Although the term itself was coined by Stephen King for his novel Firestarter, the concept of generating fire through mystic or psychic force is relatively ancient. In this feat of psycho-elemental kinetics, the mage could will fire into existence, command fire that already exists, and ignite things that should remain unburnt otherwise.

Story-wise, again, the character must focus her concentration and make a Willpower roll in order to control the fire with her mind. The Storyteller is well within his rights to demand a point of Willpower, especially in the case of especially large or difficult (such as setting metal on fire) conflagrations.

Rules-wise, the Spheres involved are as follows:

• Mind 3/ Forces 2 + to control existing flames.

• Mind 3/ Forces 3+/ Prime 2 to ignite fire where no fire was before, or to expand the amount of fire in an already burning source (turning a candle into a blowtorch, for example).

• Mind 3/ Forces 3+/ Prime 2/ (appropriate Spheres) to ignite things that shouldn’t normally be able to burn, like flame-resistant materials (Matter 2+), living organisms (Life 3+), or Umbral ephemera (Spirit 3+).

Despite Mr. King’s book and the related film, pyrokenesis counts as vulgar magick if and when the mage is clearly bringing fire from someplace that should not be burning, or commanding it in supposedly impossible ways. That mage could write off minor manipulations as coincidences (“Did you feel a breeze?”), but the Charlie McGee approach is still a no-no in Consensus reality until and unless the X-Men suddenly become part of the everyday world.