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MNEMOSYNIS

 

Mnemosynis can either be a powerful cathartic tool or the most inhumanly potent source of pain imaginable for a wraith. Students of this Arcanos learn the arts of tracing memories, and, should the individual worker reach more difficult levels of achievement, of bringing those memories into the present. Obviously Mnemosynis is a powerful tool for obtaining information or ascertaining guilt, and it was a widely held belief that the Mnemoi were incapable of pulling anything save the absolute truth from the psyches of those they work with. This, unfortunately, was not the case. 

An early synthesis of the arts of Puppetry and Castigate, Mnemosynis also focused on the control of others. Mnemoi are workers with the stuff of remembrance and the patterns of thought, and only the most skilled have the ability to shape it, rather than merely read or recall it. However, those with the talents to perceive memory as physical stuff may shape it to their satisfaction, thus in essence modifying or creating memories. Those watching the Mnemoi do not see this reshaping of the material of the memory as anything beyond the usual visual effects associated with the Arcanos. 

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SPECIAL RULES

• Unless otherwise specified, the difficulty of any Mnemosynis art that the Mnemos uses on himself is always 12+.

• Any art that targets another character requires touch.

• Any Mnemosynis art that can target another character can reach across the Shroud.

• The difficulty is always 12+ (self)

• Or a contested composure + resolve roll vs others, regardless of shroud rating. 

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MNEMOSYNIS COMMON

 

◉  KEYS TO THE MEMORY PALACE (COMMON)  
Mnemosynis’ foundational lessons give the wraith conscious control of his own memories. By visualizing a metaphoric structure, whether it’s a library or a relational database, the Mnemos organizes his mind. This enables him to recall even the most trivial details that evaded his conscious notice at the time he formed the memory.

SYSTEM:
FREE ACTION :When the Mnemos tries to recall the details of anything he previously experienced or witnessed.

ROLL:  INTELLIGENCE + MNEMOSYNIS RANK

DIFFICULTY: 12+

SUCCESSES:
Each success adds +1 success to any -failed- perception based rolls (For spotting details) the wraith made in the previous scene. While the wraith may have -initially- failed a perception roll during that scene , he can -view- the event as if he -had- succeeded. Providing a second chance to gather information as he relives the event.

This art only provides information that was within the Mnemos’ perceptions at the time, though this may include any other perception-altering arts he was using or subject to.

THIS IS NOT A REROLL. This ability cannot be used in the -current- scene. Communication is key, as you will need to ask storytellers or scene participants if you memories give you any additional details, your character missed at the time.

When communicating do be sure to copy and paste the power information as well as evidence of your results. This is to make sure they understand your wraith is searching their memories, rather than a player just casually inquiring.

 

PASSIVE BENEFIT: As a side benefit, this art also enhances the integrity of the wraith’s memories. Any attempt to use Mnemosynis (or another memory-altering supernatural power) on him allows him to add his Mnemosynis dots to his composure + resolve.

As well as this "Passive Memory Altering" powers such as a Mages ARCANE CLOAKING have zero effect on a Mnemoi at all.

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◉◉ FURTHER REFLECTION (COMMON)  
Developed as a teaching tool, this art became essential to the Mnemoi’s historical work and later ensured the Guild’s continuity even as Stygia purged its leaders. With Further Reflection, the Mnemos can project his memories (or another being’s memories that he’s made his own) to someone else’s mind. Depending on the memories being projected and the force with which the Mnemos applies them, this can effect knowledge transfer, or soothe or exacerbate existing emotional turmoil.

SYSTEM:

NORMAL ACTION: Must touch target.

SPEND: 2 PATHOS

ROLL: CHARISMA + MNEMOSYNIS RANK vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE
SUCCESSS:

The target experiences a sensory and emotional montage of the projected memories as she internalizes them. It’s readily apparent to her that they aren’t her own memories (unless the Mnemos is actually playing back the subject’s own memories that he previously captured with another art), but her mind integrates them to the same extent that it stores her own normal experiences.

 

If the Mnemos uses this art to heal painful memories, the subject’s Shadow loses 1 Angst per success.
Conversely, if the Mnemos uses Further Reflection to inflict emotional trauma, the target’s Shadow and the Mnemos’ own Shadow each gain 1 Angst per 2 successes, rounded up.

 

• At Mnemosynis ◉◉◉◉, the Mnemos can use a single application of this art to transfer knowledge — information only, (Neither heal or harm) — to a number of voluntary subjects equal to his Combined Composure + Resolve.

