Thoughts on metamorphosis and anamorphosis

Something that always struck me as strange was that Selenim magic operated on completely different principles from Nephilim magic. Their occult sciences weren't divided into circles (except in French 3e, which was undone in French 5e for some reason). They didn't even have metamorphosis in the same sense as nephilim, but an "anamorphosis" or "imago" that is conceptually similar but very different in execution.

Making matters more difficult is that the rules for metamorphosis have changed significantly across editions. Since the Chaosium adaptation is probably the one that most fans in the Anglosphere are familiar with, I'll be using the rules from Chronicle of the Awakenings as my reference point as well as the planned but cancelled Selenim adaptation (archive saved here). Plus some conceits from the Ex Oculis fan material shared on the mailing list.

In Chronicle of the Awakenings, metamorphoses each have five personality traits with an associated physical transformation. The power and potential visibility of the aspect grows as the rating in the personality trait increases. The personality trait doesn't necessarily represent an emotion that the Nephilim constantly displays themselves, but an emotion that they have deliberately cultivated and learned to control and exploit. 

Ex Oculis suggests that aspects don't represent a physical transformation per se, but are spiritual constructs of Ka that can affect the world as if they were physical. They overlay the body rather than literally transform it. However, using aspects makes it easier for them to be detected, even briefly by the uninitiated. [Ex Oculis further suggested merging meta-characteristics into metamorphosis manifestations, i.e. using a meta-characteristic bonus would make the metamorph easier to detect. IIUC the French version at one point introduced similar mechanics for using meta-characteristics, meta-maneuvers, meta-effects, etc, but I don't know the details, sorry.]

The way I handle it is that Selenim have metamorphoses of their own, but with distinct differences. Where Nephilim have symbolic metamorphoses that can be classified into archetypes like ifrit, sylph, serpent, and so on, the Selenim have evocative metamorphoses are unique to each initiate. A Selenim's personality traits don't correspond to emotions they cultivate within themselves, but emotions they prefer to evoke within others for the purposes of assuaging (the name for the Selenim's feeding process). A Selenim's aspects not only allow them to affect the physical world like Nephilim, but also evoke the corresponding emotions within others. To the nephilim's ka-vision, the selenim's metamorph appears as an indistinct shadow (see “Viewing Seronia”, Serpent Moon p12).

The rules for visibility are scattered and varied between nephilim and selenim. I’d say that the overall visibility of a metamorph or individual aspects is determined by a combination of its trait ratings, astrological modifiers, the local magic field strength, whether the nephilim is using magic (including metamorph traits), and the sensitivity of the viewer. E.g. a mundane looking at a Snake standing in a lunar plexus during an eclipse might glimpse scales, snake eyes, and a tail.

Which brings me to the subject of Anamorphosis and Imago. In the French version, the Selenim didn't manifest a metamorphosis but instead created an elemental creature known as an Imago which provided similar benefits. (Long story short, it worked vaguely like a Stand from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure or a Doppel from Magia Record.) In 3e, this was turned into its own occult science with three circles known as Anamorphosis. I have no idea why the game decided to take such a radical departure from the Nephilim's metamorphosis rules, but it's a recurring theme. Ironically, the selenim's aspects having a stronger physical effect than the nephilim's in French made them closer to the rules introduced by CotA.

The adaptation notes for the cancelled US adaptation suggest the French rules for building individual aspects with their own Ka pools would've been merged into the rules for personality trait ratings from CotA, but it strikes me as clunky to have two different ratings for single aspects. As I've mentioned before, an idea that occurred to me was taking this concept of Anamorphosis and expanding it into an occult science that could be learned by Nephilim as well. The first circle would involve projecting the metamorphosis into a kind of familiar spirit, the second would allow the imago to affect the physical world and travel the astral realms, and the third would involve it becoming its own pocket universe or astral realm.

I have to think more on it.