Character Sheet
Name: Miriam Green
Shadow Name: Morata
Age: Sixteen.
Gender: Female

Path: Mastigos.
Gnosis: 3
Mana: 4/12
Wisdom: 7

Arcana: Mind 3, Space 2, Fate 1, (In Progress) Spirit 1

Aspirations: Unlock the Secrets of the Fire.

Obsessions:

Virtue: Faith
Vice: Curiosity

Health: 8/8
Willpower: 7/7
Defense: 2
Destiny (Merit): 4/4

XP: 0
Arcane XP: 1

Attributes:

Strength 3, Dexterity 2*, Stamina 3
Presence 2*, Manipulation 2*, Composure 3*
Intelligence 4, Wits 3, Resolve 4

Aspects:

Promising High School Student (4): She's smart and well liked around school. In fact, she has a pretty good grasp of not merely the basics of high-school learning, but even the things that are up to the senior year. Beyond what a person might learn in a she's a little lost, and so there are limits as to the kinds of things she'd know about, but if it can be found in a textbook she might have read, she's probably read it. As well, she knows how to plan her time, to get along with other people at school and not get into fights, and otherwise do well in this respect. She's best at history.

Preacher's Daughter (3): Growing up with a father who tells the gospel word, you learn how to mimic the way he gives sermons, quote the bible chapter and verse, and know more than a little about how to interact with people and their religions, faiths, and how churches function. Whether it is mingling after church, being a sounding board for her father's sermons, or playing games that involve reciting long passages of the bible from memory, she is good at it.

*A Bit of a Tomboy (2): She's really at the age where you're supposed to outgrow this sort of thing, really. But she still likes climbing things, she still likes running around the school, she still knows a little about getting into a scrap, even if she hasn't actually gotten into a fight since...well, a few years. She's keen, athletic, and very, very interested in baseball (boo, Kansas City Monarchs, boo!) which she read about, not having a radio, and that being fledgling besides. In any wise, it certainly isn't fading with time, and it's given her a set of interests and hobbies that meshes quite interestingly with her obvious piety and (reasonably, mostly) obedient nature.

Breaker of Chains (2): Abraham Lincoln was a swell guy, in her opinion. Her own father's involvement in the NAACP and her engagement in High School history has made it so that she's actually surprisingly knowledgeable on race issues, and quite talkative about them in the right circumstances. She knows how to keep her mouth shut, of course, around older white men or the like, but she has her opinions and she wears them on her sleeve, and that includes knowing a lot of things most girls her age wouldn't know about, academically and otherwise.

A Practicing Mage (2): While Morata has a lot to learn, and has only been practicing magic for a short time, she is now fully settling into magical society. She knows the Orders, and more than that she is starting to understand both the personalities and how magic truly works. It is a long journey, but she has taken another step forward.

Can We Keep Him? (1): She has had dogs and cats before, and currently has one of each, which she of course does all of the work taking care of, because her mom said that if she had to deal with that, she'd throw them out. She has a bit of a way with animals, and after the third or fourth stray, also with people and convincing them to go along with her quite innocent and well-meaning requests.

Problem Solver (1): Kids in her neighborhood and at school tend to trust and like her, or at least she's tried to be liked, and even go to her for help sometimes, whether of an academic nature or just to see what she has to say. She's not exactly a local guru or anything, but she's clever and tends to be able to help people with minor problems, or dispense advice, even if that advice is often enough 'Really, you should tell your parents, they're gonna find out, you know, and if they find out and you didn't tell them, they'll cane your hide raw.'

Sneaking The Cookie Jar (1): She's not a dishonest person, but being someone with a lot of friends means that you sometimes know how to lie for them, and more than that, that you know a little about sneaking an extra quarter here and there. Whenever caught she's full of contrition, and more than that she's not a fundamentally dishonest person, but...well, she knows plenty of people who deserve an extra cookie every now and then.

Mother's Teachings (1): Her mother has tried to at least teach her the basics of cooking, cleaning, and keeping house. The logic that she'll probably need it if she goes to college has been pretty persuasive, and while there are gaps, she's quite self-sufficient when it comes to balancing a budget or all of the other things a modern woman is expected to do, as far as it goes. She's best at cooking meat, and her recipes are all pretty simple, but it's food that'll fill a belly, and that's the most important thing.

To Dream A Dream (1): Morata has become a truly expert in the magic of dreams, and indeed has begun to truly explore what Demons and other denizens of the Astral can and will do. This is merely an extrapolation of what she can already do, hence the discount. Special: Can use Arcane XP for this.

Powers--

Mage Sight (Peripheral, Active, and Focused): She seems to be able to see something that others cannot. Magic itself, and her eyes seem especially attuned to distances and the spaces between things, as well as the minds of other people.

