Death

For the Lore from Demon: The Fallen, see Lore of Death.

Death is one of the ten Arcana of Mage: The Awakening, the Subtle ruling Arcanum of Stygia. As well as ghosts and the undead, its effects include things metaphysically associated with death, including darkness, decay and, most horrific of all, the stealing of souls. While it is not made explicit in the rulebook, it is implied that Death, not Matter, must be used to affect vampires and other undead. The Arcanum of Death deals, as the name implies, with the powers of death and undeath. A mage skilled in this Arcanum can steal and trap souls, speak with the dead, steal years from a target, raise zombies, and, with sufficient skill, even bring the dead back to life. It is primarily used by the Moros, as their epithet of Necromancers would suggest.

Death allows control and command of ghosts in much the same way that Spirit affects spirits. Mages draw a heavy distinction between the two, however: according to Atlantean lore, spirits are the native form of life in the Shadow, while ghosts are not proper beings at all. They are merely echoes, memories of a soul's passage left in the ephemera which only mimic consciousness, and as such few mages have qualms about using them for their own ends.

This Arcanum grants a mage unparalleled power over the soul, and is justly feared for this reason. Other Arcana can only affect souls in specific ways; for example, Fate can sever a soul if it is not bound to its original owner, and Spirit or Mind are able to affect unmoored souls drifting in Twilight.Template:Ref Tremere mages steal souls as a matter of course, and so use this Arcanum extensively.

Its associated summoning is the Spectre and the Exarch that supervises it is the Psychopomp. Within astral Space, Death is incorporated by the Aeon Typhon.

Influences

Darkness (note that this is different from merely the absence of light), decay, ectoplasm, enervation, resurrection, soul stealing, the lifespan, undead.

Nature and Power

The Arcanum of Death is the Subtle Arcanum of the Supernal Realm of Stygia, the realm that also generates the Arcanum of Matter. Death is all around in Stygia; the tombs of the dead spring up like macabre mushrooms across the bleak and featureless countryside, and the shades of the departed wander the area or simply sit and contemplate. The power of Death is rather more diminished in the Fallen World, as with all the Arcana and the Subtle Arcana especially, but it still pervades the material realms and the Shadow World.

Life is everywhere in the Fallen World, and where life is, death is not far behind. This Arcanum evidences itself in a manner too delicate to be seen by mere Sleepers, but its malign energies hover over the world like a thick cloud. From the crushing of the tiniest insect to the thousands killed in a volcanic eruption, death’s influence exerts itself behind the scenes. And the raw energy of the Arcanum can become visible to Sleepers, subtle though it may be, in the creation of ghosts, zombies, and other such undead revenants.

The powers handed to a mage versed in the Arcanum of Death control the powerful metaphysical forces behind these events. A mage who can wield the Arcanum skilfully enough can slay mortals with but a thought, rotting their bodies into nothing. Death can give one the ability to create one’s own undead, or bolster those that already exist, and it grants many more powers to those with the stomach to seek them. Mages using Death can lengthen their own lifespan by robbing years from another, or perform the reverse and hand another years from their own thread. Death mages can destroy Mana and sunder spells, make themselves or others appear to be dead, manipulate the shadows, create, transmute, or destroy ectoplasm (the substance of ghosts), cannibalise the souls of the dying for Mana, and, at higher levels and with a little power of the Arcanum of Fate, bring people back from the dead, but at the cost of their own lives. Death is both a terrifying and alluring Arcanum, and those who use it equally so.

Common Practices

Initiate (●)

The first level of mastery grants an Initiate of Death the power to see the impact of death in individual people, noting how many have died in that person’s presence. She can also see the manner in which a person or creature died, and exactly how long ago that was. The mage also gains the power to sculpt ectoplasm conjured by a ghost or other mage, examine the health of the soul, alter shadows to conceal herself or an object, or speak with the dead.

