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 THE ORDER OF HERMES

(TRADITIONS)

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Just as Solomon bound spirits to his bidding, as Merlin raised a stable boy to kingship, as John Dee named Elizabeth’s realm an Empire and then anchored it in time and space at Greenwich, so too do the Houses of Hermes turn the hidden wheels of the world. Their Arts are the most refined, their knowledge the most exhaustive, their Wills the most dedicated to excellence. In many minds (most especially their own), the Order of Hermes defines the word mage. As the largest and most organized Tradition, the Order of Hermes has influenced – they would say “defined” – the Western experience of magick. Hermetics command a huge range of secrets and wards. Their wealth is vast, their Wonders potent, their libraries breathtaking. The Order boasts the greatest number of Chantries, Masters, and Archmages. Its achievements include the first codification of magickal study, the formulation of the Spheres, and, indeed, the formation of the Traditions themselves. Still, the Order has faced setbacks and catastrophes: the loss of both its greatest Chantry, Doissetep, and its leading Master, Porthos Fitz-Empress; the extermination (some say “selfdestruction”) of its most powerful luminaries; the devastation of priceless archives. Yet the reaction from other Traditions appears to be a collective sigh of relief. Why? Because Hermetic wizards are, to a one (and to a fault), meticulous, pedantic, majestic, and haughty. The Preface to
the venerable Hornbook – a thick volume presented to each new apprentice – captures this attitude in one paragraph: “What mage in any rival Tradition, of whatever skill, can boast the comprehensive knowledge of our least Adept? What other mage can offer any shred of theory to support his magick? The aboriginal shaman with his drums and rattle gives over his body to a spirit he knows not. The cleric with his song begs like a child for the favor of deities. The Ecstatic with his vice burns like a meteor and vanishes, and the witch with her blood-rites aspires only to procreate. Even the Akashic with his meditation and exercise seeks passive contentment in false belief. Meanwhile, the Hermetic with firm Will commands, ‘Do!’ And it is done.” This bombast reveals the Order’s obnoxious confidence; the average Hermetic can back it up, too. Among the Traditions, only the Verbena and Dreamspeakers have as violent a history with the hated Technocracy. It’s no accident that the Craftmasons (themselves formed from a renegade Hermetic sect) chose to initiate hostilities by blowing up one Hermetic citadel and to stage the Convention of the White Tower in another. Nor is it an accident that Master Baldric LaSalle chose to host the Mistridge Tribunal – the first step toward the Grand Convocation – in the ruins of that first attack. An Ecstatic might have provided the inspiration, and the Verbena might have secured new allies, but the Order of Hermes forged the foundation upon which the Traditions have been built.Even rival Traditions accept the Order’s vast and spectacular history. In ancient Egypt, two auspicious precursors invented the alphabet. Archmagus Solomon bound many spirits that still serve the Order today. Pythagoras founded the cult of Hermes in Greece. The Corpus Hermeticum, attributed to Hermes Trismegistus (“Thrice-Great Hermes”), forms the basis of the modern Tradition. Even Sleepers recall a few Hermetics from those storied times: Merlin. Paracelsus. SaintGermain. Cagliostro. From Gandalf to Crowley to Potter, the popular acceptance of magick has arisen from Hermetic archetypes. In the new millennium, the group enjoys more popular acceptance than ever before. The Masses might not pursue the Hermetic Arts, but in a subconscious sort of belief, they accept the Order’s ways as the face of Western wizardry. And so, though their various setbacks have cost the Order dearly, Hermetic mages greet this age with renewed vitality. The loss of the Archmages, the destruction of Doissetep, the war against vampires, the purge of corrupt House Janissary… they’re all like the collapsing Tarot Tower: the shattering of bondage that compels transformation. This age’s Hermetics are rolling up their sleeves and remaking the Order from its foundations while keeping those foundations – confidence, knowledge, excellence, and Will – intact. Guided by a vision of the City of Pymander – the ideal of global Ascension under Mystic Will – Hermetics remain committed to perfection. Given their high purpose, they can accept no less.

NOTE: OCCULT 4 is required for ORDER OF HERMES mages to Know of their History with the TREMERE.

Likewise TREMERE need an OCCULT 4 rank to know of their ORDER OF HERMES origins.

