TEXT: www.white-wolf.com/exalted
  
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  BY JOSEPH CARRIKER, LYDIA LAURENSON, PETER SCHAEFER, 
  DUSTIN SHAMPEL AND STEPHEN LEA SHEPPARD
  TM
  
  2
  CREDITS
  Authors: Joseph Carriker, Lydia Laurenson, Peter 
  Schaefer, Dustin Shampel, Stephen Lea Sheppard
  Comic Scripter: Carl Bowen
  Storyteller Game System Design: Mark 
  Rein•Hagen
  Developers: John Chambers and Dean Shomshak 
  with John Masterson
  Editor: Carl Bowen
  Art Direction and Book Design: Brian Glass
  Artists: DPI Studios (with Embrio and Jaysin), 
  Imaginary Friends Studio (with Erfan Fajar, Jun 
  Kang and Kenneth Loh), Chris “Satyr” Ready, Andie 
  Tong, UDON (with Scott Hepburn, Marco Nelor, 
  Noi Sackda and Chris Stevens) and Melissa Uran
  Cover Art: Andie Tong
  © 2007 White Wolf, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission 
  of the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and for blank character 
  sheets, which may be reproduced for personal use only. White Wolf and Exalted are registered 
  trademarks of White Wolf, Inc. All rights reserved. The Books of Sorcery, the White Treatise, the 
  Black Treatise, the Age of Sorrows and the Second Age of Man are trademarks of White Wolf, 
  Inc. All rights reserved. All characters, names, places and text herein are copyrighted by White 
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  The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge 
  to the trademark or copyright concerned.
  This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters and themes. All mystical and su-
  pernatural elements are ﬁ ction and intended for entertainment purposes only. This book contains 
  mature content. Reader discretion is advised.
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  COMING NEXT:
  THE COMPASS OF CELESTIAL DIRECTIONS, 
  VOL. II — THE WYLD
  $24.99  
   
   
  160 PAGES
  The second of ﬁ ve books dedicated to the supernatural 
  locales of the Exalted setting, this supplement focuses on 
  the Wyld. Outside the bounds of Creation, there exists 
  an inﬁ nite expanse of roiling chaos that breaks upon the 
  shaped world like a storm-tossed sea against the shore, 
  threatening to wear it away. Where it does wear away, 
  reality breaks down and savage denizens of the chaos be-
  yond Creation dwell. The dangers of the Wyld, the king-
  doms of the Fair Folk and the savage Wyld tribes are all 
  detailed within.
  COMING NEXT IN THIS SERIES:
  THE BOOKS OF SORCERY, VOL. III — 
  OADENOL’S CODEX
  $24.99  
   
   
  160 PAGES
  Oadenol’s Codex is the guide to the practical applica-
  tion of sorcerous knowledge in the Second Age. From 
  the creation of artifacts to the raising of manses, and 
  from the subtle workings of thaumaturgy to the various 
  naturally occurring miracles of Creation, this third of 
  Exalted’s Books of Sorcery offer’s aspiring geomancers, 
  sorcerer-engineers, thaumaturges and preternaturalists 
  the tools they need to ply their arcane trades. In addi-
  tion, the book contains a plethora of artifacts, hearth-
  stones, prodigies and manses for players’ characters to 
  own or covet and Storytellers to weave into their series.
  
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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
  INTRODUCTION 
  4
  CHAPTER ONE: THE WORLD OF SORCERY 
  8
  CHAPTER TWO: THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY 
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  INTRODUCTION
   
  INTRODUCTION
  INTRODUCTION
  Greetings, seeker of arcane knowledge! You now 
  hold in your hand the largest single repository of sor-
  cerous spells for Exalted. The White Treatise describes 
  more than 150 spells, each one of them leagues beyond 
  the most powerful enchantment available to the most 
  skilled mortal thaumaturge.
  The sorcery of the Exalted can manipulate the world 
  on a grand and fundamental scale. Few Charms can 
  rival sorcery for sheer, brute force. With a few choice 
  spells, a sorcerer can slay armies and destroy fortresses. 
  Sorcery enables more than destruction, however. Even 
  the most powerful Charm merely augments some mun-
  dane Ability, whether for purposes of hitting things or 
  public speaking. Sorcery, however, can perform feats 
  beyond all mortal skill, from summoning demons to 
  communicating instantly across Creation.
  Spells differ from ordinary Charms in another im-
  portant way, too. Most Charms are limited to speciﬁ c 
  classes of the Exalted (or other entities). With few 
  exceptions, the Dragon-Blooded can learn one set of 
  Charms; Solar Exalted learn a different sort of Charm; 
  spirit Charms differ from both; and so on. Each sort of 
  entity shapes Essence in its own distinctive way. Spells, 
  however, are common to all Exalted who choose to 
  learn them. A Dynast who casts, say, Death of Obsidian 
  Butterﬂ ies gets the same results as a First Age Lunar or 
  a returning Lawgiver.
  Such universal effects make sorcery something of 
  a common language among Exalts. Two of the Chosen 
  might come from opposite sides of Creation, but they 
  share a special perspective imparted by mastering sorcery. 
  The mechanics and laws of shaping the world on this 
  level give them a foundation for discussion. Sorcerers 
  who are blood enemies might nevertheless treat each 
  other with a certain professional regard.
  Members of this exclusive club recognize their 
  unique place in the world. Special academies teach 
  sorcery, and special societies grant membership only to 
  masters of the art. This book details the theories and 
  practices of sorcery: the arts’ practitioners, where to 
  learn them and the social world of the sorcerer.
  WHAT’S IN THIS BOOK
  Chapter One: The World of Sorcery
  When you learn to look through the world instead 
  of at it, Creation is reduced to patterns of Essence for 
  your will to shape. This chapter tells the histories and the 
  theories of sorcery. Study well, sorcerer, for understanding 
  the Five Ordeals and the three major sorcerous colleges 
  of the First Age will make you wise as well as mighty.
  
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  Chapter Two: The White Treatise of Sorcery
  This chapter will be your constant companion as 
  a master sorcerer. It describes spells ranging from the 
  vastly impressive Terrestrial Circle to the world-shaking 
  Solar Circle of sorcery.
  RULE ADDITIONS
  This section introduces new rules relevant to sorcery 
  and necromancy in general and this book in particular. 
  Just like rules clariﬁ cations, these apply both to sorcery 
  and necromancy unless otherwise noted.
  ARCANE LINKS
  Hair, blood, excrement and bits of ﬂ esh possess a 
  mystic connection to the person they came from. So 
  do favored tools, beloved dolls, well-worn clothing and 
  other possessions, as well as relatives or lovers. Some 
  spells require this “arcane link” to affect their target at 
  all. More importantly, arcane links enable some spells to 
  affect targets at great distances, even if the spell caster 
  doesn’t know the subject’s location. Most such spells 
  require a speciﬁ c arcane link, as described in the spell’s 
  text, but some spells allow for any arcane link.
  COUNTERMAGIC
  Emerald Countermagic destroys Terrestrial Circle 
  spells. Sapphire Countermagic destroys Terrestrial 
  and Celestial Circle spells. Adamant Countermagic 
  destroys spells of all three sorcerous circles. Likewise, 
  necromancy has its own three countermagics: Iron, 
  Onyx and Obsidian, with parallel effects against nec-
  romantic spells.
  When a sorcerer wields countermagic against nec-
  romancy, however, or a necromancer against sorcery, 
  the effect is weaker. Each character tries to change the 
  Essence of a realm they do not know. It doesn’t work as 
  well. Mechanically, treat a countermagic spell as if it 
  were one circle lower when used against the wrong form 
  of spell. Adamant Countermagic stops Shadowlands 
  and Labyrinth Circle spells, while Obsidian Coun-
  termagic ends Terrestrial and Celestial Circle spells. 
  Sapphire Countermagic stops only necromancy of the 
  Shadowlands Circle. Emerald Countermagic is, sadly, 
  useless against necromancy, and Iron Countermagic 
  has no effect on sorcery.
  A few spells react differently to countermagic 
  of the wrong type. These spells have notes in 
  their descriptions.
  VARIATIONS
  Sorcerous and necromantic spells work the way they 
  do because that is the way they work. You can’t tweak a 
  spell to make it evoke a spray of razor-edged metal but-
  terﬂ ies, or obsidian-winged wrens. No, the spell must 
  be the Death of Obsidian Butterﬂ ies. Nor can the deadly 
  insects erupt in any shape other than that speciﬁ ed in 
  its write-up on p. 252 of Exalted.
  NECROMANCY
  Mere mortals rightly fear the power of sorcery. 
  Creation now trembles, however, before a darker 
  and deadlier form of magic: necromancy. Most of 
  this introduction applies to necromancy as well. 
  Necromancers, like sorcerers, gain vast and diverse 
  power, necromantic spells work the same for anyone 
  who can learn them, and necromancers have their 
  own peculiar subculture. Flip this book over to The 
  Black Treatise to learn the secrets of death magic 
  and its Exalted practitioners.
  RULE CLARIFICATIONS
  The Exalted core book is somewhat fuzzy on a few 
  points about sorcery. Unless speciﬁ cally noted otherwise, 
  these clariﬁ cations apply to necromancy as well.
  INVENTION AND TRAINING TIMES
  When creating a spell, use the mechanics detailed on 
  page 251 of Exalted, and integrate the information on page 
  274. Without the proper library, tools and safe testing area, 
  increase the roll interval to one year of dedicated work.
  ESSENCE FLOW—IMPEDED
  When a sorcerer performs the Shape Sorcery ac-
  tion, she becomes effectively Inactive (i.e., immobile 
  and undefended). She cannot use reﬂ exive Charms 
  or other voluntary reﬂ exive actions. Excellencies, as 
  reﬂ exive Charms and thus reﬂ exive actions, fall under 
  this general prohibition, even when supplemented by 
  (Ability) Essence Flow (see Exalted, p. 187). Effects that 
  require no action from the character, such as Flow Like 
  Blood’s ability to nullify coordinated attack penalties 
  to the character’s DV, still apply.
  CANCELING SPELLS
  Unless speciﬁ cally noted in a spell’s description, 
  the sorcerer has no way to retract her own spells. Once 
  cast, a spell operates by itself until its duration ends or 
  someone uses countermagic. For example, the sorceress 
  who gives her skin the weight and endurance of bronze 
  and then falls in the murky depths of Cauldron Lake 
  must wait until the next dawn or dusk before she bobs 
  to the surface—if she doesn’t drown.
  
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  INTRODUCTION
  From a storytelling point of view, this keeps every 
  spell unique and memorable. It also prevents players 
  from tweaking their characters’ spells to make them 
  more and more powerful: The Storyteller retains control 
  over what spells can and cannot do. Most importantly, 
  characters must rely on their wits instead of reworking 
  their spells for any and every purpose. Even though 
  sorcery as a whole can do nearly anything, sorcerers as 
  individuals are limited to a relatively small number of 
  narrowly deﬁ ned feats.
  That said, you can change the effects of a spell if 
  you want to. You paid for this book; use it how you 
  like. For instance, if you think Infallible Messenger 
  would be cooler if it summoned a rotting fetus with 
  black, membranous wings and a rasping voice instead 
  of a six-winged cherub, go ahead. (This would be quite 
  appropriate if only the Deathlords knew the spell.) 
  If you want both versions of the spell in your game, 
  however, give the winged-fetus version a different 
  name and make it a genuinely new spell—a character 
  who knows one version can’t cast the other unless she 
  learns that spell, too.
  Nothing keeps sorcerers from inventing spell varia-
  tions so they can change the substance, manifestation 
  area or other aspects of a spell to create, say, Death of 
  Silver Wrens. To repeat, however, this costs just as many 
  experience points (or bonus points at character creation) 
  as any other spell. Most sorcerers ﬁ gure the time and effort 
  of researching and learning a new version of an extant 
  spell are better spent gaining something really new.
  LEXICON
  This section lists some terms commonly used in 
  this book for easy reference. It supplements the Lexicon 
  found in the introduction to Exalted.
  absorption: A degree of understanding that repre-
  sents a sorcerer’s dedicated internalization of the tenets 
  of one sorcerous school.
  academy: A place where masters teach sorcery or 
  necromancy.
  arcane link: An object that possesses a supernatural 
  connection to a spell’s target, such as blood, hair or 
  favored objects.
  Brigid: Legendary First Age Solar who discovered 
  sorcery. The Dragon-Blooded replace this legend with 
  a story about Mela, the Immaculate Dragon of Air.
  Cycle of the First Sorcerer: Story describing the 
  First Sorcerer’s completion of the ﬁ rst Five Ordeals. The 
  story varies with the telling.
  Devonian: One of the three major schools of 
  thought about sorcery. Followers of this school treat 
  sorcery like an extension of natural sciences, includ-
  ing mortal crafts or mathematics. Devonians are less 
  numerous in the Age of Sorrows, because modern 
  sorcerers are often more concerned with effectiveness 
  than the theory of the cause.
  First Sorcerer: The mythical individual who 
  discovered or invented sorcery and taught it to 
  the rest of Creation. Most stories say the First 
  Sorcerer was female. Some versions name a First 
  Age Solar, Brigid, as First Sorcerer; others claim 
  it was Mela, Bar-Izahd the First Sorcerer-King, 
  Jomesha Har or others.
  Five Ordeals: Also called the Five Unavoidable 
  Challenges, the Five Stations of Sorcery or the Five 
  Sorcerous Initiations. The Five Ordeals compose a 
  series of tests or difﬁ culties a sorcerer must go through 
  in order to gain or demonstrate the enlightenment 
  needed to wield true sorcery.
  Four Tokens of the First Sorcerer: These tools 
  represent the First Sorcerer’s accomplishments. They 
  include a sword, a jewel mounted on the brow, a 
  girdle and a mantle. Sorcerers in the First Age often 
  used these symbols to proclaim their own prowess in 
  sorcery, and these items were often artifacts. Many 
  schools in the First Age also used unique versions of 
  these four tokens as symbols of a student’s initiation 
  into the school’s style of sorcery.
  Salinan: One of the three major schools of thought 
  governing sorcery. This school considers the Essence 
  of Creation to be part of a vast mind and believes that 
  observing its natural and divine processes can provide 
  enlightenment in the ways of sorcery.
  Salinan Working: An epic act of magic in the 
  First Age. The Working imbedded the Five Ordeals 
  and the potential for the Exalted to wield sorcery 
  into the very fabric of Creation, so that the art would 
  never be lost.
  school: A guiding philosophy of sorcery or nec-
  romancy. Sorcerers who dedicate themselves to the 
  teachings of a speciﬁ c school learn special methods 
  for manipulating Essence.
  Silurian: One of the three major schools of 
  thought governing sorcery. Its adherents regard 
  Creation as an arbitrary system of symbols they can 
  manipulate to create whatever meaning—or physi-
  cal effect—they want. The school emphasizes magic 
  words and sigils.
  
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  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  CHAPTER ONE
  CHAPTER ONE
  THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  Essence: the word itself means the root, the heart, 
  the core of a thing. Essence is the world, and knowledge 
  of Essence gives understanding of Creation’s very soul. 
  Those who can sense and use it—the gods, their children 
  and their Chosen—are closest to the world’s true work-
  ings. Yet their Charms, instinctive manipulations that 
  they are, amount to little more than slight ﬂ uctuations 
  in the ﬂ ow of Creation’s lifeblood.
  Sorcery, which transﬁ gures the world, requires 
  far more from its wielders than Charms do. Sorcerers 
  endure elaborate initiations to retrain their minds and 
  pour extraordinary focus and care into every spell—for 
  even the smallest working of the Terrestrial Circle forces 
  a wrenching change to reality itself. Many sorcerers 
  believe their Great Art reveals nothing less than how 
  the Primordials shaped Creation itself.
  THE HISTORY OF SORCERY
  All things have a history, which can reveal much 
  about its nature. The practice of sorcery has changed 
  over the millennia, shaped by events in Creation 
  and shaping them in turn. When a sorcerer takes an 
  apprentice, he often begins her training with a tale 
  about how the Great Art began… but there is more 
  than one story.
  THE FIRST SORCERER
  Legends give many names to the First Sorcerer. 
  Some call her Brigid, the first Solar sorceress; others 
  say she was Mela, come to impart a scourge upon 
  the Anathema. The Lunar Exalted tell the story of 
  grieving, obsessed Bar-Izahd. The Sidereal sorcer-
  ers of the Forbidding Manse of Ivy whisper how 
  Jomesha Har won the secrets of sorcery from her 
  demon consort Ryvis, Hierophant of the Leathern 
  Wings, and of the tainted ends for which she used 
  that magic.
  The stories all feature difficult trials by which 
  these archetypal first sorcerers won the gift of 
  magic for themselves. This theme—the earning of 
  magic through ordeals, rather than being given its 
  secrets—is perhaps the single common thread in 
  these stories.
  BRIGID
  Before the genesis of sorcery, in the time when 
  the Exalted rose against the Primordials, there lived a 
  Twilight Caste named Brigid. She was called Ungifted 
  and Burden of the Sun for her inability to learn any 
  but the most basic Charms. Although she’d mastered 
  her own Essence and was quite skilled at creating 
  
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  tears falling in the pool, and the sky wept stars 
  with her.
  A spirit appeared to Brigid then—a lovely spirit 
  with dainty hooves peeking out from her skirts. Brigid 
  bade it begone, lest others see her talking to one who 
  disgraced her Exaltation, and speak ill of the spirit 
  for this. The visitor simply smiled and bowed. The 
  spirit said:
  “A destiny lies before you, one that you must 
  take up now. You are fated to ﬁ nd the Secret Places 
  in the four corners of the world, and this is one of 
  them. Once you have found their mysteries, you shall 
  journey to the summit of the Imperial Mountain and 
  claim your birthright, as Mother of Sorcery, and Root 
  of All Spells.”
  The spirit then gave her a mantle, ﬁ ner than any 
  Brigid had ever seen, edged and embroidered in liquid 
  orichalcum, which spelled out ten thousand wonders 
  unknown to men. Quickly, the spirit set Brigid on 
  her way.
  Brigid journeyed North by foot, seeing many 
  wonders along the way. In the deeps of the North, she 
  found a place of magic, a circle of crystals. In the center 
  of this circle, a blade of ice coalesced from the freez-
  ing winds. The sword posed her ﬁ ve riddles, to which 
  she knew the answers, for sights on her journey gave 
  her clues. Brigid claimed the Sword of Ice as her own, 
  though she kept her husband’s blade, and continued 
  on her journey.
  Her steps took her South, across the Inland Sea, 
  until she found a wall of spinning, blowing sand that 
  moaned and howled like all the terror in the world. 
  In its roar, Brigid heard the mockeries of her fellow 
  Exalted and the screams of her beloved husband dy-
  ing, alone, because she could not wield the powers 
  that might aid him. Steeling herself, though the tears 
  dried on her face in the hot desert wind the instant 
  they were shed, she strode forward and found herself 
  in a circle of stones within the sandstorm, with pieces 
  of brilliant crimson amber imbedded in the cinnabar 
  stones. The fears of the world played out in their 
  blood-hued depths. Brigid plucked out the one that 
  most closely reﬂ ected what she feared, setting it upon 
  her caste mark. There it stayed and burned with deep, 
  sorcerous light forever more.
  Brigid left then, bound West, until she came to 
  a shoreline where a boat of ebony and orichalcum 
  awaited her. The vessel took her to the whale-bone 
  palace of a great prince, beauteous of face, with 
  silver hair and clad in ebon robes. He welcomed 
  THE LIMITS OF SORCERY
  The patterns and entities that deﬁ ne Creation 
  exceed the power even of Solar Circle spells. When 
  players and Storytellers design new spells, they 
  should keep the following in mind:
  • Sorcery can affect celestial events only with 
  the permission of the Incarnae.
  • Demesnes cannot be immediately conjured 
  or destroyed. They arise from the way Essence ﬂ ows 
  through its surroundings. At most, sorcery—if 
  wielded by knowledgeable geomancers—can 
  encourage demesnes to gain or lose power by 
  reshaping the environment.
  • Spells can’t see into the future or be used 
  for time travel. The closest they can come is to 
  create bubbles of immutable stasis.
  • Nothing can truly return the dead to life. 
  Sorcery can sometimes imitate the powers of 
  necromancy, but even that power can only ma-
  nipulate pale shades or reanimate corpses. Sorcery 
  is also ill suited to necromantic functions. Should 
  the Storyteller allow a necromancy spell to be 
  adapted into a sorcerous one, the sorcerous version 
  should always be at least one circle higher than 
  the necromantic equivalent and might require 
  other concessions. [For example, the sorcerous 
  version of Summon Ghost (see p. 81) is Sapphire 
  Circle; its necromantic counterpart (see The Black 
  Treatise, pp. 34-35) is Shadowlands Circle. The 
  Shadowlands Circle version also binds ghosts for a 
  longer period and demands a less complex ritual.] 
  The reverse of this principle is true for necromantic 
  versions of sorcerous spells.
  artifacts and manses, she herself was little better 
  than a mortal woman in the fray. Her mate, on the 
  other hand, was a powerful Lunar warrior. He was 
  known for his beautiful mane of silver hair and his 
  skill with his daiklave, created for him by Brigid as 
  a nuptial gift.
  Then, he was killed in battle with the Primordi-
  als, and his allies brought news of his death—along 
  with his daiklave—home to Brigid. Consumed with 
  grief and guilt, convinced that she could have saved 
  him if she could wield Charms, Brigid fled into the 
  wilderness. Far in the East, she found herself in a 
  glade. Ancient, standing stones surrounded a deep 
  pool of water in its center. Brigid wept there, her 
  
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  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  her, bowing before her and calling her the Mother 
  of Sorcery, the Root of All Spells. They talked for a 
  time and were eventually intimate, for he reminded 
  her greatly of her husband, in visage and in gentle-
  ness. They passed nine days in this manner, and 
  Brigid’s grief was eased. The ocean lord spoke of 
  the mighty Shapings of the Wyld wielded by the 
  princes of the mad places beyond Creation. On the 
  morning of the tenth day, Brigid awoke in the boat 
  upon the ocean, with no palace to be seen. Beside 
  her lay a wondrous girdle, crafted of crimson silk, 
  with runes of diamond and moonsilver set into its 
  nine panels, symbolizing each day they’d spent 
  learning and teaching. As the sun rose, she looked 
  up and saw the pillar of the Mountain of the Gods, 
  and knew where she must go.
  Brigid journeyed until she reached the Blessed 
  Isle, and then walked to the Great Mountain. Eschew-
  ing the aid of spirits and wonders to scale its surface, 
  she simply climbed. As she ascended, the Mountain 
  Folk emerged from their labyrinths to do her honor 
  as she passed. Brigid climbed even past the walls of 
  Meru, further up the mountain, until she reached 
  the very summit. There, she found a circle of stones, 
  and in its middle lay an egg of crystal. Brigid saw 
  herself reflected it, clad in mantle and girdle, the 
  scarlet jewel upon her brow, wielding the Sword of 
  Ice, and then it cracked. A phoenix rose up, every 
  color known to Creation in its wings, and flew into 
  the sky. In its wake sprouted the first rainbow in 
  Creation. Brigid smiled. Then, without warning, 
  the Unconquered Sun stood before her. Brigid fell 
  to her knees, trembling.
  “Do not kneel,” the Sun said in the voice of heroes, 
  and Brigid stood. “The last step is a sacriﬁ ce.”
  “Anything,” she breathed, bowing deeply. “Simply 
  say it, and I shall ﬁ nd a way to give it to you, though I 
  die in the attempt.”
  “The sacrifice is yourself,” he said. He touched 
  Brigid upon the brow, and the person she had been 
  died. The woman Brigid—fearful of her inability, 
  insecure in her strengths, dependent on her mate, 
  jealous of her friends—died in that moment, and the 
  sorceress Brigid, the Mother of Sorcery, the Root of 
  
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  All Spells was born. With that, she strode into the 
  company of her fellows, to bring them the wonders 
  she’d learned, and continued to develop new and 
  powerful magics.
  MELA
  The story of Mela resembles that of Brigid, with 
  a few important differences. Mela, in her mortal 
  incarnation, seeks a weapon to throw down the 
  Anathema, not the Primordials. The story of Mela 
  does not paint her as unable to wield Charms, nor 
  does she grieve the death of a mate. Moreover, the 
  Elemental Dragons grant her the Four Tokens of 
  the First Sorcerer. Mela’s own transcendent and 
  eternal self gives her the final enlightenment. 
  Neither spirits nor the Unconquered Sun appear 
  in that telling of the tale.
  Most importantly, Mela is only the first legitimate 
  sorcerer, as sorcery clearly existed before the Usur-
  pation. Many texts at the Heptagram or Lookshy’s 
  academy predate that time. The Anathema already 
  knew dark powers and, a Dragon-Blooded student 
  soon learns, wrote many of the books he studies. 
  Students are advised not to ask how the Anathema 
  first learned sorcery; the Immaculate Order frowns 
  on such inquiries.
  THE TRUTH
  The truth of such stories doesn’t really matter. Most 
  sorcerers understand the difference between historic 
  truth and arcane allegories. Occult truths are often 
  understood through symbolism, metaphor and secret 
  codes for the initiated. Each sorcerous school uses the 
  Cycle of the First Sorcerer to relate some of its secrets. 
  The most common secret the story contains is the pursuit 
  of the Five Ordeals, through which every sorcerer must 
  pass in order to wield the powers of sorcery.
  Some traces of genuine history do exist. The 
  Scarlet Empress wore the crimson Mantle of the 
  First Sorcerer. The Standing Stones of Cinnabar, 
  where the First Sorcerer plucks her fear from among 
  the fears of the world, have been found—though 
  only chips of amber remain imbedded in the stones. 
  Nonetheless, sorcerers are quick to point out that 
  just because aspects of one story are real, that does 
  not mean the tale itself is entirely true. Instead, it 
  might simply be that these elements were used in 
  shaping a particular version of the Cycle.
  WONDERS OF THE OLD REALM
  However sorcery came to Creation, its inﬂ uence 
  grew tremendously. Tales of the Old Realm often speak 
  of little besides its wondrous artifacts and sorceries. 
  Many of the most amazing sights in Creation today 
  were created by long-lost sorceries.
  The development of sorcery was tremendously 
  competitive. Each year, the most impressive and original 
  new spells were entered into The Book of Three Circles. 
  Many sorcerers, however, developed entirely new spells 
  that they kept secret from others, waiting for a dramati-
  cally appropriate time to unveil its great powers. From 
  this time, sorcery gained its reputation as the art by 
  which nearly anything might happen… for better or 
  worse. Its practitioners were often unpredictable, both 
  in terms of their powers and how they chose to wield 
  their occult mastery. Savants still pore over the descrip-
  tions of the Ten Thousand Wonders of Ulmaril, who 
  single-handedly slew entire battalions of Fair Folk with 
  the Iron-Wind Kiss. And they speak too of Cerulean 
  Majesty the Sky-Queen, who built her palace in the 
  dome of the heavens and commanded the stars to rain 
  celestial ﬁ re on those who offended her.
  THE SCHOOLS OF SORCERY
  The ﬁ rst sorcerous schools were founded at the 
  height of the First Age. Sorcery, unlike the Charms of 
  the Exalted, can be learned only from a source. Master 
  sorcerers often formulated their own theories that ex-
  plained the workings of sorcery. These teachers gathered 
  to themselves schools of apprentices, teaching them 
  the extensive lore necessary to learn sorcery. Each of 
  the schools possessed unique strengths and weaknesses: 
  some were masters of summoning, others specialized in 
  the construction of magical automatons, while others 
  focused on battle magics. Only the schools of Devon, 
  Salina and Silur survive into the Second Age, but more 
  certainly existed. Perhaps their secrets remain hidden 
  in some long-forgotten manse or book of lore. For now, 
  however, the schools of Sonah, Derja and Hano are 
  merely cryptic names in fragmentary manuscripts.
  The Old Realm also built many academies where 
  these sorcerous schools were taught. Of all these, the 
  Sixfold Spire in the city of Sperimin stands above all 
  others. The Book of Three Circles was kept there. A 
  few sorcerers know the Sixfold Tower yet stands and 
  holds its greatest treasure… though not unguarded 
  (see pp. 32-33).
  
  13
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  THE SALINAN WORKING
  Few in the Age of Sorrows know about the Salinan 
  Working, but it is perhaps the greatest achievement of 
  the Old Realm’s sorcerer-kings. Solar, Lunar and Sidereal 
  sorcerers conducted mighty rituals at all ﬁ ve elemental 
  poles and adjusted the Loom of Fate itself—but the full 
  extent of the Working is no longer known.
  Savants do know the Working has some connection 
  to the Five Ordeals through which would-be sorcerers 
  learn to cast spells. Some believe the Salinan Working 
  twists Fate itself so that potential sorcerers undergo the 
  necessary challenges, perhaps even before they develop 
  any interest in sorcery.
  Likewise, some savants believe the Working subtly 
  manipulates the fabric of Creation to preserve sorcer-
  ous lore. Should no copies of a given spell exist save in 
  the mind of a dying sorcerer, the magic of the Working 
  transcribes that spell somewhere in the natural fabric of 
  the sorcerer’s surroundings. It may appear locked within 
  crystals nearby, waiting for the light of a Celestial anima 
  to project an image of that formula onto a nearby wall. 
  Or perhaps the spell appears as markings on the feathers 
  of a breed of birds nearby, which will forever breed true 
  this trait, waiting for a sorcerer capable of understanding 
  the spell to come along, notice the pattern and intui-
  tively piece its secrets together. The claim seems hard 
  to prove, but it would explain some of the… eccentric 
  ways occult lore is sometimes recorded. Savants also 
  claim the Working somehow infused mystic lore into 
  Creation’s fundamental ﬂ ows of Essence—patterns that 
  can be sensed and interpreted by sorcerers who meditate 
  at certain manses and demesnes. These patterns also 
  reveal spells and other formulae.
  A LESS GLORIOUS ASPECT
  The First Age was also marked by its extensive 
  exploitation of demons. Raw magic held many dangers 
  that mere humans rarely survived. Many sorcerers were 
  either too kind-hearted or practical to use human ser-
  vants. Mortals died easily and had to be fed, clothed 
  and granted periods of rest—not so with demons.
  Old Realm sorcerers frequently summoned the 
  minions of Malfeas to aid in crafting manses, great and 
  terrible artifacts and other wonders. Warlike demons also 
  made better soldiers than mortals. Many sorcerers sum-
  moned armies of First Circle demons to ﬁ ght for them, 
  with Second Circle demons serving as their lieutenants. 
  In the Old Realm’s decadence, many of the Exalted 
  cared only about having obedient, powerful servants. 
  They glossed over the possible dangers of dealing with 
  the vengeful spawn of the defeated Primordials. Some 
  historians and demonologists suspect that more than 
  one Yozi won an Exalted savant to its service, laying the 
  groundwork for the Immaculate Order’s condemnation 
  of them as Anathema.
  Many of these demons were bound to serve for 
  eternity. Scavenger lords and other treasure-seekers some-
  times ﬁ nd a manse or other ruin of the Old Realm still 
  populated by demons ready to fulﬁ ll their duty, whether 
  defending it from interlopers or sweeping the ﬂ oors.
  SORCERY IN THE SHOGUNATE
  Sorcery diminished during the Shogunate period. 
  Sidereal and Lunar Exalts ﬂ ed the public eye, and with 
  them went the ability to work the higher circles of sor-
  cery. Lone sorcerers were considered grandiose, strange 
  individuals and were watched with suspicion. After all, 
  weren’t the Anathema well known for their sorcery?
  Instead, sorcery became a civic institution. Under the 
  Shogunate, sorcerers were taught in immense academies, 
  as civil servants and military specialists. With the defense 
  of Creation resting now on the Terrestrial Exalted, the 
  sheer power of sorcery could not be ignored. Knowledge 
  of sorcery, however, was considered a privilege granted to 
  individuals by the Shogun. Failure to use this knowledge 
  for the Shogunate’s beneﬁ t was sedition.
  All this ended in the Contagion. Sorcerers ﬂ ed dis-
  integrating government bureaucracies, able (or forced) 
  to rely once more on their own power to preserve their 
  lives. More than one sorcerer used his magic to build a 
  sanctuary from the horrors of the Contagion. Some of 
  A COMMENT FROM CHEJOP KEJAK, 
  LEADER OF THE BRONZE FACTION
  “Yes, we have all beneﬁ ted from the 
  Salinan Working—but ponder the sheer arro-
  gance required to tamper with Creation’s very 
  nature! Salina’s success inspired other sorcerers 
  to plan other Workings, seeking to reshape 
  all Creation to their will. They would have 
  made Creation darker than the Underworld, 
  more twisted than Malfeas—if they didn’t tear 
  it apart in their struggle to see whose vision 
  would triumph.
  “They had to die. All of them, even the 
  ones like Salina herself, who thought they 
  acted from the purest motives. As every sor-
  cerer learns, the ﬁ nal wisdom is sacriﬁ ce. We 
  made our sacriﬁ ce.”
  
  14
  these sorcerous refugees died and can still be found in 
  their long-forgotten, ruined hermitages along with their 
  arcane lore.
  THE AGE OF SORROWS
  Sorcery saved the world; or at least the Empress used 
  the greatest artifact of Old Realm sorcery, the Realm 
  Defense Grid locked in the Imperial Manse, to do so. A 
  century and a half later, Creation trembled before the 
  maniacal sorcerer Bagrash Köl, who forged an empire 
  of magic in the North. Bagrash Köl, however, likewise 
  relied on a mysterious artifact of the Old Realm. Unlike 
  the Empress, he could not control his borrowed power, 
  and his empire vanished in a cataclysm as mysterious 
  as it was total.
  All in all, the practice of sorcery has greatly declined, 
  even from the Shogunate period. A few academies still 
  preserve and teach what lore they can, but even the 
  great libraries of the Heptagram and Valkhawsen are 
  tattered fragments of the lore once held at the Sixfold 
  Tower. Many sorcerers answer to no one, and ﬁ ght 
  over scraps of knowledge like vultures at the carcass of 
  the First Age’s power. Sorcery remains valued when it 
  serves the state, as it does in Lookshy or the Realm. In 
  most parts of Creation, however, the individual sorcerer 
  inspires fear among the common folk. It doesn’t help 
  that the most powerful sorcerers are all Anathema. 
  Anyone who wants to learn the higher secrets of magic 
  must seek out sorcerers who wish to be found only by 
  their own kind.
  THE BLESSED ISLE
  On the Blessed Isle, sorcery is common but not 
  much discussed. The academy called the Heptagram 
  turns out many skilled Dragon-Blooded sorcerers. 
  Exceptional students of the Realm’s elite military 
  academy, the House of Bells, also learn limited sorcery 
  for use in warfare.
  Moreover, many of the Dragon-Blooded “dabble” 
  in sorcery, seeking only to learn a few utilitarian 
  spells. An experienced occultist can design tests just 
  challenging enough to send dabblers through the Five 
  Ordeals without forcing them to dedicate their entire 
  lives to sorcery.
  The Realm strictly regulates all summoning of 
  spirits. Any sorcerer registered to cast the appropriate 
  spells has tacit approval to summon up to three demons 
  or elementals without inquiry. Any more requires per-
  mission from superiors within one’s organization, be it 
  a Great House or a place of employment or learning. 
  Superiors within an organization are held responsible 
  for any mischief caused by such spirits, so they watch 
  summoners carefully.
  The Immaculate Order acknowledges the right of 
  the Exalted to command elementals and demons but 
  fears that excessive use of spirits will lure a sorcerer away 
  from righteousness. Elementals have a speciﬁ c function 
  in the Terrestrial Hierarchy, and keeping them from that 
  duty to fulﬁ ll menial tasks is arrogant at best—blasphe-
  mous at worst. Demons… are demons.
  The Thousand Scales maintains the White Registry, 
  an ofﬁ ce that records which Realm citizens know even 
  a single spell. By law, sorcerers must travel to the White 
  Registry’s ofﬁ ce in the Imperial City and update their 
  dossier each time they learn a new spell. Sorcerers are 
  seldom arrested just for an unregistered spell, though. 
  Rather, a sorcerer accused of other crimes might face 
  this additional charge if investigation provides evidence 
  of an unregistered spell.
  Also by law, every sorcerer on the White Registry 
  must fulﬁ ll a single Obligation to the Realm. Once 
  in a sorcerer’s life, the Empress or the Deliberative 
  may demand any single task of the sorcerer, who must 
  fulﬁ ll it without promise of reward and then never 
  speak of it again.
  THE MNEMON DARIK SOCIETY
  This society operates as a mutual aid and lore-
  sharing fraternity for its initiates. Its founder, Mnemon 
  Darik (named for a great Devonian sorcerer), works for 
  the White Registry. He washed out of the Heptagram 
  in his youth, and his family heard he’d never amount 
  to anything as a sorcerer. In the years since, Darik 
  became one of the more competent sorcerers on the 
  Blessed Isle. His spies in the Heptagram notify him 
  about students who are expelled or simply fail. Darik 
  takes great delight in bringing them into his society 
  and tutoring them in sorcery.
  THE SCAVENGER LANDS AND THE EAST
  The Scavenger Lands, where the gods do not 
  hesitate to interact with mortals, hold many God-
  Blooded sorcerers. Unlike in the Realm—where the 
  term “sorcerer” tends to imply a Dragon-Blooded 
  practitioner—people do not assume that all sorcerers 
  are Exalted.
  In the high forests of the East, strange spirits whisper 
  secrets to shamans with the blood of gods, Dragons or 
  Lunars running through their veins, or both maddened 
  and enlightened by the Wyld. The shamans of the far 
  forests have mastered spells known to no one else.
  
  15
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  THE SORCERERS OF LOOKSHY
  The sorcerers of Lookshy form the last bastion of 
  the Shogunate’s conception of sorcerers as public ser-
  vants. Sorcerer-exorcists, called sohei, are all initiates 
  of Lookshy’s Immaculate Faith. Lookshy’s great academy 
  also trains numerous sorcerer-engineers to maintain 
  the city’s famous arsenal of magitech weapons. The 
  Seventh Legion calls on them both to serve the state 
  in peace and war.
  THE SECRET THUNDERS LODGE OF GREAT FORKS
  The Secret Thunders Lodge is an informal brother-
  hood of sorcerers who learn from a Lunar Exalt called 
  Anointed Starfall. This No Moon Caste seeks to build a 
  powerful network to assist his endeavors. Although the 
  Wyld Hunt knows about this brotherhood, Anointed 
  Starfall has the blessing of the Three in his 
  endeavors, and they use their inﬂ uence to 
  help keep him hidden. The lodge’s name has 
  no real signiﬁ cance; the Lunar just thought 
  it sounded impressive.
  Anointed Starfall teaches sorcery to just 
  about anyone capable of learning it and can 
  even enlighten mortals to the ways of Essence. 
  Students must pay him with a new piece of 
  sorcerous lore or artifact, or they must take 
  a sorcerously bound oath to perform any one 
  duty he requests of them. Anyone who learns 
  Celestial Circle Sorcery from him must take 
  his oath a second time. All students must 
  take an oath not to reveal his whereabouts 
  or identity. Once they graduate from his 
  tutelage, they do not aid him in teaching or 
  recruiting. Only Anointed Starfall knows all 
  his students, and thanks to his shapechang-
  ing abilities, he doesn’t appear the same to 
  all the lodge’s members.
  THE NORTH
  Sorcery is rare in the North, though some 
  lore-hunters do ﬁ nd entire spells locked in the 
  matrices of large crystals. These formations 
  project words upon the wall when the anima 
  of a Celestial Exalt shines through the crystal, 
  displaying the means of casting the spell. Most 
  sorcerers here are outcaste Dragon-Bloods 
  and the occasional God-Blood.
  THE HASLANTI WIND-SAVANTS
  These God-Blooded and Terrestrial 
  Exalted masters of ﬂ ight and weather magic 
  serve the Haslanti League. While they pri-
  marily concern themselves with assisting one another 
  and accomplishing communal projects, they receive an 
  annual stipend from the Oligarchs of the League. In 
  return, they offer new insights and sorcerous service to 
  the League. The Wind-Savants maintain a pact with 
  the Court of Frost-Touched Amber, a court of air and 
  wood elementals within the Haslanti League proper.
  THE SOUTH
  The strange, burning wastes of the Far South hold 
  many mysteries. Magics based around ﬁ redust and open 
  ﬂ ame, the secrets of ifrits and garda birds, and occult 
  mysteries screamed on desert winds are the norm here. 
  Sorcerers are often mad hermits, dwelling far from 
  civilized men.
  
  16
  THE SEERS OF VARANG
  Like the society within which they dwell, the 
  secretive Seers of Varang focus on divination and 
  astrological sorceries. Most of them are God-Blooded 
  and the occasional outcaste Dragon-Blood not spirited 
  away by Varangia’s Realm allies. The seers are tremen-
  dously skilled clockwork-makers and astrologers. Several 
  Sidereal Exalted use resplendent destinies to maintain 
  membership among these seers, preventing them from 
  learning too much about the heavens while watching 
  for innovative fusions of magic and mechanism.
  THE WEST
  The depths of the West hold many strange secrets. 
  Many a God-Blooded or outcaste Dragon-Blooded sor-
  cerer practices techniques of sorcery found etched on 
  ancient sea caves by the wind and water, or whispered in 
  the embraces of sea spirits. The prevalence of the Wyld 
  enables mortal would-be sorcerers to seek a particularly 
  dangerous enlightenment as well: Quite a few Western 
  sorcerers bear marks of Wyld mutation.
  THE CHILDREN OF THE STORM
  These God-Blooded witches are a dozen or so sons 
  and daughters of gods and elementals found throughout 
  the West. Their founder is a storm mother’s daughter. 
  Though many of these sorcerers still serve their par-
  ents, the Children of the Storm know that they have 
  tremendous potential. They have claimed the Keys of 
  Matscha, a trio of islands in the eastern Neck, and they 
  rule it from the mountain-peak that overlooks all three. 
  They have compacts with the local storm mother and 
  with other spirits of the sea.
  YU-SHAN
  Gods and Sidereals aplenty practice sorcery, but they 
  are not the only sorcerers found in Yu-Shan. The Forbid-
  ding Manse of Ivy has no monopoly on the Great Art.
  THE FRATERNITY OF SARUVANIS
  Saruvanis was an ancient God-Blooded sorcerer who 
  gathered other God-Bloods who dwelled in Yu-Shan as 
  servants of their parents. This brotherhood began as a 
  group of young, radical God-Blooded sorcerers making 
  trouble on the streets of Yu-Shan. It evolved into a serious 
  occult society when Saruvanis received an Endowment 
  at the end of his natural life span and became a god.
  Among other mysteries, the modern fraternity seeks 
  to understand the origins and nature of sorcery. They 
  notice that there is no god of sorcery in all of Yu-Shan. 
  Long ago, Saruvanis observed that all things in Cre-
  ation have a god associated with them, from the most 
  abstract to the most solid. From this curious exception, 
  he concluded that sorcery is not of Creation.
  BECOMING A SORCERER
  To become a sorcerer, it is not enough to simply study 
  the occult. Certainly, that will earn the seeker some skill 
  in the thaumaturgies of mortals and, if an Exalt, perhaps 
  some Charms that grant trafﬁ c with spirits or other esoteric 
  endeavors, but that isn’t sorcery. The greater magic of sor-
  cery demands much more from its practitioners—perhaps 
  even a complete transformation of one’s very soul.
  ESSENCE
  The ﬁ rst requirement of sorcery is Essence. Sorcery 
  requires access to a lot of Essence. Even a minor spell 
  consumes more Essence than the average Charm. A 
  would-be sorcerer has no hope of learning the Great Art 
  until she gains a ﬁ rm and powerful grip on the Essence 
  of Creation. The Celestial Exalted gain this power with 
  relative ease. The Dragon-Blooded have to work at it. 
  The God-Blooded and other un-Exalted mortals who 
  somehow learn to channel Essence must work for years 
  or decades before they gain the necessary power.
  OCCULT KNOWLEDGE
  Everyone knows that sorcerers learn a great deal of 
  esoteric knowledge. For mortals, the Occult Ability rep-
  resents knowledge of the supernatural world: the names 
  of spirits and the protocols to avoid their pique; words, 
  symbols, gestures and substances reputed to protect against 
  disease or confer good luck; signs and omens that indicate 
  changing currents of fate; myths and legends to explain 
  aspects of Creation. Thaumaturges can squeeze dribs and 
  drabs of magical power from such knowledge.
  The Ability has a different meaning for beings who 
  channel Essence. Occult knowledge gives them formulas 
  and patterns for applying the power they already have 
  in plenty. They do not just paint a sign in hopes it will 
  keep a hostile spirit away from their barn, for example. 
  They force Essence into the sign and use it to scourge 
  the spirit to its core.
  Or perhaps that sign and a few other elements. Many 
  spells incorporate the Essence-patterns of two, three or 
  even more symbols, mudras, words and the like, carefully 
  woven together. Casting a spell is like building a house 
  of cards, balancing forces and structures of Essence to 
  form a coherent whole. A sorcerer who invents a spell 
  not only has to select the right elements, but she must 
  ﬁ gure out how to interlock their patterns of Essence.
  
  17
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  Would-be sorcerers sometimes imagine they can 
  gain occult power through mere rote learning, memoriz-
  ing the signiﬁ cance of hundreds of symbols and magic 
  words. It isn’t that easy, however. A sorcerer must 
  understand all her lore. Knowing that the Azure Sign 
  signiﬁ es the power of Air doesn’t mean you can com-
  mand the winds, for example. A sorcerer must spend 
  weeks watching the wind blow tree-branches, rising 
  smoke, clouds and bits of ﬂ uff, learning all the ways air 
  can move, until she understands how all those motions 
  are coded into the Azure Sign. Only then can she use 
  Essence and the Sign to direct the winds herself—and 
  learn Calling the Wind’s Kiss (see pp. 39=40).
  INITIATION: THE FIVE ORDEALS
  Anyone educated well enough to become a sorcerer 
  already knows he must undergo ﬁ ve ordeals or challenges. 
  Lay people sometimes imagine a god tests would-be 
  sorcerers and grants them magical powers if they are 
  “worthy.” True savants know, however, that the ordeals 
  are far from arbitrary: If you can’t pass these challenges, 
  you didn’t want sorcery enough and don’t have the 
  insight to understand spellcasting anyway. Indeed, the 
  challenges are also exercises to develop the will, intuition 
  and subtle perceptions needed for sorcery.
  A mentor might lead apprentices through the 
  ordeals. Sorcerous academies often include boards of 
  masters who design suitable challenges. The Heptagram, 
  for instance, has its Gathering of Inquiry and Ordeal. 
  Many sorcerers initiate themselves, however, as the 
  First Sorcerer did—thanks to the Salinan Working. A 
  self-taught sorcerer often looks back and realizes that 
  experiences that seemed random or unimportant at 
  the time actually put her through one of the ordeals. 
  Sometimes, these experiences came before Exaltation. 
  Some mystics say Creation is full of potential sorcerers 
  who have proven their will and insight through the Five 
  Ordeals—but merely lack command of Essence.
  Four of the ordeals can take place in any order. 
  Their listing as “ﬁ rst” or “third” is merely tradition. 
  The Ordeal of Sacriﬁ ce, however, always comes last. 
  At its completion, some omen may announce the ap-
  pearance of another sorcerer: a shooting star, say, or a 
  sudden storm or a gathering of birds.
  THE STATION OF HUMILITY
  The Dawn Quest, the Lesson of Wood, the Initiation 
  of Serenity, the Station of the Mantle
  Mastery of sorcery gives reason for pride, but the 
  would-be sorcerer must ﬁ rst learn humility. Sorcerous 
  mentors might inﬂ ict insults and menial labor, leaving 
  the apprentice to wonder if he will ever be taught magic. 
  A would-be sorcerer must want this achievement for its 
  own sake, rather than for what it can get her. Power-lust, 
  obligation, revenge and similar motivations distract from 
  the total concentration needed to learn the Great Art.
  The Dawn Caste of the First Age found this ordeal 
  the hardest: They were used to commanding obedience. 
  Dragon-Blooded teach this as the Lesson of Wood, in 
  which a sorcerer learns to bend in adversity like a ﬂ ex-
  ible branch in a storm. Sidereals call it the Initiation of 
  Serenity, for sorcerers must embody the calm acceptance 
  of the Maiden in Azure. It also is called the Station of 
  the Mantle, because when the First Sorcerer assumed 
  DIVINE INTERVENTION?
  Many spells summon spirits or call on powers 
  of elementals, the Maidens or other potent enti-
  ties. Spells also frequently include signs, words 
  and sacred gestures used by gods. Nevertheless, 
  the spells do not require the active consent of 
  those deities. The Elemental Dragons and the 
  Incarnae are tangible beings, yes—but they are 
  also impersonal forces active throughout Creation, 
  whose power may be tapped at will, and the god 
  can’t stop it. After all, the Unconquered Sun ap-
  parently didn’t stop degenerate Solars of the Old 
  Realm from using his power in spells. Sorcerers 
  gain their powers from personal ability—not 
  from gods—and they can turn it to any use their 
  conscience permits.
  This is not always true of necromancy—as 
  The Black Treatise reveals.
  WILLPOWER
  The ﬁ nal requirement for sorcery is force of will. 
  Essence doesn’t naturally ﬂ ow in the patterns needed 
  for a spell. The sorcerer must grasp the twisting ﬂ ows of 
  Essence with her will and force them into new shapes. 
  This special, focused effort of will is perhaps the most 
  mysterious aspect of spellcasting. The effort of will 
  needed to cast a spell is not just a matter of wanting 
  something a lot, nor is it a matter of sheer stubbornness. 
  It requires a depth and focus of concentration most 
  people can hardly imagine—even most channelers 
  of Essence. Strangest of all, every sorcerer attains this 
  force of will the same way, through the Five Ordeals. 
  Without these ﬁ ve experiences, all the raw power of 
  Essence and the most encyclopedic occult knowledge 
  are worthless.
  
  18
  her mantle she set aside her self-pity and accepted her 
  destiny. To sorcerers, the mantle represents authority 
  and responsibility as a shaper of Creation.
  THE STATION OF TUTELAGE
  The Zenith Quest, the Lesson of Air, the Initiation of 
  Secrets, the Station of the Girdle
  Sorcery requires knowledge of many secret things. 
  This includes more than formal study. A would-be 
  sorcerer also seeks the mystic import of their concepts 
  and experiences. A general might see the ebb and ﬂ ow 
  of his troops in war and understand how Essence ﬂ ows 
  through Creation; the glassblower might comprehend 
  the shaping of Essence into fragile yet potent patterns 
  as he creates his masterpiece.
  The Zenith Castes of the First Age were accustomed 
  to being priests and teachers, rather than sitting still and 
  learning from others. The Dragon-Blooded teach that a 
  sorcerer’s knowledge is like the wind, all-penetrating and 
  unseen, yet powerful. The Sidereals call this the Initiation 
  of Secrets, for a sorcerer must hunger for the hidden pat-
  terns of Essence that guide Creation, the domain of the 
  Maiden in Green. This is also the Station of the Girdle, 
  wherein the First Sorcerer learned the lore of Shaping. 
  For many sorcerers, the girdle represents restraint and 
  control, both of Creation and of self: The sorcerer not 
  only wields power, she knows when to use it.
  THE STATION OF JOURNEY
  The Twilight Quest, the Lesson of Water, the Initiation 
  of Journeys, the Station of the Sword
  A sorcerer must move beyond her familiar sur-
  roundings and experiences to see Creation in new ways. 
  Although sometimes understanding comes at the end of 
  travel, often the journey itself grants wisdom. Teachers 
  often assign apprentices to travel somewhere, either 
  as part of delivering something, or on a quest of some 
  sort. Those without masters look back on the journeys 
  they have undertaken and understand the value of the 
  lessons they learned along the way.
  Ensconced in the great libraries and academies of 
  the Old Realm, few Twilight savants desired to travel 
  very far. After all, what would the world reveal that was 
  not recorded already? And yet, experiences not found 
  in books were exactly what they needed. The Dragon-
  Blooded teach that as swift water travels through an 
  area, changing it and being changed in turn, so too must 
  the apprentice travel and be changed; this is the Lesson 
  of Water. Sidereals call this the Initiation of Journeys, 
  for the Maiden in Yellow teaches that some lore is 
  found only in moments of transition. Other sorcerers 
  call this the Station of the Sword, the razor’s edge of 
  experience and danger. After a long journey, the First 
  Sorcerer took up the Sword of her experience and used 
  it to protect herself from that day forward. The sword 
  represents the will to persevere, no matter how long 
  or difﬁ cult the challenge.
  THE STATION OF FEAR
  The Night Quest, the Lesson of Earth, the Initiation 
  of Battles, the Station of the Bindi
  Like any man, a sorcerer can ﬁ nd his will frozen 
  by fear. Therefore, he must conquer it. Great mentors 
  need cunning, deep insight and subterfuge to discern 
  what their students fear and to guide them through a 
  confrontation. The self-initiated eventually realize that 
  an act of courage on their part helped give them the 
  conﬁ dence to become a sorcerer.
  Many of the First Age Night Caste were more 
  accustomed to rousing fears than facing their own. 
  Dragon-Blooded mentors teach that the earth suf-
  fers cataclysms and disaster in the form of storms and 
  earthquakes, yet remains unmoved. So, too, must the 
  student stand unmoved in the face of terror. Sidereals 
  call this the Initiation of Battles, learning to confront 
  fear as a soldier must confront his enemy on the ﬁ eld 
  of war; so teaches the Maiden in Crimson. The legend 
  of the First Sorcerer calls this the Station of the Bindi, 
  the gemstone that marks the brow. It highlights the 
  caste mark (or simulates one, for un-Exalted sorcer-
  ers), a symbolic third eye to remind enemies that the 
  sorcerer perceives all the secret forces of Creation and 
  therefore fears nothing.
  THE STATION OF SACRIFICE
  The Eclipse Quest, the Lesson of Fire, the Initiation 
  of Endings, the Station of the Phoenix
  Sorcery makes demands that cannot be denied. Af-
  ter a sorcerer completes the other four ordeals, he must 
  choose between advancing his knowledge or something 
  else: the love of a paramour or family member; keeping 
  his wealth; having a ﬁ nger bitten off by a rampaging 
  demon; or some other loss. Masters can arrange these 
  ordeals for their students, but the sacriﬁ ce often happens 
  of its own accord. Students in sorcerous academies suffer 
  accidents as part of their learning, are forced to cut off 
  lovers or family members who don’t understand their 
  obsession with the occult, or a hundred other events. 
  Likewise, sorcerers without masters generally look back 
  and see where they have made their sacriﬁ ce.
  Exalts who transcend the Terrestrial Circle of sor-
  cery must render up another, greater sacriﬁ ce at each 
  
  19
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  new circle. These sacriﬁ ces often follow the same theme. 
  A sorcerer who gives up her lover might later see her 
  husband and children leave her, and then ﬁ nally choose 
  between mastering Solar Circle Sorcery or letting one 
  of her children die. These decisions are never easy to 
  make. Those that are easy are not truly sacriﬁ ces.
  Giving something up was hardest for Eclipses of 
  the Old Realm, who were used to getting their way. 
  Sacriﬁ ce transcends negotiation; it is all or nothing. 
  Dragon-Blooded sorcerers learn the Lesson of Fire: The 
  things the student treasures are like ore, sacriﬁ ced to 
  the forge-ﬁ re to create something greater. Sidereals call 
  this the Initiation of Endings, where the former self 
  ends so a new self may begin, as the Maiden in Violet 
  teaches. In the Cycle of the First Sorcerer, the Phoenix 
  hatching from the crystal egg symbolizes the sorcerer’s 
  burning new existence as a master of magic. But the 
  Phoenix is only born after it dies, and likewise, some 
  part of the self must be sacriﬁ ced before the sorcerer 
  may rise, ﬂ aming, into the sky.
  SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
  Everyone knows that the world is composed of Essence, 
  but what is Essence? Some sorcerers—indeed, most—don’t 
  concern themselves with that question. They learn how to 
  shape it, and feel that further comprehension is unneces-
  sary—or impossible. But sorcerers who devote their lives 
  to the Great Art are not so easily satisﬁ ed. They seek to 
  comprehend the deepest truths of the world and thereby 
  read the thoughts of its Primordial creators.
  It seems, however, that those deepest truths depend 
  on the eye of the beholder. Many dedicated sorcerous 
  theorists have uncovered the “true” nature of Essence. 
  Some have proved their beliefs correct through the 
  spells they devised, and a few sorcerers have possessed 
  the charisma and drive necessary to gather followers 
  and spread their gospel. Different powerful and intimate 
  experiences of Essence have thus formed the bases for 
  individual sorcerous schools that have grown through 
  the Ages—all of them demonstrating equally valid, 
  equally potent forms of enlightenment.
  LEARNING FROM A SCHOOL
  As a sorcerer learns more about Essence, she forms 
  ideas about its nature. Eventually, if she persists long 
  enough and isn’t persuaded by the beliefs of another, she 
  will hammer out her own uniﬁ ed theory. Growing wiser 
  and becoming set in her ways, she applies her experi-
  ence, demonstrating how best to use the Essence she 
  understands so well. Her uniﬁ ed beliefs and principles 
  comprise a new school. The average sorcerer, however, 
  won’t invent her own school. Either she’ll never question 
  the ﬁ rst one she ﬁ nds, or she’ll ﬁ nd one that resonates 
  with her strongly enough to adopt.
  Students of every school cast spells in more or less 
  the same way. A Heptagram graduate steeped in Silur’s 
  school makes the same gestures and says the same words 
  as a No Moon Lunar trained in Salinan ways. Their 
  animas ﬂ are the same way, too. The schools differ in 
  their interpretations of why sorcery works.
  The millennia have seen dozens of schools, but al-
  most all were inﬂ uenced by the views of three incredibly 
  famous, long-dead sorcerers: Devon, Salina and Silur. 
  Theirs were not the ﬁ rst or only sorcerous schools, but 
  they’re certainly the most inﬂ uential.
  DEVONIAN
  The school of Devon takes an analytical, experi-
  mental approach to sorcery. Its founder believed the 
  universality of sorcery—how spells give the same result 
  whether cast by Dragon-Blood, Celestial Exalt, god or 
  enlightened mortal—pointed to principles that underlie 
  all Essence manipulation. He proposed that Essence is 
  the laws of Creation: Things fall down unless something 
  holds them up; for every action, there is an equal and 
  opposite reaction. He was convinced that, with enough 
  examination, he could discover every law and reﬁ ne 
  them all to one world-deﬁ ning principle—the master 
  law by which the Primordials ordained Creation itself. 
  Devon regarded spirits as subject to Creation’s deepest 
  laws rather than deﬁ ning them, which would make 
  spirits just another subject for experimentation.
  In the Old Realm, Devon’s followers closely com-
  pared the Charms that Exalts, gods and other creatures 
  used to accomplish a speciﬁ c feat, such as creating a ﬁ re 
  or controlling a mind. They also studied in detail how 
  natural or supernatural materials reacted to different 
  forms of Essence. To record and analyze their ﬁ ndings, 
  they turned to numbers and geometry, and invented 
  esoteric new forms of mathematics.
  Modern sorcery owes its reliability to the school 
  of Devon. Most spells always work; they do not fail by 
  chance or unpredictable outside inﬂ uence. The school’s 
  greatest inﬂ uence, however, lay in sorcerous engineering. 
  Motonic physics and other arcane sciences were largely 
  Devonian creations; the school excelled at crafting 
  wonders. Virtually everything known about magitech 
  in the Second Age comes from Devonian studies. True 
  Devonian sorcery fared less well, since Shogunate and 
  Second Age sorcerers often care more about immediate 
  results than precise understanding of Creation.
  
  20
  No books by Devon himself survive. After sev-
  eral centuries as the head of the great academy at 
  Sperimin—and one of the most prestigious sorcerers in 
  Creation—this careful, methodical, supremely rational 
  man cast a spell that destroyed every copy of his books 
  in Creation. He then gave his academy to his longtime 
  rival theorist, Salina, and dropped out of sight. By the 
  Usurpation, he was presumed dead.
  SALINAN
  The school of Salina agreed with Devon that 
  sorcery revealed fundamental truths about Creation, 
  but it rejected his analytical approach. Salina con-
  ceptualized the world as one vast mind: Creation is 
  one entity, she proclaimed, and Essence is how it thinks. 
  The physical comprises the world’s logical structures, 
  the insubstantial its ideals—and living things are ex-
  pressions of its inspiration. She regarded the Incarna 
  Gaia as a mask or mouthpiece for Creation, but not 
  Creation’s mind itself. Everything is connected, she 
  told her followers. Sorcery gave individuals a limited 
  inﬂ uence over the whole.
  Salina’s followers believe that Creation itself is the 
  best source of occult knowledge. Anything might reveal 
  powerful new ways to shape Essence and so participate 
  more fully in the mind of Creation. Followers weave 
  strands of Essence as a bird builds a nest, or they set 
  currents ﬂ ickering in their animas like a ﬁ re spirit danc-
  ing in its ﬂ ame. Their study of the interconnectedness 
  of Creation made Salina’s school peculiarly adept at 
  sorcery that affects the natural world, while its attempts 
  to commune with Creation’s thoughts led to many spells 
  for probing and inﬂ uencing lesser minds.
  The Salinan Working was, of course, the school’s 
  greatest achievement. A few mystical sorcerers opine 
  that if Creation didn’t have a consciousness before the 
  Working, it does now. Self-initiated sorcerers tend to 
  follow Salinan ways, just because the Working leads 
  them in that direction.
  The school’s founder preferred ﬁ eldwork to the lab 
  work and factional politics that obsessed many of her 
  Twilight Caste colleagues. Most of her early disciples 
  were Lunars, until Devon surprised everyone (especially 
  Salina) by making her his successor—incidentally 
  giving her the resources and credibility to perform the 
  Working. Salina also instituted the Calibration feast for 
  Solar Circle masters, as a time to put aside the cares and 
  rivalries of power… and incidentally make sure no one 
  summoned Third Circle demons to pollute the thoughts 
  of Creation. Salina herself died in the Usurpation. The 
  
  21
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  Sidereal conspirators selected her yearly feast as the 
  occasion when the largest number of Solars would be 
  together and off their guard.
  SILURIAN
  The last great theorist of sorcery thought sorcery 
  deﬁ ed Creation rather than revealed deeper truths about 
  it. Silur saw herself as upholding both the ancient tradi-
  tions of Brigid and a strict empiricism. Other sorcerers, 
  however, saw philosophical and mystical implications 
  in her work.
  Silur developed a system to represent spells as col-
  lections of symbols, each representing some quality of 
  the spell’s manifested result: a form, an element, the 
  resonance of a ritual tool, the direction of energy ﬂ ow, or 
  other properties. A sorcerer extracted these archetypal 
  qualities from Creation, but built new combinations such 
  as obsidian butterﬂ ies or skin transformed to bronze. 
  Each spell was like a sentence composed of these abstract 
  qualities, assembled according to a particular grammar. If 
  Silur saw a deeper meaning in this grammar of symbols, 
  she did not say so. She said her system merely offered 
  a convenient way to describe spells.
  Most sorcerers accepted Silur’s work at once. Her 
  grammar of qualities made spells easier to research and 
  to teach than ever before. Virtually all sorcery now uses 
  Silurian concepts to some degree. Archaic forms were 
  updated: For instance, summoned “chariots” became 
  comfortable coaches or carriages.
  Some disciples, however, compare the way sorcery 
  can mix and match the forms and qualities of Creation to 
  the similar transpositions found in the Wyld or among the 
  glamours of the Fair Folk. They believe the Primordials 
  imposed an arbitrary order on Creation by pure will and 
  the sorcerer reaches beyond Creation to impose a new 
  order in accordance to her own will, albeit on a smaller 
  scale. Silurians also use ritual tools and procedures some-
  what more than other sorcerers, since they believe the 
  structure of ritual helps impose order on the chaos that 
  could result from breaking Creation’s order. Yet, while 
  Silurian sorcerers have invented many minor variations 
  on existing spells—for instance, summoning automaton 
  servants from water instead of earth—they are not espe-
  cially good at inventing new spells from scratch.
  Silur, too, died in the Usurpation. She survived 
  the Calibration feast massacre and slew a full dozen 
  Sidereal martial arts masters before she fell.
  ABSORPTION CHARMS
  A sorcerer who devotes her life to a school studies its 
  theory in depth and strives to see Creation in its terms 
  can develop special powers. These powers are not spells, 
  though they can enhance the character’s spellcasting. 
  Like the Sorcery Charms themselves, they represent 
  permanent changes to a character’s enlightenment, 
  rather than powers she must spend Essence to activate. 
  Because a sorcerer must absorb a school’s tenets until 
  they become second nature—or be absorbed by them, 
  perhaps—they are called Absorption Charms.
  Any sorcerer can learn an Absorption Charm. Like 
  sorcery itself, these Charms work the same way for every 
  sort of Essence channeler and all have the same prerequi-
  sites. However, the player should also try to roleplay his 
  character’s commitment to her school’s way of thinking 
  about sorcery and Creation. Absorption Charms are 
  optional, and Storytellers do not have to allow them, to 
  either individual characters or their series as a whole.
  A character can learn only one Absorption Charm, 
  for one school. Any sorcerer who masters a school so 
  completely can no longer think in terms of any other 
  school, at least where sorcery is concerned. You can’t 
  unlearn an Absorption, either. Some sorcerers delib-
  erately avoid learning an Absorption because they fear 
  limiting themselves.
  While mystic theoreticians agree that new Ab-
  sorptions are possible, no one has created one since 
  the Old Realm. It’s hard to ﬁ nd really new approaches 
  to sorcery, when the old ones work so well and are so 
  widely taught. Sorcerers with the insight and will to 
  pioneer new schools usually just ﬁ nd new ways of using 
  known principles. Still… a sorcerer who could invent a 
  new school, to the point of creating a new Absorption, 
  would gain eternal fame in the sorcerous community. 
  Even rediscovering a school lost since the Old Realm 
  would be a great achievement.
  THE FOUNDERS TODAY?
  Both Sidereal factions, several gods and even 
  a few Lunar sorcerers would like to know who 
  now bears the Exaltations of Devon, Salina and 
  Silur. So do the sorcerously inclined Deathlords. 
  Exaltations carry some memories and aptitudes 
  from past mortal hosts… so the three greatest 
  sorcerers from the First Age could become the 
  greatest sorcerers of the Second. Solars suspected 
  of bearing a school founder’s Exaltation might 
  ﬁ nd many powerful people taking interest in their 
  lives—or deaths. Unfortunately, some evidence 
  suggests that at least one founder’s Exaltation is 
  corrupted and held by a deathknight.
  
  22
  DEVONIAN, SALINAN OR SILURIAN ABSORPTION
  Cost: —; Mins: Occult 5, one other Ability 3, Essence 5; 
  Type: Permanent
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Permanent
  Prerequisites: Terrestrial Circle Sorcery, 5+ spells
  Each Absorption—Devonian, Salinan or Silu-
  rian—offers characters a choice of special abilities. The 
  player picks two. Storytellers can invent more powers 
  for the three Absorptions, if they like. If this beneﬁ t 
  seems too powerful for a series, Storytellers can restrict 
  characters to one power per Absorption, or raise the 
  Essence prerequisite to 6.
  Devonian: A Devonian master must believe in the 
  repeatable, calculable nature of Essence and the power of 
  careful observation, logic and experiment. She also must 
  conduct extensive experiments in natural and supernatu-
  ral science, adding a further minimum of Lore 3.
  • Manse and artifact attunements are repeatable 
  experiments. With a successful (Intelligence + Lore) roll, 
  difﬁ culty ([Manse or Artifact rating] x 2), the sorcerer can 
  attune to such a thing in 20 ticks instead of the usual 20 
  minutes or so. If she ever succeeds on the roll for a given 
  object, thereafter she always succeeds again.
  • When a Devonian master analyzes a supernatural 
  effect, her player’s (Intelligence + Occult) roll becomes 
  extended. Each roll represents a week of research and 
  experiment. Given time, she can probably puzzle out 
  any supernatural effect. A single botched roll means the 
  analysis ends in failure—even the Absorption cannot 
  solve every puzzle of Essence—and Excellencies do not 
  apply. The gradual, systematic analysis rules out the ﬂ ashes 
  of supernatural genius the Excellencies represent.
  • Deep study of each spell helps a Devonian master 
  cast spells despite interruptions. When the character’s 
  Shape Sorcery action is disrupted, she may reﬂ exively 
  apply any Occult Excellency she knows to the (Wits + 
  Occult) roll to carry on with spellcasting.
  Salinan: A Salinan master demonstrates belief that 
  everyone is an individual thought in a universal conscious-
  ness, and that all Essence ﬂ ows most freely in its natural 
  state. Such characters can see meaning and connections in 
  the most surprising things. A Salinan master requires at least 
  Awareness 3 to represent her sensitivity to Creation.
  • Understanding that her self is simultaneously hers 
  alone and part of Creation’s own nonlocal consciousness, 
  the Salinan master can use Emerald Countermagic 
  against any unnatural mental inﬂ uence, as long as it is 
  backed by an Essence or Artifact rating no higher than 
  half her own (round up).
  • A Salinan master can pull information from 
  nowhere (or maybe from the Salinan Working). When-
  ever his player rolls a threshold of ﬁ ve successes on any 
  Perception or Intelligence roll, the Storyteller imparts 
  a piece of relevant, important information.
  • Everything is connected to everything else. A 
  Salinan master can apply Creation’s wholeness to arcane 
  links. She can substitute one arcane link for any other 
  to the same subject, no matter what a spell’s description 
  says. (She could use a lock of a victim’s hair, for instance, 
  rather than the required drop of his blood.) What’s 
  more, with three different arcane links to a person or 
  place, she can use them to target any spell.
  Silurian: A Silurian master believes Creation is 
  an arbitrary system of interacting symbols that he can 
  manipulate through its syntax. These sorcerers tend to 
  see everything in terms of symbols and communication: 
  map and territory, call and response, rhetoric and games. 
  Their Absorption requires Linguistics 3 or better.
  • A Silurian master can block the powers of the 
  Fair Folk, who likewise treat Creation as a ﬁ ction they 
  change at will. A Silurian master can use Emerald Coun-
  termagic against any Fair Folk Charm or glamour backed 
  by Essence no higher than her own (round up).
  • Silurian masters excel at recombining the symbolic 
  components of spells. The character can invent new 
  versions of spells he knows, changing one aspect of its 
  manifestation such as the shape of its area, its manifested 
  substance or its elemental source—but the Essence cost 
  stays the same and the new version cannot offer any net 
  advantage. (For instance, Death of Silver Butterﬂ ies offers 
  ﬁ nancial advantage, but doesn’t make the spell more ef-
  fective as a spell.) The variation costs the character half 
  the experience of learning a truly new spell. Characters 
  who don’t already know the original spell or lack Silurian 
  training pay full cost for the variant spell.
  • A Silurian master can break symbolic connections 
  to herself. If her player succeeds at a reﬂ exive (Wits + 
  Essence) roll, with a difﬁ culty of the attacking sorcerer’s 
  Essence, the character breaks the arcane link before the 
  spell can affect her.
  WHO LEARNS SORCERY
  Different supernatural societies view sorcery 
  through different eyes, but all acknowledge its power. 
  Expert sorcerers are in a different league from casual 
  ones. Quite a few Lunar and Dragon-Blooded elders, 
  for example, know basic, useful spells (particularly Em-
  erald Countermagic) but wouldn’t consider themselves 
  “sorcerers” or be designated as such by their peers. Such 
  
  23
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  casual spellcasters, who generally learned the arts from 
  The White Treatise and The Black Treatise (see p. 35) rather 
  than an academy, rarely follow schools. More dedicated 
  sorcerers sometimes view them as dabblers—but they 
  seldom feel outcast because of their power.
  Naturally, the attitudes outlined here are only gen-
  eral trends within large societies. In every case, there 
  are exceptions large and small, such as House Ledaal’s 
  enthusiasm for sorcery in the Realm.
  TERRESTRIAL EXALTED
  People in the Realm consider sorcery vaguely un-
  natural. As such, its practitioners are useful and admired, 
  but avoided. Only Houses Mnemon and Ledaal treat 
  their sorcerers like normal Dynasts, though Nellens 
  encourages its scions to study the art as well. Non-
  sorcerers rarely know—or want to know—anything 
  about sorcerers’ doings.
  In Lookshy, on the other hand, sorcery is a practical 
  military art. Sorcerers there use their cleverness, rather 
  than ﬁ ghting prowess, to defend their land. They don’t win 
  the glory of frontline ﬁ ghters, but they are no less useful 
  and loyal for that (and sometimes they do face dangers 
  only they can defeat). Since the vast majority of non-
  Lookshy outcaste Dragon-Blooded study at Valkhawsen, 
  most adopt this martial-yet-indirect attitude as well.
  The Dragon-Blooded can learn sorcery only to the 
  Terrestrial Circle. Anything beyond that is the province 
  of the Anathema.
  CELESTIAL EXALTED
  Among Silver Pact Lunars, sorcery is primarily the 
  domain of the No Moon Caste. Many of them study 
  sorcery through a Salinan-derived school. Other castes 
  are rarely initiated into school mysteries even when they 
  learn spells, because they rarely ask to be. Dedicated 
  Lunar sorcerers can master the Celestial Circle.
  Sidereals learn sorcery at Department 137 (pp. 28-
  30). Most Chosen of the Maidens learn the Emerald 
  Circle by age 70 at the latest, as sorcery is simply too 
  useful to ignore. True masters are not so common, even 
  though they can learn the Celestial Circle. Most Side-
  reals prefer to concentrate on their unique astrological 
  magic and their insuperable martial arts.
  Individual Solars are still generally too scattered 
  and too preoccupied with day-to-day survival to develop 
  any common view of sorcery. Those protected by Gold 
  Faction Sidereals, however, are personally tutored and 
  taught that sorcery is their divine right. No Moon Lunars 
  or spiritual mentors might share sorcery with a worthy 
  protégé. Clever and brave Solars have even passed 
  themselves off as God-Blooded students at cosmopolitan 
  academies. A few fall prey to demonic blandishments 
  and make awful bargains to gain the power. As the new 
  Lawgivers come into their power, they will have to 
  decide what to do with it—and Creation will have to 
  decide what to do with them, once they achieve their 
  unique mastery of the Circle of Adamant.
  Abyssals vary by Deathlord. All might eventually learn 
  sorcery to the Celestial Circle, but some of their masters 
  deem it unnecessary just now. All Deathlords know spells, 
  having learned them in an Age when Solar Exalted did so 
  as a matter of course. Most are Solar Circle practitioners. 
  Only a few follow schools, however. Those few include 
  the Lover Clad in the Raiment of Tears, who long ago 
  loved Devon but never attained his Absorption, and the 
  Dowager of the Irreverent Vulgate in Unrent Veils, who 
  practices an archaic school now lost to Creation.
  GODS, DEMONS AND THEIR CHILDREN
  Sorcery is a non-issue in many spirit courts and most 
  of Yu-Shan. Because spirits don’t directly learn their 
  Charms—their powers are an instinctive facet of how 
  they are deﬁ ned by their domain—the idea of working for 
  magical capabilities strikes most as foreign and unneces-
  sary. Smart deities ambitious to expand their domain or 
  climb the Celestial Hierarchy have long since realized its 
  beneﬁ ts, but they use it subtly. (For one thing, it’s heavily 
  regulated in the Heavenly City.) God-Bloods in service 
  to their parents often won’t learn sorcery without their 
  patron’s aid and permission, but some enroll indepen-
  dently in academies such as Valkhawsen.
  Demons, on the other hand, frequently learn sor-
  cery at their own twisted schools, though some have 
  adopted those of Creation. Capable First Circle demons 
  are prevented by their betters from learning the arts. 
  Those of the Second Circle and higher usually know 
  a surprising number of spells and tutor their Demon-
  Blooded children in them at the earliest opportunity.
  Demons, gods and elementals can learn sorcery 
  to the Celestial Circle if their Essence is 5 or higher. 
  These spirits can learn the Terrestrial Circle only if 
  they have Essence 3–5.
  Ghosts cannot learn sorcery under any known circum-
  stance. Sorcery invokes the forces of living Creation, and 
  ghosts draw only upon the decayed energies of the Under-
  world. Ghost-Blooded mortals share this prohibition.
  ENLIGHTENED MORTALS
  A very few heroic mortals learn sorcery without Ex-
  altation or supernatural ancestry. They channel Essence 
  because of exposure to the Wyld, through strange and 
  
  24
  dangerous drugs or artifacts, as gifts from a spirit or through 
  difﬁ cult and hazardous rituals of empowerment—and then 
  they have to go through the Five Ordeals. Any mortal who 
  can follow such a difﬁ cult path possesses rare determina-
  tion, and does not much care what anyone else thinks of 
  his obsession. Or anything else, quite likely.
  Mortal sorcerers can learn only Terrestrial Circle 
  spells. At that, they require Occult 5 instead of merely 
  Occult 3, as they must know more to make up for their 
  intrinsically weaker Essence. God-Blooded sorcerers face 
  the same restriction, though their inborn facility with 
  Essence give them a head start on their training.
  SORCEROUS ACADEMIES
  Sorcerous academies teach the techniques of 
  sorcerous schools alongside spellcasting basics. Most 
  academies are aligned with one school, since members 
  of different schools have trouble relating to each other. 
  Academies that teach incompatible schools ﬁ nd that 
  the student body splits apart on its own, even without 
  ofﬁ cial protocols encouraging it.
  Outsiders often confuse sorcerous schools with the 
  academies that teach them. A school is a set of beliefs; 
  an academy is a place of learning.
  THE LOOKSHY ACADEMY OF 
  SORCERY AT VALKHAWSEN
  Five thousand students and hundreds of instructors 
  occupy the District of Valkhawsen in Lookshy’s Third 
  Ring. Brilliant minds from Great Forks to Chiaroscuro 
  and beyond come to learn, teach and research there.
  The Academy began as a seminary—now known as 
  the Old School—that trained members of the Order of 
  the Chaplainry (an elite cadre of sorcerer-priests, or sohei, 
  adherents of Lookshy’s Immaculate faith). Few students 
  chose the path of Pasiap to become sorcerer-engineers; 
  they were always in demand, but not considered an in-
  stitution in themselves. About a century ago, Lookshy’s 
  General Staff realized that the city’s stores of artifacts and 
  enchantments were dwindling at an alarming rate. They 
  retooled an entire district to train more magitech engineers. 
  Creating an institution to compete with the sohei would 
  be inefﬁ cient and politically damaging, so the General 
  Staff gave the Chaplainry control of the project.
  After a slow start, the Chaplainry appointed Amilar 
  Kraik—a popular hero—as the project’s administrator. 
  That was 90 years ago, and nobody from that time would 
  recognize the place today. Creation’s most famous geo-
  mancers built a series of interlocking halls and gardens 
  that compare well to the Shogunate’s best architecture. 
  Below, dark caverns secure horrifyingly destructive artifacts 
  and experiments, studied by only those with the necessary 
  clearance. People who enter the campus feel an odd frisson 
  pass over their skin, a sensation most ascribe to the general 
  atmosphere of insular, nervous importance.
  THE MAN BEHIND VALKHAWSEN
  A century ago, Amilar Kraik had distinguished 
  himself as a frontline battle engineer many times 
  over when a Lunar Anathema kidnapped his brother 
  and ﬂ ed east with her prize. Kraik gave chase, spent 
  a decade ﬁ ghting her sorceries and magitech, and 
  returned an acclaimed hero—but cursed by a vile 
  malady that slowly rotted his living ﬂ esh.
  The ofﬁ cial Chaplainry line claims Kraik re-
  ceived the post as Administrator for distinguished 
  service. Actually, the sohei found they had bit off 
  more than they could chew. They even considered 
  passing the project to another ministry when Kraik 
  stepped in. Desperate to ﬁ nd a cure for his withering 
  body and certain that a solution lay in the magitech 
  trove he’d retrieved from the Anathema’s lair, Kraik 
  offered to donate all his popularity, acumen and 
  magitech loot to the Academy in exchange for 
  absolute control of its programs. He wasn’t (and still 
  isn’t) a skilled sorcerer himself—but he argued the 
  Academy needed a skilled bureaucrat who knew 
  magitech, not a master spellcaster.
  The Chaplainry decided it had nothing to 
  lose, though it now regrets the bargain. Kraik has 
  become an unsettling monstrosity—more machine 
  than man, strange devices replacing most of his 
  body. Some whisper that the curse (or its cure?) 
  has made him… unstable. Worse, Kraik encour-
  ages the study of non-Immaculate techniques and 
  artifacts—branches of knowledge the Chaplainry 
  considers both unnecessary and dangerous. Some 
  even suspect him of turning a blind eye to Anath-
  ema, disguised as God-Blooded metics, who would 
  study at Valkhawsen—an accusation so devastating 
  no one dares make it openly because of Kraik’s 
  heroic history and ties to the General Staff.
  Overall, the sohei would love to renege on the 
  contract, but only Kraik’s death can legally end his 
  tenure. Assassination seems likely to cause more prob-
  lems than it solves. At least, they console themselves, 
  he doesn’t control all of Lookshy’s sorcery—only that 
  of the sorcerer-engineers. The Old School sohei still 
  dominate the training of sorcerer-exorcists.
  
