Realms of Power: Magic Chapter Three: The Magic Realm

This page is part of the Realms of Power: Magic Open Content.

The Magic Realm

The Magic Realm is one of the greatest mysteries of Mythic Europe. Many magi are confident that this parallel to Heaven, Hell, and Arcadia exists, for a few of those who traveled there have returned to tell of what they discovered. But these accounts vary so wildly that no one has a clear idea of how this place functions or what it contains. It is regarded as extremely dangerous and remote, but a great challenge for a masterly magus to conquer or explore. Magi cannot even agree on a name — there are as many words to describe it as there are ideas about its nature, and so the only generally accepted and understood term is “The Magic Realm.” (In this book, “Realm” is capitalized to distinguish the place, as opposed to references to the realm of Magic in general.)

No one in Mythic Europe understands the Magic Realm very well; it is hard to reach, and would be difficult to understand even if one could examine it at leisure. Thus, while this chapter includes some story hooks and descriptions that can be used to narrate adventures in this land of mystery and majesty, its primary purpose is to present the rules governing travel, magic, and long-term events in the Magic Realm. It also outlines three different perspectives about what is really going on, which are held by magi and others with knowledge of the realm of Magic.

Magic Perspectives

Throughout history, many magi and others aligned with the realm of Magic have entered the Magic Realm, but few have returned, and those who do give conflicting reports of what they discovered there. No one knows enough about the place to be able to describe it with certainty, and only a master of Magic Lore would have the knowledge to even theorize about its properties. A saga that features a visit to the Magic Realm should seem a wholly new experience for those involved, as characters must discover how the Realm functions and adapt to it over time.

There are essentially two parts to the Magic Realm. The first part is the Realm proper, believed to be comprised of an infinite number of magical locations connected by magical boundaries, which can contain magical beings or objects and are often filled with semi-illusory objects and images called vestiges. Many of these locations are aligned to one of the Hermetic Forms, and the things found there tend to be especially representative of the ideals of that Form. The second part is known as the Twilight Void, and is generally thought to be sparse, dark, and foreboding, filled with omens and portents, and home to ancient and powerful beings that it is wisest not to disturb.

The Twilight Void is described in more detail below. For the rest of the Magic Realm, here follows three different theories about what may be found there, each based on interpretations of the rules that govern the Magic Realm (see Rules of the Realm, below). Characters who have studied or visited the Magic Realm may come to their own conclusions, of course, which may be very different from these. Each interpretation is designed to serve as a starting point for storyguides interested in developing a story that takes place in the Magic Realm, and so each theory has a story hook that can be used to introduce the idea to a saga.

Worlds Within Worlds

Many travelers imagine the Magic Realm as a collection of individual worlds each contained within a single thing. For example, it is said among certain philosophical magi that a single tree can hold within it an entire forest. The Magic Realm is thought to be the forest that may be found inside every tree. Every location a traveler can visit in the Magic Realm is another world, where everything is somehow connected back to something else. Each of these worlds is called a cosm, and has a distinct place in the Magic Realm.

A cosm can be bigger than the thing to which it is connected. For example, a single pebble found on a road can contain an entire country inside it. This is known as a microcosm — a tiny world inside a larger one. Or, a cosm can embody one aspect of a greater thing. For example, all of the wolves in England might be part of the domain of the Wolf King, whose lair may be found in the Magic Realm. This is called a macrocosm — a world that is greater than its parts.

Changes to a cosm are usually reflected back upon the connected worlds. Imagine that a badly injured man enters a microcosm of his own body, where all of his natural functions are depicted as part of a great castle. Yet there is a great breach in the wall of the castle, and the man struggles to repair it with the stones and mortar he finds nearby. When he returns to life outside the Magic Realm, he finds the worst of his wounds are patched and have begun to knit closed.

Cosms generally relate back to things in the mundane realm, but not always. It is thought to be possible for a microcosm to contain another microcosm within it, or even to be part of a macrocosm elsewhere in the Magic Realm. Legend tells of an artist who drew a landscape so perfectly that he walked into it, and when he looked back over his shoulder he saw the face of a woman admiring his work, and he knew this was his true love. He quickly sketched a portrait of her, and it was so lifelike that she came to life. Soon after she died of a mysterious illness — the lady in the mundane world had pined away, for love of the man who she could see inside the drawing but could not touch.

Cosms usually resemble the mundane world superficially, but many natural laws are often suspended, especially those concerning geography and the natural tendency for objects to travel downward (what modern people usually think of as gravity). For example, the microcosm of a precious stone might be an elaborate system of smooth, polished tunnels that continually double back upon each other and even overlap in space. A traveler can descend down a passage and find himself back at the top again, and if he happens to drop something, it might continue to fall endlessly, speeding past him again every few hours.

Story Seed: The Stubborn Summer A prosperous covenant has an unusual problem: summer has never transformed into autumn and winter has not come. The temperature of the entire region has remained at a warm constant for the whole autumn season, and shows no sign of cooling off for winter. Drought and famine is likely to follow in the next year. Then, one of the residents of the covenant experiences a vision — with the help of a human outsider, the lord of summer has taken the lady of winter captive, and holds her prisoner in his magic forest. This act has thrown the climate of the region out of balance, since according to the natural order of things, summer yields his power to winter every autumn, and winter yields her power to summer in spring. The reason the lord succeeded in overpowering the lady is that he had the aid of a human minstrel who has entranced the lady with his song. The lord of summer rewarded the singer by promising him eternal life, but now he is as much a prisoner as the lady, since the lord fears he will need his song again if she tries to escape. The forest of summer is located within a cosm, which is connected to every deciduous plant in the region. An enormous castle may be found there, where the lord lives, beneath the hot summer sun and made of wood as hard as stone, surrounded by mighty oaks. The land superficially resembles the region surrounding the covenant, and the geography may seem to make sense — perhaps the castle appears to be located deep within a great forest near the covenant — but when travelers try to leave the area, they become turned around and soon return to the castle after a few hours. The lord of summer and the lady of winter are said to have the power to visit the mortal world, and to court with their subjects at their palaces every season. If there are any magical trees in the area, they may be convinced to allow a representative of the covenant to accompany them to such an audience. Or, if the characters find some way to gain the attention of the lord or lady, such as by magically altering the climate, they may find themselves summoned by the lady to ask for their help, or by the lord to explain their challenge to his authority. The members of the covenant could set things right by helping the lady to escape and return to her own palace. They might also ransom her, by offering the lord something of great value for her release — their service to his cause, for example. In either case, this is likely to lead to war between the two nobles, since summer must be conquered to force him to relinquish his dominion to winter. Another possibility is marriage — if summer and winter are wedded, their lands would belong to both of them, and order might be restored. (Note: While this story may seem to resemble a fairy tale, all of the supernatural players are clearly part of the Magic realm, since they are based in the natural world and do not particularly care about the humans who live within their demesne. Since people in Mythic Europe do not necessarily recognize the differences between the realms of Faerie and Magic, though, they might very well describe obviously inhuman beings like these as “fairies.”)

