Mage the Awakening

Mage: The Awakening
Friday, June 17th Update
Posted: 2005-06-17

Magical Proficiency

When the higher world is imposed upon the lower world, anything can be accomplished—assuming the caster knows the right combination of Arcana. The Arcana descriptions in Mage: The Awakening provide an extensive list of spells possible with every dot. Not every possible spell, however, can be listed. Players' ingenuity and imagination will surely expand beyond these descriptions. Whenever your character attempts an effect not described in the following pages, he's performing what's referred to as "Creative Thaumaturgy."

As a mage progresses in his understanding of the Arcana, new powers become available to him, and it's the shape of those powers that we explore this week. Perhaps not as much meat here as in previous weeks, but we can't give away everything before August, now can we? What follows is a breakdown of what wonders are possible with each new level of mastery a mage gains in the 10 mystical Arcana: the spheres of influence one has over the laws of reality in the Fallen World. And, because we're not total teases, an example of a spell at each level of mastery.

Monday, June 13th Update

Initiate

With the first dot in an Arcanum, an initiate can:

• Gain mystical knowledge about and understanding of phenomena within the Arcanum's purview. Atlanteans called this the Practice of Knowing.

• Perform elementary manipulation of phenomena within the Arcanum's purview, enough to activate them and/or impart directions. Atlanteans called this the Practice of Compelling.

• Gain sensory perception of phenomena within the Arcanum's purview. Atlanteans called this the Practice of Unveiling.

A mage performs these practices with elementary understanding. As he rises in Arcanum lore (i.e., dots), he gains more advanced facility with these practices.

Forensic Gaze

There are times when the most useful thing one can find out about a given dead body is how it got to be that way. An ability that most crime-scene investigators would give their eyeteeth for, this spell enables a mage to discern at a glance exactly how a creature died and how long ago. Thus, the mage might be able to realize that a cause of death obvious to all modern forensic evidence is in fact a ruse designed to distract from the subject's true cause of death.

Forensic Gaze reveals only cause of death and not mitigating circumstances. If used upon a human skeleton, for example, it can reveal that the individual died as a result of damage to the carotid artery two months ago to the day, but does not tell the mage that the victim also had a lethal dose of strychnine in his system at the time of his demise. This limitation on the sense can come in quite handy, however (such as finding a mutilated body and learning that it was a deliberate stab to the heart, rather than the obvious manic rending of flesh, that resulted in the person's death). Even if physical evidence of the cause of death is absent (as with a body reduced to ash), this spell reveals what killed the being in question and how much time has passed since it died.

Tuesday, June 14 Update

Apprentice

With two dots in an Arcanum, an apprentice can:

• Exert elementary command and control over phenomena within the purview of the Arcanum. Atlanteans called this the Practice of Ruling.

• Conceal, camouflage, or hide phenomena within the Arcanum's purview from scrutiny. Atlanteans called this the Practice of Veiling.

• Protect a target against attacks, usually by providing points of armor. Atlanteans called this the Practice of Shielding.

In addition, he can perform advanced-level applications of the 1st-dot practices.

The Perfect Moment

This spell enables the caster to act in a social situation with perfect grace and timing, saying just the right thing at just the right moment. The mage does not really think out what he will do; he goes with the flow, letting Fate and his instincts guide him. He must not have foreknowledge of what he will encounter. (A good hunch is one thing, but extensive scrying or a detailed description from someone on the scene via cell phone is not acceptable. Such intimate understanding of the circumstances ruins the necessary randomness.) For example, if the mage casts this spell in a bar upon meeting someone whom he considers ideal, he could easily wind up getting her phone number, thanks to his Fate-guided panache.

Casting this spell over and over again in regard to the same subject (such as the girl at the bar) snarls the threads of destiny and can even hopelessly entangle them. (The girl could turn out to actually be a creepy stalker type or suffer from some less-than-ideal complication.) In the most extreme cases, repeated castings might sever threads entirely (ending the relationship and perhaps even a life if the mage has been exceptionally presumptuous).

Wednesday, June 15th Update

Disciple

With three dots in an Arcanum, a disciple can:

• Alter the capabilities or functions of phenomena within the Arcanum's purview. Atlanteans called this the Practice of Weaving.

