Master Rotes (Sphere Level 5)

Yes, nearly all of these Rotes will royally screw up the game. When any
Mages reach the Master level of a Sphere, it’s probably about time that
we start thinking about how to conclude this game and start a new
one. These Mages can conjure nuclear explosions with a snap of their
fingers, slip forward and backward in time, be in multiple locations at
once, and create new things – body, mind, and soul – from
nothingness. A Master level Rote can potentially unmake the entire
game. Fun for the whole family.

Correspondence

Co-Locate Detonation (Etherite) (Correspondence 5) – This rote is

an improvement on the simpler Hyperspace Transmission. It is used on
an exploding object. The energies of the explosion are transmitted to
more than one distant location. The force of the explosion at each
location is not diminished.

[The explosion can be projected into as many areas as the mage has
successes. However, any attempt to cause the explosion to be co-
located at more than two spots raises the difficulty to ten.]

Psychotronic Disintigration (Etherite) (Correspondence 4, Prime 4)

– This psychoteonic method is accomplished by establishing a loop
which projects energy into an object and starts causing it's pattern to
break down. Quintessence that would normally escape from the
pattern breakdown are sucked into hyperspace and re-introduced an
instant
later as more destructive energy. After a critical point is reached the
pattern collapses entirely, and the quintessence that composed it is
dispersed into hyperspace and unrecoverable.

[This is similar to the Celestial Chorus effect Flames of Purification.

other than being performed at a distance, the rote's only reals
difference is that is has no statically visible effect until the object
disappears. The Sons of the Ether have many other versions of this
type of magick, and many have their own per type of "disintegrator
ray", reveling in the cliche.]

Forces
Baptized in the Fire of The One (Forces 5 Prime 2) – Fire has a
purifying source and is often used to purge and burn away impurities.
That is the basis of this rote, as the mage directs solar energy towards
a target. The resulting stream of solar plasma emerges, rushing around
the mage towards its target. The result is an eruption of light and heat,
destroying anything in its way, which is said to purify everything
completely. It is said that this can be altered in a variety of ways, to
target the Taint of Corruption; the Taint of Nephandi; the Taint of
Madness …but those whom have tried, have not penn’d the tale…

[ Note that the mage must have protected himself before casting this
rote, unless he wants to be killed by the plasma. To strike the right
target(s), the mage need at least 3 successes. Otherwise the plasma
will just erupt anywhere. Everybody hit will take successes * 4
damage (aggravated), everything flammable will ignite or explode and
everybody is temporarily blinded by the light. Kindred will have a
*hard* time, as they are hurt by the light in addition to the plasma.]

Poseidon's Wrath (Verbena) – (Forces 5, sometimes

Correspondence 2) – Yet another ancient spell (the Verbena have a
strong appreciation for traditional things, and this includes time-
honored rotes), this one creates an earthquake.

[The intensity of the earthquake is determined by the number of

successes, with each success rising one step on the Richter scale. A
magnitude of 1 or 2 is barely even perceptible, while the most severe
earthquakes ever recorded had a magnitude of 8.7 and killed several
hundred thousand people. For a sense of scale, in 1988 a earthquake
of 6.9 killed 28,000 people in Armenia. The earthquake that hit San
Francisco a year later had the same magnitude but killed only 65
people because of quake-proof architectural standards. The 1906
earthquake in San Francisco was an estimated 8.3. Adding
Correspondence to the effect will increase the area of the quake. Since
earthquakes do not always produce fore and aftershocks, this
effect is usually coincidental, but highly discouraged.]

Summon the Senior Lord of Saturn in Fire, Arinnap, He who

Protects with a Sword. (Enochian) (Forces 5 Spirit 2 Prime 2
Entropy 2) – The mage summons one of the most powerful spirits in
the hierarchy to protect him. Arinnap will, if the mage has a good
reason, protect him from any harm. Anybody who tries to harm the
mage in any way, even unintentional, will be slain by the Lord. This
Lord is not to trifle with, and can be as dangerous for the mages
friends as for his enemies.