The Magic Archipelago

Some travelers imagine the Magic Realm as a physical place, part of the world’s sphere that is somehow connected to the rest of Mythic Europe, overlaying it like a giant regio — over it, like a sphere of magic found just below the lunar sphere; or beneath it, as a kind of underworld at the center of the earth; or even beside it, on another end of the globe. Each location in the Magic Realm can be described as an island within a great sea, or perhaps as distant countries separated from each other and the rest of the world by mighty rivers. According to this perspective, the Magic Realm is an enormous chain of these metaphorical islands, called insulae (singular insula).

Insulae usually appear as places in the mundane world, but supercharged with magical power, like a very strong Magic aura or high-level regio. Some travelers with experience in insulae theorize that the Magic Realm is made up of nothing but a series of high-level Magic regiones where the aura and boundary levels exceed 10, and where the inhabitants are magical creatures that otherwise live as normal human beings, working and praying and making war like other medieval people.

It is possible for some travelers to navigate the “waters” between insulae, ferrying themselves and others back and forth between islands and between the magic and the mundane worlds. Like sea journeys in the mundane world, these magical journeys are perilous, for strange creatures are said to live in the deep Twilight Void, and all manner of snags and whorls can assail and delay those who risk their lives in the unknown. Those who live in the Magic Realm often have great respect for these “Ferrymen,” as travelers might hear them described.

The culture of this version of the Magic Realm is remarkably exotic. An insular city might appear extremely foreign, with oddly shaped architecture, strange animals, and very alien ways among its people. Other islands might seem isolated and sparse, dotted with structures built from scavenged materials, and people who have become stranded there or who have been so changed by the power of Magic that they cannot live without it.

Story Seed: South of the Sun If the Magic Realm directly corresponds to the mundane world, some scholars of Magic Lore theorize it should be possible to travel there directly, by exploring beyond the furthest edges of Mythic Europe. Citing fabulous tales in ancient histories and the desire to see the lands described in them before he dies, an elderly magus commissions a fleet of ships to sail south, beyond the equator and around the finis Africae (the edge of Africa) to reach India and the magical kingdom of Prester John. He asks for younger magi to accompany him on the journey, to bring back word of their discoveries once they reach their goal. Each magus who accepts the invitation will receive an item invested with Leap of Homecoming and probationary membership in the magus’ covenant, which will become theirs once he reaches the Magic Realm. Each ship has two laboratories for the use of the junior magi, and during the first part of the journey they are free to leap back and forth between their home covenant and the ships. After the expedition sails past the Pillars of Hercules they will soon pass into the Magic Realm, where a number of interesting challenges might present themselves to the characters. The waters thicken and coagulate until the ships can go no further. The air is dry and parched, and oars placed in the ocean become stuck fast. (The sailors call this phenomenon the Liver Sea.) The ships are attacked by an enormous sea monster that tries to pull the travelers down into the Void beneath the surface of the water. The magi land at a strange port to ask directions and seek supplies, where men have the heads of animals instead of faces and only assist those who best them in battle. The waters become completely transparent, so that the sailors and magi can see down to the bottom of the ocean, where they see evidence of an ancient civilization. The characters rescue a group of sailors who have been stranded on an island for hundreds of years, who are halfmad from isolation. A water siren attempts to seduce the sailors, first charming them with her song, then summoning a terrible storm to dash them against the rocks. The seas of the Magic Realm are bright and the air is healthy, though it may appear that the characters are sailing very close to the sun, which never sets. Diving into the water can take the traveler into the Twilight Void, as can passing through the many boundaries that surround the various islands and other features of the southern oceans. Assuming the characters do eventually find Prester John’s kingdom, and he agrees to accept the magus as his subject, the characters must then return home to claim their prize. Unfortunately, they will find that their Leap of Homecoming spells no longer work, since they have lost their Arcane Connections to the mundane world. They must journey back the way they came, or find another route that leads to their homelands.

Pages of History

An idea that may especially appeal to more academic characters is the idea that the Magic Realm is a sort of record of events in the mundane world — traveling into the Magic Realm is like traveling through the memories of the past. According to this view, each location in the Magic Realm is a specific moment in history, called a tempus (plural tempora). As travelers journey further from the mundane realm, they find records of older and older events, so that the most powerful magical places and things are especially ancient. This idea is especially popular among Criamon magi, many of whom believe that Twilight is a place outside of the circle of time, and that there they can alter the past with their actions in the present.

To explain this concept through analogy, travelers might describe the Magic Realm as the Book of St. Peter, in which all of a person’s thoughts and deeds are recorded for the Final Day of Judgment. Each moment in the subject’s narrative is a single page in the book, and by turning the pages, St. Peter can travel from one moment to the next in that person’s life, traveling forward or backward through the book, in order to better judge how well the person has lived his life. So too can travelers in the Magic Realm pass from one tempus to another, visiting different events in the subject’s history.

In a tempus, time might seem to behave very strangely, perhaps held in place and endlessly repeating a single event or series of events, or proceeding backward instead of forward. Magical beings who live in these locales often believe themselves to be part of the moment, so that travelers who discover what seems to be a famous battlefield might find and speak with the character who thinks he is the commander. These historical reenactments are believed by those who favor this interpretation to be scrupulously accurate views of history, as long as they have not been tampered with by outsiders.

Story Seed: Crimes Revisited A magus has a caller whom he has never heard of before — an almost impossibly old man who requests a private audience with him. This man informs him that the magus himself has been accused of a crime, something he did many years ago when he believed no one else was watching. The man identifies himself as the appointed advocate for the magus in a court of Magic, where the complaint has been brought against him. This is not a Hermetic crime, but a crime in mundane society, such as murder or theft, and the advocate describes an eyewitness account of the event that is eerily accurate. In fact, for a small fee (perhaps ten pawns of vis), the advocate can bring the magus into the Magic Realm, to a tempus that demonstrates the entirety of the events in vivid detail as if they were both present when the crime was committed. While there, the two of them can investigate the facts of the matter and prepare their case. If it seems clear the magus is guilty, the advocate suggests that the defendant try to make restitution for his act in the intervening seasons. If there are special circumstances that warrant arguing his innocence, they gather as much evidence as possible. Then the advocate returns the magus to the mundane world and promises to return in a year’s time to accompany him to his trial. He also warns the magus that others in the court will be watching him and will know what he does, so he should not think to flee or commit any other crimes. After a year passes, the advocate does not return and there is no word from this supposed court of magic. Has the magus been hoodwinked, or has something else happened to the advocate? Perhaps the court has dropped the case, or maybe in his absence they have found him guilty. It may behoove the magus to find some way to get himself to court and defend himself, rather than wait for the advocate to fetch him.

Fact and Theory

Although these three theories seem very different, it has not, so far, been possible to determine which, if any, is true. This is because each theory can account for locations within the Magic Realm that seem to fit better in the others.

For magi who believe that the Magic Realm is composed of cosms, insulae are simply particularly allegorical cosms, while areas that appear to be tempora are cosms that capture a moment of time that is particularly important for some object, although the object itself need not be important. The Twilight Void is described as the space between cosms.

The Ferrymen have the easiest time explaining the locations; there is nothing to stop an insula looking like a cosm or a tempus. They have more trouble explaining why changes in certain insulae influence the mundane world, but argue that this is not universally true, so the cosms theory cannot be right. Cosm theorists, on the other hand, accept that not all changes to the Magic Realm are reflected in the mundane world, because not all changes to a cosm are fundamental to the mundane thing to which it corresponds.

