When a sorcerer chooses
to follow the path of initiation, he sets himself apart from his fellows
by making a deeper commitment to his studies. He also places himself at
risk, as the deeper levels of magical interaction open him up to domination
by the very powers he has sought to master!
Initiation creates a source
of 'shadow POW', usually referred to as a Twin (some cultures refer
to it as a shadow, or doppleganger, etc..). Like a shaman's fetch,
this POW exists on the Spirit plane, and makes the sorcerer subject to
a certain degree of distraction. However, unlike the shaman's fetch, the
sorcerer has no access to his Twin's magic points, nor will it assist him
in spirit combat. The Twin is comprised of the sorcerer's suppressed desires,
darker emotions, and whatever other 'spiritual baggage' the sorcerer seeks
to purify himself of. (Vows are a good source of ideas concerning what
the Twin is comprised of; Celibacy, Never Kill, the various Abjure
Vows, make good 'repressed' desires).
However, by the very act of concentrating such emotions into the spirit plane, he slowly forges an enemy which may someday come to challenge him for the control of his own physical body!
A sorcerer's first initiation
is generally the most taxing, requiring a sacrifice of POW equal to HALF
his original POW attribute, rounded down. It is strongly recommended that
the
sorcerer in question have a current POW higher than his original stat,
or the battle of Self vs. Twin can end prematurely in tradgedy. With the
first initiation, the sorcerer gains the ability to expend POW in spellcasting
for certain direct benefits. (i.e. a spell can be cast with no MP cost
in exchange
for one POW, spells that strike a random hit location can be made to
strike specific hit locations, etc..) In almost every case, the initiated
sorcerer gains the ability to trade POW for distinct effects that would
otherwise have been random.
Each initiation after the
first requires a POW sacrifice equal to one quarter the sorcerer's original
POW attribute. They can be acquired in any order, at any time, but
the POW sacrifice
for each new initiation must be made all at once (i.e. you can't 'bank'
several small sacrifices, the POW must be given up in one continuous ceremony
for each new initiation.) An initiate's Twin
grows in POW at a rate of 1/2 the POW sacrificed for individual injunctions.
[Example: Fred Parker, sorcerer
extraordinaire had an original POW of 15, and a current POW of 18. He becomes
an initiate, costing him 7 POW (his Twin is founded with a POW of 4). Each
future initiation he undertakes will cost him 4 POW and increase his Twin's
POW by 2.
Once an initiate's Twin has
a POW equal to that of the initiate, every time the sorcerer loses a point
of POW (either to disease, casting ritual magic, using injunctions, etc..)
the Twin has the opportunity to match it's POW vs. the POW of the sorcerer.
If successful, the Twin will dominate the
sorcerer for a number of days equal to the amount the percentile roll
succeeded by.
[Example: Fred Parker and
his Twin both currently have a POW of 14. Fred, needing to guarantee that
a Palsy spell he is hurling at an attacking warrior strikes him in the
head uses an injunction to insure that it does so, bringing his POW down
to 13. His Twin attacks, and rolls a 41 (the Twin's POW of 14 vs. Fred's
POW of 13 gives it a 55% chance of success), defeating
Fred by 14 points.
For the next two weeks,
the Twin dominates him (for the sake of example, we'll say that Fred had
the Vows of Celibacy, Shun Darkness, and Abjure Rune Magic), and spends
it's time alternating between a whorehouse and a Temple to the local Night
Goddess. When Fred's mind reasserts control over itself after those two
weeks, he's broken one of those vows and dented the
other two...
Using (invoking) initiated abilities does not add to the time required to cast a spell. If a sorcerer has access to more than one type of injunction, he can use them all at once (i.e. he can use the Injunctions of Permanency & Intensity with the casting of the same spell to render a truly large spell permanent...)
Examples of secondary initiations
are as follows:
Injunction of Intensity: Invoked only while casting a sorcery spell. The POW of the initiate's Twin is added to the spell's Intensity at no additional MP cost.
Injunction of Multiplicity: Invoked only while casting a sorcery spell. The POW of the initiate's Twin is added to the casting's Multispell at no additional MP cost.
Injunction of Range: Invoked only when a sorcery spell is cast. The POW of the initiate's Twin is added to the casting's Range at no additional MP cost.
Injunction of Permanency: Invoked only when a Permanent sorcery spell is cast. This turns the spell into an enchantment, so that it no longer requires maintenance, and cannot be dispelled. The sorcerer must, of course, have access to the Art of Permanence to use this initiation.
Injunction of Hold: Invoked only when a spell is cast using the Art of Hold. It enables the user to Hold that spell in mind even if he already has a Held spell. Any number of spells can be Held, each requiring a separate invocation. Once the spell is cast, the user can re-Hold the extra spell without re-invoking this injunction, but only if it is the exact same spell. (i.e. if this injunction were Holding an Evoke Fire 5 Range 3, Multispell 4, Hold 5 spell, it could only be refilled by another Evoke Fire 5 R3/M4/H5 spell.)
Injunction of Presence: Invoked only when a sorcery spell is cast. The affected spell takes no Presence to maintain (if temporal), but cannot be maintained for more than one day.
Injunction of Power:: When
invoked, the initiate's POW doubles, and remains thus for a full day. At
the end of the day, POW drops back to normal. Any POW expended during
this period comes from the initiate when the injunction wears off. [Example:
Joe Barghest, a sorcerer with a POW of 12, invokes this power. His POW
jumps to 24, increasing his magic points, Presence,
spellcasting skill, etc. He spends the next few hours crafting an enchantment
requiring 8 POW. When the injunction ends, instead of his POW dropping
to 11 (12 minus 1) it drops to 3 (12
minus 1 minus 8).
Injunction of Intellect:
The user's mind is expanded. For the next week, all research &
experience checks automatically succeed, plus the amount of increase
is always the maximum
possible (this last also applies to training). Thus, if the initiate
does research in Mace Attack, and uses this injunction, not only does he
automatically increase, he gets 4 full points.
Injunction of Concentration:
Until next nightfall, the initiate has great force of mind. He automatically
succeeds in any INT roll, including Concentration rolls. He automatically
succeeds in sorcery spell casting and manipulation, with no die roll necessary,
and no critical successes possible.