  25
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  involve apprentices’ peers to a degree unheard of by 
  most academies. Graduates—kinetropoi—will have at 
  least Occult 3, Lore 3 and Craft (Air, Fire or Earth) 2. 
  Multiple Craft scores are expected if not required, and 
  being made to constantly work together usually gives all 
  but the most antisocial kinetropoi a dot of Socialize.
  A kinetropos-in-training is ﬁ rst told she will grade 
  herself throughout her studies. This is a simple way to give 
  the Lesson of Wood, for her grades determine how quickly 
  her studies progress, and she’ll be overwhelmed unless she 
  displays humility. Once her instructors think she’s done so, 
  they take advantage of her sensitive youth and inexperience 
  to give the Lesson of Earth, involving fear: No matter how 
  modest she is, her classes become harder and harder, and 
  she’s assigned procedures far beyond her ken. For stalwart 
  trainees, the faculty arranges for upperclassmen to make 
  things worse. Fake rivalries, fake faux pas, fake romantic 
  problems, even fake offers of treason are orchestrated until 
  the apprentice is certain that enemies surround her and 
  nothing she does will succeed. The Lesson of Earth causes 
  most of the dropouts from the Academy.
  Lookshy’s well-known artifact supply comes out 
  in spades for the Academy’s Station of Tutelage, the 
  Lesson of Air. Kinetropoi-in-training use Essence-sens-
  ing gloves and goggles, as well as tools of the magical 
  materials, to learn how best to handle and examine 
  different forms of Essence. Those who have difﬁ culty 
  with the basic principles of artiﬁ ce are lent valuable 
  enchanted palettes, whose ink refuses to draw blueprint 
  lines that wouldn’t function if the object were built. 
  Once they demonstrate understanding of important 
  laboratory cautions, trainees even gain the privilege 
  to check out artifacts on the lowest level of clearance 
  as if they were books in a lending library.
  For their semester abroad—Water’s Lesson of Jour-
  ney—the young sorcerer-engineers must ﬁ nd at least 
  one traveling companion. The group receives a minor, 
  broken artifact whose repair calls for one faraway, exotic 
  component per student. Not everyone succeeds at ﬁ x-
  ing their artifact on their ﬁ rst journey, in which case 
  they’re sent out again until they do. (After three such 
  failures, though, students face expulsion.)
  Everyone at Valkhawsen knows the professors take 
  no responsibility for the Lesson of Fire. An apprentice’s 
  ﬁ nal push toward sacriﬁ ce traditionally comes from her 
  closest friends. Sometimes, that station requires active 
  intervention by peers who organize to remove whatever 
  they believe separates a friend from sorcerous success.
  After attaining the Terrestrial Circle, kinetropoi 
  learn spell basics in lecture halls and work out speciﬁ cs 
  Although the Academy of Sorcery is a well-rounded 
  institute for all arcane arts, Valkhawsen is the technomagi-
  cal center of Creation. Magic enhances its processes on 
  every level: Resonance ampliﬁ ers conduct professors’ voices 
  through the largest halls, and department heads learn 
  organizational Charms to keep things running smoothly. 
  Most noticeably, every student and professor wears a 
  vambrace of general utility (which requires no Essence 
  commitment, but works only on campus). This remarkable 
  device looks like an unholy fusion of a common bracer 
  with an abacus and an armful of ornate bangles. Beads of 
  varied shape and color skip and switch around to form 
  writing or diagrams. The vambrace is an organizational 
  tool, report card, testing apparatus, calculating machine 
  and coded communication system in one.
  ADMISSIONS
  Valkhawsen isn’t part of the Seventh Legion any 
  more than the rest of Lookshy is, but Kraik has a special 
  arrangement with the military. Normally, all citizens 
  serve the Legion for ﬁ ve years upon reaching their major-
  ity—but enrollment defers that. Students and instructors 
  receive honorary rank for their academic and disciplin-
  ary accomplishment (mostly used to calculate access 
  privileges for the Academy’s most secret and dangerous 
  programs). Sorcerers who climb high enough in the 
  Academy can begin their military career as full-ﬂ edged 
  sorcerer-engineers instead of common soldiers. On one 
  hand, they avoid the chance of death on the battleﬁ eld. 
  On the other hand, the Seventh Legion might send them 
  on more esoterically lethal missions.
  Administrator Kraik also convinced the necessary 
  powers to allow helots (second-class citizens) and metics 
  (foreigners) to enroll or teach at Valkhawsen, as long as 
  no more than 25 percent of the student body and profes-
  sors are ever foreign-born. Metics must, however, pay a 
  Resources 4 enrollment fee, as opposed to the Resources 
  3 (and common tuition awards) for citizens. Competition 
  for entry is savage, both within and without Lookshy, and 
  the entry exams can afford to be quite exacting.
  KINETROPIC TRAINING AND PRACTICE
  Valkhawsen’s sorcerer-engineers follow the Kine-
  tropic School, a highly technical Devonian variant. 
  Students engage in copious lab work ranging from clock-
  work engineering to measuring the mote expenditures 
  of elemental Charms. Homework includes designing 
  blueprints and diagrams, as well as memorizing those 
  of famous artifacts and manses. Because sorcerer-en-
  gineers must often work together, Lookshy’s studies 
  also integrate group projects, foster brotherhood and 
  
  26
  with their associates in the laboratory. Most of their 
  spells involve persistent physical effects; examples 
  include Death of Obsidian Butterﬂ ies and Incantation 
  of Effective Restoration (see pp. 49=50).
  THE QUEST
  Once a year, Administrator Kraik issues a list of 
  hundreds of odd tasks and gives students a week to per-
  form as many as they can. Most tasks are small, simple, 
  seemingly absurd—even mischievous—though a few 
  are extremely difﬁ cult or unlikely. Every challenge is 
  worth points based on its difﬁ culty. Twenty-ﬁ ve teams 
  compete, and the team with the most points at week’s 
  end wins a monetary endowment, a small raise in rank 
  for all members and the envious admiration of their 
  peers. When a task is ﬁ nished, the vambraces of general 
  utility record its completion.
  Team loyalty and general excitement about the 
  Quest outstrips its rewards—such that many professors 
  who are former students give covert help to their old 
  teams, and alumni have traveled insane distances back 
  to Valkhawsen to watch—or help set up challenges.
  The Quest often spills off-campus, making every 
  Lookshy resident’s life a bit less predictable for one 
  week a year. Most people ﬁ gure the period of scheduled, 
  institutionalized mayhem allows students to blow off 
  steam, keeping them on track and obedient the rest of 
  the year. The General Staff also appreciates how stu-
  dents regularly ﬁ nd innovative solutions to seemingly 
  impossible problems, such as storing an entire working 
  warstrider in a building half its size while keeping it 
  magically functional.
  The highest-point items on the list are always the 
  solutions to ﬁ ve key theoretical problems plaguing mod-
  ern sorcery. Since Kraik instituted the Quest, only two 
  such problems have been solved. These enigmas may be 
  considered (Intelligence + Lore) rolls of difﬁ culty 10+. 
  Valkhawsen graduates joke that the Academy does more 
  research for the Quest than for the General Staff.
  THE HEPTAGRAM
  The ﬁ rst thing a new student notices, as she sees the 
  Realm’s only sanctioned sorcerous academy, is how small 
  it is. The entire campus covers less than acre, in a valley 
  somewhat sheltered from the perpetual wind. None of 
  its eight elaborately carved stone towers rise more than 
  150 feet. The seven outer towers hold the libraries that 
  give the Heptagram its name, as well as laboratories. The 
  central tower, the largest and tallest, holds the dominie’s 
  ofﬁ ce and the school’s main assembly hall. Seven broad 
  halls built of the island’s native gray granite and black 
  
  27
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  basalt link the seven towers. These halls hold student 
  dormitories, classrooms, kitchens and all the other neces-
  sary facilities. No hall is more than two stories high. The 
  Heptagram has three layers of cellars, however, so the 
  entire complex is larger than it appears. Some students 
  suspect it is much larger than it appears.
  Next, a student notices how many areas are roped 
  off and guarded by demons. Even the most unruly young 
  Dynast soon learns to respect instructions where not to 
  go; the lesson usually comes from a classmate’s death. 
  (The enchanted plague conﬁ ned in a North Tower 
  laboratory claims at least one daredevil every year.) The 
  whole island was odd and dangerous before generations of 
  student and faculty experiments—no surprise, since the 
  whole island is a powerful demesne. Kaleidoscopic rains, 
  a grove of talking brass trees and a tor that invariably 
  draws lightning from storms are only a few of the sports 
  found on the Isle of Voices. The island’s small popula-
  tion of farmers and ﬁ shermen take it all in stride, and 
  students are warned to obey them without question. A 
  shepherd might have seen more magic and danger on 
  the spirit-haunted isle than a young Dynast can easily 
  imagine… which sometimes pushes a student into the 
  Ordeal of Humility before the faculty arranges it.
  Most disconcerting, however, is the sheer number of 
  demons. Although only the best advanced students study 
  demonology in the Hall of Verdigris, all the professors 
  know the arts of summoning and banishing. Demons 
  far outnumber the 80-some students. Wards prevent 
  the demons from dematerializing, so students cannot 
  avoid the sulky slaves as they cook, clean, fetch, carry, 
  guard and keep watch for their masters.
  HEPTAGRAM TRAINING AND PRACTICE
  In the ﬁ rst Library, the Hall of Terrestrial Puissance, 
  pupils may study from two sorcerous schools. Would-
  be sorcerer-engineers follow a Kinetropic Curriculum 
  modeled on Lookshy’s. The Realm’s kinetropoi-to-be 
  go through the same ﬁ ve stations as their Lookshy 
  fellows (see pp. 25-26) as best the faculty can arrange, 
  given the Heptagram’s inferior supply of materials. 
  Having a school taught that’s incompatible with the 
  main Heptagram curriculum bothers some faculty, but 
  since there aren’t many sorcerer-engineering students, 
  no one can convince the Realm government to create 
  a second academy just for them.
  The rest of the Academy’s apprentices learn the 
  school of Silur in virtually pure form. The Heptagram’s 
  Sidereal overseer studied under Silur herself and makes 
  sure the place keeps her teachings unchanged even as it 
  butchers her life story. Students are told that Silur was 
  an Air Aspect during the Shogunate, and the Scarlet 
  Empress’s tutor. Students also learn comparative linguis-
  tics and semantics as practice for analyzing spells.
  The Lesson of Wood is a difﬁ cult trial for young 
  Realm Dragon-Blooded. Students are not treated as 
  nobility. Silur taught that one must purge one’s mind of 
  previous symbolic associations before studying sorcerous 
  symbols, so students eschew family names during their 
  training and cast off every marker of status. Students 
  swear one oath to their deepest selves each month, 
  in order to learn the power of their words. Instructors 
  dictate these oaths in the ﬁ rst semester: never divulge 
  the secrets of the Heptagram, never give anything to 
  a demon, and the like. Exact oaths are tailored to the 
  individual, but they never involve adhering to high 
  principles or encourage loyalty to House or country. 
  Eventually, a student earns the right to choose her 
  promises—and is graded on their humility, sincerity 
  and wisdom. Oaths are occasionally undertaken with 
  such conviction and enlightenment that the onetime 
  student still cannot break it centuries hence.
  Students memorize thousands of glyphs and occult 
  principles for the Lesson of Air: Silur believed that every 
  thing’s meaning could be described by its occult charac-
  teristics, and those qualities form the basis for Silurian 
  spell analysis. For example, the Spotted Salamander 
  has the Qualities: Twelve Directions, Primary Wood, 
  New Moon, Keepers of Fear, and Shadow of Greed. 
  In some situations, therefore, it may be substituted for 
  Ruby, whose Qualities include Shadow of Greed, Seven 
  Directions, and Heart of Salamander. Many occult 
  THE BRONZE FACTION PRESENCE
  Bronze Faction Sidereals secretly control the 
  Heptagram. At least three faculty members are 
  Sidereals, and so are many of the visiting sorcerers. 
  The academy’s secret Sidereal overseer makes sure 
  the most potent students come to hate Anathema, 
  whether by reports of atrocities they have com-
  mitted, or attacks on friends and family that can 
  be blamed on other sorts of Exalted.
  Sidereals themselves train at their own acad-
  emy in Yu-Shan (see pp. 28-30). When a Sidereal 
  needs to use a certain ritual or perform research far 
  from the Gold Faction’s prying eyes, however—or 
  those of the enforcers of Heaven’s laws—they go 
  to the Heptagram. As a result, the Heptagram’s 
  libraries contain a surprising amount of Old Realm 
  material on Celestial sorcery.
  
  28
  items are kept for the students to observe, hold, test 
  and even consume, so they have personal experience 
  with their qualities.
  For the Lesson of Earth, trainees are locked into the 
  Arrow Room in the lowest subcellar. They face danger-
  ous tests that require them to communicate with other 
  beings, but ﬁ nd that normal communication no longer 
  works: Even basic gestures are misconstrued. To survive, 
  they must ﬁ nd unorthodox methods to convey meaning, 
  or strive to understand the mindsets of those they’re 
  speaking to so they can explain what’s necessary.
  The Lesson of Water takes the form of a scavenger 
  hunt through the Isle of Voices. Students undergo 
  this test alone—perhaps the ﬁ rst time a young Dynast 
  has done anything alone. The student must locate and 
  confront ﬁ ve spirits, with no guidance about where 
  they should look or the nature of the challenge. When 
  a student wins a challenge, the spirit gives her a scroll 
  marked with a single rune.
  The Ordeal of Sacriﬁ ce, the Lesson of Fire, begins 
  in the dominie’s ofﬁ ce. The Heptagram’s headmaster, 
  Ragara Bhagwei, demands the student select something 
  he can never speak of again. Then Dominie Bhagwei 
  locks the student in a room and tells him he can come out 
  when he has assembled the ﬁ ve glyphs into a complete 
  spell and learned it, or admits defeat and that his oath 
  was false. He has enough food and water to survive two 
  weeks—long enough to master the Terrestrial Circle 
  Sorcery Charm and one spell—with careful rationing… 
  a secondary sacriﬁ ce to test his self-discipline.
  If a student can pass this ﬁ nal challenge and prove 
  himself a sorcerer, he can enter a second Library to con-
  tinue his studies. Many spells taught at the Heptagram 
  involve symbols or communication, such as Coin of 
  Distant Vision (see p. 40) or Paralyzing Contradiction 
  (see p. 54), or combining different forms and elements, 
  such as Lightning Spider (see p. 52).
  FOREIGN EXCHANGE
  Every year, the Heptagram sends a few exchange 
  students to Lookshy’s Academy of Sorcery, and receives 
  a few in return. Professors sometimes spend a few years 
  at the rival academy as well. Perhaps the leaders of the 
  Realm and Lookshy think their sorcerers can ferret out the 
  other academy’s secrets while keeping their own. Perhaps 
  war between them is so long in the past that neither side 
  feels it needs extreme vigilance. Perhaps sorcerers just feel 
  they ought to stick together, regardless of mere national-
  ity. Whatever the reason, exchange students and faculty 
  never endure worse than a little teasing about coming 
  from “the other side.” If war broke out, both academies 
  would quickly return each other’s citizens. Any order 
  to imprison or abuse the guest sorcerers would cause 
  considerable unrest in each academy.
  The Heptagram also takes a number of students 
  from the Realm’s satrapies and allies. A few faculty 
  members also come from outside the Realm.
  LOTUS DOORS
  At least two dozen lotus-marked doors offer 
  shortcuts through the labyrinthine Heptagram. 
  Each door can open to several rooms scattered 
  through the complex, depending on which Old 
  Realm password you say when you open the door. 
  Students learn a few passwords from their instruc-
  tors, and more from upperclassmen, but few even 
  among the faculty would claim to know them all. 
  Some areas are accessible no other way.
  THE VERSINO
  Students are forbidden to visit a large crater on 
  the far side of the island, with demonic guards to 
  enforce the ban. This site once held the Versino, 
  the Realm’s ﬁ rst sorcerous academy. The Versino 
  blew up in RY 385, under circumstances never 
  explained. The only survivor was the Empress’s 
  daughter Mnemon, age 16, who apparently has not 
  aged a day since. The blast was powerful enough 
  to shift the demesne’s geomantic center across the 
  island, to the present site of the Heptagram. The 
  new academy was built as carefully as the Bronze 
  Faction could arrange—a clue to its involvement, 
  since the Realm lacks the skills to cap a level 5 
  demesne without ﬂ aring off excessive Essence.
  See The Compass of Celestial Directions—
  The Blessed Isle, pages 115–117, for more about 
  the Heptagram and its doomed precursor.
  DEPARTMENT 137 OF THE 
  FORBIDDING MANSE OF IVY
  The Division of Secrets, a section of the Bureau of 
  Destiny, is housed in the Forbidding Manse of Ivy in sacred 
  Yu-Shan. Sidereal Exalted Chosen by Jupiter conduct 
  business there, and it’s there that the Forbidding Manse’s 
  spiritual scribes and librarians continually catalogue 
  Creation. All Sidereals pass through at some point, for 
  the central courtyard of the Forbidding Manse contains 
  the delicate, artful pagoda of sapphire that is Department 
  137, the primary Sidereal academy of sorcery.
  
  29
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  Being as there are only ever about 80 Sidereal Ex-
  alted active at a time, there are no classes. Instead of 
  classrooms, the pagoda houses an uncounted number of 
  hexagonal, interconnecting libraries, some with work-
  shops or ofﬁ ces contained by the bookshelves. Young 
  Sidereals are assigned to an elder for individual sorcerous 
  tutelage. Spirits may also arrange to be tutored in both 
  Emerald and Sapphire Circle sorcery at Department 
  137. Because this tends to be an expensive proposition, 
  requiring many favors and a few bribes, 
  some simply lower themselves to attend-
  ing Creation’s Academies instead. But 
  since Sapphire Circle sorcery, learnable 
  only by greater gods and Anathema, is 
  out of favor in the modern world, spirits 
  powerful enough to master it have few 
  other options if they haven’t already.
  The Sapphire Pagoda is aligned 
  with one school: the Theanoan School, 
  obsessed with mystical numbers and 
  mathematical principles. (This isn’t to 
  say all Sidereals follow Theano, but most 
  do.) Every room is perfectly symmetrical, 
  and there isn’t a rounded surface to be 
  seen—all are sharply faceted. The smooth 
  walls remain clear only a few inches in, 
  and then cloud to opacity; dragging a 
  ﬁ nger across one produces a distinct 
  matte-white line that fades within the 
  week, so Department 137’s walls are 
  always covered with elaborate proofs.
  THEANOAN TRAINING AND PRACTICE
  Devon’s rigorous occult testing lent 
  itself well to the precise mathematics 
  of Theano, who applied it to numbers, 
  calculating strange, unintuitive truths. 
  Her school is based on Devonian 
  ideas, but its curriculum is far more 
  specialized. Theanoan students lose 
  themselves in airy abstractions, obsess-
  ing over long equations and theorems 
  and rarely applying their learning to 
  immediately practical ends. They’re 
  considered graduated when they can 
  use their abaci to calculate irrational 
  and imaginary numbers, manipulat-
  ing beads that aren’t there. By then, 
  they’ll have Occult 3, Bureaucracy 2 
  and Lore 2, with at least two special-
  ties in mathematics.
  Bizarre prohibitions that the trainee can’t yet un-
  derstand are imposed during the Initiation of Serenity: 
  For example, students cannot step over two objects lying 
  across each other. When they no longer question the 
  mathematical edicts, they learn the reasons—such as that 
  the number two is inauspicious in matters of ambition, 
  and therefore, they shouldn’t place themselves above 
  it—in the Station of Tutelage, the Initiation of Secrets. 
  Now, the students learn the meanings of numbers one 
  
  30
  through 10, the ever-more-complex theorems for applying 
  those meanings to the larger numbers they compose, and 
  occult methods used to derive representative numbers for 
  everything in Creation. Their ﬁ rst project is to calculate 
  their own most auspicious and explicative number.
  Astrologically divining the best day she can travel 
  begins the Initiation of Journeys. An apprentice next 
  pinpoints her birthplace on a magically exact map of 
  the world. She uses sacred geometries, her auspicious 
  number and simple measuring tools such as rulers and 
  compasses to calculate the best route for her Journey. 
  Upon her return—never longer than a year and a day 
  later—the Initiation of Battles teaches her fear by con-
  fronting her with an intimidating inﬁ nity. This inﬁ nity 
  can take any form. Some are as concrete as a tutor 
  sending a hydrophobe to an island surrounded by seem-
  ingly endless sea; others, as conceptual as the arranged 
  near-death of a passionate student’s lover, confronting 
  her with a potential eternity without him.
  The calculations for the Initiation of Endings are 
  the simplest. The student chooses the three most im-
  portant things in her life. She then determines which 
  one’s number interacts most inauspiciously with her 
  own. That is what she must sacriﬁ ce.
  Department 137’s sorcerers are only guided to the 
  sorcery Charms by their mentors, though most of them 
  establish an amicable spell-swapping relationship with 
  them afterward (mostly for form’s sake, since they all have 
  access to the Sapphire Pagoda’s incomparable libraries). 
  Theanoans prefer to learn spells involving either speciﬁ c, 
  pre-calculated numbers of things, such as Flight of Sepa-
  ration (see pp. 45-46)—the number being the particular 
  number of birds—or incalculable inﬁ nities, such as Calling 
  the Wind’s Kiss (see pp. 39-40)—the inﬁ nity being the un-
  ending wind. Unpredictable quantities discomﬁ t them.
  MISHIKO, THE LUNAR ACADEMY
  The Lunar Exalted usually teach sorcery through 
  one-on-one apprenticeship. They are so widely scattered 
  that a single, ﬁ xed facility would be inconvenient—and 
  would give their Sidereal and Dragon-Blooded enemies 
  an easy target. Nevertheless, the Chosen of Luna have 
  one great academy. The Wyld Hunt can never destroy 
  it, the No Moons hope, because it moves.
  THE TALE OF BAR-IZAHD
  The No Moons say: Hear the story of Bar-Izahd 
  and Mishiko.
  Bar-Izahd was a great Child of Luna who lived in 
  the wake of the demon wars. He slew ten thousand 
  devils and learned hatred for their kind. Creation itself 
  tormented his soul, for the demons had built it, and it 
  reminded him of the war. One thing he still loved: his 
  daughter Mishiko. Bar-Izahd never let her know the 
  anger and misery in his heart.
  One night as Bar-Izahd wept bitterly into Luna’s 
  sacred pool, a presence came to him from another world. 
  When he ﬁ rst saw the sad young woman, he suspected 
  her of being a demon in disguise; then she moved, and 
  her innocent grace told him that she was far more. She 
  said to Bar-Izahd, “For ﬁ ve nights, I have watched your 
  daughter in the wilds. We have played games of make-
  believe, and I love her as my sister. I wish to give her 
  a world of wonder.”
  No creature could deceive Bar-Izahd, so he smiled 
  in conﬁ dence and conversed until dawn, hearing with 
  a father’s fascination everything this woman thought of 
  Mishiko. As the sun rose, the sad woman leaned close. 
  “I have seduced four,” she whispered, “and stolen their 
  fathers’ secrets. Find them for Mishiko.” She described 
  four sacred lands to Bar-Izahd and then vanished.
  Bar-Izahd wanted nothing more than to ﬁ nd a 
  beautiful world for his daughter, far beyond the tainted 
  Creation. For 20 years he quested with Mishiko. He 
  found the sacred lands and conquered them all. Each 
  journey itself is a night’s tale, and you still lack the 
  wisdom to understand their true meaning, but sufﬁ ce 
  to say that with the discovery of each land, Bar-Izahd 
  and Mishiko discovered a truth. To give thanks for the 
  lesson, Mishiko would leave a poem at each site and 
  Bar-Izahd a jasmine ﬂ ower; for he had created jasmine, 
  so he did not hate it as he hated the rest of the world. 
  But Bar-Izahd did not ﬁ nd joy.
  After reaching the ﬁ nal sacred land, the two dis-
  covered that they were no more powerful than before; 
  nor was the world changed. Bar-Izahd would not stand 
  for this. He ﬂ ew Mishiko to the crest of the Omphalos, 
  and from the world’s heart, he shouted so Yu-Shan and 
  Creation alike might hear his pain. His shout was so 
  powerful it split the mountain and released a man-faced 
  monster with the tongue of a serpent.
  Bar-Izahd battled the mighty beast atop the Om-
  phalos for hours, but Mishiko stole its secret from where 
  it hovered at the root of its tongue. Both combatants 
  turned to her as she held it, shining. She shed a tear 
  and said, “You must be free.” Mishiko freed her father by 
  jumping from the mountain to her death. As Bar-Izahd 
  held her broken body, he became the ﬁ rst sorcerer.
  Heartbroken, Bar-Izahd descended from the 
  mountain and placed his daughter in a tomb of glass. 
  But though he learned to bend truths and reweave 
  Creation, he built no great wonders; nor did he reshape 
  
  31
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  the world. Without Mishiko, only enemies remained, 
  and Bar-Izahd spent the remainder of his days seeking 
  unlearnable secrets and imagining conversations with 
  his lost, beloved daughter.
  Our traditions say that Bar-Izahd never taught the 
  secrets of sorcery—they were stolen from him. In time, 
  the Solar Exalted surpassed his power, but many of the 
  secrets he and Mishiko learned followed him to the 
  grave. He died of hubris: A ritual designed, foolishly, to 
  grant him the Solars’ sorcery consumed what remained 
  of his mind. A passing traveler, a mere mortal, merci-
  fully killed his burnt-out husk.
  Consider this tale until tomorrow comes. Then, 
  you meet Mishiko.
  THE JASMINE POET
  Shortly before the Usurpation, an explorer in the 
  North found crystal that contained a jasmine bloom. 
  Soon after came a jasmine-scented agate from the 
  East; then a carnelian fell, complete, from the wall of a 
  Southland mine—so perfectly jasmine-shaped it seemed 
  to have been grown. Sages remembered that jasmine 
  was Bar-Izahd’s emblem; the last two gems—jasmine 
  azurite, and peridot—were swiftly found, acquired by 
  wise Lunars and set in moonsilver. Those Lunars found 
  that when the ﬁ ve gems of jasmine were brought together 
  into the energy of a demesne, Mishiko returned.
  She manifests as a spray of jasmine, a silver silhouette 
  and a voice on the wind. She recites poems of the First 
  Age, of her father, of sorcery, at the behest of the No 
  Moon who bear the stones. Sometimes, she tells the 
  most intimate details of her students’ lives.
  Though it seems Mishiko can perceive the world, 
  she does not answer questions. The arrangement of her 
  gems determines what she says. When the stones are 
  laid in lines, Mishiko tells parables of Creation’s secrets. 
  When they are placed in a circle, she speaks sonnets 
  of love and wonder. No Moon elders know countless 
  arrangements, and they combine and recombine the 
  stones to speak with her on myriad topics. Her poems are 
  each examined and learned by heart by Lunar sorcerers 
  and mystics. They ﬁ nd within them all the precepts of 
  Essence-nature and self-knowledge needed for sorcery, 
  and much solace and wisdom besides.
  Mishiko insists that only No Moon Lunars manipu-
  late her gems, that any No Moon who has possessed a 
  stone for ﬁ ve years give it to another and that nobody 
  hold more than one. She’s never threatened repercus-
  sions for breaking these rules, but she could refuse to 
  answer a call, causing great loss of face for the No Moons 
  holding the jasmine jewels.
  MISHIKO’S TRAINING
  Mishiko tells much about appreciating Creation’s 
  transient beauty and learning from sorrow. On occult 
  matters, her teaching is pure Salinan. Lunar tradition 
  says Salina got her ideas from older Lunar traditions. 
  Students spend a great deal of time alone in the wilder-
  ness but are also encouraged to form connections with 
  others and seek a wide range of personal experiences.
  The Lunar Exalted see themselves as Creation’s 
  last true defenders. For the Station of Humility, Mi-
  shiko often bids a would-be sorcerer to set aside this 
  great duty to serve in the humblest and most unlikely 
  circumstances, such as clerking for a moneylender in 
  Whitewall or saving an impoverished pig farm with-
  out revealing himself. Mishiko challenges a Lunar’s 
  ingenuity as well as his pride and often forces him to 
  learn skills he never imagined needing. When they 
  get over the shock, successful Lunar students often 
  enjoy their absurd new identities or duties, living up 
  to the capacity to change and adapt that their Incarna 
  patron gave them.
  With the jewels in the Tutelage arrangement, Mi-
  shiko recites sonnets that guide students to the occult 
  workings of Creation. Students memorize hundreds of 
  her poems. Her knowledge of natural and divine Es-
  sence seems limitless, though her gnomic verses tell the 
  student how to observe and learn rather than delivering 
  step-by-step instructions.
  THE JASMINE GEMS (ARTIFACT • EACH)
  Lunar elders already know how to prompt 
  Mishiko to speak on many subjects. Figuring out 
  a new combination requires an (Intelligence + 
  Occult) roll at difﬁ culty 5 or more. Success renders 
  a poem that reveals new knowledge. Her keepers 
  know what arrangements will prompt Mishiko 
  to recite poems that tell a would-be sorcerer 
  what quests he must perform in order to pass the 
  Ordeals of Initiation. Sometimes, the quests are 
  purely internal; other times, Mishiko might send 
  a quester to the ends of Creation. After the ﬁ rst 
  four, the ﬁ ve gems surround the apprentice and 
  Mishiko, through tears, reveals his sacriﬁ ce.
  Other ancient secrets can be divined—the 
  older and more obscure, the higher the difﬁ culty. 
  Each gem can also be used in a simple ritual to 
  ﬁ nd the directions to the other four, wherever 
  they go in Creation or the Wyld.
  
  32
  Mishiko quested all her life. As such, she has 
  a firm appreciation of the power of distance and 
  time. If an apprentice has experienced these things, 
  then he might just need to understand the meaning 
  of his travels. On the Station of Journey, Mishiko 
  places a particular emphasis on the ideal of home. 
  Her haiku often compel an apprentice to seek a 
  home he never knew, or conversely, the unfamiliar 
  he never expected.
  Mishiko shows in the Station of Fear that the 
  greatest terrors lurk within. She can be very creative 
  in steering apprentices to confront personal, internal, 
  secret fears that could cripple them in a crisis—oc-
  casionally, in truly dangerous ways.
  When the stones are properly arranged around 
  an apprentice, Mishiko decides if he’s ready for the 
  Station of Sacrifice. If not, she indicates which 
  stations he has not internalized. If he is ready, she 
  weeps, “You must be free,” and tells him what to give 
  up. Mishiko never changes her decision. She always 
  names something the student thinks he cannot bear 
  the thought of losing; and she is never wrong.
  Sorcerers trained using Mishiko’s stones are not 
  thereby granted access to a physical library, but the 
  No Moons—and the spirits they deal with—know 
  hundreds of spells among them. Mishiko and her dis-
  ciples eschew demon summoning or other spells that 
  invoke Malfean powers. Her followers prefer to learn 
  particularly beautiful spells, those that invoke strong 
  emotions and those that reveal knowledge. Examples 
  include Death of Obsidian Butterﬂ ies (see Exalted, p. 
  252), Insidious Tendrils of Hate (see p. 76) and Fugue 
  of Truth (see p. 48).
  THE SIXFOLD SPIRE
  Devon, who originally headed the Sixfold Spire at 
  Sperimin, bequeathed it to Salina upon his abrupt retire-
  ment. As such, the soaring ediﬁ ce could be a treasure 
  trove for students of schools compatible with either 
  master—if they can reach it through Raksi, Queen of 
  Fangs, the ancient Lunar who considers it hers alone.
  Salina, disturbed by the degradation of the world 
  she saw developing in even the early days of Solar rule, 
  contested that abuse is inevitable within any hierarchy, 
  and the best possible state of the world would be a lawless, 
  cooperative one in which none have power over others. 
  This attitude bewildered her fellow Exalted, who pointed 
  out that hierarchy is integral to Creation. Indeed, the 
  Chosen themselves—including Salina—were made in 
  ranks of power. But, “If injustice is inherent in the world,” 
  she famously exclaimed, “then we need merely change 
  the world.” She put her beliefs into practice through the 
  Salinan Working: Knowledge, she told her followers, must 
  be available to all, for abusive power always depends on 
  its control. Once encoded into Creation itself, no longer 
  requiring corruptible academies to teach it, sorcery would 
  become a force for freedom.
  So, an academy was indeed a strange thing for Salina 
  to own, but she made the most of it. Her ﬁ rst act was 
  to place all professors on the same level of status and 
  compensation. Her second was to tinker with the Spire’s 
  geomancy. Originally organized according to Devonian 
  ideas regarding Essence classiﬁ cation, the six towers took 
  years to rework. The ﬁ rst and second towers, ﬁ lled with 
  studios and ofﬁ ces, she left alone. The workshops remain 
  spotless even today, faultlessly cleaned by small magics 
  and well stocked with hundreds of colors of chalk, with 
  particularly universal and useful diagrams inlaid into the 
  ﬂ oors. The third tower, devoted to demonology, she also 
  ignored, though she removed the wards, which she felt 
  interfered unnecessarily with the Spire’s harmony. The 
  fourth tower contains astrological equipment. Thousands 
  of jeweled charts decorate its walls, and if one asks a ques-
  tion while stepping through the ﬁ rst door, its rotating top 
  will take note, shifting its windows to the conﬁ guration 
  that will best help the querist research her answer.
  In the ﬁ fth tower, Salina used abilities she learned 
  from the Salinan Working: its structure exhibits every 
  Charm she and her fellow Salinans knew. Any sorcerer 
  within can learn any Charms those ancient magicians 
  knew as if he had a teacher, even if he is unaware of 
  the effect. The last tower, Salina dedicated to com-
  munication among those in her school. From within, a 
  character who achieves Salinan absorption may speak 
  MISHIKO’S TOMB
  Lunar tradition says that Bar-Izahd used occult 
  arts to preserve his daughter’s broken body so she 
  seemed merely sleeping. Her crystal tomb was a 
  place of pilgrimage throughout the High First Age. 
  In the Usurpation, however, the Dragon-Blooded 
  smashed her tomb and performed vile deeds on 
  her body. Many Lunar sorcerers regard Mishiko as 
  both a symbol of purity and a kid sister. They cite 
  the desecration of Mishiko’s tomb as showing the 
  fundamental depravity of the Dragon-Blooded. 
  Any attack upon Mishiko, such as the theft of 
  one of her jewels, would provoke rage throughout 
  the Silver Pact.
  
  33
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  and have her words simultaneously heard by every other 
  Salinan sorcerer in Creation—and, listening carefully, 
  can hear their responses if they wish.
  During the Usurpation, the Spire’s great Celestial 
  teachers died or ﬂ ed. Many of the divine ones (who came 
  to appreciate the academy’s loose structure despite initial 
  anger and misgivings) also departed as Sidereals and 
  Dragon-Blooded took over, enforcing a strict new bureau-
  cracy and disrespecting the deities’ vast expertise. Then 
  Sperimin was abandoned in the Great Contagion—and 
  afterward, Raksi seized it (along with its greatest treasure, 
  The Book of Three Circles). And yet, Salina wanted the 
  Spire to be open to all—and so, it remains. No tricks 
  lurk within its halls; nothing was sabotaged or booby-
  trapped. Modern sorcerers could walk in and relearn all 
  the Spire’s wonders if not for Raksi and her hundreds of 
  apeman children, protecting her territory with all the 
  savage ferocity an elder Lunar can muster.
  LEGENDARY TOMES
  Sorcerous knowledge tends to be scattered: for 
  instance, a word of power in a book, a sigil carved on 
  the wall of a First Age manse or a mudra never written 
  down at all, but held by the priests of an obscure god. 
  Loremasters have compiled many tomes of such occult 
  bric-a-brac in hopes that something might be useful. Many 
  occult texts are highly specialized. Verdigris Abominations, 
  for example, compiles the names and descriptions of all 
  the Second Circle demons who are the component souls 
  of Ligier, the Green Sun of Malfeas. Sorcerers of old, 
  however, also scribed librams and sutras of great power 
  that gather many spells—or the lore needed to invent 
  your own. Such tomes become legends, for their owners 
  seldom make copies or even admit they own the potent 
  texts, lest their rivals wrest away their power. In game 
  terms, potent tomes are artifacts, even if they have no 
  intrinsic powers of their own. Others just have Resources 
  ratings, as difﬁ cult but feasible purchases.
  THE ART OF SORCERY
  Suman Tzung, one of Silur’s students, invented 
  many powerful runes. Tzung created only one key to his 
  personal runic language, weaving thousands of sigils into 
  a magniﬁ cent mosaic running through all 77 rooms of his 
  manse. The Art of Sorcery is one artist’s rendering of that 
  work, copied and recopied through the centuries.
  The ﬁ rst copy of The Art of Sorcery was an excellent 
  rendition of Tzung’s mosaic, but could not reproduce all 
  the spatial relations between runes and texts, obscuring 
  some of their hidden meanings. The problem intensi-
  ﬁ ed through the years, particularly after the Usurpation: 
  Suman Tzung’s home sank beneath the waters of the 
  Western Ocean when he was murdered, though nearby 
  islanders retain legends about it. Extant versions of The 
  Art of Sorcery are copies of copies. Most are incomplete, 
  thousands of details are lost, and the drawings’ accuracy 
  can no longer be checked. Yet sorcerers value The Art 
  of Sorcery despite gaps and errors: The runic texts still 
  burn with occult meanings so intense that even ignorant 
  mortals feel they could almost read them. The Heptagram 
  would rejoice at any opportunity to examine a yet-unseen 
  version and compare it to copies it already owns, in hopes 
  of compiling a more accurate edition.
  Game Effects: To sorcerers of Silur’s school, The 
  Art of Sorcery offers anything from a -1 to -3 difﬁ culty 
  reduction (to a minimum of 1) to spell research rolls, 
  depending on the completeness and accuracy of the 
  copy. The mosaics themselves would grant a -5 difﬁ culty 
  reduction (again, minimum 1).
  Availability and Cost: The Heptagram has a standing 
  offer of Resources 4 for even a single new page from the 
  tome—signiﬁ cantly more for the whole thing—and tends 
  to snap up copies that come on the open market.
  Artifact Level: • for copies providing a -1 or -2 
  difﬁ culty reduction; •• for -3. The mosaics are part of 
  a (drowned) four-dot manse.
  THE BOOK OF THREE CIRCLES
  The Book of Three Circles, currently housed at 
  Sperimin (see p. 32), is an imperishable spider silk 
  compendium that was intended to record every spell 
  invented by Old Realm sorcerers. See page 23 of Won-
  ders of the Lost Age for the history of this tome.
  Game Effects: Contains almost every conceivable 
  spell.
  Availability and Cost: Unique; good luck getting 
  past Raksi.
  Artifact Level: •••••
  THE BROKEN-WINGED CRANE
  All copies of The Broken-Winged Crane are slightly 
  different. Demons and demonologists say the original 
  does not yet exist. Someone shall write it millennia or 
  Ages from now and reveal all the blasphemous secrets 
  of the Yozis. The exquisite horror of that day echoes 
  throughout time, inspiring depraved madmen to pen 
  imperfect copies of the text. A nameless Nexus pros-
  titute wrote one copy in the blood of her murdered 
  children; another was written by Veloz, the mad daimyo 
  of Neshavane, in his Palace of Executions. The tome of 
  damnation’s name is spoken only in whispers. Its pos-
  session carries a death sentence in all civilized lands.
  
  34
  Bold scholars conjecture that if all current versions 
  of the book were gathered together and destroyed at 
  once, the future tome’s potential would be eliminated 
  and it could never be written. Few have tried, how-
  ever—for a competing theory claims that this event 
  would constitute the writing of the original.
  Game Effects: If a character opens this tome, her 
  player rolls the character’s Willpower, difﬁ culty 4. Failure 
  means the character goes mad. If applicable, player and 
  Storyteller should work together to design a psychosis that 
  best expresses the affected character’s inner darkness.
  Whether or not a character loses her sanity, she may 
  use The Broken-Winged Crane to contact a demon of 
  the Second or Third Circle—and petition that demon 
  for power. Doing so requires a successful (Charisma + 
  Occult) roll, difﬁ culty 5, with a botch rending a suck-
  ing vent in the world that drags the hapless character 
  into Malfeas. Patron demons may teach the character 
  spells (only those of the Third Circle know Adamant 
  Circle sorcery). They can also explain how to open a 
  portal through which they can imbue the sorcerer with 
  power, forging her into one of their terrifyingly twisted 
  slaves—the Infernal Exalted.
  Availability and Cost: Few seek out The Broken-
  Winged Crane, and those who do tend to bargain with 
  demons or extraordinarily corrupt spirits to locate a 
  copy. If one were actually sold (at, it should be noted, 
  great peril to the vendor), it wouldn’t be for less than 
  Resources 5.
  Artifact Level: ••••
  DARIC’S LAWS OF MAGIC
  After the master sorcerer Devon destroyed his own 
  books and renounced sorcery, his student Daric took 
  up his mantle—prompting many sorcerers to call the 
  school Darican, disdaining the inventor who abandoned 
  it. Unfortunately, although Daric possessed supreme 
  enlightenment in his mentor’s school, he was a terrible 
  writer. Daric’s Laws of Magic, his primer, is very infor-
  mative but its dry formulations, impenetrable diagrams 
  and confusing tangents make it a strong contender for 
  “worst book ever written.”
  Game Effects: Characters may use this tome to 
  self-initiate into sorcery, if they manage to get all the 
  way through it. A sorcerer who practices a Devonian 
  style of sorcery (such as the Kinetropic or Theanoan 
  
  35
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF SORCERY
  Schools) can ﬁ nd guidance all the way to the Devonian 
  Absorption (p. 22).
  Availability and Cost: Devon’s school is not so 
  well known today, but it ﬂ ourished in the Old Realm. 
  A persistent seeker might locate copies of Daric’s Laws 
  of Magic for a mere Resources 3, and both Valkhawsen 
  and Department 137 own copies.
  Artifact Level: •
  LIVING BOOKS OF SHAPED IN MALACHITE
  The Dragon King called Shaped in Malachite preferred 
  to spend her time in study of biotechnology and sorcery, 
  with no companions except her city-sized retinue of human 
  slaves. Secretive, disliking her fellows and the Exalted, 
  she shared none of her insights—not even the spells she 
  invented (which by the law of her time should have been 
  contributed to The Book of Three Circles). To record her 
  work, she redesigned the bodies of her 13 favorite retainers, 
  forming their muscles, bones and skin to ﬂ ow harmoniously 
  with calligraphed explanations of her sorceries.
  The changes she made bred true. Shaped in Mala-
  chite’s 13 books (each with a title expressing the theme 
  of its content) all had children, establishing lineages 
  that she kept in her retinue for centuries.
  Game Effects: Usually, only master calligraphers 
  or exceptional athletes (with scores of 3+ in Craft [Air] 
  or Athletics) know letter-forms or the natural play of 
  muscles well enough to spot the calligraphy that Shaped 
  in Malachite expressed in the bodies, postures and move-
  ments of her living books. Most dismiss the insight as a 
  passing fancy. Actually reading the living books requires 
  both those skills, plus knowledge of Dragon King language 
  and script. Each bloodline carries one rare or unique spell, 
  never recorded in The Book of Three Circles.
  Availability and Cost: The Great Contagion ex-
  terminated seven of Shaped in Malachite’s bloodlines. 
  Some of the survivors are recognizable and easy to ﬁ nd. 
  Scions of The Book of Youth never appear to age beyond 
  their teens, though they suffer age’s normal inﬁ rmities. 
  The lineage of The Book of Silence has assimilated super-
  natural blood and lives as the proud, mute god-kings of a 
  Southeastern jungle tribe. The rest have forgotten their 
  heritage and descended into obscurity… perhaps for the 
  best, since Shaped in Malachite’s immortal enemies oc-
  casionally rouse to hunt her living tomes.
  Artifact Level: Not an artifact.
  OADENOL’S CODEX
  Oadenol, a Chosen of Serenity in the Old Realm, 
  was also a brilliant member of the Silurian School and 
  good friends with Silur herself. Her Codex superﬁ cially 
  appears as a diary and sketchbook ﬁ lled with tidbits 
  about people she knew and festivals she oversaw. When 
  the full moon’s light shines on its pages, however, the 
  regular blue ink fades and a ﬁ ne silver script reveals 
  itself. It seems Oadenol enjoyed working riddles even 
  into her private notes. The silver text discusses sorceries 
  she worked and other occult matters.
  Eclipses of the sun reveal a third script, this one 
  black. Only in the black text does Oadenol record 
  her grief at helping to murder her friend and teacher. 
  Sidereal masters speculate that other celestial events 
  might reveal other chapters.
  Game Effects: Oadenol’s notes are a highly personal 
  set of ramblings and self-reminders, written in an antique 
  cipher. Success at a difﬁ culty 5 (Intelligence + Linguistics) 
  roll while a hidden script is showing enables a character to 
  discover all manner of useful magical advice, from where 
  to locate a rare component to how to design a certain 
  type of ritual. This leaves aside, of course, the potential 
  historical knowledge that could be gleaned from such 
  an intimate primary source. Oadenol probably hid her 
  most precious information in writing that appears only 
  during unusual celestial events (though she would have 
  wanted to access it with reasonable frequency).
  Availability and Cost: Unique; current whereabouts 
  unknown.
  Artifact Level: •••
  THE WHITE TREATISE AND THE BLACK TREATISE
  Sorcerers all over Creation agree that the First Sorcerer 
  wrote these manuals, even when they don’t agree on her 
  identity. References to her treatises occur in the most ancient 
  chronicles. Even the gods swear by them. They aren’t short 
  books, but they are remarkably easy to comprehend. Both are 
  required reading for students at most academies, including 
  the Heptagram and Lookshy’s Valkhawsen.
  Game Effects: Characters reading The White Treatise
  can learn the Terrestrial Circle Sorcery Charm as if they 
  had a teacher, though it provides no explicit guidance 
  for the Five Ordeals, giving only the barest theoretical 
  basics and explaining each one’s necessity. The Black 
  Treatise teaches the spells Death of Obsidian Butterﬂ ies, 
  Demon of the First Circle, Emerald Countermagic, 
  Invulnerable Skin of Bronze and Stormwind Rider (see 
  Exalted, pp. 252-254).
  Availability and Cost: Although law restricts their 
  sale in the Realm, the Treatises can be bought in any 
  major city in the Threshold. Each book costs Resources 
  3 outside the Realm and Resources 4 inside it, with proof 
  one is a Dynast… or willing to break the law.
  Artifact Level: • each
  
  36
  
  37
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  CHAPTER TWO
  CHARACTER
  CREATION
  CHAPTER TWO
  CHAPTER TWO
  THE WHITE TREATISE
  THE WHITE TREATISE
  OF SORCERY
  OF SORCERY
  Through the Ages, sorcerers devised hundreds of 
  spells for every purpose imaginable. Many spells were 
  lost when their creators died, in the purges after the 
  Usurpation or in the chaos of the Great Contagion. 
  Nevertheless, sorcerers in the Time of Tumult have no 
  shortage of spells for attack, defense, knowledge, travel 
  or almost any other purpose they can imagine.
  THE TERRESTRIAL 
  CIRCLE OF EMERALD
  Terrestrial Circle spells are the 
  weakest form of sorcery. Of course, 
  many sorcerers cannot learn the higher circles, but 
  Emerald Circle sorcery is powerful enough for most 
  purposes. These spells also consume less of a sorcerer’s 
  Essence and usually take little time to cast.
  ASSASSIN’S FATAL TOUCH
  Cost: 20m
  Target: Touched creature
  The sorcerer renders her touch deadly to one selected 
  victim. To cast this spell, the sorcerer must ﬁ rst make skin 
  contact with either her intended victim or some small 
  object the victim touched in the last hour, such as an ar-
  ticle of clothing or jewelry. Shaping this spell is a dramatic 
  action that takes 15 minutes. After the spell is completed, 
  its effects linger on the sorcerer for a full day.
  The sorcerer thereafter must touch her victim. If 
  successful, her player rolls (Intelligence + Medicine). 
  Ten ticks later, the victim suffers (5 + successes) levels 
  of aggravated damage. Mortal targets not instantly killed 
  are knocked unconscious for (6 – target’s Stamina) mis-
  cellaneous actions. This is a Poison effect and a Touch 
  effect. The spell requires a light touch, so it cannot 
  enhance the damage of a regular Martial Arts attack.
  Mortals suffer this damage automatically, but an 
  Essence-user can resist. Roll an Essence-using victim’s 
  Essence trait when he’s subject to Assassin’s Fatal 
  Touch. Success indicates he’s fought it off. Even if the 
  roll fails, though, the target subtracts his innate lethal 
  soak from the damage inﬂ icted. The spell has no effect 
  against the dead, Abyssals or automata.
  With a normal stealth attempt (see Exalted, p. 
  131), the sorcerer may conceal the eponymous fatal 
  touch so it looks accidental. Two extra successes hide 
  the touch entirely. Either way, the spell leaves no 
  physical evidence. The victim simply drops dead or 
  unconscious. It leaves metaphysical traces, however, 
  which medical thaumaturgy can detect. Diagnosing a 
  victim of Assassin’s Fatal Touch calls for a (Perception 
  
  38
  + Medicine) roll, but the investigator suffers an external 
  penalty equal to (5 – her Occult score).
  The sorcerer can cast Assassin’s Fatal Touch against 
  only one creature at a time. If she casts the spell again be-
  fore touching her ﬁ rst target, the ﬁ rst casting is lost.
  BECOMING THE WOOD FRIEND
  Cost: 14m
  Target: Caster
  With a swirl of green mist, the sorcerer draws 
  Wood-aspected Essence from her environment. Her 
  skin becomes greenish, her hair like leaves. Until 
  the next time she sleeps, the caster 
  moves unhindered through 
  dense foliage. Her actions 
  take no environmental penal-
  ties due to plant life and are 
  not limited by her Athletics 
  when dealing with unstable 
  footing caused by vegeta-
  tion (see Exalted, p. 155). 
  Indeed, her player adds the 
  character’s Essence to her 
  dice pools for moving through 
  any plant-based terrain, from 
  forest canopies to peat bogs. 
  For movement and fatigue, 
  treat heavy vegetation as 
  open terrain.
  Mundane tracking cannot 
  follow the sorcerer through 
  vegetation, and she may op-
  pose supernatural tracking. 
  Supernatural trackers have 
  a +2 difﬁ culty penalty to 
  follow the sorcerer 
  in such conditions. 
  This penalty applies 
  even to scent-based 
  tracking, for her scent 
  changes to match the 
  surrounding plants. 
  Becoming the Wood 
  Friend renders useless 
  any other Charm or effect that makes the caster harder 
  to track, however.
  Intelligent plants regard the character more favor-
  ably, though they know she is not a plant. This empathic 
  bond works both ways, however. While this spell is 
  active, plants are considered the same as human beings 
  for purposes of the Compassion Virtue. If the sorcerer 
  sees people harming plants, she feels a powerful urge to 
  stop them. Attempting to harm a plant herself requires 
  a successful Willpower roll. If this roll succeeds, the act 
  severs the empathic bond, and the sorcerer cannot cast 
  the spell on herself again for three full days. Gathering 
  fruits, nuts or pruning dead branches for campﬁ res is 
  not considered harmful.
  BLOOD LASH
  Cost: 10m, 1lhl
  Target: Caster
  Most sorcerers consider the 
  Blood Lash a weapon of last 
  resort, for the spell can be 
  cast only if the sorcerer 
  bears a bleeding wound—at 
  least one unbound, unhealed 
  level of lethal damage. The 
  character may wound 
  himself if he must (this self-
  inﬂ icted damage does not 
  trigger reﬂ exive Charms 
  of defense). Blood from 
  the sorcerer’s wounds 
  surges outward, forming a 
  lash of blood. This effect 
  inflicts another health 
  level of lethal damage, 
  which cannot be healed until 
  the caster ends the spell or 
  the spell’s scene-long 
  duration expires. 
  This whip of blood 
  can make Melee or 
  Martial Arts attacks. 
  Its reach is a number of 
  yards equal to the sorcerer’s 
  Willpower. It inﬂ icts dice of lethal 
  damage equal to (caster’s Strength + Essence) 
  + the number of lethal health levels the caster currently 
  suffers. Its full traits are as follows:
  BLOOD LASH
  Speed 
  Accuracy 
  Damage 
  Defense 
  Rate 
  Tags
  5 
  +1 
  (Varies)L 
  +1 
  2 
  M, N, R
  
  39
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  BURNING EYES OF THE OFFENDER
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Caster
  The sorcerer’s anima ignites in a colorless ﬁ re that 
  refracts and magniﬁ es the hues of her Exaltation. Sorcerers 
  without animas (such as God-Bloods) radiate a blank, 
  white brilliance. All who gaze upon the sorcerer weep 
  uncontrollably, their eyes stung by her blazing halo.
  This spell imposes an internal penalty equal to 
  the caster’s Essence against all attacks against her that 
  originate within 100 yards, whether the sorcerer’s DV 
  applies to such an attack or not. It does not affect al-
  lies standing next to her. Opponents who are blind or 
  who avert their eyes do not suffer this penalty (but see 
  Exalted, p. 152, for info on attacking blind). More-
  over, combatants who close their eyes run the risk of 
  incoming attacks being considered unexpected attacks 
  (see Exalted, p. 155). The (Perception + Awareness) 
  roll to avoid unexpected attacks receives the normal 
  -4 penalty for being blind, of course.
  The sorcerer may dispel Burning Eyes of the Of-
  fender as a reﬂ exive action.
  CALLING THE STALWART SERVITOR
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Summoned servitor
  Reaching into the ground, the sorcerer pulls out a 
  servitor of crude clay, ﬁ ve feet tall and nearly as wide, 
  and two feet thick at the chest. If no soil is nearby, the 
  Stalwart Servitor emerges from whatever surface the 
  sorcerer stands upon, and from thin air if there is no 
  surface nearby at all. The servitor can lift up to 10 tons, 
  it obeys no one but the caster, and it can dig holes, 
  transport materials, build crude but sturdy structures 
  and perform other simple tasks on command. If it is not 
  banished by other means, the servitor lasts a number 
  of hours equal to the caster’s Essence before vanishing. 
  It does not ﬁ ght or even try to defend itself.
  CALLING THE WIND’S KISS
  Cost: 10m + 2m per additional hour (max. 30m 
  expended)
  Target: One sailing vessel
  The sorcerer completes this spell with the Azure 
  Sign, a glyph that epitomizes the Element of Air. He 
  ﬁ lls a target ship’s sails with a powerful wind sufﬁ cient 
  to drive it forward at its maximum speed without sac-
  riﬁ cing handling or safety, and also ignoring currents 
  or small storms. He may target any sail-powered vessel 
  (including Haslanti air boats) he can see, up to (Es-
  STALWART SERVITOR
  Motivation: To serve the sorcerer.
  Attributes: Strength 40, Dexterity 4, Stamina 5; 
  Charisma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 1; 
  Perception 1, Intelligence 1, Wits 2
  Virtues: Automaton: Never fails Valor checks, 
  never makes others.
  Abilities: Craft (Earth) 1
  Willpower: 10 (0 against caster)
  Essence: 1
  Other Notes: Will not participate in com-
  bat, and vanishes immediately if struck with 
  hostile intent.
  sence x 3) miles away. The sorcerer can always cancel 
  this spell as a reﬂ exive action.
  Calling the Wind’s Kiss remains in effect for a 
  number of hours equal to the caster’s Essence, plus one 
  additional hour for every two additional motes spent. 
  Here, the sorcerer has a choice. He may expend the 
  Essence at the casting and let the spell run by itself. To 
  Essence sight and other magical senses, the additional 
  motes manifest as the Azure Sign glowing on the main-
  sail. Alternatively, the sorcerer can actively maintain 
  the spell. The character must remain on deck for the 
  spell’s duration. Every hour, he traces the Azure Sign 
  again and channels two more motes into the spell. He 
  can perform no other actions, not even meditate. A 
  sorcerer cannot start by investing Essence, then change 
  his mind and add further motes to the spell.
  If cast to a ship’s beneﬁ t, Calling the Wind’s Kiss 
  appears as a funnel of blue Essence behind the sails, 
  though on a sunny day it blends with the sky. When 
  using the Complex Travel rules (see Exalted, p. 266), 
  treat difﬁ cult terrain (such as seasonal squalls or shifting 
  crosswinds) as open, and the make haste bonus applies 
  for the spell’s duration. Heavy storms, unusually strong 
  (or supernatural) currents and obstacles still make 
  sailing difﬁ cult, but the spell grants a +3 bonus to all 
  Sail checks to cope with the hazards.
  If the spell is cast to oppose a ship, a gray-tinged 
  funnel of Essence swirls in front of the sails, though it 
  blends in with stormy skies. The spell reduces the ship’s 
  speed. When using the Complex Travel rules, the ter-
  rain type is worsened by one category (i.e., from open 
  terrain to difﬁ cult, or from difﬁ cult terrain to extreme), 
  and the ship is considered substandard for the duration 
  of the spell. The spell inﬂ icts a -3 internal penalty to 
  all Sail checks to retain control of the ship.
  
  40
  Countermagic or casting an opposing Calling the 
  Wind’s Kiss destroys the spell. Additionally, an air el-
  emental or other air spirit whose Essence exceeds the 
  sorcerer’s can usurp control of the spell through a successful 
  Willpower roll (difﬁ culty equal to the sorcerer’s Essence). 
  If the spirit succeeds, it can let the spell operate as it was, 
  negate its effects or even reverse them. The spirit cannot 
  spend Essence to extend the spell’s duration.
  CIRRUS SKIFF
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Summoned cloud
  The sorcerer whistles and calls from the sky a white 
  cloud just large enough to carry her and one human-
  sized passenger. The cloud descends and waits patiently 
  for the sorcerer to step onto it, then it ascends into the 
  sky and travels at the sorcerer’s direction. During the 
  scene in which the cirrus skiff is called, the sorcerer 
  may enter and debark the vehicle at will. After the 
  end of the scene, the cloud vanishes back into the sky 
  the moment she steps off, pausing only to dump her 
  baggage or traveling companion beside her.
  Some sorcerers prefer the cirrus skiff to the azure 
  chariot (see p. 41) for long journeys, as it allows con-
  tinuous travel for as long as the sorcerer remains awake 
  and vigilant, but others prefer the azure chariot’s sturdier 
  construction and striking appearance. A few sorcerers, 
  proﬁ cient at archery, use the cirrus skiff as a mobile archery 
  platform, as it provides perfectly stable footing and does 
  not obscure the sorcerer’s view of her surroundings.
  CIRRUS SKIFF
  Speed: 45/90 mph
  Maneuverability: 4R
  Endurance: Until the sorcerer debarks
  Crew: 1/1 (Only the sorcerer)
  Cargo: 100 lbs. x caster’s permanent Essence, or 
  1 passenger per two dots of Essence
  Armor: 2L/5B
  Health Levels: Ux10/Mx2/Cx1/Ix1/D
  Weapons: None
  action to project her consciousness to the coin (Speed 
  5, DV reduced to 0 for the duration of the projec-
  tion). She sees, hears and smells everything as if she 
  stood at the coin’s location. If the coin is in a pocket, 
  pouch or container with at least one opening, she can 
  sense the environment both inside and outside that 
  container. She senses only the inside of a container 
  that’s completely enclosed, such as a strongbox. As they 
  occupy the coin’s vicinity, her senses are identical to 
  her senses in her body, and she may beneﬁ t normally 
  from all sense-enhancing Charms. Because she cannot 
  project her sense of touch, she knows instantly if her 
  body is shaken or injured.
  The sorcerer instinctively knows the distance of 
  her senses from her body and the direction to the coin. 
  She can ﬁ nd the coin just by traveling toward it, con-
  centrating periodically to discover if it has moved.
  A sorcerer may have only one coin of distant vision 
  at a time. To create a new one, she must ﬁ rst concentrate 
  a moment to reduce her existing coin to dust. Doing 
  so is a miscellaneous action identical to projecting her 
  senses, but it costs ﬁ ve motes of Essence. The coin of 
  distant vision functions as an arcane link to the sorcerer 
  if someone discovers it, but the dust does not.
  COMMANDING PRESENCE OF FIRE
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Fiery projection
  From the ﬁ ery valor within her, the sorcerer creates 
  above herself a huge projection in her own image, dozens 
  of feet tall and wreathed in ﬂ ame, high enough to be seen 
  for seven miles. Speaking through the image, the sorcerer’s 
  voice is ampliﬁ ed so all who see her, even in the clamor of 
  a storm or a battleﬁ eld, can hear her. The projection lasts 
  one minute (or one long tick) at minimum, and up to one 
  scene. For every additional minute or long tick the sorcerer 
  wishes the projection to last, her player must succeed at a 
  reﬂ exive Stamina roll. Failure ends the spell.
  Any social attacks made through the commanding 
  presence of ﬁ re gain a dice bonus equal to the sorcerer’s 
  Occult rating. Additionally, a sorcerer maintaining this 
  spell counts as two relays in mass combat, or three if 
  the sorcerer serves fully in the position of relay rather 
  than the position of sorcerer.
  COMMANDING THE BEASTS
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Animals
  Glittering streamers from the sorcerer’s anima 
  wrap around target animals, carrying sorceries of peace, 
  obedience and understanding. This spell affects only 
  COIN OF DISTANT VISION
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Black ceramic coin
  The sorcerer spits into her palm and conjures into 
  her hand a black ceramic coin inscribed with arcane 
  sigils. She can place the coin where she likes. There-
  after, she can concentrate and perform a miscellaneous 
  
  41
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  normal animals of Intelligence 1. It can affect a number 
  of animals equal to (caster’s Essence x 2), all within 
  20 yards of the caster. It does not affect Wyld-tainted 
  or otherwise supernatural creatures.
  For the rest of the scene, the affected animals obey 
  the sorcerer’s commands. The magic enables them 
  able to understand complex commands. Spellbound 
  animals have a control rating of 0 (see Exalted, p. 
  154) and they never spend Willpower to resist the 
  sorcerer’s commands. If the sorcerer successfully uses 
  social combat to build Intimacies, the animals remain 
  tame and obedient for the sorcerer even after the 
  spell ends, but at this point, they are simply tamed 
  animals without any supernatural understanding of 
  the sorcerer’s commands. Anyone training the tamed 
  animals gains a +1 bonus to the Survival roll to do so; 
  the sorcerer himself gains a +3 bonus.
  When other characters interact with the spell-
  bound animals, the difﬁ culty to do so increases by an 
  amount equal to the caster’s Essence. The animals be-
  come testy around other people and are not interested 
  in doing what anyone else wants. Charms and sorcery, 
  however, work normally on spellbound animals.
  Commanding the Beasts can be used in war. If the 
  sorcerer increases its shaping time to long ticks, the 
  spell can affect a unit of animals equal in Magnitude to 
  her Essence. She may choose to aid her allies, reducing 
  the control rating of their animals by a number equal 
  to her permanent Essence. Alternatively, she may hin-
  der the enemy by increasing the control rating of their 
  animals by a number equal to her permanent Essence 
  (to a maximum of 6). Doing so can severely disrupt 
  cavalry and other forces that rely on animals.
  CONJURING THE AZURE CHARIOT
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Caster
  The sorcerer’s words of power create a billowing 
  fog bank. Four cerulean horses coalesce from the mist, 
  pulling a coach the hue of the noonday sky behind 
  them. The horses snort steam and trail lightning sparks 
  from their manes. Their hooves freeze the ground 
  where they touch.
  When the sorcerer takes the carriage’s reins, the 
  steeds launch themselves into the air, pulling the 
  chariot behind them. Once the sorcerer tells the horses 
  his destination, they circle once to get their bearings 
  as they rise and then gallop away, leaving a trail of 
  fog in their wake.
  The azure chariot cannot be slowed or turned 
  aside from its designated course. Attackers who cannot 
  match the coach’s speed may attack once as it passes 
  (though this attack may take the form of a ﬂ urry), and 
  the carriage soon outpaces even the longest-ranged 
  weapons. Passengers in the azure chariot receive 90% 
  cover from attacks. It also protects occupants and cargo 
  from most ranges of temperature or weather, though 
  extreme conditions such as hurricanes or blizzards still 
  endanger both carriage and occupants.
  This spell can be cast only during daylight hours. 
  The spell lasts until the coach reaches its destination, 
  the sorcerer lands it prematurely, someone dispels it 
  with countermagic, or sunset. As the sun nears the 
  horizon, the carriage slowly changes hue to match 
  the twilight sky. The horses also gallop lower until 
  the azure chariot lands, and disappears with the last 
  sliver of the sun.
  AZURE CHARIOT
  Speed: 100/200 mph
  Maneuverability: 3R
  Endurance: Until sunset
  Crew: Only the sorcerer
  Cargo: (Essence x 200) lbs., or 4 passengers
  Armor: 25L/35B
  Health Levels: Ux15/Mx5/Cx3/Ix2/D
  Weapons: None
  CORRUPTED WORDS
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Speaking creature
  This spell helps sorcerers keep their secrets. It also 
  enforces oaths of silence or simply prevents someone 
  from speaking about a given subject. The subject 
  may be as speciﬁ c as “Mnemon’s deal with the Mask 
  of Winters,” or as broad as “Solars in Chiaroscuro.” 
  It affects any one person the sorcerer can see within 
  10 yards.
  The sorcerer evokes a seething, bilious green 
  ball between his hands. He names the subject matter 
  about which the target cannot speak and releases the 
  ball. The vile green energy rushes toward and into the 
  mouth of the target and down her throat, dissolving 
  into a ward within the target’s body. Only Charms or 
  other effects that grant perfect dodges or parries can 
  block the curse. The player of an Essence-channel-
  ing target is permitted a (Stamina + Resistance) roll, 
  however, at a difﬁ culty equal to the caster’s Occult 
  Ability. Success indicates that the target resists the 
  spell, which the sorcerer knows at once.
  
