My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

What follows are some thoughts on the Solar Approach, informed by my reading of the fifth edition and some fan-made rules. While the Immortals may call upon their Ka-elements to boost their mundane attributes and skills, they cannot do the same with Solar-Ka. (With the notable exception of the Ar-Kaim, who learn Solar Talents that exalt the potential of their bodies.) Meanwhile, the Initiates of certain Illuminati Conspiracies are able to invoke their Solar-Ka to boost various actions. Applications of the Solar Approach: Augmenting mundane actions . The Solar Approach may be invoked to boost a roll on any mundane action. In other words, replicating all of the Elemental Approaches! The most exceptional human beings, like famous athletes, pedagogues, and politicians, likely rely on a boost from their Solar-Ka to accomplish their feats. This is a key reason why The Sun Arcanum is so interesting in harnessing Solar-Ka. (This rule comes from a fan document by Hieldayn.) Resisting coercion ....

In the third edition rules, Characteristics and Difficulties (replacing the Potentials of prior editions) are rated on a five level scale noted in adverbs: Pas (1), Peu (2), Assez (3),  « … » (4), and Très (5), translating to English as Not (1), Low (2), Enough (3), "…" (4), and Very (5). In real world terms, these respectively represent disability, below average, average, above average, and the peak of human potential. Characteristics and Difficulties are then noted with adjectives: e.g. Dominant Ka is measured using the adjective Initiated. The scaling applies to both Physical Characteristics (Agile, Charming, Endurant, Intelligent, and Strong) and Social Characteristics (Wealth, Education, Relationships).  For Ka the range above applies as written to Immortals. PCs start as Low Initiated, Enough Initiated, or Initiated depending on how their Initiation step is noted at character creation (Apprentice, Companion or Master, respectively). A Very Initiated Immortal is near-Ag...

I watched the 2000 Hallmark version of The Argonauts recently and it inspired me to think about the Golden Fleece. In the US version In the US version, the nature of the Golden Fleece was never explored due to the line being cancelled. What was mentioned (see Gamemaster's Companion ) is that a mortal Jason and the Nephilim Hercules traveled to the lost Atlantean colony Colchis—nevermind that at this point in the timeline that Atlantis has been extinct for 100,000 years!—where they entered the so-called Tomb of Prometheus and acquired the Golden Fleece. Jason was unable to decipher it before he was killed by an unknown assailant and the Fleece was lost. Its true nature remains unknown... until the PCs happen to rediscover it, anyway. The Knights of the Golden Fleece (see Secret Societies ) are trying to recover it by investing in scientific research and development—although I have no idea how this helps them find the Fleece. In the French version The Quest for the Golden Fleece was...

Qiyas is a "fourth" occult science introduced in the third edition supplement Al-Mugawir . I put "fourth" in quotes because that appellation doesn't count the Selenim's occult sciences or other so-called "fourth sciences" practiced by the Exiles. So far it hasn't been officially converted to fifth edition, along with 99% of the content from past editions that aren't the rules for the three Nephilim occult sciences, so I can only refer to third edition for details. Qiyas relies on the practitioner's or Qiyasim 's Solar-Ka, so it may only be practiced by those who have awakened and integrated their Solar-Ka. This includes Ar-KaIm and initiated humans by default, but Nephilim and Selenim need to jump through further hoops before they can learn and practice it. This is done by becoming an Apprentice in any Quest that awakens one's Solar-Ka or being part of a splat that does so at character creation. Qiyas operates similarly to Sorce...

In this post, I’m gonna explain "Approaches" and provide some lists of correspondences. When an Immortal performs an action that resonates with a Ka-element, then he may apply a bonus to that action; these were known as Meta-Characteristics in editions prior to 4e. Each Ka-element is associated with a Characteristic (1-3e), a list of Skills (4e), and an Approach (5e), as I'll explain below. Meta-Characteristics Characteristic associations were introduced in 1e and modified in 3e. For Nephilim and Ar-Kaïm, the associations work like so: Ka Characteristic Air Intelligent Earth Endurant Fire Strong Moon Magnetic Water Agile In 1e/2e these bonuses were constant, whereas in 3e they must be deliberately activated. A Characteristic under the influence of the Pentacle is a "Meta-Characteristic." Fumbling a Meta-Characte...

It's a plot point in the French that Nephilim and Selenim cannot use their simulacrum's Solar-Ka due to being parasites. One of the gaps in the rules and fluff concerns the relationship between the Nephilim and the Simulacrum. Namely, it doesn't change at all as a result of the character's occult development. He doesn't learn to manipulate his Solar-Ka or anything! Here's what a French player said once on sden.org : But this brings me to the great weakness of Nephilim in its first three editions: the importance of making felt the interaction between the ka-sun and the Ka of the immortal is too overlooked. It is a little touched upon in the case of the Selenim (with a rigmarole around the emotions of predilection in the third edition), but a Nephilim progressing towards agartha, reaching high levels of Ka, occult sciences or traditions, does not see never its relationship to the Ka-Soleil of the simulacrum modified. The case of the Ar-Kaïm is undoubtedly still ap...