Those who see the Magic Realm as pages of history concede that magical creatures living within a tempus can change it. Realms that do not look like history once did, they claim. And it is very difficult to disprove this. For these magi, the Twilight Void is the time between times, which is why there seems to be even less time there than in the rest of the Magic Realm. These magi claim that there are sequences of tempora representing history; magi supporting other theories tend not to have visited them, and thus remain unconvinced. On the other hand, the magi supporting a temporal theory would dismiss accounts of a sequence of tempora that depicted things that never happened.

If a group of magi devoted themselves to exploring the Magic Realm over a considerable period of time, they might be able to make one or more of these theories more difficult to sustain. It has, simply, not yet happened, but it might happen in your saga. If so, the storyguide needs to decide on the fundamental truth of the Magic Realm, and provide evidence pointing toward it.

Rules of the Realm

Perhaps the most basic principle of the Magic Realm is the idea that its inhabitants do not grow or mature; while there, they are immortal, essential, and ideal. This is not to say that they cannot do things or alter themselves or their surroundings, only that while they are in the Magic Realm, they do not develop or improve as characters. It is almost as if time stands still while they explore the Realm, though the events of the mundane realm still proceed as normal while they are gone, and time rushes to catch up with them as soon as they return.

To represent this concept in game terms, characters do not receive experience points while they are in the Magic Realm. Instead, they can collect vis. Knowledge is power in the Magic Realm, and quite literally so. Over the course of a season, vis of a single type chosen by the player manifests within the character, a number of pawns equal to the number of experience points he would have earned for that season. This vis might form as strangely-colored calluses on his skin, or as incandescent hairs in his beard, or as part of mundane objects he carries with him on his journey. Partial seasons spent in the Magic Realm are treated as if the character’s study had been interrupted, with the points divided between vis for the time spent in the Magic Realm and experience for the time spent in the mundane.

Because of this timeless quality, characters do not need to make Aging rolls while in the Magic Realm, though time still passes and their actual age increases for each year they remain there. They heal wounds and recover Might and Fatigue levels as normal. Magical durations greater than Momentary do not end once their time has elapsed, however: durations of Diameter, Sun, and Moon always last until the end of the current season instead, and Year durations are effectively permanent for as long as the target remains in the Magic Realm.

Arcane Connections to things outside the Magic Realm are interrupted when they are brought into the Magic Realm, though they are re-established once the object is returned to the mundane realm. Arcane Connections do not decay while in the Magic Realm (except when brought through boundaries or vestiges, as described below), so something touched by a person in the Magic Realm is magically connected to that person for as long as he remains in the area.

The entire Magic Realm has a Magic aura of 10.

Empedocles Was Sometimes Right Many Criamon magi teach that time is a great circle, and that parts of the Magic Realm that they call Twilight exist outside of that circle of time — ideas originating from an ancient philosopher named Empedocles (see House Criamon, Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults). By entering the Magic Realm, they believe that they can throw off the chains that bind them to the physical world, escaping the endless repetition of history it represents, and that it is their own actions that determine what they will find there, good or ill. None of these beliefs are demonstrably false, but few magi outside House Criamon give them much credence. However, there is much in the Magic Realm that would seem to support their viewpoint. For example, travelers do not age there, a fact magi could take as a sign that the Realm exists at least partly outside of time. Whether or not these magi are correct about the reasons for this phenomenon, or about the nature of the Realm itself, cannot be objectively determined.

Into the Magic Realm

Finding passage to the Magic Realm from the mundane realm is in itself a great discovery, for there are only three ways by which travelers can move from one to the other. These same methods can also allow travel within the Magic Realm, and can sometimes magically transport a traveler between regiones and other places associated with Magic in the mundane realm, causing the person to pass through the Magic Realm only briefly.

Magic Regiones

By crossing over the boundary of a Magic regio, travelers can sometimes enter the Magic Realm. This is done in the same way that a traveler passes through a regio boundary to another level, by following a particular ritual or applying a supernatural power or Ability that allows him to see through the boundary. There are very few of these gateways into the Magic Realm known to exist, and legend tells that they are always guarded by fierce creatures on the other side. It is also said to be rare for a regio boundary to open in both directions; most of the ones in myth and lore are said to have allowed passage into the Magic Realm but not out of it.

Some say that passage to the Magic Realm may be found occasionally on “the exterior side” of high-level regiones, meaning that the traveler steps past a regio boundary but does not move through it to the lower level. As he travels further from the boundary his surroundings begin to change, and once he leaves the area that is defined by the largest aura of the regio, he passes into the Magic Realm. However, this is not always the case; sometimes the traveler is unconsciously turned back to the regio level he left, or simply returns to the mundane level.

Magic Powers

Magic creatures occasionally have powers that allow them to travel from the mundane realm into the Magic Realm, and to take others with them as they go. They may also be able to use these same powers to return to the mundane realm, though this is thought to be more difficult. Magi who have been transformed into magical beings may invent spells that duplicate these powers. This means that they can enter the Magic Realm at will, assuming they can manage the effects — see Magic Realm Magic, below, for guidelines.

There are some things in the mundane realm that have a special connection to things in the Magic Realm. All characters with a Magic Might Score have the power to pass into the Magic Realm through these, and lead others through them as well, as long as the object through which they are passing is associated with the same Form as their Magic Might. This process is described in more detail below; see Boundaries and Vestiges for the sorts of things that have a connection to the mundane realm, and Magic Travel for the rules that govern the use of this power.

Magical Disasters

When the raw power of Magic becomes too much for the wielder, it can have unpredictable and disastrous effects. One of these effects is to transport the wielder or the things in the wielder’s immediate surroundings directly into the Magic Realm. Magi are quite familiar with one version of this phenomenon (Wizard’s Twilight), but many of them may not realize that it can also affect other things aligned with Magic, including inanimate objects and even the entire region in which a magical disaster has occurred.

Magical disasters are the most dangerous means of entry, for they can leave the traveler anywhere, potentially so far within the Magic Realm that it is impossible for him to ever leave. Among the most learned authorities of Magic Lore it is often suggested that this is what happened to Plato’s sunken island of Atlantis, and the search for that lost city has driven and ultimately consumed many explorers of the Magic Realm.

Characters affected by a magical disaster can attempt to avoid it in exactly the same way as magi avoid Twilight, by making a Twilight Avoidance roll (ArM5, page 88), substituting the number of botches on the disaster roll for the number of Warping Points gained. If successful, characters may still suffer consequences as their immediate surroundings are affected — if a great deluge of water fills the empty space where their island once was, for example.

Some magical disasters are considered acts of God — no one knows exactly why they happen, but they are presumed to happen for a good reason. When a character finds himself in the Magic Realm and he doesn’t know how he got there, it is probably because of this sort of disaster.

Boundaries and Vestiges

The Magic Realm is a seemingly infinite array of interconnected places that travelers call by many different names — cosms, insulae, and tempora being the most popular. These are all joined together not just by their proximity or their similarities, but also by two other unique features of the magical environment, what those schooled in Magic Lore generally refer to as boundaries and vestiges.