Mage Armor: Mind, Space

Mind 3, Space 2, Fate 2 (In Progress up from 1)

Spirit 1 (Will complete in two weeks)

Rotes--

Dividing the Mind (Mind 1): A rote to divide the mind in two, this means that it has extra reach to add to duration and so on, and that there is a two-dice Yantra that can be done to add to the power of the spell. Involves imagining the split in her mind to enact it.

Scholar's Little Helper (Mind 1): Scholarship is hard work, and it's often difficult to sift through a five-hundred page book on Astral adventures for the single passage on a threatening Goetic demon that's currently ripping the rest of the Cabal apart. Plus, cross-referencing other works can be difficult. Through this tiny little rote, the caster can input a word, phrase, or topic, mentally, and essentially search the book just by holding it up to the light, copying knowledge of what was said in those passages and the passage surround it into their brain without having to search. It does not grant perfect understanding, and sometimes the section requires context to make any sense, but it can save weeks on a big scholarship project. (Rote Mudra, Promising Student, +4) Reach: With each additional Reach, you can search an additional book in the same spell; You can absorb the entirety of the contents of the book, if not always parse its meaning, as if you read the entire book in the instants it took to cast the spell, cover to cover. It may take some hours of thinking and consideration to fully parse the contents, and of course at times understanding and applying it can be more difficult: but an entire book read in less than a second is still something.

Strengthen Mind (Mind 3): It does not, obviously, only effect the intellect, but any aspect of one's mind can be made sharper, as can one's social abilities. The key to doing this, or rather the Mystagogue form of it, involves closing one's eyes and pressing one's fingers against your forehead, as if trying to stimulate thought by motion. When you open your eyes, the spell should be cast. You cannot improve your mind or social abilities to superhuman levels (Rote Mudra: Promising Student, +4), Reach: You may divide the 'Potency' of the spell, eg: Potency 4, enhance Intelligence by 1, Wits by 2, and Resolve by 1; spend a point of Mana: temporarily, for as long as the spell lasts, Attributes can reach supernatural levels.

Scholar's Protection (Mind 3): Adapted from a famous Silver Ladder rote, this grants protection ot the humble scholar. They make a sign with their hands as if their hands are books, their palms pages, and then so long as they neither attack or order an attack, others struggle to gather up the will to attack them. If they do order an attack, or attack themselves, the spell automatically fails… but only for the target, and not any others. Automatons, or beings without thought are immune, but this potent spell makes it so that anyone with a Resolve less than their Mind +1 cannot bring themselves to attack. Those that can still feel hesitation, and it is as if the Mage has two points of Armor. Supernatural beings have an advantage: if they have a supernatural trait, they get +1 to the comparison of Resolve versus Mind, if it is equal to the Mage's, they get +2, and if it is greater, they get +3… even then, a weak-willed but powerful supernatural being might find themselves frozen in fear and doubt. (Rote Mudra: Promising Student, +4) Reach: Spend 1 Mana, the spell may now last for an entire day; You may spend Reach to increase the difficulty of overcoming the Protection, once; Attackers lose 10-again on rolls to attack someone, if that person has willpowered through the magic.

The Dedicated Will of the Just (Mind 3): A spell taught to her by her Uncle, it is in some ways an extension of previous spells. By touching the forehead and spreading one's fingers across it, yours or others, when someone grits their teeth and uses their will, they find it stretching out, like hitting a high note and holding it for longer than a single action, based on the power of the spell. (Rote Mudra, Preacher's Daughter +3) Reach: Willpower when spent can add +2 to all resistance traits; Willpower spent both increases one's ability to endure, and one's ability to 'act'; By spending a Mana, the caster can imagine the benediction and thus enact it in a single breath on themselves or any target, as fast as the speed of thought.

Determined Will (Mind 2): The Mystagogue must go through many hardships for knowledge. Whatever a materialist thinks, anyone experienced in Mind magic knows that willpower exists, and so by a series of invisible taps against either their own or--imagined--someone else's skull. By doing so the Mage can make sure that when they, or others, gather their will for a great task, as long as it isn't magic they will get a bonus to the will-enhanced roll (9-again.) (Rote Mudra: Preacher's Daughter, +3: Inspire others and inspire yourself), Reach: The bonus can be increased; the bonus might be able to be used even to enhance magic, strengthening the will that brings itself to bear in casting a spell.



