From: Alistair J. R. Young <avatar+use...@ar ane.demon.co.

u > Subject: Re: Alternate Sphere Arrangements (version 3) [long] Date: 1997/09/26 Message-ID: <c1.2b6.2Hj6JS$13F@esther.ar ane.net> X-Deja-AN: 275827160 X-Headers: Yes, I now I have a lot. X-NNTP-Posting-Host: ar ane.demon.co.u [158.152.145.208] Sender: avatar+use...@esther.ar ane.net X-Disclaimer: The opinions below ARE my company's, because I OWN it! References: <341950C5.822DA600@ti.com> <19970913165201.MAA19899@ladder02.news.ao l.com> <c1.2b6.2HYppY$11q@esther.ar ane.net> <341D6C2B.48307B9E@ti.com> Mail-Copies-To: Astarial Cyprium-ac-Claves <astar...@ar ane.demon.co.u > X-Archive: If you don't want it to be public, don't post it to Usenet. X-License-URL: http://www.ar ane.demon.co.u /avatar/postcopy.html X-License: For licensing information and permissions, please see: Organization: Ar ane Systems Ltd. X-Cabal: Novus Ordo Saeclorum X-URL: http://www.ar ane.demon.co.u /avatar/ X-Attribution: BOFH Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.storyteller,alt.games.whitewolf X-Copyright: This article is copyright (c) 1997 by Alistair Young. THE TWELVE SPHERES ================== Summary ------Levels: 1,2,3,4,5,6 "Spheres" Forces Life Matter \ / Reference Pattern \ : \ : - The Physical : : : / : \ Prime Fate Entropy Avatar Mind Spirit \ / \ / Being The Cycle / \ : : : - The Ethereal : : : / / Apotheosis 7,8 "Facets" 9 "Aspects" 10

Correspondence \ Time Umbra /

Sphere Levels 1-6 ================= Avatar -----1 Sense Avatar

Spea with Avatar

Create Epiphany / Brief Awa ening / Soul Lin Call Avatar / Bind Avatar Force Awa ening / Reweave Avatar / Unma e Avatar Cleanse Avatar / Fragment Avatar / Unite Avatar

4 5

(Effects Explained: 1: Sense Avatar: At this level the mage is able to sense the presence of the Avatars of others around him and whether they are sleeping or Awa ened; the strength of these Avatars, and the level at which they shape reality (Avatar rating and Arete, approx.). He is also able to sense the symbolic form of the Avatar (the form in which it manifests itself to its mage) - studying this can give clues to the Avatar's Essence, the mage's Nature, and for example, whether the mage is Marauder or widderslainte.

3:

Create Epiphany: This effect allows the mage temporarily to impose his state of greater enlightenment onto another mage of lesser achievement. Using it, it is possible for him to temporarily increase the Arete of another mage by 1 (but *never* above his own Arete). Brief Awa ening: This, in theory, allows the mage to Awa en the Avatar of anyone. In practice, however, this only permits Awa enings of very limited duration - most Sleepers are quite heavy Sleepers, and so cease to be Awa ened in fairly short order. In practice only long-term and very convinced Acolytes have any hope of achieving permanent Awa ening by this method. A significant number of people possessing previously fragile minds simply snap under the stress of this artificial epiphany; caution is advised to avoid producing insane mages. In general, a degree of mental flexibility and open-mindedness help cope successfully with this. Soul Lin : This effect enables the mage to create and to brea lin s between Avatars, similar to those covered by the "Twin Souls" or "Avatar Companion" merits. It is possible that use of it could prevent the Avatars of Marauders from communicating with each other, and so brea up

2:

Spea With Avatar The mage can spea of other mages.

freely with his Avatar, or with the Avatars

the strange coordination seen in so many Marauder attac s. 4: Call Avatar: Bind Avatar: This level enables the mage to summon and bind the Avatar of another mage after the manner of a spirit. Or, just as usefully, bind an Avatar-fragment created by the level 6 Sphere. Note that a mage cannot perform magic when her Avatar is not with her; however, the externalised Avatar can use its power itself. Avatars that are bound into objects can be used in the manner of fetishes.

