Anamorphosis explained, part 2

The rules and lore for Nephilim have always been in flux. Even during first and second edition, the writers changed their minds between books, retconned details, or cleaned and clarified previously vague information. Later books in each edition would commonly provide new rules and lore that superseded prior books.

Nephilim: Revelation collected and condensed a truly huge amount of rules, lore, and revisions thereof. Even then it had to cut huge swathes to fit into the books. I don’t envy the writers. Going through all those books to make sure you had the most current revisions to rules and lore sounds like a huge pain. I’m glad NR did the bulk of the work for me!

In parts one and one-and-a-half of this series I recapped the rules for Anamorphosis. In this post, I explain key differences between NR and prior editions as well as listing deprecated spells. I also note some comparisons to 5e, as that directly continues from 1e/2e while ignoring 3e. 

A key difference between 3e and other editions was that it changed Selenim from being largely NPCs with minimal support for PCs, to being a PC option in the core rulebook. This results is significant differences in the rules, with the 3e rules being more detailed and balanced, whereas the 1e/2e/5e rules are vague and wishy-washy.

Deprecated Aspects

The 1e/2e rules for manifesting Aspects are fairly harsh, with many causing physical damage to the Simulacrum for activating. 3e dropped any detrimental effects (other than those arising from Fumbles, which serve a similar role here) and emphasized that Aspects make Anamorphs veritable monsters in combat, which is the intent. How else would they have posed such a threat to the Promethean Glaives? 

Many Aspects in 1e/2e were purely cosmetic and had no useful game effect. In 3e all Aspects are given some kind of useful game effect. These usually relate to combat prowess, because obviously, but some provide beauty or intelligence and players to free to invent more in that vein.

Most of the Aspects from the 1e/2e Miscellaneous category were not retained or adapted into 3e, nor do they have any approximants in 3e (e.g. 1e/2e's Mist and Trunk are comparable 3e's Fetid Mist and Venomous Tongue). These were:

• Visibility. Make the Imago visible to humans or Nephilim. 
• Invisibility. Conceal the Imago from the Ka-Vision of other Selenim.
• Odor. Exude an odor reflecting the preferred emotion to assuage, such as a sadist exuding the smell of blood.
• Glow. A halo that illuminates up to two meters away.
• Horns. Oddly, horns are mentioned as a potential Aspect in the 3e book, but aren't given a writeup.

I can see why these were removed. Most serve little to no purpose and don't fit into any of the Morphs. The 3e book says players may invent new Aspects, so it should be easy enough to recreate them if the player really wants to. They could also be converted to Gains in the Quest associated with Anamorphosis (every Occult Science was planned to have an associated Quest, but the publisher went under before the planned supplements were published).

Aspects and Approaches

5e introduced Approaches, its implementation of Meta-Characteristics. This edition stated that Black Moon-Ka and Imago's Aspects could provide Approaches. BMK provides a bonus to manipulating emotions, positive or negative, while that of Aspects varied by their form. 

3e did give Selenim the ability to curse mortals with an equivalent penalty, but this ability didn't reappear in 5e. They simply copyedited first and second edition materials.

Other deprecated Imago mechanics

Several non-Aspect effects from 1e/2e were deprecated in 3e. The 3e book says players may invent new Aspects, so it should be easy enough to recreate them if the player really wants to. 

Vision-Ka #6 introduces rules that adapt some of these deprecated effects into 3e. Presumably the unwritten Occult Sciences supplement would've introduced more rules replicating the deprecated spells. 

They could also be converted to Gains in the Occult Quest for Anamorphosis. Every Occult Science was planned to have an associated Quest, but the publisher went under before the planned supplements were published. 

Spontaneous manifestation

In 1e/2e Aspects spontaneously manifested at no cost based on local magic field intensity, such as in a Moon Plexus, a sufficiently powerful Black Moon field, or inside a Realm. There were several states of intensity explained.

In 3e, the Anamorph needs the Black Moon Field present to be constructed and to manifest, but Aspects never manifest spontaneously. The rules for Black Moon fields were simplified from several degrees of intensity to a simple "present" or "not present." However, the Gamemaster’s Book notes in the chapter on the Astral that Aspects will manifest spontaneously, at no cost and randomly selected, if the Anamorph visits the Anti-Lands.

Vision-Ka #6 reintroduces rules for different field states, but this doesn't cause spontaneous manifestation.

Remote Assuaging

In 1e/2e the Selenim could dispatch the Imago from his Simulacrum to Assuage on the Selenim's behalf, although (as expected) no rules were provided for adjudicating this. 

In 3e, the Imago simply cannot move away from the Anamorph except as an unwanted consequence of certain Fumbles. If a player wishes to Assuage remotely, there are options in the rulebook. Necromancy has spells allowing the necromancer to Assuage remotely via Restless or Living-Dead familiars. The evocation Maleficent Sovereigns of Apathy drains SK from its hosts and transfers it to the conjurer remotely.

Vision-Ka #6 includes Aspects for Allomorphosis allowing the Imago to Assuage on the Anamorph's behalf.

Transmigration of the Core

In 1e/2e the Selenim could retire within the Imago as a spare body, and possess a new Simulacrum. 

In 5e this ancient rule was given clarification. Selenim had to spend BMK to move the Imago and then make a BMK roll to possess a new body. The new fluff specified that in past eras Selenim would rely on sacrificial kings, worshiped in luxury for a year before paying the price, to provide their new simulacra. In modern times they'd gaslight potential simulacra with magic and such to soften them up.

