The Broken Bonds - a strange Space/Prime Obrimos legacy

[BlueWinds]

Hello! I bring before you for comment another Obrimos-based legacy, this time for a very different character than my last one. If you like this, you could also check out my next one, Time/Prime for Acanthus. Yes, I like Prime.

This legacy steps comfortable outside the bounds of 'usual' into the 'downright weird.' Let me know what you think! There's not a ton of detail on "Amundi", the Lower Depth mentioned in the legacy, intentionally - it's my character's current obsession to learn more about exactly what happened to her, so it's in the ST's hands.

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The Broken Bond

Broken and reborn, the Mage who walks this path has had their humanity torn from them - but gained something new, different, in its place. By briefly traversing a Lower Depth (knownas Amundi) without the concept of life or matter, they have been remade into a being of illusion and sympathy.

Origins

Parentage: Obrimos, accidental

Background: For whatever reason - usually an accident - a Mage that finds themselves trapped in Amundi has three choices. Die, remain there forever, or remake their soul in a form capable of returning to the Fallen World. The Broken Bond are those who have chosen the latter. Though technically Liches, most Mages will pity or wish to study a Broken One, rather than unmake them.

Appearance: Despite their semi-illusory bodies, Mages who walk this path are no more flexible in form than the average human (without other magic being involved). They tend to seem somewhat detached from the world around them, but beyond that share little in common.

Doctrine

Prerequisites: Space 3, Prime 3, Gnosis 4, Occult 2.

Initiation: The prospective mage must lose their body in a visit to Amundi (a Lower Depth lacking Matter and Life). The first three Attainments must be bought simultaneously, or this visit will be fatal.

Theory: The Broken Bond are unified both by shared experience and by shared philosophy. Though the experience is what initiates one into the legacy, the experience is simply not survivable without a particular state of mind - a firm belief in identity beyond physicality, that the body is ultimately unimportant. Without this, the prospect of remaking themselves to survive would not have occurred to them in their moment of dissolution. Broken Ones tend to be interested in abstract intellectual pursuits, taking a theoretical approach to magic and to life in general.

Magic

Ruling Arcanum: Space, Prime

Yantras: Presence of a trusted friend (+1); Carefully analyzing geometry involved in a spell (+2); Sacrificing a sympathetic connection related to the spell (+3); Using a Platonic Form tool (+2 rather than usual +1 from tools);

Oblations: Forming a new friendship or renewing an old one; Teaching or recording a Truth for others to learn from; Being included in a friend's important moment or passion;

Attainments

The Ties that Bind

Prerequisites: Initiation
With her own existence little more than a pattern of tension among the network of sympathetic connections she maintains, the Mage gains an intuitive sense for the emotional connections that make up her world. When she forms a sympathetic link with a new subject (or borrows one with Borrow Threads), the Mage immediately replicates Corrispondence, with Potency equal to her dots in Space. She also understands the emotional character of any sympathy she learns about.

In addition, anyone she bears a Sympathetic bond to (positive or negative) has a great deal of difficulty lying to her. She gains Rote on any roles to notice lies or see through deceptions they aim at her.

(Correspondence, Instant Casting + Emotional connection, extra reach due to the limitations on use. Add-on is a weaker version of Pierce Deception.)

Weave the Strands of

Prerequisites: Initiation
The Mage's connections to the Fallen World are frayed, but she holds onto those that remain with fierce determination. Magic attempting to directly affect any of her sympathetic connections always causes a Clash Of Wills against her Space, on which she has bonus dice equal to the potency of the connection. (Connected -> +4, Strong -> +3, etc)

In addition, if anyone she bears a Medium or stronger positive connection towards is in dire distress (broken hearted, panicking, severely injured), the Mage becomes aware of it. If she rushes to their side, she gains the Inspired condition to help them. If she doesn't, she instead gains Guilty. These conditions never give beats when resolved.

Drawback: The Mage ceases to exist unless the total withstand of her sympathetic connections is at least equal to her Gnosis. If the total rises later (because a spell suppressing her connections ends, or someone misses her strongly, for example), she pops back into existence at an appropriate location, unaware of any elapsed time.