The less focused a person's belief in her paradigm is, the more successes are required to Awa en her. Reweave Avatar: With sufficient successes, the mage can alter the Essence, Nature, etc. of another's avatar, create Spheres Inept, awa en Past Lives, and so forth. (The Nephandic rebirth is Qlippothic Avatar 5. Rumours that the NWO use similar effects to reshape their captives in Mecha into the Pattern essence are totally without foundation. Really.) Unma e Avatar: This level of the Avatar sphere is necessary to enable a mage to perform Gilgul. Some also argue that this is necessary in order to destroy a Celestine or higher-order spirit... 6: Cleanse Avatar: This allows a mage to cleanse an Avatar of distortions it has pic ed up in its incarnations - Spheres Inept, strong Past Lives, Echoes, and so forth. Perhaps, even, with enough successes it would be possible to undo the Nephandic Rebirth, and cleanse the Avatar of a widderslainte or barabbi. (Of course, in the case of a barabbi they would still be the same person who became Nephandus in the first place, but some Euthanatos might consider it an appropriate prelude to the Good Death.) Fragment Avatar: Now the mage can divide her Avatar (or another's) into two, creating a smaller Avatar that is Awa ened and has some use of her magical ability (but not her memories). The one created has the same Essence and Nature as the 'parent' mage. (System: Ic . Say the shard created can have Arete and Avatar ratings up to half those of the parent mage, rounding down. The Arete and Avatar given to the shard are deducted immediately from those of the parent mage, with all normal effects of losing either.)

5:

Force Awa ening The effects of this are very similar to those of Avatar 3, Brief Awa ening, save that the resultant Awa ening is permanent. Similar caution is required to avoid the production of insane mages.

This can be useful - remember, a mind or AI created with the Mind sphere has no soul and certainly cannot be Awa ened. This allows a mage to get around this problem - at the cost of wea ening his own Avatar. Of course, the shard-Avatar can be bound into more or less anything, just as a spirit can. But even an ensouled and Awa e boulder is still a boulder, and unli ely to do much. If not bound into something it is just a free-roaming spirit that can be manipulated with Spirit as well as Avatar magics. The effect of this is identical to the relation between spirits and their broods - by doing it, you create a Gaffling, or even a Jaggling, of _you_. (Mages with power enough to spare to create their own Incarna are probably indistinguishable from Umbrood anyway. Mages who thin they can create Celestines have lost it totally.) Unite Avatar: This effect is the precise opposite of Fragment Avatar - it allows the mage to merge two Avatars together, one of which may be her own. (System: The Avatar rating of the gestalt is that of the two Avatars involved added together; the Arete is the higher of the two + 1. Unless the Avatars involved are such as the shattered shards of an Avatar left by the Embrace or a shard previously removed from another, the mergence will have some of the nastier side-effects of vampiric diablerie - namely, the whole will contain elements of both previous parts. [This is mainly for when it is used on the Avatars of living mages highest willpower controls the gestalt, the other exists as a subpersonality, 'voice in his head', whatever and may challenge for control when the main is low on willpower; if the willpowers are close, you have a split personality.]) Some factions of the Celestial Chorus say that this effect is a wonderful thing, and the means eventually to reunite the scattered Avatars of mages once again into the Pure Ones, and finally into the One. Most others say that this effect is considerably less wonderful than that, and quite possibly evil in nature (despite its not being Qlippothic) - no more than the magely equivalent of Diablerie. Nonetheless, most agree that it can be useful for reconstructing the shattered Avatars of those who have undergone Gilgul or the vampiric Embrace... or even creating a single strong avatar from the chipped-off shards of those of a number of mages. [RES from the bac of the Digital Web supplement, perhaps?] Mages who thin they can merge an Incarna or Celestine into themselves in this way have, again, lost it totally. A harsh lesson in who gets to be dominant soon follows.) Correspondence

-------------1 Immediate Spatial Perceptions 2 Sense Space / Touch Space 3 Shift Through Space / Seal Gate / Co-locality Perception 4 Conjoin Localities / Distort Space / Co-locate Self 5 Mutate Localities / Co-location 6 Alter Dimensionality

(Pierce Space) (Rend Space)

