My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

These are my musings on the Saturnian field for my campaign homebrew... The Saturnian field is an anomaly compared to the other magic fields of Earth.  It doesn't radiate, but instead pools, particularly within flints and heavy metals as "Saturnite". This is the closest as it ever gets to having a physical manifestation. Rather than a physical substance like earth, water or air, it is only ever present as prima materia Saturni . (The prima materia is the residual Ka present within matter, leftover from when the matter was formed from the magic fields. This prima materia is what alchemy acts on.) Concentrations of Saturnite ore mutually repel the five elemental fields. These appear as a "hole" in Ka-Vision; indeed, the Immortals cannot perceive it directly. However, it is possible for mortals to detect it indirectly because it causes unpleasant vibrations in Solar-Ka. Particularly sensitive individuals may be trained as dowsers by secret societies. When exposed...

In the French version, the prima materia  ("primary matter, first matter") is a foundational principle of alchemy, though the details differ between editions. The name is taken from real alchemical texts, although the French writers interpret it quite liberally. Furthermore, the word materia in alchemical contexts doesn't simply refer to matter as we understand it, but to the created world (see A dictionary of western alchemy  by Jordan Stratford). The prima materia is the residual Ka present in all material objects, leftover from the original formation of the Earth and the movements of the magic fields. It is the origin of matter. Alchemy operates by acting on this prima materia , activating it and causing the desired magical effect. The alchemical substance generates its own miniature magic field, which resonates with the ambient magic fields of the Earth to produce the spell (so alchemy spells cannot be cast if the appropriate magic field isn't present). In editi...

In  a prior post  I mentioned relict athanors from third edition. I wanted to give an update on that, as since I wrote that I translated  The Gamemaster's Book  that provided more details. Basically, the athanor develops sapience as the alchemist progresses through the circles. It remains benign, and a master alchemist can transfer the athanor's Ka into a golem to create a familiar, or even into a living human body! If the alchemist disobeys certain limits, the spirit may become malignant and attempt to possess the alchemist's simulacrum. It cannot actually kill the alchemist, as this would kill it too, but it can become quite troublesome.  I read a French fanbook on alchemy collating and expanding the various canonical alchemy traditions in an unofficial revision/fork of third edition. (For reference, the fanbook was written by a Hubert "Ouroboros" Terrieux. It is divided into three files:  alchemy rules ,  western formulae ,  spagyrie artifacts ...

In a prior post I discussed how the French version liked to classify Metamorphoses by qualities like hot, cold, wet and dry. In any case, the metamorphoses aren't limited to any particular genders. Although some metamorphoses are inspired by mythological beings with particular genders, there's no rule that the Simulacrum must match that gender. So you can have a Satyress (Satyr), Tritoness (Triton), Undino (Undine), Dada Yaga (Baba Yaga), Fear Sidhe (Bean Sidhe), and so on, regardless of the gendered flavor text. Recently I discovered an old French netbook of metamorphoses , and what struck me upon reading was that it associated metamorphoses with specific genders (of the Simulacrum), neutral Ka-elements, and opposed Ka-elements. I recount these on the table below: Dominant Ka Metamorphosis Simulacrum's Sex Major Neutral Major Opposed Pyrim Djinn Man or Woman Earth Water Pyrim Phoenix ...

I'm not an occultist myself and my knowledge of the occult is practically nil, so I've never really understood concepts like the Olamot nor how to authentically simplify them for a gaming context. However, I've found one explanation someone else already did for a gaming context. In Craig Cochrane's Immortals Handbook: Ascension , he mentions the Four Worlds of Assiah, Yetzirah, Briah and Atziluth by name and describes them in simplified form for a gaming context. He assigns them to different dimensions, axes of a coordinate system, that make up our universe. These dimensions are, respectively, Space (technically three dimensions), Time, Matter and Spirit. (Da'ath, "The Abyss", is the dimension of Thought.) So I thought I'd recap that here and explain it in terms of the emanations. Within the Kabbalistic context, the Four Worlds are successive emanations of the Divine that give form and existence to our universe. The first emanation is Atziluth and it i...

As I've mentioned before, Montgomery's blog provided a response to the "possession problem" that seemingly kept players from getting into Nephilim : On the other hand, the core principle of the game is accurate to the Western Mystery Tradition, which has always held that humanity cannot save itself.  Bound to the animal world of matter, only those who form a partnership with a higher spiritual power can become inhuman and ascend to higher reality;   ...The mutation of one’s deepest structure is the only thing that matters for the purposes of higher knowledge. This knowledge, which is at the same time wisdom and power, is essentially nonhuman; it can be achieved by following a way that presupposes the active and effective overcoming of the human condition...  Julius Evola, Introduzione alla Magia   To this end the Tradition has long embraced the principle of uniting with an alien, spiritual being;   (there) is an auxiliary divine, or semi-divine (daimô...