NAME	OTHER ARCANA	PAGE	REQ	SOURCE	DESCRIPTION	ROTE POOL	ASPECT
Counterspell		123	●	M:tA	counter Death spells	Composure + Occult + Death	Covert
Ectoplasmic Shaping		133	(x)	M:tA	alter existing ectoplasm	Presence + Occult + Death vs. Resolve + Gnosis (mage) or Resistance (ghost)	Vulgar
Forensic Gaze		134		M:tA	learn how a subject died	Intelligence + Medicine + Death	Covert
Grim Sight		134		M:tA	Mage Sight	Wits + Occult + Death	Covert
Instill Mortality		130		TotM	item crafting, alternate cost relinquishment - Item dies as it is used	Intelligence + Crafts + Death	Covert
Pain Harvest		131		TotM	item crafting, alternate cost relinquishment - Increase damage to pattern from violence	Stamina + Survival + Death	Covert
Shadow Sculpting		135		M:tA	deepen existing shadows	Wits + Occult + Death	Covert
Soul Marks		135		M:tA	examine a soul for Derangements (extended Intelligence + Empathy to diagnose what kind)	Intelligence + Medicine + Death	Covert
Speak with the Dead		135		M:tA	see, hear, and speak with ghosts in Twilight	Wits + Occult + Death	Covert

Apprentice (●●)

An Apprentice of Death, with the second level of mastery, can bestow her perceptions of the weight of death on others. She can command shadows to move as though they were alive, even making them travel from their source, and can now create the substance called ectoplasm, an energy used in matters related to ghosts. It is at this level that the mage first gains power over auras, as she is now capable of suppressing them. She can cause physical objects, but not creatures, to decay, and can enhance her touch so she can interact with things in Twilight. Also, the mage gains the ability to summon ghosts, even against their will, and create soul jars, the vessels for soul trapping. Finally, she can leech the vigour from incoming attacks, rendering them useless.

NAME	OTHER ARCANA	PAGE	REQ	SOURCE	DESCRIPTION	ROTE POOL	ASPECT
Animate Shadows		136	(x)	M:tA	move shadows into lit areas	Wits + Occult+ Death	Vulgar
Bestow Ghostly Sight	Prime 4	29		TotM	grant ability to see ghosts	Intelligence + Empathy + Death	Covert
Corpse Mask		136		M:tA	hide the true cause of death	Intelligence + Subterfuge + Death	Covert
Corpse Unmasking	Prime 1	186		GotV	reveal the true cause of death		Covert
Decay		136	(x)	M:tA	reduce Durability of a touched object	Stamina + Intimidate + Death	Vulgar
Dislodge the Soul	Prime 1	124	(x)●	L:tA	regain Willpower by damaging a soul		Vulgar
Ectoplasm		136	(x)	M:tA	generate ectoplasm from an orifice	Stamina + Occult + Death	Vulgar
Entropic Guard		136		M:tA	Shielding	Wits + Occult + Death	Covert
Final Sight		186	(x)	GotV	view the last image a body saw		Vulgar
Forensic Invisibility	Matter 1	54		Ban	destroys fibers, dead skin, saliva, oils and hair		Covert
Ghost Summons		137		M:tA	call to ghosts in the area	Presence + Persuasion + Death vs. Resistance	Covert
Grant the Grim Sight		137		M:tA	grant Mage Sight	Manipulation + Persuasion + Death	Covert
Lighten Anchor		60		TotM	increase the range a ghost can travel		Covert
Quiet Grave		54		Ban	subtract Potency from attempts to animate a corpse		Covert
Soul Jar		137		M:tA	prevent a dying soul from departing	Presence + Crafts + Death	Covert
Suppress Aura		137		M:tA	make examination of your soul more difficult	Manipulation + Subterfuge + Death	Covert
Touch of the Grave		138	(x)	M:tA	reach into twilight	Dexterity + Survival + Death	Vulgar

Disciple (●●●)

The third level of mastery allows a Disciple of Death to force ghosts to do her bidding or raise zombies for the same purpose. She can heal the corpus of ghosts and create gateways into Twilight. Her shield can now be transferred to another. She can mystically destroy objects, shunt them into Twilight, or weaken the structure of objects already there. Her mastery over shadows extends to the point where she can make them from nothing, and she gains the ability to suppress her life signs and appear dead. Finally, she gains the power to convert the souls of the dying into Mana, and to sever the souls of Sleepers from their body.