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Organization:

The Order is rigidly hierarchical, disciplinarian, and regulated. The Code of Hermes and its Peripheral Corrigenda dictate behavior, protocol, rules for certámen challenges, and the proper inscriptions for Chantry doorways. Thirteen Houses still exist as factions in the Order’s endless, brutal infighting. Some Houses predate the Norman Conquest (Bonisagus, Flambeau, Quaesitor, Tytalus, Verditius, and the catch-all Ex Miscellanea); others are newer, even quite recent (Fortunae, Hong Lei, Ngoma, Shaea, Skopos, Solificati, and Xaos).

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Initiation:

Recruited from academia, esoteric religious orders, science, or the military, a student must survive a punishing apprenticeship under an unforgiving mentor (a mater or pater). The Order recognizes nine Degrees of mystic advancement: Neophyte, Zelator, Practicus, Initiate, Initiate Exemptus, Adept, Adept Major, Magister Scholae, and Magister Mundi. The training aims to provoke, by the conclusion of the Third Degree, a gradual Awakening more akin to a process than to a single jolting moment.

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Affinity Sphere:

Forces provides the core of Hermetic training. Certain Houses favor Life, Matter, Mind, and Spirit as secondary pursuits, but Forces is always essential.

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Focus:

A Hermetic mage commands nothing less than the keys to the universe. And so, these consummate scholars master ancient and arcane rituals through constant study and intense practice. Tapping elemental currents through incantations, signs, seals, paraphernalia, and secret languages, the Hermetics are – by necessity – secretive and suspicious. They command tremendous power, after all, and their rivals lurk everywhere. Alchemy, dominion, and High Ritual form core practices within the Order’s ranks. No Hermetic mage lacks such training. Certain Hermetics add chaos magick, the Art of Desire, hypertech, craftwork, weird science, yoga, and occasional malficia to that core, pursuing such paradigms as A Mechanistic Cosmos, Divine Order and Earthly Chaos, Might is Right, Tech Holds All Answers and, naturally, Bring Back the Golden Age.

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Stereotypes

Fellow Traditions: Despite venerable practices and occasional insights, our allies lack the discipline to achieve lasting power or control. Even so, they have stood with us for centuries, so they remain worthy companions.

The Technocracy: In the end, only one of us will survive.

The Disparates: Talented amateurs, lost to their own separation.

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ROTES

Do Remember allocation of successes and success limitations still applies to rotes

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BETRAYAL OF THE BURNING ARROW

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉

CORRESPONDENCE  ◉, FORCES ◉◉◉

The Technocracy's supremacy on the physical battles of the Ascension War is due to one thing alone: guns. Even the most powerful Master can be laid low by a well-placed bullet. The Order has never been inclined to take such punishment lying down, but most Technocracy agents are intelligent enough to ward their guns against mystic tampering. Thus, some of House Flambeau's more devious thinkers have hatched the Betrayal of the Burning Arrow, which transforms the bullet in a weapon's chamber into a deathtrap. Breaking a glass or crystal arrowhead inscribed with the Enochian glyph for the number eight (an ill-omened number,) the mage uses basic Correspondence sensing to latch onto the bullet currently in the chamber of a gun in his line of sight. Forces arts transform any kinetic energy about to act on that bullet into heat, generally causing the weapon to erupt into flame when the trigger is pulled and often causing any other bullets left in the gun to explode, detonating the weapon in its wielder's hand.

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SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉   (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

Betrayal of the Burning Arrow inflicts damage as a normal Forces attack and, in the process, destroys the gun used to fire the targeted bullet. A Storyteller might rule, however, that a weapon on its last shot inflicts less damage, while a machine gun with a full clip may inflict significantly more. This rote is usually coincidental.