Over in the US version's fandom back in the day, a big deal was made over the Nephilim being body snatchers and how this made them unsympathetic. Furthermore, the role of the Simulacrum and the Nephilim's relationship to his Solar-Ka remained woefully undeveloped beyond "his family becomes concerned and stages an intervention that you have to escape." I agree to a large extent, which is why in my campaigns the Nephilim are hybrid entities akin to Star Trek 's trill, the Avatar from Avatar: The Last Airbender , Leto II from God Emperor of Dune , etc.  But one old recurring proposal I disagree with is the idea that Nephilim need to balance the mundane and magical sides of their life, or else suffer increased Shouit and other risks. The simple fact of the matter is that 1) their advancing metamorphoses make it increasingly difficult to blend in unless they're Hanged Men, and 2) dealing with mundane minutiae is boring when Chaosium tried to advertise play as a mix...

In this post I will present a Nephilim perspective on Selenim for roleplay purposes. This includes myths and facts in order of how likely Nephilim would know it. Many are copied from the French , but modified for the US version. As of the Great Awakening, the old barriers are breaking down. Due to PC exceptionalism, a typical party will consist of 2–3 Nephilim, 1–2 Selenim and 1–2 Ar-Kaïm, thus knowing better. “The children of Lilith denied their blood. Cursed among the fallen angels. They were condemned to mourn death. That was when the curse of unlife began.”   —The Book of Enoch L 1:13 General beliefs Myth #1 : The Selenim are degenerate beings, no better than the Devil’s Shabs. Truth : The Selenim are just as diverse in their beliefs as the Nephilim.  Myth #2 : They are forever cut off from the Golden Path, and will never reach Agartha. Truth : The Anamorphs believe they can reach a pseudo-Agartha they call "Apotheosis" by constructing their own Realm within the resid...

In Nephilim: Revelation , the French third edition, the Occult Sciences got some new jargon for their practitioners and spells. These were: Occult Science  Keyword Practitioner  Spells Magic Intuition  Mage Sortileges Kabbalah  Relation Kabbalist Invocations  Alchemy  Construction  Alchemist  Formulae Each Occult Science had some further jargon specific to it, the "symbolic and social", including titles for each circle, colors, and attributes. The third edition structured these after the medieval tradesmen system of Apprentice, Companion (Journeyman) and Master. E.g. an Apprentice Mage was titled a Disciple, and one with mastery in Lower Magic was ranked as a Master Disciple. Technique Title Color Attribute Lower Magic Disciple ...

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...

What is a Nephilim? What are the Ego, Super-Ego, and Id? What is the nature of an elemental essence outside a body? What is the relationship between Nephilim and elemental beasts? How do the secret societies view Nephilim? How do Selenim and Ar-KaIm differ? Who were the KaIm and how do they differ? Long story short, I've tweaked Immortals to no longer be body snatchers because I want to make it easier for players to get into the game and sympathize with the PCs. That seems to be much easier when the PCs aren't body snatchers. See Montgomery's blog posts  here , here , here , here and here . Each Immortal is a fusion of a mortal human being, body and soul, with an elemental essence or spirit. Each has a psychic apparatus of three interacting agents: the elemental Id, the human Ego, and the immortal Super-Ego. The elemental's Id provides the Immortal's Personality Traits aka Emotional Traits, which the Immortal must understand and master in order to reach Agartha. Th...

In this post I explain the spiritual meaning of the Nephilim’s pentacle and the Ka-elements themselves. Although linked to specific game statistics, like Fire to Strength and Moon to Charisma, all of the elements have physical, mental and spiritual correspondences and manifestations.  It’s not one or the other . You don’t have to posit different cultures all have different elements to explain varying beliefs. Real occultism isn’t supposed to be accurate in the game world anyway, but the result of information leaks and cargo cults by muggles. Liam Routt gave a good explanation in  his old FAQ : (I’m putting it between horizontal rules because blogger has issues with formatting) The Spiritual Pentagram Traditionally, the pentagram represents our spiritual, mental, emotional and physical composition: Fire Doing—Fire is energy, the power to act. But it is pure action, undirected by thought or feeling. Air Thinking—Air is thinking, ideation, mental activity, but it can...

In the French version , athanors were revised over the editions.  First Edition In the first edition, the Athanor was an egg-shaped oven that produced alchemical Powders for all five elements.  US version This was retained by the US version. Although a revised system was planned and drafted, the line was canceled before it could be released. These rules were later genericized and incorporated into the BRP supplement  Enlightened Magic . In those rules, the Circles were reorganized like so: Black Stone involved manipulation of physical substances via the laboratory, athanor and alchemical materials. It affected the physical. White Stone involved the creation of works of art that induced a specific effect in the minds of the audience. It affected the mental. Philosopher's Stone involved meditations that would affect the very souls of the alchemist's targets. It affected the spiritual. In other words, much of the first and second circles of the French were consigned to...