The Bonds of Fate (Fate 1): It is one thing to look at someone and see them, it is another to be able to look at them and see the destinities, the curses, the broken oaths and more that mark their soul and their persons. Mystagogues imagine a cobweb of connections and strands of fate itself, and carefully reach out a finger to tap at the edges of the cobweb without breaking it, to see what creeps up. (Mudra: Can We Keep Him? (+1), the spider spins its web.) Reach: The Mage can know when someone is possessed, mind controlled, or otherwise has their destiny majorly influenced; the Mage can tell someone's Destiny and Doom, can know when the curse they're affected by will be lifted, or so on.

The Unusual Path (Fate 1) : Fate itself can sometimes intervene in small ways. Through this spell, a Mystagogue can state a goal and then receive omens, sometimes faint and contradictory, on how to begin working towards it… and can even allow them to match strength with strength: subtly twisting fate so that their talents are just the right ones needed to advance upon the goal. Miriam uses it to occasionally leverage her way through a tricky social situation. The Mudra involves tugging on strands and pulling them in with a flip of a hand, as if examining something. (Rote Mudra: Problem Solver, +1) Reach: Can substitute any skill needed while under the spell for another within the same category, e.g. the character's religious passion turns out to be just what it might take to convince the homeless person to tell you where the body is hid, instead of a skill involving the streets or crime; Can, if taken further, substitute any skill for any other skill: your athletic prowess intimidates the homeless man, your knowledge of petty trivia charms the high society lady you need to steal from.



] No Shackles For The Scholar (Space 2): A Mystagogue cannot be stopped merely by a locked door, or being chained up above a pit of sharks while a villain monologues about how the Secret of the Amazon will die with them. So by imagining their own escape, and circling around that thought a few times as fast as possible, they can affect it. Any one barrier: locked door, handcuffs, barred window, or so on is fine… though it cannot get one through a bouncer or through fire. It can also be cast on an object, such as if you want to push a macguffin through a locked door and then face the enemy yourself. (Rote Mudra: Breaker of Chains, +2), Reach: Can pass through even shackles or objects they could not move through, such as being chained up, or trapped in a coffin, or anything else; subject can squeeze through narrow gaps that they should not physically be able to make it through: you can in fact drive a car through an open front door half its width if you cast this spell on it.
Merits--

(**) 'Profession'--Student
1--Gain 9-again on any roll that can be justified as having to do with one's profession.
2--Gain two dots of Contacts related to one's 'profession.'
3--+1 to rolls against any mental, physical or social stress that might get in the way of performing one's profession.[1] This cannot create a positive bonus.

4--8-again on rolls.
5--One special bonus based on the nature of the 'profession.

[1] Okay, in this case, imagine the college student who is good enough at class that he can show up hungover and still get something out of class, or the athlete who can go out not feeling 100% and still actually manage not to fuck everything up forever, even if he's not putting in his best performance.

(***) Parents: It may seem absurd to say it, but having parents in the picture who can help solve moderate problems is a boon. Obviously the drawback is that if they get involved and it's over her head, it could end badly, and that more than that, they obviously are sure they know best, but asking Mom or Dad is totally an option available to her, and one that can enlist their aid and ask their advice.

(***) Contacts:

She has contacts with both People She Knows At Church, a broad group but in some ways self-selecting, and among those kids she knows around the neighborhood, as well as People At School. People are willing to talk to her, ask her advice, and that goes both ways, doesn't it? If she wants to ask around, she could certainly do worse than asking when she's at church, with someone inclined to see her well already.

Egregore--Mysteriorum Arche (•): In a teamwork spellcasting roll in which the character is participating, she does not suffer the –3 penalty to contribute without the necessary Arcanum rating, and adds an automatic success if a full participant. All members of the ritual team must possess this Merit.

(*)Language: Latin

She knows Latin, read and spoken.

(*) Order Status (Mysterium)

She has been initiated in the first mystery of the Mystagogues.

(*) High Speech

She can use High Speech as a Yantra in spellcasting, and knows enough to be (roughly) conversational outside of the very formal language of Spellcasting.

(*) Egregore

1) In a teamwork spell in which she participates, she doesn't take -3 to the roll if she couldn't cast the spell on her own, and if she can she adds an automatic success to her dice roll for the purpose of granting the ritual leader the bonus dice. However, everyone involved in the ritual must have this level of Egregore. This represents her connection to magic, and through it, others of the Order.

(*) Resources:

She has a little bit of spending money saved up. Not much at all, but it's something. And it's more than a lot of people have, and so she knows to be grateful for it.

(****) Destiny

Effect: Miriam does not yet know the specifics, but she is destined for greatness and yet also doomed in some way.

Currently at 4/4.

(***) Astral Adept: Can enter the Astral far easier, by paying just a WP and meditating.

