Definitions
From Summoner
Definitions are similar to Arts in that they are methods in which Summoners may invest Id into gaining powers normally beyond their reach. What differs with Definitions are method and scale. While Arts are practiced, straightforward, and yield standard results, the Art of Definition is more complicated. Id is cast into the World, and set to resound with it and undergo a slight, but telling change in the world itself. There is great power in Definitions, but there are also drawbacks and terms that must be met for this power to work.
Each dot of the Art gives the Summoner access to greater and more powerful rituals of Definition. The Summoner receives a free Definition for each dot purchased in the art, and can buy additional ones at a cost of the level of the ritual x 2. To enact these rituals can require a variety of Skills, but the most common ones are Occult and Politics. One grants insight into the mystical workings of the World, while the other allows the Summoner to manage rumor, hearsay, hidden threads, and power games to her advantage.
Setting a Definition is a roll of Manipulation + Skill + Definitions, but the roll time varies greatly depending on the nature and the power of the ritual. Some rituals require certain actions or resources to prepare them, and will be listed in the ritual's description, called the medium. Common things include money, symbolic objects, ritual behaviors, and social interactions.
Some later Definitions may require tests of Identity to complete. Power comes a price, and some media are more potently descriptive than others.
Contents |
Echo Kiss (O)
Sometimes, someone just needs information. Whether it is a warning, a word of hope, or just notice that an ally or enemy is still alive, the message needs to be delivered. This simple Definition taps into the powerful network of human interaction and plays a flawless "telephone game" with a message the Summoner states. The Summoner may whisper the message into a stranger's ear, and that stranger finds themselves telling a random customer at a coffee shop about the 'weird guy' who told her something. That person may then call a friend, who posts the odd encounter on a semi-popular blog. One of the subject's friends may read the blog, and text a link to it to the subject's cell phone. Upon reading the blog, the subject knows the true meaning of the message, as well as its source. More and stranger connections can be drawn, but fate seems to conspire to get the message to the subject in a timely manner.
Sending the message requires only a point of Id and a single success, but additional successes beyond the first reduces the time it takes for the message to reach the target. The default time is roughly 12 hours, but each additional success halves that time.
Cost: 1 Id
Skill: Socialize
Medium: The Summoner must speak the message clearly to a stranger
Action: Instant
Open Sign (O)
There are a number of threats out there that Summoners must remain prepared for. This basic ritual was designed as a method of preparing safe houses that are safe not only from demons, but from rudimentary inspection from authorities. When this ritual is cast upon a doorway or sign of a building, anyone who is not a Summoner will feel a strange compulsion to ignore the building when the defenses are 'active'. These defenses come into play whenever a Summoner who is aware of them spends a point of Id to do so, and they remain active until the Summoner leaves.
A mortal who wishes to breach the barrier must succeed in a Composure roll to enter. Even if they do, they suffer a -3 to any Initiative rolls made while inside the building, giving the Summoner a slight edge in combat or escape.
Cost: 1 Id
Skill: Streetwise
Medium: A symbol that the Summoner identifies with safety must be drawn visibly on the door or sign of the building. If it is ever defaced or removed, the ritual immediately fails.
Action: Instant
Crosses the World (OO)
They say that a lie goes around the world before the truth can get its boots on. Negative information has a certain tendency to spread, regardless of truth. It catches attention and expands like wildfire into a ready environment. Sometimes a Summoner needs to flush someone out, get their attention, or simply cause social havoc. This Definition ritual is just the thing for the job.
The Summoner spends some time each night spreading the lie at popular nodes of information, or leaves the money in unmarked packages in places like trash cans, the bottoms of bridges, and other 'shady' drop points. Who picks this money up is a mystery. For the ritual to work, the lie must be plausible to the introduced community, and lasts for a day per dot of Definitions the Summoner has. These lies may be unearthed and quashed as any rumor can, but will continue to resurface for the duration of the ritual. The major limiting factor is that the costs and degree of humiliation rise to match the range of the lie. In order to slander someone on a national level, not only do they have to be known on a national level, the nation must know your used Medium, either with more money or a broader humiliation.
Cost: 1 Id
Skill: Subterfuge
Medium: Either Resources OOO, or the Summoner must humiliate themselves within that community. For example, spending public time with a social pariah, admitting a personal fault, or airing out some of the Summoner's own 'dirty laundry', true or untrue.
Action: Extended; required successes vary depending on the size of the community. Each roll represents an hour of duty, which can be done once per night.
| Successes | Size of Group |
|---|---|
| 1 | 20 or less people |
| 3 | 250 people, or a specialized community within a city |
| 5 | 1000 people, a small town or a single area of Status within a city |
| 8 | 10,000 people, a moderate town, or several related areas within a city's Status structure. |
| 15 | A city of millions, or specialized communities throughout a nation (Resources 4) |
| 20 | The beliefs of an entire country or economic union (Resources 5) |
A Meeting of Minds (OO)
It is a simple truth that in dangerous times, sometimes we take the allies we can get. The versatility of having a second Alter Self is a definite advantage when dealing with demons of all types, shapes, and configurations. The purpose of this Definition is to bring a demon for which a Summoner shares a common interest into a communion. The demon becomes an Alter Self for the Summoner, and remains so until dismissed.
The demon cannot exceed the natural limits of the Summoner's Ego, and the Summoner cannot possess more Alter Selves than their Ego would allow.
Cost: 1 Id, 1 Willpower
Skill: Politics
Medium: The Summoner gains a derangement for a single day and night.
Action: Extended, requires successes equal to the combined Egos of the participants, each roll takes one turn
The Open Door (OOO)
Retreat into a 'nearby' Velvet Room through any abandoned door. The door always leads back to where the Summoner came from...unless a bargain is arranged with the Facilitator within. Medium: A point of Willpower, or the blood from a lethal wound on the doorknob.