Nearly every location in the Magic Realm is outlined by a realm boundary. This is similar to how different levels of a Magic regio are separated from each other by a regio boundary.

Realm boundaries have a level that ranges from 0 to 10, like regiones, and this is added as a bonus to all magic activities within the area, like a Magic aura. (This is in addition to the bonus a character receives for the constant Magic 10 aura.) Thus, a place with a boundary level of 1 would give a bonus of +11 to magical activities, while another place could have a boundary level of 10 and give a +20 bonus. Supernatural activities from a different realm do not receive the bonus.

Like creatures with Might, every boundary is somehow aligned to a particular Form of magic, such as Animal, Auram, Aquam, and so on. As with aligned auras (see Chapter 2: Magic Auras), this makes effects associated with that Form more powerful by doubling the bonus for the boundary. Thus within a Corpus boundary of level 4, Corpus effects would receive a +18 bonus (4 x 2 for the boundary, +10 for the aura). Like regiones, however, boundaries bring with them greater risk, and add a number of botch dice equal to the level of the boundary to every roll that benefits from the Magic aura.

Boundaries also produce vis. A number of pawns equal to (the modified level of the aura divided by 10, rounded up) appear somewhere within the boundary every season, usually in non-magical things that have been brought to the Realm from outside. This vis is typically the same type as the boundary, and fades within a season if it is not harvested. Thus, there will always be two pawns of Terram vis to be had within a Terram boundary of level 4.

Boundaries allow magical creatures to travel through the Magic Realm by passing through them like regiones. They often define an area that a traveler cannot go beyond if he does not pass through the boundary, though if they do not hinder passage then leaving the area encompassed by the boundary takes the traveler to another place, usually with the same boundary level or aligned to the same Form. The connection between these places may not be obvious, and they can even be wholly disconnected; for example, from an area that seems to be an underground cave, a traveler might pass through a tunnel and emerge from the archway of a ruined city on a hill, where there is no tunnel at all.

The Magic Realm also contains what learned travelers call vestiges. Vestiges are like perfect illusions — ghostly images aligned with a particular Form that encompass all five senses, but which are ultimately insubstantial to all but magical creatures of the same Form. A traveler may pass through vestiges as if slogging through mud or swimming through water. Their solidity depends upon their size — a mouse vestige would hardly hinder a person at all, while the vestige of a castle is impossible for even a giant to move through. Roughly speaking, if the traveler could move the thing in the mundane world, he can pass through it in the Magic Realm. Vestiges do not have enough substance to suffocate a person, and so a traveler who dives into the vestige of a lake might choke and gasp at the sensation of being surrounded by water, but would not drown.

Some vestiges are animate, and others are not. There are said to be places in the Magic Realm that are fixed in a single moment captured in time, seeming like a living painting where falling fruits hang motionless in the air and people stare unblinkingly at the horizon. Vestiges may be associated with unusual forms, such as a Corpus castle built of bones rather than stone, or Aquam “animals” made of water instead of flesh. Vestiges may even appear solid to multiple forms, or behave in ways that seem very unnatural and strange, such as a person who removes his head from his shoulders in order to get a better look at the traveler, or a fire that burns cold and dark, dripping with water instead of ashes.

Every vestige has a connection to something in the mundane world, though the precise nature of this relationship is a matter of great debate. Some call the vestiges reflections of the mundane world, while others say it is the vestiges that are reflected. These connections might be between two similar things, such as a tree and a vestige of that tree; or they can be smaller or larger, such as a single tree that is the vestige of an entire forest, or a forest that is the vestige of a single tree. Concepts that do not fit neatly into Hermetic Forms may be represented with vestiges, such as the vestige of the ownership of Lord Theobald’s lands, or the vestige of the first day of winter in the Alps.

Sometimes, changes to one cause changes to the other; if a traveler destroys the vestige of a mundane tree, for example, that same tree will sicken and die in the mundane realm. As Theobald grows unpopular, the vestige of his lands in the Magic Realm will change to reflect this. Should a magical creature capture the Alpine winter and enslave it, spring will not come to the Alps until it is released. Some magi argue that this is always the case, but that it is not always obvious what a vestige connects to in the mundane realm. A vestigial tree may be connected to a mundane leaf, for example, so that destroying the vestigial tree only causes the leaf to fall.

Things with Magic Might do not form vestiges in the Magic Realm, though they may be affected by vestiges of concepts that encompass them. For example, imagine a sleeping dragon that lives beneath a covenant. The covenant has a vestige in the Magic Realm, and this vestige might look like the sleeping dragon. If a traveler were to slay this vestigial dragon, the actual dragon would not be killed. However, perhaps the consequence of slaying the dragon is that the covenant’s aura fades to nothing, and this might wake the dragon from its slumber.

Just as boundaries are interconnected in the Magic Realm, so too are vestiges. All vestiges that are associated with to the same thing in the mundane realm are connected to each other, and magical powers can allow travelers to pass between them in the same way that they can pass through boundaries, moving from one vestige to another. Like boundaries, vestiges have a level that represents the strength of the connection to the rest of the Magic Realm, which ranges from 0-10. An extremely powerful vestige might be level 8, and an average vestige would have a level of 4. A vestige with a level of 0 is not connected to anything, and cannot be used for travel.

Not everything in the Magic Realm is a vestige, and the proportion of vestiges in a region seems to be quite variable. Some magi have reported regions containing no vestiges, but magi in the Magic Realm rarely search closely enough to be sure. On the other hand, some regions seem to contain nothing but vestiges; regions like frozen moments of history seem to be particularly common, and are one of the main pieces of evidence used by those who argue that the Magic Realm consists of tempora.

Magical Travel

Traveling through boundaries or vestiges is very similar to passing between levels of a regio. The character attempts to see the destination he wishes to reach by looking through the boundary or vestige, and then steps into it and beyond. Only characters with Magic Might or special powers like Second Sight or Magic Sensitivity can do this, although they can lead others through with them. Do not include the aura bonus in this roll, but you may add Form bonuses that correspond to the boundary or vestige. For example, a magus with Second Sight could add his (Herbam / 5) to the roll to see through the vestige of a tree or an Herbam boundary. The more powerful the vestige or boundary, the easier it is to travel through it.

Boundary Travel

Stress Die + Perception + Appropriate Ability + Form Bonus Vs. ((10 – Current Realm Boundary Level) X 3) – Familiarity Modifier

Vestige Travel

Stress Die + Perception + Appropriate Ability + Form Bonus Vs. ((10 –level of the Vestige) X 3) – Familiarity Modifier

The Familiarity modifier is based on how well the character knows the destination, and reduces the Ease Factor for seeing through a boundary or vestige as shown on the chart below. Use only the highest Familiarity modifier for any given attempt. If the character has never been to the place he wishes to reach but is looking for something specific, or if he simply wishes to explore without a set destination in mind, his Familiarity modifier is 0. You should also note the amount by which the roll exceeds the difficulty, as this is the character’s initial Speed modifier (see below).

Familiarity & Familiarity Modifier

• Enigmatic Wisdom score Magic Lore score
• Area Lore (Magic Realm) (score x 3)
• Knows name or description of the destination 1
• Has seen the destination before 3
• Visited the destination before 6
• Arcane Connection to the destination 15

Vestiges and boundaries that are connected to a specific location count as Arcane Connections to that location, but note that other Arcane Connections to places in the Magic Realm decay at a faster rate when traveling through the Twilight Void (see below).

