Cost: 12 m
Target: One ghost
Normally it takes days of binding to create a mindless hungry ghost, or one can be found by tracking it through the Underworld or Creation. This horrific spell can turn any shade into a hungry ghost instantly.
Make a Charisma or Manipulation + Presence roll against the target's MDV + Compassion. Halve their MDV if they died a violent death and the character carries the target's skull or is in the immediate presence of their exposed body. If the total number of successes is greater than the target's Essence they immediately become a hungry ghost.
Showing posts with label Necromancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Necromancy. Show all posts
Monday, 1 August 2011
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Eternal Torment Cage
Abyssals use this to trap the man's soul inside his body so they can go on torturing him after he's dead. This is one of the spells valued by mortificers as the victim's soul doesn't pass while they're being tortured. Some fasten their victims with soulsteel nails while assembling their creations. Abyssals have shown such a mastery of torture that people's souls escaped only because there was no body left for the to inhabit.
Some have so much disregard for the etiquette of respect for the dead that they've become notorious. Far from being frightened by an enemy's vengeful ghost they relish the chance of a victim coming back to haunt them. It gives them a chance to kill them all over again.
Some have so much disregard for the etiquette of respect for the dead that they've become notorious. Far from being frightened by an enemy's vengeful ghost they relish the chance of a victim coming back to haunt them. It gives them a chance to kill them all over again.
Tuesday, 26 April 2011
20th April
By the end of the First Age the Realm was a cesspool of corruption. Rules by megalomaniac Exalted of limitless power, backed by armies of demons, undead and other abominations, vying for power. At first their use of demons had been practical, after a while under their influence they started using their power over them to pursue power itself even appointing Demon Princes as lieutenants in their armies. Those who thought sorcery was too philanthropic and it's demands too selfless turned to necromancy. This may have been why necromancy was first discovered.
Monday, 11 April 2011
Raise Skeletons
Shadowlands Circle Spell
A Shadowlands Circle Necromancer can make ageless skeletons out of the living. Performing this spell culminates in a ritual sacrifice takes place when the being they are bound to dies. When a potentate dies and is buried, priests perform an act of Necromancy sacrificing servants that will be bound to them in the afterlife. Their bodies are dressed and equipped and buried with their master. Their spirits are tied to their bodies for as long as this spell lasts. They are now subjects if their master's will who must be one of the greater undead. Not just in possession of their own will but able to command other forms of undead. This spell can also be performed at sites where the living have been sacrificed and prepared to serve their master in death. Such spirits are in limboand can be invoked by performing this spell at the site. The rite takes place during the Darkest Hour, where all the names of the dead must be recited. Any whose names are not read out are not reanimated.
A Shadowlands Circle Necromancer can make ageless skeletons out of the living. Performing this spell culminates in a ritual sacrifice takes place when the being they are bound to dies. When a potentate dies and is buried, priests perform an act of Necromancy sacrificing servants that will be bound to them in the afterlife. Their bodies are dressed and equipped and buried with their master. Their spirits are tied to their bodies for as long as this spell lasts. They are now subjects if their master's will who must be one of the greater undead. Not just in possession of their own will but able to command other forms of undead. This spell can also be performed at sites where the living have been sacrificed and prepared to serve their master in death. Such spirits are in limboand can be invoked by performing this spell at the site. The rite takes place during the Darkest Hour, where all the names of the dead must be recited. Any whose names are not read out are not reanimated.
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
Going Forth by Night
Labyrinth Circle Spell
The spell can be performed on someone who has died recently. If so they must start casting the spell within the same scene. If the dead became a ghost they have three days until their soul splits and enters the afterlife. The spell binds a person's soul to their body by preventing it from escaping. Each person has four Divine Virtues that make up their Essence. On death their Essence leaves the body through four gateways associated with the Virtues. If these gateways can be sealed the spirit can be kept inside the body that once lived.
Once the ritual has begun the Necromancer must concentrate on performing the spell continuously or it will fail. If preserving the body of a ghost the ritual starts at sunrise when they return to their body and ends at sunset. If someone has dies after sunset the ritual goes on until sunset the next day. If they die before sunset they have until nightfall to complete the ritual.
To perform this rite they must remove each of the organs associated with the Divine gateways: the brain (Conviction), the heart (Compassion), the liver (Valour) and the sex organs (Temperence.) These organs are placed in four sealed earthenware jars. The body is then covered in dessicants, the stomach and intestines are emptied and filled with herbs. Then the body is wrapped in layer after layer of oiled bandages containing amulets of onyx. If the ritual is completed by sunset the Necromancer and all who assisted in the rite mount a vigil until the last light has disappeared from the sky. When night falls the body comes back to life.
The newly ressurected mummy is now one of the undead although they maintain their own free will and intelligence. They are not automatically controlled by powers that exert control over the undead as their spirits are not in the Underworld and did not pass through Lethe.