Hyperspace Electromagnetic Pulse (Etherite) (Forces

5, Correspondence 4, Prime 2) – This psychotronic rote generates and
projects a general energy surge in an incoherent, despecialized form.
The energy is sent directly into the patterns of the target area and has
various destructive effects. The energy arrives as a blast of heat, light,
magnetism, electricity, and other forms of radiation. The energy has
the unusual property of arriving within the targets' patterns, bypassing
any conventional armor including the notable anti-magick primium
coatings of many Iteration X combat machines. Such energy
projections can be set into shell-like ward fields to protect those within
from incoming attacks.

[The rote causes successes x4 damage. Additionally, the energy stuns

the nervous system, causing the victims to be incapacitated for one
round per success unless Willpower is spent or countermagick is used.
Electrical systems are useless for a similar period, and computers must
be rebooted ( Many Virtual Adept, Iteration X, and Void Engineer
computers are magickally hardened and "surge protected" from this
unless they are the sole target of the rote. ) Finally, molecular motion
is increased to a point where chemical and plastic explosives detonate
and highly combustible materials are ignited. ]

Endothermic Explosion (Etherite) (Forces 5 Correspondence 4,) –

This psychotronic effect is produced by causing a hyperspace nergy
flow opposite that normally produced, draining the kinetic energy of
the molecules in the target area rapidly. Careless mages are
cautioned with this rote. Many careless maged attempting to use a
forces 4
effect to do this have been incinerated by the very energy they stole,
which radiated uncontrollably from their foci.

[ The attack causes normal Forces 4 or 5 damage, and can be used to

freeze things. The energy can be concentrated and stored for later use
by some mages. ]

Life
Call Forth the Forgotten (Life 5, Prime 2, Spirit 2) – Book of
Shadows, page 147. Summons a mythical being into the present.
Dragons, unicorns, manticore…

Second Body (Verbena) (Life 5, Prime 2, sometimes Mind 5,

Correspondence 2) – While most Traditions use Co-location if someone
needs to be in more than one place at a time, the Verbena prefer to
create a duplicate of the person out of their own blood. This person
shares the awareness of the original and they are usually mentally
linked, but the second body is physically independant of the first and
can suffer harm or even death without serious effect to the original.
[The duplicate is physically identical, but it lacks a true spirit or avatar,
and so cannot perform magic. The Mind component is necessary to fill
the body with a functional personality. If it is left out, the duplicate will
be a simple programmed robot. The Correspondence component
allows mental contact and can be omitted if not desired. The duplicate
will die when the spell expires.]

Swarm of Bugs (Verbena) (Life 5 Mind 2) – This rote is a good

example of the skill at shapechanging attained by some Lifeweavers.
With it, the witch transforms not into a single creature, but into an
entire mass of them, usually insects or rodents.

[The Mind sphere allows the witch to maintain her single consciousness
while her body is divided into many units. It requires at least three
successes to work, in which case the witch may function as a swarm.
While the swarm can be blown around or evaded, it is difficult to harm
enough of the swarm to cause serious damage to the witch. The witch
is immune to attacks that do not effect an area.]

Reduction to Base Components (Etherites) (Life 5, Matter 3) –

Doctor Amino developed a process which would enable him to reduce
organic tissue down to its base elements, each separated out into a
neat mass. He had intended to use it to smuggle endangered species
into the country so he could examine them in a controlled setting, but
the process saved his life when he was forced to use it on an NWO
agent who tried to apprehend him. To this day, the agent sits in a neat
row of jars on Amino's shelf.

[The rote is an all or nothing effect. It requires 5 successes, and if

successful, the person is separated out into a variety of chemicals, and
will remain so until the spell is reapplied. If the effect is unwoven by
someone who doesn't possess the appropriately ranked spheres, the
target will die.]