The destination must be connected to the origin boundary or vestige, or else it must have a boundary or vestige level of at least 1, because otherwise there is nothing from which the characters may emerge. It is possible to return to the mundane realm through a boundary or vestige, but only if the destination is connected to the boundary or vestige, because places in the mundane realm do not have boundary or vestige levels.

If successful, the traveler and those he is leading with him find themselves in the strange magical landscape called the Twilight Void. While there, the characters are drawn to their destination at a constant speed, like floating down a river, using the character’s initial Speed Level on the chart below.

Speed Level & Length of journey

• –1 or lower permanent
• 0 seven plus a stress die (no botch) years
• 3 seven years
• 6 Year
• 9 one season
• 12 Moon
• 15 day (24 hours)
• 18 Sun
• 21 two hours
• 24 Diameter (2 minutes)
• 27 one minute
• 30+ Momentary

The character leading the group is aware of the distance that must be covered, as he can perceive their destination (if he had no destination in mind, this is the same place where they started). This is the maximum length of their stay in the Twilight Void, and acts as a constant — they will reach their destination once this amount of time has elapsed, no matter what else they do.

The character who brought the group through the boundary or vestige can attempt to speed the journey by concentrating: treat the result of the following formula as the group’s new Speed Level for as long as this character concentrates. As the Twilight Void is essentially timeless, it is possible for a character to maintain concentration indefinitely, but he cannot do anything else on the journey. If he stops concentrating, they revert to their initial speed.

Like the initial travel total, this roll does not include a bonus for the aura, but if the character has a Form bonus, the player can apply the bonus based on the type of vestige or boundary he is passing through. For example, when traveling through a Terram boundary, a magus can apply his (Terram / 5).

ArsMformulaTemplate:Twilight Void Travel

A botch on either of these travel rolls suggests that the leading character and his group are further delayed. Reduce the Speed Level by one step on this chart for each botch on the roll, so that two botches make a Sun journey into a Moon journey instead. If this lowers the Speed Level below 0, the leader loses his connection to the boundary or vestige for which he is heading, and the group is stranded in the Twilight Void.

It should be apparent that travel through the Twilight Void is very dangerous. Few magi ever return once they embark upon this path. It is not very difficult to pass through a vestige or boundary, especially one with a very high level, just as it is not very difficult for a magus to throw himself into Twilight. Once through, however, it can take a very long time to reach the destination, so long that the character will effectively leave the game. Unless this journey is the focus of the saga, players should be cautioned that blithely stepping into the Void could remove their characters from play indefinitely.

The durations of all supernatural effects expire as soon as they are brought into or out of the Void, even unusual durations such as Until (Condition). This includes the Parma Magica — magi must perform the ritual again each time they pass through a boundary or vestige — but not Longevity Rituals or other laboratory enchantments such as a talisman or familiar bond that do not have a spell Duration.

Passing into (but not out of) the Twilight Void also causes all Arcane Connections to or from the character to degrade one level (see the chart on ArM5, page 84), so that an Arcane Connection with a duration of Months would become Weeks instead, and an Arcane Connection that normally lasts for Decades would only last Years. This does not affect Arcane Connections with Indefinite duration, though note that the connection is interrupted as long as only one of them is in the Twilight Void.

The Twilight Void

The Twilight Void is a part of the Magic Realm that is fundamentally different from the rest of it. It is often described as a place that connects other places — many experts think of it as the moment between moments, what some Criamon magi call Twilight or their Founder’s realm outside of time. Others call it the spirit realm, or the “machina mundi” — the mechanism underlying nature. Classicists consider it to be the incarnation of Plato’s Realm of Forms, the place from which all things originate. It is a mysterious, ghostly setting that, apart from a magical disaster, may be reached only by stepping through a boundary or vestige.

There are at least ten different versions of the Twilight Void: one for each of the different Forms that are associated with Magic Might (Animal, Aquam, Auram, etc.). These are called provinces — when a traveler is in the part of the Twilight Void associated with animals, he is said to be in the Animal province, and when in the part that corresponds to water and other liquids he is in the Aquam province (magi and other travelers fluent in Latin would use the proper case, i.e. Provincia Animalis and Provincia Aquae).

As travelers pass through the Void, they may recognize the ghostly images of the places that make up the rest of the Magic Realm, but only those things associated with the province in which they travel. For example, in the Herbam province, the traveler would perceive plants, trees, and other vegetation in a forest, but no animals. Instead, animal shapes might appear as shadows interposed between the trees. No rocks would be visible except when outlined by moss, no sound of wind or water heard except the rustle and creak of trees as they move. Even the sky would appear dark and empty, with no clouds, stars, or sunlight.

All of these images are insubstantial, like vestiges in the Magic Realm. They cannot affect travelers in the Void, and travelers cannot affect them. There are some things in the Void with substance, usually things that have been brought into the Void from the world beyond, but these are rare and typically guarded jealously by the natives who possess them. These beings are Daimons, powerful magical creatures who live in the Void but cannot leave it without forming an Aspect (see Chapter 7: Magic Spirits).

Travelers in the Void are immune to the hardships of nature: they do not need to eat, drink, or breathe. They do not age at all, and do not suffer Acclimation (see Chapter 4: Magic Characters). Their wounds neither heal nor worsen naturally while they are there, and they do not regain long-term Fatigue. For characters without Might Scores, or characters who have Might Scores that are not aligned to the province in which they travel, the Twilight Void is exactly like being in Twilight. They are insubstantial and unaffected by their environment.

In the Void characters do not gain experience, but they also do not accumulate vis like they do in the rest of the Magic Realm. They are essentially unaffected by the time spent within its provinces, and so travelers can simply pass through the Void without interacting with their surroundings at all. However, some travelers can also choose to explore the Void, and these adventures can lead to other rewards if the traveler can make sense of the environment and navigate it successfully.

To determine how well a traveler can make his way through the magical environment by striking off of the path and going in search of a particular goal, the player makes a Twilight Comprehension roll (ArM5, page 88), substituting a magic character’s (Might Score / 5) for his Warping Score.

Success means that the character has a positive experience. This can also speed the character’s journey back to the Magic Realm: subtract Enigmatic Wisdom from the character’s Comprehension total, and if this exceeds the character’s Speed Level, use that score instead. Failure means the character has a negative experience. If the character botches, this can delay his progress further, possibly stranding him in the Void forever. Reduce the character’s speed by one step on the Travel Time chart above for each botch.

As when a magus comprehends Twilight, a positive experience in the Twilight Void has beneficial results. The character gains an appropriate Essential Trait at +1, or increases an appropriate Essential Trait by 1. If the character does not comprehend the experience, the results are negative: the character gains an appropriate Essential Trait at –1, or reduces an appropriate Essential Trait by 1. Then, roll a simple die. The character gains or loses twice this many experience points in an appropriate Art or Ability, and like other experience points gained in the Magic Realm, this experience may manifest as vis if the player so chooses. Then, if the character does not have a Might Score, he also gains this many Warping Points.

