Less well known than the other two, Reflexive Magick is nevertheless a very potent form. Its basic doctrine stipulates that the human psyche is a powerful engine for change. We change reality with our hands, forging an image in our mind's eye, and transforming it with the tools of the body. Reflexive magick merely eliminates the middle man, allowing the psyche to craft reality directly, shaping it as if there was virtual tools created by the mind.
Of course, all magick works on similar principles, but to the reflexive mage, there is a profound sense of Self, of active manipulation of the object that is to be controlled. Many feel that is not a form of the Art which changes reality, but rather an extension of their interior being.
Although reflexive magick is a category, having many practitioners who each have their own style of using magick, there is a general theme of the Animus Ipse, or the Spirit Itself which performs the magick. Put simply, the reflexive wizard projects a part of herself into the object, compelling a change. Variations on this theme range from those who say their soul has entered the object, causing a change, to others whose soul talks to the spirit of an object, making the object respond accordingly. Each kind has its own benefits and drawbacks, which will be shown later.
Rather than the division of reality seen in Symbolic magick, reflexive magick instead divides the self, in what the body is trained to do in this extended fashion. The catergories are, simply enough: Strength, Dexterity, Stamina, Charisma, Manipulation, Appearance, Perception, Intuition, and Wits. A reflexive mage recognizes how he can use each of these categories to affect things himself, as part of everyday life, and once that comparison is made, anything he can do himself can be duplicated with the reflexive power.
e.g.: Bruno wants a cup to lift in the air. He can do it with Strength. He has a 2 rating in Reflexive Stength. The maximum effect he can generate is 2. The ST rules that a 0 strength will lift the cup, so Bruno can make the effect last longer with Duration, same as all Hermetic Magicks. Note that if he wanted to throw it at someone, with any chance of hitting, he would need to use Dexterity as well, which is a whole different case.
A drawback to reflexive magick is that often the animus of the caster, having a physical effect on the outside world, will take on a physical form. This usually appears as a ethereal force, surrounding the object to be affected. Spending an effect level allows the mage to shape this force, with a level of detail relative to precisely how much power is in it. A force made up of Reflexive Strength 1 will seem a little glowing cloud, while one, boosted with vis, and manifesting Str 3, Per 2, and Dex 1, can be molded to look like anything. The one thing the mage cannot control is the color, which remains constant throughout the mage's career. This color is initially chosen by the mage, corresponding to whatever color her aura is, and is the color that her Liber Animus takes (see below). Once it is chosen, it cannot change.
As you can see, Reflexive magick can be blended, with the rating in each attribute substituting for increased power in the normal spell formula. However, keep in mind that constraints of power, number of objects affected, etc. all must be calculated.
Casting Reflexive Magick is precisely like casting Symbolic Maigck, except that there are no formulaic spells. All are spontaneous effects, needing only one success on a Wits+(apporpriate skill, either Occult, or Spellcasting at -2) (diff 6).
Each Reflexive mage must learn one of the five styles to manipulate Reflexive Magick. The ability, Reflexive Magick, measured on a scale of 1-5, describes how much the wizard understands the different levels. Each new level of Reflexive magick allows a new Style to be learned.
The simplest application of the power, and often the most dramatic. Those who use their body to its utmost abilities sometimes activate this power subconsciously. It is merely bringing the magick within, which acts to augment what the body can do. For instance, a mother in need triggers her reactive impulses, channeling her latent reflexive powers, and uses her animus to grant her the reflexive strength necessary to lift the car from her child. It is not unheard of for people under great stress to trigger their reserves of reflexive strength, Manipulation, Perception, etc., lifting, conning, and noticing things that by all rights they are incapable of accomplishing.
There is no absolute limit to how much a stat can be boosted, given augmentation by vis. Note, however, that to sustain the power beyond one action, effect levels must be spent to make the power last.
e.g.: Karol, a Reflexive mage who is masquerading as a part-time psychic, needs to sneak into a warehouse, and take out a guard. Her natural Per and Dex are 3. She uses reflexive magic to augment her Per by 2, and Dex by 3 (maximum effect level is still 5). Every round, she needs to be concentrating on making this power work. When she uses the power, each round she concentrates, her Per is 5, and her Dex is 6. This is only worthwhile when she is out of combat, however.