(Almost identical to Correspondence in Mage 2nd - Pierce Space renamed to Shift Through Space and Rend Space to Conjoin Localities, as they were called in 1st, and Distort Space added to Corr 4 to allow for the Bubble of Reality Corr 4 rote.) (Effects Explained: 6: Alter Dimensionality: This enables the mage to play with the dimensional characteristics of a given area of space - an ordinary room with three spatial dimensions could be made four- or fivedimensional, or compressed down to two dimensions. Wonderful for mazes. Using conjunctional effects with Matter and Life, objects can be affected - spheres made into hyperspheres or collapsed into circles, people made two-dimensional, etc...) Entropy ------1 Sense Strengths & Wea nesses / Sense Order & Disorder 2 Control Randomness in Closed Systems 3 Diffuse Energy/Contain Energy / Decay Matter/Preserve Matter / Control Randomness in Open Systems 4 Wither Life/Preserve Life / Control Randomness in Organisational Systems 5 Decay Thought/Preserve Thought / Reverse Entropy 6 Chaos Theory (Entropy 1, Sense Strengths & Wea nesses, is similar to Entropy 1 in Mage 2nd - but it only contains those elements concerned with probability and decay. It will allow you to discern the wea nesses of objects or the most disorganised parts of systems, but it would not permit you to determine "what is significant and what is not, and what is true or untrue", which are the purview of Fate 1. Sense Order and Disorder allos the mage to sense the amount of disorder in a system, and to see which parts of the system are the most ordered and which are the most disordered. Entropy 2, Control Randomness in Closed Systems, is basically identical to 'Control Probability' in Mage 2nd or 'Control Randomness' in Mage 1st, save that it only affects Closed Systems.

The decay portions of Entropy 3, 4 and 5 are basically identical to the the effects given in in Mage 1st, with the exception that the effects bloc ing entropy are also possible - "Li e Cloc wor ", for example. The randomness/chaos portion of the sphere is given below. Entropy 3 is similar to Entropy 2, save that it affects Open Systems. Entropy 4 is (as you probably guessed) similar to Entropy 2 and 3, save that it affects Organisational Systems. The definitions of the various types of systems are given below. Entropy 5 also permits the mage to reverse entropy - effectively 'rewinding' an event through time [although time still passes in the normal way.] With this, the mage could cause the in in in y water to return into a drop of in , a cloud of smo e to diffuse bac into the smo e grenade, and so forth. It causes disorder to evolve bac into order, contrary to the normal state of existence.) For examples, reverse the examples given under Fate 3, 4 and 5 below, or see the Mage 1st Entropy 3, 4, and 5 which cover them quite well. Entropy 6 gives the mage control over systems containing /billions/ of variables - a good example of this is the infamous Butterfly Effect. In Chaos Theory, the final outcome of an event can be radically changed by the slightest alteration of its starting conditions. At this level, the mage is actually aware of precisely what must be done to guide the system into the desired outcome. This allows him, for example, to control the weather or affect events in the future by modifying their starting conditions. Different Types of Systems -------------------------A Closed System is one in which there is a definite, finite probability of an event occurring, as a result of the isolation of the system from external influences. Tossing a coin creates one of the most basic Closed Systems - there is a one in two chance that the coin will land heads or tails. Other examples include the shuffling of a pac of cards, and a game of Russian Roulette - in the latter, there is a one in six chance that the firing chamber of the revolver will contain the bullet (which the Mage can affect). An Open System is one where probability is being continually affected by variable outside influences - however, the mage cannot affect the chance of a specific event occurring. Instead, he can flood a system with chaos (or reduce its effect in a system), ma ing it generally more or less random in its operation. The mage has little control over exactly how this randomness will manifest itself. For example, a mage being chased over an unstable wooden bridge can use Entropy to affect the Open System that is the chance of the bridge collapsing. By manipulating the probabilities of this happening, the mage can cause the bridge to collapse just when the people chasing him are about halfway across. An Organisation is a peculiar system in that it combines elements of both Closed and Open Systems. An 'Organisation' is here defined as a collection of individual components that interact in a complex manner - thus Bureaucracies and even Society are Organisations. They are

