I am a big fan of Sandy Petersen's Sorcery system. The only problem I've ever had with it is that since it describes Sorcery as it is in Glorantha, it lacks something when taken away from that world. In Glorantha, sorcerers are worshippers of the Invisible God, and his prophet Malkion, and can gain unique powers through the patronage of a variety of Saints. All of this is well and good for Gloranthaphiles, but what if your Sorcerer -isn't- from Glorantha, and/or is a devout athiest? 

The group I am roleplaying with is currently playing Shadowrun. What's that got to do with Runequest, or Sorcery? Well, while developing my current character, a combat mage, I had one of those quirky insights into what to do to add the powers of Glorantha's Malkioni Saints without the whole religious overtone it implied. Initiation.

In this document, I'm going to be synthesizing a number of ideas from a variety of sources. Chief among those sources is Sandy Petersen himself, as well as Paul Reilly, Loren Miller, and probably a slew of other people whose names I have forgotten or lost track of. If I've trampled anyone's copyrights, it is purely by accident. Send no lawyers, please.


INITIATION FOR SORCERERS

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 refered 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. However, by the very act of concentrating such emotions into the spirit plane, the sorcerer slowly forges an enemy which maysomeday come to challenge him for the control of his own physical body!

The Vows which sorcerers take during later initiations are a good source of ideas concerning what the Twin is comprised of: they all make good 'repressed' desires.


THE FIRST INITIATION

A sorcerer's first initiation is generally the most taxing, requiring a sacrifice of POW equal to half his original POW attribute, rounded down. The Twin starts with a POW equal to half of the POW expended. It is strongly recommended that the sorcerer in question have a current POW higher than his original stat. If it is too low, a battle between the Twin and Sorcerer may occur, as noted in THE GROWING SHADOW, below, possibly resulting in tragedy.

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.


LATER INITATIONS

Each initiation after the first requires a POW sacrifice equal to one quarter the sorcerer's original POW attribute. These later initations give the sorcerer access to injunctions (see below). These injunctions allow the caster to expend POW in order to gain specific advantages. 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 save up 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.

Each time a sorcerer takes a new initiation, he must take a Vow that limits him in an emotional context. Vows such as Celibacy, Never Kill a (species), Shun Element, Shun Harm, Abjure Rune Magic, and Abjure Spirit Magic all make good initiation Vows. Players and GMs are encouraged to create new Vows as needed to add flavor to their individual games.

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 Permanancy & Intensity with the casting of the same spell to render a truly large spell permanent...)

Examples of secondary initiations are as follows:

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.

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 Intellect: The user's mind is expanded. For the next week, all research and 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 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 initate's Twin is added to the casting's Multispell 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 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 for the injunction) it drops to 3 (12 minus 1 minus 8).

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 Range: Invoked only when a sorcery spell is cast. The POW of the initate's Twin is added to the casting's Range at no additional MP cost.


THE GROWING SHADOW

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 its 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. The Twin spends its 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...]