Generally, the stress of combat, carrying on a complex conversation (more than 1 person, or talking quickly), or other non-simple operations neccessitates that the duration of the imbue be extended so that concentration is no longer an issue.
e.g.: Karol reaches the guard, and wants to augment her Str, Dex, and Sta, with reflexive totals of 1, 3, and 2, respectively. Since she has no vis to boost Effect level, it is at 5. To engage in combat, she must make the duration longer than Instantaneous (Dur 0). She opts for 2, which will make the spell last 2 rounds. This steals 2 from the 5 maximum, so she can only boost her stats by three. For the next two rounds, her Dex will be (3+1=4), her Str will be (2+1=3), and her Sta will be (2+1=3).
Further augmentation can never exceed the Reflexive rating a character possesses.
e.g.: Karol wants to play it safe with this guard bozo. Hiding behind a crate, she works spells that will make the augmentation last a scene (Dur 3). With only 2 effect levels left, augmentation will be slow in coming. The first round, she boosts Str by 1, and Dex by 1. The next, she boosts Dex and Sta by 1. Her current totals are Str (2+1=3), Dex (3+1+1=5), and Sta (2+1=3). Since she only had Reflexive Str 1, she cannot augment Str any further until that Str is freed up. She can still boost her Sta and Dex by one more.
Note that, as always, the power of vis can increase the potency of what is already there. Each point can be used to gain 1 level of Reflexive abilities in a single spell.
e.g.: Karol forgot the piece of vis she stashed in her shoe. She activates it, boosts reflexive Str to 2 maximum, and next round increases her Str to (2+1+2=4). Once the spell is over, her reflexive Str drops back to 1.
Martial artists of legend were able to channel huge reserves of power through their body. Many occultists believe that they were merely imbuing themselves with the reflexive magick neccessary to shatter walls, move like lightning, or withstand any attack.
The animus of a Reflexive wizard is all but invisible with the invocation of internal power. However, boosting a stat by more that 3 creates a halo around the part of the body that is affected. Thus, delivering a punch with Reflexive 4 strength will cause a slight halo to manifest around the fist, while someone manipulating with Reflexive 5 Man will make the words seem almost visible. Simply spending an effect level will make the animus invisible.
Perhaps the most overlooked application of Reflexive magick, imbuing an object gives an item, living or not, increased attributes. Thus, a sword can be imbued with Reflexive Strength, making it strike harder, or Reflexive Dex, making it strike more accurately. A gun imbued with Manipulation makes it seem more menacing, while a pair of glasses with Perception grants the user keener senses.
To imbue an object, the minimum Range effect is 1, touch. Unless the wizard wants to concentrate each round, a Duration greater than 0 is a must as well. Otherwise, virtually any object can be toughened, enhanced, or modified to work better. The only penalty is that the augmentation has to make sense. For instance, a Reflexive mage wants to imbue a gun with Str to make it more deadly, and Dex, to make it more accurate. When the gun is aimed, the gunman gets a bonus to Dex. However, it is the bullets that are causing the damage, and not the gun. For the Reflexive Str to reach the target, it has to be the bullets that are affected, and not the gun. Note that a gun Imbued with Str would be excellent as a club.
Thus, items that have Per augmentation have to be used in the act of perceiving (glasses, hearing aids, etc.) Items like pocket calculators and almanacs are excellent for Int augmentation. A bulletproof vest could be imbued with Sta, as could a pen, both making them stronger, but unless the wielder can get the pen in front of the bullet, the Sta will do very little to stop a sniper.
Living creatures can be augmented (they must do so voluntarily; spending a WP will negate the effect totally), and can use the imbued Stats normally. However, the advantage of imbuing an object is that the item can be passed around, and used by anyone, until the duration of the spell expires. For the price of an effect level, a command word can be added, meaning the item will not work until it is spoken, thought, etc (whatever the specific circumstances were). Command words also work on people, locking the power away until a signal is given.
