From: mstutzm@aol.com (MStutzm)
Newsgroups: alt.games.whitewolf
Subject: Rote Library, Part 1
Date: 15 Jun 1995 16:54:18 -0400
Organization: America Online, Inc. (1-800-827-6364)
Reply-To: mstutzm@aol.com (MStutzm)
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INTRODUCTION TO THE ROTE LIBRARY

If you hold this tome, you already know too much. Any good Technocrat would kill you and your cabal just to get a glance at this list. Use it wisely.

The Rote Library (v. 1.0) is the opus of a group of dedicated online individuals. Favorite rotes were sent in, and were subsequently compiled into a compact text file. This is only the first incarnation of the rote library. In the coming months, the RL will become a living Web page, where visitors are free to borrow and deposit rotes. Excelsior!

DISCLAIMER: The editor has repeatedly spellchecked and laid out this file for your convenience. He does not vouch for the game mechanics, accuracy, or consistency of any rote included in this tome. For that matter, he is not responsible for any rotes that you may find stupid. Remember, that same stupid rote may be the one a Man In Black fries you with. Lighten up, its just a game.

THE ROTES

ICE

Mind 1, Life 1, Prime 2, Entropy 2 or 5

Virtual Adepts

This rote was created by a VA who was humiliated at being Dominated by a vampire. It functions like the Encrypt Thoughts rote from the VA, with the added benefit of protecting against all non-magickal attempts to control the user's thoughts or emotions. (The Entropy component provides a scrambling effect.)

[Each success removes two success from any Discipline, Gift, or Arcanos roll to influence the protected mind. If Entropy 2 is used, it provides protection against attacks that are ranked less than or equal to the user's Arete. If Entropy 5 is used, it shields against all levels. (Encrypt Thoughts can provide some protection, but only against attacks ranked equal to or lower than the user's Sphere level.) Forces 3 or Mind 3,4 or 5 may be added toautomatically attack any would-be controller, but this usually makes the rote vulgar.]

HOMONCULUS

Matter 4, Life 3, Prime 2, Spirit 2

Sons of Ether

This lovely Rote was designed by a Son of Ether, Ephriam Leeds, who desired the perfect companion. Of course, his ideals for perfection were a little warped. He decided that the only way he was going to find this companion was to build it himself. Using his knowledge in the sphere of matter he created a fully functioning automaton of Iron. But it was sill unliving, he wanted it to live. So he gave it life, and bound the two together with the Prime. But it was purley an instictual creature, Ephraim wanted a thinking companion, with a spirit. This being the case Ephraim sought out a spirit that was both trustworthy and willing to be his companion. The spirit for his companion now found, he proceeded to bind it to his machine, for that is truly what his companion was, a living, thinking machine.

[Functionally this Rote makes use of a relatively simple Matter 4 effect in the construction of the Homunculus. Next the Life sphere, aided by the spark of Prime, grants the form true life, and binds the pattern in to permanence. Great care must be taken in the design of the pattern as any(!) flaw in the pattern can cause the creature to die an agonizing death immidaiately after it's creation. As such, most mages who use this Rote take there time to insure that the patter is in no way flawed, designs of such intricacy have been known to take a full year or better to complete, as such this is not a rote to be under taken lightly. An umbrood spirit is then bound into the machine by a variation of the rote Imbue Flesh (Mage pg. 224 (1st Ed.)).

[The more successes rolled, the greater the chance that the machine will be self sufficient. Three successes is the minimum needed to create a viable homunculus. Any less and all that is created is a perfect, non-living, unreceptive to spiritual inhabitation, robot. At three successes the homunculus, is capable of survival on it's own as long as its physical requirements are provided for by it's master (i.e. it's alive it needs to eat, but it doesn't know how to find what it needs). At four successes the creature inherently knows it's needs and can acquire them without the aid of its master. At five successes, the creature is completely self-sufficient, and in fact instictively knows it's master's dietary requirements, and may even be capable of taking care of an ill creator. Note that as the Spirit sphere is used, to give it a "soul" the Mind sphere is not needed.]

THE FERMATA

Mind 1, Time 3, Prime 2, Forces 2

Cult of Ectstacy

[ Used with a focus. It stops time until the action triggering the rote is redone. Examples: snapping the fingers, removing glasses, switching on a vibrator. Vulgar without witnesses. Diff. 6. For each time period over 15 min the mage rerolls vs Diff. 6.]

SCHNIDER’S BUTTLINE

Correspondence 3

Schnider liked to look good for the babes, but his wallet ruined the smooth seat of his pants, obscuring the view. So he makes it appear that all that cash, credit cards, IDs, etc come from this slim wallet.

[The Mage keeps his items in a safe place and reaches to it when needed. Sometimes he will use this method to pop into other places to get cash. Why use the ATM when you can access the vault?>

YID’S MENTAL ANSWERING MACHINE

Mind 3, Time 1

Annoyed by the mental interruptions his companion made, Yid came up with this rote using a form of Multi-Tasking.

[When the Mage is concetrating on a problem, mental visitors receive this message, "[Mage’s name] is busy at the moment. Please leave a message at the gong." Note that Time can make this a more structured event.]

BALL OF GATHERED FLAME

Forces 2, Prime 1

Order of Hermes

[The Mage moves her hands about the air, fingers lightly spread while speaking the correct magickal words to congeal the light. It takes on a cob-webby texture and begins collecting in the Magi's hand as if it were indeed cob-webs the Mage was raking her hand through. As the Mage collects this light, she leaves behind darkness, which commonly appears as shadows hanging in mid air. After several swipes, enough light is collected in the hand to form a ball that just fits in the hand. Charging this with 1 point of Quintessence (which makes it glow brightly). The Mage then hurls this at her target, rolling Dex + Athletics diff 6. The ball itself can travel until it comes in contact with something, and will continue in exactly the same direction it was going when it was released. Upon impact, it bursts into an area of intense light twice its diameter, doing Magickal Successes in aggravated damage.]

WOLF BIND

Life 3, Spirit 3

Dreamspeakers

This rote alows the mage to attempt to suppress or "bind" the form of a Garou. It attemps to both physically and spiritually bind the Lupine. [Diff # = Rage of Target, cumulative successes must = or > Gnosis. If successful the Garou will either revert to lupus, homid, or the individaul's natral form (making this a bad thing to use against metis.)

CIRCLE WARD

Entropy 2, Prime 2, Spirit 3

Order of Hermes

This rote enables the user to subtly alter the umbral area around him to set up a protective shield.

[Entropy/Prime causes the incoming effect to "leak" quintessence and thus lose its reality. Prime/Spirit sets up the Spirit field and supplies it w/ quint. Successes = # of automatic countermagic dice the mage gets. Unfortunately, the area is immobile. Normal "non-magical" effects would get through normally.]

BLADE OF THE HYDRA

Correspondence 3

Akashic Brotherhood

[You throw a knife. A foot from hitting the target you co-locate the knife five times around the target - the target is now hit by 5 knifes, not one! Or you spray a target with automatic fire, as above, co-locate the bullets making several copies that surround the target - so the target can be hit by literally dozens of bullets. This can be explained by either saying you have incredible control over automatic weapons, or your shots riccochet (rebound?) and just so happen to hit the target.]