Sometimes a Summoner finds themselves pursued by unfriendly types. Very unfriendly types. The Open Door allows for the ritualist to hatch an escape through any door to the safety of a nearby Velvet Room. Of course, the idea of 'nearby' can be rather fluid, but an escape is an escape, and the door only remains connected long enough for the Summoner to open it and close it again. Once the door closes, it functions as a regular doorway again for all intents and purposes. When the Summoner opens the door again, it will lead back to where he left. If he wants to escape to another location, the Facilitator who owns the Velvet Room must be bargained with.
Cost: 1 Id
Skill: Larceny
Medium: 1 Willpower, or the blood from a lethal wound pressed against the doorknob
Action: Instant
The Midas Touch (OOO)
Creates the necessary funds for a single purchase of an available item, to a maximum resources value of the Summoner's dots in Definitions. Medium: The funds fall to the Summoner in an emotionally or socially costly way
We are all subject to the Golden Rule: He who has the gold, makes the rules. As 'wealth' has become a more and more complex and implied concept, the power of ritual has become able to take hold and create wealth from thin air, or so it seems at first. The truth is that, by using The Midas Touch, the Summoner is taking out a loan against the World, and the World will get its due. Using this ritual grants the Summoner the funds to make a single purchase, to a maximum value of the Summoner's dots in Definitions in Resources. For example, a Summoner with Definitions 4 could buy any one item rated with a Resources 4 cost.
Cost: 2 Id
Skill: Subterfuge
Medium: The funds are revealed the next day to have reached the Summoner in a costly way, either to the emotions of the Summoner or to the viewpoint of society. It is rarely a criminal offense, but the rumor of wrongdoing is persistent and will linger for at least a week. Treat this as a type of Fame, except that the Summoner faces a -1 for their recognition instead of receiving a bonus.
Action: Extended, requires successes equal to the dots of Resources required, each roll takes one minute of focus
Blood of the Earth (OOOO)
This Ritual allows for a Summoner to get their hands on difficult-to-acquire goods, as a means of acquiring them reveal themselves, and will be affordable with only moderate effort. The price, however, may not always be money... Medium: Someone has to be named as a 'sacrifice', who will suffer greatly, possibly (but rarely) die, as a result of events that get the Summoner their goods.
Summoners have to deal with deadly threats, sometimes on a daily basis. They know about creatures that would chew up mortal law enforcement like so much paper, and spits them out in interesting, albeit disturbing shapes. This knowledge can lead some to have a certain...respectful disagreement with certain laws. Blood of the Earth allows a Summoner to get access to hard-to-find or even illegal goods in a matter of hours, without actually know any illicit contacts. The goods simply have a way of falling into their lap, but never for free. The item must be available for purchase, illicit or otherwise, within 500 miles of the Summoner, or the ritual automatically fails
Cost: 2 Id, 1 Willpower
Skill: Streetwise
Medium: Someone has to be named as a 'sacrifice', who will suffer greatly, possibly (but rarely) die, as a result of events that get the Summoner their goods. This person is usually known to the Summoner, and will somehow instinctually know the source, but not the method, of their downfall.
Action: Extended, requires between 5 and 15 successes, up to Storyteller discretion
The Ancestral Heirloom (OOOO)
Symbols are powerful tools that a Summoner can recognize and put to work in their daily endeavors. Some touch of legend or rumor has struck the item, be it through urban whispers or some deeply emotional use. A Summoner can then draw out the latent gravity of meaning in the object, turning it into a magical tool. There are more rules on Symbols and example items in Chapter 3.
To create a Symbol requires the item to have an appropriate story. To make a specific item, sometimes events have to be...massaged into place to achieve a desired result.
Cost: 2 Id, 1 Willpower
Skill: Expression
Medium: A worthy object, which takes on the unique properties of a Symbol
Action: Extended, each roll takes one hour, and only one roll can be made per evening, at midnight. Requires two successes per dot of Symbol
Actualization (OOOOO)
This ritual grants an Alter Self to an object, animal, or place. Medium: the evocative death of the subject's "owner".
The Alter Self is the companion, servant, ally, or raw manifestation of a Summoner, and few take their existence for granted. Fewer still take them lightly. However, sometimes a Summoner may desire to have access to an Alter Self that he does not personally control. It is possible to do so, but not without a dire cost.
Actualization grants an Alter Self to an inanimate object, an animal, or a location. In the case of objects or places, the item must have at least as strong a depth of story as a Symbol for the Alter Self to remain attached. Animals must have at least a simple intelligence of a responsive, domestic pet or a clever predator. In any case, the granted Alter Self cannot go more than 50 feet from its fetter and must obey the commands of its fetter. The fetter gains its own 'humanlike' intelligence of at least 2 once the ritual is complete, up to the Ego of the ritualist. The subject gains an Ego of 1, and may increase that trait just like a human might. Objects and places remain immobile, however, though some objects can allow themselves to be carried by their Alter Selves for a time. If the ritualist possesses at least Ego 5 and sacrifices a dot of Willpower, the subject also gains access to Arts, though none are treated as having an affinity.
The Alter Self must come from within the Summoner, and he loses access to that Alter Self permanently once the ritual is complete.
Cost: 3 Id, 1 Willpower
Skill: Crafts or Animal Ken
Medium: The owner of the object, place, or animal must die in an appropriately significant manner (tragic or traumatic) before the ritual can be performed.
Action: Extended, requires a total of 15 successes. Each roll takes an hour of effort and focus, though the processes can be paused for a day per roll. The final roll must be made in presence of the subject.
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