NAME	OTHER ARCANA	PAGE	REQ	SOURCE	DESCRIPTION	ROTE POOL	ASPECT
Arm Ghost		134	●	TotM	allow a ghost to trigger a precast spell	Intelligence + Occult + Death	Covert
Control Ghost		138	(x)	M:tA	dominate the will of a ghost	Presence + Intimidation + Death vs. Resistance	Vulgar
Corpse Flesh	Life 3	173	(x)	AA	become halfway dead to survive damage		Vulgar
Curse of Withering		137	●●●●● (5)	TotM	item creation, curse	Presence + Crafts + Death	Covert
Destroy Ephemera		138	(x)	M:tA	fray objects in twilight	Resolve + Occult + Death	Vulgar
Destroy Object		139		M:tA	reduce structure of a touched object	Resolve + Crafts or Science + Death	Covert
Devouring the Slain		139	(x)●	M:tA	gain willpower from wounded foes	Manipulation + Persuasion + Death	Vulgar
Dissipate Unreal Construct	Prime 3	26		TotM	reduce structure of phantasms or ephemera	Intelligence + Crafts + Death	Covert
Entropic Shroud		139		M:tA	grant Shielding	Wits + Occult + Death	Covert
Ghost Gate		139	(x)	M:tA	open a passage to Twilight	Resolve + Occult + Death	Vulgar
Ghostly Object		140		M:tA	transition an object to ephemera in Twilight	Resolve + Occult or Science + Death	Covert
Healing the Dead Mind		192		Myst	increase a ghost's Mental Attributes		Covert
Hollow Victory		54	(x)●	Ban	caster dies		Vulgar
Martyr's Bequest	Life 3 and/or Mind 3 and/or Prime 3	195	s	SL	kill self when fatally injured; grant remaining Health/Willpower/Mana to allies		Covert
Orpheus' Lament		131		GoG	all in earshot suffer penalty to deliberate rolls		Covert
Quicken Corpse		140	(x)	M:tA	raise a zombie	Presence + Persuasion + Death	Vulgar
Restore Corpus		141	(x)	M:tA	restore a ghost's body	Composure + Occult + Death	Vulgar
Sculpt Ephemera		141	(x)	M:tA	alter the form of twilight objects	Dexterity + Crafts + Death	Vulgar
Self Repairing Zombie	Matter 3	173	(x)s	AA	allow zombies eat corpses for health		Vulgar
Sever the Sleeping Soul		141	(x)●	M:tA	cut a Sleeper's soul free	Presence + Intimidation + Death	Vulgar
Shadow-Forged	Matter 3	174	(x)	AA	create weapons or tools from shadows		Vulgar
Summon Shadows		142	(x)	M:tA	create animate, physical shadows	Wits + Occult + Death	Vulgar
Summon Supernal Being		73		Summ	(Moros only) call a Spectre from Stygia, with difficulty		Covert
Suppress Own Life		142		M:tA	pretend to be dead	Composure + Subterfuge + Death	Covert
The Metal Dead	Matter 3	56	(x)	GoG	animate corpse and transform to metal		Vulgar
Transfer Anchor		133	●	TotM	alter a ghost's anchor to a different subject	Presence + Larceny + Death	Covert

Adept (●●●●)

With the fourth level of mastery, an Adept of Death gains the power to enervate her foes, sucking out their strength and rendering them weak and powerless. She can bind the recently dead into objects or places, dooming them to haunt these locations forever. She may also rot the living flesh of a creature, and create an intelligent, driven undead creature called a revenant. Also at this level are granted the powers to suppress the life signs of another, to shift into Twilight without a gate, to bind souls into a soulless person, or to destroy her aura permanently.