MSHIELD

All 1

Virtual Adepts

This Rote solidifies the mage's personal reality. The effect is limited to her own Pattern and any patterns of matter that she is carrying when it begins. MShield has no effects on spells already affecting the mage, but all magic directed at her while the Shield is up is opposed, even the mage's own.

[This rote lasts the standard duration. The highest level effect that can be opposed is equal to the number of success gained. Such an effect loses one success. For each level below the maximum, an additional success is taken away. This effect is cumulative with the mage's countermagick and resistance rolls, so it can render her nearly invulnerable to lesser magicks. However, any magic the mage casts on herself is also affected. Unlike regular countermagick, MShield does not offer any help to others targeted by the same spell as the caster, nor does it stop indirect effects (those that are not resisted by Willpower). This rote is static magic.]

1-800-QUINTESSENCE

Correspondence 2, Prime 1

Virtual Adepts

[This rote was invented by Virtual Adepts having problems with getting Quintessence when they were far from their nodes. However, by using the ordinary phone-network or internet to call a computer or phone near their home node, the Adepts can connect to it and absorb needed quintessence. This rote has been expanded to higher levels, using the networks as conduits for quintessence to their uses.]

PATTERN LOCK

Correspondence 2, Life or Matter 1

Virtual Adepts

This Rote traces a designated pattern (life or matter) anywhere within range. The effect lasts until it wares of, is dispelled, or the pattern being followed changes. While in effect the caster knows the relative location (direction and distance) of the pattern regardless of how it moves.

The Mage plants a bug on the target, target inadvertently leaves an obvious trial (mud on his shoes, distinctive scent), bystanders point out the target, mage dusts the target with an invisible radioactive powder, mage tracks target using spy satellite, mage brilliantly deduces target's destination.

[The number of success rolled determines how long and at what distance (using the Correspondence range chart) the Lock can be maintained. Note that patterns of life change slowly over time, so a living creature could be traced for no more than a few days regardless of the number of success obtained. The caster knows the locked pattern's location well enough for it to be considered within line of sight. The spatial distortion caused by a Pattern Lock is much less obtrusive than normal Correspondence Perceptions, unless specifically searched for, it can be detected only by disciples of both correspondence and pattern magic, specifically looking for it, who make a Perception + Awareness roll (difficulty 8).]

CD (CHANGE DIRECTORY)

Correspondence 3

Virtual Adepts

Also called GOTO, this Rote allows the V-dept to instantly move to a different locality. Localities must be previously designated by a name (label or line number) and have a defined 'pointer' to their position in three-space. Short 'hops' to nearby areas are not possible, nor can the mage go to places he has never seen or heard of.

[This is a straight forward teleportation rote. Between two and four successes are usually needed since line of sight is disallowed as is the 'anywhere in the world' range. The Rote only takes the mage to a general area, the exact point of arrival is random. The mage should keep a listing of her 'directory tree. This Rote is usually Vulgar>

R.A.D.S.

Correspondence 3, Forces 1, Matter 1, Life 1, Entropy 1

Virtual Adepts

The mage dodges, opponent telegraphs her blow, mage slips and falls out of the way, a moving vehicle blocks the attacker's line of sight, the mage is blown clear of the exploding fireball and lands in the midst of an outdoor mattress sale.

The Rapid Avoidance Defensive System is an ongoing conjunctional effect that analyzes patterns that are about to contact the mage and, if they prove dangerous, removes her to the nearest safe location. It is imperfect - the mage can be hit by a skilled opponent. Less advanced RADS versions simply gauge the magnitude of forces involved and avoid those beyond a certain threshold. This can be annoying since the forces involved in a friendly pat on the back can exceed those of a curare-tipped dart. The rote takes into account only immediate, physical, threats so a mage could find herself displaced from a hiding place, separated from an injured comrade, or face to face with a Neqhandus master. If the displacement occurs when the mage is making an attack, her attack is usually spoiled as well.

[RADS can move the mage anywhere within range (based on the correspondence range chart) but always minimizes the distance travelled. Each success removes one success from any attempt to hit the mage that has the potential to do the threshold level of damage. This is cumulative with dodging, but the mage must decide to dodge before the attack is rolled. If RADS activates at the mage's initiative, she suffers the same penalty to her attack and may have to make a Wits + Alertness roll to retain her bearings. If the mage is caught in an area attack or attacked by forces magic, RADS will take her out of the area or break line of sight with the attacker. This often involves a long distance teleport to a familiar location - and the accumulation of paradox.]

RANDOM ACCESS MATERIALITY

Correspondence 3

Virtual Adepts

The mage is hidden by smoke or fog and is only intermittently visible; she leads her opponents into a well known maze like area, hall of mirrors etc, where her location is hard to determine and she may appear to be in places she is not; the mage has previously set up mirrors, dummies, and or disguised sleepers to mislead her opponents.

This Rote allows the mage to move to any location within line of sight. A skilled caster can 'blink' among multiple locations almost instantly. Remember that correspondence sensing and co-location sensing provide line of sight. One common tactic is to use co-location sensing to remain aware of two different areas and then blink back and forth between them.

[The mage can make a number of blinks each turn equal to the number of successes scored. The mage controls both when and where she goes. Blinking will spoil one opponent's attack if the mage times it properly. All opponents trying to hit the mage have their difficulty raised by one per blink the mage has made so far that turn. In any turn that she blinks, the mage's own difficulties for physical actions are raised by one. The Rote lasts a normal duration but only those locations in line of sight during casting are accessible.]

REMOTE ACCESS

Correspondence 3, Mind 1

Virtual Adepts

Basic Remote Access is just our version of Divided Sight (see MAGE p.186). Hackers add a twist by conjunctionally Multi- Tasking so that they can keep track of more locations without 'burning out.' They then recursively invoke the module at each new location, forming a chain or mesh of 'links' and 'nodes' (nodes in the sense of telecommunications, not mystical Nodes where Tass collects). When angry technarcs try to Stalk the Void (see Mage p.188) to the offending mage, there's time to break the connection before they arrive. I only tried this once, but it worked like a charm.

[The maximum number of 'nodes' the mage can maintain is equal to his Perception attribute times the number of success obtained in Multi-Tasking (not the total number of 'Tasks' since one is used to co-ordinate). The numbr of links established at each casting is one plus one per success beyond those needed for the most difficult node. For instance, a mage trying to establish three nodes, two in familiar locations and one that he has only heard of, would need six successes - four to establish the node in the location described to him and one for each of the familiar areas. Nodes created in a single casting are in a 'star topology' - each one is connected only to the mage's location. To create a link between two distant nodes the mage must cast the spell from one node using the normal range chart instead of the Correspondence one. Since the node is in line of sight, four successes are required (unless the new node is totally unfamiliar). Note that this range is from the mage to the node from which the link is to be established, not the range from the established node the new one. When someone Stalks the Void from an end node, he simply reaches the next node in the network. If there are several connections the one found is random. Adepts who are wise to this trick can 'trace' the links - cascading across one link per success. However, in a complex network, it is likely the tracer will loop as it randomly chooses a path. The only coincidental effect I've ever heard of for this Rote is 'Hacking.' The mage simply 'breaks into' computer systems at each location she wishes to view, establishing a convoluted path of communications lines that enemies must trace to find her.]

