From: "Peter Sears" <kinesys@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Phurba
To: mage-l@oracle.wizards.com
Cc: nv91-asa@nada.kth.se, smstro1@pop.uky.edu
Date: Thu, 15 Jan 1998 23:23:01 PST
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The Phurba  
Arete 5 Quintessence 30 Background cost N/A(no way Jose)
 Conceal (j),  Damage Str+3(agg)  Diff 5,  

Originally designed as a weapon of light, the secrets for making this 
powerful fetish have been lost to the modern world. They appear to be 
11-13” long and have a heavy triangular blade. the powerful ones are of 
meteoric iron. the Pommel of the blade has two grim visaged demonic 
faces back to back.

History: Phurba Daggers are an element of Tibetan magickal practice and 
as such served the same purpose as a western Athame. These were often 
made of wood and were simple foci. These daggers also were traditionally 
for the use of hunting demons. Certain demons however, are immune to 
attack from any earthly weapon. Thus when a meteor fell out of the sky, 
certain Lamas,Tulkus and Rinpoche would scramble to capture it and then 
use it’s metal for the production of these Phurbas. There was only one 
problem...
The demons that were destroyed by these weapons managed to taint them 
with their dying curses. The Phurbas became fetishes after a fashion and 
developed powerful wills of their own. 
   They were powerful weapons,Tibetan black magicians coveted them, and 
even the followers of the light had difficulty restraining them.You can 
see how that might be a difficulty. Tibetan Magicians have warred for 
ages for control of these fetishes. Those that serve the darkness want 
them for their fell power and the fact that they strike abject terror 
into all spirits. Phurba Cults have sprung up which revere these darkly 
powerful fetishes as incarnate gods(like a household god of some sort.)
     Those who serve the light often capture these weapons to keep them 
out of the wrong hands and to use as a teaching tool of sorts.Perhaps as 
a reminder against personal hubris too. Many construct stands or other 
containment that place the demon within a deep slumber. At times they 
are taken out and used against demons or entrusted to those who 
will.(these people had better be able prove their worthiness.)

Powers: The Phurba has many abilities, 
-It causes aggravated damage and double damage to spirits. (spirit 2)
-It’s capable of moving under it’s own power by flying about and is 
quite fast and capable of lifting a man off the ground.(when attempting 
to resist the phurba by main strength, the Phurba has a strength of 4. 
unless Time magick or some other cheat is used, you will not be able to 
outrun it. )(forces3)
- The faces on either side of the pommel can animate and bite anyone 
gripping the handle.(this causes completely negligible damage but 
requires a Sta roll against a diff of 8 to hang on to it.
-It can unerringly track any being whose blood it has already 
tasted(corr2,life 1)
-anyone killed by a phurba,has his psychic linkages severed and is 
thrust into oblivion.
Victims of the Phurba never return as ghosts.
(no one is sure whether this happens to awakened beings or not. at very 
least they’ll have to deal with a harrowing.) This also has the strange 
effect of completely erasing the cause of death to any form of scrying 
except Time magick. Prime,Spirit and Mind Magick will yield nothing in 
term of sensory impressions and even Necromancy will draw a blank. (this 
is not a true power of the Dagger.it’s more of a strange side effect.)
Any euthanatos using this dagger should keep a close eye on his Jhor 
taint.
-it should also be noted that since the phurba’s blade is 
triangular,wounds that are caused by it will not close by 
themselves.(those wounded will continue to lose blood until they receive 
medical attention or life magick.) this causes the victim to lose 1 
health level every 4 turns and to make a stamina check to see if you 
pass out.
(thankfully this roll can only be failed but not botched.)
-Lastly, Phurba are immune to destruction with Entropy,Matter or Forces 
magick.

Mastering the Phurba:
The only thing that makes these powerful weapons hard to deal with is 
the fact that they must be mastered. Each time a phurba is drawn, the 
user must make 3 successes on a willpower roll against a 7. Only by 
attuning one self to the Phurba may this difficulty be sidestepped. This 
is a long arduous process that requires the Mage collect 30 successes on 
willpower rolls. each roll requires the expenditure of 1 point so you 
see that mastering the Phurba will take a long time.(especially if you 
ever botch, then look out. because the blade will be uncontrolled. Once 
each month the mage using the phurba must expend a point of willpower at 
each new moon or his control will begin to slip. Once a Mage has attuned 
himself to a Phurba he may use it as a unique foci for
forces and entropy magick.

Personality: Phurba dagger seem to exhibit a will of their own.however 
they do not have any of the intellect to speak of. they only possess a 
low animal cunning that want to kill and kill again.(unless restrained) 
if allowed to run wild, the phurba will slay anyone near it and keep 
slaying people until stopped. one would think that evil mages would have 
a leg up on taming these tools, but these Daggers are Anti-life and will 
kill anything.


Sources:
The Shadow
    Most of the idea comes from here of course.It’s an Akashic 
chronicle..you did know that right? ( a collective moan goes up from the 
crowd as the WOD media quiz rears it’s ugly head...)

The Golden Child
   An amusing and interesting movie with magely overtones which features 
a Phurba which may not have been cursed. Also the hoops that the 
Tibetans put Chandler Jarrel through in order to gain the sacred knife 
are extremely funny. Don’t expect one of Eddie murphy’s screwball 
comedies here this has some serious moments and interesting bits about 
Tibetan magick.

Dagger Magic
  By Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris. Cracking good book in a 
series about a fella named Sir Adam Sinclair. This fella, is a Master of 
the Hunt(a Celtic based occult brotherhood that stands against evil 
occult threats. ) most of it’s members are psychic or magical 
practitioner of some sort or other. it’s a neat series mainly because 
the authors really do their homework.
   This particular book, involves a Phurba cult scrambling to regain a 
lost treasure of their order . filled me in on the background of Tibetan 
magic in general and the Phurba in particular.

This Tulku's wisdom has been broughtr to you by....

Kinesys@hotmail.com (Home of Reverend X.S. Kinesys)
"In the hands of some people, Occam's Razor becomes Occam's
Chainsaw."


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