The only other penalty to imbuing objects is once again the finite nature of reflexive stats. Until the power is freed up, it cannot be used in other spells. A wizard who uncautiously imbues a sword with all his power is dooming himself to helplessness until the duration ends, or he can touch the object, and return the power to himself.
The item that is imbued freely gives off a visible halo when the power is more than 2. Spending an effect level makes this invisible.
The power to create is the power to destroy. The wizard with this level of reflexive power can use his power to fight the power of the target, essentially neutralizing stats for the duration of the spell.
The range of this power is most apparent in a living creature with stats. Merely subtract the Reflexive stats from the creature's total, and roleplay from there. Note that if a creature is taken to 0 in an attribute, it is not dead, or really very helpless. It is weakened, but can still function to some degree. Taking the attribute to -1 will eliminate that attribute altogether, often to the detriment of the target.
Strength 0: The target is a standard 98 lbs. weakling. He can still push buttons, pull triggers (though not while supporting a gun), walk, and perform actions a one- year old could do.
Str -1: The target falls to the floor, unable to support her own weight, no matter how much or how little that is.
Dex 0: The target can still move and perform actions, albeit clumsily.
Dex -1: Every action is a chore, as the body careens around drunkenly.
Sta 0: The target can still function, although he bruises easily, and seems to get sicker by the moment.
Sta -1: The target no longer wishes to move, as the weight of her body causes excruciating pain. The target seems to get sicklier by the moment.
Cha 0: All viewers have a uniform distate for the target, as every word comes out wrong, no longer colored by charm. Cha -1: Communication is almost impossible, as words slur and listeners become frustrated with the amount of effort it takes to make whole sentences.
Man 0: Target seems weak and unthreatening, even with a grenade in her hand.
Man -1: Target collapses, unable to deal with the hostility of the world.
App 0: See Nosferatu. People avert their gaze.
App -1: People become ill at the sight of target. Human interaction is impossible.
Per 0: Simple things escape your sight. Words jumble on a page. Only intense effort on the part of the target will gain any results.
Per -1: The target is essentially insensate (blind, deaf, etc.), including mystical senses.
Int 0: It becomes hard for the target to think. Any dialogue more than simple noun-verb exchanges is too much.
Int -1: IQ drops to around 20.
Wits 0: Thinking too fast gives the target a profound headache.
Wits -1: Target all but shuts down.
As a general rule of thumb, dropping an attribute to 0 makes it neccessary to roll for even the simplest of actions involving the attribute. Dropping the attribute to -1 effectively shuts down the target altogether. Prolonged exposure to -1 stats can either kill (Physical) or Derange (Mental and Social).
As seen before, Range must always be greater than one. In addition, a personal item from the victim acts as a point of free vis, allowing greater effect. Note that the object has to deal with the attribute to be drained (glasses for perception, etc.) A piece of organic material taken from the target will affect any stat, as well as eliminate the ability of the target to resist.
Resistance is determined by using the Willpower stat. Each time the spell is cast, the target rolls Current WP (diff 5). Each success negates a level of the spell. However, the act of resistance consumes a WP. Since the spell can be retried once an hour, the wizard can whittle down a target with minor spells, then cripple with a major one.
e.g.: Karol wishes to take out the guard by using her animus to interfere with his animus. She wants to drain 3 Str and 1 Dex. The guard has Str 2 Dex 2. She casts the spell, and he resists. He has a current WP of 6. Rolling the 6 dice, diff 5, he scores 4 successes. Her spell is almost repelled, one level getting through (the ST picks). The guard then subtracts a WP from his current total. He now has Str 1, Dex 2, and WP 5.
Although eventually learned by all Reflexive Mages, this style is considered a Dark Art, and universally shunned. Interfering with the animus of another is an action most mages consider evil, though often neccessary to take out a foe quickly.
The animus during negation is often visible as a flash of power coursing thorugh the target's body which fades quickly. Although the target doesn't seem to get ugly, or weak, the overall impression lingers in the mind of all who view it. The wizard who negates is often surrounded by a faint halo of darkness. The target's initial halo can be made invisible at the expense of an effect level, and the personal aura can be made invisible at the cost of 2 effect levels.