SITE TO SITE TRANSPORT

Correspondence 3, Mind 1

Virtual Adepts

This Rote takes the mage to a specific, pre-determined location. Often, a series of locations is 'programmed' ahead of time. All such locations must be personally memorized by the mage (thus the mind aspect, for eidetic memory). This rote is very simple, often requiring only a single key stroke like [HOME] or [RETURN].

[Site to Site Transport differs from the classic Seven League Stride primarily in that the target location is always well known. Two successes are all that is needed to remove the mage to the next programmed location. Extra successes are required if the mage wishes to 'cascade' through several localities, spending anywhere from a fraction of a second to a few turns in each intermediate location. As long as her computer is up and running, the V-dept can activate this Rote with no initiative penalty. This Rote is almost always Vulgar magick.]

VECTOR MATRIX COMPUTATION

Correspondence 3

Virtual Adepts

The mage leaps upon a passing vehicle, is picked up by a helicopter, dons a pre-placed jet pack, had a parachute carefully packed in her backpack when she jumped from the plane.

This unusual Rote causes the mage to move through space with an apparently smooth motion through a series of micro-teleports. She can appear to walk, levitate, or even fly. The main advantage of this kind of movement is that it can be more easily covered by static effects. Even though she appears to be moving, the mage has no momentum and causes no damage in a collision.

[One success allows the mage to move at normal human speeds - no more than about 10 mph, two success allow ground vehicle speeds (under 100 mph), three grant aircraft-like speeds of hundreds of mph, four success allow super-sonic flight (no sonic booms though), and five will let the mage move at basically any speed she wishes.]

THREAT ASSESSMENT

Forces 1, Entropy 1, Life 1

Virtual Adepts

The mage has heard (accurate) rumors about the subject, is familiar with subject's style (Ah...You trained with Master Wu.), has made a study of the types of weapons being employed, etc.

The Virtual Adepts use this Rote to estimate the relative danger posed by an opponent or other hazard. Threat Assessment does not reveal unknown dangers, it merely quantifies those the mage is already aware of. Thus, it is usually used in conjunction with another sense such as normal sight, Inertial Location or Composite Virtual Imaging. Threat Assessment gives the mage a good idea of the power of attacks the opponent can throw and of the attackers' speed and skill. Use of this Rote can make dodging attacks a little easier but does no otherwise overtly effect combat.

[The 'area' affected indicates the number of opponents 'Assessed.' For instance, one success would give the mage information about a single attacker in melee. Regardless of the number of successes, the mage can tell the approximate size of the subject's attack and damage dice pools. Assessed attacks can be dodged at a -1 difficulty. It has no effect on magical attacks unless the mage is a disciple of all the spheres involved.]

RIKER'S ISLAND

Mind 1, Life 1

Virtual Adepts

No man is an island - except for this guy. The mage is a sociopath, completely cut off from normal human interaction, or has been trained using bio-feedback or self hypnosis, or just has the perfect poker face (like a certain 1st Officer in a popular SF series).

Many V-depts are classic 'computer nerds' with limited social skills. Sure, you can countermagick Thought Probes in your sleep, but the wily Toreador can tell almost as much from the way your eyelid's flutter when she asks you a question. This is what we call a non-trivial problem. The answer is Riker's Island, a Module that edits out unconscious reactions and body language - even controls respiration and galvanic skin response. With it you have the ultimate poker face and can even beat lie detectors. Iteration X uses this Rote under the name 'Machine Interface' and the Men In Black seem to have it hardwired into their brains.

[For the duration of the magick, all attempts to read the mage using skills like Subterfuge as well as non-magical lie detectors automatically fail. Users of subterfuge will note that the character is concealing something (even if he isn't) but can't tell what.]

COMPOSITE VIRTUAL IMAGING

Correspondence 1, Mind 1 or 2, Any other spheres 1

Virtual Adepts

This Rote integrates a mage's various senses (as a Disciple of multiple Spheres) into a single virtual reality (cf Landscape in the Mind). Patterns are represented by 'icons' and quintessence and ley lines are superimposed in glowing gold, while a clock icon measures time to the nearest nano-second. The mage can 'select' patterns for a complete analysis, 'switch screens' to view the Near Umbra or invoke a 'diagnostic' to assess the entropy of the area. Skilled Disciples can also detect the presence of minds and correlate them to the patterns they inhabit. Of course, magical effects going off near the mage are immediately noted. All this assumes a disciple of nine spheres - a rare mage indeed, However, any number of spheres may be used.

[Range of this rote is more limited than for other Correspondence effects:

# Successes/Radius Perceived
1	6' - mage's personal space
2	20' - large room
3	20yds - good sized house
4	100yds - stadium, high rise
5	1/4 mile - city block, industrial park

Furthermore, if more than four spheres are being used, require an additional success. Remember the mage only gets all the above effects if she casts the Rote conjunctional with all nine spheres. Also note that all the mage gets for using Mind one is the ability to detect incoming Mind effects. Few coincidental effects will cover the broad range of senses granted. Examples include Sherlock Homes-like deduction, a 'thorough' briefing of the area, or (for short durations) lucky guesses or intuition.]

EXTENDED MEMORY MANAGER

Mind 1

Virtual Adepts

This Rote allows the mage to remember large amounts of data with perfect clarity. It can be used to preserve specific memories or to retrieve largely forgotten ones. Mages who store too much information can experience side effects like confusion as sensory cues cause a flood of associated memories or an inability to remember without using the Rote. Some mages find it necessary to 'purge' old memories to make way for fresh data. Combined with other senses and Mind effects, the EMM becomes even more useful. For instance, the mage can flip through a book, then Multi-Task and have one task carefully read it from memory or 'rewind' her memory of a recent encounter to look for details that her conscious mind overlooked.

[To imprint a photographic memory, the mage rolls her Arete with the number of successes indicating how long (on the normal duration chart) the memory is retained with perfect clarity. During this duration the mage can look back just as if she were still experiencing the memory even to the point of noticing details for the first time. After the duration is up, the memory fades to normal levels of recall. To retrieve a forgotten experience, the mage rolls with successes read on the duration chart to indicate how far back she can remember. Clarity is high but she cannot notice new details - only those which she noted at some point but has forgotten. Photographic and Eidetic mnemonic abilities are a documented fact, making this Rote static magic.]

MATH CO-PROCESSOR

Mind 1

Virtual Adepts

Virtual Adepts view the human brain as nothing more than a tremendously complex, biological computer. This Rote allows them to tap the brain's vast, untapped computational power. While it is in effect, the mage can perform mathematical calculations at a rate rivalling the most powerful computers.

[Successes indicate the speed at which the mage can perform computations: 1 to 3 grant normal computer speeds from micro to mainframe, 4 give the mage the power of a supercomputer, and 5 or more allow virtually impossible computations (the kind it would take a Cray centuries to solve. Successes can be added directly to appropriate actions like cryptography. At the level of 1 to 3 successes this can be passed off as skill and mathematical 'tricks,' at higher levels it risks Paradox.]

