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DreamCast  Entropy * Spirit ** Mind *** (Time **)

By: Hugh of the High Hand
Paradigms: Virtual Adept, Dreamspeaker

You have a thought? Good. Place it in the Dreamtime and let it go. Why? 
Child, thought must be shared, or what good is it?

[This rote creates a mental image, usually a message of some sort, 
and places it within the care of a friendly Chimerical spirit. It will 
then be received by anyone so inclined, generally those who need or would 
be interested in the message, but only if they are asleep and dreaming 
at the time it is sent. The more successes on the rote, the more people 
it will be able to reach. Time ** can be used to predict when certain 
potential recipients will be dreaming and schedule the broadcast
appropriately.]

Token Dream  Spirit **  Mind **

By: Hugh of the High Hand
Paradigms: Virtual Adept, Dreamspeaker

If you need to get a message to someone, you need security, and you have
some time to wait, use this rote.  You take the thought you wish to send
them, encode it for their mind, and send it into the Chimerae.  It will
then pass from one dream to another until it finds the target.  It may
influence some of the dreams along the way, but in very subtle manners
that would be difficult to obtain useful information from.  When it
finds the target sleeping, it will create a very vivid dream that you
prepare that will be remembered upon waking.  Strong emotion cannot
really be attached without, as the construct is somewhat fragile and
will tend to break down.

[This effect is almost always coincedental.  Someone trying to find the
message would have to know what they were looking for, and even then,
each level of success on the TD spell gives the message an effective
level of Arcane.  The message will, of necessity, arrive at a very
arbitrary time, decided by the Storyteller, but it will probably arrive
faster the more successes that are attained.]

Trouble Maker  Spirit ** Entropy *

By: Hugh of the High Hand
Paradigms:  Garou, Technomancy

Think to a time of frustration:  childhood memories of wanting and not
getting, adolescent memories of, well, wanting and not getting, not
being able to get the stupid machine to work, whatever.  Think of how
that made you feel.  Let the feeling wash over you for a moment.  When
you actually start to feel the emotion, it is a sign that a Spirit of
Frustration has been attracted by the feeling.  Focus the emotion on the
target of your ire, try to think of the ways it can best annoy that
target, and let it loose.  Make sure you don't lose that focus, or those
feelings of frustration you are feeling will now have cause.  The spirit
will strike randomly, having no mind:  concentrate on making the most of
random chance.

[This rote summons a minor spirit to sabotage a targeted device.  It
attacks the target at its weakest point, certainly causing it to
malfunction temporarily, and possibly causing it to be permanently
unusable.  Each success will cause the device to malfunction for a turn,
and will do a pseudo-health level to it.  These health levels only apply
if the device would be completely destroyed by them, in which case the
device is permanently disabled, otherwise doing nothing.  If this
spell's target is a device notorious for breaking down, like any
computer, it is coincedental.]

    [Trouble Maker was the result of desperation.  When Hugh 
     and I were young, inexperienced magi, we had several 
     encounters with Lycanthropes (Garou).  Durring one of these
     (which coincided with an epiphany), Hugh encountered a
     minor GlassWalker (Garou tribe) associated spirit, 
     Saran-Saran, a spirit-of-frustration-with-modern-life, 
     who takes the form of a tangled mass of pastel cling 
     wrap...  Later, imprisoned at a minor Technocratic outpost,
     Hugh found the glass tube he was confined in was not 
     resistant to Spirit magick, so, he called Saran-Saran.
     The minor spirit did not normally /damage/ technology, only 
     make it more difficult to use, so, Hugh used Spirit and 
     Entropy to direct it to the controls' most vulnerable 
     points, and thus effected his escape... 

                                   - Blake. ]


Zen and the Art of Computer Programming  Mind ** Correspondence *

By: Hugh of the High Hand
Paradigms: Akashic Brotherhood, Virtual Adept

Relax your shoulders.  Listen to the waves crashing on the rocks.  When
you are ready, you will know the key to press.  Breath in.  Breath out.
The code is all.  Breath in.  The code does not matter.  Breath.  Allow
your thoughts to crystalize on the screen.  Stay focused.  Breath out.
Keep your mind clear.  Breath in.  The words (and bytes) flow from the
Universe:  let them come.  Breath out.

You see?  You are finished.

[By bringing out your inner self and putting it in touch with the
Computer, you can greatly aid the process of writing code.  The trick is
not to think about what you are doing.  Each success can either reduce
the difficulty of the code by one, or it can add an extra die to the
roll.  This effect is almost always coincidental.]




Born Again Shell  Correspondence **  Prime ***

By: Hugh of the High Hand
Paradigms: Virtual Adept, Celestial Chorus

My child, peer into the flame.  It is our connection to the One.  Gaze
upon the flame, touch the flame:  it does not burn.  Lay your hands upon
the flame, for from there does the power flow.  The power of magic, the
power of the One.  Let in now enter you, the great gift of the One.
Feel its power, feel the Glory!