(Similar to Ward, Advanced Duration, Potency and Instant Casting justified by the limited targets and drawback. Addon is based on Words of Truth with Advanced Scale and granting Conditions justified by inflicting negative conditions on herself)

A Body of Light

Prerequisites: Initiation
Having squeezed through the cracks in reality, the Mage no longer has a mundane body - what the do have is equal parts enlightened will and trickery. When examined with Mage Sight, their body resonates more with Prime than Life or Matter.

When taking damage, the Mage may reflexively spend 1 mana (subject to the normal mana-per-turn limits) to spread it away from her physical form and into the web of sympathy that anchors her to the world. The connection is weakened once it takes a certain amount of damage.

Connected -> Strong: 4B or 3L or 2A
Strong -> Medium: 3B or 2L or 1A
Medium -> Weak: 2B or 1L
Weak -> Destroyed: 2B or 1L

Damaged connections can't be strengthened magically, and require interacting with the subject of the intimacy to heal. With attention, they heal at a rate of 1A / week, 1L / 2 days, 1B / 30 minutes. Destroyed connections are permanently gone unless rebuilt from scratch.

Drawback: All damage she takes is Resistant.

(Not based on any spell, but related to Platonic Form)

Drawn Forever

Prerequisites: Space 4, Occult 4

One depends on family for an upbringing, on society for food, clothing and shelter, on the plants around us for air, and on the Earth itself for gravity. Without connections, without context, one is nothing. This is as true for every living being as it is for the Broken Ones - they are simply more aware of it than most Mages. Whenever her existence is threatened, the Broken One is there. When anyone with whom the Mage has a Medium or stronger connection is in mortal danger, the Broken One is immediately brought to their side unless she spends 1wp. This Attainment doesn't function if she's unconscious due to damage, drugs or similar, though it does work if she's asleep - she'll arrive at her destination awake and alert, though perhaps disoriented.

(Teleportation, with Instant Casting and Sympathetic range justified by not being optional)

To the Flame

Prerequisites: Prime 5, Occult 5
The Mage has finally let go of the some of the illusions that still fuel their existence. Her body isn't alive and hasn't been for some time - it's a product of Prime and Space, not Life and Death. She gains Withstand equal to her dots in Prime to all Life and Death spells, which cannot be voluntarily lowered. The Broken One ceases to age.

If she has Space 5, she also learns to shed her physical body entirely, existing entirely as a creature of sympathetic magic within her web of connections. She takes her clothes and any magical tools on her person with her, but other items fall to the ground as her body dissolves into golden light, then fades from sight entirely. While in this form, she cannot take physical actions (including speech), but can vibrate her connections to others, imparting vague emotions and making them think of her. She can only be harmed by attacks that could damage a relationship, not by those that hurt a physical body. For purposes of casting and being targeted, she is considered present at the location of any of her Medium or stronger sympathetic connections.

Invoking this attainment is an instant action, while ending it costs 3 mana and takes one minute per dot of Gnosis, as she reforms a body out of magic at the location of one of her connections. If she becomes extremely distracted with magical matters (when scrutinizing, for example), or heavily distraught, the Storyteller may call for a Resolve + Composure roll to avoid activating this attainment involuntarily.

Drawback: On her birthday, one of the Mage's sympathetic connections takes 1B damage, which never heals. Connections destroyed by this damage may never be reformed.

(Related to Eidelon + Wards and Signs, but only vaguely. Add-on is based on Shadow Flesh, with reach for instant and advanced duration)

[KaiserAfini]

This is one fascinating Legacy, as they progress, the mage is further condemned to wander the Earth. After much loss and when they hit low Wisdom, I could see them researching magic to reproduce places that made them feel at home......cool, I just realized its the thematic antithesis of the House of Fire & Stone.

Couldn't the drawbacks be countered entirely by using a Making spell on a random crowd of people they "bump" into ?

For the first Attainment, the spirit of the idea implies it needs to be a sympathy to a sentient being, but its not specified. Otherwise a picture or voice recording would have a Medium sympathy, I think, which could count as an anchor.