  42
  Subjects who even think of violating the binding feel 
  nausea. So do subjects who try to devise ways to get past 
  the limitations of the spell, such as by writing or using 
  sign language. Victims who ignore the warning and go 
  ahead with their communication—be it verbal, written, 
  silent or even telepathic—feel wracking pain and vomit 
  dozens of fat, white maggots. The target cannot take any 
  non-reﬂ exive actions that action. He’s in too much pain 
  to concentrate on anything but throwing up.
  This spell can provoke inconvenient reac-
  tions, from uncomprehending fear to immediate 
  knowledge that someone doesn’t want the victim to 
  speak of something. The curse lasts until it is broken 
  by countermagic, until the caster dies, or until the 
  caster deliberately ends the spell by reaching into 
  the victim’s mouth and speaking the last word of the 
  spell backward. The victim violently disgorges the 
  spell, which manifests as a slimy, egg-like sac ﬁ lled 
  with tiny, squirming larvae.
  CURSE OF SLAVISH HUMILITY
  Cost: 10m
  Target: One creature within 10 yards
  The sorcerer ties knots of scarlet Essence as he 
  exhorts the victim to worship one target, which may 
  be the caster himself, another being present or even 
  an object. With the ﬁ nal word, the spell’s Essence 
  creeps forward in scintillating ruby tendrils that force 
  the target to his knees.
  The spell creates an unnatural mental inﬂ uence, a 
  Compulsion for the victim to abase himself and worship 
  the target designated by the sorcerer. The sorcerer’s player 
  rolls (Manipulation + Occult) as a social attack, with 
  automatic successes equal to his Essence. If the attack 
  overcomes the target’s Dodge MDV, the victim feels the 
  Compulsion effect for the rest of the scene.
  The victim can resist the spell for a single action 
  by spending a point of Willpower. The spell does not 
  prevent combat, however. The victim may still attack 
  the target of his devotion, though he cringes and begs 
  forgiveness for doing so. All such attacks, whether 
  physical or social, suffer a -3 external penalty due to 
  hesitation and remorse—unless the victim has spent 
  Willpower to act normally. This penalty may also 
  be negated by somehow working the spell-induced 
  groveling into an appropriate stunt.
  CURTAIN OF QUARTZ
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Creatures near caster
  Essence and the Crystal Rune evoke a globe of 
  shimmering quartz fragments around the sorcerer. 
  These crystal shards ﬂ oat about the sorcerer for the 
  rest of the scene, capturing light and reﬂ ecting it back 
  
  43
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  as dazzling and distracting beams and spots. All char-
  acters within a three-yard radius of the sorcerer (but 
  not the sorcerer herself) suffer a -2 external penalty to 
  their DVs and to all rolls. The effects of the Curtain of 
  Quartz do not affect characters who cannot see.
  Immaterial ranged attacks against the sorcerer 
  (such as Phantom Arrow Technique) suffer an exter-
  nal penalty equal to the caster’s permanent Essence. 
  The quartz fragments bleed off the attacks’ ambient 
  Essence as beautiful light displays.
  DANCE OF THE SMOKE COBRAS
  Cost: 15m
  Target: One creature within 30 yards
  Dark, ﬁ ery Essence shatters the ground at the 
  target’s feet in a star pattern. Streams of thick, gray 
  smoke rise from the points of this star and coalesce 
  into ﬁ ve tall cobras. Poison drips from the fangs to 
  char and blacken the ground.
  These serpentine automata of smoke, Essence 
  and ﬁ re immediately strike at the target. Because of 
  their placement around the target, these cobras are 
  assumed to gain all the beneﬁ ts described for multiple 
  attackers who have closed around an opponent (see 
  Exalted, p. 155). The serpents attack only the target 
  chosen when the spell was cast. As a function of the 
  spell, they can automatically ﬁ nd the target regardless 
  of any techniques he uses to conceal himself.
  Should the target escape (by leaping over the snakes, 
  or dispersing one of the serpents long enough to squeeze 
  out of the grouping), the serpents can still attack from up 
  to three yards away. If one of the serpents is destroyed, 
  another forms in its place on the group of serpents’ next 
  action. When the spell ends, the cracks in the ground 
  close and the smoke cobras fade away.
  DISGUISE OF THE NEW FACE
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Creature
  This spell weaves an illusion that makes the tar-
  get look like someone else. It transforms not just the 
  person’s appearance, but her voice, mannerisms and 
  even anima. Sidereal Exalted favor this spell for its 
  ability to make them appear as someone else entirely. It 
  perfectly complements the false identities they create 
  through resplendent destinies.
  The sorcerer ties threads of Essence around the 
  target in the occult knot-pattern of the Hidden Self. 
  The process takes 10 minutes to complete. It’s easy if 
  the target remains standing and immobile, but impos-
  sible if she does not.
  SMOKE COBRA
  Motivation: Bite the sorcerer’s foe.
  Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 6, Stamina 4; 
  Charisma 0, Manipulation 0, Appearance 1; 
  Perception 3, Intelligence 1, Wits 4
  Virtues: Automaton: Never fails Valor checks, 
  never makes others.
  Abilities: Awareness 4, Dodge 6, Martial Arts 6
  Join Battle: 8
  Attacks:
  Bite: Speed 5, Accuracy 12, Damage 5L + poison, 
  Parry DV —, Rate 2
  Soak: 2L/4B
  Health Levels: -0/-0/-0/Incap
  Dodge DV: 6 
  Willpower: 10
  Essence: 1
  Other Notes: The venom of the smoke cobras 
  has the following traits:
  Damage 3L/action, Toxicity (caster’s Essence), 
  Tolerance —/—, Penalty -6
  The sorcerer’s player rolls (Intelligence + Craft 
  [Fate]) or (Intelligence + Larceny). This roll is not 
  part of the spell casting, so the character may augment 
  it with Excellencies or other Charms. The number 
  of successes indicates the detail of the disguise and 
  its ability to fool observers. (See Exalted p. 128 for 
  details on creating disguises, though the spell does 
  grant mannerisms as well and may be used to mimic 
  someone of much higher Appearance.)
  Once the persona-tapestry is woven, it ﬂ ares brieﬂ y 
  with Essence light before it fades, completely remak-
  ing the subject’s appearance. The spell lasts until the 
  imposture is somehow revealed, the target chooses to 
  remove it (by spending a single mote, or a Willpower 
  point for mortals) or when the caster dispels it, requir-
  ing line of sight and a reﬂ exive action.
  DRAGON OF SMOKE AND FLAME
  Cost: 20m
  Target: Serpentine guide
  The sorcerer expels a ﬂ ying, serpentine guide 
  from the center of her chest. It leads her on while 
  she moves, and loops and whorls around her when 
  she’s still. By day or in light, the guide is formed of 
  inky black smoke. By night or in darkness, the smoke 
  transforms into heatless white ﬂ ame visible for miles, 
  illuminating its immediate surroundings as brightly 
  as daylight.
  
  44
  The creature can infallibly guide the sorcerer to 
  any speciﬁ c location that is well known to her. A lost 
  sorcerer can use the dragon of smoke and ﬂ ame to ﬁ nd 
  her way to a known location even out of dangerously 
  variable environments, such as the Wyld or the twist-
  ing Labyrinth of the Underworld.
  Alternatively, the sorcerer can bid the guide to seek 
  a destination with a speciﬁ c desired property, such as 
  the nearest source of water. In this case, the sorcerer’s 
  player rolls (Wits + Occult) during the Cast Sorcery 
  action, with a difﬁ culty set by the property’s rarity:
  Difficulty 
  Rarity
   
  1 
  Common properties, such as food or 
  water sources in a forest.
   
  2 
  Uncommon properties, such as food or 
  water sources in a desert.
   
  3 
  Highly uncommon properties, such as 
  shelter from the elements in a nigh-
  featureless wasteland or a speciﬁ c herb 
  in a vast forest.
   
  4 
  Rare properties, such as deposits of 
  gold, diamonds or other valuable but 
  non-magical materials.
   
  5 
  Very rare properties, such as deposits of 
  jade or safe haven in the Wyld.
  The spell cannot locate places with unique or 
  even exceedingly rare properties such as deposits of 
  most magical materials (jade being the exception). 
  Nor can it ﬁ nd speciﬁ c locations the sorcerer has 
  never visited or locations magically obscured in any 
  fashion (unless the sorcerer herself was the one who 
  magically obscured them). What counts as common 
  or uncommon may vary by Storyteller discretion based 
  on the region where the sorcerer casts the spell. Should 
  the (Wits + Occult) roll fail, the serpent manifests 
  but merely loops around the caster for its duration, 
  providing illumination in the dark but no hint about 
  the direction she should go.
  The serpentine lasts for one full day, until the 
  sorcerer reaches her destination, or until she dismisses 
  it, whichever comes ﬁ rst.
  DRONING SUGGESTION
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Area
  The sorcerer evokes a low droning buzz faintly 
  audible to all in the spell’s area. At the moment of 
  casting, the noise rises to a crescendo, the sound of a 
  thousand voices whispering in an unknown tongue. 
  This is the spell’s only Obvious quality: Unlike other 
  spells, Droning Suggestion does not ﬂ are the sorcerer’s 
  anima if the sorcerer uses only her Personal Essence. 
  Thereafter, a single speaking voice can drown out 
  the quiet hum. Whether they hear the sound or not, 
  everyone within 10 yards of the caster becomes sus-
  ceptible to her suggestions. The spell lasts until the 
  end of the scene.
  Droning Suggestion turns the sorcerer’s social at-
  tacks into unnatural mental inﬂ uences, though they 
  cost only one point of Willpower to resist. Furthermore, 
  a mortal victim of the spell is magically prohibited 
  from realizing the nature of this effect for as long as the 
  spell endures. An Essence-user may deduce the spell’s 
  nature if it imposes on him a mechanical effect that a 
  natural mental inﬂ uence could not, such as forcing his 
  player to spend more than two Willpower in a scene 
  resisting the sorcerer’s social attacks. Deaf characters, 
  including characters who have stopped up their ears 
  with wax, are not affected.
  EMERALD CIRCLE BANISHMENT
  Cost: 10+m
  Target: Demon
  This spell has special timing rules. The character 
  can cast it as a reflexive Shape Terrestrial Circle 
  Sorcery action that takes 0 ticks. It affects one First 
  Circle demon, up to (Essence x 15) yards away.
  The sorcerer makes the Victory over Primordials 
  Mudra, the hand-gesture the gods used to seal their vic-
  tory at the dawn of the First Age. With his Cast Sorcery 
  action, the sorcerer and the demon enter a contest of wills. 
  Their players begin an extended, resisted roll of (Essence 
  + Willpower) as a Speed 3, -1 DV action. The demon 
  suffers a -1 internal penalty for each ﬁ ve additional motes 
  the sorcerer spends in casting the spell. Neither contes-
  tant can take any non-reﬂ exive action during this time 
  without forfeiting the contest. The challenge continues 
  until either the sorcerer or the demon accumulates a 
  number of net successes equal to his opponent’s Essence. 
  If the sorcerer wins, the demon’s form shatters, and it is 
  banished back to Malfeas in a ﬂ ash of green ﬂ ame. If the 
  demon wins, it remains in Creation, and the sorcerer 
  cannot attempt to banish it again for ﬁ ve days.
  EMPATHIC WIND
  Cost: 15m
  Target: One individual
  The sorcerer imposes an instant’s worth of sensory 
  impressions on a passing gust of wind, then bids the 
  gust to deliver those impressions to a compatriot up to 
  (caster’s Essence x 50) miles away. Within a minute, 
  
  45
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  the wind reaches its recipient despite any barrier and 
  delivers the experience.
  The sorcerer’s player rolls (Perception + Awareness). 
  Each success allows the character to choose one sense 
  to convey. If the roll scores more than ﬁ ve successes, the 
  Empathic Wind delivers the caster’s emotions during that 
  instant as well. The target has full access to these sensory 
  impressions for three seconds, after which he remembers 
  them but no longer experiences them. Reading any long 
  text in the sorcerer’s ﬁ eld of vision requires success on a 
  (Wits + Linguistics) roll on the part of the recipient. If 
  the sorcerer is in sufﬁ cient pain to suffer wound penalties 
  and wishes to transmit the sense of touch, the recipient 
  also suffers those wound penalties for one action.
  THE EYE AND THE MOUTH
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Summoned eye and mouth
  Drawing from ancient bargains, the sorcerer 
  evokes a disembodied mouth and eye of golden light. 
  The golden eye can read any text (though not codes 
  or ciphers) and the mouth can translate and recite 
  whatever the eye reads. The mouth will pause in its 
  dictation if the sorcerer asks, but it will not translate 
  the same text twice for a single sorcerer, nor repeat 
  itself if the sorcerer mishears or is distracted during the 
  translation. The eye and the mouth consent to only 
  10 minutes of servitude per day before they return 
  whence they came.
  EYE OF ALLIANCE
  Cost: 5m per participant
  Target: Up to (sorcerer’s Essence x 2) people
  Dragon-Blooded sworn brotherhoods, and other 
  Terrestrials who expect to work together for any length 
  of time, favor this spell. The ritual takes 30 minutes to 
  cast. The participants link hands around the sorcerer; if 
  the sorcerer wishes to be included in this link, he joins 
  hands with the rest. A brilliant white glow ﬂ ows from 
  each participant to the center of the circle and then 
  back again, coalescing before each participant as a crystal 
  to pluck from the air. These crystals have one facet per 
  participant. One mote per crystal remains committed 
  by the sorcerer who cast this spell, and the crystals re-
  main intact for a year and a day. The sorcerer may not 
  decommit these motes unless he decommits them all, 
  destroying the spell and dissolving the crystals.
  The crystals serve as arcane links to every member 
  of the ritual, so their owners must guard them care-
  fully. A sorcerer or thaumaturge also gains a number 
  of automatic successes equal to the sorcerer’s Essence 
  to attempts to scry upon or gain magical information 
  about the character whose crystal he possesses.
  The real purpose of the crystals is to send emo-
  tions to other participants or to reﬂ exively sense their 
  emotions. Subjects can use this spell simply to keep 
  tabs on one another from afar. The emotional link can 
  also reveal valuable information in a social situation: 
  Those capable of sensing a character’s emotional state 
  can often resist that character’s attempts to lie to them, 
  gaining a +2 bonus to Mental DVs against social at-
  tacks based on Manipulation. Dynasts sometimes use 
  this aspect of the spell in tense negotiations to keep 
  the other participants honest.
  These crystals cannot be used to locate other 
  participants without some other form of divinatory 
  magic or artifact. When he sets his crystal into the 
  hearthstone socket of an artifact, however, the bearer 
  instantly knows the condition of the other participants 
  if they are within one mile. He may also reﬂ exively 
  spend one Willpower to transfer a number of motes of 
  Essence equal to the total number of participants in the 
  ritual to one of the others whose stone is likewise set 
  in an artifact. Any given participant may do so only 
  once per day, and it causes his stone to grow cloudy, 
  rendering it useless for that 24 hour period, though 
  others may still sense him.
  If a participant in the spell dies, her crystal dis-
  solves, and one facet of each remaining crystal cracks 
  and turns black. All bearers immediately know who 
  died, though they might not know the circumstances 
  of her death.
  FLIGHT OF SEPARATION
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Caster
  The sorcerer speaks the Word of Ten Thousand 
  Birds, part of the song that all the birds of Creation sing 
  when they gather in one place. Because humans cannot 
  speak this word, the caster is suddenly transformed into a 
  ﬂ ock of birds in a burst of Essence. The birds ﬂ y together 
  at a speed of 20 miles per hour and can travel up to a 
  number of miles equal to the caster’s Essence. Once the 
  birds reach this distance (or some nearer destination), 
  the birds complete the Word of Ten Thousand Birds, 
  and coalesce to become the sorcerer once more.
  This spell has special timing rules. The character 
  can cast it as a reflexive Shape Terrestrial Circle 
  Sorcery action that takes 0 ticks. It follows all of 
  the other normal rules for sorcery actions, except the 
  character takes her Cast Sorcery action as her next 
  normal action after she re-forms.
  
  46
  While transformed into a ﬂ ock of birds, the 
  sorcerer keeps all of her Attributes, Abilities, Will-
  power, health levels, Virtues and soak (including 
  armor). Her Dodge DV increases by an amount equal 
  to her permanent Essence. She cannot, however, take 
  any actions other than Move actions. She may not 
  attack, use Charms, communicate or use her Parry 
  DV. Any health levels of damage are reﬂ ected by 
  the deaths of several birds until the caster re-forms, 
  whereupon the damage manifests as wounds and the 
  slain birds dissolve into pools of the caster’s blood. 
  Each sorcerer always becomes a particular species 
  of bird. Abyssal sorcerers invariably become car-
  rion-eating birds.
  FLIGHT OF THE BRILLIANT RAPTOR
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Creature
  The sorcerer’s Essence coalesces into an eagle-sized 
  bird of prey made of diamond and ruby ﬂ ame. The bird 
  then streaks with unearthly speed toward any target 
  the caster can see within 1,800 yards. Right before it 
  slams into the target, it gives the shrill victory cry of 
  a garda bird. Should the brilliant raptor succeed in its 
  attack, this brieﬂ y lived automaton explodes, consum-
  ing the area around the target in a holocaust.
  The sorcerer’s player rolls an attack of (Wits + Oc-
  cult), with an Accuracy equal to the sorcerer’s Essence, 
  but no range penalties. The attack cannot be parried 
  without a stunt or Charm, though it can be dodged 
  normally. If the target is not on guard, the difﬁ culty to 
  spot the attack coming equals the sorcerer’s Essence, due 
  to the brilliant raptor’s speed. The bird’s impact inﬂ icts 
  a number of dice of lethal damage equal to the sorcerer’s 
  (Perception + Occult), with a number of automatic 
  successes equal to the caster’s Essence. Successes on 
  the attack roll also add to damage as usual.
  When the raptor strikes its target, it also sends 
  ﬁ ery Essence coursing through the target’s body to 
  cause tremendous pain. If the target takes any damage, 
  he suffers an automatic knockdown and a -1 internal 
  penalty to all Dexterity-based rolls for every two health 
  levels (round up) inﬂ icted by the attack. This penalty 
  fades at a rate of one point per ﬁ ve ticks.
  Finally, the brilliant raptor explodes on the tick after 
  it strikes, burning the target and everything else within 
  three yards. The ﬁ restorm inﬂ icts four levels of lethal 
  damage (Trauma 3), which may be reduced as normal for 
  environmental damage (see Exalted, p. 131). Everything 
  in that area catches ﬁ re—hair, skin, objects and even the 
  ground. Every tick they remain in the area, targets suf-
  fer further environmental damage of 1L/tick, Trauma 2. 
  
  47
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  Fleeing the area still leaves the target on ﬁ re (Damage 
  1L/tick, Trauma 1), which may be extinguished with an 
  action (which may be ﬂ urried). These ﬂ ames burn for 
  10 ticks before going out, though they may ignite other 
  ﬂ ammable sources with normal ﬂ ame.
  FLORAL FERRY
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Plant
  The sorcerer causes a nearby plant to grow and 
  change in shape until it becomes a seaworthy vessel. 
  The conjured boat might look like a ﬂ ower (as the 
  spell’s name suggests) or like a curling leaf, a seed pod 
  or even a piece of fruit—whatever’s appropriate for the 
  plant that produced it. One person can easily carry 
  the lightweight magical boat by himself.
  Once the sorcerer places the Floral Ferry in wa-
  ter and states her desired destination, the boat sails 
  toward that location in as straight a line as possible, 
  maneuvering around obstacles too small to be carried 
  over. Its passengers and cargo stay safe even in the 
  most tempestuous weather. Once the magical boat 
  reaches its destination, it lingers for 10 minutes and 
  then vanishes completely.
  FLORAL FERRY
  Speed: 15/30 mph
  Maneuverability: 2S
  Endurance: (caster’s Essence x 100) miles
  Crew: 1/1 (only the sorcerer)
  Cargo: 1 ton or 10 passengers
  Armor: 6L/6B
  Health Levels: Ux10/Mx10/Cx10/I/D
  Weapons: None
  avoids obstacles (negating cover and shield bonuses) 
  and can even turn corners to chase a foe.
  The silver weapon wraps about whatever body part 
  it strikes and secures itself into a loop of chain with barbs 
  along the inside. The chain spins with great speed as it 
  tightens, inﬂ icting horriﬁ c damage. The spell inﬂ icts 18 
  levels of lethal damage, plus the successes gained on the 
  attack roll. The chain always aims for the neck of the 
  target. If the Flying Guillotine reduces the victim below 
  Incapacitated, it decapitates the target. Most creatures ﬁ nd 
  this instantly fatal. The chain itself seals shut the severed 
  neck on the head, making it not so messy a trophy.
  If the damage does not kill the target, the chain has 
  wraps around a shoulder, chest or limb thrown up as part 
  of the defense, cuts deeply, and then vanishes in a ﬂ ash 
  of silver light. The chain likewise disappears if the target 
  dodges, parries or otherwise counters the attack.
  When used in war, this spell negates the normal 
  penalty for attacking commanders and special char-
  acters, as it whips past all soldiers and fortiﬁ cations 
  on its way to its foe.
  FOOD FROM THE AERIAL TABLE
  Cost: 10+m
  Target: Conjured food
  The Essence around the sorcerer condenses into a 
  cascade of pink ﬂ akes that resemble ﬂ ower petals. The 
  soft, edible ﬂ akes can feed at least ﬁ ve people. For every 
  additional ﬁ ve motes and Shape Terrestrial Circle Sor-
  cery action taken, the spell creates another 10 servings 
  of food. If the spell is interrupted during casting, the 
  food produced up to that point already exists, but no 
  more is conjured. The additional Essence spent is lost, 
  as all the motes used in casting this spell are spent with 
  the ﬁ rst Shape Terrestrial Circle Sorcery action.
  The magical food is nourishing and ﬁ lling, but 
  it lacks ﬂ avor. The food keeps for a number of days 
  equal to the sorcerer’s Essence before dissolving into 
  ash. The food does not rot, nor can it be poisoned, but 
  it dissolves if it is mixed into other foods or cooked 
  in any way. After a day or two, animals ﬁ nd the food 
  unappetizing, increasing their control ratings +1 per 
  two days with no other viands.
  Food from the Aerial Table will not sustain mor-
  tal life forever. After one week with no other food, 
  creatures receive a -1 external penalty to all physical 
  actions due to slight weakness and lethargy. After six 
  months with no other victuals, a character requires 
  double the normal amount to nourish him. This is 
  doubled again every six months that a character goes 
  FLYING GUILLOTINE
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Creature
  The sorcerer makes the Sign of the Hooded Heads-
  man. His Essence congeals into a barbed chain two 
  feet long that spins as it arcs toward the target at 170 
  yards per tick (about 340 miles per hour). The sorcerer 
  can attack anyone he can see within 500 yards.
  The sorcerer’s player rolls (Perception + Occult) 
  in the Cast Sorcery action, adding the character’s Es-
  sence as automatic successes to the roll. This attack 
  may not be parried without a stunt or Charm. If this 
  is a surprise attack, the chain’s great speed increases 
  the difﬁ culty to spot it by +2. The Flying Guillotine 
  
  48
  without real food, but the time is reset after consuming 
  a day’s worth of actual food.
  FUGUE OF TRUTH
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Caster
  The sorcerer casts this spell after meditating in a 
  lightless, soundless place for one hour. He attunes himself 
  to truth and the ﬂ ows of Essence, rather than the tricks 
  that sound and light play on the senses. The meditation 
  enables the sorcerer to see through illusions, to resist 
  glamours, to avoid enchantments and to perceive what 
  is concealed, whether they are things or purposes.
  This trance-like state grants four extra successes 
  to all Perception-based rolls to perceive illusions, see 
  through disguises, read motivations (see Exalted, p. 
  131), and when rolling to ﬁ nd or notice hidden things. 
  Moreover, the sorcerer gains a perfect defense against 
  normal, Manipulation-based social attack rolls, for he 
  sees through the cleverest persuasions. Supernatural 
  attempts to control the caster’s mind can be resisted 
  with a reﬂ exive (Perception + Integrity) roll, difﬁ culty 
  of the would-be controller’s Essence. Success indicates 
  the sorcerer ignores this effect as well. While the 
  trance lasts, however, treat the sorcerer as stunned 
  (see Exalted, p. 153) for taking physical actions. His 
  stupeﬁ ed and distracted demeanor also inﬂ icts a -1 
  external penalty to all social rolls.
  Fugue of Truth ends if the sorcerer botches a roll, is 
  wounded, loses consciousness (including going to sleep) 
  or voluntarily chooses to release it. This spell can be 
  countered only during its casting. Once the trance begins, 
  the effect is entirely within the mind of the sorcerer.
  THE HORSE THAT TRAVELS EARTH AND WATER
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Conjured automaton
  As the sorcerer makes the Sign of the Horseman, 
  the winds in his area converge in the bubble of Essence 
  before him. The Essence takes a hue that indicates 
  the nearest Elemental Pole—red in the South, blue 
  in the North, green in the East, black in the West and 
  white nearest the Imperial Mountain—and then forms 
  itself into a horse-shaped automaton. The horse’s coat 
  matches the bubble of Essence whence it came, though 
  its mane and tail are either black or white.
  The horse lands next to the caster, tossing and 
  stamping, eager to be ridden. It serves as a perfectly 
  trained war-horse (control rating 0). The stallion never 
  tires and gallops over water as easily as land. It can 
  travel at its full speed until the sun next crosses the 
  horizon (whether rising or setting), at which point it 
  dissipates into colored wind and is gone.
  When using the “Average Travel Times” table 
  on p. 264 of Exalted, the horse that travels earth and 
  water is considered “horseback, tireless” and treats all 
  water as land of the same terrain type.
  In combat, the stallion is fearless. It can carry 
  another rider, but the sorcerer must command it to do 
  so and give it a destination. The horse then moves at 
  full speed toward that destination, regardless of what 
  its passenger wishes. It ignores attempts to redirect 
  it. If the passenger falls or jumps from the stallion’s 
  saddle, the horse dissipates, its purpose fulﬁ lled. The 
  automaton does not like being used as a pack mount. 
  Should someone try to use it as such, the creature’s 
  control rating increases to 3.
  THE HORSE THAT TRAVELS  
  EARTH AND WATER
  Motivation: To carry the sorcerer to his 
  destination.
  Attributes: Strength 6, Dexterity 5, Stamina 5; 
  Charisma 2, Manipulation 1, Appearance 4; 
  Perception 3, Intelligence 2, Wits 2
  Virtues: Automaton: Never fails Valor checks, 
  never makes others.
  Abilities: Athletics 4, Awareness 3, Dodge 2, 
  Martial Arts 3, Presence 2 (Intimidation +1), 
  Resistance 5, War 2
  Join Battle: 5
  Attacks:
  Bite: Speed 6, Accuracy 10, Damage 6L, Parry 
  DV —, Rate 1
  Kick: Speed 4, Accuracy 8, Damage 8L, Parry 
  DV 4, Rate 2
  Soak: 5L/5B (Elemental hide, 3L/0B)
  Health Levels: -0/-0/-0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/Incapacitated
  Dodge DV: 4 
  Willpower: 10 (0 against 
  sorcerer)
  Essence: 2 Essence Pool: 10
  Other Notes: The horse that travels earth and 
  water can make a magical ﬂ urry of a number of 
  attacks equal to the caster’s Essence by spending 
  ﬁ ve motes. It also heals at a rate of 1B/10 ticks 
  and 1L/20 ticks, as long as it can run while doing 
  so. It cannot regain motes on its own. The steed 
  has a ﬁ nite pool, though it can receive Essence 
  given through Charms such as Essence-Lending 
  Method or artifacts that accomplish that task.
  
  49
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  cesses equal to the sorcerer’s Essence. Only perfect 
  effects can throw the hound off the scent. Even then, 
  the hound will know if the target’s scent reappears 
  within 100 miles.
  This spell can be countered only during casting. 
  Once the hound appears, only killing it gets rid of it. 
  When the duration of the spell ends or the hound is 
  slain, it explodes in a violent eruption of wind that 
  inﬂ icts environmental damage (Damage 5B; Trauma 
  3) to anyone within three yards of it. Healing magic 
  does not work on the hound.
  In war, the hound is so ferocious it is considered a 
  Magnitude 3 solo unit, for the purposes of comparing 
  Magnitude with other war units. Treat packs of the 
  hounds as Magnitude 3 + (1 per additional hound in 
  the pack), to a maximum Magnitude of 8. A hound of 
  the ﬁ ve winds does not receive this bonus when incor-
  porated into a unit of some other sort. It must have the 
  freedom to savage its way through enemy ranks.
  IMPERVIOUS SPHERE OF WATER
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Area
  The sorcerer’s anima ﬂ ashes blue and green as it 
  transforms the air in a 10-foot radius around her heart 
  into a globe of fresh, magically breathable water. Its 
  surface functions as a barrier with a soak of 20L/20B and 
  35 health levels. (See Exalted p. 153 for rules on attack-
  ing inanimate targets.) People inside the sphere cannot 
  launch physical attacks against the world outside.
  The water lasts as long as the sorcerer concentrates. 
  While concentrating, she operates under the same 
  restrictions as she did while shaping and releasing 
  the spell—she may not move, speak or take actions 
  except for activating her anima power. Others within 
  the radius of effect have their actions constrained as 
  they normally would when submerged, though they 
  can still breathe. If the sphere is destroyed by counter-
  magic, it is breached by damage or the sorcerer ceases 
  concentrating, the water loses its magical properties 
  and falls to the ground. As such, this spell sees another 
  use during journeys through deserts or other areas 
  where water is scarce.
  This spell can also be cast underwater, in which 
  case the water around the sorcerer becomes an imper-
  vious sphere of air.
  INCANTATION OF EFFECTIVE RESTORATION
  Cost: 15m
  Target: One item
  HOUND OF THE FIVE WINDS
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Conjured automaton
  The sorcerer hurls his Essence into the air and 
  makes the Gesture of the Huntsman. Winds from the 
  ﬁ ve elemental poles swirl together and form a massive, 
  horse-sized wolfhound. This magical automaton can 
  scent its prey up to 100 miles away and chase it tirelessly, 
  as long as it has been introduced to the scent already. 
  It can also serve the sorcerer as a bodyguard, warrior 
  or even a riding beast (control rating 1). The creature 
  exists for up to eight hours after its creation.
  When tracking prey, the hound can hunt alone, 
  lead the sorcerer or a deputy assigned by the sorcerer 
  or even lead normal hunting beasts. The supernatu-
  ral hound understands complex instructions and 
  automatically succeeds at tracking mortal prey. The 
  Storyteller may roll (Perception + Survival) against 
  creatures that magically hide their tracks. This roll is 
  opposed by whatever dice pool represents the prey’s 
  power, or (Wits + Survival) as a default. The hound 
  adds to this opposed roll a number of automatic suc-
  HOUND OF THE FIVE WINDS
  Motivation: To serve the sorcerer
  Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 6, Stamina 5; 
  Charisma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 2; 
  Perception 5, Intelligence 3, Wits 3
  Virtues: Automaton: Never fails Valor checks, 
  never makes others.
  Abilities: Athletics 3, Awareness 3, Dodge 3, 
  Martial Arts 5, Presence 5, Resistance 5 (Run-
  ning +3), Stealth 2 (Stalking +2), Survival 5 
  (Tracking +3), War 2
  Join Battle: 6
  Attacks:
  Bite: Speed 4, Accuracy 12, Damage 7L, Parry 
  DV —, Rate 2
  Soak: 7L/7B (Rough hide, 5L/2B)
  Health Levels: -0/-0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/Incapaci-
  tated
  Dodge DV: 4 
  Willpower: 10 (0 against sor-
  cerer)
  Essence: 1
  Other Notes: The hound of the ﬁ ve winds can 
  perform a Move action of 20 yards and a Dash 
  action of 60 yards. In war situations, hound of 
  the ﬁ ve winds units have a long tick movement 
  of 200 yards per tick.
  
  50
  Through a one-minute ritual, the sorcerer returns 
  one damaged item to a pristine state by recalling its 
  original form from the patterns in its Essence. This 
  spell only restores items small enough for the sorcerer 
  to lift, such as the fragments of a rotting book or the 
  rusted remains of a suit of armor. The sorcerer also 
  needs more than half of the decayed item’s remains to 
  restore it. Anything repaired by the spell appears as it 
  did when it was new, and the effects are permanent. 
  Splitting an object in half and casting the spell on 
  each does not result in two copies: One half regener-
  ates and the other disappears.
  The Incantation of Effective Restoration works 
  in a limited fashion on magic items. It can instantly 
  repair artifacts that require no maintenance, such 
  as hearthstone bracers. Anything magical that re-
  quires maintenance is built of multiple components 
  that must be repaired separately, and the spell does 
  not aid in separating the components before repair 
  or reassembling them afterward. Additionally, the 
  spell reverses the effects of wear and damage but 
  does not replace expended reagents or exotic fuels. 
  Regular castings of the Incantation of Effective 
  Restoration can halve the time necessary to perform 
  maintenance on warstriders and other magitech, but 
  the spell does not negate the need for maintenance 
  entirely, nor does it allow a would-be scavenger lord 
  to repair an item with skill requirements beyond her 
  abilities. See Wonders of the Lost Age for full rules 
  on magitech and its maintenance. The Incantation 
  of Effective Restoration affects magitech items that 
  require no maintenance as if they were damaged 
  mundane items.
  INCANTATION OF SPIRITUAL DISCRETION
  Cost: 20+m
  Target: Area
  In Yu-Shan, the gods wear solid bodies. This rite 
  mimics that condition, forbidding dematerialized 
  beings from entering an area with a radius equal in 
  yards to the caster’s (Occult + Essence), and forcing 
  materialized spirits to remain so. The ritual takes six 
  hours to cast. It uses salt, small mirrors and talismans 
  engraved with symbols of the ﬁ ve cardinal points 
  (Resources 2 and the mirrors and talismans may be 
  reused). This spell may not be cast within an area that 
  includes a godly sanctum or spirits of greater Essence 
  than the sorcerer’s own.
  
  51
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  The sorcerer concludes the spell by speaking the 
  Mantra of Heaven Meets Earth backward, twisting 
  the spiritual principles within that ancient chant. 
  The salt disappears, and the ritual implements may 
  be removed. The spell remains in place for a number 
  of days equal to the caster’s (Occult + Essence). At 
  any time during the spell’s duration, any sorcerer who 
  knows Incantation of Spiritual Discretion may renew 
  the spell using a lesser variant of the ritual that takes 
  one hour and another 20 motes. Doing so resets the 
  duration of the spell to the new sorcerer’s (Occult + 
  Essence), but the actual effect and area of the spell 
  remains set by the original sorcerer.
  When this spell becomes active, all dematerialized 
  spirits with an Essence less than or equal to the sorcerer’s 
  own must either spend the motes to materialize or be 
  expelled. Spirits cannot enter the warded area while 
  dematerialized and they cannot dematerialize at all 
  while within it. This limitation also applies to creatures 
  and beings with the ability to turn into shadow. The 
  spell does not affect beings with a greater Essence than 
  the sorcerer’s own.
  INTERNAL FLAME
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Creature
  Molten rock ﬂ ows within the bones of the earth. 
  Volcanic gods use a certain gesture to call that magma 
  to their mountains. As the sorcerer makes the Mudra 
  of Burning Earth at any creature he can see within 300 
  yards, streamers of red and gray Essence-ﬂ ame wash over 
  the target’s body. They seep past armor and clothing 
  to enter his body. The sorcerer’s player rolls (Wits + 
  Occult) and adds a number of successes equal to the 
  caster’s Essence to the attack. This attack cannot be 
  dodged, though it may be parried using stunts, magic 
  weapons or Charms.
  If this attack is not parried, the spell gives the 
  target’s bone marrow the qualities of molten iron. This 
  Shaping effect inﬂ icts environmental damage (Damage 
  2L/action, Trauma [sorcerer’s permanent Essence]). 
  The damage continues for a number of actions equal 
  to the sorcerer’s Occult or until the victim receives 
  medical attention.
  Internal Flame inﬂ icts agony beyond belief. The 
  target suffers a -2 internal penalty to all actions for the 
  rest of the scene. This wound penalty stacks with all 
  other active wound or pain-based penalties. Without 
  supernatural healing, mortals remain wounded after 
  the scene and slowly die over the next few weeks 
  (generally holding on for one week per dot in Stamina 
  before expiring). Exalts, spirits and other supernatural 
  creatures heal normally from this attack.
  INVOCATION OF THE LIVING SHIP
  Cost: 20m
  Target: Ship
  The sorcerer lays her hand upon the ﬁ gurehead of 
  a ship and calls it to awaken—and it opens sea-green 
  eyes. The entire ship comes to life, working every 
  mechanical aspect—wheel, rudder, sail, rope, oars 
  and all—without the need for a crew. Loyal and lov-
  ing, the ﬁ gurehead will even lead the ship in pursuit 
  of the sorcerer, should she move more than 100 yards 
  away—at least until the next dawn or dusk, when its 
  eyes close and the ship becomes inert once more.
  Invocation of the Living Ship cannot be used on 
  a ship without a ﬁ gurehead or on an Essence-powered 
  ship. Occasionally, the spirit of the ﬁ gurehead grows 
  in power through repeated use of this spell, to the 
  point where she can challenge the ship’s own spirit 
  for dominance. The ensuing conﬂ icts have caused 
  havoc for sailors and passengers, but never destroyed 
  the ship itself… at least, not directly. In RY 353, an 
  enemy sank one unfortunate warship in the Realm’s 
  ﬂ eet because the ship’s own awakened godling and 
  ﬁ gurehead couldn’t agree on how low it ought to sit 
  in the water. The ship rocked so violently with their 
  quarrel that its gunners couldn’t aim its Essence can-
  non, and it became a sitting duck.
  KEEL CLEAVES THE CLOUDS
  Cost: 25m
  Target: Ship
  As fog or clouds touch the sea before her ship, the 
  sorcerer persuades the vessel’s spirit that they are true 
  water, and sails forward onto them. This spell works 
  ALLEVIATING THE INTERNAL FLAME
  Internal Flame infuses a human body with a 
  ﬁ ery Essence that does not belong there, which 
  wounds its victim as it tries to ﬁ nd its way out. A 
  skilled healer can alleviate the damage through 
  pressure point and Essence-gate manipulation, if 
  he acts quickly. Doing so requires an (Intelligence 
  + Medicine) roll, difﬁ culty equal to the sorcerer’s 
  Essence, as a miscellaneous action. Lack of medical 
  tools (such as acupuncture needles) inﬂ icts a -2 
  internal penalty to this roll. Success means the 
  target ceases to take damage, reducing the penalty 
  from pain to -1 for the rest of the scene.
  
  52
  only in misty conditions. The ship travels upon the 
  mist as quickly as it would on water, at the mercy of 
  the wind or the strength of the rowers as usual. If the 
  fog lifts, the ship rises with it until it sails on clouds.
  The enchantment depends on the Essence of ev-
  erything associated with the ship believing it travels 
  on water. Dropping anything over the side or lowering 
  something below the fog disabuses it of that notion, 
  causing the whole ship to descend. The caster must 
  stay on board, too.
  After 12 hours, this spell must be recast, lest the 
  ship return downward through the clouds. Even if 
  earth lies below it rather than sea, it will land softly, 
  undamaged (but likely stranded).
  Accustomed to their element controlling water, 
  air spirits dislike this invasion. Powerful spirits might 
  attack a cloud-sailing ship if the captain cannot some-
  how placate them.
  LIGHTNING SPIDER
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Caster
  This spell involves the steps of the Storm Spider 
  Dance, a tribal dance in the Northeast that celebrates 
  the spiders that crawl among the highest, cloud-scrap-
  ing treetops. As the sorcerer raises his arms like a 
  hunting spider about to strike, eight legs of coherent 
  lightning sprout from his back.
  These legs are not solid, though they carry the 
  sorcerer’s weight and gain purchase on physical objects 
  themselves. They can touch living ﬂ esh without harm, 
  causing only a slight tingle. These legs can carry the 
  sorcerer at her normal movement rates across vertical 
  walls, ceilings or simply rough terrain without penalty. 
  Additionally, the lightning spider legs allow the sor-
  cerer to dash more easily, reducing the DV penalty for 
  the Dash action by one point.
  The additional legs grant the sorcerer a +5 bonus 
  for all rolls made to instigate, maintain or escape from 
  a grapple or to resist knockdown. The sorcerer can also 
  create a length of lightning-thread she can tie to or 
  around objects or people. Evoking this dragline requires 
  the sorcerer to reﬂ exively spend one mote per 100 pounds 
  she wants it to support, and she can spend a number of 
  motes equal to her permanent Essence. The dragline has a 
  soak of 10L/10B and can take 15 levels of damage before 
  breaking. Damage against it must be rolled.
  LIGHTNING WHIP SMITES THE WATER
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Conjured whip
  After the sorcerer casts this spell with a sharp, 
  lashing gesture, a copper whip appears in his hand. 
  Cracking the whip dissolves it into a single bolt of red-
  streaked copper lightning, which the sorcerer can aim 
  at anything within half a mile using his (Perception 
  + Thrown) pool. Attacking structures, such as ships, 
  is difﬁ culty 1; there are no range penalties.
  The eldritch lightning inﬂ icts (5 + successes) dice 
  of piercing aggravated damage to people or structures. 
  Once it hits, the lightning ﬂ ares out into a ball of sparks 
  that inﬂ icts three dice of piercing aggravated damage 
  on everyone within ﬁ ve yards of the impact who has 
  a Dodge DV lower than the sorcerer’s Essence.
  The lightning may be dodged normally or parried 
  with a Charm or stunt, but if parried, then the defender 
  automatically suffers the effects of the sparking ball, 
  centered on himself.
  As air controls water, so earth shapes air. Should 
  a sorcerer use this spell on land, the lightning grounds 
  itself harmlessly. Only the caster may use the whip, 
  and if she doesn’t use it before the next dawn, it falls 
  apart into copper dust.
  MALEDICTION OF THE DISTORTED COMPASS
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Creature
  The sorcerer makes eye contact with a creature and 
  uses the Spinning Sign to thrust spatial confusion into his 
  brain. Unless the victim’s player succeeds at a Willpower 
  roll with a difﬁ culty equal to the sorcerer’s Essence, he 
  loses his way. The victim loses all sense of direction until 
  sunrise the following day or until the sorcerer dismisses 
  the spell’s effects. Even if the roll succeeds, the target 
  must ﬂ urry any other action he takes while moving. The 
  player rolls each time the character moves.
  While cursed by the Malediction of the Distorted 
  Compass, the victim misreads maps and confuses travel 
  instructions. He cannot ﬁ nd his way to any destination 
  unless another person leads him there, even destinations as 
  near as the next room. Anyone seeking to guide a victim 
  of this spell had better hold his hand the whole time.
  MAST-SHATTERING SPELL
  Cost: 20m
  Target: Ship
  The sorcerer’s anima ﬂ ares dark blue and solidiﬁ es 
  into a hovering, spiked ball of blue-tempered steel. 
  With a tap of the sorcerer’s ﬁ nger, the spiked ball 
  shoots toward the targeted ship in the literal blink of 
  an eye—right into the target ship’s mast. It can target 
  any visible ship within one mile.
  
  53
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  The resultant explosion of the mast not only 
  cripples a sailing ship, but wooden shards explode in a 
  10-yard radius around the mast. This explosion inﬂ icts 
  environmental damage (Damage 10L, Trauma 3) to 
  everyone in the area. A (Dexterity + Dodge) roll may 
  substitute for the normal (Stamina + Resistance) as 
  people dive for cover to avoid the splinters.
  Masts reinforced through spells or Charms may sur-
  vive the spell. In such cases, the caster’s player attempts 
  a reﬂ exive (Wits + Occult) roll (treat this as part of the 
  spell-casting process), with a difﬁ culty equal to the Es-
  sence of the entity that reinforced the mast. Many First 
  Age vessels bear reinforcements that draw on the little 
  god of the vessel itself. For this purpose alone, treat the 
  ship’s god as having an Essence of 4. Masts made of the 
  magical materials are immune to this spell.
  Attempts to target other parts of the ship fail. The 
  spell attacks only the mast. Sorcerers in the West or 
  working for the Realm navy have devised variations 
  that target oars (to cripple galleys) or the hull—but 
  both pirates and naval ofﬁ cers alike often prefer to 
  capture a ship than to send it to the bottom.
  MISTS OF EVENTIDE
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Area
  The sorcerer focuses her Essence onto a visible 
  point up to 50 yards away and makes the Sign of the 
  Gates of Eventide, the metaphorical “gates of sleep” 
  through which all must pass to reach the lands of 
  dream. Opalescent mist spreads from that point to ﬁ ll 
  an area ﬁ ve yards in radius. The mists induce a magical 
  slumber. Exalts, spirits and other creatures with active 
  Essence receive a (Stamina + Resistance) roll, difﬁ culty 
  of the caster’s permanent Essence, to resist the effects 
  for ﬁ ve ticks. The spell does not affect Fair Folk, the 
  dead, intangible spirits or automata. The mists appear 
  for 15 ticks of combat time, during which they affect 
  any creatures that touch them.
  Victims sleep until the sun passes the horizon twice. 
  Sleepers can be awakened forcibly, but they suffer a 
  -3 internal penalty to all actions, as though drugged 
  with a powerful narcotic. The awakened victim still 
  must spend a point of Willpower to remain awake for 
  a number of hours equal to his Stamina.
  
  54
  The magical sleep is not restful. Slumbering crea-
  tures regain neither Essence nor Willpower while they 
  sleep, and they ﬁ nd themselves needing normal sleep 
  as if they had spent the time performing light labor. 
  The magical sleep is also dreamless: Its targets are 
  immune to effects that cause nightmares or otherwise 
  rely on dreams to work.
  OPEN THE SPIRIT DOOR
  Cost: 15m + 5m per additional target
  Target: Touched creature(s)
  Tugging on the spiritual Essence that impregnates 
  the world, the character pulls it through herself and 
  anyone else she chooses. As the sorcerer casts this spell, 
  she must stand within three yards of an entrance to a 
  spirit’s sanctum. The caster and her allies vanish into 
  her fading anima, and reappear just inside the entrance. 
  They can remain in the sanctum until the sun next 
  crosses the horizon or the sorcerer recasts this spell—if 
  the sanctum’s owner doesn’t force them out.
  PARALYZING CONTRADICTION
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Creatures in area
  The sorcerer suffuses one of the Ineffable Koans 
  with magical power, forcing the minds of sentient 
  beings to do nothing else but ponder an impossible 
  riddle. Speaking the koan, the sorcerer releases white 
  Essence. This power forms over the sorcerer’s head a 
  sigil that represents the mystery of the koan. The spell 
  affects all sentient creatures within 50 yards (except 
  automata) who see the sigil or hear the caster’s words, 
  and have an Intelligence greater than 1. (Stupid people 
  don’t realize there’s a puzzle.)
  Solving this koan requires an extended (Intel-
  ligence + Lore) roll with a difﬁ culty equal to the 
  sorcerer’s Essence and total successes required equal 
  to the sorcerer’s Lore. Characters cannot ﬂ urry this 
  miscellaneous action. Each creature must ﬁ nd an 
  answer within himself: Anyone else’s solution sounds 
  absurd. A character who struggles to solve the koan 
  still gains the beneﬁ ts of his DV (with penalties for 
  actions used trying to solve the koan, as appropriate), 
  but is not further penalized.
  If a person is attacked while struggling to unriddle 
  the koan, he is freed from the spell. Paralyzing Con-
  tradiction otherwise ends when it is countered, when 
  the sorcerer dies, when all targets solve the koan or 
  when the scene ends. When the spell ends, the sigil 
  above the sorcerer’s head snuffs out.
  THE PARTING OF THE SEAS
  Cost: 20m
  Target: Body of water
  Her arms spread wide and her face held skyward, 
  the sorcerer calls up the behemoth Genai, who 
  appears in his aspect as twin phantom giants. The 
  twins wade into a body of water of the sorcerer’s 
  choice and split it in two. Each holds back one 
  wall of water as if it were solid, leaving the ground 
  between them dry. Rivers continue to ﬂ ow even if 
  Genai seems to block them off—the water mysti-
  cally ﬂ ows from one side of the trench to the other 
  without passing through the space in between. This 
  effect does not carry over to things living in the 
  water or boats traversing its surface.
  The dry trench is a number of yards wide equal 
  to the sorcerer’s Essence and up to (Essence x 100) 
  yards long. The giants hold the water back for as 
  long as the sorcerer concentrates: She may travel and 
  converse, but not engage in any strenuous activity 
  such as combat. If the sorcerer wishes, the giants can 
  walk alongside her, parting the water before her and 
  CHARM CONCEPT: SPIRIT DOORS
  The gods of the Terrestrial Hierarchy keep 
  their sanctums in Creation. The sanctum itself is 
  in Elsewhere, but every such sanctum has at least 
  once doorway by which a dematerialized spirit can 
  enter and leave. A spirit entryway may be anything 
  from an actual, obvious door to a few tree branches 
  that cross each other like a doorframe. Madame 
  Marthesine of the Lost, for example, keeps the 
  entrance to her sanctum in a sack that she car-
  ries. Yu-Shan, the Heavenly City, is itself one vast 
  sanctum, and if the sorcerer can ﬁ nd one of its 61 
  gates, then she can use this spell to enter.
  A character who suspects that she’s close to a 
  sanctum’s entrance may ﬁ nd it by succeeding on a 
  (Perception + Occult) roll against a difﬁ culty of 3 
  (assuming, of course, anything’s there). Just walking 
  in is rarely easy, however. Spirits protect their homes 
  carefully and seldom welcome surprise intruders. 
  For instance, anyone who passes one of the 61 gates 
  of sacred Yu-Shan ﬁ nds it guarded by nine great 
  celestial lions of living orichalcum—three on one 
  side, six more on the other. These lions are more 
  than a match for a Solar circle that cannot at once 
  offer a good reason for its intrusion.
  
  55
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  letting it rejoin behind her. In RY 400, Ragara Kyrol, 
  a then-notable Dragon-Blooded sorcerer, crossed the 
  Inland Sea without a vehicle in this manner, using 
  Charms to negate her need for sleep. Two years later, 
  her twin brother and rival Ragara Disagu attempted 
  the same feat, lost concentration halfway and died, 
  crushed below millions of tons of falling water. Anyone 
  caught in the trench when it collapses is subject to 
  damage, ranging from light in the case of a shallow 
  stream to instantly fatal in the case of an ocean. The 
  actual damage inﬂ icted is up to the Storyteller.
  PEACOCK SHADOW EYES
  Cost: 10m
  Target: One sentient being
  The sorcerer’s eyes glow with iridescent ﬂ ame 
  that holds the gaze of a target up to 10 yards away, 
  compelling him to stunned silence. The sorcerer’s 
  player rolls (Wits + Occult). If the result exceeds the 
  target’s Dodge MDV, the hypnotized target believes 
  anything the sorcerer says in the next ﬁ ve minutes and 
  remembers the suggestions as his own memory—an 
  unnatural mental inﬂ uence. When the ﬁ ve minutes 
  are up, an auxiliary Illusion effect convinces the target 
  he had a normal conversation with the sorcerer, while 
  continuing to believe what the sorcerer told him.
  Someone presenting evidence contrary to what 
  the target believes may unravel this spell. This calls 
  for Investigation-based social attacks on the target, as 
  though reducing an Intimacy. Breaking the unnatural 
  mental inﬂ uence requires a number of successful at-
  tempts equal to the sorcerer’s permanent Essence.
  PERSONAL TEMPEST
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Caster
  The sorcerer performs the Five Winds Nexus 
  Gesture, making her the center of a conﬂ uence of 
  strong winds. Her clothing whips about in winds that 
  only people standing very close to her can feel. These 
  winds last one scene, until dismissed or until the caster 
  is incapacitated.
  The magic winds cut the sorcerer’s movement rate 
  in half, due to resistance. Yet attacks made against the 
  sorcerer, from archery to grapples, treat her as behind 
  90% hard cover.
  The spell can be used in war. If the sorcerer increases 
  its casting time to long ticks, Personal Tempest can 
  protect a unit with a Magnitude no greater than her 
  Essence as though they were behind 50% hard cover.
  PLAGUE OF BRONZE SNAKES
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Conjured automata
  This spell can be cast only at night. Speaking the 
  sibilant Verdigris Serpent Chant, the sorcerer makes 
  the Sign of the Hammer. His Essence coalesces into 
  a great brass mallet, decorated with twining serpents. 
  He strikes the ground once, twice, thrice to cast the 
  sorcery. On the third strike, the hammer opens a hole 
  in the ground and is swallowed up.
  Three heartbeats later, a number of bronze ser-
  pents equal to (caster’s Willpower x 2) wriggle out of 
  the hole, encircle the sorcerer and bow to him. Then 
  they slither away, moving up to as many miles from 
  their hole as the caster has dots of Occult. Motion 
  attracts the serpents, though they bite only livestock 
  and other domesticated animals. Their bite injects 
  magical venom that turns their victims to granite 
  after a period of excruciating pain. The snakes return 
  to their hole after biting one target, or shortly before 
  sunrise, and wait for the following night. They never 
  venture out during the day.
  These serpents remain active for a number of nights 
  equal to the caster’s Essence. If they have not been 
  destroyed before the spell’s duration ends, the snakes 
  return to their den and decompose into tarnished 
  metal segments.
  PRIVATE PLAZA OF DOWNCAST EYES
  Cost: 20+m
  Target: Area
  This spell wards a place against scrying and tele-
  portation. It takes six hours to cast and requires the 
  sorcerer make a procession through all of the areas 
  to be warded, circling the area again and again for 
  the duration of the casting. As he walks, the sor-
  cerer sprinkles ground glass along the boundary and 
  makes the Mudra of Separation. The spell wards an 
  area with a radius equal to the sorcerer’s (Occult + 
  Essence) in yards.
  Once cast, the spell remains in place for a number 
  of days equal to (Occult + Essence). At any point 
  during the spell’s duration, any sorcerer who knows 
  Private Plaza of Downcast Eyes may renew the spell, 
  using a lesser variant of the ritual that takes one hour 
  and another 20 motes. This resets the duration of the 
  spell to the new sorcerer’s (Occult + Essence), but the 
  actual effect and area of the spell itself remain set by 
  the original sorcerer.
  
  56
  The completed spell blocks any effect that al-
  lows clairvoyance or translocation into or out of the 
  area. This prohibition includes any Charm, spell or 
  supernatural power that enables a user’s senses to 
  perceive a location outside the bounds of mundane 
  perception. Likewise, any effects—including spells 
  such as The Faithful Ally (see pp. 70-71) or Charms 
  such as Hurry Home—that would allow teleporta-
  tion into or out of the warded area fail. Subjects are 
  not transported to the border of the warding, they 
  simply never leave their original location without 
  explanation and with full expenditure of Essence. 
  Only Black Faith (see The Black Treatise, p. 49) 
  can trump this spell.
  PURIFYING FLAMES
  Cost: 20m
  Target: Food and drink
  The sorcerer closes her eyes and ﬂ ares her anima, 
  forcing it through the strength of her will to assume the 
  form of a blazing white, heatless ﬂ ame. The ﬂ ame surges 
  from her body and seeks out any poison, corruption and 
  toxicity that dare offend the sorcerer’s presence. Purifying 
  Flames halts all decay and destroys all non-magical poisons 
  within enough food and drink to feed 12 people in one 
  meal or else cleanses a single fouled well or self-contained 
  water source. It neutralizes any non-magical poison already 
  within a creature’s body, preventing any further damage 
  or negative effects, but it does not heal damage already 
  taken. Puriﬁ ed characters expel the neutralized poison by 
  vomiting it or by sweating it out through their pores.
  RAISING THE EARTH’S BONES
  Cost: 25m
  Target: Area
  The military forces of both Lookshy and the Realm 
  make frequent use of this spell, which enables military 
  sorcerers to raise earthworks and stone walls for de-
  fensive positions or otherwise to reshape a battleﬁ eld 
  to their advantage. The sorcerer ﬁ rst marks out the 
  area he wants to affect by driving cut sapling branches 
  into the ground and infusing them with his anima. He 
  can do so up to ([Intelligence + War + Essence] x 10) 
  yards in any direction. The sorcerer also paces along 
  the line of any berms, mottes, buildings or trenches 
  he wishes to construct. The area must also be cleared 
  of any creature larger than a rabbit.
  When the sorcerer casts the spell, he visualizes 
  the structure he wants to create. The paced lines and 
  sapling poles glow ocher-yellow as earth and stone ﬂ ow 
  like wax to shape themselves into the proper forms. 
  Casting the sorcery is a ﬁ ve-minute dramatic action. 
  No structure raised by this spell can exceed three stories 
  in height or depth, and available materials limit the 
  sorcerer. He cannot raise stone walls in the bottomless 
  sand-seas of the South, for instance. Once the structures 
  exist, countermagic has no effect: They were shaped 
  by sorcery but are not themselves magical.
  THE RAVENOUS FIRE
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Inanimate object
  The sorcerer’s Essence ﬂ ares around him, and he 
  makes the sign of Essence Consumed over an object. 
  A jet of blue-white ﬂ ame leaps up to a yard from his 
  ﬁ ngertips to ignite the target of the spell. Wood sears 
  BRONZE SNAKE
  Motivation: To bite livestock
  Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 5, Stamina 4; 
  Charisma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 3; 
  Perception 2, Intelligence 1, Wits 3
  Virtues: Automaton: Never fails Valor checks, 
  never makes others.
  Abilities: Athletics 2, Awareness 3, Dodge 5, 
  Martial Arts 3, Resistance 3, Stealth 5 (In Tall 
  Grasses +3)
  Join Battle: 6
  Attacks:
  Bite: Speed 4, Accuracy 8, Damage 1L + poison, 
  Parry DV —, Rate 2
  Soak: 10L/10B (Bronze scales, 8L/6B)
  Health Levels: -0/-0/-0/Incap
  Dodge DV: 5 
  Willpower: 10 (0 against 
  sorcerer)
  Essence: 1
  Other Notes: The cunning serpents know the 
  best time to strike. They prefer to wait until there 
  are no humans around before biting, and they 
  try to attack from surprise. Bronze snake venom 
  has the following traits:
  Damage 10L, Toxicity 5, Tolerance —/—, 
  Penalty -6
  Creatures slain by bronze snake venom 
  become granite statues, frozen in a position of 
  absolute agony. Even if the victim survives, it 
  endures incredible pain and continues to suf-
  fer the penalty for eight hours afterward. The 
  venom does not affect automaton beasts such 
  as the horse that travels land and water (p. 48) 
  or the hound of the ﬁ ve winds (p. 49).
  
  57
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  This spell imbues an object with the puissant Essence 
  of one of the elements. This extensive ritual begins at 
  dawn and continues until noon. The sorcerer requires a 
  large quantity of the element being invested: for instance, 
  a grove of trees, a large bonﬁ re or a brisk wind.
  The sorcerer puriﬁ es the object with incense 
  smoke and salt water, then chants sutras of the 
  appropriate Elemental Dragon over it. Modern 
  sorcerers often draw from the Immaculate Texts but 
  many Sidereals, surviving First Age Lunars and gods 
  prefer epic poetry about the Elemental Dragons’ 
  contributions to the overthrow of the Primordials. 
  At the height of the ritual, the caster strikes the 
  item ﬁ ve times—once for each of the Elemental 
  Dragons—while speaking the Words of Elemental 
  Binding over the object.
  This lengthy and exhaustive process permanently 
  imbues an object with certain elemental powers. The 
  spell cannot be used on an item already imbued with 
  any other magics. Additional enchantments can replace 
  to ash. Stone softens and burns like wax, while metals 
  crumble to ash and slag.
  The ﬂ ames consume the material to which they 
  were originally set but leave other substances alone. 
  For example, setting ﬁ re thus to the stone in a statue 
  crafted of marble, silver and emerald leaves a pile of 
  melted, seared stone, with undestroyed silver and 
  emeralds among the slag. Nor can the ﬁ re consume 
  enchanted objects, the magical materials or anything 
  alive. The ﬂ ames feel icy cold but cannot harm liv-
  ing ﬂ esh.
  The Ravenous Fire consumes up to 27 cubic feet of 
  material (about the size of a human-sized statue and its 
  base) per dot of the sorcerer’s permanent Essence. The 
  ﬁ re gutters out once it devours this amount of material. 
  Only countermagic can extinguish it before then.
  RITUAL OF ELEMENTAL EMPOWERMENT
  Cost: 30+m
  Target: Inanimate object
  ELEMENTAL BENEDICTIONS
  Most of the following abilities are permanent. Some functions of these abilities require the com-
  mitment of a mote of Essence or a point of Willpower. Benedictions endure for as long as the mote of 
  Essence or point of Willpower remains committed.
  Air: The benedictions of air are Lightness or Coldness. Items of Lightness have their weight re-
  duced to one-ﬁ fth normal. Heavy clothing is like silk against the skin, weapons have their Speed rating 
  reduced by one, armor reduces its mobility and fatigue penalties by one each. Items of Coldness shed 
  cold with the commitment of a mote of Essence or a point of Willpower. Clothing and armor keep the 
  wearer cool (granting +3 dice to Resistance rolls against hot environments), while weapons frost over 
  and inﬂ ict +2 lethal damage from the cold.
  Earth: The benediction of earth is Solidity. Items so blessed become stronger and do not wear out. 
  Cloth is not easily cut or torn, glass becomes nearly unbreakable, weapons never rust or need sharpen-
  ing, while armor gains +2L/+2B to its soaks.
  Fire: The benedictions of ﬁ re are Insulation or Radiance. Items of Insulation become immune to 
  ﬁ re. This provides no beneﬁ t to the wearer, but natural ﬁ re cannot damage the item itself. Items of Radi-
  ance shed heat with the commitment of a mote of Essence or a point of Willpower. Clothing and armor 
  keep the wearer warm (granting +3 dice to Resistance rolls against cold weather), while weapons heat 
  to incandescence and inﬂ ict +2 damage from the heat.
  Water: The benediction of water is Fluidity. Items of Fluidity can change shape into an item of the 
  same substance and mass in a form the bearer knows well. Clothing re-tailors itself, weapons can become 
  unobtrusive items of similar size, armor can fold itself into a compact bundle. Changing shape does not 
  repair damage to an object, however. Activating this ability requires investing the object with a mote 
  of Essence or point of Willpower, and the object remains in its new form for as long as that investment 
  remains committed.
  Wood: The benediction of wood is Rejuvenation. Items of Rejuvenation heal themselves. Dents 
  and cuts in armor seal up, clothing mends itself, weapons become like new after battle, a charcoal stylus 
  used to write never wears away. As long as the item has not taken enough damage to destroy it outright, 
  it heals one level per hour, and superﬁ cial damage disappears in minutes.
  
  58
  current benedictions but cannot add to them. The spell 
  can empower objects that weigh up to (Essence x 5) 
  pounds, plus an additional ﬁ ve pounds per ﬁ ve additional 
  motes spent. Clothing, jewelry and weapons are the 
  most common items. See the “Elemental Benedictions” 
  sidebar for descriptions of these enchantments.
  Elementals can help a sorcerer perform this rite. A 
  number of elementals of the appropriate element—up 
  to that equaling the sorcerer’s Essence—can assist the 
  caster, though he must spend one point of Willpower 
  during the ritual for every elemental past the ﬁ rst. 
  The sorcerer and elementals add their Essence scores 
  together to determine the maximum weight of the 
  item to be enchanted. The spirits themselves fulﬁ ll 
  the need for a large quantity of the desired element, 
  as long as at least one elemental has an Essence of 
  3 or greater.
  RIVER OF BLOOD
  Cost: 15+m
  Target: Flowing body of water
  The caster’s anima rises up as a deep vermilion 
  serpent and strikes at a body of water no more than 
  500 yards away. The water turns into thick, red-black 
  blood that ﬂ ows downstream for a number of miles 
  equal to the sorcerer’s Essence, plus one mile per ad-
  ditional three motes spent in casting this spell. River 
  of Blood may not be cast on ponds, lakes, seas or 
  other bodies of water of which the caster cannot see 
  the other side or that do not ﬂ ow somewhere else. It 
  can be cast on canals, aqueducts, fountains or even 
  indoor plumbing.
  This transmutation lasts a number of days equal 
  to the sorcerer’s Willpower. After the ﬁ rst six hours 
  of the transmutations, plants within a mile of the 
  blood-river begin to wither and die, for the blood-curse 
  cannot nourish life. Beasts that live nearby ﬂ ee for a 
  healthier source of water, and the transformed water 
  is useless as a source of nourishment, save for things 
  that feed upon blood. The area soon reeks of rot and 
  blood. Hungry ghosts and other unwholesome things 
  are drawn to a cursed waterway. Mortals who remain 
  within a mile of the afﬂ icted water are likely to suffer 
  consumption (see Exalted, p. 351).
  THE SACRED TONGUE
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Caster
  The Eternal Word belongs to no known language 
  but is recognizable as a word of power in all tongues. 
  Upon casting this spell, the sorcerer invokes that 
  word and shapes the Essence of this spell into a mask 
  of dusky gold that covers his ears and the lower half 
  of his face.
  When the caster speaks, the lips of the mask move 
  to convert his words to the strange, echoing cadences 
  of a mystic language. Everyone who hears the caster 
  understands his words, though no one could mistake 
  them for mundane speech. Likewise, the mask trans-
  lates words spoken by others into the Sacred Tongue 
  so the sorcerer can understand them.
  The power of this spell gives the sorcerer’s words 
  some minor magical power in and of themselves. When 
  he makes a social attack using The Sacred Tongue, the 
  MDVs of his listeners decrease by one. Other people 
  treat the sorcerer with respect, awe and fear. This spell 
  lasts until the sun next crosses the horizon or until 
  the caster dispels it.
  SHADOW SUMMONS
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Living creature
  This ritual begins at midnight and continues until 
  moonset. The sorcerer paints a pentagram of pitch 
  and bile. He also needs an arcane link to his target. 
  Walking the edge of the pentagram counterclockwise, 
  the sorcerer chants the name of his target with the 
  Dirge of Shadows. This incantation is completed 
  55 times.
  As this is done, the victim’s shadow is torn from her 
  body and drawn to the caster. On the 55th repetition of 
  the chant, the caster hurls a knife into the center of the 
  pentagram, just as the shadow passes over that center. 
  The knife pins the writhing shadow to the ground.
  The shadow is trapped from moonset to sunrise. 
  The sorcerer may use it in two ways. First, it may be 
  used to deliver a message. The sorcerer speaks as long 
  a message as he desires, provided he ﬁ nishes by sunrise. 
  Then he snatches up the knife, and the shadow speeds 
  back to its owner, reattaching itself. When this hap-
  pens, the target hears the full message.
  The sorcerer may instead destroy the pinned 
  shadow by mixing his Essence with the light of the 
  rising sun, burning away its substance. This inﬂ icts 
  excruciating pain on the victim, who is immobilized 
  in agony for one minute while the shadow fades away. 
  For the rest of the week, while the shadow reforms, 
  the target receives an internal penalty to all actions 
  equal to the sorcerer’s permanent Essence. This wound 
  penalty stacks with all other wound penalties. The pain 
  fades after one week, though the shadow takes a full 
  month to grow back to its full size and darkness.
  
  59
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  SHADOWY SIMULACRUMS OF SMOKE
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Area around caster
  A black, obscuring cloud rises from the sorcerer’s 
  anima, extending 15 yards from her person. Shadowy, 
  distracting ﬁ gures dart about within it. Sounds are mufﬂ ed 
  within the cloud, and their directions become unclear. 
  Anyone other than the sorcerer within the cloud suffers 
  a -1 external penalty to sight and hearing. Every time 
  an affected character within the cloud attacks, his player 
  must attempt a reﬂ exive (Perception + Awareness) roll 
  at a difﬁ culty equal to the sorcerer’s Essence (and the -1 
  penalty still applies). On a success, he selects his intended 
  target. On a failure, he attacks one of the simulacra and 
  wastes his action. On a botch, he attacks the ally closest 
  to him by mistake. If a character ﬂ urries multiple attacks 
  against the same target, every subsequent attack in the 
  ﬂ urry hits the same target, be it enemy, simulacrum or 
  ally—but characters who attack undesired targets may 
  abort ﬂ urries after the ﬁ rst attack.
  The simulacra have no substance to them, and 
  no health levels. They constantly disperse and reform 
  within the cloud. The cloud endures for the entire 
  scene or until the sorcerer disperses it. It does not move 
  with the sorcerer, but remains centered on where she 
  stood at the moment of casting. Regular winds won’t 
  affect the cloud, but gusts of high-speed winds can shift 
  its location at the Storyteller’s discretion. Sustained 
  high-speed winds can disperse the cloud.
  SILENT WORDS OF DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Person
  This rite takes 10 minutes to perform. It requires 
  a pair of silvered mirrors, incense made from rare lo-
  tuses (a Resources 3 purchase) and an arcane link to 
  its target. The mirrors face each other with the arcane 
  link between them. The sorcerer lights the incense. 
  As she speaks the Five Words of Dreams, the incense 
  smoke wafts toward the mirrors—and into them.
  With this spell, the sorcerer can send the target any 
  sort of dream. The caster’s player can roll (Manipulation 
  + Occult), difﬁ culty equal to the target’s Dodge MDV, 
  to use the dream as an otherwise normal social attack. 
  Applications including sending nightmares to erode In-
  timacies or “prophetic” dreams to convince the target to 
  take a certain action. The dream-borne social attack may 
  also prevent the victim from recovering Willpower the 
  
  60
  next morning. People cannot spend Willpower in their 
  sleep to resist the spell’s effects. The caster may attempt 
  a single social attack through each use of this spell.
  SLEEP OF STONY SAFETY
  Cost: 15m + 5m per ally
  Target: Caster and up to (Willpower) additional will-
  ing subjects
  Sleep of Stony Safety takes a minute to cast and 
  can be cast only at night. The sorcerer spreads ﬁ ne 
  white sand in a circle on the ground, large enough 
  to encompass all the targets. The participants lie 
  with their heads touching and their feet extended 
  outward. The sorcerer chants the Irresistible Song 
  of Stone used by earth elementals to while away the 
  seasons. The white sand dissolves into a glowing 
  mist that creeps upwards, arcing over the targets to 
  solidify into a dome of white sandstone.
  While within the sandstone dome, the participants 
  of the spell can sleep even in the bulkiest armor, though 
  the spell does not force slumber. Inconvenient natural 
  processes are halted while participants rest in stone.
  The dome has 15L/15B soak, 5L/5B Hardness and 
  25/30 health levels. If it is attacked, a soft chiming 
  within the dome rouses the sorcerer and any other 
  sleepers. Sleep of Stony Safety ends when dawn ar-
  rives or when the sorcerer wakes up and chooses to 
  end the spell. The sleepers rise at that point, brought 
  instantly to their feet as the dome crumbles into 
  harmless sand.
  SONG OF THE WAVES
  Cost: 20m
  Target: One opponent
  The sorcerer’s anima ﬂ ares upward to form a 
  great phantom wave behind her. From it emerges the 
  watery head and forelimbs of a huge horse that blasts 
  the intended victim with a stream of water and ear-
  splitting symphonic noise. The weird, cacophonous 
  display enchants a target into a berserk but directed 
  rage, driving him to attack the sorcerer’s enemies 
  with abandon.
  The sorcerer’s player rolls (Manipulation + Oc-
  cult), adding a number of automatic successes equal to 
  her Essence. For every success rolled over the target’s 
  Dodge MDV, the target spends one action attacking 
  the nearest enemy of the sorcerer. The target can resist 
  this unnatural mental inﬂ uence by paying four points 
  of Willpower. After his last action under this Total 
  Control effect, the target regains his self-control and 
  remembers what he did—and who was responsible.
  SORCERER’S IRRESISTIBLE PUPPETRY
  Cost: 25m
  Target: Creature
  This spell prepares a creature for later posses-
  sion by a spirit. The subject either must be willing or 
  unconscious and immobilized during the ﬁ rst part of 
  this spell, which takes an hour to cast. The sorcerer 
  binds the target in ritual paper inscribed with the One 
  Hundred Sigils of the Cunning Puppeteer and burns 
  incense placed around the target in the Pattern of 
  Command. The materials for this ritual are a Resources 
  2 purchase and are consumed in the spell.
  At the height of the ritual, the sorcerer directs his 
  Essence to seize part of the target’s spirit and materialize 
  it into a gemstone on the subject’s brow. This gemstone 
  resembles a hearthstone. The sorcerer uses it later to seize 
  control over the target. When pressed to the sorcerer’s 
  brow, the jewel adheres automatically. It also ﬁ ts into 
  the hearthstone socket of an artifact attuned by the 
  sorcerer. Doing so, however, grants no beneﬁ t beyond 
  the ability to use the gem without touching it.
  Charms such as All-Encompassing Sorcerer’s Sight do 
  not reveal the target’s enchantment until the gem itself is 
  used, though arcane senses register the gem as some sort 
  of magical object. This spell works only on creatures with 
  an Essence rating, and it has no effect on the undead, 
  automata, plants and dematerialized spirits.
  USING THE GEM
  Cost: 20m (committed)
  Target: The creature from which the gem was crafted
  To use the gem, the sorcerer invests it with 20 
  motes, as if it were an artifact. Doing so provokes a 
  resisted and extended (Willpower + Essence) roll be-
  tween the players of both sorcerer and target. The ﬁ rst 
  side to acquire three net successes wins the contest.
  If the target wins, roll her (Wits + Occult), difﬁ culty 
  equal to the sorcerer’s Essence, to realize that something 
  just tried to control her. The sorcerer may not attempt 
  to control the target again for another 24 hours.
  If the sorcerer wins, he takes complete control of 
  the target’s body for 24 hours. In this state, he not only 
  has access to the body but may also plumb the target’s 
  memories. The sorcerer can use the target’s Abilities or 
  his own, whichever are greater. The possessed victim 
  retains her Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Perception 
  and Appearance, but she uses the sorcerer’s own Intel-
  ligence, Wits, Charisma and Manipulation. The sorcerer 
  can also use any special, natural senses possessed by the 
  target (including an animal’s senses, such as a hound’s 
  sense of smell or a hawk’s sight). The sorcerer does not 
  
  61
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  have access to any of the target’s magical abilities, spells 
  or Charms, but he retains access to his own and can 
  spend his own Essence to power them.
  The caster and victim both cease normal recovery 
  of Essence for as long as the sorcerer possesses the 
  target. If the target takes any damage, the sorcerer 
  suffers an equal number of unsoakable bashing health 
  levels. If the creature dies while possessed, the jewel 
  shatters, the spell breaks, and the sorcerer wakes up, 
  losing three points of Willpower.
  While controlling the target, the sorcerer must 
  remain in one place, concentrating the entire time. 
  He may break his concentration and withdraw his con-
  sciousness at any point during that day, then re-occupy 
  the target later during that 24-hour period. The target 
  has no control or conscious knowledge of its posses-
  sion during this period. If the sorcerer withdraws his 
  consciousness, the target remains in one place, staring 
  off in the distance, until he resumes control.
  While the target is being controlled, the presence 
  of the spell can be noticed by anyone viewing her with 
  some form of Essence sight or magic detection whose 
  player makes a (Perception + Occult) roll, difﬁ culty 
  of the sorcerer’s Essence. Those who succeed at this 
  roll notice a strange overlay of ghostly Essence in an 
  odd pattern over the target’s spirit, and characters who 
  know this spell automatically recognize its use. Coun-
  termagic against either the gem or the possessed victim 
  can break the spell and destroy the gem. Otherwise, 
  the sorcerer retains the gem indeﬁ nitely.
  SPIRIT OF MIGHT
  Cost: 10+m
  Target: Caster
  The Invocation of the Titan channels magical power 
  through the sorcerer’s anima, manifesting in his body as 
  tremendous physical strength. For a number of actions 
  equal to his Occult rating, the sorcerer’s strength is in-
  creased and his anima ﬂ ares to full roaring manifestation. 
  Iconic animas often seem to help perform these feats of 
  strength, whether a great angelic being reaches down to 
  help pull a door from its hinges, or a bear-totem anima 
  helps the sorcerer push a boulder out of the way.
  For the purposes of the Feats of Strength chart 
  (see Exalted, p. 127), the sorcerer gains a bonus to 
  his (Strength + Athletics) equal to his (Willpower 
  + Essence). For every two additional motes spent on 
  the spell, the sorcerer adds one to this bonus, to a 
  maximum of +10 (for 30 motes).
  SPIRIT SWORD
  Cost: 20m
  Target: Caster
  This spell uses the Sword-God Mudra, the sacred 
  hand-sign that the least gods of all the swords in Creation 
  make anytime one of the Incarnae takes up his or her 
  blade. The spell’s Essence forges a shard of the caster’s 
  own soul into a blade that shimmers with a thousand 
  hues and rings like an iron bell when it strikes. The 
  sorcerer may use either Melee or Occult to wield the 
  sword, which lasts for one scene or until countered. The 
  magical blade requires minimum Strength •.
  The spirit sword reveals much about the caster: Solars 
  create swords of magniﬁ cent golden opalescence, while 
  Lunars evoke sleek weapons of shimmering moonlight. 
  Abyssal blades are jagged black weapons of howling 
  nothingness, and Sidereals wield rapiers of glimmering 
  starlight. Dragon-Blooded sorcerers reveal their elemental 
  afﬁ nity: blades of red ﬂ ame, rippling water, polished wood, 
  razor-like ice or chipped ﬂ int. Regardless, spirit swords 
  have the same traits, as seen below.
  The blade, as a thing of spirit, strikes only spirit. The 
  sword can strike dematerialized spirits if the wielder can 
  perceive them. Moreover, it passes through mundane 
  armor to strike at the spirit-infused ﬂ esh of the target 
  beneath it. By the same token, however, the blade cannot 
  parry mundane weapons. Any weapon or armor crafted 
  of the magical materials and/or which is committed using 
  Essence provides defense against the spirit sword, because 
  it carries the spiritual Essence of its owner.
  SPOKE THE WOODEN FACE
  Cost: 10m to cast, 5m to activate
  Target: Living tree
  The sorcerer turns a tree into a conduit through which 
  she may communicate over long distances. First, the sor-
  cerer must carve a likeness of her face into a living tree. 
  This ritual lasts from sundown to sunup, during which the 
  sorcerer spends 10 motes and her player rolls (Dexterity 
  + Craft [Wood]). Should the roll fail or the sorcerer be 
  interrupted, the motes are lost. The sorcerer can try again 
  the next night and need not select a new tree.
  SPIRIT SWORD
  Speed 
  Accuracy 
  Damage 
  Defense 
  Rate 
  Tags
  4 
  +2 
  (Willpower)L 
  +2 
  3 
  —
  
  62
  Thereafter, from any distance in Creation and for 
  as long as the tree lives, the sorcerer may concentrate 
  and spend ﬁ ve motes to see and hear from the carved 
  image’s point of view and speak through its mouth. 
  While inhabiting her wooden likeness, the sorcerer loses 
  awareness of her body and surroundings, so all attacks 
  upon her become unexpected. If she suffers such an at-
  tack and wants to maintain concentration, her player 
  must succeed at a (Stamina + Resistance) roll with a 
  difﬁ culty equal to the levels of damage inﬂ icted.
  A sorcerer can place as many wooden faces as she 
  wishes, and a single tree can host the faces of more than 
  one sorcerer. Tales from the First Age tell of groves of 
  trees covered in these carvings, used by sorcerers to 
  converse at pre-scheduled times. Lunar Exalted sorcer-
  ers still enchant smaller groves in remote locations, 
  enabling them to pass news across Creation.
  SPROUTING SHACKLES OF DOOM
  Cost: 10m
  Target: One creature
  The sorcerer casts this spell with the gesture that 
  vines make as they climb. The Essence of the spell 
  evokes a magical automaton from local vegetation, 
  so that thick vines rise up and seize a target no more 
  than 30 yards away. The spell can draw upon any plant 
  life, as well as lichens and fungi, but fails if there are 
  no suitable life forms in the area whatsoever.
  The conjured tendrils seize the target in a clinch 
  and squeeze until he is Incapacitated. After that, the 
  tendrils simply hold the target. The magical vines 
  have a reach equal to the caster’s Essence in yards, 
  and they continue to writhe and snatch at the target 
  if he moves out of their reach. The sprouting shackles 
  exist for a scene or until they are dispersed (by the 
  sorcerer), dispelled or destroyed.
  THE SPY WHO WALKS IN DARKNESS
  Cost: 15m (committed)
  Target: Conjured servant
  The sorcerer transforms his own shadow into an 
  automaton extension of his will. This ritual takes three 
  hours to cast, requires the aid of an assistant and must 
  be performed on the night of the full moon.
  The sorcerer stands with his back to the full moon, 
  casting a shadow on the ﬂ oor in front of him. His as-
  sistant paints his shadow with a black paste of pitch, 
  frankincense and clay from a cave that has never seen 
  the sun’s light (a Resources 2 purchase). The caster 
  infuses the shape with the spell’s Essence and invokes 
  Five Days’ Darkness, the shadow-progeny of the Uncon-
  quered Sun, as the assistant sets the painted shape on ﬁ re. 
  The painted shadow burns for ﬁ ve minutes with a gray, 
  darkening luminescence until the shadow automaton 
  rises, still smoking, to bow before its master.
  The darkling servant looks like an inky black, 
  elongated version of the caster, without facial features 
  or distinguishing marks, soft yet solid to the touch. The 
  shadow automaton lasts for a number of days equal to 
  the caster’s (Intelligence + Occult). During this time, 
  the sorcerer casts no shadow.
  At the end of the spell’s duration, the automaton 
  collapses into a puddle of wet clay, and the caster’s normal 
  shadow reappears. If the spell is countered or the spy 
  slain, the caster loses one point of temporary Willpower 
  and takes two levels of bashing damage. His shadow 
  returns, though it shows signs of damage that heals over 
  the course of the spell’s remaining duration.
  USING THE SPY
  Cost: 5m
  Target: The shadow automaton
  Anytime during the shadow automaton’s existence, 
  the sorcerer may spend ﬁ ve motes to possess it. While 
  possessing the spy, the caster may take no other actions 
  and is oblivious to his surroundings.
  The spy who walks in darkness is almost invisible 
  when it moves among other mundane shadows. It can 
  slip through cracks in doors and through windowsills to 
  get to its target. While in possession of the automaton, 
  the sorcerer uses its Physical and Social Attributes and 
  his own Abilities. He cannot use his Charms but may 
  draw on his own Essence pool to cast spells that do not 
  SHACKLES OF DOOM
  Motivation: Constrict the sorcerer’s foe.
  Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 1, Stamina 6; 
  Charisma 0, Manipulation 0, Appearance 0; 
  Perception 3, Intelligence 0, Wits 3
  Virtues: Automaton: Never fails Valor checks, 
  never makes others.
  Abilities: Awareness 3, Dodge 2, Martial Arts 3 
  (Clinch +3)
  Join Battle: 6
  Attacks:
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 11, Damage 5B, Parry 
  DV —, Rate 1, Range 30
  Soak: 3L/6B
  Health Levels: -0/-0/-0/-1/-1/-1/Incap
  Dodge DV: 2 
  Willpower: 10
  Essence: 1
  
  63
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  require long rituals or preparation. The sorcerer also 
  has access to the automaton’s inherent Charms, but he 
  must use the automaton’s Essence to power them.
  If the sorcerer occupies the spy when it is de-
  stroyed, his consciousness ﬂ ashes back into his body. 
  He suffers levels of bashing damage equal to the total 
  damage taken by the spy. He also loses two points of 
  temporary Willpower. This loss replaces the normal 
  loss indicated previously.
  STING OF THE ICE HORNET
  Cost: 15m
  Target: One creature
  The sorcerer evokes a grayish cloud of Essence, 
  speaks the Word of Sudden Frost—which deities in 
  the North use to create blizzards—and points at a vis-
  ible target within 300 yards. The Essence crystallizes 
  into a swarm of ice shards that launch themselves at 
  the target. These ice shards are about four inches long 
  and half an inch thick. Although they shatter against 
  steel, these slivers can chip stone surfaces and pierce 
  wood up to one inch thick.
  The sorcerer’s player rolls (Perception + Occult) 
  as an attack, adding a number of automatic successes 
  equal to his Essence. This attack cannot be parried, 
  and Dodge DVs decrease by two against it. The swarm 
  of ice needles inﬂ icts 12 levels of lethal damage and 
  travels at 20 yards per tick until it reaches its target. 
  The shards can follow their target up to 500 yards 
  from the sorcerer, ignoring cover and other obstacles 
  THE SPY WHO WALKS IN DARKNESS
  Motivation: To serve the sorcerer
  Attributes: Strength 1, Dexterity 3, Stamina 2; Charisma 1, Manipulation 2, Appearance 1; Perception 4, 
  Intelligence 3, Wits 2
  Virtues: Automaton: Never fails Valor checks, never makes others.
  Abilities: Awareness 3, Dodge 5, Investigation 2, Larceny 4, Martial Arts 3 (Clinch +3), Stealth 5
  Charms:
  These “Charms” are actually innate properties of the shadow-spy. Eclipse Castes and Moonshadow Castes 
  cannot learn them.
  Invasion of Darkness: For ﬁ ve motes, the shadow-spy can reﬂ exively ﬂ atten itself and squeeze through 
  passages that don’t normally allow something of its size through. If air can pass through the gap, so can 
  the spy. Magical wards and traps are still triggered by its passage. Using this power while grappling (or 
  resisting a grapple) gives the automaton two additional successes, due to its malleable nature.
  Swallow the Breath: For 10 motes, the automaton consumes the breath of those it clinches, suffocating 
  them. Victims cannot cry out while the spy swallows their breath. Swallow the Breath inﬂ icts two levels 
  of lethal damage for every action that the spy maintains the clinch. This damage cannot be soaked.
  Traverse the Depths of Night: The spy can step into one shadow and emerge from another at any destination 
  within ﬁ ve miles. Doing so costs seven motes and one Willpower. It is a simple action, taking ﬁ ve ticks, with 
  a -2 DV penalty. If there are no shadows within 100 yards of the spy’s intended destination, the power fails 
  and the motes spent to power it are lost. The automaton need not have seen the precise location where it 
  wants to go. Its nature allows it to choose a direction and destination without prior knowledge.
  Join Battle: 5
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 7, Damage 1B, Parry DV 4, Rate 3
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 6, Damage 4B, Parry DV 2, Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 9, Damage 1B, Parry DV —, Rate 1
  Soak: 6L/6B
  Health Levels: -0/-0/-0/-0/Incap
  Dodge DV: 5 
  Willpower: 10 (0 vs. its master)
  Essence: 2 Essence Pool: 35
  Other Notes: Though the automaton cannot speak, the sorcerer who sends it on reconnaissance can 
  possess it and experience what it has experienced. The spy understands all the sorcerer’s orders and fol-
  lows them to the letter. It is quite cunning and able to improvise in order to accomplish its missions.
  