Called the "Free Spirit," many Reflexive Mages consider this the ultimate extent of their power. It involves the creation of a second self, a being ethereal and yet physical, capable of performing all the actions a mage could perform, without concerns of danger to life or limb.
This second self freely manifests as a ghostly image, relative to what it was imbued with. Thus, a Liber Animus given Reflexive Str 2 and Per 3 will seem to be a pair of glowing eyes, and perhaps a hand or hands. Generally, each attribute is embodied in the following system:
Strength Manifests as a pair of glowing hands. These can be used to lift anything, much like standard telekinesis. However, the amount lifted is equivalent to the Str attribute. Note that this does not allow fine control of the object, more than simple pulling or pushing. If opted to be invisible, objects lift themselves, as a poltergeist.
Dexterity manifests as a pair of legs, which move in the direction that you want something to be carefully moved. Without strength, the weight of the object limits how much it can be moved to around the size of a chess-piece. However, typing on a keyboard is about at the same rate as normal. If invisible, those watching cannot understand how a key got turned, etc.
Stamina manifests as a disembodied torso that can get in the way of people, swords, bullets, etc. It works to resist actions. Thus, a gun fired at a torso will have either speed or accuracy drained by the force of the torso. Roll the Ref Sta (diff 6) invested in the animus, and subtract these successes from either the accuracy of the weapon or the damage it did. Note that it can only really get in the way. If invisible, those affected cannot understand what stopped them.
Charisma manifests as a disembodied face, which seems soothing. It can control the emotions of a group of people, only as far as it augments what is already there. If they are afraid, the face can terrify them. If they are happy, the face can make them laugh. If invisible, the effect is lessened (due to the paranoia about what could make them act that way).
Manipulation acts to control people, appearing as a mouth which delivers commands. It works precisely like intimidation, goading people into doing something that they would probably do. If invisible, it will only affect one person at a time. It also allows the Animus to speak.
Appearance is perhaps the most important aspect of the Liber Animus. Invoking it allows the visible Animus to change form to virtually anything. Thus, a ghostly cat can be seen prowling, tripping people (Sta) and seeing things (Per). The higher the App score, the more recognizable the shape.
Perception manifests as a pair of glowing eyes, which act as clairvoyance, seeing, hearing, and sensing at a distance. Each effect spent allows a new sense. Thus, spending Ref Per 3 allows the wizard to see, hear, and feel at a distance. Making the eyes invisible costs an effect level.
Intelligence manifests as a glowing head. Without Cha or Per, the head appears featureless. With it, the wizard's animus can "walk" into the head of a target, and read surface thoughts. Only one can be done at a time, and the wizard must be concentrating to effect the link. If he cannot, then the animus must actually go back to the caster and convey the information. Note that this is not sending telepathy, only receiving. Making the head invisible costs 2 effect levels, but the target will not sense the intrusion, unless they have defense.
Without some intelligence, the animus is an automaton, strictly following your orders. If you stop to fight, it will wait for you to finish. With 1 Int, it will carry through with your last order, and then stop. With 2 Int, it will act defensively, and with 3 Int, it will act with your own best interests. With 4 Int, it, in effect, becomes you, a separate character under the control of the ST. With 5, you control it directly.
Wits, like appearance, doesn't have a specific representation, but instead brings a sharpness and clarity to the image. With wits, fine details can be expressed in the Animus. Pictures can be formed, including whole words. The Wits aspect of the animus processes information at an amazing rate, making it possible to sense emotions in an area, including signs of danger. Note that unless this is coupled with perception, the danger will be sensed, but not seen. Making Wits invisible removes its usefulness, except as a danger sense.
As you can see, an Animus is a walking bundle of attributes. These, couples with abilities, allow the animus to do anything you could do. To perform an action, the necessary dice (Animus' att + your abilities) are rolled at difficulty 6, with the amount of successes determining how well it went off.
e.g.: Karol creates her Animus with Per 1, so that she can see outside of line of sight, Dex 1, to open doors, and Sta 1, to run resistance. She sends it off, looking for a way out. It comes across a guard, who tries to shoot at it. Karol is fairly certain that the guard has no idea what it is, so rather than tell too much, she orders the animus to get out of the way. It uses its 1 Dex to roll Dex+Dodge, getting a success. This is compared to the number of successes of the guard firing the gun. Since he only got one, he misses the Animus. To seem like it has form, she uses Sta as the animus crashes into a table. She fails, and the animus passes right through. Spooked, the guard runs off to get help.
