Creative Thaumaturgy: Fallen World Edition

[KaiserAfini]

Plumb Text (Mind •)
Practice: Knowing
Primary Factor: Potency
Withstand: N/A
Suggested Rote Skills: Academics, Investigation, Occult

Sometimes a mage doesn't have time to pour through pages upon pages of arcane lore to find the tidbit they're looking for. This spell allows the mage to sift through the contents of text much like a document viewing program can search for specific words or phrases in a document. For each level of potency the mage can ask a question regarding the contents of a book, scroll, manuscript or any other similar object of text and absorb relevant passages and where in the text it is located directly into their mind as if having freshly read them. If a mage targets multiple texts with this spell they are aware of which text the passage belongs to.

+1 Reach: The mage may simply absorb the full contents of the target(s) into their mind as if having freshly read it in its entirety from beginning to end.

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This is my first time making a Rote based off of the question I asked previously regarding absorbing the contents of a book directly into the mind. It was inspired while reading Broken Diamond by DaveB, when he had pondered on the very topic of such a spell and what arcana that would require. It captured my own imagination and had me thinking on it for a good while before posting here to confirm if Mind would simply be sufficient thanks to its dominion over language and communications.

This spell assumes that the Mind Arcana does not simply limit itself to the confines of the human mind, but stretches out to envelop the construct of language and communication that humanity has collectively built and passed down over thousands of years by taking sounds, symbols and ideas and forming sympathetic connections from them to people, objects, places, and abstract concepts.

Let me know if or where I went astray on this one.

Edit: Included information in the case of targeting multiple texts. Tidied up the wording.

Seems sensible to me. Anything can become a symbol, language is just a more common way to abstract them and only the mind gives it meaning. So scanning a book for its content should be just as viable as scanning a painting for its meaning or the emotional state of the artist, or using Matter to scan a device to learn how it works. In my Legacy this principle is used to allow the first Attainment to scan and dissect plans.

By the way, if you think Broken Diamond is good, then you have seen NOTHING yet. Wait until you get to The Soul Cage, the followup AP. After reading it, it became one of my favorite stories ever, look forward to more awesomeness.

[KaiserAfini]

Book of Life (Matter ••, Mind ••• )
Practice: Ruling
Primary Factor: Potency
Withstand: Resolve
Suggested Rote Skills: Occult, Academics, Investigation

Quickly obtaining large amounts of information can make all the difference to an archeomancer, allowing them to safely parse it later for new leads. This spell reads the target's memories and instantly records all important events in a chosen medium. A stone statue will have the letters carved into it, a plaque or a book will have the ink move to write the information. More ink or similar materials can be added as yantras and with Life 2 organic substances can be used (blood, milk to act as invisible ink, etc). If the information is too much for the medium to hold, the font size decreases until it fits.

The creator of this rote was a Mysterium scholar who used it on an ancient Bound, only to find the pages of his research journal turned black. He was later arrested by the Lex Magicka after attempting to steal a Prime Mover's electron microscope and taught it as restitution, since then it has enjoyed widespread use by Awakened scholars.

[KaiserAfini]

The Emperor's New Meal (Life ••)
Practice: Veiling
Primary Factor: Duration
Withstand: N/A
Suggested Rote Skills: Crafts, Socialize, Expression

Diplomacy sometimes requires one to sample unusual cuisines, failure to uphold the proper decorum in these situations can be disastrous, this spell was created to facilitate that. It can alter or remove the taste, texture or smell of any organic substance. Sometimes its also used as the means to deliver a potent poison. With Matter 2 it can even affect inorganic substances.

Temporal Echo (Time ••)
Practice:: Veiling
Primary Factor: Duration
Withstand: N/A
Suggested Rote Skills: Occult, Stealth, Subterfuge

Sometimes called the Acanthus Alibi or Temporal Invisibility. Upon casting, the target's first [Potency] turns are recorded, they then become invisible and silent as the echo falsifies their temporal presence (but does nothing to mask interactions with the environment), repeating the actions in a loop until duration expires. This is for all intent and purposes an illusion, it can replicate sounds, but cannot be interacted with. If the mage finished the actions in a different point or position, the loop "jumpcuts" back to the start, making the ruse very obvious.

