My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

Ar-Kaïm were first teased in a first edition accessory as a rumor of “astrological Nephilim” and formally revealed in late second edition metaplot. In the adventure path Chroniques de l'Apocalypse (“Chronicles of the Apocalypse”), Akhenaton revealed their existence to the Nephilim leaders at the Grand Conclave in 1999. However, they were only named as “Ar-Kaïm” and given concrete rules in third edition, titled  Nephilim: Revelation . They were an option for PCs alongside Nephilim and Selenim, with the option for mixed or homogenous groups. Additional rules were provided in their respective splatbook,  Codex des Ar-Kaïm  (“Codex of the Ar-Kaïm”). No playable rules have since been provided in subsequent editions.  The name Ar-Kaïm is Enochian and was given to them by the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It means “the new Kaïm”. This refers to how, after the fall of Orichalka, only Ar-Kaïm were born from the magic fields. Although the Nephilim are seemingly numerous, t...

The Ar-Kaïm were introduced in the third edition of the French version, Nephilim: Revelation . Although they received their rules in this edition, they existed in the lore as far back as the first edition's reference to new Nephilim being born from nexuses. In second edition, this reference was revised as referring to "astrological Nephilim," who are different from the "symbolic" Nephilim that are usually meant. Rather than a Pentacle of the five elements, they may possess all eight Ka, including Solar, Black Moon and Orichalc. The Ar-Kaïm were introduced as an option for beginner players, as their backstory was far shorter than that of the Nephilim. Ar-Kaïm only started being born as of 1900 and could only reincarnate within their own descendants within their current simulacrum's lifetime, so they weren't as involved in the occult history like Nephilim and Selenim. An Ar-Kaïm PC knew about as much as a beginner player. Ar-Kaïm didn't learn Occult Sc...

In a  prior post , I referenced the etymology of Archemy as deriving from archimastry . According to  another source ,  Archemy  comes  from  archè  (" principle") and  mia  (" one"). [Although I cannot find any corroborating sources for this latter part's etymology. Perhaps it derives from Italian mia  ("mine") or Latin monas  ("one; unity")?] Therefore meaning “the principle of unity”. Thus, Arkhémia is “the land of the principle of unity”, an apt name. In French fanzine Vision-Ka #2–3, a fan introduced an original occult science of Archemy designed specifically and solely for Ar-Kaïm. It displays noted similarities to Alchemy and is suggested as a path to Qiyas. The name is a play on Alchemy (which it resembles in some respects), Ar-Kaïm (who practice it) and archetypes (which informs how spells work). It involves invoking archetypes in order to get symbolically appropriate benefits, with the practice relying on physical cataly...

As I mentioned in a prior post , brief rules for the Chinese Zodiac Houses for Ar-Kaïm were introduced in a French fanzine. In these rules, determining the House and Dominant Ka worked differently from Western Ar-Kaïm. The year of the Ar-Kaïm's rebirth determined their House and thus their favorable and unfavorable Talents. Like the Western Zodiac each Chinese House has eight unique Talents, one for each Ka. Houses weren't linked to specific Dominant Ka: the location of the Nexus they were reborn in determined their Dominant Ka. E.g. a Nexus in a forest birthed dominant Earth-Ka, or a river birthed dominant Water-Ka.  Also, Air-Ka and Moon-Ka were replaced by Wood-Qi and Metal-Qi due to Feng Shui. The French cosmology was weird. However, these rules were incomplete. Only two Houses, Dragon and Pig, were detailed with their emotional natures and eight Talents. It wasn't explained how the Houses related for the purposes of learning and exercising Talents. It wasn't expla...

In astrology, the zodiac signs  are ruled by particular planets  and divided into  three decans per sign  as shown on the figure below:  In the French 3e supplement  Codex des Ar-Kaïm , the concept of Decans is introduced as an additional way to define a character's personality. Each House has its own emotional nature, further modified by the character's Decan. All Houses have three Decans, except for Serpentarius that has none. In other words, the combination of House and Decan serves a similar role to the Nephilim's Metamorphosis. In the US version, this would be represented by BRP's Passions (or Personality Traits as they're labeled in Chronicle of the Awakenings ). I'm still trying to figure out how to integrate Passions into the Ar-Kaïm rules, as Ar-Kaïm lack metamorphoses but the concept overlaps heavily with the Essences mechanic (i.e. their magic points). Ar-Kaïm display environmental manifestations as a result of their Essence values and ...

In the character creation for Ar-Kaïm, during the Past step the note determines how much of their mortal life the character remembers. Apprentice means they have total amnesia, Journeyman means they remember only dreams and confuse it with reality, and Master means no memory loss. However, this section contradicts the rest of the book(s): Ar-Kaïm don't suffer any Skill loss and amnesia is never mentioned in their lore. I suspect this text was leftover from an earlier draft as an oversight. It obviously creates problems for roleplaying so I can understand why it was revised. However, the Ar-Kaïm Codex has a short story where the narrator briefly mentions she sometimes has difficulty distinguishing dreams from reality. This inspired me to imagine a new degeneration just for Ar-Kaïm, one I tentatively call "Reverie." Ar-Kaïm have a close bond to the Astral and to the dreams of humanity. The idea behind Reverie is that it represents a loss of control and identity as a result ...

