Artifacts/TelgarArtifactSacella

Sacella

• by Telgar

The Lunar Exalted and their barbarian charges follow Songlines that lead from sacred place to sacred place, marking in memory with song. These songlines are twisted reflections of an ancient method of enlightenment called the Sacellum. Sacella are Artifacts carefully built into the fabric of Manses, spread between as few as two Manses and as many as twelve. Once a person embarks upon a Sacellum, the journey must be completed or the risk is dire. At each step along the way, the journey can be broken off, but once travel begins, the traveler draws enemies like iron fillings to a lodestone and can not waver from his chosen course. Sacellum are dangerous, but their rewards are great.

The Nature of Sacella

Each Sacella is a single Artifact located inside a Manse. The Sacella can take virtually any form, but most of them are massive crystalline constructs containing hundreds or thousands of lenses and mirrors that collect and reflect Essence. When properly charged and tuned, the Sacella temporarily re-directs the Essence of the Manse, rendering the Hearthstone of that Manse inactive for as long as the Sacella is the prime node of the Sacellum.

Activating a Sacellum

In order to walk a Sacellum, the traveler must first locate the beginning of the journey's path. The Sacellum can only be begun from the first Sacella in the link. Once this Sacella has been located, it must be awoken. The traveler must attune to both the Manse and the Sacella that represent the first stop on their journey. Once attuned to both, all motes of Essence not bound to other commitments must be channeled into the Sacella. The dump of Essence as well as the fulfillment of whatever special rites the Sacella itself requires awakens the Sacellum and activates the first Sacella. Once the Sacellum has been activated, it must be walked.

Walking a Sacellum

The activation of the first Sacella in the chain charges the appropriate dragon-line with visible motes of Essence, a glowing line in the ground and air that leads from the first Manse to the next. The walking of the Sacellum is simply following the indicated dragon-line without deviation and activating each link in sequence.

While the traveler is walking, his Anima is permanently flared at the a level that would be caused by spending five times as many motes as he has activated Sacella. This is caused by the charging of the traveler which each Sacella reinforces. Once charged, the traveler attracts the ambient Essence around him, channeling it through the dragon-line and into his body. So charged, he radiates the Essence he is taking in from the dragon-line, often attracting fair folk, godlings and hungry ghosts to his location as they sense the massive power contained within him.

Such power often causes difficulty with lesser Exalted. Those Exalted who have an Essence score less then half the number of Sacella they have activated are in danger holding the power of the Sacellum inside them. Such Exalted must make Stamina + Occult roll to hold the Essence in each time they activate a Sacella. This roll is made at a difficulty equal to the total number of Sacella activated. Failure on the roll results in taking 1 die of lethal damage per Sacella activated.

Deviating from the path of the Sacellum offers a similar risk, the journey can only be safely ended at a link in the chain of Sacella. Trying to end the journey without being at a Sacella results in taking 1 die of lethal damage for each level of every Sacella so far activated. Deviating from walking the path is defined as any travel that takes one more then 10 miles from the path, moves one in the opposite direction more then 5 miles or otherwise represents a significant removal from the path without intent to return as soon as possible.

Completing a Sacellum

A Sacellum is completed once all the Sacella comprising it have been attuned and activated. When the final Sacella is activated, the entire Sacellum channels Essence into the Sacella and from there into the person who completed it. The massive surge of Essence knocks even the mightiest unconscious for one day though it does no physical harm. During the period of sleep, changes are made within the body and soul of the walker. These changes are the gift of the Sacellum, the reason for walking it.

Each Sacellum imparts unique benefits to those who walk it. One is said to allow Terrestrials to learn Celestial Martial Arts after walking it, another opens the initiation into Sorcery and third opens that into Necromancy. Completing a Sacellum is not only a good reason to learn new Charms, but also to increase Essence. After walking a Sacellum, the age requirements to increase Essence are temporarily lifted. Essence can be increased by one dot, provided the character has the required experience.

Generally, the benefit conferred by a Sacellum grants a certain number of Experience Points to be spent only on certain Wyld Mutations, Merits, Flaws and Permanent-duration Charms specified by the Sacellum. Others may actually provide Charms, such as Martial Arts Initiations or Sorcery-Charms. More exotic Sacellum may have totally unique rewards, designed by the Storyteller.

The formula to determine the Experience reward of a given Sacellum is 10 X (Total levels of all Manses that comprise the Sacellum). This experience is not spent freely. It may only be spent on the rewards of the Sacellum, as determined by the Storyteller.

Comments

Nifty!
-- BrilliantRain