+1 Reach: The loop adds extra "animations" to create a smooth transition from start to finish.

[Falcon777]

I think something like this existed in 1e, but I haven't seen it lately in 2e.
Sensory Shutdown (Mind 2)
Practice: Veiling
Primary Factor: Duration
Withstand: Stamina
Suggested Rote Skills: Medicine, Stealth, Subterfuge
By means of this spell a Mage can turn off any of a subject's five senses, one sense per point of potency. While a useful application to keep from being overwhelmed by pain or sound, prolonged exposure to this spell has been known to cause accidental injury and even insanity. Use with caution.

[KaiserAfini]

I think something like this existed in 1e, but I haven't seen it lately in 2e.
Sensory Shutdown (Mind 2)
Practice: Veiling
Primary Factor: Duration
Withstand: Stamina
Suggested Rote Skills: Medicine, Stealth, Subterfuge
By means of thisspell a Mage can turn off any of a subject's five senses, one sense per point of potency. While a useful application to keep from being overwhelmed by pain or sound, prolonged exposure to this spell has been known to cause accidental injury and even insanity. Use with caution.

I think that could be a Ruling effect, since you are effectively telling the brain not to process the sensory input, its a lot more overt. Veiling would be for the brain to not even know its missing data or misinterpreted data, such as what the Impostor and Incognito Presence spells do.

[espritdecalmar]

Change of Plans (Fate •••)
Practice: Weaving
Primary Factor: Potency
Withstand: Composure
Suggested Rote Skills: Larceny, Politics, Subterfuge

The Fate Arcanum cannot directly control someone's heart, but it can alter the consequences of a person's intentions. By means of this spell, a mage can change the declared intent of a subject in action scenes, Social Maneuvering, and similar contexts. Even if the subject does nothing differently, circumstances nudge her actions toward fulfilling her new goal. If she comes out victorious in an action scene, she walks away with her new intent fulfilled rather than her original; if she opens all of a target's Doors, the mark might misinterpret her request, or she might blurt out her altered intent accidentally instead, or the mark thinks he's giving her one thing when it's actually another. Using this spell can end up changing factors related to the intent, such as whether enemies can surrender or the number of Doors required to open, but it cannot make the new intent something that would cause a Breaking Point for the subject.

+1 Reach: The spell can change the subject's intent to an action that would cause a Breaking Point.

Add Mind •••: The subject fully believes her new intent has always been her original desire.

[Mrmdubois]

Change of Plans (Fate •••)
Practice: Weaving
Primary Factor: Potency
Withstand: Composure
Suggested Rote Skills: Larceny, Politics, Subterfuge

The Fate Arcanum cannot directly control someone's heart, but it can alter the consequences of a person's intentions. By means of this spell, a mage can change the declared intent of a subject in action scenes, Social Maneuvering, and similar contexts. Even if the subject does nothing differently, circumstances nudge her actions toward fulfilling her new goal. If she comes out victorious in an action scene, she walks away with her new intent fulfilled rather than her original; if she opens all of a target's Doors, the mark might misinterpret her request, or she might blurt out her altered intent accidentally instead, or the mark thinks he's giving her one thing when it's actually another. Using this spell can end up changing factors related to the intent, such as whether enemies can surrender or the number of Doors required to open, but it cannot make the new intent something that would cause a Breaking Point for the subject.

+1 Reach: The spell can change the subject's intent to an action that would cause a Breaking Point.

Add Mind •••: The subject fully believes her new intent has always been her original desire.

I'd say straight up changing one Intention for another would be Patterning, but adding to or subtracting clauses to that Intention could be at the right level for 3 dots. So for instance, if someone in the scene had the Intention of stealing a car, you could use a spell at 3 dots to say that they intend it to be a red car.