• At Mnemosynis ◉◉◉◉◉, this limit doubles. However, he still can’t heal or harm more than one subject at a time.

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◉◉◉ OPEN BOOK  (COMMON)  
Open Book triggers a subject’s recall of a specific event, allowing the Mnemos to experience and remember it for himself. To use this art, the Mnemos must know precisely what memory he wants to extract: “where you went last Thursday night” or “the last time you spoke to your friend Aristophanes.” Searching for the subject’s memory of “the time you dumped Chretien into the Nihil” works only if the Mnemos knows for a fact that the subject did, in fact, pitch someone named Chretien down a hole in the fabric of reality. If the subject doesn’t actually possess the memory in question, Open Book provides only a headache.
SYSTEM:

NORMAL ACTION: Target must be touched.

SPEND:  The amount of Pathos determined by the memory’s age. If the wraith has insufficient Pathos, the roll’s difficulty increases by 1 per point of shortfall.
1 hour 0 PATHOS
1 day 1 PATHOS
1 week 2 PATHOS
1 month 3 PATHOS
1 year 4 PATHOS
1 decade 5 PATHOS
1 century 6 PATHOS

ROLL:  INTELLIGENCE + MNEMOSYNIS RANK vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE  (+1 per missing pathos)

SUCCESSES

• With success, the character experiences the memory in question as it plays out in real time. His senses in this experience are limited to the subject’s senses at the time the memory was made.

• While the memory plays out, the Mnemos is unaware of anything occurring around him (except if he suffers injury) He may end playback at anytime.

• Once the Mnemos has experienced the memory in full, he may subsequently recall it (through normal recollection or the use of other Mnemosynis arts) as if he were the original
  experiencer.

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◉◉◉◉ PHANTOM PAIN (COMMON)  
The Mnemos can exploit the links between another wraith’s memories of her physical form and the reflections of those memories in her Corpus. This offensive (in more than one sense) art projects memories of injury into a target’s mind, opening psychosomatic wounds as the victim’s Corpus reacts to the assault.

SYSTEM:

NORMAL ACTION

SPEND 3 PATHOS

GAIN: 1 ANGST   (3 ANGST in total if using Aggravated damage)

ROLL: CHARISMA + MNEMOSYNIS RANK vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE

SUCCCESS:

Each success causes 1 point of LETHAL damage to the opposing Wraith and on 5 successes the target loses her next turn as sensory explosion of someone else's disfigurement and agony detonates in her head.

IF the Mnemoi wishes, they can call their shadow to assist in this action, in which case the attack does AGGRAVATED damage.

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◉◉◉◉◉ MUSE OF LIES (COMMON)  
The most feared Mnemosynis art allows the Mnemos to craft and implant memories. The complexity and extent of these falsehoods is limited only by the Mnemos’ imagination and attention to detail. Simple manipulations have covered up innumerable heinous acts, while complex constructs have sent
kingdoms to war over decades of imagined offenses. Muse of Lies is the centrepiece of the Hierarchy’s anti-Mnemoi paranoia: a power that can make anyone remember anything.

SYSTEM: CRAFT MEMORY

EXTENDED ACTION: The wraith must slumber for ONE TURN  per YEAR (minimum 5 TURNS) of False Memory span. During this time, the wraith gains none of the normal benefits of Slumber; rather, he inhabits a dream state in which he laboriously builds the desired memories from a first-person perspective.

SPEND: 2 PATHOS

ROLL:    INTELLIGENCE + MNEMOSYNIS RANK

DIFFICULTY: 12 +

SUCCESSES: 

The number of successes determine the accuracy and clarity of the constructed memories.

• One - Two successes renders a dreamlike, abstract vision

• Three -Four successes yield the desired broad strokes

• Five successes create a perfect actualization of the Mnemos’ intent.

Once the wraith has crafted the false memory, he assimilates it into his consciousness, where it functions as any other natural memory (including the ability to apply other Mnemosynis arts to it). However, it is compartmentalized, and the wraith remains aware of its falsehood.

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SYSTEM: IMPLANT CRAFTED MEMORY

EXTENDED ACTION: implant the crafted memory in himself or another (1 turn per year of memory span implanted, minimum 5 turns)

SPEND:1 PATHOS

GAIN: 3 ANGST

ROLL:  CHARISIMA + MNEMOSYNIS RANK  vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE 

OR DIFFICULTY 12+ (using on self)

SUCCESS:

• Just one success is required to successfully implant the crafted memory

• During the implanted period both the Mnemos and his target are locked in a fugue state. Any damage either party suffers during this time breaks the trance and causes this application of the art to fail.

