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The Sixteenth theme is Lost Things

Anointing the Un-Marked Brow: Sacrifice of the Soul - Terrestrial Circle -- IanPrice
Cost: 25 motes, 1 lethal health level, 1 permanent willpower
Duration: Permanent

This spell itself is lost. In the high First Age, it was discovered that the Essence of a Terrestrial Exalt could be shaped in a way that transcended its roots, allowing practice (although shakily) of the Celestial level of Martial Arts. This prompted a concerted effort by Terrestrial sorcerers to find a similar transcendence in their own art. The devotees of the Salinan school finally found it, after many tragic deaths by Essence-fueled immolation and other spectacular failures. A great sacrifice was required, and by understanding this, the Salinan sorcerers were able to control what was carved from their souls.

This spell must be cast by the person wishing to transcend. She anoints her forehead with a molten mixture of starmetal, orichalcum, and moonsilver. As the metal burns into her flesh, it forms into a character expressing her name in Old Realm. The exact pattern of this mark was once known to evaluate a person's worth, and persons familiar with this spell may make a Perception + Lore roll at difficulty 6 to learn the ratings of the target's Willpower, Essence, and Virtues by examining this symbol. As the symbol is burned into her flesh, it also marks her very soul, and will always display in her anima somehow when it reaches its totemic level - despite the fact that Terrestrials normally do not display any kind of totem. This process opens the character's Crown chakra to allow cosmic energy to flow in, but it won't work if the chakra is poorly developed; this spell fails to function on characters with Temperance less than 3. This spell is also rooted in the Salinan Absorption, and may only be learned by a sorcerer who has learned that charm. Naturally, this spell is useless to Celestial Exalted of any sort.

If the spell functions, the Exalt loses a dot of permanent willpower as part of her renewed Station of Sacrifice. She also sacrifices the mundane view of connection; from now on, she must possess an arcane link, or she cannot affect any target with any spell. Mere sight cannot be trusted. In exchange for this, she permanently gains the ability to learn and cast Celestial Circle Sorcery. The Celestial Circle Sorcery charm must still be learned, which costs the Dragon-Blood 16 xp if favored, 20 if not. This is also the cost to learn spells of the Celestial Circle.

In theory, Devonian and Silurian devotees could invent versions of this spell for themselves, losing something related to their unique visions of Sorcery to gain a higher power. However, attempting to do so is extremely dangerous, and far more likely to result in death (or worse) than in transcendence.

Memoriam - Shadowlands Circle Necromancy -- Paincake
Cost: 10 motes invested
Duration: Caster's Essence in hours (weeks)

A secret addiction amongst the lower servants of the Deathlords and their ghostly followers (this spell is little temptation to the Elder servants of the Malfeans) this spell would be positively benign if it did not require a small amount of death in the form of sacrifice. The human must be killed with full lungs for the spell to work; their final exhalation leaves the body as a mist that gives ghosts and Abyssals a certain je ne cais quois feeling; the Breath of Life that they had once, and have no longer. It is addictive as Opium is addictive, and small dens crop up around sorcerers who themselves are slaves to their memories. The spell has a lessened effect on creatures with an Essence greater than 4, and none on those of 6 essence. It can affect a number of individuals up to the Caster's essence x 5. Cast by a Necromancer of essence 6 or more the effect increases to a radius of the caster's essence in miles and a duration in the caster's essence in weeks. (The number of human sacrifices also increases to the Caster's Essence) This latter fact is little known and if found out would result in the death of every sorcerer who knows the spell, as the risk of small city-states growing up around influential peddlers of forgotten delight would be far too great for the Deathlords to let anyone but themselves exploit.

