Darkness, decay, ectoplasm, enervation, ghosts, soul stealing Death is a gruesome and terrible Arcanum. With it, a mage can exert control over that most primal and frightful of mysteries. Ghosts and the dead fall under the purview of this Arcanum, as does the health of the soul.
Those who delve deeply into the Mysteries of Death are often (though not necessarily) morbid people, given to considerable introspection regarding mortality, decay and endings. Many such individuals had too close a brush with their own mortality at some point. Out of fear (or disdain), they attempt to master the very metaphysical constant responsible for claiming those whose time has passed, seeking to define the limits of their own existence rather than being subject to the whims of a cold and impersonal universe. Like the Arcanum they pursue, such mages tend to be subtle, owing much less (despite what others might think) to bad horror movies and heavy metal than to a pervasive, cold and clinical outlook on Creation, one in which they have already perceived the destiny of everything and flensed away their fear in the crucible that is the knowledge that all things must die in time.
The gross/subtle pair of Matter/Death provides the Ruling Arcana of Stygia, that bleak land where disincarnated souls gain rest until called upon to incarnate again into the cycle of life. Death is the ephemeral expression of that pair.
In Atlantean metaphysics, the function of Death is to root the soul in the material world, to give it an anchor for its sojourn in the world. Death draws the soul down into matter and density with an inexorable gravity. But it also releases the soul in time by decaying the body to which it is tied, freeing the soul to return to the Supernal World with the memories of all its bodily experiences. These memories, entered into the Book of Stars, lend weight and fresh meaning to the ethereal heavens.
In the current age of the Fallen World, most have forgotten this core truth, and use the power of Death for debased reasons. Necromancers manipulate the shades of the departed for selfish gain. The Atlanteans did not believe that ghosts were conscious beings. They were not even “beings,” but things. They were shells left behind by the soul, still bearing the imprint or form of the soul. They mimicked consciousness, still “wearing” the personality and behavior of the departed soul. Atlanteans also believed that the soul could never ascend back to its source as long as its shell was still intact and bound to a worldly anchor. In essence, to manipulate the shell was to also affect the soul that once owned it. Much of the instinctive terror that this Arcanum evokes is attributed to its power over the soul.
Blessings, curses, destiny, fortune, oaths, probability Understanding the Arcanum of Fate grants its practitioner the ability to manipulate the threads of destiny, creating good or ill fortune, binding oaths, blessings and curses.
Those who study Fate come to understand the intricacies of fortune, seeing with clear sight the interconnection of the threads that bind all cause and effect within Creation. Those with powerful destinies (or none at all) stand out to even the most elementary Fate Arcanum perceptions, while more complicated fortunes sometimes require more of a discerning eye.
Mages who devote themselves to the understanding of the Fate Arcanum are usually the sorts of people who would rather know “why” rather than “how.” Many of them enjoy a good mystery and consider feelings about things to be just as important, if not more so, than so-called “hard facts.” Sometimes mages who wish to discern the vagaries of Fate do so out of an implicit faith in destiny, while others do so out of a blatant distrust in that nebulous constant. Those who submit themselves to fortune are often easy-going and carefree, with the confidence born of knowing, and more importantly accepting that what is meant to be, will be. Those who rail against fortune are usually driven and unhappy people, too concerned with shaping their own role in the future to admire the beautiful complexities of Fate.
The gross/subtle pair of Time/Fate provides the ruling Arcana for Arcadia, the enchanted realm inhabited by fickle spirits of immense beauty and cruelty. Fate is the ephemeral expression of that pair.
Fate does not predict what will happen in the future or perceive what has happened in the past. Those effects are the purview of Time. Fate deals with the themes that govern Patterns within the Tapestry. These exert influence upon the chaotic flux of probability around people and things, inclining the course of events toward certain outcomes. The boy destined to be king has a higher probability of being king than another person, for example.
It’s no coincidence that human myths about Fate offer a glimpse into the same metaphors used by mages to describe reality: a vast Tapestry woven by unseen powers, often personified as a goddess weaving a loom. The Fate Arcanum is the magic of weaving the threads of destiny. Some Free Council mages prefer the more modern example of quantum physics, seeing Fate as the Arcanum that allows a mage to observe quantum reality and to change that reality through the act of witnessing it — the controversial “observer-created reality” principle. The mage alters raw probability in accordance with his wishes, working the loom to alter the weave of the Tapestry.