SIGNAL FILTER

Mind 1

Virtual Adepts

The wound is particularly clean or missed major nerve clusters, the mage's brain is flooded with endorphins, her ration to the wound happens to be helpful (you double over and the next shot whizzes over your head). 'This guy's obviously on PCP,' etc.

The V-dept version of a classic Akashic Rote, Signal Filter evaluates incoming neural signals, intercepting excessive pain messages that might hamper the mages ability to function. Signal Filter is dangerous because the mage using it cannot tell the severity of her injury without carefully examining her pattern. She can feel enough to tell she was hurt and where the damage is but not how dangerous it is. In any case, the Rote in no way reduces the damage taken.

[Each success reduces the penalty and action restrictions on the wound chart by one level. The mage can even act while Incapacitated for up to one turn per success. Duration is otherwise normal. If the mage takes particularly strenuous or inappropriate actions, the Storyteller may call for a Stamina Roll (Difficulty = current wound level + 3) to avoid taking an additional wound.]

SPIRIT ID

Spirit 1, Mind 1

Virtual Adepts

This rote allows a mage to recognize spirits who contact her, whether through his Umbral Pager or by attacking her, without constantly scanning the Near Umbra. When contacted by a spirit, the mage automatically 'sees' the spirit, though no other parts of the adjacent umbra or nearby spirits are perceived.

[The mage should make a Perception + Awareness roll to positively ID the spirit. She can then tell whether it is a familiar spirit and can recognize it the next time their paths cross. The information granted is also enough for the mage to Call the spirit later on, though he has no power over it of course. Umbral effect, no coincidences required.]

AT&T'S THIRD EYE PLAN

Spirit 2

Virtual Adepts

[Aethereal Telepathy and Telempath along with US Spirit's 'The Ghost' and Metaphysical Communications Discorporated's 'Fiends and Family' offer easy-to-use versions of the standard Call Spirit effect, MAGE p 214. Umbral effect, no coincidences required.]

THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE TELLURIAN

Correspondence 2, Spirit 2

Virtual Adepts

This Rote allows the mage to spy on any location in the Umbra or even the Deep Umbra from the safety of his terminal. It takes the form of a massive database of SF/Fantasy stories, vignettes, illustrations, & animation that just 'coincidentally' happen to perfectly describe the area of the Umbra desired. The Guide does not allow viewing of the real world; any request for information regarding Gaia's realm returns the words Mostly Harmless.'

[The Guide combines the effects of Correspondence Perceptions with Spirit Sight and Plumb the Deep Umbra (see MAGE pps. 185, 212, 214). The Correspondence range chart is used with respect to the caster's familiarity with the umbral location to be scanned, not the corresponding mundane locality in the 'real' world. Though a standard coincidental effect is mentioned above, none is really necessary as this is an umbral effect.]

UMBRAL PAGER

Spirit 2, Mind 1

Virtual Adepts

The mage focuses a tiny portion of her attention on the umbra. This umbral perception is largely subconscious and does not interfere with normal or other senses. Spirits familiar with the mage can use a pre-arranged signal to get her attention. Anything other than the pre-arranged signal goes unnoticed.

[Hostile spirits can fake a signal with a Wits+Enigmas roll, difficulty is the mage's Wits+5. If the spirit trying to make contact is distant, the Storyteller may call for a Perception + Alertness roll from the mage. Umbral effect, no coincidences required.]

WOLF DREAMS

Spirit 2, Mind 1

Dreamspeakers

“He must be a psycho or on PCP; either way, that's one angry bastard.” The mage calls a Garou spirit to help him find the Beast within himself. If successful, he can Rage like a Garou. Serial use of the Rote would be difficult since each use would tend to 'cleanse' the mage of anger. If done without the aid of a spirit (as a Mind effect) the duration would be lessened and the mage would be in greater danger of frenzy. (Note

[The mage gains a point of Rage per success. For the duration of the rote, he can act just as a garou with this Rage score, including spending rage, making rage rolls, and risking Frenzy. If cast as a Mind effect, the mage frenzies and must spend a total of one Willpower per success to bring himself out. Furthermore, he can't make Rage rolls without the spirit's continued encouragement, so once the Rage is spent, it's gone. If repeated in the same story, add at least +2 difficulty. Could be static magic if used among Garou.]

YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE

Entropy 3+, Matter 2 or 3

[Destroy the matter he's standing on, preferrably outside on dirt/grass cause that'll erode the fastest (And look: what a coincidence, there was a small sinkhole where he was standing). Once he falls down, recreate the dirt around him (I guess this makes it vulgar again) Or if he's really strong, make it cement or something. And I suppose you would need a Prime 1 or 2 in there. Then he's stuck. Just walk up and bop 'em on the head :)>

LAG

Time 3, Entropy 1, Mind 1

Virtual Adepts

[With this Rote in effect, at random intervals, the V-A will freeze up for an undetermined period of time.. It sometimes comes in handy on others as well. Usually, this is used before going into a Grid to talk to a sleeper, so as to avoid possible Technocracy spies pretending to be ignorant to find Awakened beings on the Web by their inability to have processing lag. Mind is used to make it run in the background of the Mage, by Multitasking.]

LINE NOISE

Mind 3, Entropy 1

Virtual Adepts

[Similar in concept as Lag, this will make a Mage randomly spit out utter garbage, extremely useful when in Grids. If used on others, it can cause quite a communication problem. Of course, the Mind Sphere is used to Multi-Task this into the Mage's background so he needn't concentrate on it.]

LINE INTERRUPT

Corresondence 3, Entropy 1, Mind 1

Virtual Adepts

[V-As use this to simulate the loss of a connection. It runs in the background through Multi-Tasking. Randomly, the Mage will leave a Grid, thus seemingly loosing a connection to any Sleeper with whom they are conversing. Its a small matter to return to the location.]

[The three previous Rotes have been known to be used all at the same time by some Mages, for fun as well as paranoid protection. Usually, one suffices. It is rumored these Rotes were invented by one of the regulars at the Spy's Demise for his amusement. It is also rumored that this same individual is an AI who does such things to see how much trouble Mages will bring on themselves. It is hard say for certain, as no one has seen this person offline in order to ascertain the truth. All is known is his online icon is that of a featureless humanoid made entirely of the static of a television tuned to a dead channel.]

ACHILLES’ BANE

Entropy 1, Forces 2

Ten out of ten for style, minus a thousand for Coincidence. This not-so-subtle rote draws from ambient energy (usually static electricity) to form a glowing "bull's-eye" on the target's weakest or most vulnerable point, if any. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words...

[Every success allows the indicator to remain another round. The indicator will shift at the beginning of each round to the target's weakest point, and highlight it. The standard is a brightly glowing bull's-eye with arrows pointing to it. The "weak point" judgement is up to the ST; mine has allowed people hitting it an additional die of damage most of the time, and occassionally allowed it to uncover a "fatal flaw"...]