NAME	OTHER ARCANA	PAGE	REQ	SOURCE	DESCRIPTION	ROTE POOL	ASPECT
Cloak of Decay	Fate 2	175	(x)●	AA	apply Destroy Object against Melee attacks		Vulgar
Deathless Oath	Fate 2	110	●	GoG	swear oath that binds caster as a revenant after death		Covert
Enervation		143		M:tA	reduce a touched foe's physical attributes	Presence + Occult + Death	Covert
Ghost Familiar Pact		38		Summ	bind a Ghost Familiar to self		Covert
Ghostly Archive	Spirit 3	110	(x)●	GoG	invest in Library of bound ghosts		Vulgar
Haunted Shell	Matter 4	29	(x)	GoG	bind a ghost into a physical object		Vulgar
Haunting		143	(x)●	M:tA	bind a dying soul to become a ghost	Presence + Persuasion + Death vs. Resolve (sleeper) or Resistance (ghost)	Vulgar
Revenant		143	(x)	M:tA	raise a revenant	Manipulation + Persuasion + Death	Vulgar
Rotting Flesh		144	(x)●	M:tA	do Lethal damage with a touch attack	Strength + Intimidation + Death - Stamina	Vulgar
Scourge Ghost		134		TotM	psychicaly traumatize a ghost	Presence + Occult + Death vs Resisence	Covert
Shadow Flesh	Life 4; opt Matter 4	189		SotT	transform self into living shadow		Vulgar
Slay Own Aura		144		M:tA	prevent identification of your aura	Intelligence + Subterfuge + Death	Covert
Soul Binding		144	(x)	M:tA	attach a stolen soul	Composure + Empathy + Death	Vulgar
Suppress Other's Life		144		M:tA	falsify another's death	Manipulation + Subterfuge + Death vs. Composure + Gnosis	Covert
Twilight Shift		145	(x)●	M:tA	transition to and from Twilight	Stamina + Occult + Death	Vulgar
Undying Zeal	Time 2	55	(x)●	Ban	come back as revenant after willing death		Vulgar

Master (●●●●●)

The fifth level of mastery gives a Master of Death the power to tap the souls of the perfectly healthy for Mana, to summon ghosts from the Underworld in order to gain their knowledge, or to bolster the power of ghosts already in the world. She may also steal years of life from Sleepers, destroy Mana whether it lies within an artefact, as tass, or even within a mage, and sunder any magic.

NAME	OTHER ARCANA	PAGE	REQ	SOURCE	DESCRIPTION	ROTE POOL	ASPECT
Atonement	Fate 2	35	(x)s	L:tA	return the dead to life by dying		Vulgar
Create Ghost	Mind 4, Time 2	193	(x)●	Myst	call a ghost out of the past		Vulgar
Deathlike Journey	Life 2	104	(x)●	L:tA	send soul on journey to the Underworld		Vulgar
Destroy Mana		145		M:tA	unweave Mana that is bound as Tass	Strength + Intimidation + Death - Resolve	Covert
Devouring the Living		145	(x)●	M:tA	gain Willpower from healthy foes	Manipulation+ Intimidation + Death - Stamina (living) or Resistance (ghost)	Vulgar
Grant Ghost Familiar		39		Summ	bind a Ghost Familiar to another person		Covert
Grant Lifespan		35	(x)●	L:tA	give others years of your life		Vulgar
Quell the Spark		145		M:tA	destroy set magic	Resolve + Occult + Death	Covert
Quicken Ghost		146	(x)	M:tA	increase a ghost's traits	Manipulation + Occult + Death	Vulgar
Secret Marriage		152	(x)	TotM	bind willing Ghost to Homonculus	Intelligence + Occult + Death	Vulgar
Steal Body	Life 3	105	(x)●●(2)	FC	supplant a target's soul with your own	Wits + Science + Death vs. Resolve	Vulgar
Steal Lifespan		146	(x)●	M:tA	steal a year of someone's life	Manipulation + Subterfuge + Death	Vulgar
Summon Chthonian	Prime 3, Spirit 3	46		Summ	call a never-born from the Underworld		Vulgar
Summon the Dead		146	(x)	M:tA	call a ghost from the Underworld	Presence + Persuasion + Death vs. Resistance	Vulgar