My planned conversion of the Black Star spells from Secret Societies has been delayed multiple times already, so I'm going to explain my rationale behind adapting these spells here. The Black Star invented several spells to destroy or enslave the Nephilim. These include Awaken Orichalc , Sacrifice Nephilim , Create Elixir , and Create Homunculus . These spells are solar techniques that generally don't require elemental Ka to cast. Awaken Orichalc The spell Awaken Orichalc comes in several versions. The oldest is a Casual Magic spell that awakens raw Orichalc by exposing it to Solar-Ka via the caster bleeding on it. When cast using Ritual Magic, the Solar-Ka may be provided by assistants or unwilling sacrifices. The caster uses his Solar-Ka to calculate the spell's POW, but uses the astrological modifier for Saturn. Orichalc may only be awakened on Saturdays, as the doomed field is otherwise too weak. Orichalc is usually too rare to make pure weapons, so the Orichalc is us...

The Nephilim rulebook p139 and Enlightened Magic  supplement p12-3 differ a bit in how they handle awakening/enlightenment and magic resistance. The Nephilim rules distinguish magic resistance like so: Nephilim resist magic at full Ka value, awakened humans resist with halved Solar-Ka value, and most other humans cannot resist magic at all. Mithradites can resist at full Solar-Ka value (see Secret Societies p73). Nephilim and other elementals resist with the same Ka-element as that of the spell (it's not explained what happens if an elemental doesn't have that Ka-element, but presumably this means resistance is impossible). Humans resist with their Solar-Ka. The  Enlightened Magic  rules distinguish magic resistance like so: the enlightened resist magic at full POW value and the unenlightened resist at halved POW value. Seers have mystic vision and can resist magic at full POW value, but cannot cast magic themselves. There's no distinction between different ele...

"Raw Magic" is my term for a miscellaneous collection of intuitive magical abilities available to the Nephilim that aren’t part of the occult sciences or arcane techniques. These include Elemental Effects, Metamorphosis Transformations, and Transmitting Ka. The occult sciences and other magical techniques derive from a more refined understanding of these basic processes. Some background “Elemental Effects” are an optional rule introduced in  Liber Ka  p88. Basically, it means that Nephilim have a very limited form of  Avatar: The Last Airbender -style elemental bending. This was expanded upon in the  Ex Oculis  fanbook on the mailing list, which renamed the mechanic “Raw Magic” or  HeKa . While I think ExO's rules were a bit too situational, I liked the name "Raw Magic" and decided to use it as an umbrella term for various magical effects created by Nephilim that don't fall under the occult sciences or other magical techniques. I like the idea of raw magic ...

Back in 1995 Michael Caprio wrote his own solar magic rules for Nephilim . These presented solar magic as psychic powers that could be learned by mortals. Written presumably before the release of  Secret Societies , this contradicts the Mithradites writeup for Solar-Ka Techniques. However, I feel these rules could still be incorporated into the setting via my addition of Ar-Kaïms inspired by the French 3e. Ar-Kaïms, in contrast to the other Immortals, are able to develop "solar magic" expressed as stereotypical psychic powers. Ordinary mortals aren't capable of developing these abilities, even among the Mithradites. Any mortal who doesn't is actually a young and uninitiated Ar-Kaïm who has yet to develop any Ka-elements beyond their innate Solar-Ka. However, the Initiates of the Occult World don't know and may mistake them for mortals with psychic powers. For reasons unknown but probably fated by the stars, Ar-Kaïms have a tendency to find and join secret societi...

One of the conceits of the setting is that there is no solar magic, at least not available to the PCs. The entire point of pursuing Agartha is to finally develop an understanding and mastery of Solar-Ka at the end of the path. Mortals cannot perform magic with their Solar-Ka. They can assist immortals who are casting ( Liber Ka p57-8), even steal Ka to cast under their own power ( Nephilim rulebook p191-2), but they cannot use Solar-Ka directly to perform magic (p190). They cannot even resist magic without being awakened, and then only at half capacity (p139). Even the Mithradites have only developed a handful of solar techniques that cannot be considered spells as such (see Secret Societies p73). A contradiction to this rule is that there are a few spells explicitly labeled “Element: Sun”:  Awaken Orichalka , Create Elixir , and Create Homunculus  (see Secret Societies p37-9). However, the first must be cast on Saturdays a la saturnian spells and the third uses lunar alc...