Electricity, gravity, kinetic energy, light, physics, radiation, sound, weather
This is the Arcanum associated with light, heat, energy and the animation of the universe, the patterns of power that make the worlds to move in their orbits, stars to burn, and the cohesion that binds the cosmos together. It is a primal, powerful Arcanum, well suited to those with assertive overlooks on the world and who are confident of their own preeminent place within it. Those who master the Arcanum of Forces command storms, droughts, tides and even the power of the atom.
Forces is perhaps the most “classical wizardly” of the Arcana. With Forces, a mage can summon fire from his fingertips, overcome the power of gravity to take flight, levitate objects and even people with the power of his will alone, conjure up both darkness and light or cause the very earth to tremble. Those who seek to control this Arcanum are often unsubtle people, energetic and boisterous. They laugh heartily, weep openly and otherwise express themselves with honesty and passion in all things.
The gross/subtle pair of Forces/Prime provides the ruling Arcana for the realm of the Aether, the celestial space where heavenly fires burn. Forces is the material expression of the pair.
Forces at a Glance
Not all types of energy can be manipulated with equal facility. Mages can influence, control and master different types of energy with different degrees of learning in the Forces Arcanum.
Heat, Light, Sound: The mage can begin to influence these forces with the first dot in the Arcanum, and she gains more control as she advances in her understanding. With the third dot, she can create these forces from thin air.
Electricity, Fire: The mage can begin to influence these mercurial forces with the second dot in the Arcanum, with increasing control as she progresses. With the fourth dot, she can generate these forces from nothing.
Kinetic Energy: The mage can begin to influence different aspects of kinetic force at different degrees of mastery. With the second dot, she can repel kinetic force applied against her, or focus a broad kinetic force into a pinpoint. With the third dot, she can telekinetically move things, with expanded control as she progresses to higher levels. With the fourth dot, she can alter the vectors and velocity of moving things, with greater control at the fifth dot.
Disease, evolution, healing, metamorphosis, vigor
Life is the Arcanum of vital animation, that elusive spark that separates biological matter from base materials. It encompasses everything from viruses and bacteria to the most complex plants and animals. With the power of Life, a mage can cause or cure sickness, mend grievous injuries, and even create life forms from nothingness. She can bolster her own physical capabilities to levels far beyond those found in nature, or change her appearance (from superficial features to such inherent characteristics as height, weight, build, age and even gender) in whatever way she desires. The processes of life can be halted, accelerated, reversed or otherwise altered.
Mages who endeavor to master the Arcanum of Life are often one of two kinds of people. There are those who embrace the manifold splendors of the living world, who are so enamored with it that they are compelled to pursue its mysteries and thereby grow closer to it. These sorts of mages tend to leap headlong into both the best and the worst that life has to offer, with a fervor usually matched only among those who seek the secrets of Forces.The other kind if mage is driven to control, to impose order upon the great randomness of the living world. Unsatisfied with the existence of patterns she cannot see, this type of willworker wishes to become like a god, so that she need never again be subject to the unpredictable happenstance of sicknesses or pain.
The gross/subtle pair of Life/Spirit provides the ruling Arcana for the Primal Wild, the vast, primordial eden of forests, mountains, rivers and plains where Nature holds sway. Life is the material expression of that pair, the raw power of organic processes.
Types of Life
The mage can affect different types of life forms at different degrees of Arcanum mastery. The definitions are as follows:
Base Life: Insects, plants, fungi, bacteria and other microbes
Median Life: Non-sentient mammals, reptiles, birds, fish
Advanced Life: Sentient animals (humans, werewolves)
Pattern Alteration
A mage can alter a living being’s Pattern with his spells, but he cannot do so with indefinite Duration (living creatures cannot be affected indefinitely).
Spells that cause natural changes — things that could occur without magic — have lasting effects even after the Duration expires. A healed wound does not reappear when the spell ends. Unnatural changes, however, do disappear once a spell expires. A human shapeshifted into a pig becomes a human again when the spell’s Duration is over.