Surrender to the Hidden Wing within the Manse of Ivy - Celestial Circle -- Ambisinister
Cost: 31 motes
Duration: One Year

Through the use of this ritual, a sorcerer may take a single thing and give it unto the Maiden of Secrets to become veiled and lost within her domain. The sorcerer must gather the thing to be given, and must create a vessel with which to deliver it to Jupiter. The target may be an object, in which case only the object itself is needed. If it is something less tangible, then a suitable physical proxy must be obtained. For example, if a person's identity were to be given up, then some of that person's blood, along with five objects of great significance to that person would be appropriate. If it is information, then perhaps the knowledge must be whispered 100 times by 100 different people, and each whisper trapped within a tiny glass sphere. The vessel must be made of things that please Jupiter. Coming up with a list of such materials is a difficulty 4 Intelligence + Lore roll and requires a well stocked library. The materials themselves must cost at least resources 4 in total and contain at least a single exotic component as per artifact creation. The vessel must be large enough to hold the object or proxy, and when it is built the sorcerer must both commit a single mote of essence to it, which stays committed for the duration of the spell, and speak one of his secrets aloud. These are a largely symbolic, although neccessary payment for the Maiden's service. Once the vessel is complete and the object stashed inside, the sorcerer must wait until a night during Calibration to cast the spell. which consists of an hour long ritual and which must be performed in a place where no other being be it a lowly ant or an elemental dragon is present to observe. The sorcerer intones a prayer to Jupiter, making a standard prayer roll, and upon completing it closes his eyes. If the prayer was successful, then when he opens them the vessel and target will be gone, if not, the things will still be present, his essence and willpower spent uselessly, and he will be unable to perform the spell again for a full year.

If the spell succeeds, Jupiter will wisk the vessel away amidst the confusion of Calibration and hide it amongst her secrets, where no being, not even the gods of the lost, may find it. Objects will be irretrievably lost, knowledge forgotten, identites erased, even for those who once possessed them. Paperwork is destroyed or misplaced, words and memories misinterpreted, obfuscation runs rampant on a Creation wide level as Destiny is subtely altered. During this time, no effect may target the lost thing, including effects which may be used to find it. This is a perfect effect. Should an individual somehow realize the thing has gone missing in the first place, via Solar Circle Sorcery, for example, or consulting a being outside of Fate. then the only chance they have of recovering it is to contact Jupiter herself and attempt to barter for it. The caster is not exempt from this effect. After a year elapses, Jupiter will return the thing to the world during the confusion of another Calibration. At this point, the gods of the lost will know of it, and others may once again begin looking for it. The caster will know that something he hid through the spell he cast can be found again once Jupiter refunds his mote of essence. A lost object may turn up in a small out of the way village or an auction. An ancient tome or old letter may resurface containing a tid bit of lost knowledge. A person stripped of his identity may eventually find it again after a time of self discovery or through therapy designed to rehabilitate amnesiacs.

Blinding The Inner Eye - Labyrinth Circle -- DeathBySurfeit
Cost: 35 motes
Duration: Until Calibration

Tailor-crafted by the agents of the Lover, this invocation caters perfectly to her desire for corruption. The necromancy works only on Solars, Abyssals and Infernals, and requires its caster to acquire a fetich: a possession of his victim representative of one of their Intimacies, or their Motivation. As the invocation begins, the Abyssal's caste mark flares into prominance, and streams of black ichor weep openly down their features. The fetich is anointed with the shimmering liquid, and obsidian flakes grow in a calcified sheath across its surface.

Thereafter, whilst in possession of the fetich, the necromancer becomes instinctively aware of his victim's First Age flashbacks as they begin; however, he may dictate the apparent flow of events as he wishes, sculpting the truth to accomodate his own desires. He must be clever with his applications, however, for during Calibration the subject's Shard re-asserts itself, and thereafter its memories are true. This spell does not work on subjects with a higher Essence than the necromancer's own, and never works on the same person twice. If the subject does not normally experience flashbacks, they will begin to, with varying degrees of frequency.

Solars and Infernals may also employ their Charm, experiencing only cosmetic differences (their Caste marks bleed liquid gold or vitriol, and the fetich is enshrouded in pearl or verdigris).