JACQUELINE'S PSEUDO PREDATOR

Forces 3, Prime 2, Mind 2

[A typical misdirective ploy. Basically, the mage programs a shimmering man-sized field to run away from the area of attention, as though the mage has employed a faulty invisibility rote and is attempting to flee. Most enemies will chortle and pursue. The Mind effect ensures that the image will stay ahead of the pursuers regardless of their tactics, including dodging shots, etc, but will always remain tantalizingly in sight, no matter how inept the chasers are. Dynamic, of course.]

SCAN SIDEWAYS

Correspondence 2, Spirit 1

[Beats me why this one was never included in the Mage books. Just as any Mage with some sense "looks" at her destination for her Correspondence 3 effect using Correspondence 2, so any Mage planning to step Sideways should employ this rote to avoid unnecessary complications.]

TAR BABY

Matter 3, Prime 2, Mind 3

Reputed to have been developed by the legendary Verbena "Uncle Remus". Great for opponents who can't think of anything better to do than brawl.

[A statue made of warm tar or similar substance (eg, molassas) is built, and a standing Mind 3 effect makes it appear to be the attacker's apparent victim. Poor lighting and giving the Tar Baby a fighting stance is highly recommended, unless the Mage plans to hang around and animate the phantasm.]

RICCOCHET

Forces 2, Entropy 2

[If a group of enemies is shooting at you, MIBs in my case, up the chaos in the vectors of their bullets, and make them shoot wide, at each other, at random birds flying over- but make sure to DECREASE the potential for being hit yourself.Used by a discordian.]

PHYSICAL FORM EXTRAPOLATION IN SOLID MEDIA
(The Clay Of Human Form)

Life 1, Matter 3, sometimes Prime 2

Sons Of Ether

Presented with the severed finger of an unknown murder victim, Tony King set about attempting to discover the full physical appearance of the deceased. By using a number of carefully calibrated electrical fields, he extrapolated the full physical form of the victim's etheric pattern in three-dimensional space, then carefully sculpted a large block of soft clay using strong electromagnetic fields in order to produce a life-size model of the victim's body, in quite superb detail.

[The mage must have some part of the corpse from which to extrapolate the physical form, and a fair amount of some kind of modelling media (Clay, wet sand, blu-tak, whatever). Difficulty is a base of 6, but would be harder for older corpses (+1 to difficulty for 1 month since death, +2 for a year, +3 for a decade and so on). Similarly, the amount of cadaver the mage has to work on would affect difficulty - extrapolating a decapitated head from a whole body would be fairly easy, but a whole body from a couple of hairs is close to impossible.

[The level of detail available depends on the number of successes the mage gets, and the time the mage is willing to put into the project. Subtract 1 from the difficulty for every extra day the mage puts into the extrapolation. [1 success will give a rough shape (build, proportion) and a hint at facial features. 2 successes will give enough detail for the subject to be recognizable. 3 successes will give something which looks almost exactly like the subject; 4 or 5 successes will give things like birthmarks, moles, the finer structure of hair, and dissection of the clay model can yield information about the state of internal organs and such like]

COOK-OFF AND DIE

Matter 3

Sons Of Ether

Faced with a number of violent-minded fellows with sub-machine-guns, Tony King used his own warped theories on resonating microscopic structures to artificially lower the melting point of the main body of the guns by a significant amount, although not so much that the guns themselves would melt. As a result, after a few shots the firing chamber of the gun exploded, thus neutralizing the threat posed by its wielder.

[A largely coincidental effect, as the gun just appears to misfire badly. The mage lowers the melting point of the gun so that the high temperatures in the gun's chamber cause it to deform or explode, with catastrophic results]

CHLOE'S SICK TRICK

Life 3, Prime 2

Verbena

Waking up to find herself being examined in the emergency ward of a hospital, a young Verbena decided to freak out the medical staff for the hell of it. A pinprick-wound in her thumb pumped out narrow spurts of blood to up to six feet away, whilst she sat there nonchalantly watching the horrified looks on the nurse's face. To top it all off, Chloe sneezed a three-pound blood-clot onto the curtain used to cordon her off from the rest of the ward. Splat.

[Prime 2 fuels the creation of a few pints of the mage's own blood. This is, of course, somewhat vulgar. But fun.]

DIVINE SACRIFICE

Prime 4 Life 4 (opt. Entropy 4 to make easier)

[In my chronicle Prime 4 is not sufficient to destroy a life pattern due to its amazing complexity when compared to inanimate matter. However, this does not mean that a life pattern is immune to such effects. This combination allows a mage to burn the quintessence from a life pattern and recycle it into the cosmic flow. The effect is that the mage must get a mere 3 successes and touch his target on the forehead at which time the target is frozen and begins to glow and fade and finally explode as a flash of light leaving ... nothing. The only way to counter this effect it though counter magic or antimagic. The optional Entropy 4 is put in for the storyteller's option to allow this rote to happen. The rote in my chronicle needs this sphere to work but it may not be needed depending on the story teller.]

REORDER

Corr 4 Entropy 3 (4 for living)

A mage of the Akashic Brotherhood had a dark period just after he assumed his sensei to have been brutally murdered. It is then that he raised his entropy sphere to 4 and combined this with his Corr 4 for a rather spectacular effect which is now his "calling card".

[This rote is just as vulgar as the above but much more graphic. Take the volume of space taken up by an object (or person or area). Now there exists order to the parts in this area/volume. Now randomly reorder every particle in that area. With 2 or more successes on a mortal (sleeper) the effect you get is a homogenization of every part of thier body. For just a part of this effect you could take the femur and divide it up into thousands of particles, now relocated those particles all over the body. The net result is the person turns into a red featureless mass which falls to the ground with a jello like consistency.]

CLASSICAL -] QUANTUM PARTICLE

Matter 3, Entropy 3(4), Forces 4, (Life 3/4)

Sons of Ether

[The Sons of Ether have out done themselves with this rote. It will actually turn a classical particle (anything you can percieve) to have the properties of a quantum particle (wierd quantum physics). This does a few major things. First of all - you are now a particle and a wave. You do not exist here, but rather over a continuum within set boundary conditions (like walls). The visual effect is that you appear in many places at once (your most probablility dense zones) and you are actually at all of them (without Corr 4!!!). You can also exhibit quantum tunnelling effects. You can go through walls if they are not suffucient barriers to stop your wavefunction. The disadvantages are that being a quantum particle the uncertainty principle effects you alot. When the effect is dropped, you can end up being anywhere your wavefunction existed. You are also disorientated by this experience. But can anyone hide something in an area better than thin rote. Total randomness and limited invulnerability to the wavefunctions from standard means of attack. Note area effects are the most effective against quantum particles but there are times when they don't work. A clever rote needs a clever counter rote. I also reccommend people at least being familiar with basic quantum mechanics before they go whole hog on this rote. (I have a guy in my chronicle who is a physics grad student going for his PhD in real life).]