Their continued state depends on two things however. Firstly their level of animation depends on how well preserved their body is. Normally this is not a problem as the preservatives, oils and amulets prevent the body from decaying. However damage from injury affects them normally and damaged body parts canot be regrown or healed. Any part ocf them that is severed can be reattached under proper ritual conditions but requires further spells to be restored to an animated state under control of the mummy.
Secondly the Virtues contained in their organs are affected by the organs being removed and their gateways being sealed shut. The mummy suffers a -1 internal penalty on all Virtue rolls and loses one channel for each Virtue which has been closed and the jar containing the organ is shut. As long as the jars remain sealed the power of the Virtues within them is contained. If a jar is broken or otherwise opened then the organ's power is released and they regain full function of that Virtue. However when all of a mummy's jars have been opened the power of it's Essence escapes and it dies.
The spell can be performed on someone who has died recently. If so they must start casting the spell within the same scene. If the dead became a ghost they have three days until their soul splits and enters the afterlife. The spell binds a person's soul to their body by preventing it from escaping. Each person has four Divine Virtues that make up their Essence. On death their Essence leaves the body through four gateways associated with the Virtues. If these gateways can be sealed the spirit can be kept inside the body that once lived.
Once the ritual has begun the Necromancer must concentrate on performing the spell continuously or it will fail. If preserving the body of a ghost the ritual starts at sunrise when they return to their body and ends at sunset. If someone has dies after sunset the ritual goes on until sunset the next day. If they die before sunset they have until nightfall to complete the ritual.
To perform this rite they must remove each of the organs associated with the Divine gateways: the brain (Conviction), the heart (Compassion), the liver (Valour) and the sex organs (Temperence.) These organs are placed in four sealed earthenware jars. The body is then covered in dessicants, the stomach and intestines are emptied and filled with herbs. Then the body is wrapped in layer after layer of oiled bandages containing amulets of onyx. If the ritual is completed by sunset the Necromancer and all who assisted in the rite mount a vigil until the last light has disappeared from the sky. When night falls the body comes back to life.
The newly ressurected mummy is now one of the undead although they maintain their own free will and intelligence. They are not automatically controlled by powers that exert control over the undead as their spirits are not in the Underworld and did not pass through Lethe.
Their continued state depends on two things however. Firstly their level of animation depends on how well preserved their body is. Normally this is not a problem as the preservatives, oils and amulets prevent the body from decaying. However damage from injury affects them normally and damaged body parts canot be regrown or healed. Any part ocf them that is severed can be reattached under proper ritual conditions but requires further spells to be restored to an animated state under control of the mummy.
Secondly the Virtues contained in their organs are affected by the organs being removed and their gateways being sealed shut. The mummy suffers a -1 internal penalty on all Virtue rolls and loses one channel for each Virtue which has been closed and the jar containing the organ is shut. As long as the jars remain sealed the power of the Virtues within them is contained. If a jar is broken or otherwise opened then the organ's power is released and they regain full function of that Virtue. However when all of a mummy's jars have been opened the power of it's Essence escapes and it dies.
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
Undead
Necromancy offers ways to raise both the lesser and the greater undead but there are times when Abyssals and other nefarious agents of death need access to more immediate or more unusual followers.
The still living blood of the unfortunates used in it''s construction is then fed to the beast filling it with a relentless thirst for blood.
These spells are also helpful in making soulsteel as they can torture their victims for much longer so they are ready to be transubstantiated into that ethereal material or just for recreational purposes.
Zombie Motivation Consume the flesh of the living
They'll keep eating corpses they've killed until all the flesh is consumed. They usually don't bother killing the before eating. Although their intellect is limited, driven by one of their most basic desires they are extremely strong in pursuing what they want and frighteningly resilient as their minds and partially reanimated bodies no longer sense pain. 'They are created en masse by a spell with limited effect, it's doesn't do a very good job of reanimation or the process of reanimation is not perfect or as developed as used for skeletons or other undead creations. But despite their poor (read negligible) intelligence and undisciplined hunger they are quite effective on the battlefield and in war, particularly as terror troops.'
Zombies are often raised then a Necromancer immediate servants although they are often retained for as long as they can sustain themselves afterwards. They are the lowest form of undead reanimation with necromantic power and possessed by only the most basic instincts and absolutely no intelligence. 'This may be a result of an early necromantic formula that worked on a more physical level literally restoring incomplete and imperfect life to the dead rather than more advanced spiritual magic that was created later for use on skeletons. Perhaps the presence of the roughly complete victim's corpse prevents use of different Necromantic principles, or the limited age after death and something to do with the proximity of the body's spirit limit the intelligence it can possess. Much older bodies can be imbued with a element of the deceased's soul, and the greater the age or the strength the dead had in life the more complete the link.'
