My Nephilim Occult RPing Blog

As with Necromancy ( part 1  and part 2) and Black Summoning ( part 1 and part 2), I’m recapping the 3e Anamorphosis rules in anticipation of my own take for the US version. As with Necromancy and Conjuration, third edition set out to make Anamorphosis playable. I think it succeeded and I really like what they did. It isn't perfect and there's definitely room for expansion, but that's true of anything! “Anamorphosis”  is a pun  referring to a  real art technique . This technique is featured in the 2007 horror film  Anamorph , if you want the inspiration. The Imago itself is comparable to a  tulpa . Using Anamorphosis Theory and progression Unlike the other occult sciences, Anamorphosis doesn’t have foci, artifacts, or even conventional spells. Instead of conventional spells, this obscure science has "Aspects" that are personalized to each practitioner or "Anamorph" and his "Imago." Selenim don't have a metamorphosis like Nephilim. However,...

Stasis items have a fixed capacity, which is a function of its enchantment and bond to its owner. Attempting to overfill a stasis item results in the excess charges bleeding off into the environment. This causes weird phenomena like random poltergeist activity, bizarre power outages, rains of frogs, etc. similar to that caused by a Paredrus in Narcosis. ​There are a few situations in which this happens, not all of which you would expect. I’m still working on my rules, so these may change. Leaving a Stasis item in a Plexus or Nexus after it has fully charged. A Stasis item only holds 20 charges. Releasing and reincarnating a Paredrus from a Stasis item after charging it in a Plexus. A Stasis item only stores 4 charges of each element while the Nephilim is incarnate. Losing Pentacle branches as a result of becoming Selenim. The lost branches are automatically sucked into the Stasis item, displacing any charges of that element. Casting the Ritual Magic Spell Stay of the Centuries . This s...

"Conductor" is a term I came up with to refer to previously non-magical locations conducive to the generation of magical phenomena: Loci, Plexi and Nexi. (See my post on those for details.) During a Grand Enthronement, a Conductor can sustain a Plexus or Nexus appropriate to the nature of the conductor. The oldest tree in a forest will host an Earth Plexus, a volcanic caldera will host a Fire Plexus, an abandoned church will host a Moon Plexus, etc. If the Conductor is destroyed, then the magical phenomenon can no longer form there. By destroying Conductors, anti-Nephilim conspiracies can deny access to the benefits. Furthermore, the phenomenon behind Conductors is the same basis behind esoteric architecture such as the Egyptian tombs and the European cathedrals. The only distinction is that Conductors are naturally-occurring and simplistic, whereas esoteric architecture is artificial and far more complex. Destroying a Conductor while it is currently hosting a Plexus release...

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 ...

This is an addendum to my posts on  summoning spell types  and  magical names . There are two types of Invocation : The first is when a spirit is invoked to grant the summoner its desired qualities,  as opposed to  appearing before the summoner and acting on his behalf. This is a Spiritual Invocation . The second is when one of the divine names is prayed to or called out in order to bind or compel a spirit into service,  as in the Key of Solomon . E.g. Latin In nomine Jesu “In the name of Jesus”. This is a Divine Invocation . The divine invocation is not actually its own spell, but part of any summoning spell. When a summoner dominates or banishes an entity, he usually invokes a divine name as part of the ritual.

While researching the French books I came across some unfamiliar words in the jargon for Alchemy:  Arkhémia and Spagyrie . The former refers to new world being created by a group of five master alchemists, while the latter refers to alchemical artifacts. I did some research and these words derived from real alchemy practices: the words in the English lexicon are seemingly " archemy " and " spagyrics " (sometimes "spagery" or "spagyry"). Various "modern alchemy" blogs define this in very different ways, even some academic papers too, but I found the historical uses. According to  A Dictionary of Western Alchemy by Jordan Stratford, on p10: archemy, archimastry A neologism that implies superior practice of the art of alchemy. It seems to be used by some alchemists to differentiate their activities from those of their rivals (Giovanni Agostino Pantheo refers to the rival practice as "illicit and duplicitous alchemy" as opposed ...

As an addendum to my prior post , here’s a brief recap of how the fourth edition handled the five sorcery paths. These were called Labyrinthes de Sapience  ("Labyrinths of Wisdom") and  Voies de Magie  ("Ways of Magic") in French. Each element has spiritual, material and celestial correspondences. These are represented by lists of words called Domains , encompassing all possible meanings of that word. Literal, figurative, etc. In third edition, as I explained, these were listed on a universal Analogy Table used by all mages. Words not on the table had to be linked to, from a word on the table, by word chains to use them in spells. At character creation, mages inscribed one spell per level in Magic Techniques: up to 3 spells per Technique. Mages could cast spells without inscription, but it was slightly harder. In fourth edition, mages started with a blank Analogy Table and had to learn words individually. They couldn't learn words that weren't listed in the...