[BlueWinds]

This is one fascinating Legacy, as they progress, the mage is further condemned to wander the Earth. After much loss and when they hit low Wisdom, I could see them researching magic to reproduce places that made them feel at home......cool, I just realized its the thematic antithesis of the House of Fire & Stone.

Couldn't the drawbacks be countered entirely by using a Making spell on a random crowd of people they "bump" into ?

For the first Attainment, the spirit of the idea implies it needs to be a sympathy to a sentient being, but its not specified. Otherwise a picture or voice recording would have a Medium sympathy, I think, which could count as an anchor.

They absolutely could be countered with a Making spell, yes, and that's intentional. The legacy is actively pushing you in a left-handed direction. If you don't mind forcing strangers to obsess over that stranger they met that one time and pushing your physical trauma onto their emotional connection to you, then yes, you can totally be a terrifying immortal (until you run out of mana) monster.

You are, defacto, a lich. If you're willing to treat people as tools - and your state encourages you to! - then you can live a long and happy life troubled only by occasional pangs of conscience when you're summoned by the deathbeds and tragedies of random strangers you've been using to hide from entropy.

[BlueWinds]

After playing with the legacy a bit, I've decided to rework one of the attainments a bit - the Mage's state is now both more beneficial and harsher in its drawbacks. For reference, here's the original version of Weave the Strands of, with the new one below it, since I'll be editing the opening post with the new version momentarily.

Also removed the former drawback from Drawn Forever and gave it to Weave the Strands.

Weave the Strands of

Prerequisites: Initiation
The Mage's connections to the Fallen World are frayed, but she holds onto those that remain with fierce determination. Magic attempting to directly affect any of her sympathetic connections always causes a Clash Of Wills, on which she has +1 dice.

In addition, anyone or anything she bears a positive connection towards gains Withstand 1.

Drawback: If the Mage is ever completely without Sympathetic connections, she completely ceases to exist until at least one is restored.

(Similar to Ward, Advanced Duration, Potency and Instant Casting justified by the limited targets and drawback. Addon is based on Wards and Signs, with Advanced Duration and Advanced Scale justified by only having Potency 1)

Weave the Strands of

Prerequisites: Initiation
The Mage's connections to the Fallen World are frayed, but she holds onto those that remain with fierce determination. Magic attempting to directly affect any of her sympathetic connections always causes a Clash Of Wills against her Space, on which she has bonus dice equal to the potency of the connection. (Connected -> +4, Strong -> +3, etc)

In addition, if anyone she bears a Medium or stronger positive connection towards is in dire distress (broken hearted, panicking, severely injured), the Mage becomes aware of it. If she rushes to their side, she gains the Inspired condition to help them. If she doesn't, she instead gains Guilty. These conditions never give beats when resolved.

Drawback: The Mage ceases to exist as unless she has at least one Medium or stronger sympathetic link. If one is later re-established (because a spell suppressing her connections ends, or someone misses her strongly, for example), she pops back into existence at their side, unaware of any elapsed time.

(Similar to Ward, Advanced Duration, Potency and Instant Casting justified by the limited targets and drawback. Addon is based on Words of Truth with Advanced Scale and granting Conditions justified by inflicting negative conditions on herself)

[KaiserAfini]

Interesting, this incentivizes more powerful involvement with your targets. There is no way the emotional lich can claim "these are just some Weak connections, what is the harm ?"

But since sympathetic connections are one way, does this mean they need a connection to or from the target ? I imagine from, and that these are the ones getting the Clash of Wills benefit.

From means they could become the same kind of center of emotional weight as a vampire using Majesty, with the same questions about what relationships were real, earned. But this opens them to the guilt that of those people taking a bullet for them or being targeted because of them. In a way, they exist because sympathetic connections converge on them, like ley lines forming a Node (looking at the optional Arcanum, this is a deliberate parallel).

To means they rig their own emotions to care for those people, becoming a random stalker that worries too much about people they hardly know. This is also very interesting roleplay wise, but makes it harder to restore them back to existence, although not impossible.

[Mrmdubois]

Interesting, this incentivizes more powerful involvement with your targets. There is no way the emotional lich can claim "these are just some Weak connections, what is the harm ?"