The Primes are an option for Nephilim PCs introduced in the third edition Le Codex des Nephilim . They're members of The Star who have developed their own Occult Technique to cultivate Prime Essence and use it for unique magical applications. In was revealed in the French metaplot that all Nephilim were descended from aliens known as the Voors ( who I previously discussed ), and the Primes believed that the way to become Voors again and ride the cosmic wind to the stars was by cultivating Prime Essence. The Primes are contrasted against the  allochtones , another faction within The Star who believe that they must build a physical spacecraft in order to travel the stars. Prime Essence is pure cosmic energy, unfiltered by any celestial bodies. Within the cosmology given, the universe is suffused with Prime Essence. The Sun refracts it into Solar Ethers, which are then refracted again by the planets into the Planetary Ethers, and meet at the Earth's core where they become the Rays...

The Ar-Kaïm of the House of Serpentarius, also known as Ophiuchus, are an anomaly among the Ar-Kaïm due to their dominant Ka being Black Moon. An Ar-Kaïm's House (and thus dominant Ka) is determined by the zodiac month under which their Heart was "born" within a Nexus formed during a Grand Enthronement. But there are no Enthronements, and thus no Grand Enthronements, of the Black Moon. So how are Serpentaries born in the first place? Thus far I haven't yet found explicit suggestions in the third edition books I've read so far, but I do have some ideas. The House of Serpentarius lacks a zodiac month of its own and is explicitly stated to be parasitic on the other Houses, just as the Black Moon parasitizes the other elements. If a Nexus forms in a place where the Black Moon fields are particularly concentrated, such as a cemetery or necropolis, perhaps the Black Moon then transforms any resulting Ar-Kaïm into a Serpentary? During times of syzygy (full or new moon), ...

In the French version and the US rulebook, the Nephilim are body snatchers. Whenever the Simulacrum regains control, they enter a state of Shouit ("shadow"). Selenim and Ar-Kaïm don't suffer from Shouit: the Selenim's transformation loses much of their humanity, including the Simulacrum's mind, whereas the Ar-Kaïm aren't body snatchers at all but integrate their Simulacrum's Solar-Ka into their Hearts (that said, their awakening can cause memory loss ranging from only recalling the Simulacrum's dreams to complete amnesia). Under an awakened or symbiotic perspective, like that advanced by the Chaosium writers in the Gamemaster's Companion (or especially in the unfinished Ex Oculis fanbook), Shouit is instead reframed as a psychological retreat from the occult into mundanity (or perhaps a dissociation in the bond between the Pentacle and Solar Core). In this case, it would make sense that it would then be able to apply to Selenim and Ar-Kaïm. But s...

In an older post I gave some thoughts on past lives for Ar-Kaïms. I wrote that before I started reading Codex des Ar-Kaïm , which provided some rules in this regard already! The third edition rules suffered from space constraints, so some key parts of character creation had to be placed in the Codex for each magical race. This includes "Past Points", which players used to purchase magic items and spells for their PCs that were acquired over the course of their past and retained into the present era. Ar-Kaïms gained a Lineage parameter that determined how many times they'd previously reincarnated, with each level representing one generation or ~3 decades. This only went back to 1900, the start of the Great Awakening. So they didn't have the ancient past lives like Nephilim and Ex-Nephilim Selenim had. However, the fifth edition rulebook briefly recaps their fluff in one chapter and specifies that they've existed for centuries at least but were concealed by the Rom...

In the fanzine  Palimpseste issue #1 and issue #2 , Houses based on the Chinese zodiac are introduced. These work different from the Western houses: they lack a fixed dominant Ka. The sign is determined by the year in which the Revealed is "born", while his dominant Ka is determined by the temporal circumstances of his birth. A Nexus that formed in a forest would birth a Heart with dominant Earth-Ka. In the French version's cosmology, the Chinese Nephilim used magic to purify the Ka of China's magical landscape. Air-Ka and Moon-Ka became Wood-Qi and Metal-Qi. This renders them immune to Black Moon contamination, so there were no Chinese Selenim (although there were "Khan" in Siberia who wanted to invade). So only those Ar-Kaïm born in China would display Chinese zodiac Houses. (In the US version, Chinese Nephilim are called Xian-ren but nothing more was written about them. Ian’s Selenim notes specify they coexisted with the Chinese Selenim or Xixiegui.) I...

