The Arcana of Death deals, as the name implies, with the powers of death and undeath. A mage skilled in this Arcanum can steal and trap souls, speak with the dead, steal years from a target, raise zombies, and, with sufficient skill, even bring the dead back to life. It is primarily used by the Moros, as their epithet of Necromancers would suggest.
Influences
Darkness (note that this is different from merely the absence of light), decay, ectoplasm, enervation, resurrection, soul stealing, the lifespan, undead.
Nature and Power
The Arcanum of Death is the Subtle Arcana of the Supernal Realm of Stygia, the realm that also generates the Arcanum of Matter. Death is all around in Stygia; the tombs of the dead spring up like macabre mushrooms across the bleak and featureless countryside, and the shades of the departed wander the area or simply sit and contemplate. The power of Death is rather more diminished in the Fallen World, as with all the Arcana and the Subtle Arcana especially, but it still pervades the material realms and the Shadow World.
Life is everywhere in the Fallen World, and where life is, death is not far behind. This Arcanum evidences itself in a manner too delicate to be seen by mere Sleepers, but its malign energies hover over the world like a thick cloud. From the crushing of the tiniest insect to the thousands killed in a volcanic eruption, death’s influence exerts itself behind the scenes. And the raw energy of the Arcanum can become visible to Sleepers, subtle though it may be, in the creation of ghosts, zombies, and other such undead revenants.
The powers handed to a mage versed in the Arcanum of Death control the powerful metaphysical forces behind these events. A mage who can wield the Arcanum skilfully enough can slay mortals with but a thought, rotting their bodies into nothing. Death can give one the ability to create one’s own undead, or bolster those that already exist, and it grants many more powers to those with the stomach to seek them. Mages using Death can lengthen their own lifespan by robbing years from another, or perform the reverse and hand another years from their own thread. Death mages can destroy Mana and sunder spells, make themselves or others appear to be dead, manipulate the shadows, create, transmute, or destroy ectoplasm (the substance of ghosts), cannibalise the souls of the dying for Mana, and, at higher levels and with a little power of the Arcanum of Fate, bring people back from the dead, but at the cost of their own lives. Death is both a terrifying and alluring Arcanum, and those who use it equally so.
Levels of Proficiency
Initiate (●)
The first level of mastery grants an Initiate of Death the power to see the impact of death in individual people, noting how many have died in that person’s presence. She can also see the manner in which a person or creature died, and exactly how long ago that was. The mage also gains the power to sculpt ectoplasm conjured by a ghost or other mage, examine the health of the soul, alter shadows to conceal herself or an object, or speak with the dead.
Apprentice (●●)
An Apprentice of Death, with the second level of mastery, can bestow her perceptions of the weight of death on others. She can command shadows to move as though they were alive, even making them travel from their source, and can now create the substance called ectoplasm, an energy used in matters related to ghosts. It is at this level that the mage first gains power over auras, as she is now capable of suppressing them. She can cause physical objects, but not creatures, to decay, and can enhance her touch so she can interact with things in Twilight. Also, the mage gains the ability to summon ghosts, even against their will, and create soul jars, the vessels for soul trapping. Finally, she can leech the vigour from incoming attacks, rendering them useless.
- Spells: Animate Shadows, Bestow Ghostly Sight, Corpse Mask, Corpse Unmasking, Decay, Dislodge the Soul, Ectoplasm, Entropic Guard, Final Sight, Forensic Invisibility, Ghost Summons, Grant the Grim Sight, Lighten Anchor, Quiet Grave, Sniffing the Winds of Fate, Soul Jar, Suppress Aura, Touch of the Grave
- House Ruled: Decay, Entropic Guard
- Banned: Dislodge the Soul
Disciple (●●●)
The third level of mastery allows a Disciple of Death to force ghosts to do her bidding or raise zombies for the same purpose. She can heal the corpus of ghosts and create gateways into Twilight. Her shield can now be transferred to another. She can mystically destroy objects, shunt them into Twilight, or weaken the structure of objects already there. Her mastery over shadows extends to the point where she can make them from nothing, and she gains the ability to suppress her life signs and appear dead. Finally, she gains the power to convert the souls of the dying into Mana, and to sever the souls of Sleepers from their body.
- Spells: Arm Ghost, Call Shadow Person, Control Ghost, Curse of Withering, Destroy Ephemera, Destroy Object, Devouring the Slain, Dissipate Unreal Construct, Entropic Shroud, Exorcism, Ghost Gate, Ghostly Object, Hallow Victory, Healing the Dead Mind, Martyrs Bequest, Metal Dead, Orpheus Lament, Quicken Corpse, Restore Corpus Death Spell, Sculpt Ephemera, Self Repairing Zombie, Sever the Sleeping Soul, Summon Shadows, Suppress Own Life, Transfer Anchor
- House Ruled: Call Shadow Person, Control Ghost, Destroy Object, Metal Dead
- Banned: Hallow Victory
Adept (●●●●)
With the fourth level of mastery, an Adept of Death gains the power to enervate her foes, sucking own their strength and rendering them weak and powerless. She can bind the recently dead into objects or places, dooming them to haunt these locations forever. She may also rot the living flesh of a creature, and create an intelligent, driven undead creature called a revenant. Also at this level are granted the powers to suppress the life signs of another, to shift into Twilight without a gate, to bind souls into a soulless person, or to destroy her aura permanently.
- Spells: Cloak of Decay, Corpse Flesh, Enervation, Ghostly Archive, Haunted Shell, Haunting, Revenant, Rotting Flesh, Scourge Ghost, Shadow Flesh, Shadow-Forged, Slay Own Aura, Soul Binding, Suppress Others Life, Twilight Shift, Undying Zeal
- House Ruled: Corpse Flesh, Ghostly Archive, Shadow-Forged, Suppress Others Life
- Banned: Undying Zeal
Master (●●●●●)
The fifth level of mastery gives a Master of Death the power to tap the souls of the perfectly healthy for Mana, to summon ghosts from the Underworld in order to gain their knowledge, or to bolster the power of ghosts already in the world. She may also steal years of life from Sleepers, destroy Mana whether it lies within an artefact, as tass, or even within a mage, and sunder any magic.
- Spells: Atonement, Create Ghost, Deathlike Journey, Destroy Mana, Devouring the Living, Grant Lifespan, Quell the Spark, Quicken Ghost, Secret Marriage, Steal Body, Steal Lifespan, Summon the Dead
- House Ruled: Deathlike Journey, Grant Lifespan
- Banned:
Conjunctional Arcana
A Master of Death and Apprentice of Fate is capable of bringing the dead back to life. So long as the corpse is still intact and did not die of old age, it can be brought back to life and, better yet, Awakened. But the cost of this spell is the caster’s own life; thus, it’s not often used unless the need is truly dire or the mage’s desire to see this person live again is so powerful that their own life becomes less important.
References