WYLDFIRE’S LIRARY-IN-A-POCKET

Mind 1, Correspondence 5, Time 3, Forces 2

[This rote allows the Virtual Adept (or any other mage), to compress information stored electronically so that it will fit in almost NO space on a disk. Mind 1 and Time 3 are used to speed up the computation and Correspondence 5 stretches the amount of space physically available on the disk. Forces is used to write the info to the disk. However, there is a drawback; the successes rolled must be split between duration and space multiplication-- see the following chart.
	Successes     Duration     Space Multiplier
	    1	       1 hour 		  x2
	    2  	       6 hours 		  x3
	    3	      12 hours		  x4
	    4          1 day		  x5
	    5	       2 days	 	  x6
	    6+	   +1 day/success    x7 (maximum)

[The way the successes are to be split is up to the player. For example, if I roll 7 successes, I may put 3 into the multiplication factor, and 4 into duration, thus giving me 4 times the space for 1 day.]

SHIELDS, KEPTIN?

Forces 3, Prime 2

[This is a VULGAR effect that sets up a forcefield that works within the electromagnetic spectrum (i.e. light and magnetism). Higher levels of Forces and Prime can affect other attack forms. Damage is reduced by the same number of successes as if Forces were used for damage.]

WARNERSPONDENCE

Correspondence 4

Hollow Ones

Rubberback, a Hollow One mage who spent far too much time in front of the television, was inspired by an episode of “Animaniacs”. The antagonist would go to toss the Warners out door, only to find himself mysteriously being thrown into the street instead. Ha ha! What a great gag! The Man in Black who tried to push Rubberback off of a building didn’t find it quite so funny. Splat.

[Correspondence is used switch places with the target who threw/pushed the character. The target finds himself thrown instead of the mage. The difficulty of this rote may be raised by 1 or 2, depending on the circumstances. (E.g., switching places while falling towards the pavement at 20 mph.)]

CHAIN LETTER

Time 2, Mind 2, Correspondence 2

Sons of Ether

Dr. Teeth had always suspected that the New World Order had its hand in the US Postal Service . (Actually, he was right--Don’t you think it was a coincidence how all those “disgruntled” postal workers suddenly snapped?) Thus, the good doctor devised a simple way of sending information. Random mental couriers subliminally passed the message until it reached the correct person. Unfortunately, the Technocracy got hold of some of the information, and destroyed Dr. Teeth. It seems FedEx would have been cheaper in the long run.

[This rote subliminally plants a message in a person’s head. By the course of everyday speaking, the message is “passed on”. Correspondence insures that the message will reach its final destination. The more successes on the Magick roll, the less time it takes in transit. The inherent danger is that the Mage cannot control what channels it goes through; if a courier inadventantly talks to a Technocrat, the Technocrat may be able to “decode” the message and even determine who sent it.

HEY! LOOK AT ME!

Forces 2

The Men in Black never knew what hit them. The last transmission said something about “Device malfunction... Paradox outside of accetable parameters...”

[ This rote is designed to draw the attention of Paradox upon an antagonist. It amplifies sound and light emmissions from any magickal object: Magick guns fire at 1000 db in a burst of rainbow light. The idea is to attract the attention of surrounding sleepers, and thus stir up paradox in the area. As a rule, Magick becomes increasingly vulgar with each success. As a downside, the rote affects anyone in the area, and may trigger a domino effect in the area. (See: Book of Shadows)]

ENNUI (Kafka’s Bane)

Mind 4, Entropy 5

Hollow Ones

Sara Stout’s life, even after awakening, was naught but illusion and emptiness. Her hollow existence was symbolic misery. She considered getting a job writing for White Wolf, but instead opted to invent this rote. After all, what Technocrat would bother to pursue her if his life was as bleak and pointless as hers?

[Ennui uses Mind Control and Intellectual Entropy to make a target contemplate how small and trivial his life is in the great scheme of things. He falls into a state of chronic depression, refusing to eat, drink, or communicate with the outside world for the duration of the rote, slowly wasting away and possibly dying. This is deviously coincidental.

[The duration of the rote is two days per success, after which the target must make a Willpower roll (diff 6-8) to break free of the Ennui. Failing this roll indicates the target remains depressed for an extra week; a botch indicates permanent Ennui.]

TOUCH-TYPE

Correspondence 2, Mind 1

[Touch-type allows a mage to type at a blinding rate (on a typewriter or computer) without really thinking about it; his fingers just "find" the right key to press. When cast, depending on the degree of success, a mage can type up to 100 x Dexterity words per minute. Please note that after about 200 wrd/min., the effect becomes increasingly vulgar.]

MEDIA READ

Virtual Adepts

Mind 1, Forces 1 or Matter 1

When you need information right now, you don't have time to run back and plug a floppy into your laptop. Thus, a clever Virtual Adept invented this rote, which allows a mage to read magnetic or optical media without a peripheral reader. All the mage need do is hold the disk in his hand, pocket, or elsewhere...

[Forces allows the mage to "sense" the data on magnetic media (floppies, hard drives, cassettes, etc); Matter must be used to "see" the data on optical media (CD-ROM, Flopticals, etc). Mind is necessary to translate the information into something understandable, which otherwise would show up as nothing more than a bunch of ones and zeros. Encrypted information will translate as gibberish. Some Hollow Ones who couldn't afford a Discman have used Media Read on standard tapes and CDs; they just put a CD in their pocket and listen to it. Note: there is no way to "store" this much information besides the mage's memory without a higher Mind sphere. Touch-type (qv) might be used to spill out hardcopy of the disk.]

1000 PAPER CRANES

Life 2, Prime 2

Japanese folklore tells that if 1000 paper cranes are made for a person, his life will be saved in return. One clever Akashic Brother expanded on this idea. Well-wishers who visit a person are asked to make a paper crane for their sake, often being told of the legend.

[This rote causes the cranes (actually minor talismans)to heal the patient. As a rule, each crane heals one level of damage (1/2 level aggravated), though degenerative diseases like AIDS and cancer continually eat away and diminish health levels. 1000 cranes or more will cure any mortal, no matter how sick. Because the effect is rooted in faith and folklore, it is still considered coincidental, no matter how miraculous a recovery. (The Technocracy will just chalk it up to "superior medical technology") Euthanatos, though, despise this rote (Cheating the Good Death--the very idea!) and may even drain the origami of their power (there is a tiny amount of tass in each crane).]

DORIAN GRAY

Life 5, Mind 5, Entropy 4, Prime 4

Euthanatos

Here is the real story of the Portrait of Dorian Gray: It wasn’t just a picture that gave Dorian Gray of the Euthanatos seemingly endless youth. The portrait was mackically tied to his body. (This is similar to Setite vampires who hide their hearts.) When the Technocrats found and destroyed the picture, the accumulated Paradox and crushing force of age destroyed him.

This rote allows a mage to adopt an icon (portrait, doll, book) to which she is tethered. As long as the icon remains intact, the mage will remain the same age as when the rote was cast. She is not immortal; the magickal icon simply holds back the forces that age the body. When it is time to die, she will indeed die (though she will leave a lovely corpse). The danger of this rote lies in the consequences of destroying the icon: the shock of aging 50 years is enough to kill most people.

[Life and Mind tie the mage macickally to the icon; prime “seals the deed”. Entropy forces the entropy of aging to age the icon instead of the mage. Should the icon be destroyed, the mage must make a stamina roll, difficulty 5+1 for every ten years since the rote was cast. Failure indicates the mage dies of shock. The icon also gains a point of Paradox for every ten years it has been used; if the mage survives, he absorbs the Paradox as well.