During this process, the character generally experiences the Void as a series of choices. It is said that everything in the Void is connected to everything else, and so each choice serves to narrow down the myriad possibilities of what the traveler is seeking to one unique thing. As an example, suppose a magus is seeking a friend of his in the Corpus province, a youthful Criamon maga believed lost. He leaves the path on which he entered the Void and comes upon two figures, a man and a woman. He speaks to the woman, who steps aside to let him pass. Then he sees an old woman and a young girl, and when he touches the girl on the shoulder, she points to the passage behind her. Further choices distinguish the color of her features, her temperament, when she lived, where she grew up, and so on. The traveler may never be aware of the effects his choices have or what qualities are being distinguished by any given set of possibilities, which is why it is not easy to comprehend the experience. Also, the more supernatural the traveler, the harder it is for him to succeed at this, since his greater effect upon his surroundings makes it harder for him to seek out anything other than himself.

Is This Twilight? While many magi call the Twilight Void by that name, it is not absolutely clear that this is where magi go when they are in Twilight. In particular, travelers who believe they have met magi in the Twilight Void have not been able to confirm that those magi were in Twilight at the time they met them, and magi who have gone into Twilight and met travelers during their experience cannot be sure that these travelers were not apparitions or figments of their imaginations. On the other hand, the Twilight Void is very big, and few of the magi able to travel there have specifically gone looking for other magi to investigate this phenomenon. The arguments in favor are mainly circumstantial: magi in the Twilight Void are unaffected by the mundane realm and time in much the same way as magi in Twilight, and there are no other obvious candidates for places for magi to go at that point. Many Criamon do not think that the Twilight Void is where magi go in Final Twilight, however, because it does not seem to them to be fully outside the cycle of time.

Positive and Negative Traits Characters can become more magical by exploring and comprehending the Twilight Void. A common way for this to manifest is with Twilight Scars and Essential Traits (described in Chapter 3: Magic Characters, Essential Traits). These are typically associated with the province in which the character traveled, as the following effect suggestions indicate. Animal: Traits that describe how the character responds to animals, or Traits that describe a form the character inhabited in the Magical Realm or that make the character resemble a particular animal. Aquam: Traits having to do with the physical qualities of water, such as being cold to the touch or changing in response to the moon, or Traits that describe the character’s Intelligence, Cunning, or Stamina. Auram: Traits having to do with qualities of air and weather, such as crackling with electricity or being light and sanguine, or Traits that describe the character’s Perception or Communication. Corpus: Traits that describe the character’s apparent age, or anthropomorphic Traits that make the character appear more human or look like a particular person, or any physical Traits. Herbam: Traits that describe the color and texture of the character or that involve endurance and patience, or Traits that give the character properties of a plant or tree. Ignem: Traits having to do with qualities of fire and heat, such as being quick to judge, passionate, or giving off light, or Traits that describe the character’s Quickness or Presence. Imaginem: Traits that affect the sound of the character’s voice or the strength of his appearance, or Traits associated with specific colors or images encountered in the Magic Realm. Mentem: Traits that affect what the character perceives or that influence the character’s Personality in a particular way or to resemble a particular person, or any sort of mental Traits. Terram: Traits having to do with qualities of earth and stone, such as being dependable, heavy, or cold, or Traits that describe the character’s Dexterity or Strength. Vim: Traits that describe the character’s magical focus or that make the character resemble a magical being, or Traits that affect how the character interacts with magical beings or how he practices his magical influence.

Senses in the Void Travelers in the Twilight Void only perceive species associated with the province in which they travel. Here are some ideas of what that might be like. Animal: Within the Animal province, travelers pick up powerful, musky smells, and animals out in the open are brightly illuminated against the darkness. Animals hidden under brush and behind rocks are obscured, but might be barely recognizable. Sounds of animals or other creatures with Cunning are magnified, such as their calls or breathing, and these transmit their thoughts (such as they are) in a manner intelligible to the aligned character. Animal products can be easily seen, so that the shape of a man dressed in skins might be invisible, but identified by his floating pair of lambskin boots, woolen leggings, leather hauberk, and fur hat, for example. Aquam: Water and other liquids shine out through the gloom, and moistness and temperature can be sensed by touch, so that a being suffering from chills might feel recognizably colder — many things more properly belonging to the Auram and Terram provinces can be easily recognized by this, such as wet rain or cold stone. Travelers can move through water like walking through air, and can see shadows that suggest the presence of fish, plants, boats, or submerged objects. They can even walk upon the surface of liquids as if they were solid if they wish. Visibility under water is lessened, but sensitivity to motion in the water is heightened dramatically. Auram: The world of the Auram province is misty and electric, charged with energy. Moistness and heat can be felt and even smelled upon the air, and the sound of wind and weather is so strong that a traveler can follow a breeze simply by listening carefully. Clouds and smoke shine brilliantly white against the black sky, and aligned travelers can pass through these phenomena as normal, or they can walk upon them as if they were solid, climbing upon them like hillocks in the air. Warmth and wetness are perceptible to the touch, just as they are in the Ignem and Aquam provinces, and any movement can be felt in the air as a breeze against nearby travelers. Corpus: The dark landscape of the Corpus province is broken up by glowing human figures and human remains, shrouded by clothing, so that a monk in a cloak and cowl would appear as a pair of hands, a disembodied nose and a chin wrapped in shadows. Health and age are visibly recognizable and wounds and illnesses shade the image of the person, so that a young and healthy person with no injuries shines more brightly through the darkness than one who is old, frail, and suffering. Unlike the province of Mentem, where people appear ghostly and translucent, here they appear solid and starkly colored in the seemingly eternal night. Herbam: In the Herbam province, everything seems full of life and the power of nature. All growing vegetative materials can be seen, healthy plants brighter than struggling ones, their colors changing depending upon the season: green in spring, yellow in summer, red in autumn, and brown in winter. Dead wood and other nonliving plant products appear nearly colorless. Wooden structures often blend in with nature, so that a village on a hill might seem a part of the forest surrounding it, and wooden tools and weapons feel stronger and heavier. A lush aroma permeates the environment, and it is possible to find a particular plant or tree by its smell alone. Ignem: The Ignem province is an almost monochromatic place of light and shadow, heat and cold. The brightest things appear as pure white against the utter blackness of the darkest, and the hottest things appear fiery red and golden against the silvery-gray of coldness. A room would seem ruddy and closed-in when lit by torchlight, but open and bright in the pale yellow of the sun. Living beings normally give off heat, and may thus have a recognizable shape of color against the colder surroundings. The sensation of temperature is also increased, so that a traveler can sense movement within a few paces via a warmth or chill in the air. Imaginem: Images nearly bombard the senses in the Imaginem province: colors are more vibrant, sounds are louder, and smells are more potent. Species travel much further in the Imaginem province than they do in the mundane realm, making it possible to eavesdrop on a conversation taking place as far away as the eye can see. Environmental images typically show the events of a particular moment, and this can create a bewildering sense of redundancy and the feeling that time is out of sync, as the same birdsong might echo endlessly in the distance, or the same figures on a road appear to walk the same stretch again and again. Mentem: Emotions, thoughts, and minds make up the Mentem province, and these things are perceptible to anyone aligned with it. This means that travelers can easily understand all forms of speech. Intelligent beings appear as ghostly outlines of their physical forms, more or less solid depending upon the power of their emotional states, and tinted different shades of color roughly corresponding to the type of emotion they are experiencing — red for anger, green for envy, blue for sadness, and so on. Other objects may also appear if they are emotionally associated with an intelligent being who is present (such as his clothing or other possessions). Terram: In the Terram province, the traveler’s surroundings brighten as they become more solid. The most remarkable objects are precious gems and metals, which shine like the sun through the dark. Base metal and stone appear slightly less bright, packed dirt even less so, and dust can be only barely seen. Travelers can actually see color through loose material, making it easy to spot buried treasure. Solid objects made of organic materials also give off a faint light, much like loose dirt or clay, but have no distinguishing features. Through vibrations in the ground, travelers can sense movement far beyond their normal range of hearing. Vim: The Vim province usually combines the properties of other spheres into a strange supernatural mixture. Magic things are visible to those aligned to Vim and become brighter as their magnitude increases, but many of the rules that places in the Magic Realm seem to follow do not always apply in that sphere. Spells and magical effects usually appear with properties of the sphere appropriate to their Form, as do magical beings. Divine, Faerie, and Infernal powers or beings are not visible unless they are somehow aligned with Magic (such as infernal powers made to appear magical, or faerie spells cast using the Faerie Magic of House Merinita).