The disadvantage of the Animus is that it can never surpass your own natural rating in an attribute. Thus, although you have a Ref Dex of 5, the Animus can never have more than Dex 3, what you have. This is all part of the primary belief of the reflexive mage, an act similar to Ascension, where the reflexive self is honed to such a degree that the Liber Animus becomes a second you in every way. Supposedly, at this point, a fully formed Liber Animus (which, by the way, would take a HUGE expenditure of vis to create an effect level that high) becomes independent, but still tied to the wizard. It can appear as whatever age the creator wanted it to look like, relative to the App trait.
Normally, the range of the Liber Animus would have to be great to make it useful, which would severely limit the amount one could put in the Animus. However, part of the nature of the magick allows it to be formed anywhere, and then MOVE to wherever it needs to go. Thus, the mage need spend nothing on Dist, since, in the round of creation, it is within himself. How quickly it moves also depends on how much Dex, and Str were put into it. Second, Duration only applies to how quickly the animus goes away once the mage stops concentrating. If the mage manages to regain concentration within the time limit, the Animus is reactivated, with the time limit reset. Keep in mind, however, that once the Animus is formed, it cannot be changed without first dispelling it, and then recreating it with a new set of Reflexive attributes. If you forgot to add something that would allow it to affect the physical world, then nothing can be touched or affected.
Often, primitive cultures speak of all things having anima, a spirit which can collect memories, and can interact with the anima of more sentient beings. This reflexive power works directly with that principle. The Reflexive mage can "add" attributes to items that would not have them, giving them the ability to act freely.
To do this, part of the wizard's own animus is inserted into an object. First and foremost, this is intelligence, which allows the object to have a mental connection with the mage. Realize that unlike the Animus Liber, it is NOT an automaton, and will often object to doing things it's not supposed to. Every person touching an object leaves an imprint on the anima of the object which will color its personality. Investing Int in the gun used by a gang will reflect that young, arrogant attitude. Of course, the more Int is added, the more perceptive it becomes about its environment.
During the course of casting the spell, and instilling the necessary attributes, the wizard is constantly interacting with the object, animus to anima. He will promise it power (attributes) in exchange for service (using those attributes to do something). Unless the favor asked is violently antithetical (kill your owner), the object will agree. If the owner was devious, the object might be devious, lying, and perhaps turning on the wizard.
Granting it physical stats allows it to run itself. If a machine, it can make any part of itself move itself. If Social, it can pass on feelings (charisma) or commands (Manipulation) to those who hold it, directly relative to how much was invested. Appearance will simply make it more noticeable, and thus more likely to be picked up/used.
The mental traits are a very special case. Often objects can only respond to simple temperature change or tactile sensations. With perception, an object can "learn" to express what it sensed in terms of sight, sound, smell, etc. Each perception invested wakes up a new sense. As stated before, the more intelligence added, the more the object can break its training, realizing it is its own being. Wits is a dangerous trait to imbue, for it is the combination of Int and Wits that leads to sentience, including turning on the Wizard. However, without Wits, the item will be unable to react to new situations.
Dist of Breath of Life is always touch, and the casting is almost always visible. The wizard touches/breathes on the object to be affect, and the contact sets up a dim glow that fades within the object.
Each of the above styles are one rung on the ladder of magickal power. Each step gives you one of the styles, your choice, and costs (10 for first, current levelx7 for the rest) to gain all the permutations of the power. It is by no means an easy Art to master, and since you cannot color the sky, or turn puppies into dragons, many do not consider it magick, but it is magick in its own right.
Each of the Reflexive catergories costs 5 points, freebie or xp to buy, and 4xCurrent to raise. It is often good to either excel in one group, or smatter it out, and look for vis to open your potential.
Below are just a smattering of those who use Reflexive Magick, perhaps the most widespread, and yet least understood of the arts.