Now, please, clean your fingerprints off of the screen.

[This rote must be used twice, once for preparation, once for
activation.  Take some tass and work the ritual over it to prepare it.
Later, you can call the Quintessance from the tass directly to your
pattern.  One success is enough for the preparation ritual, each success
in the calling gives you one point of Quintessence up to the amount in
the tass.  You may prepare as much as you wish.]


Howl at the Virtual Moon  Spirit ** Correspondence ***

By: Hugh of the High Hand
Paradigms: Virtual Adept, Garou

"rrrr.  I cannot believe you use that foolish human device, even now.
Have my teachings meant nothing to you?  And how do you expect a mere
image of Luna to serve?  Oh, very well.  We must have aid in this, and
your help in the ritual is welcome.  Prepare yourself!  Now howl!  Call
out your rage and bring the Servants of Luna to us!  HOWL!!!  Ahh,
creature of Luna, forgive this unorthodox calling, for we are in great
need of your help..."

[Not even the creatures of the spirit world are entirely immune to the
illusions of the Virtual Adepts.  Normally, a Lune will only appear
under moonlight, but this rote "tricks" it into appearing by bringing
the moonlight to you.  The effect only lasts for a turn per success, and
the Lune will disappear the moment the rote ends.  And, incidentally, I
hope you're on good terms with it or know someone who is, because,
summoned moonlight or no, it is not likely to be pleased...]


Thank the Kill  Spirit *

By: Hugh of the High Hand
Paradigms: Dreamspeaker/Garou

It is a tradition of many peoples of the world to apologize to and thank
an animal you have just killed, or are about to kill.  This seems only
fair to me.  Make sure the kill is as quick and painless as possible. 
Just after the kill, or perhaps just before, pronounce a short prayer,
and possibly perform a ritual dressing of the animal.  If the animal's
spirit appears to you, it may very well have a request.  By all means,
do what it asks, if it is not against your personal code (unlikely for
most of us).  

[Not a particularly useful Rote, perhaps, but it may help your character
sleep more easily at night.  Anyone may toss and turn when the animals'
spirits come calling.  And, who knows?  You might make some friends in
the Spirit planes by doing it (though probably not if that's your
goal).]


Thank the Darkness  Entropy *  Mind ** or *** Spirit **  or ***** 
Prime ***

By: Hugh of the High Hand
Paradigms: Dreamspeaker/Garou, Nephandic

The Nephandi frequently argue that there is no light without darkness,
no good without evil, and so on.  That they are necessary to the proper
functioning of the universe.  That, in their opposition to and frequent
corruption of the rest of us, they are actually doing us a favor.  That
their existance has a purpose.  In endeavoring to be a truly eclectic
Mage, in striving for an understanding of the Metaphysic of Magic, I
have embraced these words.

Their purpose is in giving the rest of us something to feel good about
destroying.

On the other hand, that very fact can be our downfall.  When we begin to
hate the Dark, we become more like it.  No matter what attrocities they
commit before being destroyed, even with personal attacks, we must
strive not to fall too far into this trap.  To not hate them at all is
beyond most of us, but that hate must not control us.  So, upon
destroying one of these fiends, take a deep breath, say a short "thank
you" to the monster, and let it go.  If anything is left of it, maybe
this will at least confuse it for a bit.

[Nephandi tend to leave a stain of corruption on anything they interact
with, even those trying to destroy them.  This rote attempts to cleanse
one in mind, body and spirit after such contact.  If you "stink of the
Wyrm" because of it, it will cleanse that stench with a success.  You
will recover one Willpower used during that specific fight per success
over 3.  Finally, if the creature is still about in weakened form, the
rote will try to find if it is attempting to possess or otherwise
influence you, and drive it off.  The Mind 3 version may be used to help
another in the same way.

The Spirit 5 version is a bit more serious:  in addition to the above,
it will attempt to locate any trace of the destroyed Nephandi to deliver
a final "thank you" to.  After all, if they exist for us to oppose or
destroy, the ultimate respect we can show them is in completely
destroying them.]


The Tao Jones  Entropy * Mind * Time **

Author: Hugh, Eclectic Orphan
Paradigms: Akashic Brotherhood, Syndicate

The tape emerges from the machine. See how it flows. Its sinuous form is
the universe. See also the black forms on the one side, surrounded by
white: these are the balance and flow of forces, the Tao itself. Within
these things we may see the paths we may take, the futures we may invest
our time in for greatest benefit. Now it is for you to make the choice of
what path to follow.

[This rote does not actually predict the future so much as it gives an
idea of possible futures leading from a certain point. To a lesser extent,
it gives an idea of what needs to happen in order to achieve a given
future, but this can be misleading: any number of outside events can cause
the future desired to turn out differently, no matter the effort. Mind is
required to expand the consciousness so that the many possibilities can
all be examined. This effect is generally Coincidental. The tickertape
used in the example can, of course, be replaced by any method of tracking
finance: it was used because of its symbolic significance more than
anything else.]


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