meta-organisms, comprising many individual entities (sometimes millions). In all Organisations, there is a rigid framewor in which it operates - the hierarchy of employees, the daily routine, etc. which ma es it a Closed System. However, anything can happen within that framewor as the organisation interacts with the outside world employees can arrive late or call in sich, rival companies can put in a ta e-over bid, a new contract can be signed, wars can start and so on - which ma es it a in to an Open System. As such, Organisations are more difficult to magically affect, but once a mage has a foothold, the rewards and the possibilities are endless. How The Sphere Affects Them --------------------------Closed Systems If disorder was increased in a system where two dice were rolled thousands of times, it is possible that no consecutive roll will be the same. Similarly, if a pac of playing cards (arranged in order of suit and number) was ta en and shuffled once, it would appear as if it had been shuffled hundreds of times. If disorder was decreased in the systems described above, rolling the two dice would always resulted in the same number, even if rolled several thousand times. In the pac of cards example, the dec could be shuffled a thousand times but there would still be only one or two cards displaced if the disorder was decreased. Open Systems

Decreasing disorder in a machine would ma e it wor more efficiently and more predictably -- circuit brea ers trip when they should, bac -doors into computer systems become inaccessible, phone exchanges route their calls to the correct destinations, and so on. Organisational Systems Increasing disorder in (for example) a busy restaurant could result in tables never being served by waiters, coo s calling in sic on busy days, health inspectors arriving, customers complaining, waiters tripping up while carrying food etc. Decreasing disorder may result in tables always being served as soon as they are ta en by customers, employees calling in on time, and everything generally running li e cloc wor . (Now with some additions from Constantine Thomas's <c.thom...@lancaster.ac.u > Chaos sphere...) Fate ---1 2

Sense Fate & Fortune / Detect Lin Augury / Concealment / Examine Web

Increasing disorder in an Open system (such as the machine) could result in computer crashes, circuit for no reason (while others fail to trip when they power surges), corruption of computer data, and so

operation of a brea ers tripping should causing on.

3 4 5 6

Affect Predictable Patterns / Speed/Slow Destiny Affect Life Affect Thought / Geas/Ban ???

(Fate 1, Sense Fate & Fortune, is similar to Entropy 1 in Mage 2nd but it only contains those elements concerned with the current of Destiny. Fate 1 will allow you to sense "what is significant and what is not, and what is true or untrue", but it will *not* allow you to discern "strengths and wea nesses", which are the purview of Entropy 1. Detect Lin enables the mage to find the connections between things. For example, a cuddly toy is connected to a particular child, or a pac et of drugs is connected to both a local dealer (the supplier) and a street rat (the buyer). Note that this does not allow the mage to determine *how* the things are connected; it only allows him to sense the connection itself. Successes 1 2 3 4 5

Fate 2, Augury allows you to sense an object or person's destiny more specifically than the general sense. Unli e Time 2, this is not *sight* of the possible future, merely an indication of the direction the force of destiny is pushing in. Concealment allows the mage to ward someone against either the detection of their destiny - or even if they have one at all -, or the connections that they have with others. It is common for powerful mages to use this to avoid being lin ed with their plots. (If a mage uses it on himself, lin s between him and an object are concealed not only when he is analysed with Fate 1/2 but also when the object is.) Examine Web allows the mage to examine the target in a more specific way - this could example, to discover the possible outcomes possible influences on an individual... Of miss connections by being too specific, or information if he isn't specific enough.

web of connections about a allow the mage, for of an event, or the course, the mage may easily be overwhelmed by useless

Fate 3, 4 and 5 are similar to Entropy 3, 4, and 5 in Mage 2nd, but again containing those elements concerned with Fate and Destiny as opposed to those concerned with probability and decay. For example, Fate 3 could be used to curse or bless an object, such as the example given of a blessed loc et which would ta e a bullet intended for its wearer, but could *not* cause a new television set to blow a fuse or an old car continue to run after it should have fallen apart; similarly Fate 4 could bless or curse a living being or his line, but could not be used to wither someone. Fate 3, Speed/Slow Destiny, allows the mage to direct the forces of destiny toward or away from the target. While the actual flow of time

Effect Sense connection Sense connection Sense connection Sense connection Sense connection

to to to to to

mage only. those mage nows. object. total stranger. concept.