[espritdecalmar]

I'd say straight up changing one Intention for another would be Patterning, but adding to or subtracting clauses to that Intention could be at the right level for 3 dots. So for instance, if someone in the scene had the Intention of stealing a car, you could use a spell at 3 dots to say that they intend it to be a red car.

I could see that. My reasoning was that an Adept already has broader options available with spells such as Strings of Fate and Chaos Mastery, but you might be right.

Anyway, here's a strange little spell I thought of this morning:

Exit Stage Left (Death •• + Fate ••)
Practice: Ruling
Primary Spell Factor: Potency
Withstand: Resolve
Suggested Rote Skills: Expression, Intimidation, Politics

The Awakened know that endings are rarely the end. Through acts of magic, plot twists, or blind luck, anything can happen: The dead might return to life, or an enemy's defeat is far from certain. Some mages have devised a way to keep finality final. Through this spell, once a subject has been consigned to irrelevancy, it can't be brought back until Duration expires. If cast on a subject's corpse, the subject cannot be revived; a totaled car can't be rebuilt; etc. This spell functions on more than just literal death and destruction, however; if the subject has been fired from her job, nothing she does will get her rehired for the spell's Duration. In this case, the spell won't prevent the subject from getting another job somewhere else (ideally someplace far away), but from the mage's point of view, the subject won't be returning to this particular story. Any sort of loss, defeat, or elimination real or symbolic is a valid target for this spell. As per usual, magical attempts to restore the subject's relevancy provoke a Clash of Wills. Some mages use this power to ensure that powerful evils remain vanquished or bound, but many Consilia also consider certain applications to be cruel, bordering on Left-Handed practice.

This spell cannot override the Sanctity of Merits rule.

[KaiserAfini]

Quickcarpet (Matter •••)
Practice: Weaving
Primary Factor: Duration
Withstand: N/A
Suggested Rote Skills: Craft, Science, Survival

This makes an object unable to properly support weight, making anyone or anything that stands upon it sink past it. The creator famously used this to defend her Sanctum from a Banisher attack. After casting it on the floor, she hid it from the Peripheral Sight by placing a carpet over it. When the Banishers arrived, they fell into a basement full of sharp spikes.

+1 Reach: You can specify up to [Potency] materials that do not sink when making contact with it. With conjunctional Life 1 or Fate 1, you can instead allocate Potency on a 1 to 1 basis to specify people or living beings (eg "Sentinel Prospero and any ferret") that do not sink.

Bowling Bomb(Matter •••)
Practice: Weaving
Primary Factor: Potency
Withstand: N/A
Suggested Rote Skills: Craft, Science, Weaponry

This gives an object the ability to either slide like a pinball or bounce like a rubber ball, allowing the mage to pull of impossible trick shots that ignore [Potency] points of cover. Some Arrows use it to deliver sleeping gas, tear gas to end encounters non-lethaly, or to even use dynamite and grenades when its not possible.

Hardlight (Forces •••, Matter •••)
Practice: Weaving
Primary Factor: Duration
Withstand: N/A
Suggested Rote Skills: Academics, Craft, Science

This shapes light into any form the mage desires and fixes it as a solid. The object has Durability 2, weapon rating 2 if it's a weapon and armor rating 2 if it's armor.

+1 Reach: The mage may specify up to [Potency] light types that cause it to become insubstantial once more while exposed, such as torchlight, candlelight, infrared light, ultra violet light, flashlights or even colored lights.

[proindrakenzol]

Hardlight (Forces •••)
Practice: Weaving
Primary Factor: Duration
Withstand: N/A
Suggested Rote Skills: Academics, Craft, Science

Light is both a wave and a particle, depending on how it is interacted with.

Not exactly, the wave-particle duality of quantum objects is very complicated and hotly debated.

This shapes it into any form the mage desires and fixates it as a particle.

fixate

1. cause (someone) to acquire an obsessive attachment to someone or something.
2. direct one's eyes toward.

The word you're looking for is "fixes."

