Space

The Arcana of Space governs the manipulation of Fallen World distance, dimension, and scale. The powers granted by this Arcanum allow a mage skilled in its use to perform a wide range of abilities. Such a mage can instantaneously travel from one place to another with the use of portals and teleportation. He may view far-off locales by means of scrying, or create barriers to block such effects and any other remote senses or teleportations used against him, or perform any number of other effects. This Arcanum is usually employed by the Mastigos, as its powers of mobility and remote viewing are most useful in their perpetual intrigues.

Aurora

(Initiate)

Chambers

(Initiate)

Influences

Conjuration, scrying, sympathy, teleportation, wards.

Nature and Power

The Arcanum of Space is the Gross Arcanum of the Supernal Realm of Pandemonium, a realm from which the energies of the Arcanum of Mind also flow. Pandemonium is a place of strange dimensions. The realm, like all its fellows, is a place of far greater size than the areas that those completing their Awakenings see. But this would mean that a soul, upon crossing the Abyss, could easily flee into one of the ancillary tunnels and escape his soul scourging. To counter this, Pandemonium uses a strange scale of space whereby all paths curve back upon themselves without ever appearing to turn. Try as he might, a soul attempting to flee will always end up in the place the realm’s denizens wish him to be at. Distance and dimension are more rigid in the Fallen World, and so the power of the Arcanum is weaker here, but it remains a valuable and powerful tool.

The Fallen World is colossal. Most of the universe is made up of nothingness, empty space and endless void with a handful of scattered objects flung across incomprehensibly vast distances. Even the gulf between the Earth and the moon, the closest celestial body to our world, is so vast that it took three men travelling at 39500 kilometres per hour four days to cross. Still, mere terrestrial distances are not to be sniffed at; the Equator, the widest point on the planet, is 40075 kilometres long. It takes a plane travelling at 1035 kilometres per hour 38 hours to complete a full circuit of this line, and at this distance even radio transmissions suffer delays. Small wonder that a discipline allowing these penalties to be negated is so popular amongst the Awakened.

The first thing that springs to mind when looking at practical uses of this Arcanum is the annihilation of space. A willworker sufficiently versed in its use can cross even the vastest tracts of space in an instant, so long as they have a sympathetic connection to the location. Another useful tool granted by the Arcanum of Space is the ability to observe actions or events from afar by means of a technique called scrying. With this power, a mage can spy on his rivals from well beyond striking distance, so a mage versed in this Arcanum can also raise barriers called wards that prevent supernatural spying or teleportation into a given area. The mage can appear and even do tasks in multiple places at once. He can warp space in odd ways, allowing his close combat blows to strike targets at a distance, twisting corridors so that they seem to stretch on forever, or even creating pockets of space outside the universe in which he can store objects for use or shelter from enemies. Not least, this Arcanum allows a mage to exploit Sympathy, allowing his spells cast at targets beyond sensory range a chance at success.

Levels of Proficiency

Initiate (●)

An Initiate of Space, with the power of the first level of mastery, can use the Mage Sight to detect warping and alterations to the fabric of local space (usually those caused by higher-level powers of this Arcanum). He can gain a higher understanding of spatial positioning, affording him greater accuracy or detection through means other than sight (in case he is blinded or otherwise visually impaired). He can perceive in a 360-degree arc of vision or track the movements of an item he wishes to keep an eye on. Finally, he may detect the sympathetic connections between objects and creatures.

• Spells: Angle Vision, Correspondence, Counterspell, Find the Cornerstone, Finder, Omnivision, Spatial Awareness, Spatial Map
• House Ruled: Find the Cornerstone
• Banned:

Apprentice (●●)

The powers of the second level of mastery grant an Apprentice of Space the ability to remotely observe a location with all their senses without being detected themselves, in a process called scrying, and may combine another spell with this to interact with objects on the far side of the scrying window. He can bestow his perception of alterations in the fabric of space upon others. He may conceal his sympathetic connections from magical sight, and can step through spatial doorways created by others, though he cannot alter their destination. He may warp space in small, localised portions to direct attacks away from himself, and can create barriers, called wards, against Space magic, hindering or outright stopping attempts made by others to scry, teleport, or send messages into a warded area.