Imperial Practices

Archmasters are rare but not unheard of. They don’t follow the same rules as the other ranks. Archmasters become Avatars of the Arcanum they studied, living embodiments of the Watchtower their power comes from. They become conduits for power and are no longer barred from their power by the Abyss and so aren’t subject to Paradox. They take on the physical characteristics of their Arcanum. They should be addressed as Arcs (i.e. an Arc of Death). Archmasters can cast all the spells from Initiate to Master, without using any Mana, and in any preferred duration. They effectively gain the powers of a God, including limited immortality (e.g. they stop getting older, and become immune to all diseases), but they’re still human beings and as such can be killed just like anybody else should they become careless. They still suffer penalties of their Inferior Arcanum; a mage can’t over come that until he/she has become an Arc of that inferior Arcanum. Archmasters no longer belong soley to the planet of their birth; they become citizens of the cosmos, so their concerns must move beyond their home planet to the wider Universe.

The powers afforded to an archmaster of Death are many and terrible. An Arc's voice takes on an echoing quality as if it were issuing forth from an open tomb, this ability allows the Arc to call forth the shades of the ancient dead and converse with them, maybe even control them. This vocal quality does not affect living humans, animals, spirits, or werwolves, just the dead and undead, Kindred included for a short time. An archmaster can perform such feats as adding years to his/her own lifespan without taking them off another, or take these years from the Awakened. They're able to raise armies of undead servitors, or consume the whole of a victim’s soul. Even these great and terrible powers pale in comparison to the full potential of archmastery of Death: the ability to bring people back to life.

Archmastery 6 (●●●●● ●)

Bypassing Mage Armor or other defensive magics by automatically probing for weak points.

Destruction of Mana whenever a spell is cast in an area. Spells that alter all ghostly anchors meeting the conditions specifi ed. Altering the rivers of the Underworld.

Archmastery 7 (●●●●● ●●)

Claim an unoccupied Chantry, incorporating it into the caster’s soul. “Adoption” of orphaned sub-souls using the Arcanum used in their creation. Create an Artifact that casts spells of the Arcanum. Create a Demesne of the Arcanum. Create or alter Legacies with attainments based on the Arcanum. Create Proximi with spells of the Arcanum as powers. Alter whether the targeted Arcanum is Ruling, Common or Inferior for a targeted mage. Alter how many spells of the Arcanum a mage may maintain spell control over, or how they affect spell tolerance. Alter the spell factors, target and other details of a spell of the Arcanum.

Alter ghoul, vampire or Sin-Eater templates, Disciplines, bloodlines, Keys, manifestations and krewes. Invent new ghostly numina. Alter the sins in a Morality trait or change a target’s rating in a Morality trait. Create a new soul for a target that has lost their own. Alter the Laws of a region of the Underworld.

Removal of a Legacy with attainments based on the Arcanum. Removal of a supernatural ability governed by the Arcanum (such as Mind to remove a vampire’s ability to use the Dominate Discipline). Dispelling an Imperial Spell cast using the Arcanum. Removing a mage’s ability to use the Arcanum. Destruction of an Artifact based on the Arcanum.

Immortality through removing the capacity to die or the aging process. Removing aspects of a vampire or Sin-Eater’s template or a ghost’s powers. Instant destruction of a soul. Removing dots of a being’s Morality trait.

NAME	OTHER ARCANA	PAGE	REQ	SOURCE	DESCRIPTION	ROTE POOL	ASPECT
Imperial Dispellation		38		IM	dispel Imperial Death spells		Not listed

Archmastery 8 (●●●●● ●●●)

Create a Chantry rooted in the material world. Create an Ochema that lacks the Imperial Practices or possesses archmastery of the Arcanum used. Create a portal to the Supernal Realm that has the Arcanum used as a Ruling Arcanum.

Absorb the souls of the dying into oneself, making them part of a Chantry. Absorb another mage’s soul stone. Create a Chantry rooted in the Underworld.

NAME	OTHER ARCANA	PAGE	REQ	SOURCE	DESCRIPTION	ROTE POOL	ASPECT
Proxy		39		IM	create living sub-souls		Unlisted

Archmastery 9 (●●●●● ●●●●)

NAME	OTHER ARCANA	PAGE	REQ	SOURCE	DESCRIPTION	ROTE POOL	ASPECT
Transfiguration		39		IM	gain complete control over the Arcana		Not listed