Psychics: The true cause of psychic powers is still unknown, but it is apparent that a single biological cause cannot explain all the phenomena out there. About 20% of all psychics are really reflexive wizards, who have learned to tap their personal animus to bend spoons, and see far off places. Many occultists argue that because they are limited by the effect level of the mana field, then they are not truly psychics and are only deluding themselves.
Shamans: Speaking to and with the spirit world is best left to Thaumaturgy, and other Symbolic Arts. However, a choice few shamans with power have learned to tap into the mana field, using their own power to grant Sta to the sick, and talk to crops diseased by pesticides with the Breath of Life, to discover what they need.
Martial Artists/Athletes: The destructive touch of a martial artist is legendary, and even the Akashic Brotherhood are amazed when they hear tales of a 100 year old man striking a car in a few places, only to have it fall apart. Other athletes, like gymnasts, basketball players, and long distance runners always seem to be stronger, faster, and more capable than their bodies ought to be.
Performers: Tales of actors and artists, singers and writers giving superhuman performances make many hunters pull out their notebooks, checking for possible vampiric activity, only to find normal humans responsible. These performers maximize their Social attributes with internal reserves, becoming more beautiful than mere physicality.
Idiot Savants: Illiterate farmhands capable of expressing pi to the 100th decimal place. Autistic rarities who step out of their world to tell us that January 4, 2198 will be a Tuesday. Both are examples of those who do not have the mental faculties to process that much raw data, and yet they do. Obviously, they have powerful Mental animus.
Zen priests: The Zen priest is the ultimate reflexive wizard, and in many ways, is its antithesis. The Reflexive mage believes that the internal world can directly influence the external world. The practitioners of zazen feel precisely the opposite: by performing a mundane task in the outside world, such as sweeping a path, or polishing a mirror, the inner world is reflected. The inner self is swept away, revealing the enlightened self. It is not so odd to see this position reversed by the Enlightened. After all, the point of zazen is to eliminate boundaries, to the point where a change on the inside happens on the outside, and visa versa.
Use of vis in Reflexive Magick: It is easy to look at a pop can, and, in symbolic magick, proclaim it Steel, or Earth, or Forged. How does one describe an object that wholly lacks physical characteristics relative to a human being?
You don't. All Reflexive vis is generic. The penalty to this is that it takes 2 points of specialized vis to make one point of reflexive vis.
The Plunder: Often, when a Reflexive Mage is desperate, he can invoke his own life force to fuel his magick. This is very dangerous, as the point of Reflexive magick is to create another self, divorced from the frail limitations of the body.
To Plunder, the Reflexive mage merely transfers Natural attributes to Reflexive attributes. To transfer the same stat (Str to Ref Str), the ratio is 1:1. T transfer stats in the same category (Physical), the ratio is 2:1. To transfer unrelated stats, the ratio is 3:1.
Every time the Plunder happens, the Reflexive Mage takes 1 aggravated wound for each group (Physical, Social, Mental) involved (thus always one, but up to three if he cannibalized some from each). This can only be healed after the Plunder is completed. The mage seems feeble within the group that was plundered, opening attacks in that field. In truth, in addition to the penalty due to lost stats, all difficulties in groups that were plundered are at (+2). If a transfer between Str and Sta is made, even Dex will recieve a +2 penalty.
Vis Sensitive (3 pt): The wizard innately senses vis useful to her, and can easily locate it. Retrieving it is another matter entirely.
Vis Forge (5 pt.): The wizard has stumbled across an ability or item which transforms symbolic vis into the generic vis she uses, allowing a 1:1 ratio, given a day to perform the proceedure.
Controllable Animus (2 pt.): The wizard no longer has to spend an effect level to shape her vis.
Invisible Animus (2 pt.): The wizard's Animus is always invisible, which has a good and bad side.
Visible Animus (3 pt.): The wizard cannot make his Animus invisible.
Uncontrollable Animus (3 pt): The wizard cannot shape his Animus at all.
Wild Animus (4 pt.): The wizard cannot shape or make his animus invisible.
Animus Fugitatis (6 pts.): The wizard's Animus is completely out of control, stepping out and taking powers as it needs them. There is always a Willpower struggle going on between the two.