Everything

Quintessence Manipulation

Nearly all sorcerers can agree on one fact. There is a flow of power that fuels their works. The name of that power has taken on a multitude of faces and philosophies: mana, qi, gnosis, shakti, sekhem, and many others. Every magician can describe the flow of energy as they work their will on reality. Coursing through them like charge through a powerline, it can be felt, and for some it can be directly harnessed. Through Practices like those of geomancy and feng shui, hedge wizards can sense and redirect the unrefined energy of the universe.

In contrast, very few sorcerers consider this to be a Path of its own. Most look to Quintessence Manipulation as a standard exercise and refinement of their already defined craft. Each magician’s personal style already informs them how to achieve manipulations to perform all their other spells. Wands direct the energy, drawn patterns on boxes create traps to hold it, while knives cut and disrupt as they perform all their other works. Yet, those who focus on mastering this fundamental skill on its own find their work is never without a source to draw on, and their mystical surroundings are rarely a mystery.

43 Chapter One: Hedge Magic

System

44 Sorcerer

Modifiers: –1 to –3 difficulty based on distractions in the surrounding area, with –1 representing a loud sound system playing in the same room and –3 representing Time Square at midnight on New Years.

Aspects: Area and Duration as well as Flow listed below:

Flow

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Sense Surroundings: Sensing the energies of the area becomes a routine task. With a mo­ ment of meditation or invocation, a sorcerer determines if an area or item is charged with power (whether Quintessence, vampire blood, Gnosis, or another mystic source). With three successes, the sorcerer identifies the Resonance of said energy.

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Focused Awareness: The ability to sense the ebb and flow of energy transcends local surroundings and the inanimate and crosses into the realm of individuals. Now the sorcerer can perceive another individual using subtle magics and allow them to see obstructed meridians or occluded energy flows. This reveals curses left on indi­ viduals or blocked Quintessence flow through the body imposed by malicious disruptions. The ability to gauge magical potential in a subject also becomes available. While especially useful in identifying potential threats, the amount of information gleaned in this way lacks detailed nuance to fully define if the subject is a super­ natural creature or a normal human with a certain aptitude.

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Disrupt: No longer held to observing, now the skilled sorcerer can begin to affect the Quintessence around them. Still unable to bend and gracefully manipulate the energy, the practitioner of this path is at least versed enough to cause disruptions to the flow around them. With their invocation or focus, the sorcerer can quell the flow in the local area, causing a Quintessence source to become dormant for a time. Disruption also can mean diverting. A flow of Quintessence may be turned aside and sent along a new path in much the same way. Alternatively, with some effort a practitioner can trap a mote of Quintessence in a simple object for a limited amount of time.

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Control: Mere brute force gives way to nuanced control of the flow of Quintessence within them­ selves, the world around them, and within the pattern of others. The flows of energy through themselves are now flowing rivers with metered channels and locks allowing the practitioner to harness the Quintessence in a place of power. Each success on an effort of this type allows the sorcerer to channel one point of Quintessence per success, up to the limit of that area’s power. Quintessence drawn this way dissipates unless used within the next turn.

An enemy’s flow of energy is now a viable target for disruption at this level of understanding. Stripping the energy from another’s pool destroys one Quintessence for every success rolled. More alien energies of other supernatu­ ral creatures are still accessible, but doing so is more taxing. The energy of other supernatural creatures is disrupted by one point for every two successes.

The flow of energy through an individual’s pattern is essential to their health. A sorcerer with this knowledge can cause great harm or provide great help, albeit over an extended peri­ od through something akin to a curse or boon. Altering the flow of another’s life energy can promote or deteriorate their health but takes a great deal of time to become evident. They become ill more often, finding it difficult to fight off a mere cold, and take longer to recover from simple injury. If left unchecked they will inevitably fall victim to an environmental car­ cinogen or a malady that runs in their family history. On the other hand, benefitting the flow of Quintessence in an individual will see the recipient barely ever falling ill for more than a day, bouncing back from any injury as though it were a mere inconvenience and living to a ripe old age. Through this function the hedge wizard can grant physical Merits or inflict phys­ ical Flaws, by spending 2 successes per point of the Merit or Flaw.

••••• Rule: Masters of Quintessence Manipulation have attained a level of understanding that puts the flow of energy at their beck and call, impressing even the Awakened. Now, stored Quintessence can be directly infused into countermagic, adding dice to countermagic