• Spells: Apportation, Bestow Spatial Awareness, Conceal Sympathy, Follow Through, Intrusion Warning, Locate Source, Moving Target, Scrying, Sympathetic Spells, Sympathetic Tap, Track Projectile, Untouchable, Ward
• House Ruled: Apportation, Follow Through, Sympathetic Tap, Untouchable
• Banned:

Disciple (●●●)

The third level of mastery allows a Disciple of Space to bestow his defensive spatial warping upon another. He can create portals, spatial doorways that allow the mage to travel anywhere he can think of in the Material Realm. He may now bar certain types of object that he selects, with criteria as broad or specific as it pleases him to give, from entering his wards, or he can use scrying on multiple places at once. He may create sympathetic connections between objects, or destroy them. Finally, he gains the power to warp space around him in ways specific enough to allow him to perform close quarters attacks at range.

• Spells: Avoidance Tactics, Ban, Destroy the Threads, Double Shape, Duplicate Sympathy, Expanded Volume, Eyes of the Building, Instill Elusiveness, Instill Homing Instinct, Interpose, Multispatial Perception, New Threads, Portal, Ranged Blow, Repel, Walls in the Labyrinth
• House Ruled: Eyes of the Building, Portal
• Banned: Interpose

Adept (●●●●)

The powers of the fourth level of mastery grant an Adept of Space the ability to instantaneously disappear from one place and appear in another, without needing a portal. He can create keys for his portals; certain objects, traits, phrases or gestures that allow access to the doorways he makes, barring anyone without the key from passing through. He can appear in two or more locations at once, though only one such body at a time may interact with anything. He may wrap his opponents in spatial threads that prevent them from moving. His powers allow him to create small, featureless extradimensional spaces which he can use as refuge, resting place, or, with another spell at this level, storage compartment.

• Spells: Arcade, Co-Location, Phased Strike, Pocket Realm, Portal Key, Safe Keeping, Shatter Space, Suspension, Teleportation
• House Ruled: Phased Strike, Teleportation
• Banned:

Master (●●●●●)

At the fifth level of mastery, a Master of Space gains the power to warp dimensional axes to create areas of impossible dimensions; a hallway can be made to stretch out for miles, though it is in a building only thirty or forty metres across, or every exit from a building can be made to lead back to its foyer. He can create a pocket of sub-space that technically exists within the real world but can only be reached by taking a specific and very strict series of routes and paths. He may warp space to allow two locales to exist within the same area of space without interacting with each other, or he can force them to interact, usually in a violent manner as their Patterns interfere with each other and push themselves apart.

• Spells: Dimensional Axis, Hide Space, Labyrinth, Manifold Presence, Oubliette, Shrink / Expand, Worlds Collide
• House Ruled:
• Banned:

Conjunctional Arcana

Forces, Mind, and Time

A Master of Space, Disciple of Forces, and Adept of both Mind and Time can force a target into a pocket of subspace with the intent of breaking the subject’s mind. To this end, the extradimensional space is filled with reflections of the trapped individual in various states of despair, injury, madness and death. The sound of their own voice screaming follows them wherever they go, and they hear what seem to be their thoughts echoing back at them from the black depths of the pocket. These “thoughts” are really suggestions implanted by the mage, asking the subject what the mage wants to know.

Life

A Master of Space and Adept of Life can create a number of copies of himself that are all substantial, but are made from the same essence; if one takes damage, they all do, and they must all to the same thing. A Master of Life can overcome the first restriction, so that if one clone takes damage, the others do not. A Master of Matter can duplicate his equipment as well as himself, giving each clone functioning tools and weapons. An Initiate of Mind can give each clone the ability to act independently, so long as the tasks involved are simple, and a Disciple of Mind can allow them to perform more complex tasks.

Life or Matter

A Master of Space and Apprentice of Life can expand or shrink base life forms (see the Life Arcanum). A Disciple of Life can do this to median life forms, and an Adept of Life can affect higher life forms such as humans. A Master of Space and Apprentice of Matter can grow or shrink objects.

Spirit

A Disciple of Space and Adept of Spirit can direct his portals to open beyond the Gauntlet, in the Shadow Realm.

References

• MtA, pp. 232-244