By Zach Archer (zkarcher@engr.ucdavis.edu)
Ergosis is considered a dying art (no pun intended); many wraiths would give an arm and a leg of their corpus to master it, but for some reason none of the Neurots ever agree to teach any new pupils. Neurots can be identified by their occasional hallucinations or strange behavior. They often gaze upward at the sky, seeing "things" in the clouds, or jump over imaginary obstacles, just for fun.
Thousand Points: A Neurot can adjust her vision to see a starmap of all the surrounding points of consciousness. The brighter the point, the closer the mind, usually. To use this technique, roll Perception + Ergosis, difficulty 8.
System: The Neurot rolls Perception + Ergosis, difficulty 6. The difficulty can be adjusted depending on the light level in the room and how far away the other minds are. This art costs 1 Pathos.
System: To begin the projection, the Neurot rolls Wits + Ergosis, difficulty 8. The more successes, the more "mental" the trip will be, and the more likely the Neurot will be to see thoughts. Freedom of movement during projection depends largely on the Neurot's state of mind; walking-speed is no problem, although it is possible for the astral mind to jump anywhere in the world it wishes. However, if the jump is too great, the mind could get lost and enter a fantastical dream world which resembles reality, but does not really exist. To make huge leaps or move extremely quickly, roll Dexterity + Ergosis, difficulty 6. This art costs 3 Pathos.
System: If the Neurot wants to be the focus of attention, she rolls Appearance + Ergosis. Otherwise, roll Manipulation + Ergosis. The difficulty is as follows:
Talking to the entity, holding hands | 5 |
In the entity's field of view | 7 |
Hiding close by, watching the scene | 9 |
The number of successes is how many turns the attention will last. This effect can only work on one entity per turn. Costs 2 Pathos and a Willpower point.
System: The Neurot rolls Stamina + Ergosis. The difficulty is between 7 and 10, some examples:
In a sewer, bad things smell good & vice versa | 7 |
Illuminate an area in stark black and white | 8 |
Change gravity on the side of a hill | 9 |
Change gravity on the side of a mountain | 10 |
Create a permanent wind that carries Wraiths up the side of a cliff | 10 |
The number of successes determines how long the effect lasts. To create anything lasting, you can count on needing atleast 5 successes and having the effect being visited frequently by other Wraiths. If these conditions are not met, the effect will fade away anywhere between a few minutes and a few days. This art costs 3 Pathos. If the effect is intended to be annoying or detremental, it grants the Neurot 1 point of Angst.
The name Astral Matter was supposedly invented by a Dreamspeaker Mage, and somehow corresponds to a place they call the "High Umbra." Astral Matter is a highly volatile element which takes the shape of whatever thoughts are enacted upon it. It has no set state; it can change from solid to liquid to gas depending on what the Neurot thinks it ought to be. A wraith who desires a metal key could spill some of it on her hand and think, "form a metal key." Alternately, to melt a hole though a door, a wraith could take some solid Astral Matter and scrape it against the wood, concentrating on a mental picture of a wounded door, or just thinking of open air. However, once Astral Matter has been 'thought' into some other form, it cannot be forged into anything else. When Astral Matter is turned into something else, it is a permanent change; it is speculated that the entire world was once a big glob of Astral Matter, and the first mind to tamper with it was the mind of God. Also, complicated technological devices such as watches and electronics will not function unless invested with Pathos, much like Relics.
Itching to try it out? System: Roll Stamina + Ergosis, difficulty 9. The number of successes determines how much Astral Matter is spawned:
The size of a tooth | 1 |
The size of a small house key | 2 |
The size of a fork | 3 |
The size of a piece of bread | 5 |
A luxurious fortress hidden underground | 47,000 |
Extrended rolls are fine, but if anything disturbs the Neurot's thought process during the extended session, the difficulty is raised to 10. The Astral Matter flows out of the Neurot's Corpus and changes into a new object as soon as any creature with a mind touches the Astral Matter and consciously thinks it into being something else. Botching a roll can be disasterous... Remember the last battle in Ghostbusters? Ooohh.... Each use of Spawn Astral Matter costs 5 Pathos and a Willpower point.