a small window someone slender could squeeze through.
  • It takes 15 seconds to create, shut, or redirect a Portal of this size or less; each is a cast of Spell Reserves at this tier.
  • Portals may sustain a velocity of up to 5 m/s and a weight of 5,000 pounds before collapsing.
• Nexus:
  • Unavailable at this tier.
• Pocket Dimension:
  • Unavailable at this tier.
• Sever:
  • Unavailable at this tier.

Journeyman

An Exodii at Journeyman may begin to length the distances of their Portals.

• Blink:
  • A journeyman may blink up to 15 ft. at a time.
• Portal:
  • An expert may Portal to any location up to 200 miles away from them that they are familiar with.
  • Portals may be up to the size of a large doorway.
  • It takes 10 seconds to create, shut, or redirect a Portal of this size or less; each is a cast of Spell Reserves at this tier.
  • Portals may sustain a velocity of up to 10 m/s and a weight of 10,000 pounds before collapsing.
• Nexus:
  • Unavailable at this tier.
• Pocket Dimension:
  • Unavailable at this tier.
• Sever:
  • Unavailable at this tier.

Expert

An expert Exodii may finally take advantage of a Nexus of their own.

• Blink:
  • An expert may blink up to 30 ft. at a time.
• Portal:
  • An expert may Portal to any location up to 1,200 miles away from them that they are familiar with.
  • Portals may be up to the size of a large doorway.
  • It takes 7 seconds to create, shut, or redirect a Portal of this size or less; each is a cast of Spell Reserves at this tier.
  • Portals may sustain a velocity of up to 100 m/s and a weight of 100,000 pounds before collapsing.
• Nexus:
  • Resembling a long hallway or large room, the expert’s Nexus may have 3 static portals.
  • It requires an Expert cast of Aether to establish the Nexus.
  • Conjuring Nexus Portals is an Expert cast, but using them once they've been created is free.
  • Opening Portals to the Nexus is performed with Portal as normal, with the Nexus as a target.
• Pocket Dimension:
  • Unavailable at this tier.

You may use your imagination to design an interior that suits your PC Nexus and Pocket Dimension

• Sever:
  • Unavailable at this tier.

Master

At master, an Exodii may conjure their very own pocket dimension as well as finally Portal between Planes.

• Blink:
  • A master may blink up to 60 ft. at a time.
• Portal:
  • A master may Portal to any location up to 3,000 miles away from them that they are familiar with.
  • They may Portal between planes.
  • Portals may be large enough to fit an ancient dragon through.
  • It takes 5 seconds to create, shut, or redirect a Portal of this size or less; each is a cast of Spell Reserves at this tier.
  • Portals may sustain a velocity of up to 1km/s and a weight of 1,000,000 pounds before collapsing.
• Nexus:
  • Resembling a long hallway or large room, the master’s Nexus may have 6 static Portals.
  • It requires an Expert cast of Aether to establish the Nexus.
  • Conjuring Nexus Portals is an Expert cast, but using them once they've been created is free.
  • Opening Portals to the Nexus is performed with Portal as normal, with the Nexus as a target.
• Pocket Dimension:
  • The space is approximately 150 sq. ft. per obtained Master Aether Spell Reserve with sturdy walls, ceiling and floor that may or may not be translucent.
  • The default appearance of the interior depends on myriad factors, including what other Arcana the mage possesses as well as their interests, life experiences, etc; many describe it initially as being a common setting found from their dreams.
  • One may customize the appearance of the Pocket Dimension using personal Arcana or by bringing in external items, furniture, etc.

You may use your imagination to design an interior that suits your PC Nexus and Pocket Dimension.

• Sever:
  • As a master, the Exodii's Sever is devastating, but not permanent. It will wane after a week at most, scaling down to a day if the victim has master meditation.
  • At this tier, it may only be used to Sever another from Aether, thereby disabling Galdr.

Apotheosi

With uncapped distances on their ability to Portal and a much larger Pocket Dimension, finding a Warpweaver that doesn’t wish to be found is night impossible.

• Blink:
  • A Warpweaver may blink up to 120 ft. at a time.
• Portal:
  • A Warpweaver may Portal to any location that they are familiar with.
  • They may Portal between planes.
  • It takes 2 seconds to create, shut, or redirect a Portal of any size; each is a cast of Spell Reserves at this tier.
  • Portals may be large enough to fit a few ancient dragons through.
  • Portals may sustain a velocity of up to 5km/s and a weight of 10,000,000 pounds before collapsing.
• Nexus:
  • Resembling a long hallway or large room, the Warpweaver’s nexus may have 12 static portals.
  • It always costs an Expert spellcast to enter the Nexus, and using a portal is free.
  • Opening Portals to the Nexus is performed with Portal as normal, with the Nexus as a target.
• Pocket Dimension:
  • The space is approximately 500 sq. ft. per obtained Master Aether Spell Reserve (1,500 with Ascended Exodus alone) with sturdy walls, ceiling and floor that may or may not be translucent.
  • The default appearance of the interior depends on myriad factors, including what other Arcana the mage possesses as well as their interests, life experiences, etc; many describe it initially as being a common setting found from their dreams.
  • One may customize the appearance of the Pocket Dimension using personal Arcana or by bringing in external items, furniture, etc.
  • Exalts by Ensorcelling may expand the radius of a Pocket Dimension by 500 Sq. Ft per Sphere, and 1,500 Sq. Ft. per Globe.

You may use your imagination to design an interior that suits your PC for both Nexus and Pocket Dimension.

• Sever:
  • The Warpweaver's Sever is devastating and nigh permanent. Those with grandmaster meditation will recover after a season by maintaining contact with a Globe of Alkahest representing that severed Metaphor.
  • At this tier, the Warpweaver may choose to target any particular Metaphor to block their victim's access to.

Contrivances

Exodus may be used to create Artifacts which allow the user to utilize Portals, though in all cases these Artifacts have static destinations. Otherwise, Contrivances may be crafted from the Galsterei's Sundered Alkahest directly.

For example, one might create two linked objects that, when activated, create a Portal a between those two locations. One might also make a necklace that when activated, creates a Portal in front the user back to a specific location as a way to quickly return home or escape dangerous situations.

”I used to work in a factory that used an elaborate series of small portals to move things ‘round– it was a fascinating sight and, throughout my time there, such a setup gave us a major edge over other similar operations that insisted on doing things the mundane way..” - Retired Supervisor 

Articles on Galdr