In 3e, the Selenim must construct a Realm and reach Domination M to take a new Simulacrum. A Selenim whose Simulacrum dies in the Anti-Lands will survive in disembodied form and may reincarnate by hijacking a mortal’s astral body. Loa Guédé can reincarnate using Ritual of the Asson. 

Size and mobility

In 1e/2e the Imago grew in size as more BMK was invested and eventually became fixed in place, ultimately "collapsing" into a Realm once it was "warehouse"-sized. Despite the Imago no longer technically existing, the Anamorph could continue to manifest Aspects.

 In 3e, the Imago remains roughly human-sized and mobile for its entire existence. To build a Realm, the Anamorph must first construct an Anchor in a suitable territory. The Imago will then reside within the Realm's center for the rest of its existence, although the Defense Aspect allows it to move freely within the Realm and defend against intruders.

The 1e Selenim supplement opened with a first person account of the narrator encountering a cult worshiping a visible Imago fixed in place within a mausoleum. In 3e, this scene would still work as written but would now occur inside the Realm.

Sentience

In 1e/2e, the Imago was simply a construct of BMK. 

In 3e it became an elemental creature endowed with sentience, a personality, and the ability to speak to its creator. Anamorphs often gave names to their Imagoes. In some instances, an Imago could become an independent entity from its creator and continue to build its own Realm!

Entropy and the Imago

In 1e/2e, as Entropy advanced then the Imago and Simulacrum would suffer various physical side-effects. The Imago would gradually decay until nothing was left, while the Simulacrum would suffer horrific mutations and disfigurements as a result of the Aspects manifesting spontaneously and then decaying. The Selenim could sacrifice Aspects from the Imago to fill their Pool and stop Entropy.  

In 3e, this physical deterioration as a result of Entropy is dropped but some similar effects are present as Anamorphosis Fumbles. The Imago and Simulacrum don't suffer deleterious effects simply as a result of Entropy, aside from dying along with the Selenim when Ka reached 0. The Imago's Aspects cannot be sacrificed to refill the Pool.

Rules for Realms

The Realms simply didn’t have rules in prior editions, just vague ideas rather than functional game content. 3e provided much-needed and extensive rules for it! Nonetheless, a few changes were made to the fluff outside of providing concrete rules, although most of these concepts were previously introduced in 2e supplements published after the 2e Selenim book.

Entropy?

In 1e/2e it was stated that Sovereigns (the creator and ruler of the Realm) were no longer subject to Entropy within their Realm. Despite this, other passages said they still needed to harvest Solar-Ka to get BMK needed to build and maintain their Realm.

Some Realms could survive in the absence of human populations if built on a rare Black Moon field of exceptional power. However, this was deprecated in the later 2e Exils book that explicitly stated the Yohual Tecuhtlin relied on sacrifice to feed their Realms and had to downsize after the Spanish Conquest.

In 3e, it was clarified that all Realms were subject to Entropy and the Sovereign had to maintain the Realm's Black Moon Pool by harvesting Solar-Ka from the inhabitants of the territory on Earth. Rules were given for calculating these values (see my prior post). However, the Codex des Selenim specifies the Yohual Tecuhtlin did rely on the unique magical environment of Mesoamerica to make it easier to establish Realms.

Conjuring entities and artifacts

In 1e/2e, Sovereigns could generate landscapes, inhabitants, and even artifacts out of BMK. This seemingly didn't require any skill in Black Kabbalah.

In 3e the Sovereigns can no longer generate inhabitants or useable items out of their Realm's BMK reserve, but must explicitly use Conjuration or lure entities from adjacent Anti-Lands.

Extent of territory 

In 1e/2e Realms could cover whole cities or even swathes of countries, seemingly without limit.

In 3e the extent of a Realm’s territory has been hugely shrunk and given concrete limits for foundation. The territory must have a consistent emotional atmosphere, so a city or country isn't viable but a skyscraper or desert is. Codex des Selenim mentions multiple sovereigns pooling resources to link or merge their Realms, such as the Cult of Lilith opening portals between Realms or the Loa Guédé’s Realms fused into Raven at Haiti. 

Other Anamorph lore

The lore for Anamorphs themselves is also modified between 1e/2e and 3e. 

Selenim ?= Anamorph

In 1e/2e it was assumed that all Selenim inevitably developed their Imago and then a Realm, but in 3e this is no longer the case. All three Selenim occult sciences (Necromancy, Conjuration and Anamorphosis) now have three circles and the Selenim are obligated to specialize in one. So not all Selenim necessarily develop an Imago, much less a Realm.

Apotheosis and Agartha

In 1e/2e the term "Apotheosis" (used by Selenim) or "Assumption" (used by Nephilim) described the moment a Selenim constructed their Realm. It was initially believed that Selenim couldn't achieve Agartha and instead their Apotheosis was the best they could do. 

A further state called "Ascension" was described. At this point, the Realm has become so powerful that it will be expelled into the Ethers and become a new Black Moon! No rules are provided, obviously. The goal of the Cult of Lilith was to channel BMK into Lilith's Realm to create a new Black Moon, but they were stopped by the intervention of the Parcae.

In 3e, it was explained that all Immortals could reach Agartha by completing a Quest. The idea that one could reach Agartha simply by mastering an Occult Science was retroactively explained as a myth. Apotheosis is now its own Agarthic Quest, defined as mastering the Occult Quest of Anamorphosis. Necromancy and Conjuration were said to have their own Occult Quests too.

It was explained that the Tablet of Arcanum XIII contained an Agarthic Quest: the Bronzen Sublimation. By reversing the Assuaging and sublimating their BMK into Solar-Ka, the Selenim could become Agarthans. The Parcae were three such Selenim who had reached Agartha.

Hope you enjoyed!