(***) True Friend (Virginia)

Effect: Miriam has a true friend. True Friend represents a trusting relationship that cannot be easily breached. Unless Miriam really does something to deserve it (really, really) Virginia will not betray her, and I, the QM, has to go easy on her in terms of throwing her into danger. Slightly kid gloves with her, as part of an implicit contract, though that does not mean that Miriam's mistakes or actions might not involve her in deeper problems than she should be facing. And any roll, natural or supernatural, that has the purpose of influencing Virginia against Miriam takes a 5-dice penalty. Additionally, once per...let's say week, Miriam can regain a point of Willpower by having a meaningful/heartfelt/important interaction with Virginia.

Consilium Status (*): Consilium--Increasingly she is a known entity, someone whose existence is no secret at all and whose fame is even harder to deny.

Contacts: Vampires (1)--Her work with vampires means she has a greater awareness of where she can go to talk to them, especially once she thinks through what she saw.

Allies (1): Guardians of the Veil--In the aftermath of yet another Interview with a Vampire, she has been contacted by the Guardians of the Veil, who are curious and who are willing to trade curiosity for curiosity.

Trained Memory (1): She has trained her mind to be something like a steel trap, though perhaps rather more effective than that, all things considered: steel traps can rust, because outside of stressful moments she never needs to roll to remember anything… she just remembers, and without Magic at all.

Minor Elements:

--Having studied a Spirit Bestiary, Miriam is now more able to tell some common spirits apart, even without using magic, and can call up basic facts about said common spirits.
--Has the Memories of a vampire in her head, which can be examined/considered later.
 
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[X] Visit the FIVE, and there's definitely not a sixth, niece, no siree, Aeonic Palaces. Just to look at them from the outside, so that she knows where each is, so that in the future she can visit them without having to walk on the beach hunting for them. And to talk about the lore of each in more detail.

Yeah, I'll settle for the more general answer after considering things further, largely due to the sheer difference in knowledge and skill there is between an aeon and someone whose only relatively recently awakened.
 
[X] Visit the FIVE, and there's definitely not a sixth, niece, no siree, Aeonic Palaces. Just to look at them from the outside, so that she knows where each is, so that in the future she can visit them without having to walk on the beach hunting for them. And to talk about the lore of each in more detail.
 
[X] Visit the FIVE, and there's definitely not a sixth, niece, no siree, Aeonic Palaces. Just to look at them from the outside, so that she knows where each is, so that in the future she can visit them without having to walk on the beach hunting for them. And to talk about the lore of each in more detail.

I may switch to one of the Palaces later, but that's a bit risky.
 
Page 48: The Journey... concluded
Page 48: The Journey to the Outer Reaches of the Universe, Finale

First, Miriam is told, they have to reach the shore. The first time you cannot skip a step. The first time you must journey from place to place, and at the end of it, you are tired but you have seen something.

She believed it, because she was already fascinated, already running up question after question. And the amazing thing was that, unlike the simple questions that she'd asked, she knew that nobody had all the answers.

When she asked some basic question about the Arcana, she was simply stepping in the path of everyone else. That was a worthy endeavor, of course, because one stands on the shoulder of giants, and if one wishes to journey further towards knowledge, you had to do it by first retracing the steps others have made, to know what errors have happened.

There were new things under the sun, or at least, things that had not been discovered by the grace of God yet, but would in the fullness of time. But this?

"The Aeons are… there are a lot of things you could say about the Aeons," Jack said as he walked. "They have five palaces--"

"Six," Coniunctio corrected.

"Five palaces," Jack said, "And there are nine of them, for Dahhak is both at the same time, a dragon and a man. And you could say that some claim to be figures of myth and legend, while others don't. But that ignores the fact that many of them are liars, proven liars, and that their powers are great enough that there are rumors that even the strongest of Mages cannot do half of what they can do with ease. Yet they are trapped, or so the story goes. But why? Is it symbolic? Metaphoric?" Jack shrugged. "I'm not the type of person to speculate on these things, though Coniunctio is even less interested in the Aeons than me."

"If they're the Watchtowers," Miriam said, as they journeyed along. The wind felt odd on her skin. Muted because of the armor in the form of catcher's gear that she was wearing, but it still felt warm against her skin.

Almost welcoming, but she trusted Jack that it was a bad idea to let it in.

"And if they're not?" Jack shrugged. "They're powerful and clearly tied to something like the Watchtowers, but for all we know, they're just gods."

"Just gods?" Miriam asked, narrowing her eyes as they drew closer and closer to the shore. It was even stranger when one was closer, because the tide barely came in and out at all. It was like a body of still, dead water, but then as she watched it suddenly washed almost two feet, and then pulled back almost four. And then just stayed there, as if it were luring someone out.