does not alter, destined events in the target's future may be brought to occur sooner or later than they otherwise would have. Fate 5, Geas/Ban added just to clarify what Fate 5 can be particularly useful for...) (Now with some additions from Constantine Thomas's <c.thom...@lancaster.ac.u > Information sphere...) Forces -----1 Perceive Forces 2 Control Minor Forces 3 Transmute Minor Forces / Spawn Minor Forces 4 Control Major Forces 5 Transmute Major Forces / Spawn Major Forces 6 Wide-Area Forces / Create Forces (Almost identical to Forces in Mage 2nd and Forces 6 from Horizon: the Stronghold of Hope. Forces 6, Create Forces, allows a mage to create entirely new varieties of forces (e.g. sound that travels in a vacuum, fire that freezes, magnetism that wor s on plastic, etc.)) Life ---1 2 3

4 5 6

Sense Life Alter Simple Patterns / Heal Self Alter Self / Heal Life / Transform Simple Patterns / Create Simple Patterns Alter Complex Patterns / Transform Self Transform Complex Patterns / Create Complex Patterns / Perfect Metamorphosis ???

(Identical to Life in Mage 2nd.) Matter -----1 2 3 4 5 6

Matter Perceptions Alter Form Basic Transmutation Complex Transmutation / Quilted Forms Alter Properties / Pattern Dissociation ???

(Almost identical to Matter in Mage 2nd. Alter Form and Basic Transmutation swapped over because I feel that changing the shape, state, etc. of matter should probably be easier than changing it's

fundamental nature; 'Quilted Forms' re-added to the description of Complex Transmutation just to ma e the point; Pattern Dissociation mentioned in the title of ran 5 just because I li e it! ;) Nanotech as per Mage 1st should also be possible at 5, IMO, but probably no need to mention it directly...) Mind ---1 2 3 4 5 6

Sense Thoughts, Emotions & Resonance / Empower Self / Conditionals Read Surface Thoughts / Affect Resonance / Mental Impulse Mental Lin / Wal Among Dreams Control Conscious Mind / Astral Travel Control Subconscious / Untether / Create Intelligence Forge Psyche

(Almost identical to Mind in Mage 2nd. Resonance added to 'Sense Thoughts & Emotions' to clarify; 'Conditionals' at ran 1 allows the mage to create conditional triggers to set effects off based on other effects (usually Something 1) or occurrences. I always felt this should be a Mind effect rather than Time/Entropy. The description under Time 4 for spells with contingency effects cover it. 'Affect Resonance' added to description of Mind 2 for clarity, similarly, 'Wal Among Dreams' for Mind 4 replaced with 'Astral Travel'. 'Forge Psyche' made a ran 6 effect, not a ran 5; ran 5 is reduced to 'Create Intelligence'. Creating a full mind ought to be *hard*, IMHO. The Mind 5 Create Intelligence gets you a mind capable of reasoning, deduction, logical thought, and so forth, [an AI, in the literal sense] but that isn't self-aware, capable of feeling, and suchli e. That requires Mind 6.) Prime ----1 2 3 4 5 6

Aetheric Senses / Affect Own Prime Weave Odyllic Force / Fuel Pattern Affect Free Quintessence Affect Bound Quintessence / Enchant Item Alter Flow ???

(Using a slightly hac ed version of the revised Prime Sphere by Constantine Thomas <c.thom...@lancaster.ac.u >; at ran 1 we still allow the mage to affect his own pattern (Heart's Blood rote, fr'example).)