Also, this doesn't achieve what you want. Forcing light to only behave as a particle only (which doesn't make sense, everything behaves as both a particle and a wave) would not turn it "hard," it still would not have mass in the non-quantum, non-relativistic sense.

The object has Durability 2, weapon rating 2 if it's a weapon and armor rating 2 if it's armor. Any spells to further strengthen it require Matter 3 conjunctional.

These are properties of mass, and therefore would inherently require Matter 3 conjunctional as part of the base spell.

+1 Reach: The mage may specify up to [Potency] light types that cause hardlight to become a wave while exposed, such as torchlight, candlelight, infrared light, ultra violet light, flashlights or even colored lights.

This doesn't really make any sense as worded. Like, does it cause the "hardlight" to disperse with this reach option? What do you think "become a wave" means?

Basically, Hardlight should be Forces 3 + Matter 3 out of the box, you're giving non-quantum properties to quantum things.

[Tessie]

Symbolically speaking Forces deals with forces while it is Matter that deals with solids, so definitely Forces+Matter. It would arguably also require Patterning instead of Weaving since it's less about granting a property and more about transforming it into something it is not.

[KaiserAfini]

Symbolically speaking Forces deals with forces while it is Matter that deals with solids, so definitely Forces+Matter. It would arguably also require Patterning instead of Weaving since it's less about granting a property and more about transforming it into something it is not.

Technically I am not turning light into matter, I am giving it the property of being solid and then treating it like ectoplasm, which arguably requires Matter. But I am not turning it into steel, titanium, nitinol or anything like that. Did you mean that it transforms it into a halfway point between light and matter ?

[Tessie]

Technically I am not turning light into matter, I am giving it the property of being solid and then treating it like ectoplasm, which arguably requires Matter. But I am not turning it into steel, titanium, nitinol or anything like that. Did you mean that it transforms it into a halfway point between light and matter ?

I said "arguably" because the distinction between granting something the property of a solid and transforming it into a solid is purely academical. Regardless, it should definitely require Matter because solidity as a property isn't something that Forces deals with.

Ectoplasm is a false analogue because it's a Death related substance that happens to be solid in its natural state. Shaping ectoplasm only requires Ruling because you're merely shaping it, not granting it additional properties. You could use Forces in a similar way to shape, say, fire into a variety of shapes, but it wouldn't make the fire solid because it's not solid in the first place.

[lnodiv]

I said "arguably" because the distinction between granting something the property of a solid and transforming it into a solid is purely academical. Regardless, it should definitely require Matter because solidity as a property isn't something that Forces deals with.

You can turn Shadows solid with Death 3, too, though...

This spell is literally just a published spell (Shadow Crafting) with the serial numbers filed off. That spell doesn't require Matter and neither should this. The precedent for requiring Matter to give things solidity in 2E is incredibly weak at best.

'Solids' is listed as being under the purview of Matter, but that doesn't necessarily make them sacrosanct and untouchable by any other Arcanum in any way; language is the purview of Prime and yet Universal Language is a Mind Spell (sensibly and reasonably so).

For reference:

The caster can shape and harden shadows into solid, three-dimensional forms. The object gains a Durability of 2. If it is a weapon it gains a weapon rating of 2; if it is armor it gains an armor rating of 2; otherwise the object gains a +2 equipment bonus. Objects made of shadow retain a shadowy appearance and cast no shadow of their own.

This shapes light into any form the mage desires and fixes it as a solid. The object has Durability 2, weapon rating 2 if it's a weapon and armor rating 2 if it's armor.

[Tessie]

The Death shadow spells are bad examples because they break the guidelines, causing quite a bit of head scratching for everyone who's tried to figure out why.
The best answers I can come up with is that Death deals with other things that are solid (such as dead bodies) as well as being one of two Arcana that can apply Manifestation effects. It's not great explanations, I know.

Universal Language works because language, despite being a Prime thing, is also a subset of learned knowledge, a Mind thing. No, purviews aren't sacrosanct, but there should still be a good reason for one Arcanum to deal with another's purview.