The Milk of Paradise - Solar Circle Sorcery -- Paincake
Cost: Special
Duration: Caster's Essence in Scenes

The moments of our lives pass us and are gone, never to be reclaimed. Haecceity is the word, meaning the hereness and nowness ('thisness') of reality. This spell was created by the last Sidereal bearer of the Mantle of Brigid when he endeavored to capture forever those lost moments of time, extending to an eternity his hereness without sacrificing the future or becoming rooted in the past. His success was less than he hoped and greater than he feared.

The caster of this spell has each moment stretched to an utter eternity, and yet the moments pass. Each action or event for a duration equal to the being's enlightenment becomes paramount and his involvement in it creates a perfect synchrony the likes of which has not been since time immemorial. Every action taken becomes a perfect action, as every nuance of form, shape, function, spirit and meaning unfold over an eternity in the caster's mind's eye.

Though his name is lost to history, when the Sidereal cast this spell upon himself five of the Sun's children sought his death. Songs are still sung of his glory and their defeat, (Google Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'Kubla Khan' and please, do me the favor of removing this excerpt if I violate policy)

And all should cry, Beware ! Beware !
His flashing eyes, his floating hair !
Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread,
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise.

The cost of the spell is that your moments have lost their spark forevermore; you will never match your insight again, and the spell cannot be cast twice. (All 10s count as single successes from now and until the character dies or Solar Circle Sorcery intervenes)

Forged Wonder Location Process - Man-Machine Protocol -- ArabianNinja
Cost: 10 motes
Duration: One Scene
Minimum Clarity: 1

The Five Magical Materials are a precious commodity within the realm of Autocthon, especially that which has been worked into a purposeful tool. This protocol gives the Alchemical a new sense that will enable them to instinctively locate any peice of Magical material that Has been worked by essence upto [Essence] x 100 yards away ([Essence] Miles for Essence 7+ Alchemicals). This means that while the Alchemical can locate Artefacts forged of the magical materials, they cannot locate the unworked and raw Magical Materials themselves.

This Protocol, if used within the confines of any of the Matropoli or Patropoli of Autocthonia will also gain an intuitive knowledge of their surroundings as they can sense the Essence flows within the living cities, gaining them +3 dice for any perception checks within them. This protocol can be used to locate the specific Essence flows within certain Automata, and other Alchemical exalts, and as mentioned above intuitivly locate Artefacts, and can track them down with a simple Wits + Occult roll to gauge distance and direction to its location. If tracking a being who carries an Artefact, they may add the successes from the Wits + Occult roll to any tracking rolls.

Mantle of the Soul Transcendant - God-Machine Protocol -- ArabianNinja
Cost: 25 motes (15 Committed) + Special / 25 motes + Special
Duration: Indefinite / Essence Scenes
Minimum Clarity: 7

As the Alchemical begins to seperate themselves from their humanity, not only in terms of size, but the greater connection to the Great Makers way of thought, the path of Clarity, it becomes harder and harder to interact with Humanity on a whole as their emotions fall away to cold logic. This Protocol allows the Alchemical to reconnect to their slowly dimming emotions in two different ways.

The first is manifestated Avatar that is a reflection of their once Human mind that is remembered in their Soul. Such a manifestation is not able to interact with its world physically, and has Social Attributes upto a total sum of the Alchemicals Willpower + Compassion, of which no single Attribute can exceed the Alchemicals Compassion. The Avatar is immaterial, the Appearance attribute simply affecting how real the Avatar appears to be, at Appearance 0 the manifestation is simply a formless voice, at Appearance 1, it appears as slightly transparent, and at Appearance 3+ the Avatar is often mistaken as being real. The actual physical appearance varies between Alchemicals, as any and all humans vary from each other, save for their eerily beautiful symmetrical form. This Manifestation may be maintained indefinetly for 15 motes.