 

CEASAR'S DUE

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉

CORRESPONDENCE  ◉◉◉, ENTROPY ◉◉ PRIME ◉◉

The mages of the Order of Hermes rank among the busiest and most pressed-for-time people in the world. Fewer than 50 percent of all Hermetics can even entertain the notion of holding a day job. How, then, do they pay for necessities like gas and electricity? Ceasar's Due, a relatively recent innovation from the great minds of House Fortunae, is certainly one solution to the problem.
The rote, most often focused through a circle of seven bank cards (which need not be the mage's, or even active,) scribed with Enochian sigils and arranged around a stack of the mage's monthly bills, creates an aetheric matrix with Prime arts, through which a purely conceptual force (electronic money) will move. Next, Entropy, through the principle of contagion (assisted in this by Correspondence,) sifts through bank records and ongoing fiscal calculations, "latching onto" tens of thousands of the fractions of a cent that are normally discarded by electronic transactions. Correspondence then shuffles all of this "phantom money" into the Prime Pattern within the circle, dispersing it from there to the institutions to which the mage owes money. As most Hermetics who use this rote see it, no one is hurt, nothing that actually exists is stolen and none of this would even be possible was the Technocracy not so sloppy in its application of basic mathematics.
Ceasar's Due may also be enacted, albeit much more crudely, through the use of Correspondence 3, Forces 3, Prime 2, by simply adding the new data (through the creation of the electric impulses that say the bills in question are paid) to the various computers that track the mage's accounts. This approach tends to leave a traceable trail back to the mage, though, and often leaves the same sorts of signs as simply hacking the systems which house the accounts would.

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SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉   (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

This rote pays the bills, plain and simple. Success results in the mage's heat and cable staying on for another month and her accounts remaining flush. One success may leave some bills a few dollars in arrears, while many successes may result in credit for a month or more. Some mages have modified the use of this rote to transfer money directly into a personal bank account, but this is a much riskier proposition (since the Correspondence facet of Ceasar's Due leaves a trail to follow) and its use for such base and avaricious ends is frowned upon by many Order mages. While the enacting of this effect may certainly look weird, it produces no effects that any Sleeper can register and so it is almost always coincidental.

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OCCLUDE THE SEAL OF POWER

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉◉

MATTER  ◉◉, MIND ◉◉ PRIME ◉◉◉◉

Mages of the Order of Hermes rank among those Awakened most likely to acquire potent and disconcerting forms of Resonance quickly. Naturally, this phenomenon can be detrimental to a Hermetic's ability to socially interact with Sleepers. The Order, however, derives a great deal of its strength from its connections in Sleeping society. To combat the difficulties posed by these two mutually exclusive circumstances, the astute wizards of House Bonisagus dedicated a bit of time and research to learning how to Occlude the Seal of Power.
To enact this rote, the mage chooses a receptacle for his Resonance (often the object will be a container of some sort, such as an urn or chalice.) This receptacle, whatever its nature, must be of the most precious materials obtainable: gold, ivory, rare woods or gemstones, for example. The mage then sits in a meditative posture, surrounded by four lit pieces of frankincense (four for the four elements, four directions, four archangels and four Avatar Essences,) and breathes deeply 10 times, each time exhaling onto (or, in the case of containers, into) the chosen object. With each exhaled breath, the mage gently whispers the Enochian name for each of the Ten Spheres (including Unity) in turn. When this is done, the mage invests the object with a point of Quintessence, enabling it to hold the psychic impression of his Resonance until the effect's duration expires or he again makes physical contact with the receptacle with the intention of reclaiming that Resonance.
This rote may be enacted in a much simpler form, using only Mind 2 to conceal the psychic aura of a mage's Resonance as regards other living creatures, but the mage's Sphere Effects will still carry a mystic impression that colors them, and by which he might be recognized. This same rote, with slightly different implementation and intent, can alter the Resonance of a source of most varieties of Tass (an effect called Sculpt the Fifth Essence.) Likewise, the mage can use Occlude the Seal of Power (upon himself only) to take on a temporarily different Resonance than he normally possesses.

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SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉ ◉  (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

This effect, in its primary form, negates the interaction of the mage's Resonance with the world in any metaphysical sense. With one success, this rote might not be fully successful (especially when used by mages with powerful Resonance of one sort or another,) allowing occasional "glimpses" of the mage's Resonance in his workings and when in proximity to others, while many successes make the mage seem as normal as any Sleeper (at least, until the vulgar effects start flying....) Since this effect actually smooths the Tapestry, it is nearly always coincidental.