Laying down on the ground when she reached the beach was a small cube covered in dark material.

"No. Absolutely not," Jack said.

Miriam didn't need to be told, and she frowned. She wasn't dumb. She knew not to go after something like that. The ocean freaked her out. Just looking at it made her feel as if she was on her way to a fever, and every step closer to it made her hear it more and more. The ocean, but the ocean as imagined by something wrong.

It was too silent, and yet, in her head, she heard something loud. Like the crashing of waves in a seashell, or what a friend of hers had said it was like. She had always wondered whether he was full of it, because of course he was, sometimes. It was just Josiah's nature, and Miriam knew not to be too troubled by it, considering how much Jack had seemed like him sometimes. Though this new, serious side of her Uncle as definitely gratifying, in a way.

Miriam liked responsibility, after all, and simply hadn't expected it from her Uncle. But as it turned out, he was doing plenty of important work, just in an area that she didn't know about.

"I know. Though… what is it?"

Jack looked at Coniunctio. Coniunctio looked at Jack. She couldn't read either of their expressions, exactly.

"It's called the riddle box, and I've heard a little about it from Aerie. Apparently the Mysterium discovered them in the last few years. The box holds an Abyssal entity of some kind, that harms the mind of the person who opens the box, and infects them with its particular brand of madness. Some sort of solipsism," Jack said.

Miriam nodded. It was a type of thought she'd heard of before. Arrogant to an extremity that she could not even begin to imagine.

They were fools, and if a mere object could.. it was hard to imagine, but she shuddered as they walked past it. The wind didn't burn as she walked along the beach. Instead, it was as if her own thoughts were being stretched out and worn down.

Perhaps it was exactly that. This was not human, and yet she was human. If it tore or burned her away, she wouldn't be human. As she walked along, she looked for the first palace, and it took a while for her to actually see it.

It was huge, towering almost beyond her view, large enough to hold a half-dozen buildings. It was a flower, or so it looked like, with huge spiny petals coming off from it on all sides. It was gleaming iron, and it seemed smaller and smaller as she stepped closer. By the time they stood right in front of it, close enough that their voices echoed and close enough that she could see that one of the petals half-extended to the ground, and that if one walked up it, one would come at last to a door, it was merely the size of two mansions.

That was to say, it was larger than any building Miriam had ever seen in real life, except a skyscraper. But it was no mountain.

"This is the home of Dahhak," Jack said, "Aeon of Space and Mind. Dahhak tells stories that say he was a prince of Atlantis. Though stories have said he's claimed different things at times. He's arrogant and vain, the kind of Mastigos who has seen far too much of humanity without appreciating it." Jack shook his head, adjusting his armor. "He's the Mastigos who thinks that the secrets and the minds of others are just dumb playthings for him. He treats people with contempt and enjoys breaking them, and yet, he does make deals. He likes to watch people struggle and squirm."

"Those who study the Aeons sometimes think that he is the best proof," Coniunctio said, "that they were once human, as some of them claim. Or at least, that they weren't simply avatars of the Watchtowers. Yes, he resembles a certain view of our Path, but far from the only one, and his evils are all so very human. There are no great demons in his mind that he conquers. He is almost simple in his human contempt." Coniunctio shrugged. "There are those Mastigos who set store by him, and endure his slings and arrows."

Miriam nodded. "I… do not know whether I would want to meet him."

"That is a good thing to think," Jack said. "Because I'm not sure if I'd want you to meet him either."

The winds were less powerful here, and so they took the time to walk around the structure, and she memorized it.

"Now, when you leave the Anima Mundi, imagine this place," Jack said. "And you will arrive. It is the same with all of the others."

Miriam nodded.

******

Next came the Fallen Tree. "Arcadia tells of fate," Jack said, "though also of the ravages of time, and the strange fae things that attach to fate in human imagination. Mordred is one of the Aeons, which seems further proof that the Aeons were human… except that we have stories of an Aeon of Fate that was the Furies, so perhaps they merely reflect humanity? They merely reflect the way humans view Fate? The Temenos writ universal?"

Miriam was and wasn't listening. Wasn't, because there was a giant tree in front of her, covered in fungus, stretching so high that there were clouds of every possibly color at the peak. She could see the entrance, an archway of sorts, like crawling down into a root under the thing, but it was so close to the Ocean itself that Miriam felt as if it'd be almost dangerous to step in to the entrance.

Part of the tree, which stretched and leaned like the Tower at Pisa, was all the way in the ocean, and yet seemingly untouched.

"Nobody can touch the Abyss and survive. And yet it sinks in the ocean," Coniunctio said, "and yet is not consumed."