• If the time passes without interruption, the memory is implanted.

• The subject’s mind erases or rationalizes any conflicting memories, accepting the implanted memory as something she actually experienced.

• If there is a glaring error, or if an intimately trusted individual calls the memory into question, the subject of implanted crafted memory may roll Composure +Resolve difficulty 16+). With success, she realizes her memories have been altered, though she isn’t automatically aware of the source.

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MNEMOSYNIS INITIATE

RESTRICTED TO

◉ MNEMOI ◉ PARDONERS ◉ HAUNTERS ◉

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◉ MEMORY VAULT (INITIATE)  
This complement to Keys to the Memory Palace impairs recall rather than augmenting it. Its basic technique suppresses one of the Mnemos’ memories, either temporarily or permanently. This is painless and establishes its own internal consistency, altering other memories that would otherwise point up the erased one’s absence. With this art, the wraith can numb the pain of an unpleasant experience, augment a deception with artificial ignorance, or render interrogation fruitless for his captors.

SYSTEM:
FREE ACTION:

SPEND: 1 PATHOS

ROLL:     INTELLIGENCE + MNEMOSYNIS RANK

DIFFICULTY 12+

SUCCESS:

With success, the offending memory is gone permanently.

At Mnemosynis ◉◉, the wraith may set a trigger for restoring the memory: a code phrase, a location, a time, another character, a specific event. The memory remains suppressed and inaccessible until the Mnemos encounters the trigger, at which point the memory returns.

At Mnemosynis ◉◉◉, the wraith may cauterize the memory removal. The memory can never be restored, even with the most powerful of Mnemosynis arts.
Memory Vault can’t remove memories of Passions or Fetters, nor can it remove any dots of Attributes, Abilities, Backgrounds, or Arcanoi. However, it can suppress the wraith’s awareness that he has those capabilities.

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◉◉ WASHED IN THE LETHE (INITIATE)  

When a Mnemos’ very existence is illegal, it’s only wise to avoid notice. This art cloaks the wraith in anonymity, making it difficult for witnesses to recall or record specifics of the Mnemos’ identity or actions. They can clearly remember events and the Mnemos’ actions but the Mnemos himself remains a nameless, faceless figure, impossible to describe or remember.

SYSTEM:

FREE ACTION: This must be done upon entering a scene.

SPEND: 2 PATHOS

ROLL:    CHARISMA + MNEMOSYNIS RANK

DIFFICULTY: 12+

SUCCESSES:

Successes are used upon exiting a scene.

POST SCENE:

After the scene’s end, any observer who tries to connect the Mnemos’ appearance, name, or other distinguishing features to his actions during that scene must make a roll.

COMPOSURE + RESOLVE

DIFFICULTY:  10 + MNEMO's CHARISMA +  MNEMOSYNIS RANK

SUCCESSES:

If she beats the Mnemos’ successes rolled at scene entry she has normal recall; otherwise, she cannot identify the Mnemos as having been present in the events of the scene in question. 

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• Washed in the Lethe doesn’t remove any other memories of the Mnemos.

• If a witness already knew the character from previous acquaintance, she doesn’t forget him or any previous encounters. Nor does she forget that the Mnemos owns a relic Duesenberg. For that matter, she retains full knowledge of the fact that, in the last scene, someone burned down Legate Spinelli’s office (and Legate Spinelli) with barrow-flame and escaped in a relic Duesenberg. She just can’t remember that a particular Mnemos she knows was the arsonist in question, even though she clearly saw him do it. 

 

• The Mnemos can exempt a number of witnesses equal to his dots in Intelligence from the effects of this art. (must choose exemptions)

• In addition, any character who knows Keys to the Memory Palace is immune to Washed in the Lethe’s effects unless she consciously submits to it when the Mnemos invokes it.

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◉◉◉ TABULA RASA (INITIATE)  

The cornerstone of any Mnemos’ covert activities, Tabula Rasa extends Memory Vault’s lessons to other wraiths. This can be any specific recollection: memory of an act or a conversation, knowledge of a combat tactic, or the appearance or even existence of a suspected Mnemos.

SYSTEM:

NORMAL ACTION:

SPEND 2 PATHOS

ROLL: CHARISMA + MNEMOSYNSIS RANK vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE

SUCCESS:

Each successes suppresses the target memory for 1 hour.

At Mnemosynis ◉◉◉◉ the target memory "Can" be removed permanently (with OOC consent) 

At Mnemosynis ◉◉◉◉◉, the Mnemos can remove a memory from a target’s Psyche while leaving it accessible to her Shadow, or vice versa.

