World of Darkness: Attrition - Studies in the Mysteries

[Thomas Gabriel Morrison]

From the Journal of Icarus..

Knowledge is Power, so I have chosen to record a measure of understanding of the mysteries, their practices and the power found within them here, for my own edification and that of others, perhaps in time, this primer might be useful to other awakened, there is much I wish to know, and to understand, but if nothing else, it is useful to me to record my thoughts. I am by nature, a teacher and student, I see almost everything though that particular lens of focus, all beings are students of reality, but the awakened know reality is more then what it seems.

So, I begin my studies in the mysteries, I will cover each of the various arcana first, though I have yet to fully begin to understand all of them, within each is the hints of enlightenment, I have begun asking the various masters available from my order to better understand the secrets hidden within.

We begin with a basic study of magic itself, manipulating the essence of the universe, we call this spell casting and it can be found within the 13 practices within the 10 arcana. There may be more beyond that, but that is the realm of archmastery, and the Archmasters are good at keeping their secrets, until the day I stand among that dizzying height, I suppose that level of understanding shall have to wait.

The first step of magic, is understanding mana, the measure of your mana depends on the strength of your mystical will sometimes called gnosis, it's in essence, the strength of your connection to the supernal and your path's watchtower, this is your ability to work with magic, but mana is the essence of magic itself, in the raw, the things that one of the awakened can do with enough mana is in essence, miraculous, but that is in essence part of what magic is, the ability to do things that would otherwise be impossible..mana is the fuel which fires our magic, it can be found in many places, not the least, within the mage himself, but generally we draw mana from hollows, or with use of the sphere of Prime.. something I'm actually very good at.

Mana has many uses, one can even use it to quickly heal wounds, even without knowledge of the life arcana, but the most important and common uses of mana for the awakened is in the essence of spellcasting, sense it must be used to cast improved spells outside of the ruling arcana of one's path, to work magic at great distances, to increase the force of damaging spells, and certain aspects of spellcasting take more energy, or mana then others.

[Thomas Gabriel Morrison]

My experiences with the Mysterium have taught me more about mana then just the basics, the mystery of principle, or the mystery of doom requires quite a ritual to unfold, when I was told what I would have to go though, initially I was somewhat indignant, the idea of a performing a sacrific, even that of an animal for a mystical ritual seemed quite, archaic, some aspect of ancient religions or voodoo practices that had no place in the modern world. Nevertheless, in time I went though with it, and it was a discovery, an unfolding of the nature of mana that I had never quite realized, mana is not simply power or energy, mana is alive in a sense, free mana is rarely seen, as it usually congeals into tass or forms hollows, but in a way, all things, living, dead and never living are part of the essence that is mana

We awakened make use of mana in many ways, but it serves me to remind myself that mana serves a purpose in and of itself, we may not entirely understand that purpose, but part of my goals is to seek that understanding, even if it makes it hard for others to understand me. Still, moving beyond the simple nature of mana, let us speak of the ways in which we shape mana to our desires.

Spellcasting, which can be split into two kinds, rote and improvised, and from there, into two types yet again, covert and vulgar is where most of our mana tends to be directed. All awakened can use improvised spells, by virtue of their awaking, but outside of the ruling arcana of your path, it requires mana, no doubt do to the fact that your path shapes your spiritual essence, your connection to the mysteries almost exclusively. It is too bad that one can not awaken to multiple watchtowers, perhaps once, before the fall of Atlantis it was possible to work improvised magic easier, like it is in a hollow, but that is lost to us.

Rote spells are learned processes, I know several of them, having learned them from the order, some of them are vulgar and some are covert, but in all of them, it is easier to work the magic then doing so, but it requires greater knowledge of the world we live in, knowledge of science or the occult, or empathy with the human condition, or even knowledge of blades and weapons. It is also less subject to the nature of paradox, the fallen worlds measure of response to the mage's influence, and rotes from arcana outside of your ruling ones do not cost mana. I suspect this is because you have made yourself work within the worlds boundaries, at least within yourself, in your own understanding, but the truth is difficult to be sure of.

Improvised magic, on the other hand, requires sufficient mastery of the arcana in question and the force of one's connection to your watchtower, the force of your supernal will. For me, being a disciple of prime, there are many things I can do with it without knowing specific rote spells, ways in which I can affect the force of mana momentarily.

Spellcasting, regardless of if it is rote or improvised can be covert or vulgar, and to further understand that, we come to paradox, without paradox there would be little difference between the two kinds of magic, other then one being more obvious then the other. Generally working covert magic also gives less danger to paradox then vulgar magic and it is sometimes possible to hide a spell that would normally be vulgar as covert by making it seem to be natural. Generally, this is the difference between vulgar and covert magic, vulgar magic imposes it's ideas on reality, breaking the laws of reality, covert magic works with reality as we understand it.. and sleepers, humans who have no knowledge of the magical world, also impose a greater degree of reality by their presence. This is likely the reason awakened are often loners and hermits, it's easier for us to work magic alone, or with other awakened without the presence of the sleepers. Why humans have this affect, is a matter of some consideration, but I suspect it's due to the fact that every human is a potential awakened, it's interesting to note other kinds of supernaturals don't seem to have the same effect.

[Thomas Gabriel Morrison]

I considered shifting to studying each one of the thirteen practices in turn, but I decided to begin with a study of the one area I have focused in the most, so the next few pages are going to be studying the various arcana, and sense I'm going to begin with my focus, I decide also to focus on the five subtle arcana first, Death, Fate, Mind, Prime and Spirit, which tend to have more indirect or subtle effects, then I will move to the gross arcana, Forces, Life, Matter, Space and Time, which tend to have quite direct affects on things.

Prime

We begin with the one Arcana that is the most clear to me, Prime is the arcana of pure mana, it is one of the two ruling arcana of the Aether, the Supernal Realm that every mage of the Obrimos path, the other being Forces, and a strong indication that the essence of the Aether is energy. Prime deals with the essence and nature of mana, controlling and shaping it in different ways, within prime are the most powerful counterspells, the strongest ability to detect and analyze magic, and ability to shape and direct mana in ways no other arcana can, shifting and disguising magical auras, creating and destroying tass, even illusions and magical enchantments are found within this arcana, the masters can even create a hollow, meaning they are never without mana. Some of the more direct and offensive effects involve unraveling or ripping into something or someone's pattern, though the more advanced methods of doing so require advancement in more then one arcana, and I have been told, with the arcana of Mind it is even possible to create sentient self-willed illusions for the master of prime.

Why is this possible? It seems that prime and mana is the underlining energy that makes all things real, everything living has a measure of prime in it, and without that prime, it slowly crumbles or dies. A member of the Order demonstrated this for me, pulling the mana out of a rock, which then became brittle and was easy to crush into nothing more then dust, living things also contain mana, but a living pattern holds mana better for some reason, perhaps as I study the Arcana of Matter or Life it will become clearer as to why.

Personally, I have studied the counter-spelling and analyzing aspects the most, and my connections with the order has allowed me to learn a number of useful rotes in that area, but I also know how to shape the mana into an offensive effect, though I prefer not to have to use it. It is also possible, at my level, as a Disciple of Prime, to carry out a number of other effects with improvised magic, including some enchantments and working with tass or the energy of ley lines.

I have made the sphere of Prime my most direct study because of a intense desire to know these things, to understand what lies at the heart of magic, which Prime seems to embody more then any of the other arcana. In time, I must extend my studies beyond, for all arcana seem to be connected, a degree of understanding the world, but I suspect I will always be coming back to this, that my studies in Prime will always be further then other arcana.