There were strange forms, dark and shadowy, which skittered around the base. Humans, maybe, though she couldn't be sure. She almost wanted to get closer to see.

"If you want to look, then look," Jack said. "Miriam, you are a Mage."

Miriam frowned and considered it. But she couldn't think of how she could see closer with her magic, or how it could work, and so she just shook her head. "So this is the Arcadian Palace?"

"Yes. There are less pleasant Aeons than they," Coniunctio admitted. "Though also more."

*****

"Like these. Though people say that it might be because they are also the most inhuman. Because they are so, they aren't inhumane. They're hard to understand, and liable to ignore you, but ignoring you, many Mages feel, is better than the insults and games that some of them play," Coniunctio said, gesturing to what seemed like a clump of trees, and nothing more. "Though some are put off by that very same inhumanity. Neither of them even pretend to have been human or anything other than what they are now, and they teach or do not based on whims and decisions that can't be understood easily."

"They visit Mages in their dreams, sometimes, and teach them lessons on the nature of spirits. But nobody knows why one person and not the other," Jack said. "All of the Aeons are strange, but these two are certainly the ones that I can understand the least."

"A Thyrsus could tell you more," Coniunctio said, and Miriam nodded, deciding that this might be an interesting place to go to, then.

So many things to do, and so little time.

********

"A hut, a jeweled pavilion," Jack muttered, with a shrug.

"What the heck," Miriam said.

There was a huge door far ahead, with High Speech on it that she couldn't quite make out. The door was half gold, and half… she wasn't sure. Something dull and plain, as far as metals go. But it wasn't the door she looked at. Instead, it was the stairs leading to the door, and how it was placed as if it were the mouth of the figure that made up this mansion, this… place.

It was the mouth of a giant, curled up as if it were but a baby in the wound, its mouth squalling open to let in visitors.

"A… are giants real?"

"They might have been. Then again, so might dragons," Jack said with a shrug. Then he gave a playful look, "the things that existed one day came to non-existence. It's inevitable, really, and that's the lesson of this place. The costs are inevitable, the price is always what you cannot afford, and all things that are physical die. I have never been in here, and it is said that Echidna is always willing to talk on small matters, but that she measures and values all things exactly."

"Exactly?" Miriam asked.

"Alchemical skill and material wealth must be paid for by the same. Many a Mage has sold his fortune in the world of the living, so that in the dream he might know the true secrets of alchemy," Coniunctio said.

"More fools them," Jack said. "Again, a Moros might disagree. One always gets along a little better with one's Path Aeon, in theory. Unless one is a Mastigos talking to Dahhak."

"Yes, yes," Coniunctio said. "I have heard the story."

"...I haven't," Miriam said, her eyes lighting up.

"It's not much of a story. He knows a person's flaws and delights in highlighting them and mocking them, even though by all accounts he is a man without virtue. Proud and gluttonous and envious and greedy." Jack shrugged. "If you want to know all of my sins, then I'll tell them to you." Jack smiled, "But I value your opinion almost as much as I value my Legacy."

Miriam blinked. "Hmm?" Did he really think she'd think less of him? Especially since she'd seen the indulgence, she knew that he engaged in premarital sex and drinking, both of which were of course bad things, but were hardly unique evils, and every man and woman was born tainted by sin and imperfection, and lived their lives far from without fault.

"You think that, but you think many things. There's still one more place to go, and we must hurry. You're starting to look warm."

*******

By the time they reached the temple, Miriam was both tired and a little dulled. Her mind felt stretched and strange, but even that couldn't eliminate her capacity for wonder, which had been so tugged at. There were so many things that she wanted to ask, and yet from what they told her, there were not simple answers.

"What can Aeons give you?" Jack asked. "They cannot tell you if God exists as you imagine Him. You should not look here or anywhere for easy answers."

It was huge, and strange. The pillars reminded her of greek architecture, and yet the top seemed almost like a minaret, and there were huge stainglass workings that seemed to be of Christian scenes. It was a confusion mess, and entirely quiet, dead as if nobody had ever stepped foot in there.

The doors were wide open, welcoming all who might enter, and the building so towered that she had no idea what would be in there.

"But in each of their Arcana, they are masters, though they hesitate to teach too many people too much. But you can find a way to undo any spell, learn any Rote, or enhance any Arcana for the length of a single spell. This can allow humans to touch levels that only rumored beings can," Jack said, "but it always comes with a price. Just as with many creatures in the Anima Mundi, you take with them a little of their power. You can feel it sometimes, and an Aeon's Auctoritas Arcanum wears on your mind with each second you hold it."[1]

"Ah. That sounds powerful," Miriam said, though she couldn't be sure.

