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Gold is unique among the metals of Heluso and Milonda in that it never
tarnishes. Even the finest steel eventually shows rust, but gold is one
step removed from time, as eternal as the sky. Auric Chornugists work
with gold, crafting golden talismans and using the metal’s timelessness
to bend space and time itself.
Associated Skill or Stat: Sense
Society and Beliefs:
Auric Chronurgy was born in the Rhuni and has thrived among the
city-state’s goldsmiths for a long time. Recently, however, the school
has begun to spread to Heluso, especially Uldhome. There are no schools
of Auric Chornurgy. Tobecome a Chronurgist, one must seek out an
existing master and convince him to teach her secrets. Thus, the
beliefs of Auric Chronurgy are as varied as its masters. With the
exception of a lone Chronurgist’s innovations, however, the practices
of Auric Chronurgy are generally the same.
Because their art
requires a great deal of material resources (gold), Auric Chronurgists
tend to attach themselves to the nobility. They are rarely nobles
themselves, especially in nations where the nobility finds it demeaning
to deal with wealth directly, such as Dindavara. As a result,
Chronurgists have a reputation, perhaps deserved, for being mercenary
creatures, easily bought and addicted to creature comforts.
Required Knowledge: Chronurgists cannot learn any spell with Intensity more than double their number of Skill ranks in Expert: Goldsmith.
Lesser Auric Dedication
Intensity: 1
Casting Time: Four hours
Duration: Until a follow-up spell is cast
Attunement: No
Effect:
Rather than attune themselves to their magic, Chronurgists attune
handcrafted golden talismans to the magic they would make. Successfully
casting this spell imbues a golden talisman – which the Chronurgist
must make himself – with the power to cast a single Chronurgic spell.
When the spell is complete, the talisman’s timeless nature is drained,
resulting in a strange curiosity: a talisman made of tarnished gold.
Each
spell detailed below describes the shape of the talisman that should be
used to cast it. In actuality, however, any golden talisman the
Chronurgist has made himself can be used to cast any spell. It is more
difficult cast a spell with a mismatched talisman, however, to the tune
of a -2d penalty. The only real limitation is the value of the
talisman. The Intensity of a spell cannot exceed twice the value of the
talisman used to create it (round up – you can’t cast Intensity 1
spells with Wealth 0 golden talismans!).
Note that this spell is
effectively a prerequisite for every other spell in the school of Auric
Chronurgy. If you can’t attune talismans, you can’t do Chronurgic
magic. Period. Maybe you could learn the spells as an academic
exercise, but you could never use them.
This also means that casting
an Auric Chronurgy spell takes three rolls – one to create the
talisman, one to dedicate it, and a third to cast the spell.
Golden Glimmer
Intensity: 1
Casting Time: 5 minutes
Duration: Width in Hours
Attunement: Yes
Effect:
By invoking the enchantments woven into a simple golden ball, the
Chronurgist enhances its golden glitter until it actually gives off
light. The sphere gives off as much light as a lantern. Unlike a normal
lantern, this light is unhindered by wind, fog, or rain. Faced with
supernatural darkness, the spell’s sets become Gobble Dice. The golden
ball doesn’t need to contain very much gold but it can be as large as
the caster wants – many casters enchant spheres of gold leaf wrapped
around a wooden shell to make the ball comfortably palm-sized.
Effect:
By drinking a vial of water infused with tiny flakes of gold, each of
them inscribed with an arcane sigil, the Chronurgist imbues his flesh
with the unchanging nature of gold. As his flesh resists change, it
also resists damage and poison. A Chronurgist under the influence of
this spell gains +1 AR to all locations that stacks with existing
armor. He also gains a +1d bonus to all Body + Vigor rolls to resist
the major effects of poison.
Chains of Gold
Intensity: 2
Casting Time: Combative
Duration: Width in Minutes
Attunement: Yes
Effect:
Like the defensive spell Unchanging Flesh, this spell imbues living
matter with timelessness. Rather than a beneficial effect, however,
Chains of Gold is baneful. This spell reduces all its victim’s sets by
one for the purposes of timing.