Advancement

As stated above, characters accumulate vis instead of experience while in the Magic Realm. Before returning to the mundane world, this vis may be used to transform a character that does not have a Might Score, allowing him to gain new Virtues and Flaws, or to change his existing Virtues and Flaws.

Generally only Hermetic, Supernatural, or General Virtues and Flaws may be affected in this way, and they should be somehow appropriate to the character’s experiences in the Magic Realm. For example, a character who journeyed there to learn from the ghost of a former Criamon maga might gain Enigmatic Wisdom, and a character who sought out the blessing of the king of the wolves might receive a pelt that allows him transform into a wolf (Skinchanger).

Characters do not experience more than one transformation in a single season, though they do not have to use all of their vis at once. New Virtues or Flaws may take a little time to manifest once the character returns from the Magic Realm, giving him time to adjust to his new and improved self. If a Virtue or Flaw is transformed into a different Virtue or Flaw, the two should be somehow related, and characters cannot transform Virtues or Flaws that affect character creation, such as an Affinity with an Ability or Skilled Parens.

Vis: 0

• Transform a Minor Virtue into another Minor Virtue, a Minor Flaw into another Minor Flaw, a Major Virtue into another Major Virtue, or a Major Flaw into another Major Flaw

Vis: 5

• Gain a Minor Virtue and a Minor Flaw

Vis: 10

• Gain a Minor Virtue

Vis: 15

• Gain a Major Virtue and a Major Flaw
• Vis: 20 Transform a Minor Virtue into a Major Virtue, a Minor Flaw into a Minor Virtue, or a Major Flaw into a Minor Flaw

Vis: 25

• Gain a Major Virtue and a Minor Flaw

Vis: 30

• Gain a Major Virtue

A Major Virtue commonly gained through transformation is Transformed (Being), which gives the character a Magic Might Score and is described in more detail in Chapter 4: Magical Creatures.

Magic Realm Magic

Hermetic magic works well in the Magic Realm, and magi typically enjoy the increase of power that comes with an effective Magic aura of over ten. Spells of a particular Form affect anything associated with that form, so that Rego Corpus spells, for example, affect Corpus vestiges, human-like bodies, or magical creatures associated with Corpus, no matter what they look like.

Standard Hermetic magic, however, cannot affect the unique features of the Magic Realm, such as boundaries and vestiges. There is no profound reason for this; it is simply that neither Bonisagus, nor any of the other Founders, had ever developed spells to do this, so that the techniques were not incorporated into Hermetic magic at its creation.

It is, however, not very difficult to extend Hermetic magic to cover this case. All of the guidelines given in this section become available as a result of a single Minor Breakthrough requiring 30 Breakthrough points (see Houses of Hermes: True Lineages, page 26). However, a magus may not start researching such a Breakthrough until he has visited the Magic Realm and dealt with either vestiges or boundaries, although not necessarily through his own magic.

A magus who accumulates vis in lieu of experience in the Magic Realm may also opt to convert those points of vis into an Insight into the magical manipulation of the Magic Realm (see Ancient Magic, page 8). For every pawn of vis he converts into an Insight, the associated effect has one magnitude. This Insight allows the magus to create a single effect according to the guidelines given below; the details of the effect should reflect the magus’ experiences in the Magic Realm. A magus may only gain one Insight per season.

Since this is a Minor Breakthrough, a magus can also gain access to the guidelines by inventing a spell using them from a Lab Text created by a magus who has completed the research. (Lab Texts for effects created during the research process are no use for this.) It is quite possible that this Breakthrough has been achieved in the history of the Order, but not widely disseminated; most magi are not particularly interested in the Realm of Magic.

These new effects can make travel in the Magic Realm easier and more comfortable by magically manipulating vestiges and boundaries, or even transporting travelers to or from the mundane world. However, these effects draw upon the special Magic properties of the Magic Realm, and so only work there or through links between the Magic Realm and the mundane realm. Characters with Magic Might are considered to have a link to the Magic Realm, of the Form associated with their Might Score.

Note that the only Arcane Connections between the mundane world and the Magic Realm are vestiges and boundaries, since all others are inaccessible once they are brought out of one and into the other. Also remember that in the Magic Realm, all environmental Durations of less than Year last for a season, and that a ritual with Year duration is effectively permanent. Once these effects are brought out of the Magic Realm they revert to their original duration, and if it has expired the effect ends immediately. The spells below use a wide variety of Forms as examples, but the guidelines are the same no matter what the target. You may also use these guidelines to design powers for magical creatures.

New Magic Realm Spells and Spell Guidelines

New Creo Guidelines

The Art of Creo allows magi to create vestiges in the Magic Realm. By incorporating an Arcane Connection into the effect, a vestige can be created so that it is linked to that place for the spell’s duration, enabling the character to travel through that vestige.

Creo also allows the magus to create boundaries in the Magic Realm, or increase the strength of existing boundaries. These boundaries are magically connected to other boundaries, and characters can travel across them, though it is impossible to predict exactly where in the Magic Realm this path may lead. If the caster has an Arcane Connection to another place in the Realm, he may connect a newly created boundary to it.

General: Create a boundary in a part of the Magic Realm that has no boundary, with a score equal to (the magnitude of the effect – 4), so that a Base Level 25 spell creates a level 1 boundary. The boundary is associated with the Form of this spell, which must use T: Boundary.

Level 10: Increase the score of a Magic Realm boundary associated with the Form of this effect by 1, to no greater than 2. Each additional magnitude increases the maximum score or the amount by which the boundary level is increased.

Level 15: Create a magical vestige, which is tangible to creatures of the associated Form. If the caster has an Arcane Connection to something in the Magic Realm, including another vestige, he may connect it to this vestige.

