By James Hertsch III (jhertsch@unca.edu) (30 April 1996)
In the end, this is what being a willworker is all about. In the end, if the willworker is unwilling to sacrifice himself, his greatness, and all his hubris, for the sake of his paradigm, his efforts to change the world are worthless.
With this in mind, we bring you the Staff of the Mysticks. The Staff, it is said, has only shown itself in times when it is truly needed. It is said by some that there are only a few mages who are destined to use this wondrous items, only a few mages who have that iota of greatness that allows them to even grasp the Staff, much less to use it.
Among the Order of Hermes, it is said that the Staff has bound within it the spirit of one of the Pure Ones -- a Pure One that willingly volunteered its life and its freedom to be there at perilous times during the fragmentation, to allow itself to be used, if only for mere moments, by the mortals who were created by the fragmenting of its fellows.
Before he may use it, a mage must be wise in the ways of magick. Before the staff will allow itself to be used by a mage, that mage must be endowed with Destiny, with pure Power. Still, a mage may not summon the staff...it will simply appear when it is needed, only to disappear again when its job is done.
To the knowledge of the Order of Hermes, the Staff of the Mysticks has appeared at only a few times in humanity's history. It is said that the Staff of the Mysticks was in the hands of the early Ahl-i-batin as they stood against the Celestial Chorus and the Handura. It is said that Horizon Chantry was established only with the power of the Staff of the Mysticks, and that there were Nine forgotten mages who gave freely of themselves, sacrificed themselves so that the Traditions might live anew.
And, therein lies the greatest price of the Staff of the Mysticks. When a mage uses the Staff of the Mysticks, he must sacrifice his whole being to it. He must sacrifice his physical form, his mind, his Magick....and he must sacrifice his Avatar, for it is with the Avatar that the Staff of the Mysticks may perform its wonders.
Many willworkers, coveting the power of the Staff of the Mysticks, have spent their entire lives searching for it. Many mages who believe that they might thwart the Staff's price have sought for the Staff....
... and none of them have returned.
The Staff of the Mysticks may be used once by the mage, who may be accompanied by compatriots. As a general rule, the Staff may be used for virtually a god-like or apocalyptic magickal feat, but that feat must be something that does not directly benefit the mage himself.
In order to use this Staff, the mage must have an Avatar Background of at least 3, and a Destiny of at least 4. Additionally, he must have an Arete of at least 6, and must have attained Mastery of at least one Sphere, or Adept level of power in two Spheres.
The mage must embark on an extended ritual, preparing himself to be sacrificed to the Staff. At the conclusion of this ritual, the mage has partially bound his Avatar into the staff.
After this ritual, the mage may make use of the Staff Once, and then, for a single magickal roll, the mage must Sacrifice all of his Quintessence, and may combine his Arete with the Arete of the Staff to create the magickal effect necessary. The Staff is of such power that the mage receives -1 to the difficulty for the magickal feat.
At the conclusion of this effect, the mage's body withers, and his Avatar is bound into the Staff, and the mage's name appears engraved on the Staff. While the mage has died, his consciousness does live on in the staff.
In addition to using it for magick, a mystick may, during his lifetime, ask the Staff a single question, and, using the combined knowledge of the mages who have sacrificed themselves, the Staff will answer this to the best of its ability. Use of this effect does not require self-sacrifice, although the mage may be required to funnel Quintessence into the Staff of the Mysticks..