Effect:
The Chronurgist gestures with a cage of golden wire wrapping his victim
in suspended time. His victim is completely frozen in place, rendered
incapable of moving, speaking, or even thinking. His biological
processes are completely frozen. Other than his total immobility, a
golden gleam plays about his person, revealing that he has been
enchanted. As a small consolation, his frozen, inviolate flesh also
benefits from an AR bonus to all locations equal to the Height of the
casting roll. This armor stacks with any existing armor.
Effect:
With a tiny golden dagger, the Chronurgist enchants either himself or
another person within eyeshot, blessing his target with unnatural
speed. The result of this blessing is that the target adds 3 to the
Width of all his sets for the purpose of timing.
Effect:
Using a small box made of gold foil, the Chronurgist wraps a single
object no larger than a human torso in suspended time, making it immune
to wear and tear. The object also gains (Width) AR against all physical
attacks. Enchanting armor in this way does not make it stronger, but it
does make it resistant to spells and Esoteric Discplines that normally
damage armor.
Effect:
This spell expands on the power of its predecessor, Gilded Cage. Rather
than simply freezing an individual, this spell freezes up to fifty
targets at once, making it useful as a war spell. Like an Area spell, a
successful invocation of this spell invokes a Morale attack.
Effect:
By handcrafting a ring of unbroken white gold, a Chronurgist can remove
the need for attuned talismans. Effectively, the magic ring takes care
of the attunement, though the Chronurgist is still limited by the
presence of gold: with the right amount of gold in the right shape, the
Chronurgist can cast his spells normally and with a sufficient quantity
of gold in the wrong shape, the Chronurgist can cast his spells with a
-2d penalty. With a Greater Talisman, however, the Chronurgist has a
third option: he can try to cast the spell without gold, using will
alone, with a -4d penalty.
A Chronurgist can only use his own
attuned ring. However, by using a ring crafted by a Chronurgist he has
strong feelings about (ie. He has a Passion related to this person), he
can gain a +2d bonus to his casting roll. Some white gold rings are
truly ancient and have been passed from mentor to student for
generations.
Two important sidebars:
Tarnished Gold
Once
its energy has been drained by Auric Chronurgy a piece of gold develops
a patina of black and bronze-colored tarnish that cannot be polished
away. Some Chronurgists cultivate markets in Tarnished Gold jewelry,
which lets them resell their used talismans and recoup some of the cost
of their magic.
Perfect Auric Attunement
The
wearer of a perfectly crafted white gold ring has just made himself a
powerful magical item. In addition to enhancing his facility with Auric
Chronurgy, the ring steels his flesh against the effects of poison,
disease, starvation, and related hardships – add a Master Die to all
Body + Endurance rolls to rest these banes. The ringbearer can also
cause his ring to burn with a clear argent light, imitating the effects
of the Golden Glimmer spell, at will. Most importantly, his aging is
drastically slowed while he wears the ring. Some of the most venerable
masters of Auric Chronurgy are hundreds of years old. The wearer of a
perfectly crafted white gold ring can remove it at will, but few do.
Imperfect Auric Attunement
Unfortunately,
few Chronurgists realize that they have crafted a flawed ring until it
is too late. Once donned, the cursed ring cannot be removed.
A
flawed white gold ring infects its wearer with a wasting disease. His
body seems to age with unnatural speed. He loses all feeling in his
limbs, soon becoming almost completely numb and – if male – impotent,
not that sex is very much fun with an entirely numb body. All in all,
the malady robs the Chronurgist of 1d Body and Coordination. Curiously,
all the positive effects of the attunement remain. Though wracked by
age and disease, the adept’s body is still unnaturally resistant to
deprivation.
Of course, these unfortunates are still blessed with supernaturally long lives. The gods have a cruel sense of humor.
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