  64
  in their ﬂ ight. The ice hornets remain in existence 
  until either they attack their target, the target moves 
  out of range, or a maximum of 30 ticks has elapsed, at 
  which point they melt away.
  STORM RIDER ENCHANTMENT
  Cost: 20m
  Target: Ship
  On encountering a storm at sea, the sorcerer ap-
  peases the storm mothers by shaping a simulacrum of 
  a red-haired woman from his own anima and casting 
  it out of the ship. It’s a cheat, but by fooling a storm 
  mother for a moment, the sorcerer can steal some of 
  her power. For three days or until the end of the storm 
  (whichever comes ﬁ rst), the ship is immune to the 
  storm mothers’ wrath. Lightning does not strike it, 
  nor does water drag it down. It will not even sail off 
  course as long as the helmsman succeeds at a ([Wits 
  or Stamina] + Sail) roll, difﬁ culty dependent on the 
  storm’s ferocity. Indeed, if the storm follows the vessel’s 
  charted course, it will speed the journey by a few days. 
  The Realm’s navy once got the drop on Skullstone 
  Archipelago privateers when an entire battle ﬂ eet 
  rode a fortunate hurricane to arrive a week before it 
  was expected.
  SUMMONING OF THE HARVEST
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Area
  The sorcerer weeps a single tear and uses it to 
  trace a glyph of Sextes Jylis on the ground. The 
  tear imbues fertility into all the vegetation and 
  animals within 50 yards of the caster. Within a 
  minute, plants mature and bring forth bountiful 
  crops, and pregnant animals birth their offspring. 
  No affected living thing is harmed in any way by 
  this spell. Summoning of the Harvest does not 
  affect intelligent creatures. The spell can be used 
  only once per year on the same patch of land. 
  Additional attempts in that time fail automati-
  cally—even those cast by other sorcerers. Sorcerers 
  often use this spell on areas afflicted with drought, 
  as it forces a successful harvest even in the absence 
  of proper irrigation.
  
  65
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  SUMMONING THE LESSER MINIONS 
  OF THE EYELESS FACE
  Cost: 25m
  Target: Summoned minions
  This spell requires a pool of expensive, black, 
  scented oil (Resources 3) and a ritual lasting six hours. 
  In the course of the ritual, the sorcerer reaches through 
  the oil into Elsewhere and draws forth mewling, servile 
  creatures long-banished from Creation. The creatures 
  absorb the oil as the sorcerer pulls them through it, 
  and once she calls forth a number of lesser minions 
  equal to her (Charisma + Essence), the ritual ends 
  and the oil is expended, save for the residue on her 
  arms and hands.
  The lesser minions of the Eyeless Face are humanoid 
  in form. They have black skin like iridescent tar, set with 
  ridges and protrusions—but their faces are smooth and 
  white as maggots’ skins, lacking facial features of any 
  sort. Minions range from seven to four and a half feet 
  tall. The whimpering they make during the summoning, 
  before their bodies are fully set, is the last vocalization 
  they will ever produce. They cannot speak, though they 
  can see, hear, touch and smell as well as any mortal. 
  To communicate, they dance, pantomime and cringe 
  in unnaturally expressive fashion.
  The lesser minions are naked and sexless when 
  called, but they can use any equipment allowed by 
  their Abilities and are sufﬁ ciently plastic to squeeze 
  into any reasonably sized armor. A sorcerer can have 
  only one batch of lesser minions under her control at 
  a time. Once pulled from Elsewhere, minions live for 
  a year and a day, or until slain, or until the sorcerer 
  casts the spell again to call a new batch. Upon death, 
  they crumble into stinking dust.
  THEFT OF MEMORY
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Person
  The Theft of Memory spell permits the sorcerer 
  to snatch a memory from his victim, though it acts 
  subtly—a rarity among spells. The sorcerer must bear 
  an emerald (of at least Resources 2 value) in his hand 
  and touch it to his target. He makes the Mudra of 
  Remembrance and Forgetting with his other hand and 
  releases the Essence of the spell. The spell’s Essence 
  display can manifest as any number of noticeable 
  phenomena—simple alchemical pyrotechnics from 
  a street performer, weather effects or the light of the 
  sun playing across the area. In order to conceal the 
  casting of this spell, the caster’s player must succeed 
  at a (Wits + Larceny) roll. People watching the scene 
  realize the character just cast a spell if their players 
  gain more successes on a (Perception + Occult) roll 
  than the sorcerer’s roll to conceal the spell.
  Moreover, all the legerdemain in the world will 
  not conceal this spell from creatures able to view the 
  ﬂ ows of Essence. To Essence sight or Charms such as 
  All-Encompassing Sorcerer’s Sight, it is very clear that 
  the sorcerer just cast a spell.
  The sorcerer must know what memory he wants 
  to steal. When he touches his victim, his player rolls 
  (Charisma + Occult) as a social attack against the 
  target’s Dodge MDV. If the attack succeeds, the tar-
  get relives the memory for a moment and then it is 
  gone, trapped in the gemstone. Failure indicates that 
  the sorcerer does not steal that memory, cannot steal 
  any other memory from that victim and suffers a -2 
  internal penalty on all Mental Attribute-based rolls 
  for the rest of the scene. Theft of Memory cannot be 
  cast in combat. Memories are either buried beneath 
  the disciplined mind of a warrior or lost amid the fear 
  most other creatures feel in such situations.
  LESSER MINION OF THE EYELESS FACE
  Motivation: Serve the sorcerer who pulled it 
  from imprisonment
  Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 3; 
  Charisma 1, Manipulation 2, Appearance 0; 
  Perception 2, Intelligence 2, Wits 3
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 3, Temper-
  ance 2, Valor 4
  Abilities: Athletics 3, Awareness 2, Dodge 4, 
  Linguistics 1 (Pantomime +3), Martial Arts 2, 
  Melee 3, Presence 2, Ride 1, Stealth 2, War 3
  Join Battle: 5
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 6, Damage 3B, Parry 
  DV 3, Rate 3
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 5, Damage 6B, Parry 
  DV 1, Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 5, Damage 3B, Parry 
  DV —, Rate 1
  Soak: 5L/5B (Rubbery hide, 4L/2B)
  Health Levels: -0/-0/-0/-1/-1/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 3 
  Willpower: 7
  Essence: 1
  Other Notes: A lesser minion does not bleed, 
  suffer from infection or from Poison or Sickness 
  effects, but it cannot heal or be healed.
  
  66
  Once the gem contains a memory, any creature 
  may clasp the gem to its forehead and concentrate to 
  relive the memory. During this time, the creature can 
  perform no other action and is unaware of sights and 
  sounds around it, though physical contact can break 
  the experience.
  THUNDER WOLF’S HOWL
  Cost: 10m
  Target: An area 20 yards across, within 100 yards of 
  the sorcerer
  In the ancient days of the First Age, the great Lunar 
  general Shu-lin hunted the behemoth Thunder Wolf, 
  who roamed the Far North eating men and beast alike. 
  Though Shu-lin wished to tame him, the two struggled, 
  painting a snowy mountainside crimson, until they 
  died. Shu-lin’s widow created this spell in memory of 
  the struggle.
  The sorcerer shapes his Essence with the Howling 
  Word the great Animal Fathers of the North used to 
  warn of Thunder Wolf’s approach. A terrible howl then 
  rips through an area 20 yards in diameter, up to 100 
  yards away. The shock smashes fragile objects and pulps 
  internal organs. This attack cannot be parried or dodged 
  at all. The caster’s player rolls (Intelligence + Occult) 
  to inﬂ ict a number of levels of bashing damage equal to 
  the character’s (Essence + successes); the sonic attack 
  ignores worn armor. Undead and inanimate objects 
  receive only half their normal soak against the howl.
  All living creatures in the area of effect are also 
  deafened and disoriented. They suffer a -2 internal 
  penalty on all actions for ﬁ ve ticks per success on the 
  casting roll. The players of Exalted and other wield-
  ers of Essence may attempt a reﬂ exive (Stamina + 
  Resistance) roll. Each success on this roll reduces the 
  period of disorientation by ﬁ ve ticks.
  THE TITAN’S ICY BREATH
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Area
  The sorcerer calls up the head and shoulders of 
  an icy giant, which rises from the ground before her 
  and exhales a stream of freezing air that solidiﬁ es into 
  an icy shell around anyone caught within an area 10 
  yards wide and high, extending 100 yards from the 
  caster. The titan bellows a second after the exhalation, 
  shattering the ice, and then vanishes.
  Roll the sorcerer’s (Wits + Occult) and add a num-
  ber of automatic successes equal to her Essence, as an 
  attack against everyone in the spell’s area. Characters 
  cannot block this attack, though they may dodge it. 
  The spell has a raw (lethal) damage of six dice plus 
  attack successes. Anyone who suffers even a single 
  level of damage from this spell has his movement rates 
  halved and the Speed of all his actions increased by one 
  for the remainder of the scene. Multiple applications 
  of this spell cannot add more than one, total, to the 
  Speed of a character’s actions or reduce his movement 
  rate to less than half its normal value.
  UNBREAKABLE BONES OF STONE
  Cost: 20m
  Target: Caster
  The sorcerer begins the Irresistible Song of Stone, 
  the song that earth elementals sing to themselves while 
  they sit deep in the soil (also used in the Sleep of Stony 
  Safety; see p. 60). She sings it wrong, however, and 
  the local earth elementals—perfectionists unable to 
  resist correcting such a thing—croon the song to her 
  correctly. The sorcerer’s silver-burning Essence absorbs 
  the corrected song, turning the sorcerer’s bones to stone 
  until the sun crosses the horizon twice.
  The spell adds an amount equal to the sorcerer’s 
  permanent Essence rating to her Strength and Stamina 
  Attributes. Moreover, any wound penalties are halved, 
  rounded down, for the duration of the spell. Any 
  damage taken from falling is also cut in half, rounding 
  up. The sorcerer’s eyes turn the color of granite, her 
  skin becomes cold, tough and ashen, and her weight 
  increases by 50%.
  UNCONQUERABLE SELF
  Cost: 1m
  Target: Caster
  Also called the Spell That Is Not A Spell, Uncon-
  querable Self is actually a mangling of the processes of 
  sorcery. The spell turns Essence inward, burning away 
  the sorcerer until nothing remains but white ash.
  With a silent act of will that is considered a Shape 
  Terrestrial Circle Sorcery action, the savant gathers his 
  Essence. He need not speak a word, nor gesture. The 
  sorcerer can accomplish this while bound and gagged or 
  paralyzed, as long as his mind is clear enough to concen-
  trate. His anima ﬂ ares iconic and terrible as Essence erupts 
  from him, incinerating himself and all his possessions, 
  including any artifacts to which he is attuned. He dies.
  The caster’s body and spirit are utterly consumed, 
  leaving behind neither corpse nor ghost, though a 
  Celestial Exaltation returns to Yu-Shan for eventual 
  reassignment. No memories of that Exalt’s incarnation 
  remain for future hosts. The spell wipes all traces of 
  the sorcerer’s existence from the Exaltation. Objects 
  
  67
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  (Perception + Occult), adding a number of successes 
  equal to his permanent Essence. This is the attack roll 
  for the wave of water, using a base damage of 10B. The 
  wave of water cannot be parried without the use of 
  Charms. If the wave of water inﬂ icts enough damage 
  to result in a knockdown (see Exalted, p. 153), the 
  difﬁ culty to resist this effect is 5.
  Those who suffer knockdown are caught up by the 
  water and carried along. The players of such charac-
  ters may roll (Strength + Athletics), with a difﬁ culty 
  equal to the caster’s Occult rating, for their characters 
  to stand up. Handholds in the area add up to three 
  automatic successes to such attempts.
  After the initial burst, the unstoppable fountain 
  becomes an environmental effect three yards wide 
  and extending 20 yards before the water’s force dissi-
  pates—or maybe longer, if it ﬂ ows down steep terrain. 
  A creature caught in the path of the fountain, whether 
  it remains standing or is swept along, suffers three lev-
  els of bashing damage (Trauma equal to the sorcerer’s 
  permanent Essence), which may be reduced as normal 
  for environmental effects (see Exalted, p. 131).
  THE VIOLENT OPENING OF CLOSED PORTALS
  Cost: 20m
  Target: A single structure
  in contact with the Exalt but not possessed by him 
  are unharmed. Creatures who witness the event might 
  spend a moment blinded by the eruption of Essence, 
  but otherwise take no damage.
  Because this spell is absurdly simple, Unconquer-
  able Self takes merely a day of training time and half 
  the normal experience points to learn.
  UNSTOPPABLE FOUNTAIN OF THE DEPTHS
  Cost: 20m
  Target: Area
  Shouting the Birthing Word of Rivers and unleash-
  ing the blue-tinged Essence of this spell, the caster strikes 
  the ground with his foot, ﬁ st or weapon. The ground 
  before him cracks open, and a roaring torrent of water 
  gushes forth, ﬂ attening everything before it in an area 
  three yards wide, two yards high and 20 yards long. 
  The crushing force of the Unstoppable Fountain of the 
  Depths lasts for 10 minutes, after which it slows to a 
  gentle stream of pure water. This stream lasts for a num-
  ber of days equal to the sorcerer’s permanent Essence, 
  during which time it cannot be poisoned or otherwise 
  fouled, save by spells cast by a sorcerer or necromancer 
  of greater Essence than the caster’s own.
  Anyone caught in the path of the birthing tor-
  rent could be swept away. The sorcerer’s player rolls 
  
  68
  The sorcerer stamps the ground, and her Essence 
  blasts out to force open all the non-magical entrances 
  in a single structure she touches or stands within. Any 
  portal blocked with material less durable than metal is 
  destroyed. Windows shatter, wooden doors are blown 
  to splinters, sturdier doors, and portcullises are blasted 
  from their moorings. The spell affects the portals of a 
  single structure. If the sorcerer casts this spell on the 
  walls of a city, the city gates blow open, but the doors 
  of the buildings in the city are not affected. Casting 
  the spell while touching a barrier with no door opens 
  an oval entrance two yards wide and three yards tall in 
  front of the sorcerer, boring through up to (sorcerer’s 
  Essence x 10) feet of material.
  This spell has no effect on materials reinforced 
  through magic, such as Charms, sorcery, necromancy 
  or thaumaturgy, including all materials used in First 
  Age construction. The Essence channeled through 
  manses also makes them immune—and many of the 
  more important buildings in Creation are manses.
  VIRIDIAN MANTLE OF UNDERWATER JOURNEYS
  Cost: 20 motes
  Target: Caster and up to (Essence) willing targets
  This spell grants its caster and a number of will-
  ing targets equal to the caster’s Essence the ability to 
  move and breathe underwater without difﬁ culty. The 
  targets must stand or tread water while the sorcerer 
  unleashes tendrils of Essence about them. The ten-
  drils seek out aquatic plant life and transform it into 
  fronds of sorcerous seaweed. As the sorcerer speaks 
  the Ineffable Incantation of the Waves, the fronds 
  envelop the targets and cover them like a second skin 
  from head to toe. Filaments of the plant extend down 
  each target’s throat and into their lungs, a strange but 
  painless experience.
  While so covered, targets can breathe water 
  without difﬁ culty and may walk or swim at their 
  normal movement rate. They may also apply the 
  make haste bonus from Exalted p. 267 underwater. 
  The tough fronds also grant a +1L/+2B bonus to 
  the creature’s soak. This is considered a natural soak 
  and slides beneath armor. Creatures who wear armor 
  that is too restricting to permit this (i.e., those with 
  mobility penalties exceeding -1 from armor) cannot 
  be targets of this spell.
  The Viridian Mantle lasts as long as the targets 
  remain immersed in water. Once the spell is cast, they 
  can range any distance from one another. Six ticks after 
  a target leaves the water, the seaweed shrivels up and 
  ﬂ akes off, leaving the target damp but unharmed.
  VIRTUOUS GUARDIAN OF FLAME
  Cost: 25m (5 committed)
  Target: One creature
  The caster combines the Sign of Flame with the 
  Sword-God Mudra to create an automaton servant in 
  the form of a burning sword that ﬂ oats before him. If the 
  caster touches another being, the virtuous guardian of 
  ﬂ ame shrinks to the size of a torch-ﬂ ame and obeys that 
  being thereafter. The ﬂ ame goes wherever the target bids 
  it, but it must remain within three yards of her. Sorcer-
  ers protected by these spells are known for the burning 
  headdresses they wear, for the holy ﬂ ames that adorn their 
  staves, or for their occult lanterns or burning censers.
  When the target of the spell is attacked, the ﬂ ame 
  leaps to her defense. The automaton extends into a ﬂ am-
  ing sword to parry hand-to-hand attacks or into a burning 
  shield that blocks ranged attacks. In either instance, it 
  gives its owner a Parry DV of (the sorcerer’s [Wits + 
  Occult + Essence] ÷ 2). This Parry DV explicitly may 
  be used to parry any ranged attacks (including attacks as 
  part of a spell), and it never suffers DV penalties from any 
  source other than onslaught or coordinated attacks. If the 
  guardian parries a barehanded or other natural attack, 
  the attacker must resist environmental damage (Damage 
  4L, Trauma 2; see Exalted, p. 131) from the ﬂ ame. The 
  automaton itself never takes attack actions, though.
  This Parry DV explicitly exists in addition to the 
  recipient’s normal DVs, and the recipient may choose 
  which DV to use against a given attack, as normal. 
  Coordinated attacks must choose either the automaton 
  or its owner as the target of their tactics; they cannot 
  choose both. The automaton is easily tricked, however. 
  Any attempt to reestablish surprise against the recipient 
  automatically fools the automaton, as long as the attacker’s 
  player rolls at least one success. The automaton cannot 
  defend against both ranged and hand-to-hand attacks at 
  the same time. During the recipient’s action, she may use 
  a reﬂ exive action to mentally order it to switch its form 
  and defend against another kind of attack.
  The virtuous guardian lasts until the sun crosses the 
  horizon again, or until the sorcerer ceases committing the 
  ﬁ ve motes for the spell. Any given creature, including the 
  sorcerer herself, can bear just one guardian at a time, and 
  the guardian can be destroyed only by countermagic.
  WATER FROM STONE
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Boulder
  With her clenched ﬁ st, the sorcerer strikes a large 
  boulder as hard as she can while shouting the name of 
  Daana’d. Out from the resultant crack pours a stream of 
  
  69
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  pure, cool water. Enough water pours forth to quench 
  the thirst of a military unit of Magnitude equal to half 
  the sorcerer’s Essence, rounded up, or an equivalent 
  number of individuals.
  The duration of the stream depends on the climate 
  of the area. In all cases, the stream lasts for a number of 
  units of time equal to the sorcerer’s Essence. It lasts for 
  years in rainforests or marshlands, months in regions 
  of average climate, and mere days in arid regions. In a 
  region of no water at all, however, the full torrent halts 
  within hours, but a thin trickle becomes permanent, 
  enough so that an oasis might form over the course 
  of decades or centuries following the casting. Slowly, 
  the extremes of Creation balance themselves, and 
  sorcerers can help this process along.
  WRITTEN UPON THE WATER
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Body of liquid
  The sorcerer inscribes upon the surface of any body of 
  liquid a message intended for one other person and then 
  strikes the liquid surface with the open palm of his hand. 
  The same message appears on the next liquid surface at 
  which the recipient looks. The message appears at the 
  same speed it was written. If the liquid is clear, the writing 
  manifests in letters of dark ink. Otherwise, the message 
  appears in ink of ﬁ ery gold. Once the target looks away, 
  the message vanishes and never reappears.
  The sorcerer can scribe as many words as the to-
  tal mote capacity of his combined Essence pools. He 
  can send the message to an individual any distance 
  away in Creation, but only to people he has met in 
  person at least once. No one sees the message but its 
  intended recipient.
  THE CELESTIAL 
  CIRCLE OF SAPPHIRE
  Celestial Circle spells do much to 
  justify the fear common people feel 
  for the Anathema. These spells can turn the course of 
  battles, destroy towns and enslave mere mortals from 
  across Creation. Among the Dragon-Blooded, only 
  the Empress (and to a much more limited extent, her 
  daughter Mnemon) ever cast Celestial Circle spells. 
  Nevertheless, the libraries of the Heptagram, the 
  Academy of Sorcery and many smaller, private occult 
  collections include ancient manuscripts of Sapphire 
  Circle sorcery. Sorcerers among the Lunar and Sidereal 
  Exalted also frequently learn Celestial spells, so ﬁ nding 
  a teacher is difﬁ cult but not impossible.
  THE BATTLE’S END
  Cost: 30m
  Target: Area
  Silur herself devised this variation on the older 
  Wheel of the Turning Heavens (see pp. 85-86). The 
  sorcerer pours violet Essence into the sky and makes the 
  Sign of Battle’s End. The Essence forms a great wheel of 
  light. The edges of the slowly spinning wheel bear mystic 
  sigils of peace and harmony, while the center holds the 
  symbol of the Maiden of Endings. This wheel lasts for 
  (Essence x 20) ticks and covers an area (Essence x 100) 
  yards wide. The wheel’s center can be up to 50 yards 
  from the sorcerer.
  All combat stops below the violet wheel, as soldiers 
  stare into the sky, their minds ﬁ lled with the compulsion 
  of quietude. Mortals simply stand entranced. Exalts 
  and other Essence wielders may spend two Willpower 
  to break free from the unnatural mental inﬂ uence.
  Anyone who resists the spell’s effect can snap ev-
  eryone else out of their trance just by yelling a bit, but 
  those people still cannot ﬁ ght. They can do anything 
  else they want, though, and they remember their ac-
  tions from then on. If anyone who spent Willpower 
  performs an act of violence, however, she shatters 
  the spell as a whole. Moreover, if the caster himself 
  breaks the peace, he immediately loses three points 
  of temporary Willpower as a heavenly punishment for 
  invoking the Sign of Saturn falsely.
  When used in war, this spell stops an engagement 
  between two combat units whose Magnitude does not 
  exceed the sorcerer’s own. Both sides lose their action 
  unless a commander or other special character spends 
  Willpower to break the spell-created truce.
  CANTATA OF EMPTY VOICES
  Cost: 30m
  Target: Area
  The sorcerer makes the Mudra of the Tomb-Harp, 
  and her Essence forms a chorus of vaporous entities 
  that sing in perfect harmony. Their crystalline song 
  inspires lethal grief and pain. Every sentient being 
  within 100 yards of the sorcerer weeps and suffers 
  environmental damage (2L/5 ticks, Trauma 3). The 
  stinging tears and agony inﬂ ict a -2 internal penalty to 
  all actions. Essence wielders who reduce the environ-
  mental damage by at least one step may ignore these 
  penalties. The cantata continues for (Essence x 10) 
  ticks. The caster is immune to the singing and may 
  take normal actions once the spell is cast. The visages 
  always surround him, but they are without substance 
  and grant him neither cover nor defense.
  
  70
  CLOUD TRAPEZE
  Cost: 25m
  Target: Caster
  While the sorcerer speaks the Invocation of Heavenly 
  Transport used to signal the cloud chariots in Yu-Shan, his 
  anima envelops him in a thick vapor. Although it looks 
  like a bank of mist from the outside, people inside the 
  cloud trapeze can see though the vapors. The cloudbank 
  lifts the sorcerer and any passengers or cargo into the air 
  and propels them along, without disturbance from wind 
  or weather, at 100 miles per hour.
  No one could mistake this conjured conveyance 
  for a normal cloud when it travels at full speed, but the 
  sorcerer may slow its travel and allow it to drift in a bank 
  of natural clouds. The sorcerer’s player may roll (Wits + 
  Occult), adding a number of automatic successes equal 
  to his Essence. The total successes on this roll indicate 
  the difﬁ culty to spot the cloud trapeze in the sky.
  Only supernatural means can track the progress 
  of the occupants of the cloud trapeze. Even then, the 
  tracker must be able to take ﬂ ight, track by knowing 
  their target’s place in Creation, or use similar means 
  not limited by a need for physical traces. The sorcerer 
  cannot attack, cast spells or use Charms while main-
  taining the spell. He can still speak, issue commands 
  and retain his full DV while operating the cloud, 
  however. The cloud trapeze lasts as long as the sorcerer 
  concentrates upon it. Creatures outside the cloud may 
  attack its occupants, but they attack as though they 
  were blind, unless they have some special means of 
  seeing the occupants through the opaque cloud.
  THE CRUMBLING WALLS
  Cost: 25m
  Target: City walls
  The sorcerer calls down the power of Saturn, who 
  holds dominion over endings and borders, to annihilate 
  the defensive walls separating a city from the lands 
  beyond it. To cast this spell, the sorcerer must gather 
  four chosen companions and make ﬁ ve circuits around 
  the targeted city while singing a hymn to the end of 
  conﬂ ict. The sorcerer and her companions must make 
  as many circuits of the city in one day as she is capable 
  and must manage at least one circuit per day. During the 
  casting, the sorcerer and her companions are prohibited 
  from defending themselves against attack, though they 
  may have bodyguards accompany them or use armor or 
  magic to enhance their ability to avoid harm.
  After each completed circuit, a shadowy image of 
  the Maiden of Endings appears at the city’s edge. Any 
  savant who can see the image knows it bodes ill, and 
  success on a roll of (Intelligence + Occult) reveals the 
  spell’s purpose. Once the sorcerer has completed the 
  casting, all ﬁ ve images, now evenly spaced around the 
  border, raise their arms together and make the sign of 
  Saturn against the city’s walls. At this instant, the de-
  fensive fortiﬁ cations collapse into rubble and ruin over 
  the course of a minute (60 ticks or one long tick). The 
  spell inﬂ icts no damage on anything within the city’s 
  borders or beyond it, but anyone standing at the walls 
  when they fall suffers environmental damage (3B/action, 
  Trauma 1) until they extricate themselves. This descrip-
  tion assumes strong stone walls, such as may include 
  guard towers. At the Storyteller’s discretion, ﬂ imsier 
  walls might crumble sooner and inﬂ ict less damage.
  ETERNAL CRYSTALLINE ENCASEMENT
  Cost: 20m
  Target: One creature or object
  Beginning at dawn on a clear day, the sorcerer 
  catches strands of Essence and new sunlight in her 
  hands and sings an old weaving song of the First Age. 
  She weaves through the fullness of the day, wrapping 
  her target in a glowing ﬁ eld of light. The target cannot 
  exceed 27 cubic feet (more than enough for a human 
  being). Living beings must be unconscious through 
  the entire process, as any motion ruins the weaving. 
  As the sun sets on that day, the sorcerer speaks the 
  Word of Solidity and the Essence-woven light hardens 
  into a crystal coating in all the hues of the rising and 
  setting sun. With the last bits of light and Essence, the 
  sorcerer weaves a thin wand of the same material.
  Items so encased are immune to the ravages of time, 
  neither suffering corrosion or decay, nor aging. Encased 
  creatures do not perceive time’s passage. The crystalline 
  encasement is absurdly strong (50L/50B soak), but brittle 
  (only a single health level). It ignores mortal sources of 
  damage such as attacks made without Charms or magical 
  weapons. Overcoming its soak by even a single level 
  of damage shatters the crystalline encasement. The 
  crystal shell also crumbles to golden dust if countered 
  with Sapphire Countermagic or if the wand created at 
  the end of the spell’s casting is touched to it.
  THE FAITHFUL ALLY
  Cost: 20+m
  Target: Caster and one creature
  This spell takes eight hours to perform and requires 
  sapphire dust (Resources 3 cost) mixed with the blood 
  of the caster and one other willing sentient creature. 
  The sorcerer’s Essence transubstantiates the mixture 
  into gleaming blue ink, which is used to create an 
  
  71
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  occult tattoo on both targets. Creating the ﬁ rst tattoo 
  doesn’t call for a roll, but the second requires a suc-
  cessful (Perception + Craft [Air]) roll, difﬁ culty 4, to 
  copy the tattoo accurately and in the exact same place 
  on the second person’s body. The sorcerer herself need 
  not make this tattoo, however.
  This tattoo acts as an arcane link to the other 
  target. People who see the tattoo do not automati-
  cally know it is part of a spell—even with magical 
  perceptions, a player needs a successful (Perception 
  + Occult) roll, difﬁ culty 4, or a (Perception + Lore 
  roll), difﬁ culty 5, for his character to recognize the 
  tattoo as part of a spell.
  The Faithful Ally may be countered as it is cast, 
  but countermagic does not affect the ﬁ nished tattoo. A 
  sorcerer may have a number of sorcerous tattoos equal 
  to his Essence active on his body at any given time.
  ACTIVATING THE LINK
  Cost: 0m or 20m (from sorcerer)
  Target: Caster or linked ally
  By laying two ﬁ ngers (or similar digits) on the 
  tattoo and concentrating, either the sorcerer or the 
  target can mentally communicate with the other. They 
  can “talk” to each other across any distance within 
  Creation or the Wyld as long as they are both willing 
  to concentrate. This ability has no Essence cost.
  If the sorcerer and target agree to it, the sorcerer 
  may infuse the link between them with Essence, tele-
  porting one of them to the side of the other. This action 
  does not require a roll and can be ﬂ urried. The person 
  being transported arrives within 20 yards of the other’s 
  position (wherever the caller visualizes the other arriv-
  ing), with no disorientation. Neither is there a limit 
  on the distance the ally can be transported, as long 
  as both are in Creation. Wards against teleportation, 
  such as Private Plaza of Downcast Eyes, block this 
  effect. A sorcerer with an active means of perceiving 
  Essence (such as All-Encompassing Sorcerer’s Sight) 
  can recognize what is happening and may use coun-
  termagic to abort the teleportation. Characters cannot 
  try again. The tattoos on both the sorcerer and target 
  vanish when the sorcerer invokes the teleportation 
  power, whether the attempt succeeds or not.
  GENTLE CALL OF LETHE
  Cost: 20m
  Target: Ghost
  
  72
  This spell has the same effects as the Shadow-
  lands Circle spell of the same name (see The Black 
  Treatise, p. 29).
  GEYSER OF CORROSION
  Cost: 30m
  Target: Area
  The sorcerer speaks the Word of Vitriol and gathers 
  his Essence into an amber ball of light. He can launch 
  the ball at any visible point within 50 yards. When it 
  hits, a gout of scalding, stinking acid erupts and sprays 
  over everything within 20 yards of that point. The 
  spray cannot be parried, but it can be dodged.
  Creatures, objects and scenery covered by the 
  acid take environmental damage (3A/6 ticks, Trauma 
  3). This acid ignores ﬁ ve points of soak of any in-
  animate objects (including weapons and armor), 
  and inﬂ icts eight levels of lethal damage instead. 
  This vile substance continues to eat away whatever 
  it covers until it is either washed off (which requires 
  enough water to immerse the person or object) or 
  until the scene ends. Areas affected by this spell are 
  often eaten away to pools of viscous sludge, scoured 
  to the bedrock by the vitriol.
  GOD-FORGED CHAMPION OF WAR
  Cost: 20+m (committed)
  Target: Caster
  This spell works only when cast under the open sky. 
  The sorcerer speaks several of the Five Hundred Words 
  of War and draws a latticework of Essence around herself. 
  During the day, sparks of sunﬁ re swirl down from the sky 
  to join the lattice, while at night, the sorcerer’s anima 
  catches glowing motes of moonlight or starlight.
  As the magic builds, the sorcerer rises into the air. 
  Dozens of distant voices rise in an indistinct war chant. 
  Least gods from objects in a 50-yard radius awaken, 
  leave their objects and ﬂ y toward the Essence-lattice of 
  this spell, where the light of the Incarnae forges them 
  into plates of thick armor, forming a mighty scout- or 
  common-class warstrider around the sorcerer. This 
  warstrider lasts for one hour, though the sorcerer may 
  extend its duration by spending 10 motes per additional 
  hour. (See Wonders of the Lost Age for complete 
  descriptions of warstriders and their equipment.)
  Armament for the warstrider costs additional 
  committed motes of Essence: one mote per dot of 
  cost for mundane weapons, or two motes per dot for 
  artifact weapons, all suitably scaled for an 18-foot-tall 
  humanoid war machine.
  If the sorcerer spends an additional ﬁ ve motes at cast-
  ing (which are not committed), the warstrider gains the 
  beneﬁ ts of the magical material aligned with the sorcerer’s 
  Exaltation, but only if the warstrider is crafted of the ap-
  propriate sort of light. Solars gain this beneﬁ t only from 
  casting this spell during the day, for example, while Lunars 
  and Sidereals gain this beneﬁ t from spells cast at night.
  When this spell’s duration elapses, the least gods 
  return to their objects, imparting in the object a slight 
  glow of sun, moon or starlight that fades in a week. 
  They are completely unharmed.
  HIDDEN JUDGES OF THE SECRET FLAME
  Cost: 30m
  Target: Summoned Judge
  There are seven ancient judges, tall, cloaked and 
  hooded in black, each of whose limbs have withered to 
  darkened bones and whose face is but a single blue ﬂ ame. 
  The Hidden Judges each carry one of the Swords of the 
  Secret Flame and have the right to destroy even gods and 
  Exalted who forget their responsibilities. The Judges have 
  no names but are addressed by the names of their swords, 
  such as Hekateron, Amantythae, Sebelle, Kasimodente 
  and Pheberester. In Yu-Shan, they enforce the peace at 
  the Calibration festival. Any other times of the year, 
  they can be called to Creation to punish transgressions 
  against the Divine Law—but never compelled.
  The spell lasts from sunrise to sunset. It requires a 
  complex, seven-fold diagram and seven new candles. 
  When the Hidden Judge arrives, the sorcerer must tell 
  it (in Old Realm) who has broken the celestial laws, 
  and how. Yet when the Unconquered Sun turned his 
  face from the world in disgust over Solar excesses, 
  all the Chosen lost the faith of Yu-Shan. Therefore, 
  working against an Exalt is no longer a crime against 
  Divine Law. Hidden Judges are willing to give advice 
  about what is an offense against Heaven, however.
  A Judge can be persuaded that an innocent person 
  has committed crimes against Heaven, but a Hidden 
  Judge always discovers the truth in the end. Should a 
  Judge ﬁ nd that it was set to attack an innocent, then all 
  seven Judges hunt the informer until she is dead or has 
  defeated all seven. Honest mistakes are no excuse, though 
  possibly grounds for appeal to the Unconquered Sun.
  Normally, however, only one Judge pursues a miscreant 
  at a time, and defeating a Judge in battle redeems even the 
  worst of criminals. Judges can be harmed only by weapons 
  anointed with the blood of a person who has never broken 
  the laws of Heaven and who offers his blood willingly.
  
  73
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  HIDDEN JUDGE
  Motivation: To enforce Divine Law.
  Attributes: Strength 8, Dexterity 7, Stamina 9; 
  Charisma 5, Manipulation 3, Appearance 5; Per-
  ception 5, Intelligence 6, Wits 5
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 5, Temperance 4, 
  Valor 4
  Abilities: Awareness 4, Dodge 6, Larceny 4, 
  Integrity 7 (Being Begged for Mercy +3), Investi-
  gation 7 (Find Target +3), Lore 5 (Precedents +3,
  Laws of Yu-Shan +3), Melee 6 (Sword of the 
  Secret Flame +3), Occult 5, Resistance 6, Socialize 6, 
  Survival 0 (Tracking +6), War 3
  Backgrounds: Allies (Other Judges) 5, Artifact 
  (Sword of the Secret Flame) 5, Contacts (As-
  sorted Spirit Courts) 5, Inﬂ uence (Assorted Spirit 
  Courts) 3, Resources 3
  Spirit Charms:
  Celestial Circle Sorcery—The Judges each know 
  Sapphire Countermagic, Summoning the Heav-
  enly Portal and one other spell (different for 
  each Judge).
  Hekateron, the White Blade—This sample Judge 
  bears Hekateron, the White Blade. This slim, pale 
  sword of enchanted salt inﬂ icts aggravated damage 
  upon ghosts and annihilates any ghosts it kills. Any 
  ghost with an Essence less than 5 cannot cross a 
  line drawn with its tip. Hekateron is tied to its 
  Judge, but not beyond dissolution. It materializes 
  and dematerializes with the Judge but remains solid 
  if the Judge is slain.
  Know Your Place—Anyone who sees around a 
  Judge’s concealing hood or uncovers the ﬁ re of a 
  Judge’s face is pierced by complete understanding 
  of his true place in, and responsibilities to, the 
  Celestial Hierarchy. The Judge reﬂ exively spends 
  two motes to activate this power. The revelation 
  acts as an unnatural mental inﬂ uence to submit to 
  the Judge or assist it in its duty. A character who 
  spends two Willpower can resist the Compulsion 
  effect. Getting rid of the knowledge itself is not 
  so easy, and even the Exalted are seldom ﬂ attered 
  by their true place in Heaven’s plan.
  Materialize—A Judge may materialize for 80 
  motes.
  Measure the Wind—A Judge can spend a mote to 
  determine whether a being has ever broken the 
  laws it enforces, and if so, how.
  Principle of Motion—A Judge has a standing pool 
  of 10 extra actions.
  Terrestrial Circle Sorcery—Each Judge knows Infal-
  lible Messenger and six other Terrestrial Circle 
  spells related to investigation and justice (different 
  for each Judge).
  Tracking—A Judge may commit ﬁ ve motes to ﬁ nd 
  and follow the trail of anyone as long as it knows that 
  person’s name, has seen him or possesses something 
  that belongs to him. Treat this as a perfect attack, 
  with only appropriate perfect defenses (such as 
  perfect Stealth Charms) effective against it—and 
  those, only as long as a target commits Essence to 
  them. Moreover, while the Judge uses this Charm, 
  no barriers—fortresses, oceans, even the boundaries 
  dividing Yu-Shan, Malfeas or the Wyld from Cre-
  ation—may prevent it from reaching its quarry. It 
  travels at the pace of a tall, striding man, but never 
  pauses unless forced.
  Words of Power—By intoning its enemy’s crimes the 
  Judge cripples him with the truth. This ranged attack 
  is aimed using (Manipulation + Valor). It can be 
  launched against anyone who can hear the Judge. If 
  it hits, it inﬂ icts a cumulative, -1 external penalty on 
  all of the victim’s actions for the rest of the scene.
  A Judge also possesses the First, Second and Third 
  Excellencies for Dodge, Integrity, Investigation, 
  Lore, Melee and Socialize.
  Join Battle: 9
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 8, Damage +8B, Parry 
  DV 5, Rate 3
  Sword of the Secret Flame (Hekateron): Speed 4, 
  Accuracy 20, Damage +14L, Parry DV 10, Rate 3
  Soak: 5L/9B (Natural soak; cannot be harmed by 
  weapons that have not been dipped in the blood 
  willingly given by one who has never broken the 
  laws of Heaven)
  Health Levels: -0x3/-1x4/-2x6/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 10 
  Willpower: 10
  Essence: 6 Essence Pool: 110 (10 committed to 
  its Sword of the Secret Flame)
  Cost to Materialize: 80
  Other Notes: A Hidden Judge will not initiate 
  battle with anyone who has not broken celestial 
  law, though it ﬁ ghts if attacked. It may pause in its 
  travels if asked to judge a case that piques its interest, 
  but it will never stop when it’s on the hunt.
  
  74
  HIDEOUS CONFUSION OF TONGUES
  Cost: 35m
  Target: Area and infected creatures
  The sorcerer makes the Sign of the Shattered 
  Tower into the spell’s Essence. The resulting burst of 
  turquoise light carries a linguistic curse. Everyone who 
  was within 100 yards of the sorcerer speaks gibberish 
  from then on, though they are not aware of this fact. 
  Once an affected creature attempts to communicate 
  with someone else, that character’s player may roll 
  (Perception + Awareness), difﬁ culty 3, once per minute 
  of interaction, for the character to realize he’s speaking 
  nonsense. A (Perception + Occult) roll may also be 
  made at the time of casting to understand what the spell 
  did, without needing to speak. The curse lasts (caster’s 
  Essence x 2) hours, and it affects only a victim’s ability 
  to communicate. Charm use and spell casting are not 
  affected, unless they rely on communication.
  Moreover, this curse is contagious. People who hear 
  the victims’ gibberish are themselves affected by it, 
  though they resist infection with a successful (Stamina + 
  Linguistics) roll, with a difﬁ culty equal to the sorcerer’s 
  Essence. The curse can even re-infect a victim after its 
  ﬁ rst effects have worn off. Like a person directly cursed by 
  the spell, infected victims may realize how the Hideous 
  Confusion of Tongues has passed to them.
  Sapphire Countermagic can remove the curse from 
  an individual, but the only time it can affect the spell as 
  a whole is when the curse is being cast. Victims cured by 
  Sapphire Countermagic become immune to subsequent 
  re-infection from that casting’s effect. Hideous Confusion 
  of Tongues also does not affect the caster or any creature 
  with an Essence greater than the caster’s own.
  IMBUE AMALGAM
  Cost: 15+m
  Target: One mortal creature
  With this spell, a Celestial sorcerer may imbue a 
  servant, pet or guardian with tremendous power and 
  ability, enabling it to serve her better. The ritual itself 
  takes one full day to cast and requires a statue of the 
  form the sorcerer wishes to give her target. This statue 
  must be carved of stone quarried from the Blessed Isle, 
  gilded and inlaid with a variety of jewels arranged in 
  occult patterns across the body (a Resources 4 cost). 
  During the ritual, the target remains prone and naked, 
  with identical gems placed in the same places on its body. 
  When the spell is complete, the jewels are consumed, 
  and the target’s form changes to match that of the 
  statue, while the statue appears in the target’s original 
  form (and may, in fact, be used in a subsequent casting 
  of this spell to return the subject to normal).
  
  75
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  Imbue Amalgam is a Shaping effect. It does not 
  work on any creatures with an active Essence pool, 
  including minions empowered by this spell (except to 
  return them to their natural form).
  The empowered minion treats every command 
  from the sorcerer as if it were an unnatural mental 
  Servitude effect. The amalgam can spend a point of 
  Willpower to disobey the understood intention of 
  the sorcerer’s commands, but it must do so anew each 
  time it receives objectionable commands—any last-
  ing rebellion will have to be subtle. The statue of the 
  amalgam’s original form provides an arcane link to the 
  amalgam. It allows the sorcerer to cast spells upon the 
  target that require such a link. Moreover, by spending 
  ﬁ ve motes while touching the statue, the sorcerer can 
  mentally speak with the amalgam for up to a single 
  scene, as long as they are both in Creation.
  The changes wrought to an amalgam are amaz-
  ing, and they are always obvious. The subject usually 
  receives Abilities and appearance based on a “theme” 
  of some sort, whether a bizarre, insectoid creature, 
  a clockwork servitor, a creature all of jutting bone 
  and raw muscle or a sleek, beautiful creature made of 
  gleaming silver. Even at their most human looking, 
  amalgams look like Wyld-tainted mutants or spirits, 
  so most sorcerers do not bother trying hiding their 
  nature. The spell cannot give an amalgam a truly 
  natural shape. First Age texts suggest that the ability 
  to imbue a mortal with godly power, leaving then 
  unchanged, is the sole province of Exaltation. Other 
  sorcerers believe the spell was inspired by the ways the 
  Fair Folk transform their servants, and that it carries 
  an ineradicable taint of the Wyld.
  • Basic Abilities (15m): The amalgam bleeds, 
  heals, ﬁ ghts infection and disease and resists Charms 
  and magic as though it were Exalt. It is also considered 
  an Exalt for the purposes of counting 10s and stunting. 
  A (Perception + Occult) roll, difﬁ culty 2, can reveal 
  what kind of Exalt created the amalgam. These and 
  all other changes to the creature are permanent.
  • Attributes (2m per dot): The sorcerer can raise 
  the amalgam’s Attributes by (at most) a number of dots 
  equal to the sorcerer’s (Essence + Occult), allocated 
  however he wants.
  • Abilities (1m per dot): The sorcerer may increase 
  the amalgam’s Abilities by (at most) a number of dots 
  equal to the sorcerer’s (Essence + Occult).
  • Essence (4m per dot): The sorcerer may increase 
  the amalgam’s Essence to a maximum of (sorcerer’s 
  Essence – 1).
  • Essence Pool (4m per ﬁ ve motes in pool): The 
  amalgam’s Essence pool is used to fuel any Charms it 
  uses and may be used to attune artifacts. It is considered 
  an Exalt of the same sort as its master for the purpose of 
  attuning objects of the magical materials. It has no anima 
  and regains Essence at the normal rate of respiration. 
  Its pool cannot exceed (its Essence x 10) motes.
  • Charm (3m or 8m per Charm): Amalgams may 
  be given any sort of Charms, including supernatural 
  Martial Arts or Terrestrial Circle Sorcery. Purchasing 
  spells for an amalgam counts as purchasing additional 
  Charms. The amalgam must meet all minimums for 
  possession of a given Charm, however. If the creator 
  knows the Charm, the cost is three motes per Charm. 
  Other Charms cost eight motes per Charm.
  • Willpower (4m per dot): The sorcerer can raise 
  the amalgam’s Willpower, to a maximum of 10.
  • Soak (1m per +1L/+1B): The sorcerer may 
  increase the amalgam’s natural armor, to a maximum 
  bonus of equal to the sorcerer’s (Essence + Occult).
  • Natural Attacks (1m per change): A normal 
  hand-to-hand attack may be transformed as well. Each 
  type of natural attack (punch, kick or clinch) may be 
  altered. These changes include: convert bashing damage 
  to lethal (1m), -1 Speed (1m), +1 Accuracy (1m), +1 
  Damage (1m), +1 Defense (1m), +1 Rate (1m). Rate 
  and Speed changes may be purchased only once. The 
  sorcerer may spend a maximum number of motes on a 
  given natural weapon equal to his (Essence + Occult), 
  but each weapon or attack is augmented separately.
  • Natural Ranged Attack (1m): Amalgams may have 
  ranged weapons built into them, from bows that fold out 
  from the bones of their forearms, to dart guns built into 
  their chests or other strange attacks. The traits for this at-
  tack are: Speed 5, Accuracy +0, Damage +0, Rate 1, Range 
  100. These attacks can be further augmented as though 
  they were natural attacks, and the range can likewise be 
  increased by an additional 100 per 1m. The mote spent for 
  this weapon does apply toward the maximum number of 
  motes that may be spent on a given natural weapon. These 
  weapons do not produce their own ammunition.
  The sorcerer does not need to know the Abilities 
  or Charms he gives the amalgam, but he needs access to 
  someone who does when he casts the spell. The enchanted 
  servant, therefore, becomes a mixture of different creatures’ 
  capabilities. Creatures who supply the templates for Abili-
  ties or Charms do not need to be willing, or even conscious, 
  but each must be present for the entire casting of the spell 
  and likewise bear a special pattern of jewels. No conferred 
  Ability can exceed the rating of its “donor.”
  
  76
  INSIDIOUS TENDRILS OF HATE
  Cost: 20m
  Target: People in area
  The sorcerer feeds a brazier with the skins of a dozen 
  exotic snakes (a Resources 3 purchase, or a Resources 2 
  purchase in large cities of the South). After a three-minute 
  invocation of hate, a grasping hand of smoke rises from 
  the brazier, and the sorcerer gives it arcane links to each 
  of the intended targets. The hand returns to the ﬂ ames, 
  which burn a sickly green and then smother as smoky 
  tendrils leap through Elsewhere toward the targets. The 
  spell affects a number of sentient creatures up to the 
  caster’s (Manipulation + Essence), all of whom must be 
  within 30 yards of each other at the time of casting.
  At that moment, the vision of the targets dims for 
  about ﬁ ve seconds as the tendrils wrap around their 
  hearts. The targets’ players all attempt Willpower rolls, 
  with a difﬁ culty of the sorcerer’s Essence. If a roll suc-
  ceeds, the spell does not affect that character. If the 
  roll gains three or more successes over the difﬁ culty, 
  the target knows he was just the target of some kind 
  of emotion-manipulating spell.
  Characters whose rolls failed suffer the effects of the 
  spell. Every interaction they have with other people seems 
  twisted: Victims believe  enemies surround them. They 
  take anything said to them in the worst possible way, as 
  an insult, threat or lie. A victim may spend a Willpower 
  to avoid misinterpreting a single statement by someone 
  to whom he has an Intimacy, but even the voices of those 
  he loves soon seem to drip with sarcasm and hate.
  Insidious Tendrils of Hate lasts for a number of 
  days equal to the sorcerer’s Manipulation rating or 
  until the caster is slain. By then, a diplomatic meeting 
  might have ended in declaration of war, or a family 
  might have torn itself apart. Countermagic can free 
  a single given target from the spell, but only someone 
  present at the spell’s casting can use countermagic to 
  wreck the spell in its entirety.
  IVORY ORCHID PAVILION
  Cost: 20m
  Target: Conjured pavilion
  The sorcerer weaves her Essence into the shape of a 
  gleaming white orchid bud as she sings the last stanza of 
  Welcome to the Highest, the song that least gods sing silently 
  to herald the arrival of an Incarna. As the song ends, the 
  sorcerer raises her hands and claps them overhead. The 
  blossom unfolds around her into a magniﬁ cent palace, 
  ornately carved and pillared, smelling of orchids. This 
  wondrous pavilion can entertain up to (Essence x 100) 
  guests in high style. Gods ﬁ nd themselves at ease, for the 
  pavilion radiates an aura that feels like Yu-Shan. This aura 
  also puts most mortals in a state of awe.
  The building itself is crafted of pale, translucent 
  ivory through which the light of the sun and moon 
  diffuses. It holds the ﬁ nest furniture, silk curtains and 
  bedding, with tables laden with fresh fruits, nuts and 
  bowls of wine that never run empty. The ivory walls are 
  thin, however (Soak 5L/5B, Health Levels 3/10).
  The Ivory Orchid Pavilion lasts for 24 hours before 
  it crumbles to white orchid petals. For ﬁ ve years after 
  the spell is cast, white orchids grow on that location. 
  Countermagic can destroy the pavilion, and it burns 
  easily, though its size is such that ﬂ ame takes several 
  minutes to engulf the entire structure.
  MAGMA KRAKEN
  Cost: 35m
  Target: Area
  The sorcerer combines the Prayer to the Kraken with 
  the Mudra of Burning Earth that volcano gods make when 
  their mountains spew ﬁ re. Red strands of Essence then lance 
  toward the targeted area, which begins to rumble.
  Five ticks after the sorcerer’s Cast Sorcery action 
  ends, tentacles of lava erupt from the ground. The sorcerer 
  can place these writhing limbs anywhere in a circle 50 
  yards wide, at most 500 yards away. Anyone in the area 
  when this happens is knocked prone unless their players 
  succeed at a reﬂ exive (Dexterity + Athletics) roll, dif-
  ﬁ culty 2. The tentacles are magical constructs that Join 
  Battle on the tick they appear and lash out at anyone 
  the sorcerer names an enemy, either to strike or grapple. 
  These act with Strength 10, Dexterity 4 and Martial Arts 
  4. They use Dexterity to initiate grapples, but Strength 
  to maintain them, giving the traits listed on p. 77.
  The damage inﬂ icted by the tentacles is considered 
  partial ﬁ re damage: Targets that are immune to heat and 
  ﬁ re halve any damage taken, after soak. The tentacles never 
  dodge or parry; they have 10L soak and are immune to 
  bashing damage. Ten levels of damage destroy a tentacle, 
  but at the beginning of every action, surviving tentacles 
  regenerate all damage they have taken up to that point.
  The sorcerer can also direct tentacles using a special 
  Control Tentacle action. A sorcerer can direct one more 
  Magma Kraken tentacle with each Control Tentacle 
  action, up to an amount equal to his Perception score. 
  Directing multiple tentacles does not count as a ﬂ urry.
  Control Tentacle (Speed 6, DV -1): The sorcerer 
  can direct a tentacle to strike, clinch or perform some 
  other simple task, such as to lift a heavy object. It acts 
  on the sorcerer’s actions, even if it has not yet recovered 
  from its previous action. A tentacle uses the sorcerer’s 
  
  77
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  (Wits + Martial Arts) to attack but suffers a -1 internal 
  penalty per 50 yards between the sorcerer and the battle. 
  While controlling a tentacle, the sorcerer can take only 
  reﬂ exive actions. If the sorcerer’s struck, his player must 
  roll to maintain concentration, just as for interrupted spell 
  casting. Should the sorcerer break concentration, any 
  tentacles he’s directing immediately end their clinches. 
  A Join Battle roll follows, using the sorcerer’s (Wits + 
  Awareness), for them to rejoin combat as normal.
  The tentacles last for an entire scene, unless de-
  stroyed or countered. When the spell ends, the tentacles 
  harden into impressive serpentine shapes of obsidian.
  MERCURY’S DELIVERANCE
  Cost: 30m
  Target: Area
  Mercury’s Deliverance grants defense against all spells 
  of the Emerald and Sapphire Circles. Before casting the 
  spell, the sorcerer must etch a circle around the area to 
  defend. The maximum diameter is (caster’s Essence x 100) 
  yards. She marks it at the ﬁ ve points of a pentagram with 
  small hexagrams the size of her hand, and she scribes a sixth 
  hexagram in the direct center of the circle. Within each 
  hexagram, she writes a symbol of the Maiden of Journeys. 
  This painstaking process takes about half an hour.
  The sorcerer must touch the center hexagram while 
  she casts the spell. Essence ﬂ oods through the lines of the 
  circle. Five ticks after her Cast Sorcery action, a lance of 
  saffron light rises from the ﬁ rst hexagram. Every ﬁ ve ticks 
  thereafter, a spear of light rises from another hexagram, 
  moving clockwise around the circle: beams of crimson, 
  cerulean, emerald and deep violet. Five ticks after the 
  violet ray, a pure white lance of light rises from the center 
  hexagram and the ﬁ ve colored beams bend inward until 
  they arc into the midst of the white light. Scintillating 
  waves of multi-hued Essence wash over the circle to form 
  a dome of a thousand colors—then it go out.
  Until this happens, the ward does not function—but 
  from then on until the spell expires, no spells of the 
  Emerald or Sapphire Circles, nor spells of the Shadow-
  lands Circle of necromancy, can pass the outer barrier. 
  Spells function normally within and outside the invisible 
  dome, but should any sorcerer attempt to affect anyone 
  on the other side of the boundary, it ﬂ ares to life again, 
  negating the spell and warning anyone who can see the 
  dome that magic is afoot.
  The spell also blocks all scrying, teleportation and 
  similar long-distance effects, as well as preventing items 
  that are enchanted or created by sorcery from crossing 
  the boundary. From outside the dome, only Adamant 
  Countermagic can destroy the spell, but Sapphire Coun-
  termagic can dispel it from inside. Otherwise, it  lasts 
  until the sun next crosses the horizon. The circle can be 
  reused as long as the diagram remain intact. Destroying 
  the diagram once the spell has been cast has no effect.
  OUTSIDE WORLDS WITHIN
  Cost: 25m
  Target: Room
  This spell transforms a chamber’s interior into a 
  perfect duplicate of any environment in Creation, 
  from the strange ﬁ elds of white ﬂ ame in the Far South 
  to the frigid ice caves of the North. This spell takes 
  three hours to complete.
  The chamber cannot exceed (Essence x 100) yards 
  in any direction. It must be clean and empty, and the 
  sorcerer enters it naked, bearing the implements of the 
  ritual. The chamber is sealed against intrusion: No light, 
  air or particles of dust must enter from without. Then, the 
  sorcerer must cleanse himself within the chamber and 
  prepare a ritual candle (created with herbs and oils used 
  in occult exorcisms, a Resources 2 purchase). When all 
  is ready, the sorcerer ignites the candle with his anima.
  First, the sorcerer uses the spell’s Essence to scour 
  the room into a sorcerous tabula rasa, ready to accept the 
  new template of Creation he desires. Then the sorcerer 
  closes his eyes and visualizes any location in Creation 
  he has seen before, willing the Essence of the room to 
  reshape itself into that place. If the sorcerer wishes to 
  create a terrain he has never visited before, he must enter 
  the chamber with a sample from that locale—a bit of 
  soil or stone, say, or a handful of leaves, a container of 
  water or a bit of an animal that dwells there.
  The room reshapes itself around this material or 
  memory template. The ceiling becomes clear, show-
  ing the appropriate sky above (though the ceiling is 
  still visible, like a pane of glass between the room and 
  the sky), while the ﬂ oor crumbles into dirt or hardens 
  MAGMA KRAKEN
  Name 
  Speed 
  Accuracy 
  Damage 
  Parry DV 
  Rate Tags
  Tentacle Strike 
  6 
  8 
  (15 + sorcerer’s Essence)L 
  — 
  1 
  N, R
  Tentacle Clinch 
  6 
  8 (initiate)/ 
  (15 + sorcerer’s Essence)L 
  — 
  1 
  C, N, R
   
   
  16 (maintain)
  
  78
  into stone. Plants sprout as appropriate. The walls 
  are remade with appropriate features, such as cliffs of 
  sandstone, ice or coral, or covered by crawling vines. 
  The light of the candle shifts into the ambient light 
  and temperature of the locale, and winds blow through 
  the chamber.
  If the place is taken from memory, the climate of 
  the area matches that memory. If the spell uses a sample, 
  however, the room acts as a pocket of that locale, its 
  weather mimicking that spot in Creation.
  Once the ritual is complete, the chamber remains 
  in its new condition for one month. After this time, 
  the sorcerer can renew the spell by entering the cham-
  ber and expending 25 motes of Essence. If the spell is 
  not renewed, the chamber returns to normal over the 
  course of three days.
  THE PRINCES OF THE FALLEN TOWER
  Cost: 30m
  Target: Conjured automata
  The sorcerer evokes a doorway of dark, rippling water 
  in midair. Through the sheet of water lurch manlike crea-
  tures made of living, compacted rust. They number twice 
  the sorcerer’s permanent Essence. The creatures kneel 
  once, then wait for the sorcerer to tell them what to de-
  stroy. Their long, rusty claws deal terrible wounds—while 
  metal rusts, stone crumbles, wood rots and leather and 
  cloth falls to dust. These automata have poor combat 
  skills, but they can wreck a town or fortress.
  A prince of the fallen tower’s touch deals 
  eight levels of lethal damage, just like its claw-
  ing attack, but it ignores the first six points of an 
  object’s soak. A touched object continues to take 
  this same attack every five ticks, for the next two 
  minutes (120 ticks, or 24 increments of damage). 
  Enchanted objects or items made from the magi-
  cal materials are immune to this erosion. So are 
  living creatures. The princes attack people if the 
  sorcerer specifically commands it or if the person 
  interferes with their attempts at destruction. On its 
  own, though, a prince will disintegrate the clothes 
  off a person but leave him unharmed.
  The princes of the fallen tower exist for a number of 
  hours equal to the sorcerer’s Essence, unless someone uses 
  countermagic to dispel them (one at a time) or someone 
  simply destroys them. They never stop looking for more 
  things to destroy. A careless sorcerer who doesn’t supervise 
  them might ﬁ nd the princes demolishing his manse.
  
  79
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  RAISE THE PUISSANT SANCTUM
  Cost: 30m
  Target: Demesne
  The Lunar and Sidereal Exalted rarely have the 
  luxury of huge crews of workmen to build their manses. 
  The Lunars demand self-sufﬁ ciency, and the Sidereals 
  desire secrecy. This rite provides both. A sorcerer can 
  raise a manse from a demesne rated no higher than 
  (her Essence – 2).
  Armed with a design for the manse she wishes to 
  create (see Exalted, p. 133 for the rules on designing 
  manses), the sorcerer enters the demesne. For a number 
  of weeks equal to the rating of the manse to be raised, 
  she studies the plans and visualizes the structure she 
  intends to create. The sorcerer must remain attuned 
  to the demesne for this entire time of reﬂ ection and 
  interact with no companion but the manse’s designer 
  (if she didn’t design it herself).
  Once she is prepared, the sorcerer casts the spell 
  and feeds her Essence into the demesne. The land then 
  reshapes itself. Stone rises to form walls, sand crystal-
  lizes into glass, and plants grow into the geomantic 
  patterns needed to channel the demesne’s Essence. This 
  Shaping effect takes six hours per dot of the intended 
  manse and requires incredible concentration on the 
  part of the sorcerer.
  During this process, the demesne must remain 
  undisturbed, with no intruders. The arrival of another 
  sentient being can destroy the subtle ﬂ ows of Essence (as 
  if an attack had come during the Shape Celestial Circle 
  Sorcery actions). When the new manse is complete, 
  the sorcerer sits in the room where its hearthstone is 
  starting to form (though the magical stone takes the 
  normal time to develop).
  Should the sorcerer not possess a set of plans, she may 
  still create a manse. In this case, however, she cannot 
  cap demesnes rates more than (her Essence – 3). Seat-
  ing herself in the demesne, she casts the spell as normal. 
  Instead of following the schematics of a savant-engineer, 
  however, she lets Creation itself shape the manse, based 
  on what hearthstone she wants it to create. Such a manse 
  lacks the amenities of man-made structures. Floors are 
  seldom ﬂ at, doorways and windows are rarely placed for 
  convenience, and indoor plumbing is impossible.
  Savants who think that demesnes are the tertiary 
  souls of Gaia believe that such manses are shaped by the 
  will and need of that soul. Indeed, more than one such 
  manse has demonstrated some function unintended by 
  the shaping sorcerer. Lunar sorcerers sometimes prefer 
  to raise “natural” manses out of respect for Gaia.
  ROLLING EARTH CARPET
  Cost: 20+m (committed)
  Target: Area
  The Mudra of the Auspicious Journey releases deep-
  blue Essence that ﬂ ows outward, reshaping the land so 
  that it becomes easy to travel through. The land becomes 
  smooth, while puddles of water and mud dry up. This ﬁ eld 
  moves with the sorcerer as he travels, remaking the land 
  before him into perfect traveling territory. Terrain left in 
  his wake returns to normal. This Shaping effect is large 
  enough to encompass 100 marching humans (mounted 
  riders count as two men). For every additional 10 motes 
  spent when casting the spell, the radius increases, allowing 
  the spell to support 50 additional man-sized travelers.
  The Rolling Earth Carpet leaves no traces of its 
  passage. Mortal trackers have no chance of following 
  the group’s trail, while supernatural trackers do so at 
  a +3 difﬁ culty—even scents and mystical traces are 
  suppressed. The area inside the ﬁ eld is like a warm 
  spring day, with no precipitation or wind above a light 
  breeze (though weather outside the ﬁ eld can still limit 
  vision). Large or artiﬁ cial terrain features such as hills 
  or buildings are not affected by this spell. Most plants 
  PRINCE OF THE FALLEN TOWER
  Motivation: To destroy all it can
  Attributes: Strength 5, Dexterity 2, Stamina 5; 
  Charisma 1, Manipulation 1, Appearance 2; 
  Perception 3, Intelligence 1, Wits 2
  Virtues: Automaton: Never fails Valor checks, 
  never makes others.
  Abilities: Athletics 2, Awareness 3, Craft (Earth) 3 
  (Demolition +2), Integrity 5, Martial Arts 1, 
  Resistance 5
  Join Battle: 5
  Attacks:
  Claw: Speed 4, Accuracy 4, Damage 8L, 
  Defense 2, Rate 2
  Soak: 8L/10B (Ferric body, 6L/5B)
  Health Levels: -0/-0/-0/-0/-0/Incap
  Dodge DV: 2 
  Willpower: 10
  Essence: 2
  Other Notes: Weapons that strike a prince do 
  not disintegrate; neither does the ground under 
  the automaton’s feet. A prince must speciﬁ cally 
  strike with its hand to destroy objects. Emerald 
  Countermagic is enough to stop the continuing 
  disintegration caused by a prince’s touch, but it will 
  not stop the automaton from attacking again.
  