Matter
Negative Mass Disruption – One of the most spectacular (and
vulgar) Matter effects developed by Ms. Fujimiya. The mage simply
negates the mass of an object. The result is very strange, as
mechanical forces on the object have the opposite effect from normal.
Gravity repels it. Pressure attracts it, while tension repels it. Normally
affected objects fall upwards, only to hit the ceiling. This pressure
causes it to accelerate even more powerfully upwards, breaking
through the blocking ceiling and vanishing with supersonic speed into
space. This rote also provides a very nasty offensive trick: the mage
simply throws sand or gravel at somebody, and negates their mass.
The gravel will force its way through the body of the victim, causing
horrendous damage.

(There’s a story to this one – don’t believe everything

that the old hermetic writes! So I was able to create
ONE negative Mass disruption generator…
– Mm. Fujimiya)

Cavorite (Matter 5, Forces 4) – This weird material is created by a

chantry of Sons of
Ether in orbit around the moon. It is named after their founder Cavor,
who also invented it (he is now rumoured to be stranded in Arcadia
after some of his early experiments). It is a material which is
impregnable to gravity, essentially isolating whatever is above it from
gravity. Anything above a cavorite shield will be weightless. This has
some problems, as the atmosphere above tends to blow into space if it
is placed on earth.
Fortunately it can be easily handled, and as long as it is tilted vertical
its fairly harmless. Its quite useful for building spaceships and other
aerospace vehicles. Its exact composition is a well guarded secret, but
it is known to contain helium in some way.

Gratzium (Etherites) (Matter 5, Prime 2) – Doctor Wilhelm Gratz

became tired of creating a different new substance every time he
needed a different property, and thus he invented Gratzium, a
substance capable of demonstrating multiple properties
simultaneously as need arises. Thus when his lab was raided by a
group of Akashic monks who disliked his research methods, they first
had to break down a Gratzium door with the tensile strength of
diamond, and then had to contend with the soporific effects of gaseous
Gratzium. He was able to escape by distracting them with an
explosion caused when he irradiated a small lump of powdered
Gratzium.

[Each success on the initial role to create the Gratzium allows it to take
on a single property specified by the Son at a later moment. Since
these properties are revealed with statements like "Did I mention that
liquid Gratzium is highly corrosive?", the effect is normally
coincidental.]

Mind
Uploading (Mind 5 Correspondence 1) – Once, we thought we’d lost
Kiarra only to find her inside her triniary computer. . . don’t ask. By
connecting the brain of a person to a very powerful computer, they can
read it into the machine and create an Upload, a total copy of the
person complete with memory, personality and avatar. An uploaded
person will continue to exist indefinitely inside the computer as an AI-
program, and can move around and work magick as usual. It’s not
uncommon to increase the mental speed and capacity of uploads once
they are inside the web, and many have integrated themselves with
semi-autonomous programs to function better. They have no ties at all
to their old bodies, which tend to die fairly quickly anyway. Uploads
exist only in the web, and must interact with the physical world
through interfaces and devices connected to the web. It is also possible
to download a mind into a body, but this often causes problems with
the mind already present. Blank clone-bodies work very well for this
use, and according to rumors the Virtual Adepts, Iteration X and
Progenitors work together in secret to perfect the processes of
uploading/downloading.

Imprison Dream Body (Dreamer) – The Dream Masters can sever

the link between a dreamer and his body. As long as he doesn't find his
way back, he will not be able to awaken in any way, and if he is killed
in the dreams he will die (the body will remain alive but in coma). This
is used by unscrupulous Dreamers and other beings to imprison
sleepers in the Chimerae, often in a dream controlled by the mage.
Since most sleepers are rather helpless in the dreamworlds, they are
easy prey for this.

Break the Chains of Wakefulness (Dreamer) – To actually leave

one's body completely behind and permanently take up residence in
the dreaming is a dream most Dreamers share. While some Dreamers
accidentally do this as their bodies are killed during sleep or taken over
by other beings, they find they quickly loose power and begin to fade
away along with their dreams. The only way to survive is to have some
very powerful Dreamer dream them constantly into existence. The
Dream Lords are naturally only too happy to help them out, in
exchange for eternal service. The Dream Masters who actually leave
their bodies behind are however independent, and can act freely. This
naturally makes many Dream Lords irritated, and they sometimes test
new arrivals by sending their nightmares against them.