Alchemy, elemental air, elemental earth, elemental water, shaping, transmutation
Matter is an Arcanum concerned with lifeless material, the building blocks of the world. Through use of this magic, a mage gains control over raw elements and complex alloys alike. The Matter Arcanum encompasses everything from a simple puddle of water, to a chunk of uranium, to a plank of wood, to the most intricately structure polymer.
Those mages who set out to control the enigmas of Matter are often not what others would consider “people-friendly.” Many enjoy the static predictability of base materials, as opposed to the rampant chaos engendered by primal energies or living beings. These individuals are often as reliable as they are routine-oriented and many of them are capable of seeing beauty in places that others simply don’t know to look. They prize solidity, stability and conformity and a good number wish that human beings were as readily pliant as the objects with which they work (a condition they believe would make the whole world a much easier and more rewarding place to live).
The gross/subtle pair of Matter/Death provides the ruling Arcana of Stygia, that bleak land where disincarnated souls gain rest until called upon to incarnate again into the cycle of life. Matter is the material expression of the pair.
Communication, hallucinations, mental projection, mind control, telepathy
This is the Arcanum used to connect with the Universal Consciousness shared by all beings possessed of thought: humans, animals, spirits and anything capable of in any way distinguishing between itself and its environment. This is an Arcanum of thoughts, dreams, emotions, motivations, memories, primal instincts, elevated precepts and ideas. Those who seek to master Mind attempt to grow closer to the unity of thought shared by all intelligent life, turning their mystic will inward, there to discover the simple truth that all Creation exists only in the eye of the beholder.
Mind is an Arcanum for those who are introspective without losing themselves in self-important reverie, and also outgoing, but not to the point of being incapable of useful reflection. Mind Arcanum mages are interactive sorts of people, whether that interaction takes the shape of social dealings or intense contemplation of a rich and vibrant inner life is immaterial. Surprisingly few of these individuals ignore the physical in favor of the cerebral, employing a well-balanced approach to existence. There certainly are no few seemingly half-mad ascetics out there, though, who deny the needs and desires of their “crude terrestrial forms.” Of all the different types of mages, those who pursue the study of Mind are the most apt to change radically as they grow in understanding, becoming open to avenues of thought literally unfathomable to them previously.
The gross/subtle pair of Space/Mind provides the Ruling Arcana of Pandemonium, the place of soul scourging, where the sins committed during the soul’s sojourn in the material world are purged so that it might ascend to its source. Mind is the ephemeral expression of the pair.
Hallows, illusions, magical imbuement, Mana, resonance, tass
Prime is the light that burns without heat, the energy that defies description. It is the power that courses through all things in material existence and which serves as the skeleton on which all willworkers hang their magic. Prime is an Arcanum of mystic power, named for the prima materia, the Supernal substance. Thus, it is often practiced by those who would seek to possess mastery over the subtle and otherwise largely unquantifiable substance that serves as mages’ medium.
Awakened who concentrate on Prime tend to be passionate, though they are often driven to loftier ends than the majority of people: self-mastery, understanding of Creation and enlighten- ment. These sorts usually have an intense drive to understand the “whys” and “wherefores” of reality. Some have their curiosity satisfied merely by learning answers to their questions, while others capitalize on knowledge to control what they understand now. Many Prime willworkers have a particular lust for life, an energy that impels them to be ever active, moving forward toward some objective (which need not be easily quantifiable).
The gross/subtle pair of Forces/Prime provides the ruling Arcana for the realm of the Aether, the celestial space where the heavenly fire burns. Prime is the ephemeral expression of the pair.
Conjuration, scrying, sympathy, teleportation, wards
Space is the art of connection, of the ties between things, the illusion of distance and the means by which one traverses all of reality with a single step. It is an Arcanum for travelers, trailblazers, heralds and all those who seek to dispel ignorance and replace it with knowledge, even if only for their own sake. Space illustrates the ties between people and things, an Arcanum of sympathy, contagion, emotional bonds, roads and doorways.