  80
  are pushed aside, but not full-grown trees. Rolling 
  Earth Carpet remains active for as long as the sorcerer 
  commits the Essence and remains alive.
  This spell cannot be combined with the Mystic 
  Travel (see p. 93) or similar spells. If you use the Complex 
  Travel rules (see Exalted, p. 266), treat the area within 
  the Rolling Earth Carpet as open terrain. Long distance, 
  political upheaval and war-zone terrain modiﬁ ers do not 
  apply. Neither does the hunted travel quality.
  SAPPHIRE CIRCLE BANISHMENT
  Cost: 15+m
  Target: Demon or demons
  This spell has special timing rules. The character 
  can cast it as two reflexive Shape Celestial Circle 
  Sorcery actions that take 0 ticks. It has a range of 
  (Essence x 15) yards.
  The sorcerer makes the Seven Devils Rebuking 
  sign just before the Victory over Primordials Mudra. 
  Sapphire Circle Banishment forces a single First Circle 
  demon back to Malfeas, without a contest of wills. 
  It can banish a Second Circle demon, but doing so 
  forces a contest of wills, handled as for Emerald Circle 
  Banishment (see p. 44). If the demon wins, it remains 
  in Creation, and the sorcerer cannot attempt to banish 
  it again for ﬁ ve days.
  The spell can also banish a group of First Circle 
  demons. This contest is handled as for a Second Circle 
  demon, but the group uses the most powerful demon’s 
  (Willpower + Essence) as the base pool and then adds 
  one to the pool per additional demon. If the sorcerer 
  defeats the group (accumulating successes equal to the 
  highest demon’s Essence), every demon in the group is 
  banished simultaneously. If the demons accumulate a 
  number of successes equal to the sorcerer’s Essence, they 
  remain. In that case, the sorcerer may not attempt to 
  banish any of them (singly or as a group) for ﬁ ve days 
  unless he uses Adamant Circle Banishment.
  In war, successful use of this spell can reduce a unit of 
  First Circle demons by a single point of Magnitude.
  SERVANT OF INFALLIBLE LOCATION
  Cost: 15m
  Target: One conjured creature
  Combining the Prayer for Guidance with the Flut-
  ter-Wing Mudra, the sorcerer shapes her Essence into 
  a small sparrow of blue ﬂ ame. The sparrow can ﬁ nd 
  any item, person or place the sorcerer has previously 
  encountered or to which she bears an arcane link. She 
  may also name anything she wants to ﬁ nd, as long as 
  it is within 500 yards and objectively deﬁ nable: “The 
  nearest man” or “the exit from this maze” is sufﬁ cient. 
  “My closest ally” or “a safe place” is not.
  The sparrow locates unhidden or mundanely 
  concealed things automatically. Moreover, it is a su-
  pernatural tracker with a tracking dice pool of equal 
  to the sorcerer’s (Wits + Occult + Essence). The 
  sparrow does not speak or sing, and it cannot travel 
  farther than a few yards from the sorcerer. It tends to 
  ﬂ y back and forth to the limits of its reach. The more 
  excited and frantic the little bird’s ﬂ uttering becomes, 
  the nearer the target lies. The sparrow lasts until the 
  sorcerer ﬁ nds her target, dismisses the bird or dies. The 
  sparrow is just a puff of shaped Essence, so it neither 
  attacks nor takes damage if it is attacked.
  SHADOW THEFT
  Cost: 30m
  Target: One creature
  This spell traps a victim’s shadow in a crystal orb. 
  The spell requires a small globe of rock crystal (costing 
  Resources 2) set inside an orichalcum cage (costing 
  Resources 4, but reusable).
  The spell itself takes one hour to complete. At its 
  end, the target’s shadow disappears, and inky blackness 
  swirls in the center of the orb. The sorcerer can then 
  remove the crystal ball from the orichalcum cage. 
  The target’s shadow remains trapped until the caster 
  releases it, Sapphire Countermagic targets the globe, 
  or the orb is destroyed.
  As long as the globe holds the shadow, the victim 
  feels a Compulsion to recover it. She can tell what direc-
  tion her shadow lies just by closing her eyes and thinking 
  about it. The victim can ignore the Compulsion for 28 
  days by spending a point of Willpower. However, every 
  two months that pass without recovering her shadow 
  halves the duration for which a Willpower expenditure 
  grants reprieve. After the ﬁ rst two months, spending 
  Willpower grants immunity for 14 days, then 7 days, 
  until the tenth month, when the victim can resist the 
  Compulsion for one day by spending Willpower.
  On the one-year anniversary of the loss of her 
  shadow, the victim’s Motivation goes into abeyance 
  and a new Motivation takes its place: “Recover my 
  shadow.” Once she fulﬁ ls this artiﬁ cial Motivation, 
  her old one returns. A character gains no beneﬁ t from 
  fulﬁ lling this artiﬁ cial Motivation (such as it counting 
  as training time for raising permanent Essence).
  USING THE SHADOW-ORB
  Cost: 5m (committed)
  Target: The creature whose shadow is within the orb
  
  81
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  A sorcerer can merely hold a person’s shadow for 
  ransom, but the orb possesses two other functions.
  • The trapped shadow serves as an arcane link to 
  the victim. It can replace any other arcane link a spell 
  may require. The target always knows if her shadow 
  is used as a sorcerous link back to her.
  • The sorcerer may spend ﬁ ve motes to see through 
  the target’s eyes. This shared vision lasts for one minute, 
  but that is often enough to discern the target’s location 
  and her current activities. The sorcerer’s player rolls 
  (Perception + Occult) to do so, and this roll may ben-
  eﬁ t from Excellencies. The target receives a reﬂ exive 
  (Wits + [Integrity or Occult]) roll to resist. Regardless 
  of whether the victim wins this contest, her player also 
  attempts a reﬂ exive (Perception + Occult) roll, with a 
  difﬁ culty equal to the sorcerer’s Essence, to realize that 
  her shadow was just used to see through her eyes.
  SHADOWS OF THE ANCIENT PAST
  Cost: 25+m
  Target: Area
  Essence remembers. The dragon lines of an area 
  preserve subtle records of every event. The sorcerer using 
  this spell sends shimmering threads of silver-blue Essence 
  into the dragon lines of an area, delving into its past, then 
  resurfacing as a silvery fog that spreads (Essence x 20) yards 
  from the caster. This area does not move thereafter. A scene 
  from the past plays out on this mystic screen as a ghostly 
  overlay on the sorcerer’s present surroundings.
  The sorcerer has a choice. She can specify a time 
  in the past, such as “50 years ago, third day of Re-
  splendent Earth, four hours after sunrise,” or she can 
  specify an event that involved a particular object in 
  the area, such as “When you died,” (for a skull she 
  unearthed) or “When your construction was complete” 
  (for a manse). In the former case, the sorcerer knows 
  when a scene happened, but doesn’t know in advance 
  whether she will see something important. In the lat-
  ter case, the sorcerer can aim for an important event, 
  but doesn’t know when it actually happened. Either 
  way, the sorcerer must give some objective deﬁ nition 
  of a time. The sorcerer is also limited to scenes that 
  occurred at most (Occult x 100) years in the past. If 
  the Wyld passed through an area, however, it shattered 
  the memory of the dragon lines there, and the spell 
  can only view the time after the Wyld receded.
  Shadows of the Past runs for a number of minutes 
  equal to the sorcerer’s Willpower. In this time, the 
  sorcerer or other people can move around the scene to 
  look at details and other angles. By spending another 
  ﬁ ve motes, the sorcerer can freeze the action for one 
  minute to examine something more closely, but doing so 
  does not extend the spell’s total duration. The sorcerer 
  can move no faster than a normal Move action. If the 
  sorcerer is attacked, her player must roll just as if the 
  spell were interrupted during the Shape Celestial Circle 
  Sorcery actions. Failure means the spell ends.
  SUMMON GHOST
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Ghost
  This spell works like the necromancy version (see 
  The Black Treatise, pp. 34-35), but the ghost may 
  not be compelled to serve for longer than a month. 
  The rite also takes three hours instead of one, and 
  the caster sprinkles honey, wine and barley upon the 
  ground as well as blood.
  SUMMON SPIRIT BOAT
  Cost: 30m
  Target: Summoned ship
  As the sorcerer wades out from the beach, a ship 
  builds itself from the sun’s light upon the waves, be-
  coming a sparkling, translucent white bireme under 
  her feet. She may speak the name of any maritime 
  location from where she stands on the deck, and the 
  spirit boat rows her there.
  The bireme serves tempting repasts to the sorcerer 
  and her guests and can create individual rooms for as 
  many people as it can carry. The sentient boat is clever 
  enough to avoid submerged hazards such as reefs or 
  shoals, and it requires no crew to row or direct it beyond 
  the sorcerer herself. The sorcerer may delegate command 
  to someone else, as long as that person has at least one 
  dot of Sail and has always treated the ship with respect. 
  She may place conditions upon that command, however. 
  (For example, “Virtuous Lion may command this ship, 
  provided he does not direct it to Lookshy.”)
  Countermagic does not dispel the bireme, for it is 
  summoned rather than conjured. That means, how-
  ever it was summoned from somewhere—namely the 
  private boathouse of the Dragon Fakharu, Celestial 
  Censor of the West (see Exalted, p. 302). Fakharu 
  does not mind lending his biremes to sorcerers, but 
  he automatically knows the name, status and current 
  whereabouts of anyone who borrows one of his ships. 
  Should such a person ever offended him, he might 
  express his ire by, for instance, recalling his boat while 
  leaving the passengers 100 miles from land. On the 
  other hand, water spirits recognize the bireme as the 
  Censor’s, which ensures nigh-excessive politeness and 
  good behavior on their part.
  
  82
  Note also that the ship cannot ferry a sorcerer to 
  a location Fakharu does not know. This limiting fac-
  tor is almost never relevant, though. Many sorcerers 
  don’t even realize it exists.
  invited to Heaven to join the festival, but in these debased 
  times, the gods of Yu-Shan neglect the world.
  The starmetal Calibration Gate still appears in 
  Creation once a year to admit mortals to the Carnival, 
  though the gods send out no invitations. During that 
  night, it cannot be summoned. For the rest of the year, 
  though, a sorcerer may call it with this spell.
  The sorcerer evokes a foot-wide patch of rippling 
  gold, like sunlight on water, He reaches into it, feels for a 
  handle, and pulls. A celestial bell chimes. A minute later, 
  the Calibration Gate appears. It materializes with equal 
  aplomb outside, indoors, underwater or even in midair. 
  It remains open for ﬁ ve minutes before vanishing again, 
  and it cannot be re-summoned to any place within a mile 
  of that location until a day and night have passed.
  No known force can damage the gate. Any number 
  of characters can pass through the Calibration Gate, 
  although they cannot leave Heaven by the same route. 
  What’s more, if they have no ofﬁ cial place or legitimate 
  business in the Celestial City, they need quite an argu-
  ment to persuade the three giant orichalcum lions on the 
  near side to let them pass. These celestial lions respect 
  honor and justice but are nigh-undefeatable in battle 
  and immune to mind-affecting magic. (And there are 
  six more waiting on the other side of the door.)
  SPIRIT BOAT
  Speed: 30/60 mph
  Maneuverability: +4S
  Endurance: One journey
  Crew: 1/2 (only the sorcerer)
  Cargo: One talon of infantry, or equivalent mass 
  and volume
  Armor: 20L/20B
  Health Levels: Ux25/Mx10/Cx10/Ix5/D
  Weapons: None
  Other Notes: The bireme’s hull functions like 
  a First Age hull, so it doesn’t take on water like 
  a normal ship.
  SUMMON THE HEAVENLY PORTAL
  Cost: 35m
  Target: Summoned Calibration Gate
  Once a year, on the third night of Calibration, the 
  Celestial City of Yu-Shan revels in the Carnival of Meet-
  ing. In ages past, mortal and Exalted dignitaries would be 
  
  83
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  Many of the Sidereal Exalted know this spell and 
  use it to return from their assignments within Creation. 
  A few Lunar sorcerers know it too and use it to confer 
  with allies in the celestial Bureau of Nature. Sidereal 
  leaders worry what Solar sorcerers might learn if they 
  obtain access to Yu-Shan. Any Abyssal Exalt who tried 
  using the Calibration Gate would likely regret it in very 
  short order—nine orichalcum lions notwithstanding.
  SUMMONING THE GREATER MINIONS 
  OF THE EYELESS FACE
  Cost: 30+m
  Target: Summoned minions
  The greater minions of the Eyeless Face are pulled 
  into Creation through a pool of oil in a ritual much 
  like lesser minions of the Eyeless Face are (see p. 65). 
  The greater minions possess mouths, though only some 
  possess lips. Sometimes, their mouths are vertical splits 
  running down the center of their blank faces. Neverthe-
  less, they do not speak. A few greater minions possess 
  blackened bulges or indentations at the sides of their 
  head, in multiples of two, as if they had tried to form 
  pairs of eyes or ears during their evocation. During the 
  summoning, greater minions do not whimper. Like the 
  lesser minions, they emerge naked and sexless.
  The sorcerer calls forth a number of greater minions 
  equal to her (Charisma + Essence), plus one more for 
  each additional ﬁ ve motes she spends during the cast-
  ing. Unlike lesser minions, the sorcerer’s player deﬁ nes 
  the traits for the greater minions as if they were heroic 
  mortals. Though they receive no Backgrounds, greater 
  minions have 15 bonus points plus one additional bonus 
  point per extra mote spent during the casting. (These 
  bonus points may not be spent on Backgrounds.) The 
  player may create each greater minion with separate 
  and unique traits. Greater minions beneﬁ t from the 
  same immunity to bleeding, infection and Poison 
  and Sickness effects as lesser minions, but they heal 
  as Exalts do. Since they are magical beings, round up 
  when calculating the greater minions’ DVs. Greater 
  minions have Essence 2 and the Motivation, “Serve 
  the sorcerer who pulled me from imprisonment.”
  The greater minions try to create identities for them-
  selves before they die. They often decorate themselves 
  with improvised piercings or jewelry when the sorcerer 
  isn’t looking, and they defy any commands to remove 
  these marks of individuality. A sorcerer can have one 
  batch of minions of the Eyeless Face under her control at 
  any given time. Summoning the greater minions of the 
  Eyeless Face kills her lesser minions, and vice versa.
  SUMMONING THE HEART OF DARKNESS
  Cost: 30m
  Target: Area
  The sorcerer knots strands of Essence infused 
  with silence, darkness, confusion and terror. A black 
  pillar explodes upward, surrounding the caster and 
  extending outward a mile in every direction and 10 
  miles into the air.
  Within this pillar of darkness, blind terror reigns. 
  Sounds become mufﬂ ed and seem to come from every-
  where at once. Only screams ring out clearly, though 
  they still seem to come from all around. In a large group, 
  victims need successful Valor checks, difﬁ culty 3, let 
  they give in to panic. Entire armies have slaughtered 
  themselves when caught by the Heart of Darkness. 
  The ebon column does not have a solid boundary, 
  though. Anyone can enter the area, and anyone who 
  ﬁ nds its edge can escape it.
  Creatures with supernaturally enhanced senses or 
  that can perform supernatural tracking may operate 
  within the darkness at a -2 internal penalty to all actions. 
  (The zone is still unnerving and disorienting.) Creatures 
  without such senses become lost within the darkness, 
  wandering around in confused circles or stumbling into 
  one another (often with bloody results). Such creatures 
  have the difﬁ culty of all actions they take increased by 
  an amount equal to the sorcerer’s Essence.
  The caster is not immune to these effects. Unless 
  countered, Heart of Darkness lasts for 24 hours, even 
  if the caster is slain.
  SWIFT SPIRIT OF WINGED TRANSPORTATION
  Cost: 25m
  Target: Vessel
  The sorcerer stands on the target vessel or within 
  a number of yards of it equal to his Essence. This vessel 
  may be a ship, a wagon or even a small building. The 
  Sign of Ten Thousand Feathers shapes his Essence into 
  an automaton that appears as a mass of huge, feathered 
  wings. It has no head, eyes or other features, save for a 
  pair of gigantic, ﬁ ve-taloned claws. The Swift Spirit is 
  500 feet long and 200 feet wide, and it can carry up to 
  1,000 tons. Old texts call it a demon or spirit, but the 
  thing is an automaton: It has no existence outside of 
  its creation by this spell.
  The automaton lifts the vessel and presses it along its 
  underside, creating a strange canopy of wings that protects 
  the vessel from wind and weather. The automaton ﬂ ies 
  up to a mile high and 200 miles per hour. If the sorcerer 
  is not aboard the vessel, he must give the swift spirit 
  a destination when he creates the automaton. It ﬂ ies 
  
  84
  off for that destination without pause. If the sorcerer is 
  aboard the vessel, he may order the automaton to change 
  direction and destination as he pleases. He can order it 
  to set the vessel on land or sea or even to drop it from a 
  great height. Only ﬂ at-bottomed vessels can land intact 
  on dry ground; other vessels are likely to break up or fall 
  over when set down.
  The largest ﬂ at-bottomed vessels appropriate 
  for the use of this spell in Creation today are wide-
  beamed merchant freighters. Such ships are 300 feet 
  long, 120 feet wide and can carry up to 400 people 
  and hundreds of tons of cargo. The automaton exists 
  either until it reaches its destination and lands the 
  vessel, until it is destroyed or countered, or until the 
  sorcerer releases it.
  his Essence, against the target’s Dodge MDV. If this 
  attack succeeds, the victim is under an unnatural 
  mental inﬂ uence that creates a Compulsion effect (a 
  powerful Intimacy to the sorcerer), an Emotion effect 
  (love) and a Servitude effect. Since powerful beings 
  often have ways to resist these effects, sorcerers prefer 
  to cast Threefold Binding of the Heart on Essence 
  wielders who are asleep or unconscious, rendering 
  the target’s Mental DV inapplicable.
  A victim of this binding falls madly in love with 
  the sorcerer. This love can manifest as anything from 
  a lover’s sexual passion to a soldier’s patriotic loyalty, 
  depending on what cues the sorcerer gives the victim. 
  The victim feels these emotions are true and genuine, 
  but others can see how the victim is ensorcelled. This 
  devotion is absolute, and the victim might go out of her 
  way to remove anything that distracts or contradicts 
  her connection with the sorcerer—even murdering 
  people she used to love if they try to keep her from 
  her beloved master.
  A spellbound victim can spend a point of Will-
  power to resist a direct command or three Willpower to 
  resist the sorcerer’s control for a scene, but she needs an 
  overwhelming reason to do so—such as being ordered 
  to do something against her core morals or something 
  she knows will harm the master’s interests. Eroding 
  the spell-forged Intimacy is quite difﬁ cult. Doing so 
  requires a number of successful social attacks equal to 
  the sorcerer’s (Occult + Essence) to break the Intimacy. 
  For each day that passes, one successful attempt is 
  negated, “regenerating” the Intimacy.
  On the subject’s birthday, however, she is granted 
  an unconscious attempt to break free from the Three-
  fold Binding. Savants attribute this reprieve to the gods 
  of the days. Each day in the year has a god, and these 
  gods note the fates written in the stars for everyone 
  born on their day. Threefold Binding of the Heart 
  forces a blatant change to a victim’s fate, unlike the 
  more subtle changes to destiny that Sidereals create. 
  Such clumsy changes anger the day gods, so on the day 
  it is most powerful, the victim’s day god try to unravel 
  the knots through the target’s heart. On this day, the 
  target’s player makes a reﬂ exive (Wits + Integrity) 
  roll, with a difﬁ culty equal to the sorcerer’s Essence. 
  This roll may not be augmented by Charms, chan-
  neling Virtues or spending Willpower, though. The 
  subject doesn’t want to break the bond and does not 
  even know the opportunity has occurred. If the roll 
  succeeds, however, the Threefold Binding frays, and 
  she is freed… to realize what the sorcerer did to her.
  SWIFT SPIRIT OF WINGED TRANSPORTATION
  Motivation: To carry the vessel to its destination
  Attributes: Strength 55, Dexterity 5, Stamina 20; 
  Charisma 2, Manipulation 2, Appearance 5; 
  Perception 2, Intelligence 3, Wits 2
  Virtues: Automaton: Never fails Valor checks, 
  never makes others.
  Abilities: Athletics 10, Awareness 3, Dodge 4, 
  Martial Arts 5, Resistance 10
  Join Battle: 5
  Attacks: Though the automaton has mighty tal-
  ons, it is much too slow and awkward to use them 
  for anything but lifting a massive vessel.
  Soak: 10L/20B
  Health Levels: -0x4/-1x6/-2x8/-4x4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 6 
  Willpower: 10 (0 against the 
  sorcerer)
  Essence: 3
  Other Notes: The automaton gains a +35 to all 
  Feats of Strength that involve lifting. It also ﬂ ies 
  at 200 miles per hour (or 100 yards per tick).
  THREEFOLD BINDING OF THE HEART
  Cost: 30m
  Target: One being
  Ropes of orange and yellow light coil around the 
  target and wrap around her spine, ending in three knots 
  through the heart of the victim of the type ﬁ shermen of 
  the Coral Archipelago swear will never work loose.
  Mortals are snared automatically. Against Es-
  sence wielders, the sorcerer attempts a magical social 
  attack. His player rolls (Manipulation + Occult), 
  adding a number of automatic successes equal to 
  
  85
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  TORRENTIAL CASCADE
  Cost: 30m
  Target: One body of water
  The sorcerer hurls a ball of blue Essence-ﬂ ame into 
  a sea, lake, river or other large body of water that must 
  be within 100 yards. White-capped waves form, and the 
  roar of rushing water ﬁ lls the air. On his second Shape 
  Celestial Circle Sorcery action, the sorcerer raises his 
  arms to the sky as a wall of water 20 yards high and 
  100 yards long rises from the body of water. Everyone 
  within ﬁ ve miles receives a reﬂ exive (Perception + 
  Awareness) roll to notice this very loud event.
  On his Cast Sorcery action, the sorcerer points in the 
  direction he wishes the torrential cascade to ﬂ ow and the 
  wall of water surges outward on its journey. It travels at 50 
  yards per tick for (sorcerer’s Essence x 5) ticks, remaining 
  20 yards high and 10 yards thick as it moves.
  The torrential cascade destroys small buildings out-
  right, and buildings larger than a single story take 45 levels 
  of bashing damage as the cascade passes. For the purpose 
  of moving large things, the torrent has a (Strength + 
  Athletics) total of 35. Creatures caught in its path take 
  environmental damage (5B/tick, Trauma 4). See Exalted, 
  p. 130 for environmental damage rules. Escaping the tor-
  rent requires a ([Strength or Dexterity] + Athletics) roll, 
  difﬁ culty 4.
  When the torrential cascade reaches its full length, 
  the wall of water collapses, and the water drains 
  naturally from that point. An affected region on land 
  remains soaked and devastated; once-dry earth becomes 
  deep mud or scoured arroyos. The area may take weeks 
  to return to normal (if it ever does). Countermagic 
  can collapse the wave prematurely.
  UNITY OF DREAMS
  Cost: 10m per participant
  Target: Caster and allies
  The sorcerer binds the dreams of the ritual’s partici-
  pants (including herself) to one another using the Sign 
  of Venus. Unity of Dreams must be cast once a night per 
  participant for the magic to take hold, with everyone in 
  the same room. The spell’s Essence settles on participants 
  as saffron motes of light. After the required number of 
  castings over consecutive nights, the spell lasts for a 
  number of months equal to the sorcerer’s Essence.
  The participants’ dreams intermingle and allow 
  them to communicate while sleeping, as long as they are 
  all in Creation. Not only does the ﬂ uid nature of dream 
  consciousness not hamper this dream communication, 
  but participants have trouble hiding important facts 
  and events from each other. A closeness develops on 
  a subconscious level. People linked in this spell have 
  their Intimacies for one another augmented. Eroding 
  Intimacies to other dreamers now takes a number 
  of successful social attacks equal to the character’s 
  (Willpower + Conviction).
  Unity of Dreams extends to understanding what 
  will best aid another participant while awake, too. All 
  participants gain a one-die bonus to all actions when 
  working or ﬁ ghting beside each other.
  At any time when all the participants are asleep 
  and dreaming, one of the dreamers may ask the others 
  to join her. The bond of the spell then transports the 
  other sleepers to the character who requested their 
  presence. All participants must agree or none will 
  arrive. Several seconds later, they all awaken to ﬁ nd 
  themselves together. Invoking this transportation has 
  a cost, though. It consumes the energies of the spell, 
  ending it prematurely. Moreover, this spell does not 
  help the dreamers return home.
  VOICES OF DISTANT REGARD
  Cost: 25m
  Target: Caster
  The word that describes a god’s ability to hear 
  petitioners’ prayers doesn’t have a translation. It is 
  an onomatopoeia of the buzzing mumble that gods 
  hear when they attend to their worshipers’ prayers. 
  A sorcerer who knows this spell can speak this word, 
  infuse it with his own Essence and emulate the divine 
  ability until the next time she sleeps.
  While the spell is active, the character hears any 
  people who talk about her, as clearly as if she stood 
  beside them. A conversation does not need to include 
  the sorcerer’s name. The caster knows the approximate 
  distance and direction of each conversation and can 
  recognize voices she has heard before.
  If multiple conversations occur at once, the 
  sorcerer’s player rolls (Perception + Awareness), with 
  a difﬁ culty equal to the number of simultaneous con-
  versations she hears. Alternatively, she may ignore 
  all but one, negating the need for a roll. The sorcerer 
  can also listen and talk to a person in her company 
  while she’s listening to these remote conversations by 
  increasing the above roll’s difﬁ culty by 1, though she 
  will seem somewhat distracted.
  WHEEL OF THE TURNING HEAVENS
  Cost: 35m
  Target: Area
  This spell cannot be cast during the day. When 
  cast, the sorcerer’s Essence shoots upward as a brilliant 
  
  86
  they may explicitly stack with bonus dice or successes 
  gained from other sources, such as Excellencies. These 
  bonus successes may be added to any roll, including 
  damage rolls.
  If the sorcerer’s stated goal is not completed by the 
  time the spell’s duration ends, she suffers an internal 
  penalty to all actions equal to the number of bonus 
  successes she already used, until she can meet the goal 
  (or the next sunrise in any case).
  Example: Sayn seeks the Inexorable Crystal Astragal, 
  the last component needed to repair the defense systems of a 
  ruined city built by his First Age incarnation. It is, however, 
  within a cavern inhabited by a Lunar with no interest in 
  sharing. Yet if he can get past her guardians, Sayn thinks he 
  can negotiate. He casts Whirlwind of Fate, reads the threads 
  that connect himself and the cave’s guardians, and his player 
  rolls four successes—earning him eight bonus successes he 
  can apply to rolls aimed at helping him reach the Lunar.
  Sayn’s player can spend these eight bonus successes to 
  help the Twilight Caste ﬁ ght the guardians, to sneak past 
  them, to navigate the traps, to avoid getting lost in the cave 
  or for any other purpose. When the spell’s duration ends 
  after a number of hours equal to his Essence, Sayn has 
  used ﬁ ve of his eight bonus successes but still hasn’t reached 
  the Lunar. Now, until the Solar does reach the Lunar’s 
  sanctum, his player takes a ﬁ ve-die penalty to all rolls.
  THE SOLAR CIRCLE 
  OF ADAMANT
  Magic of the Solar Circle destroys 
  cities or saves them, routs armies or 
  raises new kingdoms from wasteland. These mighty 
  spells tax the Essence of even a powerful Solar Exalt. 
  The Lunar and Sidereal Exalted had no reason to pre-
  serve the lore of Solar magic, so very little knowledge 
  of the subject remains. A Lawgiver who wants to learn 
  these apocalyptic spells must undergo deeds of legend 
  just to ﬁ nd them—or bargain with Deathlords, Demon 
  Princes or other entities who would like to lead the 
  returning Solars back down the path of corruption. Just 
  as the Circle of Adamant offers the greatest power to 
  bless Creation, it also includes the most appallingly 
  evil and destructive curses.
  ABJURATION OF THE MAIDENS
  Cost: 40m + 1lhl
  Target: Area (Essence) miles in diameter
  Creation’s sky holds 25 constellations of special 
  import: ﬁ ve sets of ﬁ ve, each set in the domain of one 
  of the Maidens of Fate. The sorcerer takes ﬁ ve hours to 
  beam of white light and explodes like a ﬁ reworks dis-
  play visible to every creature within (Essence x 100) 
  yards who can see the sky. Instead of fading, the sparks 
  slowly swirl clockwise in kaleidoscopic displays that last 
  (Essence x 30) minutes. In the center ﬂ oats the sign of 
  the Maiden of Serenity. The interlacing sparks trace out 
  many astrological sigils the Sidereals would rather keep 
  to themselves… but no one will remember them.
  All sentient creatures are entranced by the dis-
  play and forget what they were doing. They take no 
  actions. When the spell ends, they do not remember 
  what happened while they stared at the sky. People 
  outside the area just see pretty lights (though the 
  display might attract them into the spell’s area). The 
  sorcerer himself is immune. Once he casts the spell, 
  he may take other actions normally.
  Players of Essence wielders may roll (Wits + Integ-
  rity), difﬁ culty equal to the caster’s Essence, to break 
  free and look away from the blazing display. This roll 
  must be repeated each time the character sees the sky 
  during that period. Averting one’s gaze inﬂ icts a -2 dice 
  penalty to all actions taken in locations where the sky 
  is visible. Instead, Essence wielders may spend three 
  Willpower to resist the Illusion effect for a scene. The 
  spell ends if Sapphire or Adamant Countermagic tar-
  gets the sorcerer, if the caster is slain, or if any creature 
  enchanted by the spell is harmed while entranced.
  This spell was actually developed for entertain-
  ment. If the sorcerer spends only 15 motes, the result 
  is a beautiful, distracting but harmless display.
  WHIRLWIND OF FATE
  Cost: 20m
  Target: Caster
  By standing motionless during the casting of 
  this spell, the caster observes the weaves of Fate. In 
  the light of her anima, the caster can see how every 
  creature and object in her immediate vicinity is tied 
  to every other and interpret how those interactions 
  can be turned to her own advantage.
  When the sorcerer casts the spell, she names a 
  goal, and the whirlwind of information can then be 
  read to aid in this goal. The caster’s player rolls (Intel-
  ligence + Occult). Each success on this roll adds two 
  to a ﬁ nite pool of bonus successes. The player may 
  take bonus successes from this pool and add them to 
  any roll that furthers the goal he stated when casting 
  the spell. The pool lasts for a number of hours equal 
  to the sorcerer’s Essence.
  A maximum number of bonus successes equal to the 
  caster’s Essence may be added to any given action, but 
  
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  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  mark each constellation’s sigil in an enormous circle 
  upon the Earth, one with a diameter that stretches a 
  number of miles equal to his Essence. The sorcerer 
  then may call upon the power of all Five Maidens to 
  defend that place. A small, central circle holds the 
  Unspoken Word, a glyph every thinking creature 
  understands but none may speak.
  Once this spell has been invoked, the 25 great 
  signs—above and below—begin to glow, though the 
  constellations’ gleam is seen only within the spell’s 
  area. The caster cuts her hand and pours her blood 
  upon the central sign. Strands of her blood become 
  light as they fall from her ﬁ ngers, as matching radiance 
  shoots into the sky from the 25 signs and surrounds the 
  warded area’s boundary with an iridescent ﬂ are.
  For ﬁ ve days, neither Charms nor sorcery may pass 
  the circle’s boundary. Powers that create an area of 
  effect may be used outside it even if their area would 
  normally extend into the protected space, but the magic 
  fails at the barrier and within. Hearthstones and their 
  effects, the magical materials and the abilities of spirits 
  with a higher Essence than the sorcerer are all unaf-
  fected by Abjuration of the Maidens, but no Essence 
  wielder may use any other magic within its bounds. 
  Only a sorcerer whose Essence surpasses the caster’s 
  may destroy this spell with Adamant Countermagic, 
  and that only while standing upon the central rune. 
  The spell may be renewed for another ﬁ ve days at any 
  time, for the same Essence cost.
  ADAMANT CIRCLE BANISHMENT
  Cost: 20+m
  Target: A demon or demons within (Essence x 15) 
  yards of the sorcerer
  As the Emerald Circle Banishment, the sorcerer 
  may use this spell to remove demons from Creation. 
  The Victory over Primordials Mudra, augmented by the 
  Calibration-Denying Sign, can expel a demon of the 
  Third Circle, making it as though the Calibration dur-
  ing which it was summoned had never happened.
  This spell has special timing rules. The charac-
  ter can cast it as three reflexive Shape Solar Circle 
  Sorcery actions that take 0 ticks. It has a range of 
  (Essence x 15) yards.
  Adamant Circle Banishment automatically casts a 
  Second Circle demon or a group of First Circle demons 
  back to Malfeas. It can banish a Third Circle demon, 
  but doing so forces a contest of wills, handled exactly 
  as for Emerald Circle Banishment (see p. 44). If the 
  demon wins, it remains in Creation and the sorcerer 
  cannot attempt to banish it again for ﬁ ve days.
  The spell can also banish a group of Second Circle 
  demons. This contest is handled as for a Third Circle 
  demon, but the group uses the most powerful demon’s 
  (Willpower + Essence) as the base pool, then adds +1 
  to the pool per additional demon. If the sorcerer de-
  feats the group by accumulating successes equal to the 
  highest demon’s Essence, the demons are all banished. 
  If the demons accumulate a number of successes equal 
  to the sorcerer’s Essence, they remain. In that case, 
  the sorcerer may not attempt to banish any of them 
  (singly or as a group) for ﬁ ve days.
  In war, successful use of this spell can reduce a 
  unit of First or Second Circle demons by a single dot 
  of Magnitude.
  ATROCIOUS FIRE TRANSFORMATION
  Cost: 35m
  Target: Body of water
  In the uttermost South, lakes and rivers of ﬁ re 
  ﬂ ow like water. The sorcerer copies the Essence of the 
  South’s liquid ﬁ re and casts it into a body of water—and 
  10-yard-high scarlet ﬂ ames sweep over its surface. The 
  resultant burning water ﬂ ows and eddies, just as normal 
  water does, but it also ignites everything it touches that 
  could conceivably burn. Everything caught in the ﬂ ames 
  is destroyed, except enchanted objects or those made 
  from the magical materials. The ﬂ aming water deals 
  environmental damage (6A/action, Trauma 5).
  The burning water cannot be quenched. Other 
  water that comes in contact with it will be vaporized. 
  If the added water is a truly enormous quantity—if, for 
  example, a transformed ﬁ re-river ﬂ ows into a lake of 
  normal water—then the water will heat, but not boil, 
  with the burning water ﬂ oating on top of it.
  Atrocious Fire Transformation lasts a number of 
  hours equal to the sorcerer’s Essence, and the caster 
  herself is immune to the ﬂ ames. This spell works on 
  any body of water, even that created or enhanced with 
  magic. The ﬂ ames extend one mile outward from the 
  caster. On still waters the effect is static; on a river, the 
  ﬂ aming water ﬂ ows downstream, and new ﬂ ames con-
  tinually appear at the point of casting. A medium-sized 
  river—for these purposes, any river that does not appear 
  on the map printed on the Exalted endpapers—can 
  be covered in ﬂ ames from bank to bank.
  For the duration of this spell, elementals associ-
  ated with the transformed body of water become 
  ﬁ re elementals. All their traits remain the same, but 
  their Charms become ﬁ re-based and their attitudes, 
  appearances and emotions ﬂ uctuate violently, at the 
  Storyteller’s discretion.
  
  88
  BENEDICTION OF ARCHGENESIS
  Cost: 40m
  Target: Area
  Within herself, a Solar Circle sorcerer holds a liv-
  ing power to compare with the fury of a tsunami, the 
  force of an earthquake—or the still, quiet resilience of 
  an ancient forest. As she chooses to give herself to the 
  land around her, the Solar grants it all the bounty and 
  vitality of her own Exalted Essence. Whether a stinking, 
  rotting swamp or a barren, rocky plateau, any land may 
  be remade, lush and arable. The benediction covers up 
  to (Essence x 100) square miles of consistent terrain—all 
  desert, all mesa, all marshland or the like.
  At sunset on the new moon of Ascending Water, 
  the character begins casting Benediction of Archgenesis 
  from the geomantic center of the domain she wishes to 
  revitalize. Shaping this spell is a dramatic action that lasts 
  until sunrise. The sorcerer cuts her bare feet so that her 
  blood falls upon the ground. From then on, she walks in 
  an expanding spiral, pouring her life into the earth drop 
  by drop, sacriﬁ cing ﬁ ve levels of aggravated damage. At 
  sunrise, clouds gather overhead and release a soft, warm 
  rain to wash the sorcerer’s blood into the land. 
  The effects of the benediction become apparent to 
  the naked eye just after the rain stops. Any snow or ice 
  on the ground has melted completely, and for a few days 
  thereafter, any ﬂ owering plants already in the region will 
  bloom. By Resplendent Earth, all the plants throughout 
  the region grow larger and healthier. Animals come 
  to nest and play. By summer, the place is transformed. 
  Desert becomes soil; bogs drain. The Blessed Isle never 
  saw such lush growth. The weather is more temperate, 
  the days blessed only by the briefest of showers. Both 
  local animals and people bear unprecedented numbers 
  of healthy offspring. This effect reduces the difﬁ culty of 
  all Survival rolls in the region by one and increases the 
  typical Compassion of extras from that region by one 
  dot. Transforming wasteland into land where people and 
  wholesome creatures can easily live is a Shaping effect.
  Only Adamant Countermagic can disrupt the new 
  environmental harmony if someone uses it for that purpose 
  within the ﬁ rst year. Otherwise, the place remains a lush 
  and fertile land. Although the region’s initial, supernatural 
  fecundity will not continue after the ﬁ rst year, the blessed 
  region will remain arable forever, with proper care.
  Gaia’s gifts have limits, though. Using Bene-
  diction of Archgenesis on land that can already be 
  farmed gives one year of frenzied, hyper-normal fertil-
  ity—followed by 10 years of deadly famine from the 
  exhausted earth.
  CHARIOT OF THE BLAZING SUN
  Cost: 45m
  Target: Summoned chariot
  The sorcerer sends a triple helix of red, white and golden 
  Essence toward the sun. Out of the sun ride ﬁ ve horses of 
  white ﬁ re, pulling a chariot of pure, golden Essence—a copy 
  of the chariot used by the Unconquered Sun himself, pulled 
  by celestial stallions from his own stables.
  The sorcerer needs at least one dot of Ride to control 
  the powerful, spirited sun horses. The caster must include a 
  controlling Ride action in a ﬂ urry if she wishes to perform 
  any other action while driving. (See the rules for piloting on 
  p. 33 of Wonders of the Lost Age.) If the caster performs 
  no other action that would require a dice roll, the chariot 
  is quite safe to drive and requires no roll.
  Since the chariot travels at 750 miles per hour, 
  few opponents could keep up with the sorcerer and 
  her passengers. Should an angry celestial dragon or the 
  like do so, then the searing white ﬂ ames around the 
  chariot inﬂ ict three levels of aggravated damage after 
  every hand-to-hand attack. The same ﬂ ames devour 
  any missiles save those made of a magical material or 
  those fortiﬁ ed by Essence. Against these, the chariot 
  provides 90% hard cover (see Exalted, p. 147) to its 
  passengers. If something forces the chariot to crash, 
  everyone on board takes 45 levels of lethal damage.
  The chariot (and its passengers) are not affected or 
  delayed by extremes of environment, even the terrors of 
  the Wyld. It can penetrate to Yu-Shan or the elemen-
  tal poles, and it deﬂ ects any sorcery of the Emerald or 
  Sapphire Circles. The horses continue to run proudly 
  through the sky until they reach the sorcerer’s destina-
  tion or the sorcerer dismisses them, at which point they 
  let their passengers out safely and gallop back to their 
  grooms in Yu-Shan. The horses will not serve after sunset, 
  however, and if the sorcerer tries to force them to, they 
  buck, slip their traces and the chariot crashes. Dispelling 
  the chariot causes it and the horses to disappear, with 
  the same results on passengers as a crash.
  THE CHARIOT OF THE BLAZING SUN
  Speed: 360/750mph
  Maneuverability: -3
  Endurance: Until sunset
  Crew: 1/2 (only the sorcerer)
  Cargo: Five people, or 2,000 pounds
  Armor: Inﬁ nite
  Health Levels: Inﬁ nite
  Weapons: None
  
  89
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  CLEANSING SOLAR FLAMES
  Cost: 50m + 10m per 50 square miles beyond the ﬁ rst
  Target: Touched shadowland
  This spell must be cast during the day at the geo-
  mantic center of a shadowland—that place through 
  which all its Essence ﬂ ows are poisoned. As the sorcerer 
  casts Cleansing Solar Flames from that point, sunlight 
  pierces the shadowland’s miasma, shining warmly 
  upon the caster and collecting in growing clouds 
  until a thunderhead of light rises above her, visible 
  for miles. And then, the sorcerer lifts her head in a 
  piercing cry as the sun-cloud impales her with a bolt 
  of golden lightning that passes through her into the 
  ground and explodes outward in a glittering wave. The 
  solar lightning holds the sorcerer for 10 minutes per 50 
  miles of shadowland she converts. When she is done, 
  the sun-cloud dissipates, and normal sunlight shines 
  over land that is now severed from the Underworld 
  and fully part of Creation once more.
  If the sorcerer is moved or her attention wavers at 
  any time during the cleansing, then this entire spell 
  fails. Black storm winds of deathly Essence rip across 
  the sky and scatter the sun-cloud in a terrifying (though 
  harmless) backlash.
  CURSE OF UNYIELDING MIST
  Cost: 40m
  Target: Area
  As the sorcerer stands within the area she hates 
  (which must all, in the local tongue, fall under a single 
  name), the sorcerer intones the reason for her rage 
  and names a condition that will alleviate her curse. 
  This condition may be as simple—“The king of this 
  country must kneel before me, and kiss my feet”—or as 
  arcane—“Everyone within this land must speak nothing 
  but the exact truth for a month”—as the sorcerer wishes, 
  as long as it could conceivably be fulﬁ lled within the 
  land’s borders. The spell fails if the condition requires 
  actions from the Incarnae, major spirit courts or anyone 
  else with no particular connection to the region.
  As the sorcerer speaks, purple lightning ﬂ ickers 
  in her anima. She catches these sparks and ties them 
  into 15 knots. Tendrils of fog reach from her anima and 
  spread through the cursed land. Dank gray mist ﬁ lls 
  the land from the ground to 100 feet above. Nothing, 
  even the most immediate of objects, is clearly visible, 
  and even the vague shadows of one’s surroundings fade 
  into the grayness within 10 feet. Day or night makes 
  no difference, for the fog shines with its own faint, 
  eldritch radiance. Characters within the mist quickly 
  grow dispirited, inﬂ icting a -2 internal penalty on all 
  
  90
  at all. Although this penalty represents the difﬁ culty 
  for powerful entities (an Exalt, a city) to act under 
  such conditions, the massed assault of vermin and 
  insects can kill individual mortals.
  • Larger animals attack the target on sight. Massed 
  creatures attack as an unordered mass combat unit with 
  Drill 0. Plants with enough size and maneuverability may 
  also attack. When the target is a social group, creatures 
  only enter mass combat with units of comparable size. 
  For instance, a pride of lions can’t really attack an entire 
  town, but they can wipe out a household every night. 
  Very large creatures can count as mass combat units all 
  by themselves. The larger sea monsters, for instance, can 
  attack and destroy whole ships to get at a target.
  • Unless a victim travels through a lifeless region, 
  the harassment and danger impedes travel. Halve all 
  travel rates, or consider all terrain extreme when using 
  complex travel.
  The Solar has a choice how long the curse lasts. 
  She may curse the target for one month. (An extremely 
  careful person might survive, and a few people from a 
  targeted group might live to spread the tale of horror.) 
  Alternatively, the sorcerer can decree a curse that lasts 
  as long as the targeted name endures. An individual is 
  almost doomed to be tormented by hateful creatures 
  and plants wherever she goes, however long she lives. 
  Changing her name would certainly be a legendary quest, 
  for names are recorded in the stars. Military units, cities 
  and societies can earn different names over time, but 
  the curse endures until no living creature still thinks of 
  the social group by the accursed name. Once a sorcerer 
  casts Enemy of Nature, she cannot revoke the curse.
  ESSENCE INVERSION
  Cost: 50m
  Target: One creature
  Twisting her ﬁ ngers together and ﬂ icking them 
  toward her enemy, the sorcerer releases a roiling black 
  and violet beam that penetrates his target’s chest. Only 
  Charm-enhanced parries or dodges may resist the beam, 
  in which case the sorcerer’s player rolls (Intelligence 
  + Occult) to aim it. Otherwise, this is a perfect attack. 
  Beginning on the action after he’s hit, the target suffers 
  10 dice of lethal damage every ﬁ ve ticks as the Essence 
  of his life rips from his body and twists into black and 
  violet streamers of death. This damage may be soaked 
  only with Stamina and Charms. The curse persists until 
  Adamant Countermagic dispels it, the sorcerer decides 
  to end his torment, or her foe ﬁ nally dies. As the last of 
  the victim’s life erupts and inverts, the death-cloud rushes 
  back into the corpse and dissolves it to nothing.
  social interactions therein. (Essence wielders may avoid 
  this penalty by succeeding on a daily Valor check.) 
  The mist covers (Essence x 10) square miles.
  Within a month, all the plants that grow within 
  that place have withered and begun to rot. Bizarre fungi 
  grow and spread rapidly, from ﬁ lms of mold to gigantic 
  shelf fungi and puffballs. The fungi will not grow on 
  the ﬂ esh of living creatures, but it will grow on their 
  clothes and ﬁ ngernails, and in their hair. The ecology 
  of decay will eventually eat up anything organic within 
  the mist, but it cannot grow outside the mist and is 
  destroyed by the slightest touch of sunlight.
  Invulnerable to all outside forces save the will of the 
  Incarnae—including, once it has been cast, Adamant 
  Countermagic—the mist forever will darken the lives 
  and hearts of everyone within, unless and until the 
  sorcerer’s condition is met. If everyone leaves in despair, 
  the mist shall never lift. The evil mist has shrouded 
  few horror-haunted provinces since the First Age, and 
  no one now knows how to lift the curse.
  ENEMY OF NATURE
  Cost: 50m
  Target: One entity or social group
  At the end of a chant that invokes the rage of all 
  things natural, the sorcerer utters a name that resounds 
  across the nearby hills and valleys. Some say that a 
  careful listener can hear it whispering through the trees 
  and grasses from over 1,000 leagues away. It must be 
  the speciﬁ c name of a person or creature, a region or 
  a group no larger than Magnitude 9 (Magnitude 3 in 
  the Mandate of Heaven). At that moment, the owner 
  of that name becomes anathema to all things living. 
  Plants strain to trip or strangle the targets, and even 
  the most docile beast of burden attempts to bite and 
  trample her. All creatures who sense a target of this 
  spell become ferocious and uncontrollable, and they 
  do their very best to kill her with no regard for their 
  own lives. In lands completely devoid of life (only the 
  Underworld and Essence-blasted wastelands really 
  meet this criterion), a target is potentially safe. In other 
  regions, the she suffers the following effects:
  • She suffers a -1 to -3 external penalty to all ac-
  tions as swarms of vermin and masses of plants impede 
  her, based on the region’s fecundity. All but the least 
  hospitable regions of Creation host creatures or roots 
  enough to inﬂ ict the least penalty. Lava rats live in 
  the Southern expanses of volcanic stone, for instance, 
  while ice hornets nest in the worst wastes of the North. 
  In the jungles or forests of the West and East, life is so 
  abundant it becomes difﬁ cult to accomplish anything 
  
  91
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  EVOCATION FROM THE MIRROR
  Cost: 40m
  Target: One creature
  Some societies fear mirrors, and this spell could ex-
  plain why. It magically evokes a duplicate of a targeted 
  person from his mirror reﬂ ection, while imprisoning the 
  original within the mirror. To cast the spell, the sorcerer 
  must be within 100 yards of her target and have a mirror at 
  least the size of her hand within 20 yards. The victim must 
  be conscious and see the mirror, but he can be drugged, 
  bewitched or otherwise restrained. The sorcerer incants 
  a ritual palindrome while making the Mudra of Opposi-
  tion, only one hand makes the gesture in reverse, while 
  dozens of images of her ﬂ icker through her anima.
  When the spell is released, the players of the sorcerer 
  and her target make a resisted (Willpower + Essence) 
  roll. If the sorcerer’s player loses or ties the roll, the mirror 
  shatters, and the spell fails. If the sorcerer’s player rolls 
  more successes, however, the target and the mirror both 
  ﬂ ash with iridescent Essence and… nothing seems to 
  have happened. Close observation will show, however, 
  that the person has been reﬂ ected left to right.
  This mirror-person has the same traits and Charms 
  as the original. He also has reversed versions of the 
  victim’s clothing and mundane possessions. Any 
  magical possessions transfer from the original to the 
  mirror-person. The duplicate is a complete moral op-
  posite of the original. His Motivation and Intimacies 
  are reversed, so what the original loved the duplicate 
  hates, and vice versa. He will act as his reversed morals 
  dictate, with one addition. He is also the sorcerer’s de-
  voted slave, ready to do almost anything she commands. 
  (He might hesitate at working against his Motivation, 
  as even the most loyal servant might.)
  The spell traps the victim in an Elsewhere inhabited 
  only by himself and anyone else trapped by this spell. 
  Nothing else exists except when the duplicate’s image 
  appears in a reﬂ ective surface such as an actual mirror, 
  a pool of water or a pane of glass. Then, the duplicate’s 
  surroundings appear (reversed) in the Elsewhere, and 
  the original person can look out the mirror to the real 
  world and be seen there as well. The original does not 
  have to mimic the mirror-person’s actions. He can mouth 
  appeals for help, wave his hands and so on.
  The mirror-person avoids reﬂ ections whenever 
  possible because he doesn’t want other people to see 
  his original—and because his own reﬂ ection provides 
  the original with a means of escape. If the mirror-person 
  touches a reﬂ ection that includes the spell’s target, 
  the image and the original resume their proper places. 
  Adamant Countermagic will also break the spell if 
  cast on either the mirror-person or the reﬂ ection that 
  contains his original.
  Evocation of the Mirror is much less effective 
  against spirits or any other entity that can dematerial-
  ize (including Exalts with suitable spells). The spirit 
  just dematerializes and walks out the ﬁ rst reﬂ ective 
  surface that holds his image, as if it were the door to 
  his own sanctum. Then the original and the reﬂ ec-
  tion both exist in Creation. A duplicate is also not 
  destroyed by being forced back to the other side of the 
  mirror. In zones of severely diminished reality such as a 
  Middlemarch or Fair Folk freehold, the reﬂ ection can 
  escape the mirror to bedevil the life of his original. 
  On the other hand, if the mirror-person enters such a 
  zone, his original can also escape from Elsewhere with 
  a successful (Willpower + Essence) roll.
  GAIA’S REBUKE
  Cost: 50m
  Target: Creature
  The earth itself rejects the sorcerer’s enemy, along 
  with the very ground he stands on. As this spell is cast, 
  the sorcerer indicates a target and grandly sweeps her 
  arms together. The ground under her enemy’s feet 
  shudders, jagged chasms abruptly surround it, and a 
  circle of it—one yard in diameter wider than the target 
  and 10 yards thick—hurls itself into the sky, trailing a 
  streamer of red and yellow Essence. Living creatures 
  other than the target are shaken free near the ground, 
  landing unhurt. The unfortunate himself, however, 
  ﬁ nds the column of earth ﬂ ipping over once it reaches 
  a mile in the air, then driving back down to the ground 
  just as quickly. The ascent and crash take ﬁ ve ticks 
  each, which is all the time the victim has to think of 
  some escape before the chunk of earth smashes into 
  the ground with him underneath it. The victim and 
  his belongings take 150 dice of lethal damage, leaving 
  nothing behind but a pile of rubble as his cairn.
  INCANTATION OF THE INVINCIBLE ARMY
  Cost: 50m
  Target: One army
  The sorcerer stands at a high place overlooking 
  her army, lifts her arms and turns her face to the sun. 
  Her anima rises to the sky and meets an answering 
  bolt from above, forming a clear pillar of golden light, 
  threaded with scarlet for the Maiden of Battles. A 
  matching banner of light brieﬂ y rises above every 
  soldier who follows the sorcerer. The soldiers’ blades 
  spark golden, and their faces glow white with the glory 
  
  92
  • If her Compassion is 3 or greater, she need no 
  longer fail Compassion checks to avoid adhering to 
  that Virtue. If Compassion is the Virtue associated 
  with her Virtue Flaw, however, she automatically 
  gains a point of Limit in situations where she would 
  have had to roll.
  • Calling forth a batch of greater minions of the 
  Eyeless Face no longer murders any lesser minions she 
  had under her power, and vice versa, though she may 
  still have only one batch of greater minions and one 
  batch of lesser at any one time. Lesser minions under 
  her power begin to heal as mortals.
  • The sorcerer gains perfect knowledge of the 
  location of each of her greater and lesser minions, as 
  well as peripheral awareness of their muted, enslaved 
  hopes and fears. If anyone addresses one of her minions 
  as if it were her, she knows it instinctively.
  • By spending one mote, the character may shift 
  her senses into the body of any of the minions of the 
  Eyeless Face under her power. While this power is in 
  effect, if the subject is a greater minion, she may speak 
  in her voice through its mouth.
  • By spending 20 motes, she may usurp the body of 
  any of the minions of the Eyeless Face under her power, 
  effectively taking its place. Her old body crumbles to 
  dust while her Exaltation and both her souls depart, 
  traveling instantly to her new body and bonding with 
  it as it shifts in form to match her appearance. This 
  journey/transformation moves only the sorcerer herself 
  and not her apparel or any of her belongings. It breaks 
  any artifact attunements she has but otherwise has 
  no long-lasting side effects of which the Solars of the 
  First Age were aware.
  Invoking the Eyeless Face lasts until it is subject 
  to Adamant Countermagic. During the late First Age, 
  rumors persisted of another spell, which allowed sor-
  cerers to use the effects of Invoking the Eyeless Face 
  on each others’ minions. These rumors made it into 
  at least three surviving pieces of popular ﬁ ction writ-
  ten by Terrestrial Exalted during the early Shogunate 
  period, detailing the horrors of the First Age and the 
  inﬁ ghting between the Solar Anathema. No records 
  conﬁ rm the spell’s existence, however, not even The 
  Book of Three Circles itself.
  LIGHT OF SOLAR CLEANSING
  Cost: 30m
  Target: Area
  As the sorcerer casts this spell, the golden rays of 
  the Unconquered Sun coalesce around him in a nigh-
  tangible nimbus before he ﬁ nally releases their fury. 
  of the Unconquered Sun. As long as the sun remains 
  above the horizon and the sorcerer’s arms remain raised 
  toward it, units she can see receive bonuses to their 
  Might scores equal to her Essence or their own Mag-
  nitude, whichever is lower. Furthermore, the units are 
  considered to have Perfect Morale and to be composed 
  of supernatural beings for the purposes of enemy rout 
  checks. The blessing extends to (Essence x 5,000) 
  soldiers, grouped in units no larger than legions.
  Clouds will not naturally block the sun’s light upon 
  the battleﬁ eld. A long time standing with arms raised, 
  however, can tax even a Lawgiver. For every hour the 
  sorcerer holds her vigil, her player rolls (Stamina + 
  Resistance) against a difﬁ culty equal to the number 
  of hours the spell has lasted already. If her arms do fall 
  against her will, the light begins to fade, but the sor-
  cerer has one action to reclaim it. Success on another 
  (Stamina + Resistance) roll, at the previous difﬁ culty 
  + 1, allows her to lift her exhausted limbs again and 
  call back the Unconquered Sun’s favor. Otherwise, the 
  spell ends only if she wills it, if Adamant Countermagic 
  is cast, if the sun sets, or if the battle ends.
  INVOKING THE EYELESS FACE
  Cost: 60m
  Target: Caster
  Outside Creation, Elsewhere, lies a vast, long-
  banished intelligence: the Eyeless Face. In the time 
  since the Solars banished it and its race from the world, 
  its once-raging anger has cooled and frozen into an 
  icy, abiding hatred. The Eyeless Face cannot escape 
  the perfect bindings placed upon it, and though its 
  servant-limbs are bound to the will of its jailers and 
  may be pulled from its prison at whim, the behemoth 
  itself cannot—must not—be released by external forces. 
  Nevertheless, by the end of the First Age, its jailers’ 
  heirs had found a use for it.
  The sorcerer makes the familiar pool of oil used to 
  call forth the lesser and greater minions of the Eyeless 
  Face, but instead of pulling anything out, she enters it 
  herself. An hour passes, and she emerges… changed. 
  Though she remains recognizable as the person she 
  was, the skin of her body darkens and grows slightly 
  reﬂ ective, while the skin of her face pales. Her eyes 
  become sunken orbs of white as her pupils and irises 
  vanish. She unconsciously mutes her motions, and her 
  posture grows unnaturally still. At the back of her mind, 
  she hears whispered hatreds and seductive assurances 
  of her own superiority. While under the effects of the 
  spell, she beneﬁ ts from the following:
  
  93
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  Pure and deadly sunshine bursts in a circle outward 
  from the caster. Where it touches anything unloved 
  by the sun, that cursed thing suffers (Essence x 2) 
  dice of aggravated damage as the sun’s gaze burns 
  it away. This damage ignores armor. The spell af-
  fects all creatures of darkness and objects of similar 
  origin within a number of miles equal to the caster’s 
  Essence. Anything destroyed dissolves in a wash of 
  light, and everything in the area of effect looks faded 
  and sun-bleached.
  After a casting of this spell, the light within 100 
  yards dims, having spent its wrath. There’s still plenty 
  of light to see by, but the dimming hinders anything 
  requiring truly bright light. Until the light returns to 
  its full potency with the next sunrise, Light of Solar 
  Cleansing cannot be cast within the area.
  MIRAGE OF PROTECTIVE SHELTER
  Cost: 40m
  Target: Area
  One of the best ways to protect a person or place 
  is to hide it. After taking the Cast Sorcery action, 
  the character must walk around the area she wishes 
  to protect. As she walks, faint silvery Essence falls 
  from her and forms a line on the ground where she 
  has trod. She must return to her point of origin before 
  the moon next crosses the horizon.
  Any creatures that intend to harm the area or its 
  inhabitants cannot approach it. When they get close, 
  the spell makes an unnatural mental attack on them. 
  Unless their Dodge MDVs equal or exceed a value 
  equal to double the caster’s Essence, they follow a 
  path around the affected region and cannot perceive 
  it. Spending three points of Willpower lets a character 
  ignore this Illusion effect for one scene, but at the 
  end of that scene, the person ﬁ nds himself lost again. 
  Mirage of Protective Shelter can deﬂ ect entire armies 
  or protect whole provinces.
  The mirage normally lasts a number of months 
  equal to the caster’s Essence. For long-term protec-
  tion, the caster must craft (or direct a skilled crafter 
  in building) a silver-and-crystal symbol of the region’s 
  protection, anything from a statuette of its presiding 
  god to a stele inscribed with a map of the region. Do-
  ing so requires a successful difﬁ culty 5 (Intelligence + 
  [Craft or Occult]) roll to design and then a successful 
  (Dexterity + Craft [lower of Air and Fire]) roll to cre-
  ate. Placing this symbol within the protected region 
  and spending a dot of permanent Willpower prevents 
  the spell from failing until the spell’s focus is destroyed 
  or removed from the region.
  MYSTIC TRAVEL
  Cost: 30m
  Target: Unit of travelers
  A path exists to convey travelers from one end 
  to the other. The sorcerer reaching out his hand and 
  the path she wishes to follow brieﬂ y shines silver and 
  gold. Then the sorcerer yanks, pulling the end of the 
  path to her and her companions. The sorcerer then 
  can travel along the path at 10 times her normal speed: 
  The spell does not actually help the sorcerer move 
  faster. Instead, it shrinks the world—at least for the 
  sorcerer, along that particular path. Any clear path 
  is valid, from commonly used ocean trade routes to 
  animal trails through the woods.
  A sorcerer can share this spell with other beings. 
  Before casting the spell, the sorcerer performs a 15-
  minute ceremony in which she anoints herself, the 
  road and the leader of any unit she wishes to affect (the 
  general of an army, the captain of a ship, the messiah 
  of bunch of apostles, or whatever). Units of any size 
  are valid targets for this spell, from a circle of ﬁ ve to 
  a First Age legion of 10,000 or larger, as long as they 
  all travel with the sorcerer.
  The spell lasts until the sorcerer reaches her des-
  tination. Any physical breach in the path also ends 
  the spell when the unit reaches it. A broken bridge 
  or dammed river accomplishes this, as do temporary 
  obstacles like a fallen tree that completely blocks a road. 
  Waterborne trade routes rarely suffer such obstructions, 
  but when they do, the obstructions tend to consist of 
  living islands peopled by cannibals—which generally 
  merits greater consideration than a log on a road.
  Note: Mystic Travel cannot be combined with 
  other travel spells. Use of one spell breaks the other.
  PRESSED BEYOND THE VEIL OF TIME
  Cost: 60m
  Target: Area
  This incredibly powerful spell shoves an entire 
  region from Creation into Elsewhere, rendering it 
  immune to invasion as long as it remains there. 
  The sorcerer may target any region that goes by 
  a single name, such as a manse, city or mountain. 
  Affected Dominions may not exceed Magnitude 
  (Essence – 2).
  Before casting the spell, the sorcerer must cre-
  ate a perfect miniature model of the targeted area 
  out of Malfean porcelain (a difﬁ culty 5 Craft [Fire] 
  roll). When the Solar shapes the spell, the entire 
  model must burn to ash in a supernatural ﬂ ame. First 
  Age Solars might have commanded a Fire-aspected 
  
  94
  Dragon-Blooded to destroy it. Contemporary Solar 
  sorcerers must probably resort to other sources of 
  magical ﬁ re, such as elementals. The ritual of burning 
  takes one entire night, at the end of which the sorcerer 
  performs the Cast Sorcery action and identical but 
  ghostly ﬂ ames consume the target area. When the 
  region disappears, the Shaping of this spell replaces 
  it with something natural for that area. Somewhere 
  in this replacement exists a door, gate or path that 
  leads into Elsewhere and the protected area. Wearing 
  a ring or pendant of Malfean porcelain lets one pass 
  through this invisible door, and the sorcerer herself 
  can enter or leave any time.
  Without an appropriate token, other people 
  can enter or leave the affected region only when it 
  reappears, once every hundred years, to join with 
  Creation for a single day and night. Anything in the 
  part of Creation where the hidden realm reappears 
  vanishes for the duration and returns afterward, with 
  no one aware that anything happened. The territory 
  that replaces a location affected by this spell always 
  has an uncanny air that subtly discourages renewed 
  settlement, though, so these places seldom gain sig-
  niﬁ cant populations—whether it’s a hill no one cares 
  to farm or a lot in Nexus that somehow remained 
  vacant for centuries.
  Within Elsewhere, the vanished land fades into 
  misty wastes: Anyone who tries to explore beyond the 
  spell’s border ﬁ nds himself turned around and walking 
  back into the territory in ﬁ ve minutes or less. Time also 
  passes more slowly in Elsewhere. Roughly, for every 
  (caster’s Essence x 10) days that pass in Creation, one 
  day passes inside.
  Solars of the First Age used these redoubts as safe 
  getaways—and as secure prisons for difﬁ cult captives, 
  and some of these prisons still exist. (Such First Age 
  prisons often had other spells or automatons scheduled 
  to activate and keep the prisoners busy so they could 
  not escape to Creation during the centennial day of 
  return.) Even hideaways in Elsewhere could not save 
  Solars during the Usurpation. At the Sidereals’ urging, 
  the Dragon-Blooded stormed Malfeas for its porcelain. 
  Equipped with those trinkets, they had anyone who had 
  ﬂ ed to such a retreat cornered. A common bogeyman 
  story in the Realm suggests that sometimes, the heroic 
  revolutionaries only managed to destroy an Anathema’s 
  
  95
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  porcelain passkey, making it impossible for the Solars 
  to leave… until the next centennial.
  A region can stay bound in Elsewhere indeﬁ nitely, 
  but the spell can be ended in two ways. A Solar who 
  masters the spell may craft another porcelain model of 
  the hidden place and, destroying it in the same ritual, 
  reshape it back into Creation. At the caster’s discretion, 
  doing so may shift the land currently in that location 
  into Elsewhere or merge the two locations as if they 
  had grown up that way.
  Adamant Countermagic destroys the spell of dis-
  placement suddenly and disastrously. The Storyteller 
  rolls one die: Failure means the hidden land is severed 
  from Creation and drifts free in Elsewhere. Reaching 
  or leaving it is now an epic adventure all by itself. 
  Success means that, instead of being severed from the 
  land that was shaped to replace it, the two exchange 
  places. The land that replaced the original territory 
  takes its place in Elsewhere as if Pressed Beyond the 
  Veil of Time had been cast on that area. The area is 
  subject to Adamant Countermagic as if the spell were 
  still active. Two successes means that, in a stroke of 
  luck, the land in Elsewhere and the land that replaced 
  it in Creation merge, settling around and into one 
  another as if the caster had used another casting of 
  the spell to merge them consciously.
  RUNE OF SINGULAR HATE
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Person
  This curse is the blackest, foulest one that an Exalt 
  can utter. It sears and twists the soul of the target and of 
  the sorcerer who pronounces it. The Rune of Singular 
  Hate is but a single word, a word so sharp-edged and 
  hateful that a tongue can give it voice but once in a 
  lifetime—a spell that a sorcerer may cast only once. As 
  a result, the casting time is near-instantaneous. This 
  spell has special timing rules. The character can 
  cast it as three reflexive Shape Solar Circle Sorcery 
  actions that take 0 ticks.
  To speak the rune, the character must be within 
  earshot of the target, and the character must be able to 
  speak. The target need not hear the word, and magical 
  silence is no protection—the target hears the curse in 
  his heart. The Rune of Singular Hate can target only 
  a single individual, but if that individual is less than a 
  Yozi, a Neverborn or an Incarna, the rune sears him.
  The player of the spell’s target rolls the value of each 
  of his character’s Attributes, Virtues and Abilities—in-
  cluding Essence and Willpower—in which he possesses 
  a score, one at a time. The player cannot botch these 
  rolls, and 10s do not count as two successes. For every 
  success the player rolls testing a trait, his character retains 
  one dot of that trait. Dice on which the player does not 
  roll a success represent a dot that is lost, immediately 
  and forever, from that Attribute, Virtue or Ability. The 
  sorcerer pronouncing the rune suffers a lesser curse—she 
  loses one dot in every Attribute, Virtue and Ability in 
  which she possesses a score.
  Characters with Intelligence or Wits scores of 0 are 
  reduced to mindless vegetables. Characters with no dots of 
  Perception are deprived of all senses and cut off from the 
  outside world. Characters reduced to Stamina or Essence 
  0 have their lives snuffed out. Characters without any 
  Willpower become will-less automatons, similar to what 
  remains after the Fair Folk consume a being’s hopes and 
  dreams. In all of these cases, the character can no longer 
  spend experience and has no hope of recovery. Characters 
  who lose a more expendable trait can purchase it back 
  from 0 to 1 at a cost of 10 experience points. This spell 
  cannot, however, reduce a Virtue below the minimum 
  required for the Great Curse.
  SOLAR SANCTUARY
  Cost: 70m
  Target: Area
  The caster must create ﬁ ve jeweled orichalcum stat-
  ues of himself (Resource cost incalculable) and arrange 
  them around the area he wishes to make his sanctuary. 
  On a day when the sun is high in the sky, ﬁ ve people 
  must simultaneously pray to the caster at each statue. 
  The caster himself must cast the spell at the center of 
  the area demarcated by the ﬁ ve statues. With his Cast 
  Sorcery action, shafts of golden light lance upward from 
  the statues, bursting through any obstacle to reach the 
  sky, where they curve downward to converge above 
  the caster. Sunshine lances brieﬂ y through the sorcerer, 
  and a faint transparent dome ﬂ ickers into and out of 
  visibility over the affected area. This area, which may 
  not exceed a radius of (Essence x 1,000) yards, is now 
  the character’s sanctuary, almost arbitrarily under his 
  control. The area acquires the following qualities:
  • All demesnes become aspected to the character’s 
  Essence, and a manse of the appropriate level sponta-
  neously grows from the ground to cap each demesne. 
  As per Raise the Puissant Sanctum, the sorcerer can 
  control each manse’s appearance and function. The 
  sorcerer is automatically attuned to all manses, whose 
  hearthstones appear immediately in his possession. 
  Manses whose aspects do not change continue to 
  produce the same hearthstones; the Solar dictates new 
  and changed manses’ hearthstones.
  
  96
  • The sorcerer can reshape the land and struc-
  tures as if using Wyld-Shaping Technique in the 
  Bordermarches of the Wyld (see Exalted, p. 216). If 
  he actually invokes the Charm, treat the region as 
  Deep Wyld. He cannot create magical things, people 
  or portable wealth. Any changes seem perfectly natural 
  to all mortal inhabitants.
  • Mortals become susceptible to the sorcerer’s 
  will. Reduce the MDVs of all mortals with respect to 
  the sorcerer’s will by half as long as they are within 
  the spell’s borders.
  • The sorcerer can be aware of any place within 
  the sanctuary as long as he is also within its boundar-
  ies. When outside the sanctuary, he has only a distinct 
  sense of when it is threatened. He is instantly aware 
  when one of the statues is damaged, and which one.
  • The sorcerer can claim motes of Essence equal 
  to the rating of one of the manses within his sanctu-
  ary reﬂ exively, once per action. Doing so disrupts the 
  normal ﬂ ow of Essence and suppresses the normal 
  activity of its hearthstone for the rest of the day.
  • By spending one miscellaneous action disappear-
  ing and his next action reappearing, the sorcerer may 
  travel almost instantaneously within his sanctuary.
  • While within the sanctuary, the sorcerer can see 
  through the eyes of any one of the enchanted statues 
  as a reﬂ exive action.
  Should the character desire, he can create multiple 
  sanctuaries. Sanctuaries that border each other may 
  share one or two statues and, once completed, count 
  as a single sanctuary.
  The sanctuary lasts as long as the statues all remain 
  intact. Each statue has a bashing and lethal soak and 
  hardness of 20, as well as 400 health levels. It also 
  repairs itself completely when the ﬁ rst rays of dawn 
  strike it. When a statue is destroyed, the sanctuary 
  shatters. The land remains as it has been shaped, as 
  do the demesnes and manses, though the sorcerer is 
  no longer attuned to them.
  SOUL SEAL
  Cost: 50m
  Target: Caster or entity
  There are many dozens of words and symbols for 
  dealing with souls, but most of them strike or draw or 
  arrange the souls only after they have left the body 
  or only as a part of the person. Only the Inimitable 
  Sign of the Self can command a soul from the body 
  and shift it to another location, and each such sign is 
  speciﬁ c to the individual it will affect. Each must be 
  discovered or researched separately.
  Aside from that annoyance, Soul Seal takes one 
  minute to cast (i.e., three separate Speed 20 Shape 
  Solar Circle Sorcery actions before the sorcerer can 
  perform the Cast Sorcery action). Once ﬁ nished, 
  gray light lances from fourth-dimensional direc-
  tions through the target, severing the higher soul 
  from the body and propelling it into another vessel. 
  For willing targets, the effect is automatic death 
  of the body but preservation of the mind. Players 
  of unwilling targets roll the characters’ (Essence + 
  Willpower) in an opposed roll against the sorcerer’s 
  (Willpower + Occult). A successful target suffers 
  one level of aggravated damage and loses one point 
  of Willpower. Weaker targets suffer the worse fate: 
  immediate death of the body. It is a small blessing 
  that a hostile Solar Circle sorcerer cannot destroy 
  the mind with this spell.
  Once the soul leaves the body, an arc of the same 
  gray light conveys the soul to a new vessel of the 
  sorcerer’s choice. It may be anything within eyesight. 
  Well-intentioned castings of this spell generally place 
  the soul in a prepared vessel, either an automaton de-
  signed for it to control or a special container to hold 
  the soul while an appropriate body is constructed. First 
  Age soul-detainment receptacles typically included a 
  magically simulated pocket reality to entertain the soul 
  during its residence. Some such receptacles may still 
  exist. Any souls they contain, however, are probably 
  quite mad after so long in isolation.
  Placing the soul in another living creature traps 
  the affected spirit. Sentient targets of the implantation 
  may resist it. Their players roll (Stamina + [Resistance 
  or Integrity]) at a difﬁ culty equal to the caster’s Essence. 
  Success means the caster must select a new target. Once 
  the soul comes to rest, it becomes little more than a 
  passenger in another person’s body, experiencing most 
  of the person’s senses but able to do little. Some learn 
  to communicate with their hosts or assume control in 
  the host’s sleep. A strong-willed soul might take com-
  mand of an animal host’s body. Cast into ﬂ ora or stone, 
  the victim of Soul Seal has only faint awareness of the 
  surroundings. Creatures made host by this spell gain 
  an extended life span about equal to the remainder of 
  the victim’s remaining natural years. Over those years, 
  they begin to take on the resident soul’s characteristics: 
  A person begins to look like the soul’s old body, a dog 
  has remarkably knowing eyes, a stone or tree slowly 
  develops what looks like a face, and so on. Resourceful 
  sorcerers, thaumaturges or gods might eventually be 
  able to release a trapped soul.
  
  97
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  TECHNIQUE MIRROR
  Cost: 50m
  Target: Caster
  The powerful techniques of the Exalted take time 
  to learn and even longer to master. Luckily, a skilled 
  sorcerer need never bother. The Solar traces the Sign 
  of Reversal on a small, ordinary mirror with his ﬁ nger 
  while reciting a palindrome. With a ﬂ ip of the wrist, 
  he sets it spinning above his head, where it continues 
  to rotate for the rest of the scene. For an instant when 
  the caster completes this spell, and every time it takes 
  effect, the sorcerer appears to be surrounded by several 
  body-sized distorting mirrors.
  Each time someone attacks the sorcerer within 
  the scene, a perfect duplicate of the attacker appears 
  without ﬂ ash or fanfare and uses the same attack 
  on the sorcerer’s foe. The mirrored attacker looks 
  and acts just like the original did while attacking, 
  and it uses the same dice pools. Attacks and other 
  dice pools are rolled again. After attacking, the 
  duplicate disappears.
  Example: A soldier runs at the Solar sorceress Ari-
  anna, who has invoked Technique Mirror, and swings 
  an axe at her. As the soldier attacks, a duplicate of him 
  appears, runs toward the soldier and attacks him with an 
  identical axe.
  More dangerously, Crimson Banner Executioner at-
  tacks Arianna with his deadly “Last Wall Shatters” Combo. 
  Whether or not he succeeds, a copy of this great Sidereal 
  warrior appears and invokes the same Combo against the 
  original. The duplicate uses the same attack pool and all 
  the same Charm effects.
  When the duplicate disappears, any Charm or at-
  tack effects cease if they require the attacker’s continued 
  presence. A warrior cannot be grappled if there is no 
  body to grapple him. Victims of a grapple are forced 
  into a single Inactive action before regaining control 
  of their facilities. Destroying the mirror that spins 
  above the sorcerer ends the spell, but such attacks are 
  defended by the sorcerer’s normal DVs and mirrored 
  by the spell. The spell incidentally grants the mirror 
  10L/14B soak and 20 health levels.
  TOTAL ANNIHILATION
  Cost: 65m
  Target: Area
  Every occult master knows about Ligier the Green 
  Sun, the deﬁ ning soul of the Demon Prince Malfeas. 
  