The second is a Manifested Avatar that is able to act as a directly intervening hand of the Alchemical Caster. Such a manifestation is wholly able to interact with its surroundings, having the Social attributes as outlined above, save for an absolute minimum Appearance of 1, but in addtion gains Pyhsical Attributes upto a total sum of the Alchemicals Willpower + Temperance, of which no single Attribute can exceed the Alchemicals Temperance. The Avatars size may vary, but may not exceed human average. This Avatar takes a greater amount of effort to maintain, and may only last for [Essence] Scenes.

Either Manifestation maintains the same Mental Attributes as its Alchemical Creator, and may use its creators Essence Pool and charms as its own, but may only use charms the Alchemical has currently installed, and has the necessary Attribute minimums for. Most importantly, the Avatar is free of the Clarity that is imbued in its creator, however, the Creator may allow some of their own Clarity to filter into this Avatar if they feel it as a suitable addition.

Sideline Commentators

Just lowered the cost for the Protocol, 20 motes was a bit much. - ArabianNinja

I have a pair of issues with your entry, IanPrice. First; honestly it has nothing to do with "Lost Things", and saying that the spell is lost doesn't make it so - put it in a "Rule Breakers" relay, but then that would run into my second point. The second point being that you don't get to bootstrap yourself in Exalted, you need the boost from someone else - the spell implies that it was created by the Terrestrials for the Terrestrials; this is one of those things that is unpossible (sic), like time travel or flesh-and-blood-and-soul resurrection. - Moxiane

Well, the spell also makes you lose things, I think that's the intended connection. Also: while I think the spell advances a class of effect that is not too unreasonable, I am torn by the idea of how delightfully terrible it would be if the Terrestrials did spend millenia researching this spell, only to find when they had completed it that it was Celestial circle... ~WillCoon

WillCoon is right about the other part of the connection to the theme - the spell forces you to lose something in order to gain it. Also, you do so get to bootstrap yourself. Immaculate martial artists get to do it all the time, and you can train yourself with Tiger-Warrior Training Technique. As for the circle of the spell, well, I made it Terrestrial for two reasons: a Celestial spell had already been made, and I thought it apt for the first occurrence to be a Terrestrial self-initiating. I have not conceptual problem with it being Celestial, though - feel free to apply the golden rule to my content. It could indeed be awesome if a Celestial Exalt had to initate the first Terrestrial. I just thought it would be awesome for the Dragon-Blooded to do something without being manipulated from above for once. - IanPrice

PS - if you think the spell is too easy to get, feel free to make it a dot of permanent Essence that's sacrificed rather than a dot of Willpower. That way, you can't cast it before Essence 6, because otherwise you'd no longer qualify for your Absorption charm. -I

I agree that it should be Terrestrial level. I <3 the DBs and am pulling for Ragara Myrrun. -WillCoon

Second that vote for Ragara Myrrun. The whole point of Exalted is exceeding boundaries, and I think Myrrun's been working hard enough on his three-point stunt that he should be allowed to get it. It's not like they can package his fu and replicate it either - there's still only going to be one blooded who knows SMA, and he's gonna die eventually. Having done it once doesn't make it any easier to replicate over the hundreds of Immaculate monks you'd want to. If there were really smart, the first thing they'd teach him would be some sort of weird Verdant Expressions of Life style or some such, to make sure he lives long enough to actually do something with it all. -- GreenLantern

Ragara Myrrun and, in fact, every other Immaculate monk have not bootstrapped themselves - they were taught by someone else. DBs cannot learn CMA or the initiation Charms without a teacher. That is my argument - the spell lets a DB kick himself up to the next level, which is pretty much against the way the Creation works. Exceeding the limits built into Creation = yes, doing it without help from someone = no. Moxiane

Someone has to teach someone else this spell. Furthermore, the fluff I already wrote suggests that experimenting with this spell on your own and trying to develop it that way is an easy excuse for the storyteller to kill your character for hubris. If that doesn't satisfy your vision of Creation, don't play with this spell. It's fan-content, and obviously, some other people like it. - IanPrice