"Powerful, and costly," Coniunctio said. "Though sometimes they ask you to do what you would already do. It depends. The Aeons here demand different things. Azazel asks for service, for good rendered to what causes he chooses, which can be odd and contradictory. I'm not sure about Lilith."

"She teaches you and tempts you, and is the most likely of the two, or perhaps of all of the Aeons, to take on a student. She tempts them, she promises them great things and yet holds them back so that they might stretch out their will," Jack said. "It is as much a matter of metaphysics as it is her nature."

Miriam frowned, not quite sure what he meant, until she thought about Jewish mythology. "Oh."

"It is not necessary, as a way for her to teach. But it is one she's used before."

Oh.

Well.

Now that was strange.

Miriam nodded to herself.

******

The journey back was quiet. They didn't have to go through another Ordeal, they just walked through what seemed almost the ghost of what they had gone through. They stepped through a deserted wasteland, and then, when the time came, walked across the empty Garden, as if they were not even there. On and down they went, and the whole time, Jack and Coniunctio were careful and solicitous. Certainly, Miriam was a little sore and roughed up, though it didn't hurt, oddly enough.

But mostly, she was relaxed. She'd traveled a long time, and a long way. Subjectively, she thought, it felt like she had spent the better part of a day out there, because the walk from one Palace to another lasted miles and miles, and at a speed that wasn't exactly a sprint.

Yet all of that together took far less than a minute, nothing compared to the time to get there, and the time to return.

She slipped through the cracks and walked with the other Mages, and when she at least reached her own Oneiros, she took a deep breath and saw Curiosity peeking at her, and felt Faith around her. She knew that she was going to come back, and for more reason than one.

Jack left. Coniunctio left. And that left just her and her thoughts. And what thoughts she had. But she also knew that if she stayed too long here, it'd be past the time when her Mom would want to wake her up, and what would she think if she discovered Miriam kneeling on the bed, eyes closed.

So Miriam, with a blink, woke up.

Her arms felt heavy, and stiff, and she felt like she'd gotten a few muscle cramps, but when she checked a nearby clock, it was only around five. She stretched for a moment, and then realized she needed to use the restroom and hurried downstairs pell-mell.

A few minutes later she stepped from it, thinking that there was a lesson. She had to be careful of how long she spent in the dream world, because her body's processes would be functioning the whole time, unless she somehow used magic to suspend them.

That meant she should use the restroom before she entered her dreams if she thought it'd take hours, and perhaps fasting would be useful in some cases. Of course, if a dream voyage extended across days, then thirst and hunger would both be problems.

Problems that paled in comparison to the fact that she lived with her parents, of course, and couldn't simply disappear into her dreams for a few days.

Still, she had been somewhere. She had come back. It meant something.

[1] You lose one point of Willpower per instance of it, as long as you hold it back. This point is 'occupied' by the Arcanum, and thus, while it's unlikely you'd ever reach close to it, you cannot fill all of your dots so that you have negative willpower.

*****
Choose up to two! Please put…
[] [Number] One.
[] [Number] Two

With your vote. Why might you only choose one? Because two interests means split focus and more and more to do, and maybe you feel she's going to be busy with other things!

[] [Curiosity] She wants to see what is beyond earth at some point. If this is the dream of the cosmos, then is there mars? Is there Jupiter?
[] [Curiosity] What's this about a sixth Palace?
[] [Curiosity] She wants to visit one of the palaces of the Aeons. Which one? Well, any of them will do, right?
[] [Curiosity] Coniunctio's mind could be interesting, if it's as strange as he seemed to hint.
[] [Curiosity] She hasn't yet seen the Swath.
[] [Faith] She wants to visit the Temple of the Aeon of Prime and Force at some point.
[] [Faith] She wishes to explore the Spire, and see just what and who can be found there. If it is made by man, what does that mean?
[] [Faith] She is a Mastigos, so even if she might not like him, she might want to meet Dahhak.
[] [Faith] He is lonely, and Anant should be visited. It is her duty, both as someone who made a promise, and someone who has a Christian duty of sorts.
[] Write-in. Must associate it with her Virtue or Vice in some way.

You can also, as always, vote or anti-vote for any XP stuff.

*******

First time Omphalos and Trial: 1/5th Arcane XP
First time Spire: 1/5th Arcane.
First time Anima: 1/5th Arcane.
The Ordeal to the Wastes: 1/5th XP
Visiting the Wastes: 1/5th Arcane.
Visiting the 5 palaces: 1/5th Arcane.
There and Back Again: 1/5th XP

Note, for all of this, you'll never get XP just for showing up for any of these examples again. So enjoy the bounty. Feel free to ask what is and isn't unlocked.