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VULCAN'S HAMMER

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉◉

FORCES  ◉◉◉, LIFE ◉◉◉◉ MATTER  ◉◉◉ PRIME  ◉◉

There are times when subtlety is called for. Vulcan's Hammer is not a rote for those times. This enchantment transforms a mage into a living weapon of iron and flame. The effect is most often focused on a statuette of the mage in question, sculpted from iron-rich clay and hardened under intense heat. Over the course of working the clay, the mage scribes and then kneads her True Name into it 10 separate times, thus concealing the truth of her identity within it and making the statuette a conduit through which her own living pattern may be affected. (Understandable, an Order mage does well to carefully protect the focus for this effect, as it does contain information about her innermost being, through which all manner of deleterious magics might be worked against her.)
While in the (grossly vulgar) shape of Vulcan's Hammer, the average mage weighs in at just about a ton, and is wreathed in flames of up to 1000 degrees in temperature. Needless to say, there is not much that can stand before the assault, or even the close passing, of such a juggernaut (therefore, beware before using this rote on wooden floors, near gas stations or in a mine shaft, among many other places....)

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SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉ ◉◉  (however you may need other successes to allocate to duration as these successes are used for the form.)

Vulcan's Hammer grants the following

• +3 STRENGTH, -2 DEXTERITY  (to a minimum of 1,) +4 STAMINA.

• The mage automatically fails all Social Attribute rolls, except those involving intimidation, against any Sleeper who is not aware and accepting of the mage's Awakened nature. 

• The mage can deal aggravated damage with hand-to-hand attacks,

• treat aggravated damage suffered as lethal 

• inflict aggravated damage on any who come in physical contact with her.

• While in this shape, she is immune to phenomena that specifically target organic beings, is subject to phenomena that affect normal iron (save for Prime 4 Flames of Purification , as she is still a living thing) and is a walking Paradox magnet.

• Naturally, this effect is always vulgar.

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WILDFIRE

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉  Arete  ◉◉

FORCES  ◉◉, ENTROPY ◉◉

Another innovation from the militant willworkers of House Flambeau, Wildfire allows a mage to begin with a spark and quickly end up with a conflagration. Lighting a fire at the intersection of two interlocked pentacles, one of Mars and one of Pluto, the mage compels the flame to travel on the particular strands of fate that cause it to grow most quickly and efficiently: the wind is blowing in the right direction, a spark hops to the most flammable material at hand, a splash of water simply throws burning embers in every direction, etc.
For exceedingly powerful mages, the option exists of simply using Matter 5 (often focused through some manner of alchemically prepared oil or a pentacle of Jupiter) to increase the flammability of all materials in the vicinity to the point of explosive combustion to achieve this same effect. Those of less grandiose means can use similar foci to transform basic materials (such as tile floors, glass and stone,) using Matter 2, Forces 2, into more readily combustible substances whenever they are touched by flames.

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SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉  (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

Only one success is required to make this effect work, but large numbers of successes can cause even a lighter flame to result in a towering inferno within five or so turns (or fewer if one happens to be in a fuel depot, lumber yard or paper mill, for example.) In fact, this rote is occasionally so effective that it doesn't leave its caster enough time to escape. Ah, life as a Flambeau....
Unless enacted in a grandiose and attention-grabbing fashion, little about this rote immediately suggests supernatural tampering, making it usually coincidental.

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TIME LOCK

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉◉

TIME ◉◉◉◉, FORCES ◉◉ or FORCES ◉◉◉  optional PRIME ◉◉

A Hermetic Adept of Time can pre-set a force to be infused to to be removed from an area in advance.

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SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉ ◉/◉   (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

Forces 2 for simple forces, Forces 3 for more complex ones, and Prime 2 if it must be created.

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IGNIS

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉

FORCES ◉◉◉, PRIME ◉◉

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SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉  (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

An effect beloved of House Flambeau, Ignis conjures flames from nothing at the target.

LIGHTNING GATEWAY

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉

FORCES ◉◉◉, CORRESPONDENCE ◉◉ PRIME ◉◉

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉  (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

This rote is similar to Ignis, it conjures a Forces attack from nothing, but it also can ignore barriers, striking hidden targets.