To the mage versed in Space, spatial extension is an illusion; all points are one. The willworker is capable of traveling without moving by navigating the illusion of distance with acumen unknown to mundane human beings. Likewise, he can extend his senses far beyond the range of the natural, listening to what goes on in a home two towns over, watching what unfolds in a particular restaurant in Tokyo while he is in Cleveland. He could even, with the right combination of other Arcana, hold a conversation with a person 10,000 miles away as though he were sitting across a table from her.
Space is a difficult Arcanum to understand and learn. While most people (thanks to books and films) can conceive of magic that allows one to conjure flames from nothingness, to peer into another’s mind or to place a blessing upon a favored child, few have any sense of the kind of power it takes to alter the dimensions of a building to be larger inside than outside, or to weave a small universe of one’s own out of newly spun threads of space. These capabilities are the province of a reality more akin to that envisioned by M.C. Escher or H.P. Lovecraft than the magic commonly attributed to snowy-bearded wizards of yore.
Mages who devote themselves to learning the Arcanum of Space are often curious individuals, those who are not content with what is already known or has already been done. They set out to learn Truth and are not dissuaded by obstacles set in their path. Mages who specialize in Space are often adaptable people, capable of going around, over or even through roadblocks set in the way of their objectives.
The gross/subtle pair of Space/Mind provides the Ruling Arcana of Pandemonium, the place of soul scourging, where sins committed during the soul’s sojourn in the material world are purged so that it might ascend to its source. Space is the material expression of the pair.
Exorcism, the Shadow Realm, soul retrieval, spirits, the Gauntlet
By setting out on the path of the Spirit Arcanum, a mage seeks to become an intermediary between realms. Spirit mages are often thoughtful people, those who consider the consequences of their actions well beyond the immediate — not only forward into time, but also outward, mindful of the ripples their deeds can cause. Many Spirit mages were religious (or at least faithful) people before the Awakening, though some were incapable of articulating what it was they felt, and others believed in nothing before the revelation came that stole their ignorance. Many of those who delve into this Arcanum are willing to admit that there are things beyond the comprehension of man, and they’re comfortable with that notion. They walk into the shadows beyond the firelight, knowing full well that there are things to be afraid of out there, and are perfectly happy with that understanding. Unlike Space mages, they do not blaze a path for others. The road such mages walk is a solitary one undertaken only by those who accept that the world is grander, stranger and more dangerous than humanity can possibly comprehend.
The gross/subtle pair of Life/Spirit provides the Ruling Arcana for the Primal Wild, the vast, primordial Eden of forests, mountains, rivers and plains where Nature holds sway. Spirit is the ephemeral expression of the pair.
Divination, prophecy, temporal acceleration/ deceleration
Time is probably the most complex of the Gross Arcana, since it describes a phenomenon as yet incompletely understood by modern man. With it, a mage can redefine the way in which every other Arcanum interacts with the linear progression of events, and with great mastery can unravel the mysteries of choosing the manner in which things move in that flow. Extraordinarily powerful mages see the way in which an individual participates in Time as a choice, rather than a cosmic absolute.
Those who would deal with the Arcanum of Time are advised to heed the counsel of those who have come before. Though few primers exist on the subject (few that are of much use to those lacking an advanced understanding of Time magics, at any rate), most well versed in the Arcanum’s intricacies agree upon one basic axiom: Nothing within Time is fixed. Events in the past are harder to alter than those in the present and future (only magic allows for the past to be changed), but no event seems to be truly eternal.
Mages who devote themselves to the Arcanum of Time tend to be reflective people, given to careful contemplation of all of an action’s potential consequences. They often look to both the mistakes and great successes of the past and cast their gaze forward with a mind for how things should properly unfold. Such mages learn quickly what sort of damage can be done when actions are taken without exhaustive consideration, and they actually possess the ability to see how history will judge them. With such a weighty burden, it is unsurprising that those who seek to unravel the mysteries of Time do so with a sense of reverence, whether that stems from noblesse oblige, respect for the lessons of the universe, or active devotion to a Divine Plan.
The gross/subtle pair of Time/Fate provides the ruling Arcana for the land of Arcadia, the enchanted realm inhabited by fickle spirits of immense beauty and cruelty. Time is the material expression of the pair.