Everything

Entropy

Chance and Mortality

Specialties: Fate, Fortune, Decay, Order, Chaos, Necromancy

Everything is mortal. Objects, people, even concepts decay over time. When you truly understand that principle – and more, when you can influence it yourself – such knowledge brings with it a sense of liberation… a bit of sadness, of course, but also the comfort of letting go.

Controlling the energies of probability and decay, an Entropy-schooled mage can manipulate random factors, observe and influence flaws within a system, tap into the energies of the Low Umbra, induce or remove corruption, and otherwise exert his Will through the inexorable process of mortality.

This is no easy discipline. The Entropic mage assumes some of the Resonance of decay within his own Pattern, and bears the weight of mortality within his mind and soul. Still, the powers of this Sphere – though less obviously destructive than those of other Arts – give that mage subtle but pervasive control over Creation as a whole.

Unlike most other Spheres, Entropy spells don’t inflict damage until Rank 4; after that, such damage is aggravated,

as it breaks down the very Patterns of existence. Up until that point, Entropy helps a mage exploit or defer the effects of decay and probability… a gift that helps him use an opponent’s surroundings against her even when he doesn’t attack directly.

For obvious reasons, Entropy-schooled mages tend to be fatalistic, disassociated, or uncannily cheerful. To them, the saying “all things must pass” is no simple sentiment but an intrinsic fact of life.

● Sense Flaws, Fate & Fortune/ Ring of Truth

Basic Entropic understanding allows a mage to see the currents of probability, spot flaws in Patterns, and note the subtle yet telling details in a person’s speech and behavior that suggest whether or not she’s telling what she believes to be the truth. Although he cannot yet control such phenomena, the mage can predict dice throws, card draws, and other apparently random events; spot weak spots in objects, people, or arguments; and use those imperfect yet profound insights to his advantage.

●● Control Probability

Now the mage can control the factors he could only sense before. Pulling the strings of apparently random events, he can influence activities and results – directing the fall of dice or cards, repeatedly hitting weak spots, and directing people and things toward a conclusion of his choice. Of course, it’s easier to control small events (the winner of a horse race) than large ones (causing a six-car pileup). In game terms, large alterations demand more successes than small ones do.

●●● Affect Predictable Patterns

Things eventually break down. At this Rank, the mage can control the speed at which material objects fail or decay. That’s easier to do with complex machines (cars, computers) than it is with simple ones (walls, stones) – after all, more things can go wrong with complicated things.

At this Rank, the mage can also start controlling the fate and fortune of objects and people, giving them good or bad luck by controlling the probability of events around them. Again, large feats demand more successes than smaller ones.

●●●● Affect Living Things

At this Rank, the mage assumes the awesome power of blessing, cursing, and conferring outright health or decay. By influencing the flow of entropy within a living body, that mage can grant outstanding vitality to, or inflict sudden disease upon, his subject. Such influence, as noted above, inflicts or heals aggravated damage and may grant long-term luck or misfortune. (Storyteller’s option as to how this manifests.)

●●●●● Affect Thought/ Shape Memes/ Binding Oath

The most esoteric applications of Entropy allow the mage to alter ideas, strengthening or breaking down concepts. Although he does not affect the actual workings of consciousness, he can cause synapses to misfire (thus confusing perceptions and mental processing, inflicting penalties on an enemy’s dice rolls), bind someone to an oath, or degrade the patterns of thought. By doing so, that Entropic Master can craft, perpetrate, reinforce, and undermine arguments, beliefs, and even memories.

To do such things, the Master merely speaks to, or glances at, the subject of his attention. Chaos Masters can scramble someone’s perceptions with a few weird utterances, and Masters of Order can present arguments with apparently perfect logic. By offering compelling statements, the Master can create or destroy memes (see p. 594), thus influencing whole patterns of belief. An oath, meanwhile, ties the subject’s fate to her loyalty; if she breaks the oath, then her luck goes really, really bad.

In game terms, such feats demand a certain number of successes. Inspiring a whim requires only one or two successes, sparking a fancy takes three, setting or undermining a conviction takes four or five successes, and setting up obsessions demands five successes or more. Such activities are usually coincidental and are typically rolled against a difficulty of the subject’s Willpower, with a minimum difficulty of 4.