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BALL OF ABYSMAL FLAMES "THE NUKE"

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉◉◉

FORCES ◉◉◉◉◉, PRIME  ◉◉◉◉ or  ◉◉◉◉◉ ,TIME ◉◉◉◉, MATTER ◉◉◉

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉ ◉◉◉◉/◉ (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

One of the most powerful combat rotes in the Hermetic arsenal, Ball of Abysmal Flames leeches Quintessence from the surrounding area and ignites it, fueling a flame that sucks in the air surrounding it and grows stronger until it explodes in a firestorm. Prime 5 allows it to draw fuel from living beings, not just inanimate objects as with Prime 4, Matter compresses it into a small ball of flames and Time releases that ball’s destructive capacity at a chosen time, hopefully allowing the Mage time to get to safety. It was not an exaggeration when certain modern Hermetics nicknamed this rote “The Nuke.”

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HERME'S BRAND

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉◉

ENTROPY  ◉, PRIME  ◉◉  ,TIME ◉◉◉◉, FORCES ◉◉◉

SYSTEM:

ROLL ARETE  +4

DIFFICULTY:

COINCIDENTAL     14+

VULGAR                15+

VULGAR WITNESS 16+

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉ ◉◉ (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

A Hermetic uses Entropy 1 and Time 4 to enchant their (or another’s) blood creating a hanging Prime 2/Forces 3 effect which takes place a fixed amount of time after the blood is ingested by a Vampire. Each blood point consumed from the target of this rote bursts into flame inside the Vampire for two health levels of aggravated damage, and if the Vampire survives, they lose a blood point for each point that exploded (and those are also lost).

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PHLOGISTON MANIPULATION

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉

FORCES ◉◉◉, LIFE  ◉◉◉ or MATTER  ◉◉◉ ,PRIME ◉◉

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉ ◉ (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

Though phlogiston has been discredited by mainstream scientists, Hermetics can manipulate it in the living (with Life) and in inanimate objects (with
Matter) to either ignite an object (extracting the phlogiston) or to restore something that has been burned (inserting new phlogiston).

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PHLOGISTON PHLUX

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉  Arete  ◉◉

MATTER  ◉◉ 

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉ (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

Ancient alchemy asserted that fire was the release of phlogiston from a substance. With this rote, a Mage can increase or decrease the amount in an object, which will cause it to burn longer or shorter.

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PARMA MAGICA

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉

PRIME ◉◉◉

It is not an exaggeration to call Parma Magica the greatest accomplishment of Bonisagus himself, nor to say that the rote is responsible for the creation of the Order of Hermes itself. By advancing countermagick significantly, it allowed Hermetics to meet and form alliances before they had developed trust.

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉  (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

This rote allows the Hermetic to store up to two points of Quintessence per success which can be used for countermagick and unweaving the effects of others. These Quintessence points no longer count towards the Mage’s limit but are limited by how much Quintessence the Mage can carry.

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DISTILL THE AZOTH ELIXIR

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉◉◉

LIFE  ◉◉◉◉◉ PRIME  ◉◉◉ MATTER  ◉◉

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉ ◉◉◉ (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

A closely guarded secret, this rote allows Hermetics to create Azoth, a liquid that captures the pure essence of life. Azoth can heal any injury, cure any disease, and even restore the recently dead to life. It can be bottled and stored for up to a week before it loses its potency.
For each success, the Mage must spend one Quintessence to distill one dram of Azoth. Each dose can heal three levels of aggravated damage, ten doses can restore a person who died recently (what this means is a judgment call for the Storyteller), though a person resurrected this way is just a husk. It is rumored that with Mind and Spirit magick, a greater Azoth could be distilled that solves this problem, but many consider this to just be a legend.

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TOWER OF BABEL /SPEAK IN TONGUES

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉  Arete  ◉◉

FORCES  ◉◉ MIND  ◉◉ or ENTROPY  ◉◉

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉ (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

Two related rotes from an obscure Hermetic House, Tower of Babel inserts chaos into speech with Entropy
to cause the sounds to come out as complete gibberish. In contrast, Speak in Tongues uses Mind to allow the
target to speak any language that the Mage does through similar techniques of altering the sound itself.

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HERMES PORTAL

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉◉

CORRESPONDENCE   ◉◉◉◉ 

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉ (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

Creates a free-standing portal between two locations, stable enough that anyone can walk through it.