• Injure a target. Atlanteans called this the Practice of Fraying.

• Fortify, bolster, or improve phenomena within the Arcanum's purview. Atlanteans called this the Practice of Perfecting.

In addition, he can perform advanced-level applications of the 1st- and 2nd-dot practices.

Control Median Life

Animals are creatures of instinct. While some of the most intelligent sorts of beasts can apply reason to problem solving, most are restricted to responses determined by biologically pre-programmed protocols. When hungry, they seek food. When afraid, they flee. When cornered, many fight. In fact, these responses are so deeply ingrained and predictable that a mage can call upon these responses to induce a given animal to react in virtually any way he desires, within the animal's normal range of behavior. Because it is biologically possible to intimidate a 600-pound African lion, the mage could, if he so wished, trigger the submission response in such an animal. Likewise, because a Yorkshire terrier has within it the potential to attack with relentless aggression, the mage can compel the dog to attack an adult human with all the fury (if likely none of the success) of a full-grown feral Doberman pinscher defending its territory against a smaller, weaker creature.

This is not a mental compulsion, but a delicate manipulation of an animal's instinctual responses to situations (regulated by brain chemistry and the animal's glandular system). All this means that a dog can't, for example, be made to pull a loose strip of tape off of the top of a sealed box in order to open it neatly, since that response requires training and is not a function of the dog's natural behavioral template. Further, the spell does not create any kind of telepathic bond with the animal; the mage decides what he wants the animal to do. If the action is within the animal's range of normal behavior and reactions, it can be induced to experience the desired response. A clever mage can use this spell to affect an animal's emotional state in a manner that practically borders on telepathy, such as triggering a dog's pack hierarchy instincts to make it regard the mage not only as a member of the pack, but as its alpha.

Thursday, June 16th

Adept

With four dots in an Arcanum, an adept can:

• Transform phenomena within the Arcanum's purview into related phenomena or shapes, or replace their capabilities or functions with different ones. Atlanteans called this the Practice of Patterning.

• Significantly injure a target, degrade its capabilities, or negatively transform it. Atlanteans called this the Practice of Unraveling. In addition, he can perform more advanced-level applications of the 1st-, 2nd-, and 3rd-dot practices.

Temporal Pocket

This spell enables a mage to withdraw into a personal temporal pocket, there to take whatever actions she sees fit during the subjective time allotted to her. If hunted and exhausted, she could take a nap outside "mainstream" time and emerge a few minutes later, awake, alert, and ready to keep moving.

While existing within such a temporal pocket, the mage cannot interact with or be interacted with by others, save for others equally magically proficient who attempt to "break in" to her time bubble. The mage's own subjective time continues to flow at the same rate within this pocket, but time passes at a different rate outside, determined by the strength of the mage's spell. While within, she could set up an elaborate ritual and return to "mainstream" time with a powerful casting at the ready.

Friday, June 17th Update

Master

With five dots in an Arcanum, a master can:

• Create phenomena within the Arcanum's purview from nothing. Atlanteans called this the Practice of Making.

• Destroy or mutilate a target. Atlanteans called this the Practice of Unmaking.

In addition, he can perform advanced-level applications of the 1st-, 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-dot practices. Further understanding is disclosed only to archmages.

Dimensional Axis

The mage performs complex co-location on an area, causing multiple locations to exist in the same space. She can, for example, "stack" multiple locations in space, making them coexist for however long she wishes (even permanently, should she decide to expend the time and resources to do so). While thus layered, places and things do not normally interact with each other—meaning that a lamp, a couch, and a bowl of cereal, each drawn from one of three different places, can all occupy the same space without interacting. An onlooker might think he's looking at an optical illusion where perspective tricks his mind. The lamp, couch, and bowl of cereal all appear to be the same distance from him, but surely he's mistaken—or so he might assume if he does not have Mage Sight or otherwise suspect that magic is at work.

A mage could also decide to make things co-located in space interact (usually disastrously) with a spell appropriately titled "Worlds Collide."

Next week, we begin a more in-depth two-week exploration into what the 10 Arcana are and what they can do.

All right, now go see Batman Begins if you weren't there on Wednesday—that's where we're going. Oh, and don't forget to hug your dad on Sunday.