  98
  to join, the spell fails. The composite being has the 
  following qualities:
  • Height equal to the tallest member of the 
  composite, plus 25 percent for each additional par-
  ticipant.
  • Strength, Dexterity and Stamina equal the 
  highest possessed by any member of the composite, 
  plus one dot for each additional character.
  • Health levels equal to the participant with the 
  greatest number, plus one -1 and two -2 levels for 
  each additional character involved. The composite 
  being always forms undamaged.
  • Personal and peripheral Essence pools equal 
  to the sums of these pools for all the participating 
  individuals, and the composite entity can use all 
  individuals’ Charms, Combos and anima effects. 
  The Dragon-Blooded ability to use reﬂ exive Charms 
  without counting them as the Charm-per-action 
  applies only to Dragon-Blooded reﬂ exive Charms. 
  Adjudicate other abilities speciﬁ c to particular Exalt 
  types similarly.
  • Other Attributes and Abilities equal to the 
  highest held by any member of the composite, and 
  the same with Virtues, effective permanent Essence 
  and permanent and temporary Willpower.
  • Motivations and Intimacies equal to the sum 
  of the individual participants’ Motivations and 
  Intimacies. This blending occasionally causes some 
  problems.
  • A composite hearthstone, which allows the 
  merged entity to use the powers of all hearthstones 
  borne by the individual members.
  • Composite armament. The weapon’s Accu-
  racy equals the highest of all weapons wielded by 
  the individual members, as do its Damage, Defense 
  and Rate equal the highest of those values. Add the 
  composite’s Valor to the weapon’s Damage. Its Speed is 
  the lowest of all such weapons. Armor confers bashing 
  soak, lethal soak and Hardness equal to the highest 
  such values among any individual’s armor; add the 
  composite’s Willpower to both soak values.
  The spell ends at the end of the scene or 
  when the composite’s incapacitated health level 
  is filled with lethal or aggravated damage. If the 
  composite is “killed,” it explodes and ejects the 
  individuals who comprised it with only one health 
  level remaining each. Otherwise, all participants 
  are as healthy as they were when they entered the 
  amalgam. Spent Essence is taken equally from the 
  pools of all participants.
  Ligier once had another name, however, when Mal-
  feas was a Primordial instead of the demons’ home 
  and prison. Circling her hands before her chest, the 
  sorcerer closes her eyes and builds herself into a rage. 
  As she whispers the lost, former name of Ligier, a 
  vivid green spark erupts from her heart to collect her 
  Essence into a roiling, ﬁ st-sized orb of emerald ﬁ re. 
  The sorcerer ﬂ ings the orb into the air and directs it 
  with her will toward any target within 200 yards. The 
  sphere constitutes a perfect attack unless opposed by 
  magic-enhanced dodges or parries, in which case the 
  sorcerer rolls (Dexterity + [Occult or Thrown]) to hit. If 
  parried, the orb is not destroyed, but is deﬂ ected 1,000 
  yards away in a random direction—from then on, it 
  can’t be steered. Attempting to parry the orb with a 
  mundane weapon merely detonates it at once.
  When the orb strikes, it explodes into a column 
  of bright green light 50 yards wide and ﬁ ve miles 
  high. It deals 50 levels of lethal damage to everything 
  within that area. Then, for (Essence x 5) ticks, the 
  column of emerald light sweeps outward at a rate 
  of 10 yards per tick, inﬂ icting another 25 levels of 
  lethal damage per action to everyone caught within 
  in it on that action. Creatures near the explosion 
  can try to outrun the all-destroying glare—this had 
  best include the caster herself, since she is not im-
  mune to its power. Once the orb has exploded, the 
  outpouring light cannot be parried and may only 
  be dodged or soaked by means of perfect defenses. 
  The devastation is complete: That which can burn, 
  burns; that which can be broken, breaks. Behind 
  it, the light leaves nothing but a scorched, cracked 
  wasteland. In the thunder of the orb’s detonation 
  and the crash and crackle of devastation, one might 
  hear the awful, vengeful laughter of a defeated god, 
  laughing that his conquerors now turn his power 
  against Creation.
  Total Annihilation may be countered until the 
  moment the sorcerer hurls the orb. After that, Ada-
  mant Countermagic can only parry it.
  UNITY OF THE CLOSED FIST
  Cost: 40m
  Target: Caster and creatures
  As this spell is cast, those affected by it stretch 
  and blur into the sorcerer’s body, which shifts and 
  shapes itself into a massive composite being. The 
  anima of each entity included in the casting (if they 
  have one) ﬂ ares in full, iconic glory. No one can be 
  included in this amalgam identity against his will. 
  If the sorcerer tries to include someone who refuses 
  
  99
  CHAPTER TWO • THE WHITE TREATISE OF SORCERY
  Because of the protection their tattoos afford 
  them, most Lunar Exalted cannot be a part of this 
  spell. Attempting to include a tattooed Lunar in this 
  spell causes it to fail.
  WINDS OF CONFUSION
  Cost: 45m
  Target: Area
  As the sorcerer shapes this spell and invokes 
  the Maiden of Endings, her anima darkens until 
  she looks like a deep purple silhouette backed 
  by waning light. As she releases the spell, onyx 
  winds sweep from behind her to howl across the 
  landscape. They fill a corridor one mile across, 
  five miles long and 20 yards high. Natural cover 
  does nothing to stop the dark wind. Only shelter-
  ing entirely behind one of the magical materials 
  prevents a creature from suffering its effects. The 
  dark wind drains one dot of Intelligence and one 
  dot of permanent Willpower every action (or 
  five ticks) unless a victim’s player succeeds at an 
  (Intelligence + Integrity) roll at a difficulty equal 
  to the caster’s Essence. Naturally, the sorcerer is 
  unaffected. People with Intelligence 0 stand or sit 
  like zombies unless otherwise motivated. Each trait 
  returns at a rate of one dot per hour. The curse fogs 
  memories of whatever happens while a victim is 
  affected, and anyone drained to Intelligence or 
  Willpower 0 remembers only a vague blur.
  WRATH OF THE FIVE ELEMENTS
  Cost: 45m
  Target: One creature
  As the sorcerer’s anima builds, he gestures and 
  calls the names of the Elemental Dragons. Each 
  dragon’s sigil appears, the set forming a pentagram 
  around him. The sorcerer names the target of the 
  spell while holding three arcane links in his upraised 
  hand—a hair, a swatch of clothing and soil from the 
  target’s footprint, perhaps. The links can vary (includ-
  ing the presence of friends or relatives), but at least 
  one must come from the victim’s body. At last, the 
  sorcerer speaks the Word by which the Unconquered 
  Sun announced his deﬁ ance of his Primordial creators. 
  The sigils ﬂ are as the Elemental Dragons each vent 
  their wrath on the spell’s target, no matter where in 
  Creation she is.
  Once the spell is cast, the victim suffers ﬁ ve deadly 
  attacks, one every ﬁ ve ticks. The sorcerer sets their order 
  or lets them happen at random. Each attack requires 
  a separate (Intelligence + Occult) roll to target, with 
  the sorcerer’s Essence added as automatic successes, 
  against a difﬁ culty equal to the target’s Dodge MDV. 
  A perfect dodge Charm also lets the target evade one 
  attack per action. Treat each attack as environmental 
  damage (15L, Trauma 4). No conceivable external 
  defenses apply, because the attack comes from within 
  the victim’s own body. The victim applies nothing but 
  her innate soak from Stamina or Charms.
  • The wrath of the Dragon of Air takes the form 
  of cold. The victim’s skin blackens with frostbite as he 
  feels the icy winds of the farthest North rush through 
  his ﬂ esh.
  • The wrath of the Dragon of Earth turns the 
  victim’s bones to stone, while razor-sharp crystals grow 
  from them to slice his ﬂ esh.
  • The wrath of the Dragon of Fire burns the victim 
  from the inside out.
  • The wrath of the Dragon of Water pours surging 
  sea water into the target’s blood and lungs.
  • The wrath of the Dragon of Wood sets lush, 
  ﬂ owering vines sprouting through the victim’s skin, 
  consuming his ﬂ esh as they grow. If this attack fails 
  to kill the target, the vines wither and drop away on 
  the next action.
  No single attack is likely to kill a victim, but ﬁ ve 
  in a row present grave danger to anyone who lacks 
  powerful protective Charms. When an attack kills a 
  victim, the elemental effect completely consumes his 
  body to leave frozen shards, a statue of bloodstained 
  crystal, smoldering ash, a pool of mingled blood and 
  water or a tangle of vines. None of the attacks inﬂ ict 
  the slightest harm on anyone nearby, even someone 
  who hugs the victim. The wrath of the Elemental 
  Dragons is most selective.
  Finally, a person slain by Wrath of the Five Ele-
  ments is not completely dead. She immediately appears 
  before the sorcerer, transformed into an elemental of 
  the element that killed her, already bound to serve 
  the sorcerer for a year and a day. The elemental is of 
  a sort that has the same permanent Essence as the 
  victim (so un-Exalted mortals become very minor 
  spirits indeed).
  
  ISBN-13: 978-1-58846-692-1  WW80301   $24.99 U.S.
  PRINTED IN CANADA
  
  1
  BY JOSEPH CARRIKER, LYDIA LAURENSON, PETER SCHAEFER, 
  DUSTIN SHAMPEL AND STEPHEN LEA SHEPPARD
  TM
  
  2
  CREDITS
  Authors: Joseph Carriker, Lydia Laurenson, Peter 
  Schaefer, Dustin Shampel, Stephen Lea Sheppard
  Comic Scripter: Carl Bowen
  Storyteller Game System Design: Mark 
  Rein•Hagen
  Developers: John Chambers and Dean Shomshak 
  with John Masterson
  Editor: Carl Bowen
  Art Direction and Book Design: Brian Glass
  Artists: DPI Studios (with Embrio and Jaysin), 
  Imaginary Friends Studio (with Jun Kang, Kiat, 
  Kenneth Loh and Tze), Chris “Satyr” Ready, UDON 
  (with Mike Franchina, Scott Hepburn, Marco Nelor 
  and Chris Stevens) and Melissa Uran
  Cover Art: Andie Tong
  © 2007 White Wolf, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction without the written permission 
  of the publisher is expressly forbidden, except for the purposes of reviews, and for blank character 
  sheets, which may be reproduced for personal use only. White Wolf and Exalted are registered 
  trademarks of White Wolf, Inc. All rights reserved. The Books of Sorcery, the White Treatise, the 
  Black Treatise, the Age of Sorrows and the Second Age of Man are trademarks of White Wolf, 
  Inc. All rights reserved. All characters, names, places and text herein are copyrighted by White 
  Wolf, Inc.
  The mention of or reference to any company or product in these pages is not a challenge 
  to the trademark or copyright concerned.
  This book uses the supernatural for settings, characters and themes. All mystical and su-
  pernatural elements are ﬁ ction and intended for entertainment purposes only. This book contains 
  mature content. Reader discretion is advised.
  Check out White Wolf online at http://www.white-wolf.com/
  PRINTED IN CANADA
  COMING NEXT:
  THE COMPASS OF CELESTIAL DIRECTIONS, 
  VOL. II — THE WYLD
  $24.99  
   
   
  160 PAGES
  The second of ﬁ ve books dedicated to the supernatural 
  locales of the Exalted setting, this supplement focuses on 
  the Wyld. Outside the bounds of Creation, there exists 
  an inﬁ nite expanse of roiling chaos that breaks upon the 
  shaped world like a storm-tossed sea against the shore, 
  threatening to wear it away. Where it does wear away, 
  reality breaks down and savage denizens of the chaos be-
  yond Creation dwell. The dangers of the Wyld, the king-
  doms of the Fair Folk and the savage Wyld tribes are all 
  detailed within.
  COMING NEXT IN THIS SERIES:
  THE BOOKS OF SORCERY, VOL. III — 
  OADENOL’S CODEX
  $24.99  
   
   
  160 PAGES
  Oadenol’s Codex is the guide to the practical applica-
  tion of sorcerous knowledge in the Second Age. From 
  the creation of artifacts to the raising of manses, and 
  from the subtle workings of thaumaturgy to the various 
  naturally occurring miracles of Creation, this third of 
  Exalted’s Books of Sorcery offer’s aspiring geomancers, 
  sorcerer-engineers, thaumaturges and preternaturalists 
  the tools they need to ply their arcane trades. In addi-
  tion, the book contains a plethora of artifacts, hearth-
  stones, prodigies and manses for players’ characters to 
  own or covet and Storytellers to weave into their series.
  
  3
  TABLE OF CONTENTS
  INTRODUCTION 
  4
  CHAPTER ONE: THE WORLD OF NECROMANCY 
  8
  CHAPTER TWO: THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY 
  22
  TM
  
  4
  
  5
  INTRODUCTION
   
  INTRODUCTION
  INTRODUCTION
  So, you would learn the dark magic of death? 
  You’ve come to the right place. You hold in your hand 
  the complete book of necromantic lore for Exalted. 
  Within, you shall ﬁ nd more than 100 spells, curses 
  and fell enchantments, all dealing with death, the 
  Underworld and its inhabitants.
  Necromancy is the art by which powerful individuals 
  can enforce their will on the Underworld wholesale. It 
  is the Void’s counterpart to sorcery. While sorcery draws 
  on and shifts the potentially inﬁ nite Essence available in 
  Creation, necromancy uses the quintessential decay of 
  Oblivion to alter like quantities of Essence. Like sorcery, 
  necromancy has three circles: Shadowlands, Labyrinth 
  and Void, also called Iron, Onyx and Obsidian, respec-
  tively. Each is roughly equal in might to the equivalent 
  circle of sorcery—but not equal in ﬂ exibility.
  Sorcery is an adaptable system for achieving diverse 
  effects. A sorcerer can turn people to amethyst, raise a spire 
  of gold or devastate an army with waves of ﬂ aming ice. 
  Necromancy is different—it’s a potent tool for manipulat-
  ing the many forms of death and realizing a necromancer’s 
  death-related desires. In many ways, a necromantic spell 
  can be more effective than a sorcerous spell of the like circle, 
  but with signiﬁ cantly more limited scope. And in its speciﬁ c 
  sphere of inﬂ uence, it nearly always has primacy. Binding 
  a ghost to one’s will is Shadowlands Circle necromancy 
  but Celestial Circle sorcery, for example.
  Necromancy is a dark, frightening thing. It scares 
  even the Exalted, not just because of the terrible night-
  mares it can render real, but because it shatters the 
  illusion that death, after life, is the ﬁ nal repose.
  HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
  Chapter One: The World of Necromancy
  This is why you picked up the book: to learn the 
  mysterious secrets of necromancy! Learn how it works, 
  who teaches it and its daring origins in the pages that 
  follow. Yet beware, for such knowledge can open your 
  mind to the whispers of the Neverborn.
  Chapter Two: The Black Treatise of Necromancy
  A more fearsome and devastating series of deathly 
  incantations and necromantic castings has never be-
  fore been collated. They will astound your friends and 
  control your ancestors!
  RULES
  All of the rules clariﬁ cations and additions described 
  in The White Treatise’s Introduction also apply to 
  necromancy. In addition, there are a couple more points 
  to make with regard to necromancy.
  
  6
  NECROMANCY ACTIONS
  As the dark mirror of sorcery, necromancy re-
  quires the same sort of ritual actions to cast. Just like 
  Shape Sorcery actions, Shape Necromancy actions 
  make a character immobile and prevent him from 
  using Charms or Combos, though he can still benefit 
  from persistent effects. He cannot take any other 
  actions, reflexive or otherwise, except to activate 
  his anima effect.
  Like sorcery, necromancy is Obvious, and players 
  of characters distracted while casting must roll (Wits 
  + Occult) at difﬁ culty 1 to prevent the spell from fail-
  ing. Each level of damage suffered from an attack that 
  distracts a necromancer applies one point of external 
  penalty to this roll.
  SHAPE SHADOWLANDS CIRCLE NECROMANCY 
  (SPEED 5, DV -2)
  The character shapes a Shadowlands Circle 
  spell that she knows. Doing so always costs one 
  temporary Willpower plus the Essence cost of the 
  spell. The character can take a Cast Necromancy 
  action as her next action, releasing the spell and 
  rejoining any battle. If she doesn’t, consider the 
  spell interrupted.
  Some spells have Speeds measured in long ticks or 
  dramatic actions. War magic often takes effect on the 
  military time scale, while long rituals are interruptible 
  dramatic actions.
  SHAPE LABYRINTH CIRCLE NECROMANCY 
  (TWO ACTIONS—EACH SPEED 5, DV -3)
  The character shapes a Labyrinth Circle spell that 
  she knows. Doing so always costs two Willpower points, 
  plus the Essence cost of the spell.
  The character must take two full actions to shape 
  the spell. She spends the motes and Willpower on the 
  ﬁ rst of these two actions. The character can then take 
  a Cast Necromancy action as her next action, releasing 
  the spell and rejoining battle. If the character does 
  not take these three actions in sequence, consider the 
  spell interrupted.
  Some Labyrinth Circle spells have Speeds mea-
  sured in long ticks. The character must still take 
  two full actions to shape the spell. Other spells have 
  Speeds measured as a dramatic action, in which case 
  the character may shape the spell as a single dramatic 
  action of the length stated.
  NECROMANCY CHARMS
  Before one of the Exalted can learn necromantic 
  spells, he must master the techniques that allow him 
  to focus his will and shape Oblivion’s Essence.
  SHADOWLANDS CIRCLE NECROMANCY
  Cost: —; Mins: Occult 3, Essence 3; Type: Permanent
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: None
  Just as sorcery lets the Exalted shape Creation’s Es-
  sence, necromancy allows them to wield the Essence of 
  the Underworld and death with similar power. Known 
  also as the Iron Circle, Shadowlands Circle Necro-
  mancy requires a similar unshakable will and untainted 
  perceptions. This Charm allows the character to take 
  Shadowlands Circle Necromancy actions.
  Dragon-Blooded are too tied to Creation and the 
  elements of life to manipulate the Essence of death 
  on this scale. Ghosts are too weak. They cannot learn 
  this Charm.
  LABYRINTH CIRCLE NECROMANCY
  Cost: —; Mins: Occult 4, Essence 4; Type: Perma-
  nent
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Shadowlands Circle Necromancy
  Labyrinth Circle Necromancy can instantly cre-
  ate warstriders, devastate battleﬁ elds and manipulate 
  the dead without any regard whatsoever for their will. 
  Only Solar and Abyssal Exalted and Deathlords can 
  master this, the Onyx Circle of necromancy. Knowing 
  this Charm allows a character to take Labyrinth Circle 
  Necromancy actions.
  VOID CIRCLE NECROMANCY
  Cost: —; Mins: Occult 5, Essence 5; Type: Permanent
  Keywords: None
  Duration: Instant
  Prerequisite Charms: Labyrinth Circle Necromancy
  Only the Abyssal Exalted and the Deathlords can 
  achieve this level of mastery over the Underworld. 
  Presumably, the Neverborn can duplicate the effects 
  of this circle, but no savants in Creation know for 
  sure. Void Circle Necromancy can summon the most 
  powerful beasts of the dead realms, curse bloodlines and 
  even return the dead to a semblance of life, if only for a 
  short while. Learning this Charm allows the character 
  to perform Void Circle Necromancy actions.
  
  7
  INTRODUCTION
  SHAPE VOID CIRCLE NECROMANCY 
  (THREE ACTIONS—EACH SPEED 5, DV -4)
  The character shapes a Void Circle spell that she 
  knows. Doing so always costs three Willpower points, 
  plus the Essence cost of the spell.
  The character must take three full actions to shape 
  the spell. She spends the motes and Willpower on the 
  ﬁ rst of these three actions. The character can then 
  take a Cast Necromancy action as her next action, 
  releasing the spell and rejoining battle. If the character 
  does not take these four actions in sequence, consider 
  the spell interrupted.
  Some Void Circle spells have Speeds measured 
  in long ticks. The character must still take three full 
  actions to shape the spell. Other spells have Speeds 
  measured as a dramatic action, in which case the char-
  acter may shape the spell as a single dramatic action of 
  the length stated.
  CAST NECROMANCY (VARIES, DV -0)
  Characters use this action to loose a spell’s effects 
  and refocus from the twisting necromantic energies 
  of the Underworld to the world around her. She still 
  cannot use Charms or Combos or take any voluntary 
  reﬂ exive actions.
  The spell now takes effect. If the character is taking 
  part in any ongoing conﬂ ict, her player now makes a 
  Join Battle roll for her to rejoin the fray.
  NO MOON ANIMA
  The No Moon anima ability can be devastating 
  when using sorcery for combat. As described in Exalted 
  and in The Manual of Exalted Power—The Lunars, 
  the anima ability does not mention necromancy. When 
  your game includes necromancy, the No Moon anima 
  affects necromancy identically to sorcery.
  NECROMANCY AND BLOOD
  Lifeblood is more than just a viscous, red liquid. It is 
  the symbol of both life and death, and it contains both 
  Essence and meaning. Ghosts and other dead things 
  desire blood because they lack it. They lust for it, and 
  they are tied to it. Blood has power over the things of 
  the Underworld. Even though the spells don’t neces-
  sarily mention it, any spell that directly affects ghosts 
  involves spilling blood. Doing so may require nothing 
  more than jabbing a ﬁ nger to shake a drop of blood 
  on the ground (an Abyssal Exalt’s bleeding caste mark 
  ﬁ lls the requirement, too). The blood captures and 
  focuses the necromancer’s Essence, aligning it with 
  the ghosts she desires to affect. The amount of blood 
  required is small enough that it causes no real harm. 
  Most necromancers have no problem with the need 
  (and keep a ready supply of bandages). A few others, 
  such as nephwracks or the Deathlords themselves, ﬁ nd 
  this more of an issue. They must take blood from the 
  living, and generally take far more than they need.
  LEXICON
  This section lists some terms commonly used in 
  The Black Treatise for easy reference. It supplements 
  the Lexicon found in the introduction to Exalted.
  Ajaian: The oldest school of necromancy views 
  death and necromantic Essence in terms of concealment, 
  misdirection and enlightenment through personal ex-
  perience of death’s mysteries. Also called the School of 
  the Maze, since it takes the Labyrinth as its symbol.
  Black Nadir Concordat: The ﬁ ve Exalted who 
  discovered the secrets of necromancy.
  fetter: A person, place or thing to which a ghost 
  has a powerful connection of emotion or meaning, from 
  a beloved child to the weapon that killed him. Ghosts 
  draw sustenance from their fetters, either through direct 
  association or by carrying small tokens of them.
  hekatonkhire: A unique and often horrifying 
  creature of the Underworld or Labyrinth. They can be 
  slain component souls of Primordials, killed behemoths 
  or spontaneously generated from the nightmares of the 
  Neverborn. They wield power comparable to Second 
  or even Third Circle demons.
  hun: The “higher soul” associated with the mind. 
  After death, it reincarnates, becomes a ghost in the 
  Underworld or succumbs to Oblivion.
  the Maw: A cult-like school of necromancy that 
  treats every spell as a sacriﬁ ce to the all-devouring 
  Void.
  po: The “lower soul” associated with the body. After 
  death, it dissipates or becomes a hungry ghost.
  Shizuan: A school of necromancy that emphasizes 
  domination and conquest, whether military applications 
  of necromancy or using one form of Essence to “attack” 
  and “conquer” another.
  spectre: A ghost driven mad by the inﬂ uence of 
  the Neverborn or Oblivion. They retain Arcanoi, but 
  have not learned necromancy.
  whispers: The half-audible voices of the Nev-
  erborn, or of Oblivion itself, that echo through the 
  Labyrinth or a few death-cursed places in Creation. 
  (Also, when capitalized, an Abyssal Background that 
  relies on them.) The whispers of the Neverborn can 
  enlighten, at risk of madness; the whispers of Oblivion 
  just bring madness.
  
  8
  
  9
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF NECROMANCY
  CHAPTER THREE
  TRAITS
  CHAPTER ONE
  CHAPTER ONE
  THE WORLD OF
  THE WORLD OF
  NECROMANCY
  NECROMANCY
  Whereas sorcery changes Creation, necromancy 
  shapes the Underworld. Limited by the nature of its 
  deathly Essence, it is more sharply focused. Some name 
  it more powerful, but only in narrow ways. Call sorcery a 
  knife, and necromancy would be a stiletto. The stiletto is 
  very good at what it does but has little other use, where 
  a knife may be less deadly, but can cut your food or the 
  ropes that bind you.
  Stilettos kill things.
  Throughout its history, necromancy has held a dark 
  reputation. People decry it as the power to enslave and 
  destroy ghosts, slay the living and construct terrors of 
  undeath—which it can indeed do. Yet not everyone 
  uses it for these dark purposes. Good things and kind, 
  generous acts have been done with necromancy that 
  could not otherwise be achieved. But they are few, and 
  the evils are many.
  HISTORY OF NECROMANCY
  Sorcery began in legend as a dispensation to the 
  least among Solars. Necromancy has its own tale of 
  beginning, but it is not one of gifts. It is a story of daring 
  theft and consequences. Herein is recorded the discovery 
  of necromancy, how it was brought to the people of the 
  First Age, and their treatment of it.
  FORCING THE DOORS
  In the beginning, in the war against the Primordials, 
  there were no sorcerers. Writings that survive from the 
  High First Age suggest this is not so much because the 
  Exalted couldn’t open sorcery’s doors but because they 
  just hadn’t yet stolen the keys. There weren’t any nec-
  romancers either, but for a different reason. There was 
  no Underworld, no Labyrinth and no endlessly hungry 
  Void and, thus, no ever-decaying Essence for the sharp 
  will of the Exalted to manipulate. Death meant only a 
  period of nothingness, a cleansing of the soul and an 
  eventual return to Creation.
  When the ﬁ rst Primordial truly fell to the weapons 
  of the gods, never to rise again, everything within and 
  outside Creation felt the change. Where the cycle of 
  reincarnation had once been perfect and unending, 
  something had ended, beginning a chain reaction that 
  (doomsayers claimed) could only end in the destruction 
  of all things. For some, at least, that was true. Once the 
  Primordials knew that they could be killed, once they 
  had seen one of their own become less than nothing, 
  the very nature of the War changed and became im-
  mensely more deadly for the Exalted.
  Shortly after the end of the Primordial War, the Exalted 
  received the gift of sorcery. With that gift, they shaped 
  
  10
  the world on vast scales. But the Underworld reacts feebly 
  to the spells of Creation. Some Exalted sought a way to 
  manipulate the Underworld that they might become its 
  stewards as well. Many sorcerers and theorists examined 
  the Essence of the dead and the Void in efforts to reconcile 
  or recalibrate sorcery and the Underworld.
  One circle, though history is vague on whether its 
  members were longtime companions or heroes come 
  together for a single quest, found the secret. After years 
  of study and preliminary excursions into the Labyrinth, 
  three Solar and two Lunar Exalted journeyed to its 
  center, where it begins to discorporate and fall forever 
  into the Void. One Solar was a sorcerer of utmost 
  power, another a thaumaturgic engineer of immaculate 
  intuition and the third an exquisite diplomat of the 
  Eclipse Caste. The Lunars were of the now-lost Half 
  and Waxing Moon Castes. The ﬁ rst was known for her 
  perfect sense of balance, be it left-to-right, the proper 
  mixture of piety and worldliness or between light and 
  darkness. The second, known as “the Honest,” had 
  enough dirt on all the others to force his way into the 
  adventure. History remembers them as the Black Nadir 
  Concordat, though surviving texts rarely describe why. 
  Beyond that, records contain only one name, Aja, which 
  could refer to any member of the group.
  Together, the ﬁ ve reached the Mouth of the Void at 
  the center of the Underworld, arriving through passages 
  known then to none, passages that gave them access to 
  the ﬂ oating tombs of the Neverborn. Each tomb was 
  sealed, a cyst that froze around each slain Primordial. 
  The circle used all its power and cunning to penetrate 
  the crypts and discover what remained of a Primordial 
  when it expired. Each new ﬁ ssure released the dreams 
  and whispers of the contained Neverborn. Mad bab-
  blings echoed down the Labyrinth’s halls, transforming 
  its pathways and tunnels into stranger, unpredictable 
  shapes, and many ghosts who heard the newly unleashed 
  voices of the Neverborn disappeared from the Under-
  world proper to lurk in the Labyrinth’s depths.
  The Black Nadir Concordat visited ﬁ ve tombs in 
  turn, the members using their speciﬁ c skills to escape 
  with their lives and the secrets to necromantic spells. 
  The Half Moon balanced the melancholy they felt with 
  happy memories they had shared, and she weighed the 
  
  11
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF NECROMANCY
  positive and negative Essence inherent in the ﬁ nal Charm. 
  The sorcerer used her memories of learning sorcery to 
  master the proper methods quickly. The engineer as-
  sessed the dangerous energies of the Void and promptly 
  devised protections so that the Concordat would survive 
  unchanged. To his companions’ surprise, the Waxing 
  Moon’s talent to perceive others’ secrets proved useful 
  even against the Neverborn: Seeing what they hid, he 
  turned the knowledge against them. With the Waxing 
  Moon’s knowledge, the Eclipse Caste spoke quickly 
  and persuasively to avert their victims’ mad wrath. He 
  confused the remnant Primordials with cunning rhetoric 
  and abused their foggy memories of their deaths until 
  their power declined temporarily to nothing.
  When the group emerged, each member had 
  changed. Against the wills of the Neverborn, the circle 
  had mastered the Essence of the Underworld and the 
  Void. Word slowly spread, and the secrets of Iron Circle 
  necromancy—the Concordat’s discovery, invention and 
  theft—became whispered across Creation, though it 
  was never as widely practiced as sorcery. Mastery of the 
  Onyx Circle would follow mere decades later. The ﬁ nal 
  mastery, however, the Void Circle of Obsidian, would 
  elude necromancers for a long, long time.
  And the Neverborn, too, had changed. Half-roused 
  from their slumber, the hatred the dead titans held for 
  their murderers slowly overpowered their fear.
  NATURE OF DARK MAGIC
  The Black Nadir Concordat always considered nec-
  romancy just a tool, beyond the distinction between good 
  and evil. A spell, after all, is what the spellcaster does 
  with it. A spell that shatters someone’s soul can defend 
  the weak and helpless. Binding a ghost is as neutral as 
  binding a demon. Necromancy can give ghosts a taste 
  of things as they were when alive, and nobody has to 
  demand recompense from the beneﬁ ciary. Or so, at least, 
  do many necromancers claim to this day. Yet a hundred 
  generations of terriﬁ ed mortals would disagree.
  Necromancy could be called collaterally evil. It taps 
  the energies of the Neverborn and the Void, and its 
  spells tend to have inclement effects on denizens of the 
  Underworld. Shadowlands Circle necromancy is vaguely 
  nasty. Spells of this circle can wreak havoc among ghosts 
  and their ilk, but can have neutral or beneﬁ cial effects 
  instead. Spells of the Labyrinth and Void Circles more 
  often harm or destroy ghosts and ghostly creatures inci-
  dentally, as less than an afterthought. One Void Circle 
  spell instantly destroys a dozen random ghosts to wear 
  them as a temporary soulsteel skin. The necromancer 
  BRIGID’S GRAVE GOODS
  The mantle that Brigid wore is supposed 
  to have wondrous powers, making anyone who 
  wears it a signiﬁ cantly more powerful sorcerer. 
  Many believe it was buried with her. Whether 
  Brigid actually rose in the Underworld is 
  unknown (and isn’t the subject of much specula-
  tion, as she’s usually considered a ﬁ gure of myth), 
  but as the mother of sorcery, she certainly had 
  a signiﬁ cant burial.
  To the educated, this means that dull reﬂ ec-
  tions of her old possessions now exist somewhere 
  in the Underworld. They might have been 
  excavated long ago. They might even be lost 
  again to the light of the Unconquered Sun. If 
  they remain, however, the panoply might include 
  her black mantle, also called the Mantle of Soot 
  by those few who theorize its existence. (Such 
  theorists compose a select group indeed, for one 
  must ﬁ rst believe in the legend of Brigid, consider 
  her cloak an artifact and then assume or hope 
  that it was buried with her and still exists.) Even 
  though the First Sorcerer’s mantle is oft rumored 
  to be among the Scarlet Empress’s panoply, the 
  nature of grave goods suggests that a black mantle 
  might still exist in the Underworld.
  If the Mantle of Soot exists, it would have 
  powers similar to the Creation-based version. 
  Wearing it allows a character to access a circle 
  of necromancy one level higher than usually pos-
  sible, and adds ﬁ ve to the necromancer’s Essence 
  for the purposes of all necromantic spells.
  could cast the spell to protect an orphanage (though 
  she probably won’t), but she still must indiscriminately 
  obliviate innocent ghosts to do it.
  Supporters of necromancy’s use as a tool claim that 
  this casually destructive aspect came about because 
  necromancy’s primary innovators since the Usurpation 
  have been the 13 mad conquerors of the Underworld, 
  the Deathlords. Yet, since only some few beings of great 
  evil and the Solar Anathema can master anything more 
  difﬁ cult than the Circle of Iron, it’s hard to imagine 
  the art could develop any other way.
  Perhaps necromancy’s proponents are only making 
  excuses. Even the most ardent apologist cannot deny 
  one basic truth: Every necromantic working forces 
  open a brief doorway between Creation and the Under-
  world, and a little bit of Creation’s Essence drains away. 
  
  12
  Maybe it doesn’t matter. Maybe Creation is inexhaustible. 
  But what if it isn’t? What if a necromancer must sacriﬁ ce 
  a bit of Creation’s future f-or the sake of present power, 
  thus bringing the end of all things a little closer?
  BECOMING A NECROMANCER
  Before a necromancer can bend the Essence of the 
  Underworld to her will, she must hone her awareness to 
  the point where she can see through the split between 
  living and dead. It is a fragile line that exists in all 
  things—the living stand on one side of the line, the 
  dead on the other, and a necromancer learns to see that 
  that boundary is more illusion than reality. Achieving 
  this balance requires the would-be necromancer to initi-
  ate herself into the mysteries of death through a dark 
  version of the Five Ordeals a sorcerer must undergo. 
  They are called the Trials of the Void.
  The ﬁ rst trial is that of melancholy. In many ways, 
  the Underworld is the nadir of all existence. No natural 
  inhabitant of the place has true life—a ghost’s experi-
  ences are dulled immeasurably from what he knew 
  in Creation, and even his tools and pets are no more 
  than shadows of what was buried with him. Likewise, 
  ghosts aren’t truly dead as long as they resist the call 
  of reincarnation or Oblivion. Inhabitants of the Un-
  derworld are truly the most unnatural and unwanted of 
  all things. In a study of melancholy, the necromancer 
  must experience true rock bottom. To have nothing left 
  but to continue to live, living almost without purpose, 
  shows the necromancer how little really separates the 
  living dead from those living without cause.
  The second trial is memory. To learn the arts of 
  the dead, the necromancer must learn as the people of 
  the Underworld do. Just as the sunless realms change 
  only slowly, shaping themselves to the memories of 
  those who dwell there, the necromancer must engage 
  in self-instruction. He must learn something by explor-
  ing his own memories of experiences past, discovering 
  new meaning in old knowledge. When a necromancer 
  has a guide through his initiation, he sometimes passes 
  this trial by mystically exploring another’s mind and 
  memories rather than his own.
  The third trial is stasis. The Underworld resists 
  change. For most places in the Underworld, one can 
  return year after year after year and see no difference 
  in the landscape or inhabitants. A necromancer must 
  understand this intimately. Those consciously trying 
  to pass the trial often choose a featureless plain in 
  the Underworld, where they sit and remain until en-
  lightenment comes. Others draw this experience from 
  memory of living in the same unchanging village for 
  years in childhood, or the stasis of marching for months 
  on end through a land that never appears to change.
  The fourth trial is inﬂ iction. Death comes to all 
  things in time, as the Primordial War proved. And 
  with the Underworld’s inception, death became some-
  thing more frightening than guaranteed reincarnation 
  and continuance. Now, one may languish as a ghost 
  for centuries or even fall into the forever depths of 
  Oblivion. People fear death, now. In some manner, the 
  necromancer must inﬂ ict total and complete, gibbering, 
  turn-guts-to-water fear of death upon someone else. A 
  student might slowly kill a beloved pet before the eyes 
  of its young master, while another could murder an 
  entire village and leave only one alive with a promise 
  to return for her. Less hideously, an eloquent or pas-
  sionate speech can leave listeners as mind-bendingly 
  fearful as such awful demonstrations.
  The ﬁ fth trial is decay. It shares a great deal with the 
  ﬁ fth sorcerous ordeal, of sacriﬁ ce, but the necromancer 
  must sacriﬁ ce through degradation. This loss sharpens 
  the necromancer’s mind, opening it ﬁ nally to the black 
  wonders of necromancy. Sacriﬁ ce can be of anything, 
  but the manner must be appropriate. Rather than cut-
  ting off a ﬁ nger, the necromancer ties it off and lets it 
  blacken and die from lack of blood. Instead of severing 
  ties with a lover, the necromancer slowly poisons his 
  relationship with lies or neglect, and its death is all the 
  more painful for it. One might decimate his excellent 
  reputation through repeated demonstrations of fallibility 
  or vice. Regardless, the sacriﬁ ce must be done through 
  deterioration for the necromancer to truly understand 
  the slow rot that eats away all Creation.
  SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
  The varying philosophical and practical approaches 
  to necromancy developed along different paths than 
  the schools of sorcery. In Creation, sorcery developed 
  all through the First Age. Researchers beneﬁ ted from 
  open lines of communication. Even in the Second Age, 
  most sorcerers hail from the Heptagram, the Lookshy 
  Academy, the academies of Yu-Shan, or the No Moons 
  of the Silver Pact, with each group maintaining com-
  munication among its members.
  Necromancy, on the other hand, began during the 
  decline of the Solar Deliberative’s reign, when lines of 
  communication between the mightiest Solars had already 
  frayed. Its chief researchers kept most of their discoveries 
  secret from Exalted society and eventually even from 
  each other. After the Usurpation, the only truly puis-
  
  13
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF NECROMANCY
  sant necromantic innovators were the 13 Deathlords, 
  who spent centuries as lone savants and disciples of the 
  Neverborn, communicating little with anyone, before 
  ﬁ nally raising their armies and making war against the 
  Underworld and each other. The Sidereals and Lunars 
  continued limited development of the necromantic arts, 
  but never made much progress since they could never 
  grasp anything beyond the Circle of Iron. Never during 
  Creation’s history has necromancy ﬂ ourished under a 
  system of peer review and shared knowledge.
  Therefore, no one understands the principles 
  of necromancy as well as the Solars of the First Age 
  understood sorcery. Some necromancers theorize that 
  the black art’s apparent lack of ﬂ exibility compared to 
  sorcery actually results from the undeveloped state of 
  necromantic metaphysical study. If the Deathlords had 
  the resources and infrastructure of a First Age society, 
  they might bring necromantic understanding to sorcery’s 
  level, but they don’t. Even if they did, it’s unlikely they’d 
  put such an infrastructure to that use.
  As a result, the schools of necromancy organize 
  themselves less along lines of theory and more along 
  lines of practical application. They have no Absorp-
  tions… yet (see The White Treatise, p. 22).
  THE AJAIAN SCHOOL
  The ﬁ rst philosophy of necromancy, and the most 
  common school of necromantic thought in Creation 
  today, was founded before necromancy even existed. The 
  Black Nadir Concordat ﬁ rst desired a science to shape 
  the Underworld as sorcery shaped Creation. They put 
  little thought into the side effects of necromancy’s use. 
  In underlying methodology, this eldest school borrows 
  equally from the Devonian, Salinan and Silurian schools 
  of sorcery, and this omnivorous (if shallow) appropriation 
  from all three primary schools gave necromancy’s founders 
  the insight to master an entirely new form of magic.
  The Ajaian School is also called the School of the 
  Maze, especially among the Deathlords, who prefer 
  this title over a name that gives credit to a Solar (or 
  worse, a Lunar, as Aja’s identity among the Concordat 
  remains a mystery). The school approaches necromancy 
  as a mystery to unravel. Each student must discover or 
  unearth each secret of necromancy by herself, through 
  deduction or theft. Members of the Black Nadir Con-
  cordat were initially blind to the potential existence 
  of Void Circle necromancy, so they saw the Labyrinth 
  as the highest expression of necromancy’s might. The 
  Underworld’s most potent secrets are concealed, and the 
  Underworld’s most potent manipulators must become 
  masters of penetrating that concealment.
  THE SHIZUAN SCHOOL
  The ﬁ rst truly focused school of necromancy was 
  developed only a short time after necromancy’s discov-
  ery. Yi Shizu was the ﬁ rst Solar outside the Concordat 
  to learn necromantic magic, and where he had once 
  been a dedicated seeker of knowledge, the experience 
  changed him. He emerged from the depths below Stygia a 
  changed man. As he saw it, he had personally confronted 
  the Neverborn and forced them to submit once more 
  before the Exalted. That they were newly awakened 
  and weak mattered little to him, and he often forgot 
  to mention that two of necromancy’s discoverers had 
  helped him. His thoughts turned to violent ambitions 
  once he’d “conquered” the Neverborn.
  The Shizuan School concentrates on necromancy’s 
  application in the ﬁ eld of war: Yi Shizu pioneered spells 
  to create warstriders using the destructive resonance 
  of the Underworld’s necrotic Essence. Its followers see 
  necromancy as mustering one set of forces to attack 
  another; each spell is a battle between the Underworld 
  and Creation. The Shizuan School is also called the 
  School of the Legion, and the First and Forsaken Lion 
  is its most prominent adherent.
  THE MAW
  Necromancers whisper that the Maw was founded 
  by the ﬁ rst Exalt to realize the potential existence of the 
  Obsidian Circle. Through the ﬁ rst several centuries of 
  DESTINY LESS KIND
  One of the Deathlords had, in life, an in-
  timate understanding of the Salinan Working 
  that wove the trials of sorcerous initiation into 
  the destinies of future sorcerers. This Deathlord 
  almost certainly retains that knowledge, but nei-
  ther the Deathlords nor anyone else performed a 
  similar miracle for the necromantic trials—and 
  they aren’t going to. Not only are the stars of the 
  Underworld different than those in Creation, 
  resulting in a different arrangement of fates for its 
  inhabitants, but such a working would empower 
  the individual over those with experience. Most 
  Deathlords would prefer to restrict necromancy 
  to those whom they teach and guide through the 
  trials. They cannot do so, of course, but it is not 
  in their nature to give up power for others.
  
  14
  necromancy’s development, the prevailing wisdom held 
  that necromancy reached its limit in the Labyrinth Circle 
  of Onyx. To many necromancers, the revelation of a deeper 
  form of necromancy, just out of reach, rendered many 
  Ajaian teachings obsolete. No longer was necromancy’s 
  highest expression the deceit and confusion of the Laby-
  rinth. The Void does not conceal—it devours.
  Adherents of the Maw see necromancy not as a sci-
  ence, but as an act of devotion. Every spell is a prayer, 
  and every casting a sacrament—or sacriﬁ ce. The Maw 
  is less a school than a cult. Its students insist that each 
  time a spell of necromancy is cast, Oblivion’s mouth 
  yawns just a bit wider, becomes just a bit more prepared 
  to devour Creation whole.
  Despite its stated rejection of deceit in favor of de-
  struction, the Maw has two factions, one public and one 
  hidden. The most common face of the Maw encourages 
  worship of the Neverborn as the gods of the Void. This 
  school is common among the Deathlords and is the school 
  most commonly taught to their servants. The Bishop of the 
  Chalcedony Thurible is its most prominent adherent.
  The second, hidden face of the Maw encourages 
  worship of the Void itself, bypassing the Neverborn 
  entirely as pathetic, irrelevant twice-conquered beings. 
  This heresy is heavily suppressed everywhere, even 
  (especially) among the nephwracks, though heretical 
  Maw cultists insist that at least one Deathlord subscribes 
  privately to its philosophies.
  WHO LEARNS NECROMANCY
  Creation holds fewer necromancers than sorcerers. 
  Necromancy’s fundamentally lonesome nature ensures 
  that far fewer who seek to learn it succeed, and fewer 
  necromancers willingly pass their teachings to others. 
  Master/apprentice relationships are fraught with ten-
  sion, and every necromancer fears he will someday pass 
  into the Underworld as a ghost, vulnerable to spells he 
  once mastered which his student now wields.
  NEPHWRACKS
  Ghosts cannot master necromancy, but nephwracks 
  can. That discrepancy is a theoretical problem that 
  many ponder but none can satisfactorily answer. After 
  all, a nephwrack is nothing more than a ghost who has 
  lost her mind to the Labyrinth and the Abyss. Some 
  necromantic spells can even return a nephwrack to 
  sanity. Many savants concern themselves with why this 
  division exists, but few agree on an answer.
  Deathlords propose a reason that partially satisﬁ es 
  them. They cannot prove it with their First Age theo-
  ries of Essence manipulation, but they agree that the 
  patronage of the Neverborn gives nephwracks access to 
  the Shadowlands Circle. No Deathlord readily follows 
  the logic to its conclusion—that as ghosts uplifted by 
  the Neverborn, they are not much more than especially 
  powerful nephwracks themselves.
  Tainted by the whispers of the Void and driven to 
  love it with a mad passion, nephwracks hear the voices 
  of the Neverborn resonating in the depths of their 
  souls, and they respond to what they hear. Their taint 
  enables them to grasp the forces of necromancy. The 
  most powerful nephwracks master the Shadowlands 
  Circle Necromancy Charm by traveling to the edge 
  of Oblivion’s maw and communing directly with the 
  Neverborn in their ﬂ oating temple-tombs.
  Nephwracks have an easy time with the Trials of 
  the Void. As ghosts themselves, they already possess 
  much of the nature necessary to control negative 
  Essence on that scale. And it’s easy for a nephwrack 
  to understand the practices of inﬂ iction and decay. 
  Many pass through the initiation effortlessly as they 
  drift, hunt, howl and kill in the Labyrinth, pausing 
  only to turn the experiences into necromancy when 
  the whispers of the Neverborn tell them to.
  With necromancy, a nephwrack learns to command 
  and enslave the ghosts that are her former peers far more 
  effectively than she could through the native arts of the 
  dead. Terrible spells such as Summon Ghost and Black 
  Candle Visage allow a nephwrack to warp and bind her 
  fellow dead to her will and her service. Yet, ghostly 
  necromancers operate under a limitation not suffered 
  by the living. Many of the spells for brutalizing the 
  dead require hot blood to cast, and the blood of ghosts, 
  when ghosts bleed at all, is impotent. For this reason, 
  just as living necromancers trafﬁ c with the dead, dead 
  necromancers must trafﬁ c with the living, exchanging 
  favors and services for the blood through which they 
  assert their dominance over the Underworld.
  Nephwracks learn spells from several sources. Like 
  any necromancer, they may learn from more experienced 
  necromancers. These are usually other nephwracks. 
  The less experienced nephwracks indenture themselves 
  to their more powerful cousins, who often use them 
  harshly. Therefore, a nephwrack is more likely to seek 
  out a Deathlord for spells. Deathlords often ask favors of 
  nephwracks, but rarely anything worse than an Abyss-
  touched ghost would do on its own.
  Some nephwrack necromancers learn how to derive 
  the principles of new or traditional dark magics from 
  the death-murmurs echoing in their heads. The echoes 
  
  15
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF NECROMANCY
  released by the Black Nadir Concordat still ring through 
  the halls of the Labyrinth and carry some vestige of their 
  original power. In the last few years, a few nephwracks 
  have sought training from the Deathlords’ new favor-
  ite pupils. The Abyssal Exalted have not been around 
  long enough for that option to become standard, but 
  some nephwracks consider the deathknights allies and 
  potential colleagues.
  Nephwracks who explore the Underworld more deeply 
  might ﬁ nd spells recorded in ancient tomes from the First 
  Age. Mysteriously, some books of sorcery buried with their 
  owners shift to become grimoires of necromantic spells 
  when they appear as grave goods in the Underworld. Finally, 
  the least common source of necromantic knowledge for 
  nephwracks is from the few necromancers of Creation. 
  Sidereal Exalted occasionally ﬁ nd it worth their while to 
  trade a spell for a favor from the damned ghosts, and even 
  the Lunar Exalted sometimes become so desperate.
  Deathlords (and other powerful entities) occasionally 
  experiment with ghosts learning necromancy. Some use 
  lessons and tutors, others are more brutal. One researcher 
  drove a ghost mad with the whispers of Oblivion and 
  “saved” her from that madness ﬁ ve times before the 
  subject shriveled inward on herself and disappeared 
  into the Abyss. Still, if someone could learn how to 
  teach necromancy to ghosts, he would have not only 
  an enormous body of willing students, he would have a 
  near-limitless army of volunteers for any ambition.
  GHOST-BLOODED
  The most numerous necromancers in Creation may 
  be the Ghost-Blooded. Ghosts of both genders bear 
  children to the living for many reasons, but sometimes, 
  they want to command the occult might of necromancy, 
  if only by proxy. Would-be sires of necromancer-kings 
  must beware of the process backﬁ ring, though. Most 
  ghostly parents who conceive children for this purpose 
  work tirelessly from a child’s birth to instill unshakable 
  loyalty in his heart. Pity the wraith who fails to retain 
  control of her child, as she has little recourse and no 
  shelter should her necromancer son tire of her.
  Other Half-Dead are speciﬁ cally kept away from all 
  necromantic knowledge by parents who fear this out-
  come… a safeguard especially common among ghostly 
  rulers who wish to raise blood-bound ambassadors to 
  the world of the living.
  The Deathlords employ many Ghost-Blooded nec-
  romancers. The Abyssal Exalted and their masters face 
  less danger from necromantic spells, and a Half-Dead 
  majordomo with a grasp of the Shadowlands Circle’s dark 
  magic can help in many situations. The best bet for a Ghoul 
  with necromantic aspirations and an uncooperative par-
  ent—outside of the Raiton Academy (see pp. 18-19)—is 
  to align himself with the armies of Oblivion.
  DEATHLORDS AND ABYSSALS
  While Ghost-Bloods are perhaps 
  the most common necromancers, the 
  most potent are the Deathlords and 
  their newest slaves. Only Deathlords 
  and Abyssal Exalted can master necro-
  mancy of the Void Circle. Every Deathlord has mastered 
  Void Circle necromancy, and the deathknights are its 
  most promising students of late.
  At least one Deathlord subscribes to every school of 
  necromancy, and few Deathlords withhold necromantic 
  knowledge from their Abyssal disciples. Some fear that 
  the enlightenment of the Void would bring knowledge 
  enough for the Abyssal Exalted to free themselves from 
  bondage, but they know the difﬁ culty of impeding the 
  Exalted. Even Deathlords who fear their servants typi-
  cally resign themselves to portioning necromancy out 
  carefully rather than trying to hide it away. A number 
  of Deathlords make necromantic instruction mandatory. 
  Slowly but surely, the Abyssals are becoming an army 
  that can channel the energies of the Void directly into 
  Creation’s heart.
  Rogue Abyssals have a more difﬁ cult time, but a 
  few manage to steal necromantic instruction manuals 
  before defecting. Most Deathlords take a wait-and-see 
  approach with such renegades. As the Deathlords see 
  it, mastering necromancy can only lead a rogue Abyssal 
  back along the path to damnation and Oblivion. Some 
  Deathlords, secretly and through third parties, provide 
  necromantic secrets to the rogues whose Monstrances of 
  Celestial Portion they possess, tempting their prodigal 
  students back into the fold.
  SOLARS
  As the Solars return, they ﬁ nd 
  their way back to the arts they discov-
  ered in the past, and necromancy is 
  one such art. Solar necromancers are 
  few thus far, but as time goes on, more 
  will rediscover the black magic of the Underworld. And 
  yet, necromancy is one of the few ﬁ elds in which Solars 
  are not the paragons of excellence. A Solar cannot learn 
  Void Circle Necromancy, though she can master the 
  Shadowlands and Labyrinth Circles.
  
  16
  A Solar could learn necromancy in any of the 
  usual ways—anything from a copy of The Book of Bone 
  and Ebony to enrollment in the Raiton Academy, 
  from discovery of the Cenotaph of Urosh-Kar to theft 
  of secrets from a Deathlord. Solars are masters of 
  unorthodox solutions to complex problems, and the 
  quest for necromantic power is just such a challenge.
  LUNARS
  Necromancy is the birthright of 
  the Lunar Exalted as much as anyone 
  else. The Black Nadir Concordat 
  boasted two Lunar Exalts among its 
  members. Brigid made her journey 
  alone, but necromancy came from cooperation between 
  the Chosen of the Sun and the Moon. And yet, the 
  Silver Pact is harshly divided on the subject of teaching 
  necromancy to young Lunars now.
  “The Honest” and the nameless Half Moon were 
  equal to their Solar compatriots on the quest to unearth 
  necromancy’s secrets, but after the discovery, they were 
  relegated to secondary positions in the Black Nadir 
  Concordat, because they could not learn necromancy 
  past the Iron Circle. Yet, such a legacy does not ex-
  plain the controversy among the Silver Pact. Lunars 
  are survivors and pragmatists, and necromancy can be 
  a useful tool.
  Many Lunar Exalted devote their lives to ensuring 
  the survival of Creation, of humanity or of something 
  else they hold dear. If the Maw whispered the truth and 
  every necromantic casting erodes the barriers between 
  Creation and Oblivion, then necromancy simply isn’t 
  safe no matter how or why it’s used. Centuries later, 
  when spies brought reports of the Deathlords actually 
  casting spells of the previously hypothetical Obsidian 
  Circle, many Silver Pact elders were convinced and 
  swore they’d purge necromancy from Creation.
  Other Lunar elders disagree. Lunars, they point 
  out, were integral to necromancy’s discovery. A Lunar, 
  they insist, was the ﬁ rst to truly master necromancy, 
  as evidenced by The Skull Diary. Since necromancy’s 
  Underworld-derived power opposes the energies of the 
  Wyld, it’s an invaluable tool in patrolling Creation’s 
  borders. They insist necromancy is part of the Lunar 
  heritage and refuse to stop teaching it. Nor do they 
  tolerate without challenge attempts by their ideologi-
  
  17
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF NECROMANCY
  cal rivals to block young Lunars from learning the art 
  if they wish to do so.
  Creation being so huge, and Silver Pact elders be-
  ing so rare, a Lunar who wishes to practice necromancy 
  might need to travel far to ﬁ nd a mentor who promotes 
  necromantic practice among the Chosen of Luna, but 
  the task of ﬁ nding such a mentor is never impossible.
  Most Lunar necromancers follow the Ajaian 
  school, though a few adhere to the traditions ﬁ rst set 
  forth by Yi Shizu and use their necromancy to bolster 
  their savage armies. If any Lunars follow the Maw, they 
  keep either their beliefs or their existence hidden from 
  Lunar society as a whole.
  SIDEREALS
  In contrast with the Lunars, 
  Sidereals really do take an entirely 
  pragmatic approach to necromantic 
  study. Sidereals study necromancy 
  when they receive positions that 
  take them into the Underworld, or to better qualify for 
  such positions should a Sidereal actively seek one. The 
  Five-Score Fellowship knows the dangers inherent in 
  the Underworld’s magic but feels conﬁ dent it can keep 
  any damage contained. With their view of Fate, the 
  Sidereals can see how necromancy affects Creation and 
  make sure such damage is repaired quickly. Addition-
  ally, their own Fate-weaving Charms show little power 
  over the Underworld and its denizens, and the Sidereals 
  hate seeing anyone beyond their power. Some Sidereals 
  argue that necromancy’s principles aren’t sufﬁ ciently 
  understood, and the Chosen of the Maidens should play 
  it safe and leave the uncertain alone, but other Sidereals 
  most often veto this argument in committee.
  Sidereals cannot learn any necromancy beyond 
  the Circle of Iron, and attempts to master Labyrinth 
  Circle Necromancy always result in messy and painful 
  failure. A young Sidereal necromancer typically learns 
  the Ajaian tradition from his mentor or sifu and receives 
  limited access to necromantic spells based on what his 
  superiors believe he needs to fulﬁ ll his duties. A Sidereal 
  necromancer usually tries to seem unaffected by the 
  Trials of the Void, in order to preserve the illusion that 
  necromancy is simply one tool available to him. This 
  seldom works. The capable Sidereal necromancer can 
  look forward to a future of Underworld-related assign-
  ments as his colleagues in Yu-Shan seek to keep him 
  away from them. Sidereal necromancers face as much 
  distrust from their peers as any other practitioners of 
  the black art do.
  DRAGONS OF A 
  DIFFERENT COLOR
  Dragon-Blooded cannot learn 
  necromancy—usually. The savants 
  of the Heptagram and other reposito-
  ries of mystical knowledge recognize 
  a very rare trait that occasionally surfaces in the 
  bloodlines of the Terrestrial Exalted. It might have 
  been bred into Terrestrial families through Old Realm 
  experiments, or it could be the result of mingling a 
  Terrestrial bloodline with that of the Ghost-Blooded. 
  This rare “defect” produces Dragon-Blooded with 
  unusually pale skin, and whose elemental aspects and 
  manifestations appear wan, though they aren’t actu-
  ally weaker than that of any other Terrestrial Exalt. 
  Attuned to death, these rare Exalted cannot master 
  Terrestrial Circle Sorcery. Instead, Shadowlands Circle 
  Necromancy is their birthright, if they can pass the 
  initiation and ﬁ nd a tutor.
  No more than one Dragon-Blood in a thousand 
  shows this recessive trait. In the Threshold, death-
  attuned outcastes ﬁ nd their own way. Occasionally, 
  one wrests knowledge of the necromantic arts from 
  a cowed nephwrack or submits to tutelage by the 
  Deathlords, but most remain forever unaware of the 
  truth behind their pale skin and fragile health. Among 
  the Dynasts, such individuals would bring shame on 
  their Houses and families for tainted blood—if they 
  were ever found out. Dynasts who evince this capa-
  bility are hidden away by their Houses, both to avoid 
  the dishonor of having an impure bloodline and to 
  conceal the existence of what almost every House 
  leader considers a secret weapon.
  Luckily, only the sharpest graduates of the Hepta-
  gram are likely to recognize the taint and what it means. 
  A character’s player must succeed at an (Intelligence 
  + Occult) roll at difﬁ culty 3 or (Intelligence + Lore) 
  at difﬁ culty 4 to grasp the basics of the blood. Higher 
  thresholds on the rolls reveal more information about 
  (and uses for) such Dragon-Blooded.
  The animas of these Dragon-Blooded, after they 
  learn the Shadowlands Circle Necromancy Charm, grow 
  tainted with the elements of the Underworld. Aspects 
  of Air are surrounded by prayers whispered on conjured 
  breath. Aspects of Earth glow with the dark-hued ener-
  gies of Underworld jade. Aspects of Fire summon pale or 
  discolored ghost-ﬂ ame. Aspects of Water are spattered 
  with blood. Aspects of Wood cultivate dry and fragile 
  growths of bone from their skin.
  
  18
  GODS, DEMONS AND 
  OTHER QUESTIONABLES
  Few spirits use necromancy, or would want to. Most 
  are too strongly tied to Creation to shift even a moth’s 
  breath of necromantic Essence. They use sorcery or 
  their own idiosyncratic Charms for their world-shaking 
  effects. Yet some few do gain the power. Gods whose 
  inﬂ uence relates to death, decay, emptiness or similar 
  themes might wield necromancy instead. Whether any 
  gods at all possessed this ability before the Exalted dis-
  covered necromancy is questionable: Did their nature 
  change after that discovery, or did their strange powers 
  inspire the Exalted to seek it in the ﬁ rst place?
  Gods who have the ambition, or simply the nature, 
  might corrupt themselves or allow an Abyssal to corrupt 
  them to the aspect of death. Such gods abdicate their 
  ofﬁ ces and responsibilities in the Celestial or Terrestrial 
  Bureaucracies (though all known “resignations” thus 
  far have been by lesser gods) and become gods of the 
  Underworld with similar inﬂ uence and tainted powers. 
  Since the Underworld has no natural gods, defectors 
  ﬁ nd free reign there, though ghosts are a little better 
  armed against gods than mortals are. Gods who desert 
  Creation in this fashion almost invariably use necro-
  mancy rather than sorcery, if they are puissant enough 
  to wield either—though they avoid challenging the 
  mighty Deathlords.
  Elementals, as literal aspects of Creation rather than 
  bureaucratic guardians or overseers, can never learn 
  necromancy in any form—as far as anyone knows. If 
  they, like gods, can be corrupted into the Underworld, 
  the more powerful elementals might acquire that ability. 
  What such elementals would become remains a mat-
  ter of pure speculation, for no encounters with fallen 
  elementals have been recorded.
  Demons, like gods, are too fundamentally bound 
  to their masters’ natures to use necromancy. The Yozis 
  are not of Creation, for they hate it and it hates them, 
  but the Essence of a world created by their siblings’ 
  deaths—that is even more discordant with their wills. 
  Still, that does not mean no demon ever learns necro-
  mancy. Demonkind varies widely, and even in ruin, the 
  Primordials can give their spawn almost any aptitude 
  they desire. Iminios, Last of What Crawls Beneath, and 
  Wrent, the Centurion of Loss, Messenger Soul of the 
  Last of What Crawls Beneath, both wield necromancy, 
  and potently.
  Other and stranger things can also wield 
  necromancy. Such things include horrors of the Un-
  derworld—entities fouler than ghosts and nephwracks 
  that lurk in the darkness of the Labyrinth. Some of 
  them come in groups. Ghosts or the most daring liv-
  ing explorer-scholars have classiﬁ ed some of these 
  creatures. The mightiest, called hekatonkhire, can 
  be almost anything; each of these horrors commands 
  powers as unique as their appearances. As creatures of 
  death, many hekatonkhire can use necromancy. (For 
  a sample hekatonkhire, see p. 58.)
  Other potential necromancers include the strange 
  progeny that might come from a living creature’s or 
  spirit’s union with a hekatonkhire or other Underworld 
  beast. Each unique entity (or race, if the world is unlucky) 
  could have the inborn potential for necromancy.
  ACADEMIES OF NECROMANCY
  Each Deathlord’s force could be considered a necro-
  mantic academy. Every Deathlord mastered the Obsidian 
  Circle long ago, and most of them either teach their 
  servants directly or assign them nephwrack or Ghost-
  Blooded tutors. Yet, the forces of the Deathlords are 
  not the only sources of necromantic knowledge in the 
  Age of Sorrows.
  THE RAITON ACADEMY
  For centuries, Nightfall Island in the Southwest 
  forbade its Ghost-Bloods from learning necromantic 
  secrets. The living and half-living served the dead, 
  and necromancy upset the rightful order set forth by 
  the ancestor cult. Then, the Deathlords rose to power 
  and overthrew Stygia’s government.
  An ambitious Ghoul called Seven Whips made 
  a persuasive argument to Nightfall’s rulers: As long 
  as necromancy was forbidden, those half-living with 
  necromantic aspirations would feel the siren call of the 
  Deathlord’s armies. He asked his lords which would be 
  worse, Ghost-Blooded necromancers in service to the 
  state, or Ghost-Blooded necromancers in service to its 
  enemies? Seven Whips was at that time the general of 
  Nightfall’s armies and well liked by the nation’s living 
  population. The veiled threat behind his reasoned 
  argument was not lost on Nightfall’s rulers. Though 
  they feared to give the living power over the dead, 
  Nightfall’s rulers ultimately feared losing their inde-
  pendence more.
  Seven Whips proposed a grand college of necro-
  mancy. He personally would depart and seek tutors while 
  the premises were under construction. He returned 
  within a year, having learned the black art himself in 
  parts unknown. The speed at which he’d developed his 
  talents led some to whisper he’d been a necromancer 
  
  19
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF NECROMANCY
  all along—and perhaps his persuasive arguments alone 
  hadn’t swayed Nightfall’s ruling council. These allega-
  tions were never proven. He also brought several other 
  necromancers, however, and a copy of The Book of Bone 
  and Ebony. The Raiton Academy had its faculty.
  Today, the Raiton Academy is the largest indepen-
  dent school of necromancy in Creation. Admission 
  fees for foreigners are high (a Resources •••• 
  purchase every year for seven years; for Nightfall 
  citizens, the cost is Resources •••). Yet the academy’s 
  official policy is to admit anyone—Ghost-Blood, 
  enlightened mortal and even the Anathema, as long 
  as they agree to come to Nightfall’s defense for the 
  duration of their stay and during an indentured period 
  thereafter. Usually, the indenture serves as a way to 
  purchase longer-term aid with kindness. Nightfall’s 
  rulers forgive graduates their indenture and allow 
  them to go, earning more allies in the process. Only 
  students judged to hold no goodwill for the Raiton 
  Academy are actually forced to stay. It remains to 
  be seen whether the Raiton Academy would admit 
  the Abyssal Exalted, since the school was founded 
  to counter the power of the Deathlords.
  Seven Whips himself is long dead, and upon death 
  traded his stewardship of the academy for a prominent 
  seat in Nightfall’s council chambers. His necromantic 
  talents passed with his life, but he still makes time for 
  guest lectures and personally presides over graduation 
  ceremonies. Over the centuries, rebellious students 
  have bound him twice, but the harsh punishments 
  handed down by Nightfall’s courts have dissuaded any 
  from trying again.
  THE CENOTAPH OF UROSH-KAR
  Within 50 miles of the Cenotaph of Urosh-Kar, 
  there are no shadowlands. Nor are there any zones 
  of Wyld inﬂ uence. Nor are there any demesnes or 
  manses or gateways to Yu-Shan. Nor are there even 
  any settlements.
  The Cenotaph is a standing stone of ﬂ at, rusting 
  iron; smooth, polished onyx; and jagged, glittering 
  obsidian. Interlocking circles of pitted, black basalt 
  surround the central obelisk. Thin rings of soulsteel, 
  like twisted, half-melted clockwork artiﬁ ce, curve up 
  from the ground, loop around the pillar and descend 
  once more to bury themselves. Taken all at once, the 
  Cenotaph of Urosh-Kar looks like a single huge machine, 
  long broken and half buried. In recorded memory, no 
  one has activated it. No animals approach it unless 
  compelled by Charms, nor do birds ﬂ y overhead. It is 
  surrounded only by stillness and silence for as far as the 
  eye can see and the ear can hear.
  And yet, it moves. No one ever ﬁ nds the Cenotaph 
  of Urosh-Kar in the same place twice. The enigmatic ruin 
  seems to favor the Northeast, and savants record it ap-
  pearing there more often than any other direction. This 
  pattern, however, could simply reﬂ ect the fact that the 
  Northeast is the most populated area where it appears, 
  which would make it more likely to be noticed.
  The astrology of Creation cannot reveal the 
  Cenotaph’s current location, for the Cenotaph exists 
  outside Fate. So does anyone standing within five 
  miles of it. On the one occasion when a Sidereal 
  Exalt could inspect the mechanism in person while 
  remaining in contact with the Bureau of Destiny, 
  observing its location astrologically revealed only 
  featureless, unremarkable forest. Some Sidereals 
  suggest the Cenotaph was an attempt to create a 
  second Loom of Fate, or perhaps a gambit to bring 
  both the Loom of Fate and its Underworld counter-
  part, the Calendar of Setesh, under the control of a 
  single device. For whatever reason it was built, the 
  endeavor failed so badly that it erased its creator from 
  existence and unhinged itself from any set location. 
  What’s known is the creator’s name—Urosh-Kar 
  built the device, and his name floats into the mind 
  of anyone who sees it.
  While the Cenotaph’s position cannot be found 
  through the astrology of Creation alone, it can some-
  times be deduced by cross-referencing the stars of both 
  Creation and the Underworld. The Deathlords send 
  servants to examine Creation’s stars from time to time, 
  and they send their Abyssals to visit it. Although no 
  shadowlands exist in the direct vicinity of the Ceno-
  taph, the whispers of the Neverborn can be heard as 
  clearly as if one stood on a platform suspended directly 
  above the Mouth of Oblivion, equidistant from all the 
  temple-tombs of the fallen Primordials.
  An Essence channeler who meditates at the 
  complex of stones and monoliths and obelisks can self-
  initiate into any one circle of necromancy. Furthermore, 
  seekers who ﬁ nd the Cenotaph sometimes leave with 
  a new necromancy spell, previously unknown, despite 
  engaging in no research time at all. It is almost as if 
  the dead machinery of the complex freely gifts pilgrims 
  with secrets.
  Were the Cenotaph or Urosh-Kar stationary, a 
  Deathlord would undoubtedly have claimed it by now, 
  but it moves, and no seeker ever ﬁ nds it twice. At least, 
  no one admits to having done so.
  
  20
  NECROMANTIC TOMES
  Necromancy has fewer tomes dedicated to its practice 
  than sorcery does. The wide dissemination of necromantic 
  knowledge goes against the interests of the art’s most 
  potent practitioners, so extant books of necromancy 
  remain securely hidden from the uninitiated.
  THE BOOK OF BONE AND EBONY
  Brigid wrote two books, The White Treatise and The 
  Black Treatise, to explain the principles of sorcery and 
  teach the ﬁ rst ﬁ ve spells ever created. In the years after 
  necromancy’s invention, the ﬁ ve discoverers sought to 
  spread their knowledge slowly, amongst those whom 
  they wished to place in their debt. They collaborated 
  to pen the ﬁ rst treatise of necromancy and named it 
  simply The Black Treatise. Students of necromancy 
  knew from context which so-named treatise a speaker 
  referred to, and the deception slowed the spread of 
  the news. The guide’s name symbolized the difference 
  between the two schools of magic. Necromancy is purer 
  in intent than sorcery, but also narrower—it did not 
  need a White Treatise.
  Since those bygone days, the existence of the 
  magic of the Underworld has become more common 
  knowledge. Now, to distinguish the founding text from 
  Brigid’s original Black Treatise of sorcery, this book is 
  most commonly called The Book of Bone and Ebony, or, 
  occasionally, The Black Treatise of Necromancy or The 
  Second Black Treatise. Scholars point to the inversion 
  of black and white, bone and ebony, as representing 
  opposition between the two sorts of magic.
  The Book of Bone and Ebony is more efﬁ ciently writ-
  ten than the ﬁ rst guidebooks for sorcery. The bulk of 
  it—the “Book of Bone”—is a guide to self-initiation in the 
  necromantic arts. The last 20 pages—the so-called “Book 
  of Ebony”—use a variant of Silur’s notation techniques 
  to lay out the ﬁ rst ﬁ ve necromancy spells ripped from 
  the dead brains of the Neverborn: Iron Countermagic, 
  Piercing the Shroud, Raise the Skeletal Horde, Rune 
  of Sweet Passing and Summon Ghost.
  The instructions in The Second Black Treatise are 
  not entirely safe. The book advocates using the purest 
  font of necromantic knowledge of which its authors 
  were aware: the whispers of the Neverborn. Disciples of 
  The Second Black Treatise must travel into the Labyrinth 
  and strain to hear the dead Primordials’ babblings to 
  complete their lessons—a dangerous task for the living 
  and especially for the Neverborn’s enemies.
  Traditionally, would-be necromancers dress in 
  nondescript funerary garb and travel into the Un-
  derworld disguised as ghosts, seeking a Labyrinth 
  entrance relatively free of nephwracks and plasmic 
  horrors and meditating just inside it until they glean 
  the proper insights. They then depart to fulﬁ ll the 
  Trials of the Void. Such entrances are rare, and the 
  living have much difﬁ culty disguising themselves as 
  the dead, so the journey is often perilous. Today, there 
  are safer tutors.
  Availability and Cost: The Book of Bone and Ebony
  is forbidden in most civilized nations, and the others 
  haven’t heard of it. Anyone who seeks a copy must 
  expect to ﬁ nd it a Resources •••• purchase, involving 
  dangerous and untrustworthy people.
  Artifact Level: •
  THE SKULL DIARY
  When first discovered, this tome, which gives 
  itself no title, was not written in ink on paper. It 
  was inscribed in a complex Old Realm cipher burned 
  into the crania of 1,000 human skulls ranging from 
  infants to old men. A few were the skulls of mutants, 
  displaying properties common to the Wyld-addicted 
  from all four corners of Creation. The skulls were 
  piled in a disorganized heap at the steps of the Sen-
  ate Chamber of the Solar Deliberative, five years 
  before the Usurpation. Not a single witness saw who 
  scattered them, nor were any signs of the stranger’s 
  identity found afterward.
  Once organized, partially deciphered and scribed 
  in a more readable format, The Skull Diary was found 
  to be the personal research journal of a necromancer 
  of some skill. This necromancer had deduced the 
  existence of the Obsidian Circle and laid out just 
  how one could self-initiate in its secrets—theoreti-
  cally, if one possessed the potential to master such a 
  Charm. By the time of The Skull Diary’s appearance, 
  the small necromancer population already suspected 
  the existence of the Void Circle, but The Skull Diary’s 
  arguments stood out for two reasons.
  First, no one then had actually achieved the 
  Circle of Obsidian or made any solid suggestions 
  how to reach that necromantic pinnacle. Second and 
  more importantly, the arguments and deductive paths 
  taken by The Skull Diary’s author were unlike the lines 
  of investigation pursued by any other necromancer. 
  Whoever the work’s author was, he or she had clearly 
  done the research alone. The nameless necromantic 
  savant had made brilliant deductive leaps while also 
  completely missing other common components of 
  advanced necromantic metaphysics, almost as if blind 
  to their very possibility.
  
  21
  CHAPTER ONE • THE WORLD OF NECROMANCY
  Some Lunars claimed the author as the nameless 
  Half Moon, formerly of the Black Nadir Concordat, 
  but how could she have deduced the Circle of Obsidian 
  when no Lunar had ever successfully initiated even into 
  the Circle of Onyx? And why did she not come forward 
  publicly, as she had vowed to do when she passed from 
  society and disappeared? These questions were still 
  under investigation when the Dragon-Blooded and 
  Sidereals murdered the Solar Deliberative and drove 
  the Lunars to the edges of Creation. After that, the 
  whole matter became moot.
  Today, a few incomplete transcripts of The Skull 
  Diary survive in the libraries of Yu-Shan. The original 
  Skull Diary is divided among any number of owners. 
  Since many necromancers consider it a most prized 
  possession and have it buried with them upon death, 
  the Underworld harbors grave good copies (often 
  multiples) of more than a few skulls. If assembled 
  and deciphered properly, The Skull Diary could help 
  a rogue Abyssal self-initiate into the Void Circle. The 
  Skull Diary’s theoretical underpinnings of necromancy 
  would certainly assist a necromancer who sought to 
  advance knowledge of death magic in general, per-
  haps in an attempt to create new necromantic spells 
  or even unique Charms to enhance one’s afﬁ nity for 
  the black art.
  Availability and Cost: Copies of parts of The Skull 
  Diary cost at least Resources ••• to obtain. Complete 
  copies are not available at any price, and no extant 
  transcript covers more than a tenth of the grisly text. 
  An Abyssal would need to collect them all to self-initi-
  ate into the Circle of Obsidian.
  Artifact Level: • for any single volume, •• for 
  a set of three, ••• for six, and •••• for a collection 
  (comprising more than a dozen volumes with overlap-
  ping contents) that gives the complete text.
  