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FREE CONJUNCTION

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉◉◉

CORRESPONDENCE   ◉◉◉◉◉ 

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉  (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

Like Hermes Portal, this creates a path between two points that anyone can step through. However, this allows the environments to freely mix, rather than keeping them on different sides of the portal.

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CIRCLE OF BINDING

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉◉

SPIRIT ◉◉◉◉ PRIME  ◉◉◉◉ CORRESPONDENCE   ◉◉◉◉ 

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉ ◉◉◉◉ (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

The Order of Hermes has always had powerful techniques for summoning and binding spirits. Most of these techniques have, at their core, a Circle of Binding. This takes the form of a circle inlaid on the floor (often in a precious metal) and graven with sigils and signs. This rote summons the spirit and traps it within wards, permitting spirits in but not out of the Circle. The usage of Prime accrues successes to resist any mystical effect that the spirit uses within the Circle.

NOTE: A spirits TRUE NAME must be known to summon it.

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COMPEL THE UNSEEN

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉

SPIRIT ◉◉ PRIME  ◉◉◉

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉  (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

Hermetics have used this rote for centuries to force a spirit to materialize.

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THE HOLY PENTACLES

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉◉

SPIRIT ◉◉◉◉ 

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉  (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

Hermetics have special symbols, called pentacles, that they use for summoning and binding of spirits. This effect  first permits a spirit to enter an area then to trap them within the area.

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WARD THE INNER SANCTUM

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉◉

LIFE ◉◉◉ CORRESPONDENCE   ◉◉◉◉ 

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉ ◉◉ (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

This warding effect prevents any living thing from entering a demarcated region.

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DREAM DRAMA

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉

FORCES  ◉◉ MIND ◉◉◉ optional CORRESPONDENCE ◉◉ 

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉  (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

This rote allows the Hermetic to create an illusion of light and sound that will let them watch the dreams of someone who is asleep. If they are not present, Correspondence is required.

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THUNDER'S GAUNTLET

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉◉  Arete  ◉◉◉

CORRESPONDENCE   ◉◉◉ MIND ◉◉◉ and either PRIME ◉◉ FORCES ◉◉◉ OR MATTER  ◉◉◉ OR LIFE ◉◉◉

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉◉ ◉ (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

Originating in House Tytalus, this ancient Hermetic rote allows the Mage to issue a Certamen challenge, no matter how far the opponent is. The original version used Pentacles of Mars and invocations to Gabriel and delivered the call with a painful thunderclap, but modern mages have adapted it to allow for spikes erupting from the ground (via Matter) or internal hemorrhaging (Life).

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UNRAVELING THE TEXT

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉  Arete  ◉◉

ENTROPY ◉◉ PRIME  ◉◉ MATTER◉◉

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉ (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

An active defense for Hermetic texts from outsiders, this rote causes someone attempting to read a book to start losing their place, to jump around
the page, and be unable to focus.

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UNSEEN NOMENCLATURE

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉  Arete  ◉◉

MATTER ◉◉ PRIME  ◉◉ MIND◉◉

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉ (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

Hermetics often need to hide their teachings in plain sight. This rote allows them to do so in a book. Mages who read it will be able to tell that there is something hidden, but only those who know how to parse it or who succeed at Wits + Intelligence difficulty 16+ roll. The more distinct from the printed text the message is, the more successes are needed to hide it.

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ASSESS AFFINITY

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉  Arete  ◉

MATTER  ◉ PRIME  ◉

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉ (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

A Hermetic takes an object into a circle for assessment and performs a dedication ritual. With success, the Mage gains information about the object’s affinities, such as elements, astrological signs, what properties it should be assigned in complex rituals, etc.

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ZISURRU

Prerequisites:  Occult ◉◉  Arete  ◉◉

CORRESPONDENCE   ◉◉ SPIRIT ◉◉

SUCCESSES REQUIRED ◉◉◉◉ (however you may need other successes to allocate where appropriate)

The original ward against (Umbral) demons, from which most Hermetic warding is descended, it creates a boundary which spirits cannot cross.

NOTE: Earthbound and Fallen are NOT effected by this rote, as they are not "Just" Spirit.

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