New Creo Spells

Locus of the Literatus

• CrIm 20 R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Ind, Ritual

With this spell, the caster creates a drawing of his location as a vestige, illuminated on a page inside a book that he carries with him. By casting this spell in several different places, the caster produces a map that may be used with InIm spells to travel more easily through the Magic Realm. (Base 15, +1 Touch)

Adoration of the Magical Isle

• CrAq 50 R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Bound, Ritual

This Ritual permanently increases the strength of an Aquam boundary in the Magic Realm by one, to a maximum of 5. This effectively boosts the aura in the region by 1, or by 2 when casting Aquam effects. (Base 10, +1 Touch, +4 Bound, +3 maximum level)

New Intellego Guidelines

Intellego makes a magus able to recognize the connections between vestiges and boundaries, allowing him to more easily see through them when attempting to travel into the Twilight Void. Once there, he can also make it possible for him or others to perceive vestiges that are not associated with the province in which they travel.

Level 3: Detect a vestige or boundary associated with this Form. If it is cast with a Vision target, this effect provides enough information for the caster to pass through it (see the rules for Magical Travel, above).

Level 4: Perceive the Twilight Void through a target vestige or boundary. This gives the caster a +3 bonus to his Travel roll, and each additional magnitude increases this bonus by 3, so that a base 15 spell gives a +12 bonus.

New Intellego Spells

See the Paths through the Void

• InAu 20 R: Per, D: Conc, T: Vision

This spell allows the caster to recognize the level of all boundaries or vestiges he can see that are associated with Auram, and to pass through any of them into the Twilight Void if he should desire to do so. (Base 3, +1 Conc, +4 Vision)

Comprehending the Mystic Doorway

• InHe 30 R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Str

The caster can see into the Twilight Void through the vestige of a wooden structure in the Magic Realm, and lead others through it with a +9 bonus to his Vestige Travel Total. (Base 10, +1 Touch, +3 Str)

New Muto Guidelines

Magi use the Art of Muto to change the way that things interact with the basic nature of the Magic Realm.

Level 5: Change the Form of a boundary or vestige. (Requisite)

Level 10: Associate a target with the Magic Realm, as if it had Magic Might of the same Form as this effect. This means it can affect things of that Form with other Magic Realm effects.

Level 15: Cause a target in the Magic Realm to become perceptible as a vestige to travelers in the Twilight Void. Many features of the Magic Realm, but not all, have this property naturally. OR Cause a target in the Twilight Void to become visible as a vestige in the Magic Realm.

New Muto Spells

Torch of the Realm-bound Reveler

• MuIg 25 R: Touch, D: Sun, T: Ind

For the duration of the spell, the target may affect fiery objects with Magic Realm Magic in the mundane world, as if it had Magic Might associated with Ignem. For example, he could use an Intellego Ignem effect to see through a flame into the Magic Realm, and pass through it to a microcosm of that flame. (Base 10, +1 Touch, +2 Sun)

Visions of Olympus

• MuMe 35 R: Touch, D: Diam, T: Group

This spell causes a group of intelligent beings in the Mentem province of the Twilight Void to become perceptible to others outside of the Twilight Void. For example, a traveler in the Twilight Void might find his way to the lair of a particular creature with which he wishes to communicate. This effect makes the creature able to see and hear him and several others for the duration, as if they were vestiges in the place where that creature lives. (Base 15, +1 Touch, +1 Diam, +2 Group)

New Perdo Guidelines

With Perdo, magi can temporarily destroy vestiges and other things in the Magic Realm, banishing them to the Twilight Void for a time. For as long as the effect lasts, the target is invisible and insubstantial, and trapped in the part of the Void that corresponds to his current location. The target often has no memory of the intervening time, as if he had been asleep or removed from the world entirely. Some magi speculate that this is exactly what happens when a magus goes into Twilight.

Hermetic Magic can also reduce the strength of a boundary in the Magic Realm, even destroying it altogether, though this always requires a Ritual. A place with no boundary and no vestiges is almost completely isolated from the rest of the Magic Realm, since it is impossible to travel there without an Arcane Connection.

Level 5: Destroy a vestige for the effect’s duration. Destroyed vestiges can no longer be used for travel, either from or to.

Level 10: Remove a target to the Twilight Void for the duration, so long as it is in the Magic Realm or the caster has Magic Might associated with this Form.

Level 15: Permanently reduce the score of a boundary in the Magic Realm (of no greater than Level 1) by one level. Each additional magnitude increases the maximum level of the boundary or the amount by which it is reduced by 1.

New Perdo Spells

When Fortuna Blinks PeCo 10

• R: Per, D: Mom, T: Ind

The magus disappears from the Magic Realm for a moment, long enough to avoid a killing blow or a blast of flame, or any threat that immediately endangers him. If the danger is something physical, such as a large rock falling on the magus, he reappears either beside or on top of the intervening material, never underneath or inside it. While good for desperate situations, this effect is somewhat inconvenient for magi, since the disappearance cancels their Parma Magica ritual. It is useful for characters with inherent Magic Resistance, though (Base 10)

Repose of the Eternal Moment

• PeCo 35 R: Touch, D: Year, T: Ind, Ritual

This ritual, which must be cast within the Magic Realm or by a character with Corpus Might, causes the target to disappear into the Twilight Void. As long as it lasts, it is as if he doesn’t exist; he will have no memory of the intervening time when, and if, he returns. Note that when the effect is cast in the Magic Realm, it is effectively permanent. A magus determined to ensure he no longer ages might use this effect on himself, first creating a vestige of himself that can be used as a link to draw him back. (Base 10, +1 Touch, +4 Year)

New Rego Guidelines

As in the mundane world, Rego gives increased control over one’s surroundings in the Magic Realm, and allows magi to increase the rate of travel through vestiges or boundaries. It can allow passage from one province to another in the Twilight Void.

When traveling through vestiges or boundaries, the traveler experiences the journey as if he were passing through the boundary or vestige as normal, though the effect may be too swift for him to recognize any of the intervening details.

Level 5: Transport a target from one province into another. (Requisite)

Level 10: Reduce the length of a target’s journey through the Twilight Void by one step. Each additional magnitude reduces the journey by another step.

Level 35: Transport a target instantly through a vestige or boundary, so long as the target is either in the Magic Realm or the caster has Magic Might associated with this spell’s Form.

New Rego Spells

The Night-Badgers’ Burrow

• ReAn(Te) 20 R: Touch, D: Mom, T: Group

Moves the targets from the Animal province to the Terram province in the Twilight Void. This can allow them to leave the Void through a Terram vestige or boundary. (Base 5, +1 Touch, +2 Group)

Swift Wings of Timeless Days

• ReVi 20 R: Per, D: Mom, T: Ind

The length of the caster’s journey through the Twilight Void is reduced by three steps from his initial Speed Level. With a Speed Level of 6 the caster would return to the Magic Realm after a year, and this spell would increase his Speed Level to 18, meaning that he emerges after only a day. (Base 20)

Attribution

Attribution Based on the material for Ars Magica, ©1993-2024, licensed by Trident, Inc. d/b/a Atlas Games®, under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license 4.0 ("CC-BY-SA 4.0"). Ars Magica Open License Logo ©2024 Trident, Inc. The Ars Magica Open License Logo, Ars Magica, and Mythic Europe are trademarks of Trident, Inc., and are used with permission. Order of Hermes, Tremere, Doissetep, and Grimgroth are trademarks of Paradox Interactive AB and are used with permission.