SEVER THE TIES THAT BIND

Life 4

[Cuts the links between the left and right Cortex in the subject, thus creating total chaos within the target--his left hand and right hand will fight for control. In essence, his body will argue with itself. Most higher functions will be disabled...

[I’ve mulled over this one for a while--Thing is, Vampires can heal such damage very quickly, so I’ve devised a way to put up a thin layer of steel between the cortexes as they are severed to prevent regrowth back into a normal pattern. (SEVER UNDEAD TIES, Matter 4)]

THE CUTTING EDGE

Akashic Brotherhood

Matter 3

[By combining two matter effects on a bladed weapon, one can obtain the useful ability to cut through solid objects. The first effect uses Matter 3: Sculpture to hone the blades' edge to a mono-molecular point and makes the surface of the blade almost frictionless, thereby allowing the blade itself to cut through just about anything easily. The second effect uses Matter 3: Destroy Structure to rend the pattern of the object just ahead of the blade's edge. Without this second effect, the monomolecular blade would dull almost instantly and become useless. This effect is vulgar or coincidental depending on the substance being cut. Most people would not believe granite can be cut by mere metal, but haven't we all heard about the legendary sharpness of the old samurai swords?]

MODEM OF THE GODS

Correspondence 3, Forces 2

Virtual Adepts

This rote was created by a Virtual Adept named DarkWire who was sick of having to tie up his phone line to visit the chantry in Omaha.

[This rote utilizes the co-location ability to send the communication data straight from a terminal to another mainframe without the need for a direct physical connection. This usually comes off as coincidental ("it's cellular")]

DOWNLOAD SPIRIT

Spirit 4, Matter 2, Prime 2

Virtual Adepts

[This rote allows the mage to create a fetish (of sorts) out of a computer disc. The caster uses Matter 2 and Prime 2 to make the disc trinary, and Spirit 4 to make the fetish. The disc can then be loaded into a trinary deck for use in the Digital Web. As long as the disc is in the deck, the trapped spirit can be used as a standard fetish. However, the fetish will not opperate in the real world.]

REMOTE FEED

Correspondence 2, Forces 2

Virtual Adepts

[This rote functions as the Corr 2 effect Correspondence Sensing, but is outputted to his comuter display. This effect is usually coincidental ("Hey, wanna see a cool Quick-Time movie?")]

MAGIC BULLET

Forces 4, Correspondence 2

The rote can be used to "bounce" bullets off walls, floors, ceilings, but mostly used to hit targets around walls.

[Forces 4 to keep the bullets motions going and the bounce correct after hitting a wall or floor or whatever. Correspondence 2 to see the target after the bullet has bounced around the corner.]

ROOTS OF THE TREE

Forces 5/4, Correspondence 2

Akashic Brotherhood

[By setting themselves in a deep trance the Akashic Brothers can make themselves virtually impossable to move physicaly. They make great anchors for ropes and as human ladders.]

IS THIS YOUR CARD?

Entropy 2, Correspondence 2

This rote is usually performed with a deck of cards, but can be used with any other means in which one wants to impress someone into thinking that you're a prestidigitator.

First, get the victim to choose a cards at random. Correspondence 2 allows you to alter your viewpoint to behind the victim (and thereby see which cards he's looking at.)

[Entropy 2 allows you to make the card do what you want it to do, i.e. jump to the top of the deck, become the 13th card down, or whatever.]

ENTROPIC THOUGHT

Entropy 2, Mind 1-4

This rote allows the Mage to jump to startling conclusions about any situation (s)he is in. The Mage can sometimes appear to have remarkable deductive powers when utilising this rote and at other times (s)he can appear quite mad as (s)he makes connections which normal people would consider ludicrous or quite impossible. As a simple example, take the case of a Mage who has no skill in Matter or Correspondence but who wishes to find a hidden item (maybe the gun used as a murder weapon.) He paces to room with a thoughtful expression on his face then, suddenly, he is reminded of a murder/mystery novel in which the weapon was hidden behind the mantelpiece. Sure enough, the aforementioned weapon is there when he asks the bewildered policemen to search it. Of course, they may now wonder how he knew it was there and ask some fairly urgent questions about where he was on a particular night..

[The mage utilises Mind 1 to flash through all her memories and then Entropy 2 (Control Randomness) to select one. The use of Entropy ensures that the thought selected is somehow relevant to the situation. The more successes gleaned the more information is gained. A failure indicates a mental block while a botch means that some completely irrelevant thought has just implanted itself in the mages consciousness. The mage may spend days (and they should roleplay this) wondering how such a thought could be relevant - "Pink, fluffy bunnies... what do pink fluffy bunnies have to do Lord Greesham's murder...Hmm, maybe I'll check out the petting zoo..." [This rote does require a great deal of storyteller/player co-operation (Hah! Don't make me laugh!) It can been used to allow player knowledge to become character knowledge but any storyteller who wishes to allow this should place strict control on what is allowed. The thoughts should be as vague as possible and have some relevance to the mages background. For instance, the character above, who clearly reads a lot of Agatha Christie, or the Order of Hermes Mage who marvels at the way the numbers on the signpost beneath which the Nephandus has buried a talisman are of occult significance ("See, if you add those two together you get 13, and if you subtract that number you get 7. Hah, these Nephandi, predictable as ever...")]

THE EVER-FULL FOUNTAIN

Life 4, Matter 3, Prime 2

This rote manipulates the blood solute content of the target so that it influences the his/her health. The most common use for this rote is to increase the sodium/salt concentration in the patients blood plasma. Small changes like these are able to have huge knock-on effects on the target's health. Increased salt in the blood causes many problems to physiological function. The most prominent effect is that the target urinates a lot more and hence loses fluid from the blood. This causes low blood pressure which leads, in severe and acute cases, to shock and possible fatality. Death from hypernatraemia (high sodium blood content) is not unusual and so the rote could be coincidental if applied in the right situation. The name from this rote came from the Modern Verbena who are rather amused by the unfortunate victim's predicament. Other traditions have variably called it 'The Pissing Evil' (in reference to Sir Thomas Willis, an English physician, discussing Diabetes in the 17th Century) and 'Remote Manipulation of Natriatic Factors' (the Sons of the Ether if you hadn't already guessed.)

[The 4th rank of Life is required to effect another living human. Matter 3/Prime 2 is used to cause the appropriate solute to appear in the blood. An INT + MEDICINE roll should also be required in order to control the amounts in the blood. The more successes the closer the mage gets to being able to get the required effect. For instance, the mage may want to kill his victim in which case high successes means that he has succeeded in that, However, he may need to keep his victim alive in which case a successful roll is needed to get the right level of solute which will inconvenience but not kill. The storyteller should also consider the time-scale involved. Death within a short time of being exposed to the rote should be easier, as the body has few short term defences against hypernatraemia, but is more likely to be suspicious to investigating police and/or doctors. Long term (chronic) exposure to the rote should be more difficult (add 2 or even 3 to the difficulty of the medicine roll) due to the natural defenses but less suspicious.