  22
  
  23
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  The literature of necromantic spells is small, but 
  not small enough for comfort. The deathly power a 
  master necromancer wields in Creation inspires fear 
  enough, but it pales in comparison to his power over 
  the Underworld and the spirits of the dead.
  THE SHADOWLANDS 
  CIRCLE OF IRON
  The Shadowlands Circle takes its 
  name from the blighted lands where Cre-
  ation and the Underworld merge. Most 
  necromancers ﬁ nd this circle the only one they can learn. 
  These spells are nevertheless mighty enough to inspire 
  terror in the realms of both the living and the dead.
  BANISH GHOST
  Cost: 12+m
  Target: One ghost
  The ease of casting this spell displays the sheer 
  power an experienced necromancer can wield over 
  inhabitants of the Underworld. Banish Ghost has 
  special timing rules. The character can cast it as a 
  reflexive Shape Shadowlands Circle Necromancy 
  action that takes 0 ticks. Once the spell is cast, the 
  necromancer and targeted ghost enter a battle of wills. 
  Their players each roll (Essence + Willpower) as a 
  Speed 3, -1 DV action. This resisted roll must continue 
  until one accumulates three more successes than the 
  other. The ghost suffers a -1 internal penalty for every 
  three additional motes the necromancer spends on the 
  spell. If the ghost wins, she ignores the banishment 
  and the necromancer may not try to banish her again 
  for three days. Should the necromancer win, he may 
  inﬂ ict one of the following penalties:
  • Banish the ghost from Creation to the analogous 
  point in the Underworld. The ghost may not return to 
  Creation for three days.
  • Banish the ghost into her tomb, corpse or place 
  of death for three days. She may not leave the conﬁ nes 
  of her tomb or stray farther than ﬁ ve yards from her 
  body or place of death.
  • Banish the ghost from the character’s presence for 
  three days. If the necromancer sees the ghost before the 
  spell’s effect ends, the ghost suffers one unsoakable level of 
  bashing damage each action until she escapes his gaze.
  Cruel necromantic masters banish a loyal servant 
  from sight while still expecting ﬂ awless service.
  BLACK CANDLE VISAGE
  Cost: 18m
  Target: One ghost
  The character spills drops of blood from both 
  hands, and her Essence spins it into a cat’s cradle of 
  CHAPTER TWO
  CHAPTER TWO
  THE BLACK TREATISE OF 
  THE BLACK TREATISE OF 
  NECROMANCY
  NECROMANCY
  
  24
  crimson strands. Pulling and tugging at any ghost in 
  line of sight, the character shapes her target’s corpus 
  like an artist shapes wax. Alterations require a (Dex-
  terity + Craft [Moliation]) roll. The necromancer can 
  cause the following effects, which consume a number 
  of successes as noted:
  • Superficial Change to Appearance: One success. 
  The ghost can look like a speciﬁ c individual or just look 
  different. Add a number of dice equal to the character’s 
  Craft (Moliation) score to the relevant disguise roll.
  • Terrifying: Two successes. Players of any char-
  acters who see the ghost must attempt Valor rolls. 
  Failure indicates that the character cannot face the 
  ghost directly. Extras ﬂ ee, and the ghost enjoys a +2 
  DV bonus against those who stay and ﬁ ght.
  • Increased/Decreased Appearance: One dot per 
  success. The character cannot increase Appearance be-
  yond his (Craft [Moliation] + 2) or reduce it below 0.
  • Disgustingly Hideous: One success. The player 
  of anyone who sees the ghost attempts a Willpower roll. 
  Failure indicates that disgust overwhelms the character, 
  placing a -1 external penalty to all physical actions.
  • Natural Weapons: One success per weapon. The 
  ghost inﬂ icts lethal damage unarmed and gains either 
  claws or fangs. Claws: Speed 5, Accuracy +1, Damage +2L, 
  Defense +0, Rate 2. Bite: Speed 6, Accuracy +0, 
  Damage +4L, Defense -2, Rate 2.
  • Thickened Skin: +1L/2B soak per success. The 
  character may also reverse this beneﬁ t, spending one suc-
  cess to reduce the ghost’s soak due to Stamina to 0.
  • Ruined Form: One success per dot lost. For each 
  success spent thus, the necromancer reduces the ghost’s 
  Strength or Dexterity by one dot as she mangles its form.
  The character’s player makes a resisted roll of (Es-
  sence + Willpower) against the ghost’s Conviction. 
  For each net success, the necromancer binds the ghost 
  into its altered form for as long as a week. Should the 
  ghost’s player win or tie the roll, the ghost snaps back 
  into its normal form on its next action. Ghosts who 
  choose not to resist or whose players botch the roll may 
  be locked into the form for as long as the necromancer 
  desires. The corpus of a ghost affected by this spell takes 
  on the slick, glossy look of melted and remolded wax 
  until it regains its normal form. Ghosts familiar with 
  necromancy might recognize the effect.
  BLESS THE RAPINE SOUL
  Cost: 16m
  Target: One living creature
  Ghosts who enjoy possessing the bodies of the liv-
  ing love necromancers with this spell. Some even offer 
  favors or long-term service in exchange for a single cast-
  ing. Bless the Rapine Soul scourges a living target’s soul, 
  making the victim more likely to submit to another will’s 
  driving his body. When a ghost targets the spell’s victim 
  for possession, the player’s roll—generally (Dexterity + 
  Compassion) at a difﬁ culty of (target’s Essence x 2)—gains 
  a number of extra successes equal to the necromancer’s 
  Essence. Also, double the possession’s duration. Gods 
  and other spirits gain the same beneﬁ ts.
  After a full month without being possessed by any crea-
  ture, the victim’s spiritual resistance returns to normal.
  By casting this spell as a one-hour ritual on a living 
  creature that is already possessed by a ghost, the nec-
  romancer can instead create a link between the living 
  and dead individuals. The spell costs only 10 motes, and 
  the possessing ghost must commit three motes to the 
  effect. Thereafter, without duration, that ghost alone 
  gains the beneﬁ t of Bless the Rapine Soul. Breaking the 
  bond, either through countermagic or the living target’s 
  death, shocks the ghost, who loses a dot of permanent 
  Willpower. Using the spell in this way is often called 
  Consorting with Devils, but it’s the same spell.
  BLESSED DEAD FOOLS
  Cost: 13m
  Target: Up to six ghosts
  Spending 10 minutes, the caster sings a small pavilion 
  and ﬂ ag of pale blue ﬂ ame into existence around her. Vis-
  ible for leagues in the Underworld, it tugs at ghosts who 
  see it. Any ghost who steps into the tent understands the 
  bargain: The spell grants a willing ghost Performance 5 in 
  exchange for the commitment to appear and perform at 
  a certain place and time. Necromancers use this spell to 
  “hire” trustworthy and skilled performers for their parties 
  and banquets. Ghosts who accept are bound not to speak 
  of the event or anything they learn there. When the sixth 
  ghost agrees to the deal or the event begins, whichever 
  comes ﬁ rst, the blue-ﬂ ame pavilion gutters out.
  Even with the bindings, the ghost gets a bargain. 
  Master necromancers’ parties are grandiose affairs, and 
  a ghost can meet prominent mask-makers and dream-
  stone merchants. Additionally, the music a ghost plays 
  at the party is as real and vivid as anything the ghost 
  heard while alive—the dead could even ﬁ nd such a 
  rare sensation addictive.
  BLOOD MIRROR SPEECH
  Cost: 10m, 1lhl
  Target: One creature
  Mirrors carry a great deal of metaphor that the 
  Exalted can use in their powerful magic. The necro-
  
  25
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  mancer cuts his hand and ﬂ ings his blood (or plasm) 
  at the mirror with a short message in mind. His efﬂ ux 
  and Essence spell out the message for a moment before 
  the mirror absorbs it.
  The next time the spell’s target glances in a mirror, 
  the message forms there to be read. Once understood, the 
  liquid words loose cohesion and ﬂ ow down the mirror’s 
  surface. If the target desires, she may cut herself and 
  use her own vital substance to write a response, which 
  the caster will see when he next visits a mirror. Sadly, 
  targets without some manner of inner vital ﬂ uid cannot 
  take advantage of this aspect of the spell.
  BONE PUPPET DANCE
  Cost: 16m
  Target: One skeleton
  The necromancer utters a single syllable of deathly 
  command, and a symbol representing the spell ripples 
  toward its target and brands itself in the center of the 
  skeleton’s ribcage. The caster now commands that 
  skeleton… not good if a person lives around it.
  The skeleton moves as the caster wills, from dancing 
  a jig to murdering a child, for a number of hours equal 
  to the caster’s (Charisma + Occult). The skeleton acts 
  with either its normal dice pools or those of its normal, 
  ﬂ eshly owner. Living targets suffer an internal penalty 
  on these actions equal to their Essence. A living target 
  may resist, using muscles to struggle against the deathly 
  force that animates his bones. Each action in which he 
  does so, he suffers one level of unsoakable lethal damage. 
  Doing so also consumes much more of the spell’s energy, 
  reducing the duration by one hour. When the remaining 
  duration reaches zero hours, the spell ends.
  Skeletons that kill their contravening hosts claw 
  their way free of the body and become permanent walk-
  ing dead under the caster’s control. Similarly, casting 
  this spell on an existing skeleton raises it as a permanent 
  zombie. Targeting a skeleton that is already an active 
  walking dead rips its control from its current master.
  BONFIRE VISIONS
  Cost: 13m
  Target: One bonﬁ re
  Bones of creatures that once lived are rare ﬁ nds 
  in the Underworld, but this spell requires one. The 
  necromancer casts the bone on the ground and spits 
  on it to evoke a large, blue bonﬁ re that burns for three 
  hours. The ﬁ re burns brightly for a thing of the dreary 
  Underworld. It is visible for miles, and its vibrant glow 
  attracts ghosts. Ghosts who peer into the ﬁ re can see 
  their Fetters with perfect clarity. Ghosts are often will-
  ing to pay a necromancer for such a chance to check 
  on the status of their Fetters.
  DEATH FLIES TWO SAILS
  Cost: 14m (7m committed)
  Target: One sailing vessel
  Sailing on the Sea of Shadows, the Underworld 
  equivalent to the Inland Sea, is a dangerous prospect. 
  Spectres sail the black waves on ectoplasmic ﬂ otsam, 
  the sea’s black waters seep in with their nightmares and 
  poisons, and hekatonkhire rise from the depths for food. 
  As the waters of the Underworld lap at her feet, the 
  caster sings a lullaby to the dead. After seven minutes 
  of song, a sailing ship rises to the waters’ surface. Its 
  sail is patched with human skin, and its hull repaired 
  with pale bone. It ﬁ gurehead is a spectre, bound there 
  to sing for the ship’s protection.
  The craft comfortably ﬁ ts two passengers, but ﬁ ve 
  can crowd aboard. The ship won’t move without the 
  caster aboard. The spectre’s dirge and the wake of bile-
  tainted blood the ship leaves temporarily quenches any 
  hunger of the water’s inhabitants. Characters sailing on 
  this ship have less chance of dangerous encounters on 
  the Sea of Shadows, and they add three dice to all social 
  rolls required to negotiate with its native creatures.
  The ship exists as long as the caster commits the 
  Essence. Casting this spell in Creation doubles the Es-
  sence cost (though not the commitment) and may only 
  be done at night. If true sunlight strikes the ship, the 
  vessel boils away to nothing within one minute.
  The ship has these traits:
  SPECTRAL SHIP
  Speed: 15/30mph
  Maneuverability: +2S (Sail 2)
  Endurance: Necromancer must maintain a 
  seven-mote commitment and not allow sunlight 
  to touch the vessel.
  Crew: 2/2
  Cargo: 3 more people or 600 lbs.
  Armor: 10L/10B
  Health Levels: Ux5/Mx10/Cx3/Ix2/D
  Weapons: None
  DEATH INVERSION LOOP
  Cost: 18m
  Target: One ghost
  A ghost’s death was usually horrible—otherwise, the 
  ghost would not have passions left unfulﬁ lled or Fetters 
  
  26
  binding her to her unlife. Catching the gaze of a ghost, the 
  caster can force her to experience that moment of death 
  once more. The necromancer’s player rolls (Willpower + 
  Essence) against the ghost’s Willpower. If the caster wins 
  the contest, the ghost relives her death over and over 
  again. Targets of this spell become Inactive immediately, 
  but they may act normally on the next action. Each net 
  success reduces the ghost’s permanent Willpower by one. 
  Lost Willpower returns at the rate of one dot per week. 
  Ghosts reduced to 0 Willpower by this spell dissolve into 
  permanent haunts of the site of their deaths.
  If the ghost’s player wins the resisted roll, the ghost 
  forces the effect back on the caster. The necromancer 
  suffers a -2 internal penalty on his next action as vague 
  and disturbing visions of his own death beset him. 
  Whether these visions are truly prophetic is subject 
  to some debate.
  DEATH MASK
  Cost: 14m
  Target: Caster
  To cast this spell, the necromancer must ﬁ rst over-
  see the painful sacriﬁ ce of a living human. As life ﬂ ees 
  the body, the caster invokes Death Mask to capture 
  her victim’s higher soul and wash away its sentience, 
  leaving an empty shell of soul-stuff. (Victims of this 
  spell never rise as normal ghosts, but their lower souls 
  usually become hungry ghosts.) The spell then hides 
  the cloak of ghostly plasm Elsewhere.
  Later, the caster can invoke the spell again and 
  spend 10 minutes easing the soul-shell from Elsewhere 
  and donning it. Acting too quickly can tear the soul 
  and render it useless. While wearing the soul-cloak, the 
  necromancer appears to all eyes like a normal ghost. 
  A successful (Perception + [Awareness or Occult]) 
  roll at a difﬁ culty equal to the caster’s Essence allows 
  an onlooker to recognize an impostor spirit. Living 
  creatures cannot see the plasmic disguise at all without 
  using techniques to see Essence.
  Any lethal or aggravated damage the caster suffers 
  while wearing the cloak also affects the disguise. Once 
  it suffers four levels of damage, it falls off in tatters and 
  reveals the necromancer. In order to use the spell again, 
  the necromancer must prepare another soul. If the 
  death mask is not destroyed, however, it recovers one 
  health level per full week it remains Elsewhere. Worn 
  in Creation, the cloak is intangible and takes damage 
  only from attacks that harm dematerialized spirits.
  
  27
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  DOOR OF THE DEAD
  Cost: 18m
  Target: One reﬂ ective surface
  Reﬂ ections look alive but are not alive, and this 
  property gives the surfaces that create them an afﬁ nity 
  with the Underworld. Caressing a reﬂ ective surface as 
  he casts this spell, the necromancer opens a quicksilver 
  doorway between Creation and the analogous point in 
  the Underworld—or vice versa. Travel between the two is 
  instantaneous, and the passage remains open for the caster’s 
  next three actions. Things can come through the other way, 
  too. Once the connection fades, the road closes viciously. 
  Mirrors crack, water boils, and silver tarnishes.
  DRAWING BLIND EDGE
  Cost: 20m
  Target: One ghost
  On her Cast Necromancy action, the caster bites 
  her lip and blows a frigid red mist, which pales into 
  crystalline pink rime, onto her hand. On her next ac-
  tion, she then plunges her frost-covered hand into a 
  ghost’s corpus as a (Dexterity + Martial Arts) attack 
  (which may target immaterial ghosts). On a successful 
  strike, the caster draws from the ghost a transparent 
  blade that dances with pale blue ﬂ ame—this blade is 
  Blind Edge. Failing to affect a ghost with the spell—i.e., 
  failing the roll—inﬂ icts one level of unsoakable bashing 
  damage on the caster every minute, as the cold spreads 
  throughout her body. This damage accumulates until 
  the necromancer succeeds in drawing the blade from 
  a ghost or until it freezes her to death.
  The weapon’s base traits are those of a reaver 
  daiklave (see Exalted p. 385). Each dot of her target’s 
  Essence lets the caster add one point to the weapon’s 
  Accuracy, Damage, Defense or Rate, but no individual 
  trait may be raised above the necromancer’s (Essence + 
  Occult). This weapon inﬂ icts half damage, calculated 
  before soak, against living targets. Against the dead, it 
  deals aggravated damage and can strike even immate-
  rial ghosts.
  Any ghost slain by the blade is sucked into it with 
  a shriek and a burst of blue ﬂ ame. Spirits consumed in 
  this manner are doomed. For each ghost the blade de-
  vours, the caster may add to the blade’s traits a number 
  of additional points equal to the victim’s Essence. The 
  blade can destroy any number of ghosts, but the limit 
  of (Essence + Occult) remains for each trait. Blind 
  Edge remains until someone uses countermagic against 
  it or until the caster stops using it, at which point the 
  bluish-white blade turns deepest black and its captives 
  are drawn, howling, into the Void.
  DUSK EYES
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Caster
  Anointing his eyes with blood from a pricked ﬁ nger, 
  the caster uses it to see around the borders between 
  life and death. While this spell is active, the character 
  may see from the Underworld into the analogous part 
  of Creation, or vice versa. He can see only one world 
  at a time, however. If he peers into one world while 
  doing something in the other world that requires at-
  tention, such as combat, he suffers the typical penalties 
  for blindness (Exalted, p. 152).
  Wards and spells against scrying can defeat this 
  spell. Dusk Eyes lasts for one hour, during which time 
  the caster may walk through a shadowland’s border into 
  either Creation or the Underworld without expending 
  a mote. This spell has no real effect in shadowlands, 
  where the two worlds are one.
  EASING THE FORSAKEN MEMORY
  Cost: 12m
  Target: One haunt
  Violent or emotional deaths can leave haunts, loca-
  tions where the event’s imagery replays itself over and 
  again, often timed to a phase of the moon or other celestial 
  event. In Creation, haunts fade over time or wise men 
  can exorcise them. In the Underworld, haunts are nigh 
  permanent and difﬁ cult to remove. A fastidious necro-
  mancer, however, might not want the echoing cries of a 
  pitiful spirit’s death to contaminate her décor or motifs. 
  Casting this spell erases a single haunt or relocates it to 
  any place within (Essence x 5) miles.
  If she wishes, a necromancer can also use this spell 
  to turn a cooperating ghost’s memory into a haunt or 
  create one from her own imagination. Creating a haunt 
  requires a successful ([Intelligence or Manipulation] + 
  Performance) roll from the ghost’s or necromancer’s 
  player, depending on who designs the haunt. These 
  rolls can be considered social attacks that inspire vari-
  ous emotions in beings that watch the haunt, or they 
  can convince people that the haunt is evidence of a 
  murder or a clue to a treasure. (The latter use would be 
  a Manipulation-based roll.) In Creation, created haunts 
  last for a number of months equal to the necromancer’s 
  Essence. In the Underworld, they are permanent. This 
  use of the spell is often called Congealing the Last 
  Thought, but it’s the same spell.
  EMPEROR’S CHAINS
  Cost: 16m
  Target: One ghost or multiple ghosts
  
  28
  The necromancer claps his hands, and his Essence 
  rings like a dull but very loud gong. When the sound 
  strikes a ghost, the ghost becomes sluggish and has dif-
  ﬁ culty moving. All ghosts within 50 yards of the caster 
  move at half speed (minimum one yard per tick) and 
  double the Essence costs of all movement-related Ar-
  canoi. Creation mutes the sound of the gong, reducing 
  the range to 25 yards.
  The caster may instead focus the spell on a single 
  ghost in range. That ghost becomes unable to move 
  at all, and the Essence costs of movement-related 
  Arcanoi triple.
  FACES OF THE DEAD
  Cost: 16m
  Target: Caster
  Pulling his ﬁ ngers as if drawing thread, the necroman-
  cer spins a shimmering silver line of Essence. It thickens 
  into wire, then rotates into the third dimension to become 
  a silver mace with a perfect, 12-faced head. The weapon is 
  treated as an exceptional mace. Against ghosts and other 
  spirits of the dead, the weapon adds a value equal to the 
  necromancer’s Essence to its base damage. Also, when a 
  single blow with the mace inﬂ icts levels of damage equal 
  to or greater than a target’s permanent Essence, the mace 
  captures the ghost in one of its faces with a steely blue ﬂ ash. 
  The ghost then looks out from the face that captured it.
  Either after one hour or when the necromancer 
  commands it (whichever comes ﬁ rst), the mace’s shaft 
  dissolves into dust and disappears. The silver mace 
  head transmutes into rock crystal, holding all the ghosts 
  absorbed by the mace. It has 12L/12B soak and requires 
  20 levels of damage to break. Countermagic shatters 
  the crystal. Otherwise, only the caster can release the 
  ghosts without violent means. Ghosts freed from the 
  crystal have empty Essence pools.
  Faces of the Dead was once a tool of the Celestial 
  Exalted in the First Age, as they ﬁ rst sought to explore 
  and exploit the Underworld. Abyssal Exalted and 
  nephwracks use it today to collect ghosts for various 
  purposes, including raw material for soulsteel.
  FIELD OF FELL DREAMS
  Cost: 16m
  Target: Area
  Laying his palm on the ground at the spell’s climax, 
  the caster scorches the earth with a black brand in the 
  shape of his hand. Immediately afterward, hundreds of 
  skeletal hands burst upward through the earth, stone 
  or ﬂ ooring to grab anyone present (except the caster), 
  holding them with the strength of the dead.
  Everyone within 50 yards of the palm-shaped brand 
  suffers a -1 internal penalty to all Dexterity-based actions 
  as they are forced to dance away from the clutching hands. 
  People also suffer a two-yard penalty to movement. Each 
  tick on which someone takes a Move or Dash action, that 
  person suffers a clinch attack from the hands, made with 
  an attack pool of (caster’s Essence + 5). Anyone who falls 
  or is knocked down is automatically grabbed, then the 
  clinch proceeds normally. The hands use the same pool 
  to maintain clinches, and they attempt only to restrain 
  their victims without doing damage. They are easy to de-
  stroy—they never defend and they have only one health 
  level—but they are replaced within moments.
  The hands can capture immaterial beings as easily 
  as any other target, and ghosts caught by the hands 
  become visible. The hands release their grip and vanish 
  at midnight (as measured in the Underworld), but the 
  destruction they have caused remains.
  FIVE GIFTS
  Cost: 12m
  Target: One ghost
  Strong passions and Fetters enable the dead to 
  resist the sweet call of Lethe, but the Underworld is a 
  dull place. Its winds and parties are tepid, food tastes 
  like dust, and habits are carved into stone. By anoint-
  ing a willing ghost with ﬁ ve drops of blood, the caster 
  lets a ghost experience the world as he did while alive. 
  Blood is bright instead of faded pink, and the sobs of the 
  enslaved dead sound joyfully abominable. Foods of the 
  Underworld actually taste of something, and sacriﬁ ced 
  foods from the living world are as sweet or savory as if 
  they were fresh from the oven.
  Ghostly targets of this spell gain a number of 
  Willpower points equal to the caster’s Essence from 
  the experience of the world to which they cling. This 
  boon can take a ghost above his maximum Willpower. 
  Both the enhanced senses and any Willpower above 
  the maximum fade after one day.
  Ghosts of moderate means might beggar themselves 
  to purchase an invocation of this spell, and necromancers 
  who know it have a powerful bargaining chip. Using 
  this spell on ghosts makes them thankful… and pli-
  able. Targets of this spell cut their MDVs in half with 
  regard to the caster for a full week unless they spend 
  two points of Willpower to resist the inclination the 
  ﬁ rst time the caster makes a social attack. For ghosts 
  who have experienced this spell in the past, holding 
  Five Gifts over their heads during negotiation results in 
  the same sway, unless they pay the same two Willpower 
  points to clear their heads.
  
  29
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  FLESH AND BONE WINDS
  Cost: 18m
  Target: Caster
  Gesturing at the ground around her, the necro-
  mancer makes it glow a faint ivory. One moment later, 
  sharp knives of shattered bone and long, pink-and-red 
  ribbons of ﬂ esh rupture the earth, rising to spin around 
  the caster in a column one yard in radius. They obscure 
  him and move with him, picking up the ﬂ esh and bone 
  of the dead near him and shredding them to absorb 
  them into the charnel whirlwind.
  This spell adds a -1 external penalty to all close-
  combat attacks made against the caster and a -3 external 
  penalty to all ranged attacks into or out of the maelstrom. 
  Additionally, anyone caught in the death-storm suffers 
  three dice of lethal damage each action she is exposed 
  to it. Anyone the winds kill gets torn apart and added to 
  the storm. Each body added to the storm thus increases 
  the storm’s radius by one yard. Every two bodies added 
  to the winds increase both external penalties and the 
  dice of damage by one. A maximum of (caster’s Essence 
  x 2) bodies can be added to the storm before it stabilizes 
  and grows no larger.
  FLESH-SLOUGHING WAVE
  Cost: 16m
  Target: Area
  Although Flesh-Sloughing Wave was designed 
  as a utility spell for cleaning the rotted meat from 
  bones for constructing temples or war machines for 
  the Deathlords, the spell can be lethal in the world of 
  the living. The caster shapes an ivory ball of Essence 
  in her hands, then hurls it to the ground. It shatters 
  there and releases a translucent ivory wave out to a 
  range of (Essence x 5) yards. As the dome expands, it 
  washes ﬂ esh away from the bones it passes. Flesh from 
  any corpse is torn away, as is any dead ﬂ esh on a living 
  creature. The living suffer a brief moment of pain as 
  the wave tries to peel away their skin, muscle and fat 
  from the bones beneath.
  Living creatures caught in the radius of the spell, 
  excepting the caster, suffer ([Essence + Occult] x 2) 
  dice of lethal damage. This effect can be dodged, but 
  not parried. Fair Folk caught within this blast suffer 
  double damage before soak, and those killed by the 
  spell die in a rainbow ﬂ ash as their thin veneer of order 
  is torn away.
  GATHERING A GHOST’S STRINGS
  Cost: 10m or 20m
  Target: One ghost
  The caster’s eyes become black pits as they gather 
  in all the information they need about one ghost within 
  his sight. He conjures visions of the ghost’s Fetters and 
  Motivation, which come one for each inactive action 
  the necromancer takes after his Cast Necromancy 
  action. This knowledge does not grant any inherent 
  power over the ghost, but the knowledge is an advan-
  tage with regard to social and political leverage. This 
  effect costs 10 motes.
  By spending an additional 10 motes, the necro-
  mancer may replace a target’s Fetters and Motivation. 
  Each one he wishes to change requires an inactive ac-
  tion after the Cast Necromancy action. To resist the 
  necromancer’s attempt to alter a Motivation the target’s 
  player rolls (Willpower) against a difﬁ culty equal to the 
  caster’s Essence. The ghost’s altered ties feel (and are) 
  equally strong, but the ghost always knows they are of 
  necromantic origin. Changes fade after a number of 
  months equal to the caster’s Essence.
  GENTLE CALL OF LETHE
  Cost: 13m
  Target: One living creature
  The necromancer marks a person’s forehead with a 
  stylized cicada, symbol of eternal life and says the Five 
  Words of Release. He thus binds the creature into the 
  cycle of reincarnation. The cicada-glyph shines for a mo-
  ment before disappearing, after which it is visible only to 
  Essence sight. Many of those who associate themselves 
  with death understand the rune’s power. When the person 
  dies, the glyph shines again. She does not become a ghost. 
  Her spirit enters Lethe at once, unless some extraordinary 
  magic or effort of will hurls her into Oblivion.
  Gentle Call of Lethe and Rune of Sweet Passing 
  (see p. 32) are incompatible spells. Unless the spell ﬁ rst 
  cast is broken by countermagic, the other enchantment 
  cannot be laid on an individual.
  HUNGRY CREEPING SHADOW
  Cost: 15m
  Target: One creature
  Dragging from herself the worst of her inner dark-
  ness, the necromancer vomits a sticky, black ooze, which 
  ﬂ ows from her to attack an indicated visible enemy 
  within 100 yards. The shadow has Physical Attribute 
  and Martial Arts scores equal to the caster’s Essence, 
  health levels equal to her (Stamina + Essence) and can 
  move at a dash. The viscous thing can be hurt only by 
  magical attacks (against which it has no soak) or ﬁ re. 
  The merest brush with an open ﬂ ame will burn it up in 
  seconds, leaving a tacky, noisome residue on everything 
  
  30
  it touched. A character clinched by the shadow while 
  it burns takes six levels of lethal damage.
  The ooze always seeks to immobilize a foe and creep 
  down his throat. It only makes grapple attacks, elect-
  ing to do damage when in control of the clinch. If its 
  target ﬂ ees, the shadow pursues unerringly, no matter 
  where he goes. Once it kills its target, the shadow falls 
  quiescent within him, leaving no trace but the residue 
  on his body and utter, unreﬂ ecting blackness in his 
  eyes. If a victim can evade it for an hour, however, the 
  shadow evaporates.
  IRON COUNTERMAGIC
  Cost: 10m or 20m
  Target: Caster, or nearby Shadowlands Circle necro-
  mancy spell
  The necromancer’s quick gesture trails blackness 
  behind it like a shredded banner and wraps her in its 
  darkness. The chill upon her ﬂ esh lasts until her next 
  action. Until then, Shadowlands Circle spells targeted 
  against her freeze and crack, falling in bleeding pieces at 
  her feet—but the cold penetrates to her core, imposing 
  a -2 internal penalty upon all physical actions until the 
  countermagic fades on her next action. Alternatively, 
  the necromancer may project the darkness outward, 
  using the spell to disrupt any Shadowlands Circle spell 
  that is currently in progress within a number of feet 
  equal to (her Essence x 50).
  This spell has special timing rules. The character 
  can cast it as a reflexive Shape Shadowlands Circle 
  Necromancy action that takes 0 ticks. It follows all of 
  the other rules for necromancy actions, and the character 
  must take a Cast Necromancy action as her next normal 
  action. Countermagic cannot banish ghosts, though it 
  can destroy other current necromantic effects. Some 
  spells can be countered after casting, if so noted in a 
  spell’s description.
  MASTER PUPPETEER’S KNIFE
  Cost: 14m
  Target: Area
  Spreading her ﬁ ngers wide and slashing a sharp 
  object beneath it, the caster cuts the threads that 
  bind a necrotic semblance of life into a lifeless corpse. 
  This spell has special timing rules. The character 
  can cast it as a reflexive Shape Shadowlands Circle 
  Necromancy action that takes 0 ticks. Her next ac-
  tion must be a Cast Necromancy action. All animate 
  
  31
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  dead within 15 yards and a 90-degree arc (in a direction 
  of the caster’s choice) collapse, fully dead once more. 
  Zombies affected must be extras, like those created 
  with Raise the Skeletal Horde (see below) and Arisen 
  Legion (see p. 36), among others. Necromancers can use 
  Master Puppeteer’s Knife to destroy animated corpses 
  of greater power or intellect, such as those created by 
  Exquisite Undead Aide (see p. 40), by focusing the 
  spell’s power on one zombie at a time. The spell does 
  not affect undead war machines.
  MIDNIGHT SHADOW SUN
  Cost: 8m
  Target: Shadowland border
  Though deathknights and most denizens of the 
  Underworld can force the border of a shadowland 
  to obey their will, some necromancers need to move 
  greater numbers of beings between realms. Channeling 
  Essence through the Door-Opening Mudra forces the 
  shadowland to deposit everyone who leaves in either 
  Creation or the Underworld, as the caster chooses. The 
  time of day or the individual’s nature no longer matter. 
  Midnight Shadow Sun affects 40 yards of border and 
  ends once the caster is no longer within 100 yards of 
  the spell or after (Essence x 5) minutes.
  MOTHER DARKNESS
  Cost: 12m
  Target: Area
  Snapping her ﬁ ngers and scufﬁ ng a Neverborn’s 
  sigil in the ground with her sandal, the necromancer 
  changes her environs to better suit her temperament. 
  Over the next minute, the sky clouds over and blocks 
  out the sun. Flora grays and fauna leave or become sickly 
  and surly. Dull white bones of dubious origin emerge 
  from the ground, and stone becomes ﬂ aking obsidian. 
  Mother Darkness affects an area with a radius equal to 
  (caster’s Essence x 50) yards, occasionally more or less 
  due to natural boundaries.
  Dead creatures are more comfortable in the area 
  than they usually are in Creation. They recover one 
  mote of Essence per full day spent in the area, and the 
  Abyssal Exalted count the area as “trappings of the 
  dead.” The region returns to normal overnight after 
  one week, unless the necromancer casts the spell in 
  the Wyld. There, the Underworld’s Essence deadens 
  the region, reducing the Wyld’s strength by one and 
  remaining deathly until the Wyld reinfects it.
  Demesnes are not valid targets for this spell. The as-
  pected Essence already ﬂ owing through the environment 
  is too strong for Mother Darkness to overwhelm.
  PIERCING THE HEEL
  Cost: 15m
  Target: One ghost
  To cast this spell on a ghost, the necromancer ﬁ rst 
  requires his victim’s body—actually just the feet. The 
  caster speaks the ghost’s name, then ritually pierces the 
  tendons above the heel of each foot with iron as he 
  invokes the spell. From that point on, the ghost cannot 
  harm the necromancer. If the ghost tries, either directly 
  or indirectly, she immediately falls to the ground. Her 
  legs do not support her, and she cannot move, even to 
  speak, until she abandons the intention.
  Countermagic breaks this binding, as will removing 
  the iron from the feet of the ghost’s corpse—though the 
  ghost is bound not to do so herself. If the body decays 
  to the point where the nails fall from the body natu-
  rally, only countermagic can end the spell. Similarly, 
  when the body is too decayed for the nails to ﬁ t snugly 
  through the tendons, it is too late for this spell to be 
  laid. Luckily for necromancers, some First Age ghosts’ 
  bodies are very well preserved.
  PIERCING THE SHROUD
  Cost: 25m
  Target: Labyrinth
  This spell can be cast only at night. A shimmering, 
  faint shadow manifests in the air at waist height, like the 
  reverse of light on water. As the necromancer chants 
  for 10 minutes, the liquid shadow darkens, the earth 
  trembles, and every animal nearby panics and tries to 
  ﬂ ee. At last, the necromancer slashes a blade into the 
  inky surface, which falls and drains away. A rough-hewn 
  onyx staircase now yawns at her feet.
  The staircase remains open for 30 seconds (or ticks) 
  before closing with a horrible, sucking sound. It leads to 
  the Labyrinth, whence there is no easy escape. Even the 
  portal created by this spell will not allow a person to return, 
  once she has placed her foot upon the ﬁ rst step.
  RAISE THE SKELETAL HORDE
  Cost: 10m + 1m per zombie
  Target: Corpses
  As lightning ﬂ ickers from a roiling, black ball of Es-
  sence in her hand, the necromancer calls fallen bodies 
  to serve her as zombies (see Exalted, p. 315), using any 
  corpses within 100 yards. She can animate up to as many 
  zombies as she has dots of (Intelligence + Occult + Es-
  sence), per casting. The corpses burst from their cofﬁ ns, 
  claw their way from the earth or simply lurch to their feet 
  on her next action. Mausoleum doors, being buried six feet 
  under and so on cannot impede the undead in their rush 
  
  32
  to serve their new master, but a signiﬁ cant force could do 
  so—such as a dramatic character personally restraining 
  them or a spell designed for this purpose.
  Zombies stay animate for one scene if animated 
  in daylight or until the next dawn. The necromancer 
  can keep a permanent staff of zombies, but doing so 
  requires committing one point of Willpower for every 
  ﬁ ve zombies. If the necromancer spends those Willpower 
  points, the zombies collapse, inanimate.
  RINGING REBUKE
  Cost: 19m
  Target: Caster
  Looking much like a common charlatan magician, 
  the caster pulls two iron rings from thin air. Struck 
  against each other, both ring with a slightly different 
  tone. Even though the caster makes them “disappear” 
  again, the ringing sounds persist for the next hour.
  Ghosts ﬁ nd the combined tones abhorrent and have 
  difﬁ culty approaching the caster. To come within ﬁ ve 
  yards, a ghost must expend two points of Willpower. 
  Even then, it has trouble attacking the necromancer. 
  The caster adds an effective +2L/+3B soak against all 
  attacks from ghosts that come from within the ﬁ ve-
  yard radius. When the character walks into a crowd of 
  ghosts, they part for him unless any decided to spend 
  the Willpower to endure the constant ringing.
  RUNE OF SWEET PASSING
  Cost: 15m
  Target: One living creature
  With a mixture of honey, blood and graveyard earth, 
  the necromancer spends an hour painting dozens of bees 
  on her victim’s ﬂ esh along with the Fettering Sign. These 
  symbols soak in with an insistent drone. Once the painted 
  insects penetrate his skin, the target’s spirit is bound to 
  them. They will pull it from him at his death to become a 
  ghost, buzzing in a cloud from his mouth and eyes. Several 
  bees will then ﬂ y with supernatural speed to the necro-
  mancer, instantly telling her of the subject’s passing.
  While the victim lives, countermagic can free his 
  soul. Once he dies, nothing—not even the Zenith Caste 
  anima power—can prevent his shade from rising. This 
  spell does not otherwise bind or compel the new ghost. 
  Rune of Sweet Passing and Gentle Call of Lethe (see 
  p. 29) are incompatible. A person bound by one spell 
  cannot be bound—or liberated—by the other.
  SEAT OF DEADLY SPLENDORS
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Caster
  The necromancer lets a drop of Essence-charged 
  blood fall from her ﬁ nger to the ground while she speaks 
  the secret names of Stygia’s monarchs. The ground shakes, 
  and an enormous, skeletal ﬁ st bursts forth. Fingers uncurl 
  to reveal jagged claws and the palm reclines until it is 
  supine—the caster may then take her seat in the hand 
  of a long-dead giant, beneath its niter-stained talons.
  While sitting there, the character’s player adds two 
  dice to all rolls involving intimidation, persuasion or 
  perceiving true motives or lies. She can also see demate-
  rialized ghosts as though they were material. Increase the 
  spell’s bonuses to three dice when directed at ghosts.
  These magical effects last one hour, but the skeletal 
  throne remains until someone cuts it down (treat as a 
  stone statue, per the table on p. 154 of Exalted) and 
  removes it. If the throne should be destroyed before the 
  hour is up, the magic ends. Finally, the bone ﬁ st can 
  be summoned only from the earth. A building’s second 
  story, a ship’s deck and other such locales are exempt.
  SHADE PRISON AMULET
  Cost: 10m
  Target: Bone
  Hungry ghosts can be trapped, but only once-liv-
  ing bone can hold them. The necromancer cuts a rune 
  into a piece of bone while infusing it with Essence. 
  Thereafter, if it ever touches a hungry ghost, that ghost 
  is sucked in and caught. Only if the trinket breaks will 
  the ghost be released.
  This spell may enchant a living creature’s bone 
  if the necromancer slices through its ﬂ esh to reach it, 
  in which case the creature itself becomes a vessel for 
  the next ghost it touches. This is not a comfortable 
  experience for either the live victim or the hungry 
  ghost. Although it feels ﬁ ne during the day, the holding 
  creature suffers anxiety, vicious urges and nightmares 
  when the sun is down, and it will be rid of its captive 
  only if the etched bone breaks.
  SHATTERING VOID MIRROR
  Cost: 20m
  Target: One living creature
  Throwing his arm out toward his victim in an im-
  perious gesture, the caster speaks words of dark power. 
  Onlookers often see the image of a great, black-robed 
  necromancer with violet-hued eyes towering behind 
  him in the same posture. The target’s colors appear to 
  invert for a moment as her Essence is juxtaposed with 
  an exact opposite drawn from the Void.
  The spell is devastating to its victims’ spiritual and 
  physical well-being. Her bones shiver with the force 
  
  33
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  brought against them, and her heart ﬂ utters with the cold 
  of Oblivion. She suffers dice of raw lethal damage equal to 
  twice her current remaining health levels, which ignores 
  armor, and she loses motes of Essence equal to twice her 
  permanent Essence (Peripheral before Personal).
  If this spell kills its target, the inverted-color image 
  shatters into a thousand slivers and ﬂ ies away on the 
  winds of the Underworld. The victim falls to the ground, 
  drained of all color. This spell instantly kills extras.
  SILENT MASTER’S POLLEN
  Cost: 18m
  Target: One ghost or two ghosts
  The necromancer creates a pinprick-small hole in 
  the world, leading directly into Lethe and the cycle of 
  reincarnation. As the shining point of gray-white light 
  hovers before her eyes, she may either take it in her hands 
  or cast it toward a target within (Essence x 10) yards.
  Touching it, the necromancer’s hands begin to glow. 
  The next two times she touches a ghost, the ghost’s 
  player must roll (Willpower) at difﬁ culty 3. Failure or 
  a botch indicates that the call was too strong, and the 
  ghost has moved on to Lethe. Touching a ghost might 
  require a (Dexterity + Martial Arts) attack. Alterna-
  tively, the necromancer may launch the passage to Lethe 
  at a single ghost within range. This (Wits + Occult) 
  attack may not be parried except by a perfect defense 
  (if a ghost can have such a thing).
  Whether or not a target of this spell succumbs to 
  Lethe, the spell breaks certain necromantic bindings 
  on a ghost. It counters ghost-binding spells of the Iron 
  Circle as well as Charms of Essence 3 or less.
  SMOOTHING THE CREASE-WORN MIND
  Cost: 20m
  Target: One creature
  Nephwracks and other mad servants of the Void hear 
  the whispers of Oblivion in their minds. It drives them 
  beyond sanity and inspires their horrifying schemes. With 
  a soft caress of silver-bright Essence, the necromancer can 
  protect a ghost from this torment. The creature affected 
  by this spell can no longer hear the maddening murmurs, 
  and most targets even revert to the sanity they knew 
  before. The silence lasts for a number of days equal to 
  the caster’s Essence. A successful Willpower roll enables 
  affected nephwracks and other spectres to act for a while 
  like the ghosts they once were. They cannot fail this roll 
  on purpose. Spectres so affected do not forget what they 
  learned while mad, though, which makes this spell a 
  potential source of guides through the Labyrinth. Spirits 
  who never knew sanity simply become quiescent.
  CHARM CONCEPT: WHISPERS
  The Neverborn are restless in their sleep of 
  death. Their dreams echo throughout the Laby-
  rinth that rests under the skin of the Underworld 
  but above the lip of Oblivion. Inchoate whispers 
  ripple across the skein of the world, and those 
  who know how to listen can hear them.
  Whispers Background: Characters with the 
  Whispers Background can hear the murdered gods 
  murmuring at all times. With an effort, one could 
  silence it, but it is easier to let it guide you. Once 
  per scene, characters can use Whispers in place of 
  Abilities they do not have, and the Background 
  can convey other beneﬁ ts as well.
  Whispers of Oblivion: The whispers of 
  Oblivion are most often heard emanating from 
  the Mouth of the Void within Stygia, chanting 
  from a distance in the Labyrinth or, rarely, from 
  beneath the ﬂ oor of an ancient crypt in Creation. 
  When ghosts encounter this sound, their players 
  must roll (Integrity + Willpower) at difﬁ culty 5. 
  Failure indicates that the ghost has been corrupted 
  by the chthonic entities’ madness.
  Each day thereafter, the whispers command 
  and tempt the ghost to destroy something, to 
  prostrate herself before the Void or otherwise to 
  serve the Neverborn. The character’s player must 
  continue to roll (Integrity + Willpower) at difﬁ -
  culty 5 to ignore this unnatural mental inﬂ uence. 
  Failure indicates that the character must spend a 
  point of Willpower or spend the day performing 
  unspeakable atrocities against all that exists. Doing 
  the latter rewards the character by replenishing one 
  point of Willpower, not to exceed her maximum. 
  Once the character has thus regained a number 
  of Willpower points equal to her permanent Will-
  power, she irrevocably becomes a spectre and joins 
  the ranks of the nephwracks.
  Whispers and the whispers of Oblivion will 
  be referenced by various spells in this book. Fur-
  ther details appear in The Manual of Exalted 
  Power—The Abyssals and The Books of Sorcery, 
  Vol. V—The Roll of Glorious Divinity II.
  Humans and other living creatures can also oc-
  casionally attune themselves to the unvoiced thoughts 
  of the Neverborn. This spell temporarily silences the 
  babbling voices that comfort and guide them or drive 
  
  34
  them mad. Used on Abyssal Exalted or other charac-
  ters with the Whispers Background, Smoothing the 
  Crease-Worn Mind reduces the target’s Whispers rating 
  to 0 for its duration. Targets may reduce the duration 
  of this effect by one day per point of Willpower spent 
  for that purpose.
  This spell cannot be part of a Martial Arts attack. 
  If the spell’s target resists or is not bound, levy a -1 
  external penalty to the spell attack. 
  SOUL BRAND
  Cost: 15m
  Target: One living creature
  The necromancer shrouds a creature in death-
  aspected Essence and anchors it to him with a mystic 
  brand on his palm or forehead. Near-mindless undead 
  horrors such as zombies or hungry ghosts will not at-
  tack the Soul Brand’s bearer unless they are speciﬁ cally 
  compelled to do so by necromancy or other magic.
  The Soul Brand lasts indeﬁ nitely. It may be removed 
  by countermagic or its creator’s whim, in which case it 
  inﬂ icts a number of dice of lethal damage equal to the 
  caster’s Essence as it burns away. If a branded mortal 
  Exalts, the sigil vanishes painlessly.
  STONES WORN SMOOTH
  Cost: 18m
  Target: One ghost
  His hand a rigid claw, the necromancer gestures toward 
  a ghost within 15 yards. Unless the ghost’s player succeeds 
  in a Willpower roll with a difﬁ culty equal to the caster’s 
  Essence, the spirit ﬂ ies through the air to the caster, where 
  his grasping hand impales her. (Success on the roll ends 
  the spell.) The ghost, now robbed of all vitality, slides 
  from the necromancer’s hand, leaving a pale pink heart 
  behind. Turning his claw into a ﬁ st, the caster crushes the 
  heart into a black diamond the size of a walnut. The rest 
  of ghost’s corpus boils away into a thin layer of dust.
  The diamond lets the necromancer draw on the 
  Essence of the ghost and the Underworld, acting as a 
  hearthstone of a level equal to the ghost’s Essence. It can 
  only replenish Essence, offering no additional powers. 
  After a number of weeks equal to the caster’s Essence, the 
  false hearthstone shatters and dissolves, at which time 
  the ghost re-forms or passes on to Lethe or Oblivion as 
  normal. If it is exposed to the light of the Unconquered 
  Sun, the hearthstone breaks and the spell ends.
  SUMMON GHOST
  Cost: 15+m
  Target: One ghost
  
  35
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  Late at night, deep within a shadowland or in the 
  Underworld itself, the necromancer traces a circle upon 
  the ground. After an hour-long ritual in which she pours 
  blood upon the black earth and prays to the Neverborn, 
  the caster may bring forth any ghost as long as she knows 
  its name or has a piece of its corpse. Faint wisps of red-
  black smoke rise from the Essence-charged blood libation, 
  and the ghost’s form solidiﬁ es in the circle’s center.
  If the ghost ﬁ ghts to remain free of the necroman-
  cer’s will, their players engage in an extended, resisted 
  (Willpower + Essence) roll. Yet power tells, and the 
  caster may remove one die from the ghost’s pool for 
  each additional ﬁ ve motes spent. The roll is made 
  every ﬁ ve ticks until one side accumulates three more 
  successes than the other. Should the necromancer win, 
  the ghost is forced to appear and to serve her for either 
  a year and a day, or the fulﬁ llment of one task. Should 
  the ghost win, it vanishes and may not be recalled for 
  a year and a day. Neither side can engage in any other 
  action, lest they forfeit the contest.
  TROLLING THE DARK WATER
  Cost: 10+m
  Target: Area
  The necromancer draws violet threads of Essence 
  from the Underworld and weaves them into a net. As 
  she completes the spell, the net expands to cover a large 
  area. Any immaterial spirits of the dead caught within 
  25 yards of the caster become visible. The necromancer 
  may give the net a tug and spend ﬁ ve extra motes to 
  force all ghosts caught within it to materialize. Even 
  ghosts who cannot normally materialize can be made 
  tangible with this spell.
  Ghosts who are already material are not affected 
  by this spell. Similarly, this spell has little effect in the 
  Underworld, as ghosts there are material already.
  WALKING WAR MACHINE
  Cost: Varies
  Target: One undead creature or necromantic automaton
  Uncanny as ghosts and zombies are, they do not inspire 
  as much sheer terror as the undead siege engines employed 
  by the Deathlords. A necromancer can create these horrors 
  with this spell… and a suitable supply of corpses. Necro-
  mancers also call this spell Iron Reanimation.
  The character must ﬁ rst construct (or oversee the 
  construction of) the monstrosity, with an extended (Intel-
  ligence + Medicine) roll to represent the labor of cutting 
  and stitching together the bodies. The Storyteller may 
  also ask for suitable (Intelligence + Craft [Varies]) rolls if 
  the construction involves wood or metal bracing, built-in 
  blades, alchemical treatments or other unusual construction 
  techniques. The difﬁ culty of the roll depends on the size and 
  complexity of the weapon. For instance, a spine chain (see 
  Exalted, p. 315) calls for one success per two segments of 
  its body. Animating the monster then costs four motes per 
  success required to create it. Walking war machines serve 
  their creator to the best of their limited intelligence.
  A skilled necromancer can craft a nigh-limitless 
  range of war machines. Full descriptions of the options 
  fall beyond the scope of The Black Treatise, but the 
  spine chain is a good standard for their power. See 
  The Compass of Celestial Directions, Vol. IV—The 
  Underworld for descriptions of other horrors in the 
  Deathlords’ arsenals.
  WITHOUT PITY, WITHOUT SCORN
  Cost: 18m
  Target: Fetters
  Ghosts’ Fetters provide them with some measure of 
  strength. In addition to helping them resist the call of 
  Lethe, they also give ghosts small amounts of Essence. In 
  order to claim this Essence, a ghost must hold her Fetters 
  close. As things of Creation, she keeps them close by 
  wearing or bearing their tokens—copies of the objects 
  themselves, or iconic representations of larger Fetters.
  The caster channels the black Essence of Oblivion 
  into a sphere of coruscating power. He then casts it to the 
  ground at his feet, where it shatters and looses a wave of 
  energy that stirs even the deadened dust of the Underworld 
  as it rushes outward 25 yards. As the crest, crackling with 
  purple lightning, passes a ghost, the tokens that ghost 
  bears are rendered inert. They no longer provide her with 
  Essence, and she can no longer feel a tie to her Fetters. 
  Weakened thus, ghosts are more susceptible to the unequal 
  pulls of Lethe and the Void. The tokens remain inert for 
  a number of weeks equal to the caster’s Essence.
  Alternatively, the character may cast the sphere at a 
  speciﬁ c ghost within 15 yards as a (Dexterity + Occult) 
  attack. If it hits, bands of glaring necrotic energy pulse 
  around the victim. When the energy fades, it permanently 
  severs the connection between the ghost and any Fetters 
  it carries or whose token it carries. Fetters whose tokens 
  the ghost had hidden elsewhere are safe.
  THE LABYRINTH 
  CIRCLE OF ONYX
  An immense and ever-changing 
  Labyrinth twists beneath the Under-
  world. Just as the Labyrinth approaches 
  the ultimate source of death, so too does the magic named 
  
  36
  for it. Spells of the Onyx Circle invoke the Neverborn 
  and Oblivion itself to work dark and deadly miracles. A 
  practitioner can no longer pretend her magic does not 
  damage souls and Creation itself.
  ARISEN LEGION
  Cost: 30m
  Target: Corpses
  The necromancer’s anima curdles into a pulsing black 
  sphere that explodes to send black lightning crawling 
  over and into the ground. The necromancer animates 
  every corpse within 100 yards. The new zombies Join 
  Battle along with the necromancer (if applicable). The 
  unstoppable power of the necromancer’s spell enables 
  corpses to burst up from the earth or smash out of tombs 
  to reach her side. In daylight, the horde is reanimated 
  only until the scene’s end; otherwise, they’ll persist until 
  dawn. (See Exalted, p. 315, for traits for zombies.)
  BANEFUL SUN AND SHADOW
  Cost: 22m
  Target: One creature
  A necromancer can taint a soul so it shrivels in the 
  light of Creation. In the sunlit realm, the victim feels weak 
  and vaguely ill, suffering a -1 internal penalty to all actions. 
  If he spends too much time outside the Underworld or a 
  shadowland, he slowly withers and dies—and if the spell 
  kills him, he rises as a ghost. For each continuous month 
  spent in Creation, the target suffers one unsoakable level 
  of aggravated damage that neither time nor magic can 
  heal in Creation. Returning to the Underworld allows 
  the damage to heal naturally.
  Cast upon a heroic character, the players of both the 
  necromancer and the character make a resisted Essence 
  roll. If the necromancer triumphs, the target is cursed until 
  countermagic or the necromancer’s whim ends the spell.
  Baneful Sun and Shadow can apply the same 
  unhealthy effects with respect to the Underworld, but 
  one necromancer cannot place both versions of the 
  spell on the same target. The mere attempt ends the 
  previous casting. Gentle Call of Lethe (p. 29) protects 
  against the curse.
  In the Old Realm’s decadence, sorcerer-kings used 
  this spell to banish unloved subjects to the Underworld. 
  Today, the Deathlords use it to force ghosts away from 
  their worldly Fetters and passions or to curse them into 
  Creation, where they cannot regain Essence.
  BAUBLE OF THE CAPTIVE SOUL
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Bone
  Just as Shade Prison Amulet (see p. 32) prepares 
  a bone to trap a hungry ghost, so this spell prepares 
  one to catch any sort of ghost. The more powerful the 
  ghost, the more its presence may disturb a living host. 
  Otherwise, this spell’s effects are the same as those of 
  its Iron Circle predecessor.
  BLACK VIAL MEDICINE
  Cost: 24m
  Target: Area
  This spell resembles Silent Master’s Pollen (p. 33) 
  but manifests instead as a crystal vial containing a starry 
  blackness. When thrown with (Dexterity + [Thrown or 
  Occult]), it bursts open and spills a cloud of stars on all 
  ghosts within 10 yards of that point. The roll to resist 
  Lethe is made at difﬁ culty 2, but successful players then 
  roll the character’s Willpower again at difﬁ culty 4 to 
  resist entering Oblivion. Black Vial Medicine frees af-
  fected ghosts of bonds from the Iron and Onyx Circles 
  and from Charms of Essence 4 or less. Each ghost that 
  falls into the Void returns one mote to the necromancer 
  as its agony feeds her power.
  BONE LION
  Cost: 30m
  Target: One automaton
  A human victim is hung, blinded, bled and eviscer-
  ated over a pit while the necromancer chants dreadful 
  incantations for 30 minutes. At last, the necromancer casts 
  a pair of diamonds carved to look like eyes (worth at least 
  Resources 4) into the pit of viscera, and shapes white and 
  crimson Essence with the Lion Mudra. The earth cracks 
  open, and the bone lion leaps out through the draining 
  blood. The skeletal lion stands the height of a man at 
  its shoulders, with a mane of bone quills. The diamonds 
  gleam in its deep black eye sockets. Its talons are the size 
  of sickle blades, and its fangs are like daggers.
  The necromancer holds out an item with the target’s 
  scent as an arcane link. The lion consumes this item, 
  bows once to the sorcerer and then bounds off in pursuit 
  of the target. The lion neither rests nor halts until the 
  target is dead, for it knows that it has only 101 days in 
  which to accomplish its task. The lion moves as the 
  “horseback, tireless” entry under “Supernatural Travel” 
  on the Average Travel Times table on p. 264 of Exalted, 
  and it swims as fast as it runs.
  The bone lion attacks when it ﬁ nds its target. If it 
  kills its target, it crumbles into a cairn of bone atop the 
  target’s corpse. If it is destroyed, it collapses into a pile 
  of bone and diamonds. Unless every trace is burned, 
  though, the bone lion springs back to life in a ﬂ ash 
  
  37
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  of white and crimson Essence the next sunset, with 
  full strength and an even greater lust to destroy the 
  target. On the sunset of the 101st day of its existence, 
  it crumbles into dust.
  runes intangibly pass through walls and other mundane 
  obstacles, but ghosts ﬁ nd their circle a barrier stronger 
  than soulsteel. This ward moves with the caster and 
  lasts for one scene—typically enough for one combat 
  or one forced march through Stygia.
  Any ghosts caught within the ward’s area when it is 
  cast are shoved outward to the boundary. No ghostly powers 
  can break it. Ghosts cannot make close combat attacks 
  against the caster, and even their ranged attacks lose half 
  their successes before reaching the necromancer. Likewise, 
  the character can only attack ghosts at range.
  Although the caster can use this spell to push through 
  crowds of ghosts, the spell does not repel them outside its 
  border or increase the character’s Strength. If he encoun-
  ters a determined mob of ghosts—unlikely, considering 
  his status as a powerful necromancer—he cannot push 
  through more than (Strength x 3) ghosts.
  This spell may be used in war. Casting it in long 
  ticks, the necromancer may ward an entire unit of 
  Magnitude (Essence + 2) or less. Any ghosts in that 
  unit are forced out. Whether they then become an 
  independent unit is up to the Storyteller.
  CALL THE GREATER SERVITOR
  Cost: 6m per zombie
  Target: Corpses
  Sometimes a necromancer needs zombie slaves that 
  do more than blindly shamble and claw. Target corpses 
  must be within 10 yards. This spell strengthens the traces 
  left by a corpse’s higher soul to imbue a zombie with a bit 
  of intelligence. The resultant zombies have Intelligence 
  and Melee of 2 and can follow moderately complex 
  instructions. Its other traits are identical to those of the 
  common zombie on page 315 of Exalted. The zombies 
  created by this spell remain animate until destroyed. A 
  necromancer can command up to (Occult x 10) such 
  zombies at a time, gained through multiple castings.
  CLAMORING SHACKLES
  Cost: 21m (+1 dot Willpower)
  Target: Two creatures
  The necromancer pulls apart her palms to reveal 
  a thin, black shaft between them. The shaft grows a 
  barbed point and black ﬂ etching and rotates to threaten 
  any target within 200 yards. With a (Wits + Archery) 
  attack roll, the caster’s dark thought launches the ar-
  row. It inﬂ icts a base damage of (Occult x 3) levels of 
  lethal damage and ignores Arcanoi or ghostly artifacts 
  that increase the target’s soak.
  If the attack reduces the target to or below Incapaci-
  tated, the ghost’s body blackens and warps hideously, 
  BONE LION
  Motivation: To destroy its prey
  Attributes: Strength 12, Dexterity 6, Stamina 10; 
  Charisma 0, Manipulation 2, Appearance 1; 
  Perception 4, Intelligence 1, Wits 6
  Virtues: Automaton: Never fails Valor checks, 
  never makes others.
  Abilities: Athletics 4, Awareness 5 (Spot Target +3), 
  Dodge 4, Martial Arts 4, Presence 5 
  (Intimidation +3), Stealth 4, Survival 5 (Stalk +3)
  Join Battle: 11 (14 if prey is present)
  Attacks:
  Bite: Speed 4, Accuracy 12, Damage 14L, Parry 
  DV —, Rate 2
  Claw: Speed 4, Accuracy 11, Damage 16L, Parry 
  DV 5, Rate 2
  Soak: 10L/15B (Bony exterior, 5L/5B; 
  Hardness: 5L/5B)
  Health Levels: -0/-0/-1/-1/-1/-1/-2/-2/-2/-2/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 5 
  Willpower: 10
  Essence: 1
  Other Notes: The bone lion can run day and 
  night without slowing, at the speed of a tireless 
  horse (it can move 20 yards per tick, or 60 yards 
  as a Dash action). It has no need of air, food or 
  water, and it can swim across the surface of any 
  body of water without needing to stop. The bone 
  lion is a construct of Essence and is destroyed 
  if its health levels are fully depleted by damage. 
  It is a creature of low animal intelligence but 
  tremendous cunning. If a frontal assault fails, 
  it will stalk its prey and look for an opportune 
  moment to strike.
  BRICK-BY-BRICK SOLITUDE
  Cost: 23m
  Target: Area
  Revealing an open palm to his “audience,” the nec-
  romancer ﬂ icks his hand to pull a fan of ghostly playing 
  cards from his anima. He throws them with abandon, 
  but each card ﬂ oats to settle into a ring around him. 
  With the last word of the spell, the cards dissolve, and 
  the occult runes on them expand to a radius of (Essence 
  x 10) yards around the caster. The glittering, violet 
  
  38
  shrinking and screaming until all that remains is a set 
  of soulsteel shackles. On the necromancer’s next action, 
  these ebon gyves lash out at the nearest ghost to lock 
  around its wrists, ankles and neck. A key to the chains ap-
  pears in the necromancer’s hand. Living targets halve the 
  spell’s raw damage and cannot become ghost-chains.
  Clamoring Shackles reduce a victim’s movement 
  to one yard per tick, they prevent the Dash action, and 
  they reduce all physical dice pools by three dice. They 
  also prevent the ghost from spending Essence for any 
  purpose, and a ghost that is destroyed while wearing 
  them is automatically sucked into Oblivion.
  Clamoring Shackles normally exist for one week, 
  but if the caster spends a dot of permanent Willpower 
  when he casts the spell, they become permanent and 
  proof against all but Obsidian Countermagic. Treat 
  them as a two-dot artifact.
  CRYSTAL GHOST SHARD
  Cost: 15m (committed)
  Target: Caster
  The necromancer steps up off the ground as he ends 
  the spell, whose ﬁ nal word crystallizes the air around 
  him. His encasement becomes a smoky, opaque crystal 
  that closes around him and supports him in midair. Once 
  the cocoon is complete, it frees the caster’s higher soul 
  from his body. On the character’s Cast Necromancy 
  action, he appears before his crystal-wrapped body as 
  a simple, unremarkable ghost.
  The necromancer’s ghost has Appearance 2 and is 
  not recognizable as the character. His other Attributes 
  and Abilities stay the same. He cannot use his natural 
  Charms, sorcery, necromancy or Martial Arts Charms 
  beyond the Form-type Charm. The character may 
  remain a ghost indeﬁ nitely, and his Essence remains 
  committed until the necromancer-ghost returns and 
  climbs back into his body. Until then, the caster recovers 
  Essence as a ghost does and may practice to learn a ghost’s 
  Arcanoi at the normal experience point costs. (This 
  includes Moonshadow or Eclipse Caste Exalted.) The 
  character may use them at the normal mote cost as long 
  as Crystal Ghost Shard projects him as a ghost. When 
  he returns to his mortal body, the necromancer cannot 
  access the Arcanoi unless he is of the Moonshadow or 
  Eclipse Castes, and he pays the extra experience cost 
  to learn them as an Exalt instead of a ghost.
  While the necromancer is outside his body, the 
  Crystal Ghost Shard lightly sheds a dark mist and 
  protects his body. No Shadowlands or Terrestrial Circle 
  spell may penetrate the shell, and the caster’s mind is 
  completely unassailable. The shell has 30L/30B soak. 
  It cracks when it has suffered 20 levels of damage and 
  splits open when it suffers 50. Breaking the cocoon jerks 
  the caster’s consciousness back to his body and causes 
  him two levels of aggravated damage.
  Killing the caster in ghost-form causes the spell to 
  pull the soul back to the body with terrible speed, so 
  fast that bits of his awareness and memory tear off. The 
  cocoon shatters as he starts awake, bleeding through his 
  thoughts, and the event is so damaging to his psyche that 
  the character loses one dot of permanent Willpower.
  DEAD MAN’S VOICE
  Cost: 18m
  Target: One creature
  Through an arcane link—a piece of ﬂ esh or blood, 
  or something important to the target—the necromancer 
  can use another person as a conduit for his own aware-
  ness. Invoking the spell and closing his eyes, the caster 
  sees the area around the person whose arcane link he 
  holds. There, he may invest his consciousness into that 
  person, overwhelming the victim’s mind to use her as a 
  mouthpiece. Necromancers use this method of casting 
  when they send emissaries to a foreign court but wish 
  to speak to the local potentates in person. They often 
  keep tokens from their emissaries for just this purpose. 
  Alternatively, the necromancer can possess a nearby 
  mortal or ghost. This latter method is useful when the 
  caster has an arcane link to a person, but wards against 
  scrying or mental intrusion make direct possession 
  impossible. Living creatures with Essence 1 and ghosts 
  with Essence 2 or less have absolutely no defense against 
  Dead Man’s Voice. Other targets use their Dodge MDV 
  to resist the caster’s (Essence + Presence) attack.
  Once the necromancer possesses a victim, he sees 
  and hears with her senses, and his own voice speaks 
  through her mouth. He prevents his victim from tak-
  ing actions of her own, but he cannot do much more 
  himself than turn his borrowed body and incline the 
  head to face different people. He cannot walk, run, 
  ﬁ ght or anything else that requires signiﬁ cant control. 
  The caster can use Awareness Charms and Charms that 
  affect social combat through his puppet, however.
  This spell is harsh on possessed bodies. The victim’s 
  eyes burn black with the magic of the Labyrinth and 
  drip blood (or ghostly plasm). After a short time, a 
  mortal’s skin pales, then whitens completely. Her body 
  shakes with chills that the caster never notices. She 
  sweats blood. Her hair grows brittle and her ﬁ ngernails 
  yellow and crack. The deadly Essence consumes her 
  from within. After half an hour of possession, a victim 
  looks like someone minutes from the grave. And she is. 
  
  39
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  Most mortal victims of this spell die before the spell’s 
  one-hour duration ends, but the caster’s will keeps the 
  body standing and speaking. Ghostly victims don’t get 
  off any easier. As the spell wears on, a ghost’s form ﬂ ows 
  apart, melting like hot wax before the plasmic corpus 
  boils away into nothing at the spell’s end. Victims of 
  Dead Man’s Voice suffer one unsoakable level of lethal 
  damage every 10 minutes (or two actions in social 
  combat) until either the necromancer releases them or 
  the hour ends. The caster does not suffer any penalties 
  for wounds suffered by the host body.
  DEMON OF THE FIRST CIRCLE
  This spell is identical to the spell of the same name 
  described on pages 252–253 of Exalted.
  DENYING THE CALL
  Cost: 24m
  Target: Creature, recently dead
  As a puppeteer controls dolls of wood and cloth, so 
  does the necromancer pull the strings of life and death. 
  Balling her hands into ﬁ sts, the caster forces a soul 
  recently dead to reanimate its body and ties it there. 
  The threads of black Essence that bind the soul to its 
  dead ﬂ esh quickly wear out, however, and no force is 
  mighty enough to keep fate at bay forever.
  The target must have died no more than one minute 
  before the spell was cast. He rises again with only a single 
  health level above Incapacitated (usually -4), but that 
  health level can only be lost to a level of aggravated 
  damage. For the spell’s duration, the target individual 
  is considered a creature of darkness; in all other ways, 
  the spell’s subject is not one of the undead. For just a 
  short time, Denying the Call returns a target to his 
  original life, where he remains for a number of actions 
  equal to the caster’s Essence or until he’s destroyed, 
  whichever comes ﬁ rst.
  A dead soul wants nothing more than to lie down, 
  to sleep restfully for the three days before it can release 
  its po and ﬂ y toward reincarnation or an unlife in the 
  Underworld. Targets are very much aware that they 
  were brieﬂ y dead, though they are fuzzy on what killed 
  them. They do not know they are doomed to collapse 
  again shortly (though some people might guess). Ani-
  mals and the very stupid generally return to whatever 
  they were doing before being slain, while the canny or 
  
  40
  loyal recognize the opportunity for revenge or a short 
  period of continued service.
  Denying the Call works only once on a given target. 
  If a target’s hungry ghost later rises in the night, it will 
  be at half its normal health levels, as will the higher 
  soul if it appears in the Underworld. The damage heals 
  at the normal rate for ghosts.
  EXQUISITE UNDEAD AIDE
  Cost: 20m
  Target: One corpse
  The necromancer spends a scene mixing wax with 
  blood, shaping it into a tiny ﬁ gurine and imagining a 
  personality to go with it. She rubs the waxen ﬁ gure over 
  a corpse of her choice, channeling the ﬁ gurine’s spirit 
  into the body with a surge of bone-hued Essence.
  The resulting zombie has a mind, a mixture of the 
  artiﬁ cial psyche the necromancer imagined and the 
  person it used to be. It looks and sounds like it did in life, 
  though its ﬂ esh is cool, pale and slick. It reeks slightly of 
  decay, and it has trouble speaking loudly. The exquisite 
  undead aide starts with the traits of a common zombie, 
  having lost most of its memories. Necromancy grants it 
  Attributes at a rating of 2 or higher (except Appearance, 
  which stays at 1) plus the caster’s (Intelligence + Occult) 
  in extra Ability dots, though none of those dots can raise 
  the creature’s Abilities above the necromancer’s own. 
  Lastly, the thing takes a new Motivation—to serve, love 
  and worship the necromancer above all things.
  At the Storyteller’s discretion, the aide might 
  eventually regain the memories—and Intimacies—of 
  its former life, though its Motivation stays the same. 
  It might even regain trait scores it had in life, though 
  it can never have access to Essence, Charms or other 
  magics it used while living.
  FOLDING MIDNIGHT
  Cost: 46m
  Target: One shadowland
  After casting the spell, the necromancer must walk 
  all the way around a shadowland. He travel only at 
  night or only during the day, but the actual trip may 
  take as long as necessary. Once the circuit is complete, 
  the caster has bound the shadowland into Creation, 
  if he traveled by day, or the Underworld, if he trav-
  eled at night. For the next year and a day, leaving the 
  shadowland returns a traveler only to the designated 
  world. Mortals who wander in accidentally might 
  never return to Creation, or an unlucky ghost might 
  be stuck away from the Underworld and its palatable 
  death-Essence.
  Should the shadowland shrink or expand, the curse 
  remains, but completely healing this wound in Creation 
  ends the effect.
  FUNERARY MISTED VESSEL
  Cost: 22m (11 committed)
  Target: One sailing vessel
  This spell summons a sailing ship from the depths, 
  much like Death Flies Two Sails (p. 25), but this larger 
  vessel can comfortably carry 20 able bodies, uncomfort-
  ably ﬁ t 50, and could contain 80 of the walking dead, 
  if they were carefully packed. In addition to the effects 
  of the lesser spell, an unnatural fog bank obscures the 
  ship from the sun and foes. Under Creation’s sun, the 
  ship only loses half its soak. The fog is transparent to 
  those on the ship but nearly opaque to anyone else, 
  and it spreads ﬁ ve miles from the ship in all directions. 
  Casting the spell in Creation doubles the Essence cost, 
  but not the commitment. The necromancer who sum-
  mons the Funerary Misted Vessel does not need to be 
  on board for it to operate. In fact, the Silver Prince has 
  three such ships patrolling his waters, and they are well 
  known and rightly feared.
  FUNERARY MISTED VESSEL
  Speed: 20/40mph
  Maneuverability: -1S (Sail 3)
  Endurance: Necromancer must maintain an 
  eleven-mote commitment.
  Crew: 15/4 (or 1/1, if the necromancer is on 
  board)
  Cargo: See above
  Armor: 20L/20B
  Health Levels: Ux20/Mx15/Cx6/Ix2/D
  Weapons: Only those added after the craft’s 
  creation
  GOLDEN SHADOWS CAST IN FRIEZE
  Cost: 30+m
  Target: One spectre
  First Age Solars invented this spell to wrest further 
  knowledge from the slumbering minds of the Neverborn. 
  They used it on captive spectres in the laboratory. The 
  spell works just as well in the ﬁ eld, however.
  The necromancer gathers shadows in his palms and 
  squeezes them into a loose ball of golden mist. When 
  the casting is complete, he blows upon it and splays his 
  ﬁ ngers wide to shine a bright golden light at his target 
  spectre. Scenes from the spectre’s existence before 
  and after becoming tainted play out in the shadow of 
  
  41
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  the golden light. Meanwhile, the target’s player rolls 
  (Willpower + Essence) at difﬁ culty 7. The caster may 
  purchase additional successes for this roll at three motes 
  per success, up to his permanent Essence. A successful 
  roll means separates the spectre from Oblivion’s whispers 
  (see p. 33), cleansing her mind of her obsession with 
  the Void. If she wanted, she could return to her previ-
  ous existence as a ghostly citizen of the Underworld. 
  If the spell is cast on a ghost tainted by the whispers 
  of Oblivion but not “converted” to a spectre, the spell 
  works perfectly without the need for a roll.
  Former spectres retain all memories and skills from 
  their time as servants of the Neverborn. They retain a 
  frightening insight into the minds and actions of the old, 
  dead gods. Their corpus remains twisted and malformed, 
  and they usually need serious reconstructive moliation 
  before any other ghosts accept them.
  Golden Shadows Cast in Frieze still serves its 
  old purposes of inquiry and, occasionally, mercy. 
  Deathlords send ghostly agents into the Labyrinth to 
  become infected and changed, knowing that they can 
  change them back to learn what their agents learned 
  while mad. They also use it to “cure” nephwracks who 
  lead dangerously pervasive or effective Oblivion cults. 
  Deathlords use this tactic sparingly, however, because 
  some theories suggest their Neverborn masters know 
  when magic wrenches a spectre from their grasp.
  GRAY EYES SHIELD AND SHELL
  Cost: 25m
  Target: Caster or one ghost
  The necromancer’s death-tainted anima turns a 
  handful of dirt into the gray dust of the Underworld. 
  Spitting a bit of saliva and blood into her hands and 
  mixing them, she dabs the resulting concoction on 
  her eyes. When the necromancer next opens her eyes, 
  they are gray and… completely unremarkable. Her 
  entire body follows suit, appearing almost colorless, 
  and certainly not worth anyone’s notice.
  This shield of gray eyes prevents any ghost from 
  affecting the character with any Arcanoi. Ghosts can-
  not taste her senses, ride in her skin or steal control 
  of her body. They cannot steal her Essence, and the 
  petty illusions they create appear transparent, unreal 
  and not at all frightening. Only a ghost’s self-moliation 
  can affect the necromancer, and that only by shaping 
  more effective claws or a thicker hide. The caster’s aura 
  appears gray and featureless.
  The spell normally lasts for one hour. If the nec-
  romancer wishes, she may wrap a ghost in the power 
  of her shield. The character ﬁ xes one ghost with her 
  newly grayed gaze, and her player rolls (Wits + Occult) 
  in an attack roll with three added successes. This at-
  tack is unblockable. If the target ghost fails to dodge, 
  he cannot use any Arcanoi for one hour per net success 
  in the caster’s favor. Any effects the ghost currently 
  has active cease.
  HUNDRED SHADE BREATH
  Cost: 20m + (1m per hungry ghost)
  Target: Caster
  The necromancer bites her own cheek or tongue 
  and allows blood to pool in her mouth, summoning 
  the worst of her po. The breath she next exhales spins 
  itself into the dark forms of many hungry ghosts that 
  sweep forward to attack her enemies. The ghosts’ vio-
  lence cannot be controlled beyond aiming them at the 
  character’s foes; they spare designated allies. At the end 
  of the scene, the ghosts are drawn infallibly back into 
  the necromancer’s mouth and vanish. (See Exalted, 
  pp. 317–318, for traits for hungry ghosts.)
  INFINITE FOOTSTEPS
  Cost: 26m
  Target: One journey
  The Labyrinth is a shifting, dangerous place con-
  structed from the Neverborns’ quicksilver dreams and 
  nightmares. Travelers can use the Labyrinth to cross the 
  Underworld in days, but they are likely to become lost 
  and devoured—or worse. Masters of the Onyx Circle, 
  however, may dare the Labyrinth with this spell.
  Standing just within the Labyrinth, the caster 
  throws a token of her destination into the mad realm 
  before her. It may be a bit of dust from the ground 
  there or the plasm from a creature or ghost who dwells 
  in the area. Whatever it is, the Essence-charged token 
  warps the ﬂ uid region into a long, curving hallway of 
  the Labyrinth’s black stone with supports made from 
  the white ribcages of lost giants. It is broad enough for 
  seven zombies to stagger abreast.
  This necromantic passage forces a direct connec-
  tion between the necromancer’s destination and the 
  entrance to the Labyrinth where he now stands. No 
  matter how close or far the two locations may be in 
  the Underworld above, walking the inﬁ nite hallway 
  takes one full day of travel. No other magic or means 
  of transportation can speed this journey. The tunnel 
  remains coherent for a number of days equal to the 
  caster’s Essence, after which it becomes as susceptible to 
  change as any other portion of the Labyrinth. It might 
  endure for a century, or it might dissolve into a spectre 
  battleﬁ eld after mere seconds.
  