Prime
The Blazing Light (Prime 5 Forces 3) – This rote was invented by the
Celestial Chorus to protect itself from hostile Pattern-magick from
Order of Hermes. The mage simply holds his fire aloft and infuses it
with divinity from his holy symbol. It will shine with an intense white
glow, blinding anybody looking straight at it. Everything seems to be
pale and insubstantial in comparison. Much magick become weak and
powerless in its harsh glow and vampires, evil mages and other
denizens of the dark shun away.

[The rote works by channelling almost all free quintessence into the
light. This drains pattern magick and makes all attempts to manipulate
Prime (except to strengthen the fire) much harder. Each success
increases difficulties for magick with one and removes one success
from all Pattern or Prime magick. Beings who contain quintessence will
feel it slowly drain from them, making them very uncomfortable (each
success will drain one point of Quintessence/Blood each turn). ]

Partial Reconciliation (Prime 5 Correspondence 5 Time 5 Entropy 5

Spirit 5) – This utterly powerful ritual is more a legend than a fact.
According to the stories, some of the most powerful Choristers and
Hermetics attempted this ceremony 1000 AD, to start the
Reconciliation they expected would happen by the Millennium.
Obviously they failed, and vanished themselves. The purpose of the
ritual is to meld together all quintessence, all patterns, all time and
space as one, purifying it from all imperfections and returning it to
the primal state before creation. Although the Partial Reconciliation
may not work on all of the universe (except maybe when performed by
the whole of mankind together), it
can certainly affect a small part. It is not an offensive rote, but the
supreme purification. In essence it returns a part of creation back to
the One before its time. The horrendous paradox backlashes which
have struck participants are cited as signs of the extreme hubris of this
use.

Summoning Walk of the Enlightened (Akashic) – While crossing

the forested mountains of Tibet for days without food or water, Blue
Skin Brother Chang Ming came upon an Oracle performing a walking
meditation. Silently, Ming stepped behind the Oracle and traced his
footsteps; Chang Ming's mind was quick enough to make a mental map
of the path for future record. The resulting Tome and those copied from
it teach the way of the Summoning Walk of Enlightenment. By studying
the record, the Doist learns to link his Avatar to the fast-sweeping
currents of the Prime. However, Chang Ming was not ready for the
depth of power that his newfound Style brought him. Ho Chow Fan, a
Euthanatos mage, crumpled him to a mass of quivering flesh with the
Bone Twisting Palm. Fortunately, with Chang Ming's last act of magick,
he destroyed his copy of the Tome and kept it from falling into the
hands of the Euthanatos.
[The Doist's Avatar fills with Quintessence, recharging his supply. The
mage gains Quintessence at a rate of one per success.]

Tapping the Ley Line (Verbena) – This rote allows the witch to drain
off some of the Quintessence that flows along Ley lines.

[Each success gives the caster 1 pt of Quintessence]

Spirit
Rain of Fire and Brimstone (Spirit 5 Forces 2) – This rote is a
classic, and like all classic rotes it is practically never used. The mage
simply opens a gate to the Realm of Fire (close to the Shard Realm of
Forces) and lets the destructive power descend upon his enemies,
buildings or whole cities. Of course, the gate must be big enough to let
through
the almost liquid fire. When the rote is used on a large scale, storming
clouds will appear around the opening portal, and then a huge rain of
destruction will fall on anything beneath. Lesser openings often
appear as erupting craters or explosions.

[Note that the mage has absolutely no control of what passes through
the gate, and often extremely powerful and malevolent elementals or
djinns escape. The destruction caused is untold, and is in no way
dependent on the power of the mage, who only serves as gatekeeper.]