[Calculate actual damage from the Life damage chart but describe the effects as internal problems rather than wounds. For instance, 1-2 health levels of damage should mean that the target is inconvenienced by the need to constantly go to the toilet and drink lots of fluids. 3+ health levels means that the victim is in a state of shock (with the attendant symptoms which should get worse the more damage is done) An incapacitated or dead result indicates irreversible shock and the victim will require a transfusion to prevent death. Other chemicals may enter the blood via this route. For instance, the Cult of Ecstasy use it to avoid all those problems with needles and syringes which often occur with drug use. The effects of such things entering the mages system is up to the storyteller. The mage may also use it to remove chemicals from the blood - poisons, drugs, even essential chemicals such as haemoglobin. One final note for the storyteller. The effects of this rote are quite good as paradox flaws as long as they are not fatal.]

ZEN NAVIGATION

Correspondence 2, Entropy 2, Mind 1, Time 2

Cult of Ecstacy

This rote was designed by the Cult of Ectasy as a joking way of utilising Chaos theory. The cultist usually uses it when (s)he has not got access to a map, when (s)he wants to go somewhere in a hurry or just to upset and frighten sleepers (and other mages) who (s)he happens to be sharing a car with.

The rote involves simpily picking out a car or other vehicle from the many passing by and setting out to follow it to its intended destination. The mage can select the car using a variety of criteria including its colour, shape, year - whatever takes the mages fancy at the time. It is, however, reccomended that the car be travelling in at least something resembling the right direction to start with if the effect is to be considered coincidental. With luck (sorry, with a willing avatar) the car the mage follows is just happening to be going somewhere near to the place where the mage wants to go. This rote can be quite disconcerting for passengers, especially if the cultist still requires a focus for some of the spheres. This can mean that the mage may need to employ narcotics or other illegal drugs while driving (God knows what (s)he will need to if her/his vice is playing the guitar or sex.) However, to offset the effects of this a Mind/Life effect can be instigated to keep the mage sober.

[The mage uses the sphere of Entropy to pick out a 'likely' vehicle based upon some criteria. For instance, it could be decided that the mage likes the colour red and would thus always follow red cars. More coincidental choices could come from reading the license plate -"It says California on the license so I assumed that it was going there..." or from following trucks and vans with company names on them. The number 29 bus to the area the mage wants to visit could also just happen to be passing at the time. Once the vehicle has been selected the mage locks onto it and follows it using Time and Correspondence to see where it is going and memorises the route using the sphere of Mind. Storytellers may well decide to enforce a roll of PER +Intuition (Diff 6) to see how well the mage understands the information.]

PULL OVER

Mind 2, Forces 4, Prime 2.

New World Order

This rote is often used by the New World Order to prevent the enemies of the pogrom from escaping. It is derived from the fact that most NWO operatives pose as official agents of some wordly power (i.e as government agents or Police Officers.) It is thus easy for them to set up this rote as a coincidence. The effect involves causing a moving vehicle to slow down and stop. This is achieved by two methods. The first is the manipulation of the driver's mind - causing him/her to believe that it would be a good idea to stop. The second, which is sometimes included as a precaution against the first method not working, involves manipulating kinetic forces so that the car can no longer move. A coincidental effect is easily maintained if the NWO mage is acting as a police officer as passers-by (and the 'paradox police') simpily see an obvious law-breaker being pulled over by the police. It is very easy for a good NWO operative to dream up a charge to bring against an enemy of the pogrom.

[Mind 2 is first employed to cause the driver of the car to believe that he should slow down and stop. This is often reinforced by the presence of an obvious police presence as the agent masquerades as an official officer of the law. For those victims who are reluctant to stop the Forces 4, Prime 2 effect is activated in order to create an opposing force to the kinetic energy powering the vehicle - the vehicle is thus forced to a stop whether the occupants want it to or not...]

THE V.A. DEW RUSH

Mind 1, Time 3, Life 1

One night, CrackerJack, the not so famous VA, needed to cram for a college semester and program two programs for his sleeper friends. Faced with the dilemma of doing this in under three hours he created this rote which has now become more popular at the college scene. All the user does is drink 5 or 6 carbonated beverages (of any type) and then performs this rote. It speeds up the total time the user has to work with as well as allowing him to concentrate on more than one task.

[Basically this rote combines the effects of the Multitasking of Mind 1 and the Accelerate Time of Time 3. The Life is needed to tie into the coincidental effect.]

MATTER DISCONGLOMERATION & TRANSFERENCE

Matter 4, Forces 2, Correspondence 2

Sons of Ether

Faced with the dilemma of shipping vital and explosive equipment to a new laboratory Holos Erasmus invented this rote to deal with the problem. This takes any form of matter and turns it into raw energy which can be sent anywhere over conventional electric lines and/or phone lines and reconstituted.

[For the 1st pt made by on the skill roll the mage is able to move 10 lbs. This increases exponentially i.e. 2pts=100lbs 3=1000lbs 4=10000lbs.]

DIGITISE SIDEWAYS

Spirit 1, Correspondence 3

Virtual Adepts

This rote was first used by Infinity, a.k.a. Juliana of the Virtual Adepts. By allowing a friend to look to see what she was seeing, in this case the umbra this friend (Tawnos now called Rufus) was able to step sideways using correspondence. At a later date Juliana tried this herself. Interesting side effects noted were that you tended to look as if you were a computer graphic, and that pattern spiders and other creatures of the Weaver tended to ignore you.

[The rote uses spirit sight to see into the umbra, in this use of spirit sight the gauntlet must be broken. Once a clear connection is made, correspondence is then used to shift to where you're looking at. I know that the book of Madness says that Spirit travel can't be accomplished with correspondence, but it's a good rote.]

FIRING SQUAD

Correspondence 4 Mind 1

Virtual Adept

Dominic Clyborn, a one time Virtual Adept now turned Nephandi, was pressed into a rock and a hard place situation. Confronted by a Hit Mark, on his own, all alone, had only a Sawed Off Shotgun in one hand, and an Uzi on the other. Thinking quickly, he applied his knowledge of Co-Location with his Empowering Mind, and created 4 different copies of himself, using his mind to enable his hands to work independently, and fired at the Hit Mark, hitting it from 4 different angles at once, causing the Hit Mark to be stricken with the fire from a Full Auto Uzi and a Shotgun.

[Using Mind 1, the mage rids himself of using penalties from using his non-usual hand. With Correspondence 4, he then co-locates to as many positions as possible, and fires, splitting his dice pool evenly between the guns in each hand, hitting his opponent from differing locations at once. Damage is rolled as normal for each gun, and then multiplied by as many different locations at the mage has attained. Example: Bob rolls a 5, a 7,a 7, and an 8 on his roll. He co-locates to 3 different places, making 4 copies of himself. He splits his dice pool of 7 between his hands, 4 in one, 3 in the other. Both guns are at difficulty six, and he rolls 6, 6, 7, 8, and 4, 6, 7 on the firing attack, then rolls damage, and multiplies it by 4 (The number of total copies). Bloody, very bloody.]

THE END (Until version 2)

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