Spirit -----1 Spirit Sight 2 Call Spirit / Touch Spirit 3 Rouse & Lull Spirit / Channel Spirit 4 Forge Ephemera / Transephemeration / Materialise Spirit 5 Bind Spirit / Exorcism 6 Call Lord or Celestine (Spirit 1, Spirit Sight, is similar to Spirit 1 in Mage 2nd, save that it does not allow the mage to view past the Gauntlet without Umbra 1 Spirit 2 is identical to Spirit 2 in Mage 2nd, except that it does *not* include the ability to manipulate the Gauntlet, i.e. the mage is able to touch spirits and ephemera; and the mage is also able to call spirits from across the Gauntlet. Spirit 3 allows the mage to rouse sleeping spirits and lull spirits bac to sleep. It also allows him to channel a spirit's power through himself. [Creating ephemeral objects now requires Spirit 4.] Spirit 4, when used in conjunction with Matter/Life/Forces and Prime 2, allows the mage to create short-lived items out of ephemera, as per Mage 2nd's Spirit 3. It also allows transephemeration, when used conjunctionally with Matter/Life/Forces alone - translating a physical object into ephemera or vice versa (this also allows him to force spirits to materialise). This is a permanent effect. And he may heal spirit's Power as under Mage 2nd's Spirit 5, using a Life conjunctional effect. Spirit 5 This allows the mage to compel spirits to appear and bind them to obedience, as per Mage 2nd's Spirit 4 (moved up deliberately); or exorcise possessing spirits, all as per old Spirit 4. Note: Gilgul is now an Avatar 5 effect, not a spirit effect at all. Spirit 6 is the same as that in Horizon:tSoH.) Time ---1 2 3 4 5 6

(Identical to that in Mage 2nd, except that Time 4 loses it's ability to produce contingency effects, which now require Mind 1. Time 4 is still used to produce timed or time-delay effects. Time 6 is from Horizon:tSoH, although I personally prefer using my own laws of time

Time Sense Past Sight / Future Sight Time Contraction / Time Dilation / Temporal Wards Time Determinism Future Travel / Time Immunity Past Travel

to those given there...) Umbra ----1 2 3 4 5 6

Umbra Sense / Gauntlet Sense / Breach Alert Manipulate Gauntlet / Plumb the Deep Umbra Step Sideways Rend Gauntlet / Seal Breach / Forge Realm Outward Journeys ???

(Pierce Gauntlet)

(Umbra 1 allows the mage to perceive things on the other side of the Gauntlet (in the Penumbra). It also allows the mage to sense the thic ness of the Gauntlet, and set wards to warn of any breach in it. Umbra 2 permits the mage, as in Mage 2nd's Spirit 2, to affect the thic ness of the Gauntlet, and to extend his perceptions further outward. Umbra 3 allows the mage to ma e a hole in the Gauntlet just for him to step sideways, as Mage 2nd's Spirit 3 does. As in it, carried possessions are translated into ephemera by this effect, although to translate object into ephemera otherwise requires Spirit 4. Umbra 4 allows a mage to ma e breaches in the Gauntlet and seal them up as Mage 2nd's Spirit 4 does. It also permits the mage to manipulate the fabric of the spirit world in various ways, such as are necessary for the creation of a Horizon Realm or Umbral Domain [moved down one from Spirit 5 to match Corr 4]. Umbra 5 allows a mage to ma e Outward Journeys, as per Mage 2nd's Spirit 5.) Sphere Levels 7-8 ================= Before you can attain a 7 in any of these Facets, you must have attained a 6 in all three of the Spheres which ma e it up. Being ----7 8

??? ???

The Cycle --------7 ??? 8 ??? Pattern ------7 ??? 8 ??? Reference ---------

7 8

??? ???

Create / Destroy Space ?

Sphere Level 9 ============== Before you an obtain an 9 in either of these Aspects, you must have attained an 8 in both of the Facets which ma e up that particular Aspect. The Ethereal -----------9 ??? The Physical -----------9 ??? Sphere Level 10 =============== Apotheosis ---------Before you can attain this, you must have have attained a 9 in both of the Aspects. Once this level of power and nowledge is reached, the mage is for all intents and purposes a god; hence the name. Other Paths of Learning: Subspheres, Paths and Rotes ==================================================== (For all of these, I haven't given any experience costs; mainly because I don't use them myself. For Subspheres, you're probably best off loo ing at the original posting to the mage-l list; Paths should probably be cheaper - each effect a little less than the cost of a Rote, and Rotes the second cheapest of all - although costing more for a mage who learns them out of paradigm.) Subspheres (blatantly stolen from Dataweaver <trave...@IO.COM>) ---------A Sphere is a set of potential effects that can be generated; a Subsphere is a Sphere which is a subset of another Sphere. Twelve Spheres are used in the standard formulation, and subspheres be created as subsets of these traditional Spheres, or as intersections of other spheres. To define a subsphere, pic a possible specialization of the original sphere, and limit the scope of your effects to that. So you could define the Fire Sphere as a subsphere of Forces, since forces has Fire as one of its specializations. A sphere can also be defined as a particular intersection of two existing spheres; to do this, find some set of effects that normally requires both spheres to use, and define the new sphere in terms of that. For example, you could define an Undead sphere (which, would be an intersection of Life and Matter), or a Dreaming sphere (an intersection of Mind and Spirit). [Any time that the game would normally call for a conjunctional effect that falls within the scope of the new sphere, you can use the new sphere instead, as long as you have as many dots in it as the highest requirement (if you needed, say, a Life-2/ Matter-3 effect to harm a