Skeletons are far too decomposed to reanimate in such a way. Instead the Necromancer locates a trinket associated with the victim's soul and binds a fraction of it to the newly risen deceased. As a result skeletons can function as servants, perform basic tasks and hold weapons and wield them in battle. Skeletons of warriors are used to staff undead legions following instructions hammered out by their greater undead leaders.
The horrid magic that reanimates these things allows for the most unnatural creatures. The twisted genius of the Mortificers shape amalgamations that work in ways that were never intended, or even conceivable to onlookers.
The still living blood of the unfortunates used in it''s construction is then fed to the beast filling it with a relentless thirst for blood.
These spells are also helpful in making soulsteel as they can torture their victims for much longer so they are ready to be transubstantiated into that ethereal material or just for recreational purposes.
Zombie Motivation Consume the flesh of the living
They'll keep eating corpses they've killed until all the flesh is consumed. They usually don't bother killing the before eating. Although their intellect is limited, driven by one of their most basic desires they are extremely strong in pursuing what they want and frighteningly resilient as their minds and partially reanimated bodies no longer sense pain. 'They are created en masse by a spell with limited effect, it's doesn't do a very good job of reanimation or the process of reanimation is not perfect or as developed as used for skeletons or other undead creations. But despite their poor (read negligible) intelligence and undisciplined hunger they are quite effective on the battlefield and in war, particularly as terror troops.'
Zombies are often raised then a Necromancer immediate servants although they are often retained for as long as they can sustain themselves afterwards. They are the lowest form of undead reanimation with necromantic power and possessed by only the most basic instincts and absolutely no intelligence. 'This may be a result of an early necromantic formula that worked on a more physical level literally restoring incomplete and imperfect life to the dead rather than more advanced spiritual magic that was created later for use on skeletons. Perhaps the presence of the roughly complete victim's corpse prevents use of different Necromantic principles, or the limited age after death and something to do with the proximity of the body's spirit limit the intelligence it can possess. Much older bodies can be imbued with a element of the deceased's soul, and the greater the age or the strength the dead had in life the more complete the link.'
Skeletons are far too decomposed to reanimate in such a way. Instead the Necromancer locates a trinket associated with the victim's soul and binds a fraction of it to the newly risen deceased. As a result skeletons can function as servants, perform basic tasks and hold weapons and wield them in battle. Skeletons of warriors are used to staff undead legions following instructions hammered out by their greater undead leaders.
The horrid magic that reanimates these things allows for the most unnatural creatures. The twisted genius of the Mortificers shape amalgamations that work in ways that were never intended, or even conceivable to onlookers.
Thursday, 27 January 2011
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Sorcery
I think this was undertoned in the original book. Sorcery is supposed to be the greatest of the supernatural disciplines. Just as the Solars are the greatest of the Exalted (taking after the nature of their creator) and the only Exalted who can learn the third circle of this most powerful of abilities. Having a minimum Occult and Essence rating of five does make Solar Circle sorcery accessible to characters who haven't been around long enough to raise their Essence to 6 but demeans the value of the craft. On a related note I think thaumaturgy is a bit too dull. It's supposed to be magic so tame that even mortals can practice it because it's based on manipulating Essence patterns to do things they can do anyway rather than creating new ones but could do with more spice.
Sorcery however is supposed to be greater than the most impressive feats of shapeshifting or Sidereal martial arts. So why does the highest level or sorcery have a pathetic trait minimum level of five for it's greatest expression. Sidereal styles have Essence 8 Charms and Lunar shapeshifting is a direct partner of their ordinary powers. So I decided to create the following rules to give Solar Circle sorcery (in fact all sorcery) the rarity and distinction it deserves.
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery Minimum Occult and Essence: 5
Celestial Circle Sorcery Minimum Occult and Essence: 7
Solar Circle Sorcery Minimum Occult and Essence: 9.
That should demonstrate just how demanding and potent sorcery is. And be a mark of how difficult to learn the greatest of the supernatural disciplines is as well as a comparison of it's power in relation to other Charms.
Sorcery however is supposed to be greater than the most impressive feats of shapeshifting or Sidereal martial arts. So why does the highest level or sorcery have a pathetic trait minimum level of five for it's greatest expression. Sidereal styles have Essence 8 Charms and Lunar shapeshifting is a direct partner of their ordinary powers. So I decided to create the following rules to give Solar Circle sorcery (in fact all sorcery) the rarity and distinction it deserves.
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery Minimum Occult and Essence: 5
Celestial Circle Sorcery Minimum Occult and Essence: 7
Solar Circle Sorcery Minimum Occult and Essence: 9.
That should demonstrate just how demanding and potent sorcery is. And be a mark of how difficult to learn the greatest of the supernatural disciplines is as well as a comparison of it's power in relation to other Charms.
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