Walk to the Beach, Miriam: 4 dice=1 sux-1 armor=1 Bashing
Walk to #1: 1
Walk to #2: 1
Walk to #3: 0
Walk to #4: 2
Walk to #5: 2 sux

Thinking: 4+1+3 (WP)= 6 sux
Talking: 3=3 sux
Think: 4+1=5=0 sux

WP: 2/6

A/N: And thus we end the Astral Journey.
 
[X] [Number] Two

[X] [Faith] He is lonely, and Anant should be visited. It is her duty, both as someone who made a promise, and someone who has a Christian duty of sorts.
[X] [Curiosity] What's this about a sixth Palace?

I went for 2 choices because I believe Anant should be automatically locked in given Miriam made a promise given her nature, the potential benefits of just trying to help him and the challenge that entails, and because someone who is likely incredibly skilled at both life and spirit is valuable to know.

Thus it comes to the second choice. There are loads here I'd want to do honestly, but I'm not too sure when the right time for Miriam to choose them is. Given the Anant one is linked to our faith, I decided to go with Curiosity then and for completion sake learn about the sixth Palace given the nature of paradox/abyss is fundamental to a mage.

I'd be fine with most of the options winning though.
 
[X] [Number] Two

[X] [Faith] He is lonely, and Anant should be visited. It is her duty, both as someone who made a promise, and someone who has a Christian duty of sorts.
[X] [Curiosity] What's this about a sixth Palace?
 
[X] [Number] One

[X] [Faith] He is lonely, and Anant should be visited. It is her duty, both as someone who made a promise, and someone who has a Christian duty of sorts.
 
[X] [Number] One.
[X] [Faith] He is lonely, and Anant should be visited. It is her duty, both as someone who made a promise, and someone who has a Christian duty of sorts.
[X] [XP] Save XP

Saving up. Almost to an Mind 3
 
Though you still don't qualify for it. I mean, narratively and all, so you should think about how you could do so.
Probably just via exploring the astral more, given there's a great deal of mention within the third dot of mind? I believe a couple of Jack's friends have mentioned Goetic magic too so that's another avenue.

A Disciple of Mind may gain control of the actions of most creatures, though mammals, cetaceans, and cephalopods are still beyond one's control. One may alter the aura of another, speak directly into people's minds, and speaks any language one encounters. One may regulate one's own sleep patterns (controlling one's own dreams in the process) and raise one's Mental or Social Attributes. The minds of others may be manipulated to allow the mage to appear as someone one isn't. One gains the ability to perform multiple mental tasks at once (but not spell casting) and even creates impulses that overload a target's neurons, causing bodily harm as muscles spasm and nerves fray. Though it takes no mastery of Mind to enter Astral Space, a mage at this level gains several useful powers with which to influence these realms. One may call allies in the Astral Realms into one's Oneiros, pay the Mana cost required to enter the realms for another, or seal one's Oneiros off from intruders. One's powers may also be used to gather scattered groups within Astral Space, or disrupt the concentration of others, making actions requiring focus more difficult. At this level, a mage can learn the beginning of Goetic magic, allowing one to attempt overcoming one's Vice and gaining the additional conviction normally acquired by indulging it.
 
[X] [Number] One
[X] [Curiosity] Coniunctio's mind could be interesting, if it's as strange as he seemed to hint.

Tell us your secrets, Armorman.
 
[X] [Number] One.

[X] [Faith] He is lonely, and Anant should be visited. It is her duty, both as someone who made a promise, and someone who has a Christian duty of sorts.
 
You are ignoring content by this member.
[X] [Number] One

[X] [Faith] He is lonely, and Anant should be visited. It is her duty, both as someone who made a promise, and someone who has a Christian duty of sorts.

We've got the rest of a hopefully long life to explore the dreamworld, but we've only got a month to do this job.
 
[X] [Number] One

[X] [Faith] He is lonely, and Anant should be visited. It is her duty, both as someone who made a promise, andsomeone who has a Christian duty of sorts.
 
[X] [Number] Two

[X] [Faith] He is lonely, and Anant should be visited. It is her duty, both as someone who made a promise, and someone who has a Christian duty of sorts.
[X] [Curiosity] Coniunctio's mind could be interesting, if it's as strange as he seemed to hint.
 
Vote closed! I'll be listing the winner on your Sheet as some kind of Aspiration/etc, and it'll get added weight for votes to fulfill it.
Adhoc vote count started by The Laurent on Jul 29, 2017 at 9:58 AM, finished with 18 posts and 9 votes.

Adhoc vote count started by The Laurent on Jul 29, 2017 at 9:58 AM, finished with 18 posts and 9 votes.
 
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