The Zodiac is a basic part of Nephilim's astrology rules. The image below illustrates the order of the signs and their associations with the planets. It uses the planet symbols from medieval alchemy. Starting in third edition and retained in all subsequent editions so far, Capricorn changed to a Moon sign. Presumably this was done for game balance reasons, as otherwise Moon spells had only one month for themselves while the other four elements had two each. This breaks compatibility with prior editions (such as the Saturnian magic in Secret Societies needing to be cast under Grand Enthronements of Saturn), but I have a house rule for that . In the US version, the association between planets and elements was altered compared to the French. I briefly compare this on the table below: Planet Signs (Element*) Day Ka (FR) Ka (US) Mercury Gemini (Air), Virgo (Earth) Wednesday Water Air ...

I have a few thoughts on the Jesus Incident in the game lore. For some background to get you up to speed... The US version So in the US rulebook, page 64–5 explains: In this context the Jesus incident took place. Reports of the events are muddy, having been obscured by Templars, the Church, and others in the time since they occurred. Even most Nephilim are not exactly sure what happened, or how.  Human, or perhaps more correctly Humanistic, history has a theory. According to them Jesus was a prophet who announced the coming of a spiritual kingdom. He delivered his message throughout Judea and was condemned by the Romans for attempting to spark civil war. He suffered the Roman torture of crucifixion.  Accepted religious history professes a different message. The Christian Church says that Jesus was the Messiah who had been announced in the Old Testament, that he is the Son of God, and that he came upon Earth to spread the Good News. During his life he accomplished numerous mira...

What follows is how disembodied and incarnated Immortals work in my campaigns, how they’re born, their ecology, sentience, etc.  Nephilim What is a Nephilim? A Nephilim is a fusion of a human being and an elemental spirit of the five fields, creating a microcosm of the Solar system that allows the Super-Ego to emerge and pursue Agartha.  What is that elemental?  Every proto-Nephilim is born from a Nexus during a Grand Enthronement when the stars are right. The element of the Enthronement determines its Dominant Ka. The conditions are so precise that this is impossible to predict more than a week in advance.  By itself, the proto-Nephilim is a beast little different than others born from the magic fields. The key difference is that it is composed of the five elements at once, when other elementals rarely exceed one. It looks like its metamorphosis fully manifest in Khaiba, but may display a few curiously human features and a seemingly higher intelligence than most ot...

The degeneration named "Instability" is the price that Ar-Kaïms pay for being able to utilize all eight elements without being limited by the Nephilim's Cardinal Balance or the Selenim's Entropy. The following rules are adapted from the French 3e. The Ar-Kaïm's Instability POT is equal to the difference between the highest and lowest Ka-elements in the character's Heart. This calculation uses the current/temporary values, not the permanent values. If an Ar-Kaïm overcharges his Heart or fumbles any magical roll, then he must make an Instability check. The character contests his Ka against his Instability POT on the Resistance Table, with the following effects: Effects of Overload FAILURE: 10 points from the Heart evaporate into the magic fields. This loss is distributed at the player's discretion. FUMBLE: 20 points evaporate. SUCCESS: Nothing happens immediately, but the character must release the excess as quickly as possible to resolve the overload. Anoth...

In my campaign setting, Ar-Kaïms or "Astrological Nephilim" have appeared sporadically throughout history as mere legends but started appearing in greater numbers since the 20th century. This coincides with the subsequent increased awakenings of Nephilim due to the magic disturbances caused by the Golden Dawn, and the subsequent increase in Ar-Kaïms awakening was probably caused/aggravated by the same. (This is the case in the French too.) In the French version, Ar-Kaïm didn’t have past lives even after reincarnation (and they could only reincarnate in willing blood relatives too). Where the nephilim were alien body snatchers, the Ar-Kaïms were enlightened humans or Aberrant -inspired superheroes. They didn’t prove very popular, so the 5th edition put them all on a bus and they vanished from canon. The other difference between the symbolic Nephilim and the astrological Nephilim aka Ar-Kaïm is that the latter may incorporate any combination of elements within their Ka-Heart. T...

To keep myself straight, I thought I’d keep track of this here. I’m using the US version (for Nephilim) and the French version (for Selenim and Ar-Kaïm) as a basis, but I’m not necessarily beholden to it. Upon the death of a nephilim (see Nephilim rulebook p116), their elemental essence flees their simulacrum and takes spectral form (the nephilim’s metamorphosis, devoid of humanity) only detectable via mystic vision. This elemental is entitled to search for a new bearer. If it cannot, then it will inevitably be drawn back into its stasis regardless of intervening distance. If the stasis is already full, then the elemental becomes stuck in place and enter a narcosis that causes various haunting phenomena (see  Nephilim rulebook p116-7.) In favorable conditions the spirit can precipitate the birth of elemental beasts, such as the banshee (see Gamemaster’s Companion p57). This narcosis can last for centuries, but eventually the spirit will disintegrate and disperse into the magic f...