Rite of Null (Spirit 5 Correspondence 2) (Nephandi) – This infamous

rite is performed at certain occasions by Nephandi mages who want to
gain deeper insight into the Void. The participants dance around a pool
of shadow, and the mage finally dances into the darkness. When
performed, the mage immerses himself into the total Void which
underlies all things and sees beyond. This experience invariably drives
sleepers insane, and most mages become more or less unhinged by
what they see or surmise of the truth.

Reaper (Prime 3, Spirit 5) (Euthanatos) – Much of the Euthanatos

tradition's magick draws its energy from the dead. That is why
Euthanatos cabals like to perform rituals in cemeteries and on burial
mounds. No rote illustrates this better than the creation of a Reaper.
Requiring a master of Spirit and a disciple of Prime to perform and
preferably with many acolytes and disciples, the Reaper is not an easy
rote and is done very rarely. Firstly the mages gather together in an
area dominated by dead spirits, such as a very large graveyard, a
battle-field or the site of some terrible disaster. (the most recent site
was a large field in China where hundreds of prisoners are regularly
executed). The mages then begin to draw up the forgotten spirits of
the dead. These pitiful, barely conscious things are gathered by the
mages who slowly begin to weave them together. Slowly, over the
course of the night, a patchwork monster of lost souls takes form. It is
the essence of death and can produce only death. Using whatever
magick they can to control it, the mages send it out to kill their
enemies. In the past it has been sent after some powerful enemy or let
loose to destroy whole villages or towns. It is important to understand
that the Reaper is a near unstoppable force for death. It has, in
historical times, decimated entire chantries. Physical barriers cannot
stop it and only the most powerful or ancient of wards can keep it at
bay. Nothing can fly faster than it.

The strength of the Reaper depends upon the skill of the mages who
created it and on where they performed the rote. Its strength is
invariably vast however. The Reaper is a monstrosity and the spirits of
which it is composed gradually fall away. Yet beyond a certain point,
the Reaper begins to feed upon the spirits of those it murders, binding
them into its own being. At this `critical mass' point it is best to simply
give up attempts at restraining the monster and head for the nearest
horizon realm.

[Many successes are required to create a Reaper. More successes

create a stronger Reaper provided the spirits are available), but too
few successes simply cause the entity to fall apart into hundreds of
separate spirits.]

Time
Strengthen Destiny (Time 5 Prime 2 Entropy 2 Correspondence 2) –
Some of the most powerful cultists are not content merely to watch the
flow of history, they want to direct it. When they see a tendency they
like, they perform elaborate ecstatic rituals to fuel the causal chains
supporting it and increase the chance it will grow. This will help the
development through random events and "the flow of history". Some
cultists claim that woodstock was such and ritual to fuel the whole of
the 60's. Others whisper that the Technocracy is doing the same thing
on a global scale, to ensure their total victory.

Time Loop (Correspondence 2, Spirit 4, Time 5) – This rote is used

when something so disruptive to the timeline is being used or created.
This rote separates their world from the rest of the timeline, so that
their influence will not affect the flow of history.
[This rote raises the Gauntlet of a target Realm to 10, essentially
cutting it off from the Umbra. There is presently no way to actually
destroy]

Fan-shaped Destiny (Cultists) (Time 5 Correspondence 3) – This

rote is reputed to have been invented by the Dealy Lama many
millennia ago, although the venerable sage of course only jokes about
it when questioned. The mage sits in his temple, breathing incense
doped with hashish. Gradually his vision of time and space broadens,
until he can see all the different futures in their totality. He can then
pick and choose what futures will come to be, by seeing exactly what
events are needed to bring them about, or how to avoid them. One of
the main problems with this rote is that once the mage begins to see
existence at this level, he quickly begins to realise how insignificant
most events truly are. Instead of caring about the obvious problems,
he will begin to explore the far futures in search for ever better
solutions, which often are extremely long-range plans.

[The number of successes denotes how far into the future the mage
can see
and comprehend. He then has to roll more successes with his willpower
with
a difficulty of 8, or become lost in contemplation. ]