The Paradigma

By Anders Sandberg

Description

This unique item is one of the more unusual talismans in circulation, a tool to understand the local paradigm.

The Paradigma has no fixed shape, and will change shape to fit the paradigm (although it always remains small enough to be held in a hand). These changes in shape never occur when people look at it, and will never draw attention to the device.

In a hermetic temple, it will be an ornate seal or crystal sphere reflecting the secret symbols around it. When moved to a technocracy lab it will become a slick electronic device, and on a busy city street a small calculator. In a Verbena grove it is a small twig with thorns, and near a Euthanatos killing it might become a broken piece of bone. And in a Nephandi labyrinth it may become a fistful of living, diseased flesh...

The item is quite useful to mages who understand how to use it for maximum benefit. By adjusting their magick to the paradigm, they lessen the risk of paradox, and by carefully studying the Paradigma it is possible to notice minute fluctuations in reality, making it possible to determine something about what mages and what kinds of magick has been in the vicinity. While the Paradigma retains its form based on the main paradigm, subtle shifts in its appearance may signify other kinds of reality: near Nephandi taint the twig becomes dead and diseased, and when passing a hermetic mage on the street the calculator displays an occult significant number.

It is not certain what the Paradigma is, but mages who have studied it think it is actually a kind of benign hobgoblin. According to one story it was left behind during the Great Quiet of Nazdhur-i-Khan (like the Imp of the Perverse and many other unusual hobgoblins). Some mages have warned that the Paradigma may be more dangerous than it seems.

Studying the Paradigma (perception + enigmas) gives the mage insight in the local paradigm and possible loopholes in it. If a character understands it, he will more easily find a good coincidence to use in a magickal effect, or even an effect the paradigm will enforce.

It is also possible to use the Paradigma to look for magick of various kinds. This can notice the presence of talismans, magickal effects, mages or events. It is not completely reliable, since the hopes and fears of the mage can influence it (a paranoid mage might make the Paradigma react to Technocracy presence even when the nearest Man in Black is miles away).