But since sympathetic connections are one way, does this mean they need a connection to or from the target ? I imagine from, and that these are the ones getting the Clash of Wills benefit.

From means they could become the same kind of center of emotional weight as a vampire using Majesty, with the same questions about what relationships were real, earned. But this opens them to the guilt that of those people taking a bullet for them or being targeted because of them.

To means they rig their own emotions to care for those people, becoming a random stalker that worries too much about people they hardly know. This is also very interesting roleplay wise, but makes it harder to restore them back to existence, although not impossible.

Sympathetic Connections are 2 way.

[KaiserAfini]

Dave mentioned here that they are one way:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.red...n_relation_to/

Its fairly recent, so I imagined it hasn't been changed by an errata.

[BlueWinds]

Dave mentioned here that they are one way:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.red...n_relation_to/

Its fairly recent, so I imagined it hasn't been changed by an errata.

I can see links *sometimes* being one-way, but think of that as more the exception than the rule. Anyway, I'm going to have to ignore that for the purposes of this legacy.

I mean yes, links are 'one way' in the sense that someone cares about them and the person on the other end usually doesn't. But making them one way in a mechanical sense mostly just means I sometimes have to cast Web Weaver. Adds another dice roll / spell I have to build for not much purpose. And I could rewrite the legacy to accommodate that technicality, but... :shrug: I don't think the intent is unclear as-is.

[Satchel]

Dave mentioned here that they are one way:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.red...n_relation_to/

Its fairly recent, so I imagined it hasn't been changed by an errata.

I can only assume from the context that nonstandard meanings are being applied here, because what Dave's Borrow Threads example is actually illustrating is "a mage and the subjects of her spells are not directly sympathetically linked, but have a spell that both characters are sympathetically linked to 'between' them, so you would need to grab the (two-way) sympathetic connection from a spell with magic to be able to use your being the target of a mage's spell to sympathetically target that mage."

[BlueWinds]

It's time for an update. I was discussing events in the chronicle with the storyteller, and we workout out some stuff about a new 5th attainment. Pending ST approval before I edit these into the opening post, but thought I'd share them here.

Anna is the highest Gnosis character I've ever played. She'll be completing her legacy pretty soon. It's frightening how powerful Mages get at Gnosis 6+.

To the Flame

Prerequisites: Prime 5, Occult 5
The Mage has finally let go of the some of the illusions that still fuel their existence. Her body isn't alive and hasn't been for some time - it's a product of Prime and Space, not Life and Death. She gains Withstand equal to her dots in Prime to all Life and Death spells, which cannot be voluntarily lowered. The Broken One ceases to age.

If she has Space 5, she also learns to shed her physical body entirely, existing entirely as a creature of sympathetic magic within her web of connections. She takes her clothes and any magical tools on her person with her, but other items fall to the ground as her body dissolves into golden light, then fades from sight entirely. While in this form, she cannot take physical actions (including speech), but can vibrate her connections to others, imparting vague emotions and making them think of her. She can only be harmed by attacks that could damage a relationship, not by those that hurt a physical body. For purposes of casting and being targeted, she is considered present at the location of any of her Medium or stronger sympathetic connections.

Invoking this attainment is an instant action, while ending it costs 3 mana and takes one minute per dot of Gnosis, as she reforms a body out of magic at the location of one of her connections. If she becomes extremely distracted with magical matters (when scrutinizing, for example), or heavily distraught, the Storyteller may call for a Resolve + Composure roll to avoid activating this attainment involuntarily.

Drawback: On her birthday, one of the Mage's sympathetic connections takes 1B damage, which never heals. Connections destroyed by this damage may never be reformed.

(Related to Eidelon + Wards and Signs, but only vaguely. Add-on is based on Shadow Flesh, with reach for instant and advanced duration)

Also tweaking the drawback of "Weave the Strands of":

Drawback: The Mage ceases to exist unless the total withstand of her sympathetic connections is at least equal to her Gnosis. If the total rises later (because a spell suppressing her connections ends, or someone misses her strongly, for example), she pops back into existence at an appropriate location, unaware of any elapsed time.