ANGST GAIN:

◉◉◉      If used without IC consent the Mnemoi gains 1 Angst

◉◉◉◉   If used without IC consent the Mnemoi gains 2 Angst

◉◉◉◉◉ If used at all the Mnemoi gains 2 Angst.

 

As with Memory Vault, Tabula Rasa can’t remove memories of Passions or Fetters, nor can it remove any dots of other Traits. If the Mnemos removes knowledge that could provoke an existential threat (for example, making a vampire forget her vulnerability to sunlight), the memory returns in full as
soon as the victim sustains any injury or other trauma related to that injury.

 

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◉◉◉◉ SOULKEEPER (INITIATE)  

While lesser arts focus on specific memories, Soulkeeper enables the Mnemos to absorb whole periods of another being’s existence. These stored memories reside within the Mnemos’ own subconscious, where he can access them as if they were his own.

SYSTEM: 

NORMAL ACTION The wraith declares which memories he wants to store — up to a year’s worth per application of this art.

SPEND: 3 PATHOS

GAIN:   1 ANGST if subject is unwilling.

ROLL:    INTELLIGENCE + MNEMOSYNIS RANK vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE 

SUCCESS: 

One success, the memories are hazy and dreamlike, bereft of specific details.

Two successes provide the specifics of emotionally significant events.

Three - Four successes grant clarity equal to that of the Mnemos’ own experiences.

Five or more successes, the memories are transferred in exacting detail with perfect recall. A character can absorb a total length of outside memories up to one year per dot of combined Composure + Resolve

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◉◉◉◉◉ GRAY MAN (INITIATE)  

This art underpins the legends of Mnemoi assaults on victims’ very identities. It’s the ultimate disappearing act, erasing a target from the collective memory of everyone who knew him. Written history, photographs, and similar records remain, but the Quick and the dead alike lose all personal recollection of him. Only this art’s scarcity keeps it from surmounting Muse of Lies in reputation. As is only to be expected of a Mnemoi secret, Gray Man has more than one face. The art is equally efficacious when a Mnemos applies it to himself. It’s the ultimate in fugitive protection, providing near-perfect anonymity.

SYSTEM:

• The Mnemos can’t use this art on a wraith without Fetters.

• Against a non-wraith target, he must first acquire that character as a Fetter, (LIFEWEB) then Slumber within her for the requisite time.

NORMAL ACTION : The Mnemos spends one night Slumbering within the target’s Fetter

(Will have to Attune the fetter via INHABIT or PUPPETRY before he can slumber in it!) 

SPEND: ALL CURRENT PATHOS

GAIN:   5 ANGST + 1 ANGST PER BACKGROUND DOT REMOVED.

ROLL:  CHARISMA + MNEMOSYNIS RANK  vs COMPOSURE + RESOLVE

SUCCESS:
If the Mnemos succeeds, all living memory of the target vanishes, save for the Mnemos and the victim herself. Anyone examining a record of her existence believes her to be legendary, apocryphal, wholly fictitious, dead, destroyed, Transcended, or otherwise no longer among the Quick or the Restless.

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Any memories other beings form of her from this point forward are connected to whatever new identity she manages to scrape together.

Observers who have seen her image may comment on her uncanny resemblance to her former identity but won’t connect the two unless she makes it painfully obvious. Even then, realization is slow and nigh-impossible to share (“Pshaw. Everyone knows she disappeared in the Tempest a long time  ago.”).

Mechanically, the victim loses all dots in Legacy, Memoriam, fame, resources, In their place, she gains the XP cost of these backgrounds back.

She may spend this experience to purchase replacements for these Backgrounds as events during play provide the opportunity for the character to solidify her new identity or scrape together fragments of her old one.

If the Mnemos uses this art on himself, he spends one month slumbering within one of his own Fetters. The roll is made at difficulty 12+ and his Shadow gains no Angst. All other effects are as described above.

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OOC NOTES:

This ability takes a lot of work to perform, the necessary "LIFEWEB" Arcanos are required to make non wraith fetters before this can be used.

PUPPETRY or INHABIT are required to use another wraiths fetter.

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Basically the -victim- of this art should take on a new name but keep their current sheet, (minus backgrounds)

Do note this change in your titler that -nobody- remembers you from their past encounters. Even if you were married to a person, memories of that marriage in your significant others mind is lost. Vacation photo's, Videos, of time together comes with a story of the -end- of that marriage "You're not him, he left me" , "You're not him, he died and left me with this two kids" , All actual memories of your character are -erased- and replaced with vagueness.

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