Fair'nuff. Agreeing to disagree is a largely lost art, but I try to hew to it when I can. - Moxiane

Paincake, quick question - how would a Sidereal cast Solar Circle Sorcery on himself? Otherwise, it's an interesting idea for a spell...DeathBySurfeit

I believe that's one of the functions of the Mantle of Brigid - lets the wearer cast a higher circle of Sorcery. - IanPrice

New necromancy done'd. I'm happy with the concept, but I think the late night is taking its toll on my grammar; thoughts, anyone? Does this break meta? ...DeathBySurfeit

I'm not entirely sure what the spell does. Is it supposed to allow you to change someone's memories to your liking until Calibration? - IanPrice

Late night articulation to the rescue! It's supposed to be able to change someone's first age flashbacks to your liking instead. I've slightly clarified this, but advice on further improvement is appreciated...DeathBySurfeit

What if they wouldn't otherwise have such flashbacks (not all Solars do, after all) - does this spell allow you to plant them? - IanPrice

Inserting flashbacks would be totally awesome for some sweet Total Recall style mind messing! - ArabianNinja, Mutant martian hookers for all!

Mind messin' suggestin' implemented. I've added a note stating that you can, indeed, trigger flashbacks in people not normally prone to them. Indeed, they'd probably make the best targets...DeathBySurfeit

So who's got us a Void Circle addition? *rubs hands* I can't wait to see it! - Paincake

Examples of Famous uses of the Mantle of the Soul Transcendant: The Orihaclum Metropolis has its Superman, the Soulsteel Gotham has its Batman, and the City that slowly grew Insane from Dissonance in the Matrix had its Agent Smith. - ArabianNinja

Might I suggest that IanPrice's spell cost permanant willpower in a more permanant fashion? Dropping the willpower 'bar' from 0..10 to -1..9 would seem a much more important sacrifice, especially as it doesn't make it cost less to increase again. Maybe I just like weird mechanics too much, but then you could impose something horrible on anyone that gets to below 0 willpower. Or just not let them, but that'd be boring.
-- Darloth feels it should cost MORE, MORE I SAY!

Feel free to run it that way. If I were writing this all up for an official-esque book, I'd put the version I wrote first in the main text, and include all the things that have been suggested as ways to make it harsher in a sidebar. I was content to have it merely be a willpower dot sacrifice since the XP cost for that plus the cost of the spell would be similar to the cost of learning the two charms required for Celestial Martial Arts initiation.

However, I did forget to write in an increased experience cost for the Celestial Circle Sorcery charm and spells, to mirror what happens with CMA. That's been added to the main spell text above. - IanPrice

C'mon wheres that Void Spell? I'm looking forward to it, especially in this theme. - ArabianNinja, who is also looking forward to the next theme

Crap, I think I have a fitting concept, but I am yet again too intimidated, too lazy and too drowsy to actually do it. How does a spell that unlocks the lost primordial vision of humanity, that couldn't have been possible for a mere mortal? Having been infused with powerful Essence and under direct control of the Neverborn, such a spell might be fitting for the Void Circle and this theme... Though, I think this will end up sounding too much like Beauty Is In The Eye, which practically is the same thing, except SMA... - sssssz

Well for the sake of preventing stagnation, if theres no-one whos going to post a Void circle spell in the next day or two, I'll go ahead and name the next theme, but if anyone can finish the elay and start the next, then by all means please do - ArabianNinja, "Closing time, final call for alcohol, so finish your whiskey or beer."

I think that spell sounds inspired, sssssz! You should totally add it sometime, regardless of whether we move on beforehand or not. Mr. Ninja, you've got my vote to go ahead with naming/creating the next theme to get the ball rolling. If you've no ideas yet, may I suggest 'Maiming' 'Scarring' or 'Crippling?' -Paincake