Vampire, you could instead use Undead-3). If someone's paradigm includes a subsphere, the original sphere is still around in that paradigm, but it doesn't include the scope of the subsphere; in other words, a mage who has both Forces and Fire will not be able to perform feats that relate to Fire using the Forces Sphere, li e normal Mages; he'll have to use Fire instead.] As an example, I have a Hermetic Mage whose paradigm is very similar to that of the Changelings (House Merinita). Her spheres and subspheres follow: Life Glamour (subsphere of Mind and Prime) Dreaming (subsphere of Mind and Umbra) Spirit Umbra (diminished by Dreaming) Correspondence Time Destiny (synonym for Fate) Fire (subsphere of Forces) Wind (subsphere of Forces) Earth (subsphere of Matter) Water (subsphere of Matter) Ether (synonym for Prime; diminished by Glamour) Paths ----Paths are collections of related effects - more specific effects that Sphere levels, although they may cross Sphere boundaries - similar to vampiric disciplines. All the effects in a given Path are related. Many of the Disciplines would in fact ma e good Paths - Auspex, for example: o oo ooo oooo ooooo oooooo Heightened Senses Soulsight The Spirit's Touch Steal Secrets Anima Wal Farsight (Forces 1) (Mind 1/Spirit 1) (Mind 1) (Mind 4) (Mind 5) (Correspondence 2)

Similarly, changeling Arts could be similarly translated, or new paths created resembling various inds of hedge magic - or merely particular specialties. This could be particularly useful for building mage characters who were ghouls or merely spent a lot of time around vampires, for example, whose paradigm might revolve heavily around the Disciplines - without having to give them lots of Spheres to account for it; or mages who were enchanted or inain before being Awa ened, and so forth... or merely particularly specialised offshoots of the Hermetic orders. As with Rotes, effects of Paths are not limited by Spheres, just by Arete. Treat effects created, also as with rotes, as being of the Spheres needed for the effect. As with a Sphere, a focus or foci are needed for a Path, although also as with a Sphere, it can ignored with rising Arete.

The effects of Paths are similar to Rotes in that they are limited and specific. They are not quite so as those of Rotes (see any Discipline writeup), but they are far from being as flexible as Spheres or Subspheres. Rotes ----What happens when Mistress Weatherwax, the Verbena of the cabal, gets tired of healing the burns that the Etherite Herr Do tor "Vulgar? What's Vulgar?" Pyresis, and Ignaxis "Boom! Boom! Hahahaha!" bani Flambeau regularly inflict on themselves? Why not teach them a simple burn-healing Rote? Because they don't have Life and so can't learn it? Now they can. Mages can now learn individual rotes, whether they have the Spheres for them or not, provided that their Arete is sufficient. However: a) They will *always* need a focus for the rote, unless and until they gain the Spheres required for the rote, and sufficient Arete to no longer require foci for them. b) The Rote is just that - a Rote. Just because Ignaxis bani Flambeau can heal his own burns (Life 2), it doesn't mean he can heal other people's burns (Life 3), or heal his own wounds (a different Life 2). Similarly, just because he's taught Mistress Weatherwax how to throw an apple-sized ball of fire, she can neither throw lightning nor even a differently-sized fireball. -Alistair J. R. Young Computational Thaumaturge & Son of Ether. Ar ane Systems Ltd. Sysimperator, dominus retis deusque machinarum. e-mail: ava...@ar ane.demon.co.u WWW: http://www.ar ane.demon.co.u / "Quidquid Latine dictum sit altum viditur" -- Dave Connors <dave.conn...@dedewallace.com>