  42
  Even though Inﬁ nite Footsteps does not pass 
  through locations owned by nephwracks or stranger 
  inhabitants of the Labyrinth, it may come very close to 
  them. Entities who call the Labyrinth home occasion-
  ally take offense, invade the corridor, and try to make 
  passage difﬁ cult. For some reason, this seems to happen 
  most often when the caster is in haste or otherwise 
  concerned about traveling quickly.
  IVORY RAZOR FOREST
  Cost: 25m
  Target: Area
  The necromancer’s bones glow through her ﬂ esh 
  as darkling Essence builds around her. She stabs her 
  skeletal-seeming hands into the earth, and a shock-
  wave of Essence travels along the ground. Hundreds 
  of ivory spikes, each four yards long, shoot up from 
  the quaking earth to destroy large structures and slice 
  apart everything in their path. The total area equals 
  (the necromancer’s [Charisma + Occult] x 10) square 
  yards. The necromancer can shape the spell’s area 
  however she wants, from long, yard-wide palisades to 
  break up troop formations to broad killing ﬁ elds—even 
  cages. The bone blades are as sturdy as a brick wall 
  (see Exalted, p. 154) and are placed so densely that 
  nothing larger than a rabbit can wriggle between 
  them. The bone thickets and palisades shatter to dust 
  four days later.
  Anyone caught within the thickets of bone blades 
  takes 8L damage. Parrying is impossible, but a charac-
  ter can dodge out of the way if he is within a Move 
  action of the bone-ﬁ eld’s edge. Being thrown against 
  the blades inﬂ icts the same damage. A person caught 
  within the Ivory Razor Forest takes no further damage 
  if he stays completely still. Climbing out (or through, 
  for whatever reason) calls for a (Dexterity + Athletics) 
  roll, difﬁ culty 3, with another 8L attack as the cost of 
  failure (and this time, it cannot be dodged).
  This spell can be cast in long ticks for use in war. 
  For this purpose, the necromancer’s unit takes no 
  penalties due to having a lower Magnitude than her 
  opponent, if applicable. The spell targets a single unit 
  as a ranged attack and inﬂ icts 10L piercing damage, plus 
  successes. Ivory Razor Forest can also chop a target unit 
  into anywhere from two to four smaller units, at the 
  necromancer’s whim. As a persistent effect, the spell 
  continues to inﬂ ict damage on the target’s subsequent 
  actions—but since the Ivory Razor Forest is immobile, 
  the target unit can easily disengage, leaving the bony 
  spikes as a static barrier on the battleﬁ eld.
  JOYLESS SPIRIT’S CORRUPTION
  Cost: 30m
  Target: One god or elemental
  This ritual is the most effective method to turn a 
  god or elemental of Creation into a spirit with power 
  and responsibility in the Underworld. Usually, only the 
  most corrupt gods of waste, ruin and decay conceive 
  of advancing themselves by joining the Underworld, 
  a realm without gods of its own, but a few exceptions 
  occur. (For instance, Fou Tung, Annalist of Brigands’ 
  Murders and Deaths, believed he could better perform 
  his function in the Underworld than in his palace in 
  Yu-Shan.) The ritual works only on a willing god who 
  knows full well that it renounces the Celestial Bureau-
  cracy and Creation completely.
  The spell’s six-hour ritual involves anointing the 
  god with funerary oils and foul potions that represent 
  the transition from life to death. It must take place in a 
  shadowland and end as the sun sets. Among other taint-
  ing portions of the ritual, the necromancer sacriﬁ ces a 
  mortal ridden by a ghost, and both god and necromancer 
  sip its blood. After the ritual, consider the god “dead” 
  for purposes of where it regains Essence and at what 
  rate (see Exalted, p. 313). The god is also considered a 
  creature of darkness, and it now bears responsibilities in 
  the Underworld, resembling those it had in Creation. 
  Elementals become tied to the dead and silent elements 
  of the Underworld. The Underworld has no Celestial 
  or Terrestrial Bureaucracy, however, and no censors, so 
  most spirits who tie themselves to the Underworld are 
  free to do as they please.
  Once per year, the necromancer who uses this 
  spell to corrupt a god may demand one favor from it. 
  The fallen god must grant the request unless its per-
  formance would take more than a month or endanger 
  its existence.
  LINKS BORN OF TUMULT
  Cost: 22m, 1lhl
  Target: Caster
  The necromancer must temper a silver wire hook 
  in a funeral pyre and quench it ﬁ rst in mortal blood 
  and then in ghostly plasm. The result looks more like 
  blood-smeared black iron than silver. When she casts 
  the spell, the necromancer lowers the hook into her 
  mouth. She catches her po on the end of the wire and, 
  though the act is excruciating, pulls it out through her 
  mouth. Her lower soul ﬂ ows into her Essence-suffused 
  shadow. The caster has effectively created a hungry 
  ghost from her own soul.
  
  43
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  Her shadow has traits equal to the hungry ghost 
  found in Exalted on p. 318, with the following adjust-
  ments (dependent on the caster’s Essence):
  • It has any Abilities the character has.
  • Add (Essence x 3) to its base claw damage.
  • Add (Essence) to its Strength and Stamina, 
  its number of -2 health levels and its lethal and 
  bashing soak.
  • Add (Essence/2, round down) to its Dexterity 
  and Wits and to its number of -1 health levels.
  • Add (Essence/3, round down) to its Intelligence 
  and Essence and to its number of -0 health levels.
  The shadow obeys the character’s commands but 
  does not have much ability to improvise. Its Motiva-
  tion is “Obey my higher soul” and it has an Intimacy to 
  “Murder,” which it commits when convenient and is not 
  constrained against doing so. The necromancer may send 
  her consciousness to inhabit and control her shadow at 
  any time. While doing this, she may use Charms and 
  Combos through it without any complication, but her 
  body is helpless until she returns to it.
  The caster can keep her lower soul separate from 
  her body as long as she wishes. Links Born of Tumult 
  ends when the character decides to devour her shadow 
  and lower soul to put both back in their rightful places, 
  or until her shadow is destroyed. In the latter case, the 
  necromancer’s lower soul returns to her ripped and torn, 
  and it burns her mind. She loses a dot of permanent 
  Willpower, and the event stuns her for an hour before 
  she can act again.
  ONYX COUNTERMAGIC
  Cost: 15m or 20m
  Target: Caster, or nearby Terrestrial Circle sorcery 
  spell, or nearby Shadowlands or Labyrinth Circle 
  necromancy spell
  This spell functions just like Iron Countermagic (see 
  p.  30), but it also affects Labyrinth Circle necromancy 
  and Terrestrial Circle sorcery.
  PUZZLE BOX OF LOVE
  Cost: 20m
  Target: Ghost
  A necromancer can use this spell against a ghost 
  whose Fetters and Motivation she knows, probably from 
  previous use of Gathering a Ghost’s Strings (see p. 29). 
  She may instantly overwrite all of the ghost’s Fetters 
  and his Motivation without any defense.
  Once per year, the player of a heroic ghost bound 
  by this spell can roll (Willpower) at a difﬁ culty equal 
  to the necromancer’s Essence in order to return one of 
  the affected qualities (Motivation or one Fetter) to its 
  old state. He may continue the attempt each year, on 
  the day of his death, until he returns to normal.
  RATTLED BONES OF WAR
  Cost: 25m (committed)
  Target: Summoned warstrider
  Gesticulating like a mad conductor, the character 
  draws forth long-buried bones from the earth around 
  her. The rising bones grow pearlescent, then shine 
  with a faintly greenish light. They lift from the ground 
  and surround the caster in an osseous whirlwind. The 
  winds lift the character from where she stands as the 
  bones lock into place around her to form greaves and 
  cuisse, gauntlet and vambrace, a helm with a visor and 
  cuirass marked with the character’s personal sigil, often 
  a stylized version of an Exalt’s icon. Finally, the spell 
  forms a warstrider dire lance from the long thighbone 
  of a dead giant or the stiffened spine and tailbone of 
  an enormous creature.
  When casting the spell, the character gets to choose 
  between either a common or scout warstrider, as deﬁ ned 
  by the appendix of Wonders of the Lost Age. Cured 
  ligaments serve as her interface with the giant suit of 
  bone armor that surrounds her, and she is attuned and 
  ready to ﬁ ght as soon as the spell is complete. The war-
  strider remains for one full hour; the bone-forged siege 
  weapon then loses cohesion and falls apart. The caster 
  may reﬂ exively spend another 12 motes to purchase 
  another hour. Otherwise, she lands safely on the ground 
  surrounded by discarded bones. If the character casts the 
  spell while wearing an attuned hearthstone rated 3 or 
  more, the warstrider can run for a full day without any 
  additional Essence before it falls apart. Hearthstones used 
  in this way no longer provide the character with Essence 
  or other powers for the spell’s duration. Note that the 
  fatigue a necromancer almost deﬁ nitely accrues while 
  piloting the warstrider does not magically dissipate.
  The character may ease the spell’s casting by sac-
  riﬁ cing sentient beings in the minutes before shaping 
  the spell. Each sacriﬁ ce must be performed with an 
  obsidian knife sanctiﬁ ed to the Abyss. For each point 
  of the victims’ permanent Essence, the spell’s cost 
  (and commitment) drops by one mote, to a maximum 
  of (caster’s Essence x 2). Each purposeful murder adds 
  layers of scarlet, mingled with the darker red of con-
  gealed blood, to the warstrider’s appearance. It drips 
  bile and bloodied phlegm everywhere it goes. Beyond 
  the disgusting appearance the warstrider derives from 
  the caster’s victims, this weapon is identical to the spell 
  when cast without sacriﬁ ces. The version of this spell 
  
  44
  cast using more than two or three sacriﬁ ces is often 
  referred to as Walking Gore Titan.
  REAPING THE FALLEN
  Cost: 25m
  Target: Caster
  The character’s anima leaps into its iconic form, 
  while sparks of black lightning ﬂ icker around its edges. 
  For the rest of the scene, the necromancer recovers one 
  mote of Essence every time someone dies within a league 
  of her. A glowing spark of soul-stuff rises from the body, 
  races to her and dissolves in her anima. In settings of 
  ongoing mass carnage, such as a battle, the Storyteller 
  assigns how many motes the necromancer collects per 
  action. The Magnitude of the smallest unit involved in 
  mass combat is reasonable. (So, for instance, in a battle 
  between two armies of Magnitude 7 and Magnitude 8, 
  the character would gain 7 motes per action).
  REBIRTH INTO DARKNESS
  Cost: 22+m
  Target: One ghost
  The necromancer points a prepared ceramic collar 
  at any ghost he can see clearly and snaps it. At that 
  moment, the ghost feels an invisible collar tighten 
  around her neck. The players of the necromancer and 
  the ghost make a resisted (Essence + Willpower) roll. 
  The caster may reduce the ghost’s dice pool by one per 
  additional ﬁ ve motes spent. Ghosts who win escape the 
  spell. Those who lose feel the phantom collar close and 
  lock with a snap before that sensation fades.
  When a ghost affected by this spell “dies,” she has 
  no opportunity to enter the cycle of reincarnation or 
  fall to Oblivion. Instead, she re-forms before the caster 
  after the normal time span (usually one or two days). She 
  cannot completely die as long as this spell remains active. 
  Powerful necromancers use this spell to torture ghosts 
  to “death” without fear that the ghost will escape them 
  into Lethe or re-form somewhere out of reach. After a 
  number of weeks equal to the caster’s Essence, the ghost 
  feels the collar crack and fall off as the spell ends.
  SEVEN VISIONS WISDOM
  Cost: 34m
  Target: One ghost
  The necromancer holds her hand before her and 
  squints so she sees a ghost as standing or resting in her 
  palm. Closing her hand into a ﬁ st, she captures the ghost 
  
  45
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  and compresses his Essence into a small medallion of 
  soulsteel etched with the ghost’s name. This medallion 
  qualiﬁ es as a two-dot artifact and requires two motes of 
  commitment for use. Any person using it can substitute 
  one of the captured ghost’s Ability ratings for one of 
  her own. Additionally, when using Lore to determine 
  if the character knows something, her player may roll 
  twice, using the ghost’s Lore rating the second time. 
  Charms may apply to this roll.
  Seven Visions Wisdom can capture only those ghosts 
  with permanent Essence less than or equal to the caster’s. 
  After a number of months equal to the caster’s Essence, 
  or when it is struck by appropriate countermagic, the 
  medallion unfolds into the original ghost, again whole 
  and in command of his own facilities. He remembers what 
  his Abilities were used for and the memories that were 
  accessed (through Lore), but otherwise knows nothing 
  about his time within the amulet.
  When casting the spell, the character may choose 
  to sacriﬁ ce one dot of permanent Willpower, making the 
  medallion permanent and prooﬁ ng it against all but Ob-
  sidian Countermagic. Only one such amulet can assist a 
  character at once. Attuning to more than one introduces 
  conﬂ icts when the character draws on Abilities, applying 
  a -2 internal penalty when using the ghosts’ Abilities.
  SHADOW STONES TRAVEL
  Cost: 26m
  Target: Area
  When the character takes the Cast Necromancy 
  action, he cuts his palm. Uncannily red, Essence-charged 
  blood spills and stains the ground. Five ticks later, a 
  breeze blows outward from the vivid bloodstain. After 
  10 ticks, the gusting wind reeks of grave rot. On the 
  15th tick, a veil of shadow ripples outward from the 
  center of the spell. Where it passes, grasses brown and 
  wither, the earth becomes sterile and gray, and the 
  sky grows dark. The area within 50 yards of the stain 
  becomes a temporary shadowland.
  A number of ticks later (equal to the caster’s Essence 
  x 5), the forced blending of the worlds ends. Creation 
  reasserts itself and shoves the Underworld away, but 
  all creatures that were inside the spell’s boundaries go 
  with it. They are now in the Underworld, in a place 
  analogous to their former spot in Creation. The caster 
  may let the shadowland effect end earlier—as early as 
  her very next action after it opens.
  When cast in the Underworld, this spell has similar 
  but reversed effects. The wind that blows between the 
  worlds smells sweet, and when the shadowland fades, 
  everyone within it ends up in Creation.
  SHIELD OF SHATTERING BONES
  Cost: 18m
  Target: Caster
  Crimson Essence ﬂ ows from the caster’s heart to her 
  outstretched hand, where it coalesces into a phantasmal 
  red ﬁ re. She crushes it, and a blood-red halo bursts outward 
  from her across the battleﬁ eld. Before it fades away at 25 
  yards, any skeleton or zombie the expanding ring touches 
  glows for a moment with a faint red ﬁ re. Thereafter, 
  until the next sunrise, the necromancer may reﬂ exively 
  spend three motes before damage against her is rolled in 
  combat Step 10 to shunt all remaining dice onto one of 
  the affected undead. Damage is then rolled as normal, 
  but the result is applied to the affected zombie.
  Only a number of the nearest walking dead equal 
  to (caster’s Essence x 5) are bound to the caster’s life, 
  and they must stay within 50 yards to be valid targets 
  for the redirected damage. On a successful (Perception 
  + [Awareness or a relevant combat skill]) roll, any 
  onlooker can notice that attacks don’t hurt the caster. 
  The caster gets struck with a goremaul (for instance), 
  but a nearby skeleton shatters; the wavecleaver that 
  just kissed the caster’s chest leaves her unharmed, but 
  a grinning gray wound opens on a zombie.
  Once the last zombie affected by the original burst 
  falls, the necromancer must cast the spell again if she 
  wants its protection. Shield of Shattering Bones can-
  not affect ghosts or other intelligent undead, only the 
  near-mindless walking dead.
  SILENCED WHISPERED PRAYERS
  Cost: 25m
  Target: One creature or area
  As he shapes this spell, the necromancer hears the 
  whispered prayers snaking through the air around him—
  prayers for clemency, for honor, for luck, love, money or 
  vengeance. He whispers too, and more voices ﬂ ow from 
  his mouth than possible for a single person. Once the spell 
  is cast, his whispers become the perfect opposites of those 
  he heard, canceling out the prayers’ power.
  Targeting an individual ghost severs that spirit from 
  prayers given to her. She gains no beneﬁ t from any Cult 
  rating or other prayers until the Underworld’s sun has 
  risen seven times. If a living creature is the spell’s target, 
  she treats her Cult rating as half normal (round down) 
  for the duration.
  Laying this curse on an area dampens the prayers 
  received by all ghosts within 45 yards of the caster by 
  one dot and does not affect living creatures at all. This 
  version of the spell has the same duration. In either case, 
  the people who do the praying notice no change.
  
  46
  SPITEFUL PASSING
  Cost: 1m
  Target: Area
  This spell has special timing rules. The charac-
  ter can cast it as a reflexive Shape Labyrinth Circle 
  Necromancy action that takes 0 ticks. After that, the 
  Cast Necromancy action takes just a single tick. It is 
  the last action the character ever takes.
  When a necromancer with this spell knows he’s 
  about to die anyway, he can invoke the Void and turn 
  his Essence against itself. His body implodes into a vortex 
  of darkness that swiftly expands again into a sucking 
  whirlpool. Everyone and everything caught within a 
  number of yards equal to the suicidal necromancer’s 
  Essence is swept into the black vortex and disappears. 
  One can escape this fate with a perfect dodge. The 
  whirlpool cannot be parried or soaked, however, even 
  by other perfect effects. After three ticks, the vortex 
  drains away, leaving nothing behind.
  The caster’s body and spirit are utterly consumed, 
  leaving behind neither corpse nor ghost, though if he 
  is Exalted, his Exaltation endures for eventual reas-
  signment. No memories of that Exalt’s incarnation 
  remain for future hosts. The spell wipes all traces of the 
  necromancer’s existence from the Exaltation.
  Onlookers might think that people caught by the 
  whirlpool are dead, but technically, that is not so. They 
  are actually transported to the heart of the Labyrinth, 
  near the Well of the Void. Survival after that is their 
  own problem.
  SPURRING THE BEAST OF WAR
  Cost: Varies
  Target: War machine
  This spell is a heightened version of Walking 
  War Machine (p. 35). Necromancers also call it Onyx 
  Reanimation. Spurring the Beast of War animates an 
  undead war machine. Most of the rules for Walking War 
  Machine apply, but a necromancer needs both Medicine 
  and Craft (Fire) at 4 or higher even to attempt such 
  fantastic creations. Each roll in the construction attempt 
  represents two full days of work, and the spell costs four 
  motes for each success on the construction roll.
  Deathlords use this spell to create their “bonestriders,” 
  casting it in such a way that the completed mechanism 
  does not take on its own life but responds perfectly to an 
  attuned rider. Nor have the shrewd Deathlords ignored 
  the possibilities of other undead weapons to be “worn” 
  or piloted by their Abyssal and ghostly servants. See the 
  boxed text for traits of a typical necromantic war machine; 
  add the attacks you consider appropriate.
  STEALING THE GATHERED BREATH
  Cost: 15m
  Target: Area
  The unfortunates within (Essence x 5) yards of the 
  necromancer gasp, lungs clenching as bits of their souls trail 
  from their lips in bright wisps. Each takes a die of lethal 
  damage, soakable only with Stamina. For every health 
  level thus inﬂ icted, the necromancer gains one mote.
  STRIKING SPECTRE LASH
  Cost: 15m + (2m per attack)
  Target: Caster
  The necromancer slashes open her skin and the black 
  skeleton of a serpent lunges from the wound to strike 
  enemies within (Essence x 4) yards. The lash acts on the 
  same tick as the necromancer, but independently of her, 
  using a dice pool equal to her (Wits + Occult + Essence) 
  to attack. It cannot parry, but it can lash like a whip or 
  attempt to twine its body around a foe, grappling him. 
  The lash inﬂ icts raw bashing damage equal to the caster’s 
  (Strength + Essence). More importantly, the player of 
  anyone struck by the spectre lash must roll her character’s 
  Essence. Failure means the spectral serpent lodges its fangs 
  in the target and drains away his life. Such a victim falls 
  with his skin tight as a drum against his bones and a look 
  of horror frozen on his face. Extras die outright. Other 
  characters are merely knocked straight to their last Inca-
  pacitated health level with bashing damage.
  At the end of the scene, the skeletal snake struggles 
  from the necromancer’s ﬂ esh to land on the ground, 
  where the fallen bones calcify into unmoving onyx.
  ONYX ANIMATION HORROR
  Motivation: Destroy!
  Attributes: Strength 6, Dexterity 2, Stamina 5; 
  Charisma 0, Manipulation, 0, Appearance 1; 
  Perception 3, Intelligence 1, Wits 4
  Virtues: Automaton: never fails Valor checks, 
  never makes others
  Abilities: Athletics 3, Awareness 2, Dodge 4, 
  Martial Arts 4, Melee 3, Resistance 3, Stealth 1
  Join Battle: 6
  Dodge DV: 3
  Soak: Variable, but at least 4L/8B
  Health Levels: Each success on the preliminary 
  Craft roll provides two -0, two -1 and three -2 
  health levels; also, one -4 and one Incapacitated 
  health level, as normal.
  
  47
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  SWEET VOICE FAMILIAR
  Cost: 32m
  Target: Area
  This spell gives a mouth to the inchoate ramblings 
  of the Neverborn. The caster surrenders her body 
  to Oblivion’s whispers. Her legs bend, she balances 
  impossibly on the balls of her feet, and her body 
  seems suspended by invisible puppeteer’s strings. 
  Her head lolls to one side and her jaw opens, and 
  the never-spoken mad words of the dead Primordials 
  issue from her unmoving mouth, magni- fied by the 
  spell’s power.
  Any ghost within a number 
  of miles equal to the caster’s 
  Essence hears these whispers, 
  and their players must roll 
  (Integrity + Willpower) at 
  a difficulty equal to (caster’s 
  Whispers + 5) to resist the 
  taint. Any who fail have 
  been poisoned, mind and 
  soul, as if they had been 
  exposed to the whispers of 
  Oblivion. They soon become 
  spectres and belong to the 
  Abyss. Success means the 
  ghost merely loses one 
  point of Willpower.
  Mortals who hear 
  the untranslatable, cor-
  rupted words resist in 
  the same way, but at 
  half the difficulty. 
  For every success by 
  which a character 
  fails, he loses a point 
  of temporary Will-
  power. Those who 
  hear this spell multiple 
  times before their death are more likely to become 
  ghosts—and they often rise as spectral mortwights. 
  Casting the spell in the echoing Labyrinth doubles 
  its range. Creation, on the other hand, is not hos-
  pitable to the Neverborn and reduces the range to 
  a flat 250 yards.
  WHITE SHARD FUNERAL
  Cost: 28m
  Target: Mirror
  A drop of blood and an imperious gesture links a 
  convenient mirror to any other mirror in the world 
  (Creation or the Underworld, but not crossing between 
  worlds). The caster looks into her mirror, sees out the 
  other as if through a window and hears what’s happening 
  at the other location. Anyone at the targeted mirror 
  can see and hear the caster, too.
  The only limit is that the caster must have some 
  idea of the target mirror’s location: Trying to look 
  through the mirror in the Tri-Khan of Chiaroscuro’s 
  council chamber doesn’t work if you don’t know 
  where that chamber is in the palace. If you don’t know 
  where the palace is, the best 
  you can do is a mirror 
  somewhere in Chiar-
  oscuro. Arcane links 
  to a location (such as 
  dust from the palace, 
  or a thread pulled from 
  an arras in the council 
  chamber) enable accurate 
  targeting.
  The mirror-link lasts 
  (Essence x 10) minutes, 
  during which time the 
  necromancer may converse 
  with people at the other 
  mirror. For every additional 
  ﬁ ve motes, the caster may 
  contact an additional mirror. 
  Each targeted mirror displays 
  what all mirrors in the loop 
  see, giving precedence to 
  the scene before a mirror 
  where somebody speaks. 
  When the spell ends, 
  all the mirrors shat-
  ter. Mirrors or areas 
  warded against magical 
  intrusion may be proof 
  against this spell.
  WILLFUL FLESH COMMANDS
  Cost: 18m
  Target: Ghost
  A necromancer using this spell can perform all of 
  the effects afforded by Black Candle Visage (see pp. 
  23-24). He may also do the following:
  • Reduce Attributes: One success per dot. By 
  twisting the ghost’s ﬂ esh and her nature, the caster may 
  reduce any of his victim’s Attributes.
  • Increase Attributes: One success and three ad-
  ditional motes per dot. Tightening the ephemeral cords 
  
  48
  of corpus or her processes of thought, the necromancer 
  can increase any of the target’s Attributes.
  This spell produces permanent effects and does 
  not depend on physical shaping. The caster’s player 
  rolls ([Dexterity or Intelligence] + Craft [Moliation])]. 
  A willing target adds three successes to that roll. Only 
  countermagic or another use of this spell can change the 
  target back, and the ghost is immune to other sources of 
  corpus shaping as long as she remains under this spell.
  THE VOID CIRCLE 
  OF OBSIDIAN
  The highest—or lowest—circle of 
  necromancy takes its name from the 
  ultimate force of death and annihila-
  tion. Few of these spells cause obvious, massive destruction. 
  Rather, they poison Creation itself with the Void’s power. 
  Fortunately, even the mighty Deathlords lack the reserves 
  of Essence to cast Obsidian Circle spells very often.
  ABYSSAL AEGIS
  Cost: 20m
  Target: Caster
  The necromancer’s aura seems to catch the light 
  and shine… before she peels off that light, wads it 
  into a ball, and consigns it to Oblivion with the Three 
  Unspeakable Words. Until the next sunrise, a halo of 
  shadow and emptiness hangs about the necromancer.
  The Abyssal Aegis adds the necromancer’s permanent 
  Essence to her bashing and lethal soak. More importantly, 
  she becomes immune to magic designed to hurt her spe-
  ciﬁ cally because she is aspected with death. Therefore, 
  although a Zenith Caste can still attack her with a blade, 
  his anima power cannot raise his minimum damage. A 
  Blazing Solar Bolt vanishes in a swirl of shadow. Not even 
  Solar Circle sorcery designed to harm creatures of darkness 
  will have the desired effect against the necromancer.
  ANGUISHED SHADE HARVEST
  Cost: 60m
  Target: Area
  As the sun sets, the necromancer races to journey 
  around an area that may be as big as he wishes as long 
  as he surrounds it by midnight. The character can ride, 
  but not use any sort of magic to speed his passage. Once 
  he connects his path’s end with its beginning, the stars 
  within the circle fade, and clouds smother the heavens. 
  Until the next dusk, the area remains heavily overcast 
  and every person who dies a violent or painful death rises 
  as a hungry ghost—even in daytime. The ghosts are not 
  slaves to the necromancer, but they won’t attack her.
  THE BARLESS GATE
  Cost: 42m
  Target: Mirror
  The necromancer touches a mirror as his anima 
  ﬂ ashes silver. The mirror ripples, sucks him in and bursts 
  into slivers as soon as the caster is gone from sight. An-
  other mirror of the caster’s choice immediately turns black 
  and shatters outward, expelling the character—though 
  the necromancer simply ﬂ oats to the ground with quiet 
  dignity. He may step out of any mirror in the same world. 
  If he doesn’t know of a particular mirror, he may aim for 
  a location and steps from the nearest mirror. Spells that 
  block teleportation such as Private Plaza of Downcast Eyes 
  (see The White Treatise, p. 55) shunt the necromancer 
  to the mirror nearest the warded location.
  BARRED TOMB
  Cost: 40m
  Target: Recently dead creature
  Barred Tomb functions like Denying the Call (see 
  pp. 39-40), except that its binding is stronger. Souls 
  are bound back to life for up to one hour (or until slain 
  again). They also possess a number of unwounded health 
  levels equal to the caster’s Essence, each of which is 
  vulnerable only to aggravated damage. Barred Tomb 
  cannot be cast on someone who was previously revived 
  by this spell or Denying the Call. Likewise, Denying the 
  Call doesn’t work on someone who was once revived 
  by Barred Tomb. Ghosts that rise after being targeted 
  by this spell have only a single health level.
  Barred Tomb is the utmost limit to necromantic 
  attempts to deny death. Even the Obsidian Circle can-
  not truly return the dead to life.
  BIRTH OF SANITY’S SORROW
  Cost: 10m, 1 permanent wp
  Target: Caster
  Only the Neverborn themselves can tutor a necro-
  mancer in this spell. All other attempts to teach it result 
  in failure, and committing it to paper results in gibberish. 
  The character must have the insanity, inﬂ uence and raw 
  power to approach the tombs of the Neverborn that drift 
  within the Mouth of the Void in Stygia, constantly de-
  voured by the Abyss but never diminishing. There, the 
  necromancer communes with one of the chthonic enti-
  ties, and together, they devise her personal expression of 
  this spell. The result comes from the terrifying imagination 
  of a brilliant necromancer and the unknown, potentially 
  limitless powers of an insanely maleﬁ c dead god.
  Birth of Sanity’s Sorrow has special timing rules. 
  The character can cast it as three reflexive Shape Void 
  
  49
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  Circle Necromancy actions that take 0 ticks, regardless 
  of previous actions or Charms used. She may do so, 
  however, only when she is reduced to the Incapacitated 
  health level—not before. When she does, her body swells 
  and becomes the monster she and her Neverborn master 
  devised. That creature has these qualities:
  • Attributes as determined in the spell Links Born 
  of Tumult (see pp. 42-43), adding (Essence) again to 
  Strength and Stamina.
  • (Essence x 6) -0 health levels and a single Inca-
  pacitated level.
  • The cost of any Charm she knows becomes 1m; 
  she may also substitute 1m for 1wp when invoking 
  Charms or Combos.
  • Three great powers. These should cost between 5m 
  and 10m and be vastly impressive. Imitating existing Laby-
  rinth Circle and Void Circle spells are possibilities, as are 
  unique powers devised between a player and Storyteller.
  A necromancer destroyed while wearing her Birth 
  of Sanity’s Sorrow form dies in a remarkable explosion 
  (or series of explosions) of Essence and gore. Oblivion 
  swallows her soul irrevocably and without exception. 
  Should the character survive the battle, she returns to her 
  original shape at the end of the scene, and the spell burns 
  itself from her memory. She can never cast it again.
  BLACK FAITH
  Cost: 30m, 1lhl
  Target: Caster
  A necromancer who casts this spell places all his 
  trust in the Neverborn. He must believe they value 
  him and his dedicated service. The character carves 
  his prayer to dead gods into the corpus of a ghost, hurls 
  this sacriﬁ ce into the Mouth of the Void, then spills his 
  own blood into the vast emptiness.
  And after the paired sacriﬁ ces of death and life, he 
  leaps in himself!
  The necromancer hopes that the Neverborn no-
  tice his sacriﬁ ce and crystallize their dreaming power 
  around him before the end of his descent. As he nears 
  the Void, his clothes, his tools and artifacts, his body 
  itself dissolves to less than dust. Only the corpus of his 
  soul remains as it plummets past the ﬂ oating tombs of 
  the Neverborn, and it boils excruciatingly away until 
  the necromancer becomes nothing.
  One moment stands between the necromancer’s loss 
  of spirit and his ﬁ nal dissolution, and it serves as judgment. 
  If he has somewhat roused and greatly pleased the mighty 
  Neverborn, one of them hurls the meager concept of the 
  caster’s death into the Void before him. Never having died, 
  the necromancer appears at whatever location he desired 
  to appear. Occasionally, he comes to a place that his un-
  knowable masters consider more appropriate. Regardless, 
  he can appear anywhere that exists, from the Labyrinth to 
  Yu-Shan to a lost realm in Elsewhere or the best-protected 
  spirit sanctum. His method of appearance—literally not-
  existing and then existing—allows him to completely 
  ignore all wards or safeguards against such travel.
  Few necromancers master the Void Circle without 
  the layered blessings of the Neverborn, but some madman 
  might try to use Black Faith while in bad odor with the 
  Underworld’s dead gods. In such a case, the necromancer’s 
  Exaltation ﬂ ees him as his consciousness is obliterated at 
  the end of an inspired and very complete suicide. This 
  spell is a Storyteller device, and players should discuss it 
  with their Storyteller before actually using it.
  BLACKSTORM COFFLE
  Cost: 48m
  Target: Area
  This spell summons a rain of arrows like that created 
  by Clamoring Shackles (see pp. 37-38). On his Cast 
  Necromancy action, the caster’s player makes a single 
  (Perception + Archery) attack roll that applies to all 
  targets within a 100-yard radius of a point the necro-
  mancer picks within 500 yards. Any arrow that misses 
  dissolves into a foul black smoke. Each ghost slain by an 
  arrow suffers the same effects as in Clamoring Shackles, 
  and the chains thus created latch onto the nearest 
  surviving ghost. Two sets of chains will not latch onto 
  the same ghost; one instead ﬁ nds a new target.
  These chains cannot be made permanent, but they 
  last for a number of months equal to the caster’s Essence, 
  at which point they dissolve into acrid smoke.
  Used in war, the caster makes the attack against a unit 
  and, if he’s commanding another unit, adds its Ranged 
  Combat rating as bonus successes. If the attack succeeds 
  and reduces the target unit’s Magnitude at all, it doubles 
  that Magnitude reduction (reducing by one point of Mag-
  nitude becomes two, two becomes four, and so on) as the 
  slain spirits imprison the surviving spirits. Against units 
  that don’t consist solely of ghosts (or in which ghosts are, 
  at least, the vast majority), the attack inﬂ icts only half raw 
  damage and does not have any special effect.
  BLOOD FROM THE SLAUGHTER
  Cost: 35m
  Target: Caster
  As the necromancer’s anima bursts into its full iconic 
  form, insubstantial serpents of Essence erupt from its edges 
  and vanish. For the remainder of the scene, a bloody 
  haze and the sound of distant death agonies surround
  
  50
   the necromancer. Every time someone within a league of 
  the sorcerer dies a violent death, a phantom snake appears 
  coiled around the body as it falls, then withdraws to the 
  caster in a dark blaze. Each death heals the necromancer of 
  a health level of bashing or lethal damage, to a maximum 
  of her Essence in health levels per action.
  BLOOD MONSOON
  Cost: 50m + 1lhl
  Target: Area
  The necromancer cuts her own palm and cups the 
  blood in her hand. She raises her hand, and her anima 
  blasts the blood into the sky in a growing, rising foun-
  tain. At a mile’s height, the blood-geyser spreads into a 
  huge, disk-shaped cloud that is a number of miles wide 
  equal to the necromancer’s Essence. The necromancer 
  can take other actions once she casts the spell, though 
  the cloud takes an hour to reach its full extent. And 
  then it rains blood.
  The sun is blotted out. For a number of hours equal 
  to the caster’s Stamina, the sanguine rain falls and the 
  affected area is considered part of the Underworld. 
  Ghosts, for example, are material. Abyssal Exalted 
  also respire Essence naturally, while spirits and other 
  Exalted do not. In addition, even the most peaceful or 
  inoffensive animals kill each other and cannibalize the 
  remains—or commit suicide in any way they can. The 
  stench of gore makes people sick. Every character’s player 
  rolls (Stamina + Resistance) for each hour of action, 
  to resist a -1 external penalty to all actions while the 
  rain lasts. For a year and a day afterward, outbreaks of 
  every possible disease haunt the area, impregnated in 
  the water and crops that grow there, while the stench 
  of rotting blood attracts all the undead for miles.
  THE CLAY OF WARPED DREAMS
  Cost: 60m (committed)
  Target: Area
  As she stands in the damned grandeur of the Laby-
  rinth, with not a living thing around her, the caster utters 
  a 10-minute prayer to the black will of the Neverborn. 
  As she ﬁ nishes, the whitest Essence seeps from the walls 
  and ﬂ oors around the three sacriﬁ cial ghosts she brought 
  with her. They fade from existence and become noth-
  ing, swallowed by white Oblivion to appease the ﬁ ckle 
  dreaming of the Neverborn that is the Labyrinth.
  Once cast, the character gains complete control 
  over (Essence x 10) cubic miles of the Labyrinth, in 
  any conﬁ guration she desires. Landscapes appear as 
  she imagines them, becoming her playground instead 
  of the expression of the Neverborn’s nightmares. 
  Controlling the area’s shape gives the caster the fol-
  lowing abilities:
  • Her player can make a (Perception + Occult) roll 
  for the caster to notice any space within the affected area 
  than she cannot normally see. Using this ability adds 
  to her attempts to detect concealed entities a number 
  of automatic successes equal to her Essence.
  • She can manifest physical attacks on creatures 
  within the Labyrinth, such as scythes of sharpened bone 
  or needles of crystallized bile. Her player rolls (Wits + 
  [appropriate combat Ability]) for the attack, which has 
  Rate 1, and adds a number of automatic successes equal 
  to her Occult rating.
  • She always has 90% hard cover as sheathes of 
  petriﬁ ed ﬂ esh slide between her and her foes and ropes 
  of wire-strong intestines interfere with their attacks.
  • She can create poisonous gases using (Intelligence 
  + Craft [Water]) and introduce dangerous creatures 
  into her section of the Labyrinth at will. Creating 
  an original, dangerous creature this way requires an 
  (Intelligence + relevant Craft) roll, and doing so is 
  time-consuming.
  • Trapping others in her creation, such as in a 
  featureless room of impenetrable teeth or a vast maze 
  of slavering tongues, is possible without too much dif-
  ﬁ culty. It is hard to contain the Exalted, however.
  The caster retains her control as long as she com-
  mits the Essence or until a Neverborn stirs enough 
  to reclaim it. Neverborn rarely care enough to do so, 
  and never sooner than a day after the spell has been 
  cast. Once the spell has been relinquished, whether 
  the area changes rapidly or slowly depends entirely on 
  the ﬂ ows of the Labyrinth. Deathlords use this spell 
  to provide a suitably grandiose location for their rare 
  convocations. Only the wariness they feel about their 
  peers and the spell’s Essence cost prevent hosts from 
  abusing their powers.
  DEMON OF THE SECOND CIRCLE
  This spell is identical to the spell of the same name 
  described on page 255 of Exalted.
  EMPTY NIGHT FUTURE
  Cost: 32m
  Target: Area
  The pure and foreboding black of a starless, moon-
  less night ﬂ ows outward from the caster’s eyes over her 
  entire body. As she speaks the forbidden words of the 
  spell, waves of darkness wash from her into the surround-
  ings, highlighting all ghosts less than (Essence x 10) 
  yards away in clotted shadow. For each ghost affected, 
  
  51
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  people nearby hear the faint sound of glass breaking or 
  tears shattering on a hard, unforgiving ground. Ghosts 
  touched by the spell immediately lose all necromantic 
  bonds and any other bindings produced by Charms 
  whose minimum Essence does not exceed the caster’s 
  own. Players of affected ghosts must roll their Willpower 
  at difﬁ culty 5, however, to keep the ghosts from being 
  sucked into Oblivion. For each ghost the necromancer 
  consigns to the Void, she regains one mote.
  FORSAKEN LIFE ENGINE
  Cost: 50+m
  Target: Area and conjured automaton
  To cast this spell, a necromancer ﬁ rst constructs 
  a scale model of a necromantic mechanism, from 
  components all derived from a single human body. 
  Doing so requires an (Intelligence + Craft [lesser of 
  Fire or Water]) roll at difﬁ culty 5. The caster holds his 
  palm-size invention level with his eyes and pours his 
  Essence into it. When he drops his hand, the forsaken 
  life engine becomes a colossal reality, sitting hundreds 
  of yards away where his perspective put it.
  The forsaken life engine’s cogs are carved from slices 
  of thigh- and arm-bones and reinforced with iron. Its 
  cables are woven from sinew and spinal cords. None of 
  it would run without bile-tainted blood as lubrication. 
  Twenty feet wide and almost as tall, heavy iron beams 
  raise it even higher so a yeddim could walk beneath 
  it. Its bottom features a gaping black hole ringed with 
  teeth. Smoke trickles upward from the engine’s pipes 
  like blood trickling from a dead man’s mouth. It is an 
  automaton with the power to make shadowlands.
  Putting a living creature beneath the engine brings 
  it to life. Four bone-and-iron claws extrude from the 
  engine’s sides and shovel the victim into the hole, where 
  mechanisms hidden within the apparatus devour the 
  sacriﬁ ce and its Essence. The smokestacks belch gouts 
  of black steam and crematory ash into the air, forming 
  a spreading cloud. For each point of permanent Essence 
  the engine consumes from its victims, the infernal 
  machine darkens the earth and sky in a wider area, 
  merging Creation with the Underworld. Many deaths 
  are needed to complete the breakthrough and create 
  a shadowland. The engine must consume a number of 
  points of permanent Essence equal to (10 x the number 
  of motes spent on the spell) in order to ﬁ nish its work. 
  If the engine should be destroyed before the job is done, 
  the region snaps back into Creation.
  For 50 motes, the forsaken life engine creates a 
  shadowland 50 miles in radius. For every additional 10 
  
  52
  motes spent in the initial casting, the engine increases 
  in size by about 10% and the completed shadowland 
  increases in radius by another 50 miles, to a maximum 
  of (caster’s Essence x 50) miles. As the shadowland 
  expands, the engine grows fainter, more transparent. 
  When the shadowland reaches its full size, the engine 
  disappears as if it had never been. Until then, it can 
  be destroyed and the spell aborted.
  Obsidian Countermagic ends Forsaken Life Engine 
  instantly, while Adamant Countermagic inﬂ icts 10 
  levels of damage to the engine with each casting. The 
  FORSAKEN LIFE ENGINE
  Motivation: Feed on life and rend Creation
  Attributes: Strength 8, Dexterity 4, Stamina 6; 
  Charisma 0, Manipulation 0, Appearance 0; 
  Perception 3, Intelligence 2, Wits 4
  Virtues: Automaton: Never fails Valor checks, 
  never makes others.
  Abilities: Athletics 2 (Lifting +3), Awareness 3, 
  Martial Arts 6, Resistance 5 (Versus Knockdown 
  and Knockback +3)
  Join Battle: 7
  Attacks:
  Claw: Speed 5, Accuracy 10, Damage 16L, Parry 
  DV 6, Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 12, Damage 16B, 
  Parry DV —, Rate 1
  Soak: 22L/30B (Hardness: 22L/30B)
  Health Levels: -0x60/I
  Dodge DV: — 
  Willpower: 10
  Essence: 1
  Other Notes: In combat, each of the engine’s 
  claws acts independently. Each may ﬂ urry on its 
  own, and its Rate only limits the number of times 
  an individual claw may perform a given attack. 
  Each claw could clinch once on the engine’s ac-
  tion, for example. When a claw breaks a hold, 
  it usually throws its victim as far as (Strength 
  x 10) yards away, thanks to its great leverage. 
  Alternatively, it can hurl a victim upward into 
  the engine’s mouth, but only one claw can do so 
  per action. A (Dexterity + [Dodge or Athletics]) 
  roll at difﬁ culty 3 enables such a victim to avoid 
  the mouth (and subsequently fall to the ground). 
  Otherwise, a devoured creature suffers three 
  levels of lethal damage from chilling cold and 
  crushing gears before he can try again to escape 
  on his next action.
  engine does not dodge, but it has a Parry DV of 7 that 
  suffers only the lowest of all DV penalties incurred by 
  the claws’ actions.
  At normal speeds, the creation processes ﬁ ve weak or 
  unresisting creatures each minute (one every two actions 
  or so). When the “herd” begins to ﬁ ght back, this slows 
  the project by an amount determined by the Storyteller. 
  This spell has no effect when cast in the Underworld.
  GRANDMOTHER VOID
  Cost: 40+m, 1lhl
  Target: Caster and spectres
  The ground shakes with increasing violence as this 
  spell nears its completion, then the caster speaks two 
  words in a rare Old Realm dialect. Her image fades, until 
  she looks like a two-dimensional hole in the universe, 
  one that might lead directly into Oblivion. And out 
  of that hole pour spectres.
  Each spectre is uniquely (and horrifyingly) disﬁ g-
  ured, but they share some qualities. Their skin looks 
  like obsidian. Their claws and teeth drip blood and 
  shed tatters of ﬂ esh and torn plasm when they move. 
  Eminently prepared to kill for the necromancer and the 
  Neverborn, they constantly whisper the insanities they 
  hear from their slumbering masters’ dreams.
  For this spell, the Cast Necromancy action is Speed 
  5. Including the Cast Necromancy action, the character 
  takes a number of consecutive Speed 5 actions equal to 
  her Essence, in which time her being two-dimensional 
  renders her an invalid target for all physical and mental 
  attacks. On each action, including the ﬁ rst, she spawns 
  two spectres. These dead creatures are fully material. 
  They have full Essence pools and health levels, and they 
  immediately act as the caster wills. Treat the spectres 
  as nephwracks (see Exalted, pp. 319–320), but on each 
  action that she extrudes a pair of spectres, the character 
  may purchase bonus points (as per character creation) 
  to improve both spectres at the rate of two bonus points 
  per mote. (She may spend each bonus point on differ-
  ent things for each spectre.) After the last action, the 
  character’s player may roll Join Battle to refocus, as per 
  a normal Cast Necromancy action.
  In addition to the spectres’ core traits, any ghost 
  who comes within ﬁ ve yards of such a spectre hears the 
  whispers of Oblivion (see p. 33). Ghosts whose players 
  fail the roll for their characters to resist the whispers also 
  begin the agonizing process of becoming nephwracks. 
  Targeting the caster with Obsidian or Adamant Coun-
  termagic during her period of invulnerability returns 
  her to her three-dimensional form. She immediately 
  joins battle (as her player makes the roll) and creates 
  
  53
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  no more spectres. Once created, spectres are real and 
  permanent and cannot be dispelled by countermagic.
  INAUSPICIOUS CITADEL
  Cost: 60m + 1lhl
  Target: Conjured citadel
  In the gloom of a shadowland, the necromancer 
  stands above a hole so deep that torches cannot light its 
  depths. At his behest, 100 people have been sacriﬁ ced, 
  their teeth and eyes lining the pit’s edge. At last, he 
  cuts the Last Sign of the Labyrinth over his own heart, 
  spreads his arms and steps off the edge—and his foot 
  comes down on the roof of an iron tower that surges 
  up into the middle of the hole. It keeps rising until ﬁ ve 
  minutes later, an entire fortress of black iron, basalt and 
  obsidian blights the earth. Any onlooker who doesn’t 
  run for her life will be crushed as the citadel grows.
  Each citadel is unique, but defensible and complete. 
  Its walls bear the mazy marks of the Labyrinth. The eyes 
  of the sacriﬁ ces line its halls, glowing brightly enough to 
  illuminate them; mosaics of their teeth adorn the walls, 
  and their skins upholster furniture carved from bone.
  The tower has its own perverted geomancy, focused 
  on the necromancer himself. It is like a manse for 
  which he is the hearthstone, and whenever he’s there, 
  it behaves like one. Therefore, as long as he’s within his 
  inauspicious citadel, the character regains Essence as if 
  he were within a level-3 manse to which he was attuned, 
  and he may also choose a level-3 hearthstone power that 
  he can use within its walls. The necromancer cannot, 
  however, use the hearthstone power or regain Essence 
  at an increased rate when he is not in residence.
  The citadel’s lowest chamber is a shrine to the Nev-
  erborn. Here, the necromancer’s pit now leads to the 
  Void, and anything that falls in will be sent there. If the 
  pit is ever blocked off completely, the citadel collapses.
  Even when he’s not there, the necromancer’s ener-
  gies sustain the fortress, and he cannot support more than 
  one. If the character dies or erects a second inauspicious 
  citadel, then the ﬁ rst crumbles into Oblivion.
  INCOMPARABLE DESTRUCTION ENGINE
  Cost: Varies
  Target: War machine
  This spell is the ultimate version of Walking War 
  Machine (see p. 35). Necromancers also call it Obsidian 
  Reanimation. A necrosurgeon must have Medicine and 
  Craft (Fire) both at ﬁ ve dots in order to construct a war 
  machine for this spell to animate. Each roll in the construc-
  tion attempt represents three full days of work, and the 
  spell costs two motes per success on the extended roll.
  War machines animated by this spell can vary greatly, 
  but the box below gives basic traits for a typical example.
  OBSIDIAN REANIMATION HORROR
  Motivation: Destroy!
  Attributes: Strength 8, Dexterity 3, Stamina 7; 
  Charisma 0, Manipulation 0, Appearance 1; 
  Perception 4, Intelligence 2, Wits 4
  Virtues: Automaton: never fails Valor checks, 
  never makes others.
  Abilities: Athletics 4, Awareness 3, Martial Arts 6, 
  Dodge 2, Resistance 5, Melee 4, Stealth 1
  Join Battle: 7
  Dodge DV: 2
  Soak: Variable, but at least 6L/10B
  Health Levels: Each success on the preliminary 
  Craft roll provides three -0, three -1 and four -2 
  health levels; also, one -4 and one Incapacitated 
  health level, as normal.
  LORD OF THE DEAD
  Cost: 25m
  Target: Caster
  The necromancer’s caste mark burns a baleful 
  red on her forehead. For the next 24 hours, she may 
  command any creature of death with a lower Essence 
  than her own as she wills, and such creatures will not 
  attack her—even if they hate her. Only Abyssal Ex-
  alted, Deathlords and Neverborn can resist this perfect 
  Servitude effect.
  MOUTH OF THE VOID
  Cost: 50m
  Target: Area
  The caster brandishes a specially prepared, bone-
  handled, obsidian knife in three occult patterns, then 
  pricks himself at various point of the body where strong 
  ﬂ ows of Essence and blood coincide. What ﬂ ows from 
  the character’s wounds is not blood, but cold black oil. 
  Indeed, he feels no pain, just the numbness of Oblivion 
  seeping from his veins. The black oil races outward 
  from the necromancer, ignoring gravity, until it covers 
  a 40-yard radius around him. Then, like water spilling 
  over the edge of a birdbath, the inky Essence falls up, 
  eliminating all light within its range.
  Within the perfect darkness, obscene voices whisper 
  about joyful torture and mutilations, chill hands with 
  sharp claws caress the living and cold, lifeless teeth 
  nibble at their ﬂ esh and their delicious souls. Mundane 
  sounds are mufﬂ ed, and screams occasionally rip through 
  
  54
  the darkness. One frozen moment later, the perfect 
  shadows seep away through the cracks in the world, 
  taking with them people’s life and Essence. Every liv-
  ing creature within the shadow except the caster (who 
  might not qualify as a living creature anyway) suffers 
  30 levels of aggravated damage. Where the thick dark-
  ness lay, the ground now rots and dies, and it is strewn 
  with pitted chunks of strangely shaped obsidian—the 
  transformed remains of creatures the spell kills.
  In war, this spell can be cast in long ticks. The 
  black death moves to envelop any unit engaged with 
  the caster’s unit and inﬂ icts 30 levels of damage on that 
  unit. The spell inﬂ icts the same damage on the caster’s 
  unit, however, unless the unit consists entirely of the 
  dead or the caster is a solo unit.
  OBLIVION’S AVATAR
  Cost: Varies
  Target: War machine
  Animating an undead war machine is sometimes just 
  the ﬁ rst step in making it more formidable. Oblivion’s 
  Avatar endows a walking war machine with the ability 
  to carry the pure entropy of the Void into Creation, or 
  wherever the device goes. For every 10 motes spent (and 
  committed), the character can endow large necromantic 
  weapons, such as enhanced spine chains or bonestrid-
  ers, with any of the listed powers. Alternatively, the 
  character can spend 40 motes and one dot of permanent 
  Willpower per power to make them permanent.
  • Chill of the Abyss: Rime forms on the weapon, which 
  sucks warmth from the living. Victims feel their heat 
  draining away into the Void. Treat the area within 10 
  yards of the war machine as a supernatural ice storm 
  (see Exalted, p. 131) to determine its effects on all 
  living creatures in that radius.
  • The Dread Black Beacon: Absence of light radi-
  ates outward from the weapon. For all living creatures 
  within 50 yards, visibility becomes like that of a foggy 
  night (see Exalted, p. 135). Creatures associated with 
  the Underworld, such as the dead and Abyssal Exalted, 
  can see clearly in the area. They also add one die to 
  all attacks and gain all the beneﬁ ts of nighttime (e.g., 
  hungry ghosts become naturally material).
  • Fortune’s Inauspicious Nadir: An enormous black 
  pearl grows from the war machine. It produces a 
  gray-green fog that spreads over a 100-yard radius on 
  intangible winds. Living creatures that inhale the fog 
  suffer bad luck for the rest of the day. Mechanically, 
  anyone affected by this curse treats 8 as the target 
  number on dice instead of 7, and 10s count as only a 
  single success.
  • Infection-Carrying Redolence: Vapors waft from 
  the device, carrying across the battleﬁ eld. All living 
  creatures within 100 yards are exposed to a speciﬁ c 
  disease, chosen when the spell is cast. See Exalted, pages 
  350–353, for example diseases. Success on a (Stamina 
  + Resistance) roll prevents infection.
  • The Puissance-Arresting Eye: The spell attaches a ﬂ ex-
  ible, rotting tentacle or a thin bone-tower to the weapon. 
  However it appears, it bears a pyre ﬂ ame burning within 
  a concave mirror of polished soulsteel at its apex and a 
  lens to focus its light. In battle, the eye usually remains 
  focused on the mightiest enemy. It shines its beam on 
  a target as a 10-dice attack that cannot be dodged but 
  can be parried by orichalcum weapons. When successful, 
  the beam reduces the target’s Strength to 1. One lost 
  dot of Strength returns every two actions. Immunity to 
  Everything Technique and other defenses against Poison 
  or Sickness effects protect against this power.
  • Prescient Threnodies for the Gods: Desecrated voices 
  sing out from the weapon, drowning out nearby prayers 
  and preventing them from reaching the gods’ ears. Add 
  three to the difﬁ culty of any prayer rolls within half a mile. 
  Additionally, the music wearies the gods of activity and 
  life. All of Creation’s gods and elementals in the area suffer 
  a -5 internal penalty to all Perception dice pools.
  • The Rallying Cry of the Invincible Dead: The war 
  machine carries a cylindrical soulsteel bell. When the 
  chime is struck (requiring a miscellaneous action), the 
  sound-deadening tones of the Void wash outward from 
  the war machine. All zombies, nemissary-inhabited 
  corpses, materialized ghosts and Abyssal Exalted within 
  20 yards regain one lost health level. These bells are 
  typically very well protected, often hidden behind layers 
  of soulsteel-reinforced ribcages.
  • Revealing the Well-Hidden Devils: Oil blacker than 
  night drips from the war machine. It pools in the 30 
  yards around the weapon and follows it around. Ghosts 
  who materialize within this radius ﬁ nd the Essence cost 
  halved and any Willpower cost waived. Leaving the area 
  forces the ghost to pay the rest of the Essence cost, but 
  not the ignored Willpower cost.
  • Severing the Bond with Home: A black-and-white 
  aurora ﬂ oats around the weapon, unsettling the local 
  ﬂ ows of Essence. Creation-based hearthstones that come 
  within 10 yards of the weapon lose their connection to 
  their manses. They regain their normal functions once 
  removed from the area of effect.
  • The Softening Rains: The spell creates an enormous 
  puffball, constructed of lungs and mucus and rotting 
  mushroom ﬂ esh. Once per day, it can eject spores into 
  
  55
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  the sky. The sickly gray cloud instantly rots or rusts the 
  armor of all living targets within 100 yards. The magical 
  materials are proof against this effect.
  • The Touch That Calls Them Home: The war 
  machine emits vibrations that weaken and subdue 
  the living’s responses to infection. The player of any 
  character who comes within 100 yards rolls (Stamina 
  + Resistance) against difﬁ culty 5. Failure indicates that 
  every wound the character suffers for the rest of the 
  scene becomes infected. Players only need to roll against 
  this power once per scene, regardless of whether their 
  characters leave and reenter the area of effect.
  • The Wailing Engine of Fear: From its depths, the 
  weapon emanates a terrible cry. Often there are sing-
  ing mouths somewhere within the war machine. The 
  player of any character within 50 yards attempts Valor 
  rolls at difﬁ culty 2. Failure indicates that the character 
  must ﬂ ee until she leaves the effect’s radius. Those who 
  botch keep running for the rest of the scene.
  Oblivion’s Avatar may invoke other effects. Storytell-
  ers and players are encouraged to create their own.
  OBSIDIAN COUNTERMAGIC
  Cost: 20m or 25m
  Target: Caster, or nearby Terrestrial or Celestial Circle 
  sorcery spell, or nearby Shadowlands, Labyrinth or Void 
  Circle necromancy spell
  This spell functions just like Iron Countermagic 
  (see page 30), except that it can affect all necromancy. 
  Obsidian Countermagic also dispels sorcery of the Ter-
  restrial or Celestial Circles.
  POISONING THE WELL
  Cost: 50m (committed)
  Target: Demesne
  The necromancer meditates quietly at the geomantic 
  center of a demesne for number of days equal to its power 
  rating. Her anima smolders around her, seeping into the 
  land. The caster must commit the full 50 motes when she 
  begins the spell and maintain that commitment until its 
  end, when she sacriﬁ ces them completely.
  Her communion with the demesne infects that de-
  mesne with the deathly power of the Underworld. It dies 
  slowly, losing one rating dot per month until it reaches level 
  0. The necromancy has then subverted the demesne. Its 
  aspect changes to Abyssal, then regains one dot per month, 
  until it reaches its original power. If a manse is currently 
  capping the demesne, it changes aspect as well.
  Before the change is complete, Obsidian Coun-
  termagic can disrupt this process. So can Adamant 
  Countermagic, if the sorcerer spends double the normal 
  number of motes. In these cases, the poisoned land 
  regains its original strength eventually, but slowly—at 
  the rate of one dot per year.
  PYRE FLAME
  The green-hued pyre ﬂ ame of the Underworld 
  combines aspects of liquid ﬁ re and burning acid. 
  It’s rare enough that it’s not a constant danger, but 
  it’s common enough that only the newest ghosts 
  do not know its properties.
  Pyre ﬂ ame burns through anything except for 
  earth, stone, jade and soulsteel. Other magical 
  materials are not proof against the ﬂ ame, but they 
  are resistant enough that they can serve as short-
  term protection. It burns as hot as normal ﬂ ame but 
  tenaciously clings like pitch to anything it touches. 
  The green ﬂ ame neither spreads nor permanently 
  goes out. It burns brightly until it has consumed 
  all of its available fuel, at which point it dims into 
  embers and lies quiescent until fed more substances 
  it can consume. Most Underworld inhabitants quell 
  pyre ﬂ ame by throwing dirt over the embers, which 
  works well enough until one of them unwittingly 
  shovels it up.
  Contact with pyre ﬂ ame inﬂ icts the following 
  environmental effect: Damage 2L/action, Trauma 
  4. The damage can be greater, depending on the 
  volume of pyre ﬂ ame—the listed value is for a 
  hand-sized patch. Greater quantities inﬂ ict greater 
  damage. Inanimate objects do not have (Stamina 
  + Resistance) pools, so they suffer automatic levels 
  of damage and are quickly consumed. Magical 
  materials other than jade and soulsteel reduce the 
  Damage to 2L/minute, increasing the time they 
  take to burn away. Pyre ﬂ ame will also consume 
  armor and weapons, if it gets on them. The sticky 
  substance can be removed with a miscellaneous 
  action and an appropriate tool, though it consumes 
  whatever tool is used for the purpose. Quantities 
  of pyre ﬂ ame that inﬂ ict greater damage require 
  more effort to remove. For each additional die 
  of pyre ﬂ ame damage, scraping off the substance 
  requires one additional miscellaneous action.
  Sunlight evaporates pyre ﬂ ame in minutes, 
  leaving an acrid green haze and stain. Still, there 
  is no true sun in the Underworld, and some of 
  the Underworld’s springs or geysers produce the 
  stuff in seemingly unlimited quantity, so there is 
  no danger of running out.
  
  56
  PYRE-FLAME GUARDIAN
  Cost: 50m
  Target: Caster
  The caster must possess and swallow a soulsteel 
  vial—one the size of a pinky ﬁ nger joint—that contains 
  pyre ﬂ ame. Once she performs that action and ﬁ nishes 
  the spell’s casting, the necromancer swells to twice her 
  normal size. The screams of a dozen random and unlucky 
  ghosts in the Underworld resound around her. Each 
  shrieking ghost is instantly shaped into soulsteel that 
  fuses to the caster’s skin, face, hair and eyes. Once she 
  is protected, the caster’s skin bursts into a sickly green 
  bonﬁ re of pyre ﬂ ame.
  Her new skin gives the character +15L/+15B soak 
  and 12 Hardness. She adds to her Strength rating a 
  value equal to her Essence, and the corrosive ﬂ ame that 
  engulfs her inﬂ icts three dice of aggravated damage 
  on anyone foolish enough to attack her barehanded. 
  Foes who strike her with a weapon not forged of a 
  magical material end up with weapons burning in 
  their hands, soon to be consumed. Even the mightiest 
  artifact weapons of the Exalted become dangerous, 
  because even though they burn slowly, they can carry 
  the ﬂ ame to other targets. A character who continues 
  to wield a weapon after it has been smeared with the 
  sticky ﬁ re suffers its basic environmental damage 
  unless he wears gauntlets of the magical materials or 
  is otherwise immune to pyre ﬂ ame, at least until he 
  scrapes it off (see sidebar). Victims of the necromancer’s 
  barehanded attacks are likewise afﬂ icted with the 
  touch of the pyre ﬂ ame.
  As an attack action, the character can vomit a 
  sticky wad of furiously burning pyre ﬂ ame at her en-
  emies, using a (Dexterity + Thrown) dice pool. This 
  projectile inﬂ icts six levels of aggravated damage, plus 
  extra successes, and it cannot be parried. Where the 
  green balls of ﬂ ame land, they leave circles or streaks of 
  green ﬁ re. These ﬂ ames are likely to kill extras before 
  they can hope to scrape off the ﬂ ames.
  The spell ends either when the caster chooses, 
  when someone targets it with Obsidian Counterma-
  gic, or when one hour has passed in the Underworld. 
  The spell’s end causes the necromancer’s soulsteel 
  skin to explode off of her. Thousands of fragments 
  
  57
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  of shrieking black shrapnel coated in green flame fill 
  the area around her, inflicting five levels or lethal 
  damage and two levels of aggravated damage to all 
  viable targets within 30 yards. Only perfect defenses 
  can block or evade this debris.
  RISEN AND SCREAMING
  Cost: 40m
  Target: Area
  After the Cast Necromancy action, the necro-
  mancer paces out a path in Creation, dropping a small 
  dusting of salt crystals every 30 steps. The trail he walks 
  blackens and dries out, as if it had been burned and 
  salted by enemies. Once he rejoins his beginning, the 
  spell’s effects appear to end.
  The area enclosed by his travel has been poisoned 
  with a lasting curse of undeath. Roiling necromantic 
  energy lies concealed just below the surface. Any time 
  a living creature dies within its boundary, the ground 
  softens and crumbles to absorb it. The corpse rises again 
  a few minutes later, its skin years rotted but its bones 
  strong and claws sharp.
  Zombies created by this spell are under the caster’s 
  control. Any zombies left in the region without their 
  master’s attention burrow into the ground, which ac-
  cepts them easily. A buried zombie knows when a living 
  creature comes within 20 yards. It can rip its way out 
  of the ground as part of its Move action before attack-
  ing. Noticing a hidden zombie requires a (Perception 
  + Awareness) roll, difﬁ culty 2.
  These zombies scream loudly when they attack 
  living creatures, and they move at twice the speed 
  of normal zombies. Otherwise, they are identical to 
  zombies on p. 314 of Exalted. Only Obsidian Coun-
  termagic, focused, long-term geomancy or repeated 
  applications of Adamant Countermagic can remove 
  this deadly curse.
  SINS OF THE FATHER
  Cost: 50m, 1 permanent wp
  Target: One living person
  Concluding the spell, the caster reaches out and 
  lightly caresses the face of her victim. Her Essence-
  charged touch sears the person, leaving a scar that no 
  magic or medicine can heal. A (Dexterity + Martial 
  Arts) roll is needed for the necromancer to touch her 
  victim if that person tries to avoid her.
  Over the next week, identical brands appear on all 
  the target’s children, and any of his later descendants 
  are born displaying the mark. Otherwise, someone so 
  marked suffers no other effects during his lifetime. 
  After death, however, the character automatically 
  rises as a ghost in the Underworld after the normal 
  three days. As a ghost, his Motivation becomes “Serve 
  She Who Cursed Me,” he gains an Intimacy to “She 
  Who Cursed Me,” and the necromancer who cursed 
  him becomes a mighty Fetter for him. Finally, he is 
  compelled to seek out his new master after his death, 
  and he must obey her commands. All his descendents 
  suffer the same fate.
  Even the caster’s death does not free the accursed 
  family. Instead, their loyalties transition seamlessly to 
  the next incarnation of the necromancer’s Essence. (For 
  an Abyssal, this becomes the next person to receive 
  her Exaltation.) If no such incarnation appears after a 
  year and a day, the ghost-slaves are released from their 
  eternal bondage. Obsidian Countermagic can free a 
  single individual and all that person’s offspring from 
  the curse, but none of his siblings, cousins or other 
  lateral relations. Adamant Countermagic can free a 
  single victim of the curse, but it invariably kills the 
  target unless a Zenith Caste priest holds the target in 
  his anima. The Unconquered Sun himself can also lift 
  the curse off a person and his descendants, if one can 
  reach him and prove oneself worthy.
  Exaltation protects an individual and his soul from 
  this manner of enslavement, but a person who was 
  cursed before his Exaltation can still pass the curse to 
  his children. Creatures without souls or those whose 
  souls never enter the Underworld are immune to the 
  spell’s effects.
  SUMMON HEKATONKHIRE
  Cost: 40+m
  Target: Summoned hekatonkhire
  Hekatonkhire is the general term for the largest and 
  most powerful dead things that refuse to stop moving. 
  They are behemoths, slain but too invested with mean-
  ing to fade away completely. They are the memories 
  and nightmares that stir the Neverborn in their sleep, 
  PYRE-FLAME GUARDIAN
  Name 
  Speed 
  Accuracy 
  Damage 
  Rate 
  Range
  Pyre Flame Ball 
  5 
  +(Essence) 
  +6A 
  2 
  20
  
  58
  LORAS, THE DEATH SUN (SAMPLE HEKATONKHIRE)
  Loras is a man-shaped hekatonkhire that stands 30 feet tall. His too-long arms hang down to his 
  calves, and each hand has six long ﬁ ngers. He wears loose robes of cloth-of-obsidian, and the giant blade 
  he wears on his back, called the Pit, is made of writhing gold that casts its own light and shadows. Loras 
  wanders the Labyrinth steadily, stopping only to rest or devour as his whim dictates. Spectres keep away 
  from his haunts, since he eats them as readily as anything else.
  Loras knows he was made for some purpose—he can feel it ﬂ owing through his black blood—but 
  he has no idea what it is. His many powerful Arcanoi make him a fearsome opponent. When he spends 
  a great deal of Essence, he radiates waves of white and black so bright and dark that people must look 
  away. When necromancers summon him, Loras performs whatever task they request. After all, he seeks 
  his purpose, and a necromancer might know it.
  Motivation: Find out what his Motivation is
  Attributes: Strength 9, Dexterity 7, Stamina 10; Charisma 4, Manipulation 7, Appearance 5; Perception 6, 
  Intelligence 5, Wits 7
  Virtues: Compassion 1, Conviction 5, Temperance 1, Valor 5
  Abilities: Athletics 6, Awareness 6, Dodge 6, Integrity 4, Investigation 3, Lore 2, Martial Arts 6, Medicine 2, 
  Melee 6 (The Pit +3), Occult 5, Stealth 6, Survival 2 (Labyrinth +3)
  Backgrounds: Allies 3 (Various hekatonkhire), Artifact 5, Contacts 3 (Labyrinth inhabitants)
  Arcanoi: All Arcanoi listed in the Exalted Antagonists chapter and other, more exotic Arcanoi that 
  allow him varying degrees of control over the Labyrinth and to regain Essence and eliminate fatigue by 
  devouring ghosts.
  Charms: Various Charms of the Solar and Abyssal Exalted, including all sorcery and necromancy Charms 
  and several spells.
  Eye of the Nightmare: Loras may reﬂ exively spend 10m and 1wp when he observes any Arcanos, Solar 
  Charm or Abyssal Charm activated. His player rolls (Perception + Awareness) at a difﬁ culty of the power’s 
  minimum Essence requirement. On a success, Loras learns the Arcanos or Charm and may use it at its 
  normal cost. He may not use any Arcanos or Charm for which he does not meet all the prerequisites.
  Join Battle: 13
  Attacks:
  Punch: Speed 5, Accuracy 14, Damage 9B, Parry DV 8, Rate 3
  Kick: Speed 5, Accuracy 13, Damage 12B, Parry DV 6, Rate 2
  Clinch: Speed 6, Accuracy 13, Damage 9B, Parry DV —, Rate 1
  The Pit: Speed 5, Accuracy 18, Damage 21L/4, Parry DV 8, Rate (inﬁ nite)
  Soak: 20L/22B (Cloth-of-obsidian, 15L/12B; Hardness: 9L/9B)
  Health Levels: -0x3/-1x6/-2x6/-4/Incap
  Dodge DV: 10 
  Willpower: 10
  Essence: 6
  Essence Pool: 102 (110)
  Other Notes: The Pit is Loras’s golden grand daiklave. It can make any number of attacks in a ﬂ urry 
  (though with normal penalties). The Pit probably has unique powers that are not noted here, ones that 
  Loras himself might not even know. If uncovered, they may reveal something about his purpose.
  shaking the Labyrinth enough to spawn a monster 
  from their imaginations or, perhaps worse, their fears. 
  And they are the residual remains of the Primordials’ 
  subsidiary souls as they were slain and fell through 
  Creation into the new sunless realms—necromantic 
  analogues of Second or Third Circle demons.
  Casting this spell requires a six-hour ritual, in 
  which the character sacriﬁ ces both a mortal and a 
  ghost (or a single Ghost-Blood). The ritual involves 
  a great deal of ritual paraphernalia, none necessary 
  but all advantageous: Casting this spell without at 
  least Resources 3 worth of prepared ingredients and 
  
  59
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  reusable tools worth at least Resources 4 levies a -1 
  external penalty on the caster’s ﬁ rst roll to dominate 
  the creature’s will.
  When the named hekatonkhire appears, it and the 
  necromancer begin a contest of wills. Their players 
  begin an extended, resisted roll of (Essence + Will-
  power) as a Speed 5, -1 DV action. The roll is reﬂ exive, 
  but neither party may engage in any non-reﬂ exive 
  action, or they forfeit the contest. The hekatonkhire 
  takes a -1 internal penalty on the roll for every seven 
  additional motes the caster spent with the initial 
  shaping action. The contest continues until one side 
  accumulates three net successes over the other. If 
  the necromancer wins, the hekatonkhire serves him 
  for a year and a day. Hekatonkhire who win usually 
  consume their summoners then return to slumber or 
  brood in their dark homes.
  Although hekatonkhire resent bondage like any 
  entity does, they enjoy spreading death and horror 
  through Creation. Some feel animosity toward their 
  captors after the year and a day, but others quickly 
  forgive or forget. Hekatonkhire vary widely in raw 
  power and particular abilities. Some can be easily 
  defeated by a single experienced Solar or a Dragon-
  Blooded sworn brotherhood, but the most powerful 
  could potentially stand against the Incarnae or the 
  mightiest Demon Princes. Regardless, hekatonkhire 
  never really die. When defeated, they re-form in the 
  Underworld. Some become weaker for a time, but 
  most of them lose none of their power.
  VOID COCOON WARRIOR
  Cost: 33+m (committed)
  Target: Summoned warstrider
  Like Rattled Bones of War (pp. 43-44), Void Cocoon 
  Warrior creates a warstrider for the character to pilot in 
  battle. The necromancer’s words and mudras call a great 
  black nothingness out of the world around her. Blobs of 
  gray-black metal appear about her and lock into place, 
  lifting her into the air until she sits in the cockpit of a 
  20-foot tall noble warstrider, interfacing with it through 
  tendrils of solidiﬁ ed Void that burrow into her brain 
  and spine. She may choose to sacriﬁ ce a lethal health 
  level in the casting, which causes her to cough up im-
  possible volumes of blood into the gray-black Oblivion 
  the spell sheathes around her. The spell-forged metal 
  turns a red-stained black and swells, growing another 
  ﬁ ve feet in height or thickening and becoming more 
  squat—the character makes the warstrider into either 
  a colossus or a royal. The sacriﬁ ced health level does 
  not heal until after the spell ends.
  The Void Cocoon Warrior appears with a grand 
  daiklave, humming softly as it annihilates the air 
  around it with the power of the Abyss. At the caster’s 
  option, she may adorn her construct with Void-crafted 
  artifacts of war. She can summon into existence a 
  black, Oblivion-twisted version of any ranged artifact 
  or Essence weapon that can normally be mounted on 
  warstriders. Doing so increases the spell’s cost (and 
  commitment) by the Essence required to attune a 
  mounted version of that weapon.
  Finally, the character may add an integrated flight 
  system to the noble or royal warstriders for another 
  eight motes added to the spell’s cost and commit-
  ment. The warstrider also possesses one of the effects 
  bestowed by Oblivion’s Avatar (see pp. 54-55).
  After two hours of operation, the Void-born 
  warstrider begins to vibrate dangerously, then rocks 
  the battleﬁ eld in a series of Abyssal explosions. Any 
  creatures within 20 yards take twenty levels of lethal 
  damage that cannot be dodged, and anyone between 
  20 and 50 yards suffers 10 levels of lethal damage. 
  (The caster herself is unharmed.) The necromancer 
  can extend the warstrider’s period of operation for an-
  other hour by reﬂ exively spending a number of motes 
  equal to half its committed cost. See the appendix of 
  Wonders of the Lost Age for detailed information 
  about warstriders.
  
  60
  
  61
  CHAPTER TWO • THE BLACK TREATISE OF NECROMANCY
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Deduped  Shit/Exalted 2E/Exalted 2E - Books of Sorcery Vol 2 - The White and Black Treatises.pdf