So, controversial opinion time. I've been giving a lot of love to Mage: The Ascension, and people who read this blog may very well have me pegged as a Classic WoD fanboy. Now, it may shock you, but I actually came across the majority of the World of Darkness through the New WoD, and I've always thought that they were a fantastic series of games. I have my criticisms for all of them, but they'll always hold a special place in my heart. Vampire: The Requiem I've always found excellent, but ultimately can pretty easily be used for as a sourcebook for Masquerade or vice versa. A lot of things are lifted wholesale from Masquerade (like the entirety of Camarilla society, with the -not-Camarilla Invictus and the -not-Anarchs Carthians) with the serial numbers filed off, and while they do add some fantastic ideas, like the Stryx (who I shall devote an entire article too soon), I've always felt that nVampire and nWerewolf could easily be used as sourcebooks for the old line. New Mage on the other hand, is different.
NMage is really when I felt that the New World of Darkness really came into it's own, because it's the game that really has the fortitude to truly be different from its predecessor and stand out. NMage focuses a lot more on the morality and hubris of magic, as well as a hefty load of real, absolutely terrifying cerebral and cosmic horror, which is a far cry from the Old Mage which was ultimately a lot more optimistic and could be argued to be played as a normal superhero story. Now, don't get me wrong, I love them both, but I really do think that they offer a very different feel. NMage for example, has some real, awesome ideas for Dark Magic that doesn't involve inverting your soul and going Nephandi, but is arguably equally as horrifying. Today, we're going to be looking at my absolute favorite examples of evil Magi who nontheless claim their souls as their own, along with everyone else's. I speak of none other than the Tremere Liches.
What are the Tremere Liches?
Now, the New WoD had this silly habit of naming things that were sort of conceptually similar to stuff in the cWoD after their main inspirations, so, for the purposes of this, forget the Masquerade clan of fallen Hermetic vampires. In Mage: The Awakening, the Tremere are a name for a Legacy (think a specialized Craft that branches off from a main Tradition) that focuses on handling souls, specifically, eating them and living forever. As you can probably expect, this is not the most socially acceptable hobby in the world, and while particularly lenient Consiliums will turn a blind eye to the activities of a Lich if it targets their enemies and doesn't get in their way, publicly advertising yourself as one is tantamount to admitting to being a serial killer or a child molester. It's a great way to get murdered.
What makes the Liches so creepy, and such great antagonists is the fact that it confers great power, and allows a Mage to extend his lifespan without going through the soul-shattering embrace of Vampirism, or anything else that might limit his magical potential. The universe of Mage: The Awakening is amoral, and thus, something as horrifying and disgusting as literally eating souls doesn't really pose any major or serious barrier toward enlightenment, self knowledge, and ultimately Ascension. Many Liches join the legacy in hopes that they will uncover the secret to Ascension or Archmastery before their natural lifespans run out. This to me, strikes me as a much more realistic motive for turning to dark and forbidden magic, as opposed to turning Nephandi or Infernalist in oMage, which literally involves throwing away your chance at Ascending.
More than just immortality, however, being a Tremere Lich confers some really great power. Legacies in NMage confer spells that confer no paradox and are literally supernatural powers inherent to the mage himself, and Tremere Liches get this for tearing people's souls out. Think about that for a second. With no paradox, and in front of as many witnesses as they like, a Lich can tear a person's soul free and eat it with no consequence. Tremere Liches are also a Moros Legacy (ascetic necromancers sort-of-but-not-really in the vein of the Euthanatos), meaning that they can do some truly nasty things with the Death Arcana (essentially a nasty lovechild of the Entropy and Spirit spheres from Mage: The Ascension). The Tremere Liches represent temptation, the lure of secret power and the very uncomfortable idea that the universe is free to be shaped by anyone, no matter how disgusting or twisted.
Tremere Liches in Mage: The Ascension
Now, I think a lot of apostates or Left Handed Legacies can and should easily be ported over to OMage, because they show the allure of evil and dark magic that nontheless keeps the soul pure and untainted, unlike a Nephandus, but the Tremere Liches are a special brand of evil that can bring some real horror to your game. This is my write up of the Liches as a pseudo-craft.
The Tremere Liches are arguably one of the darkest secrets, a result of collaboration between the Euthanatos and the Order of Hermes. Both orders are violently repulsed by these monsters. Both Traditions publicly execute and subject the soul-eaters to Gilgul whenever they can. Both of the orders however, secretly study their works, and sometimes even turn a blind eye to the workings of the Liches. The Liches, after all, are not Nephandi. They are in full possession and control of souls, be it their own or anyone elses. Even their name is an in-joke among the Hermetics, referencing the fallen House Tremere who became vampires, and muddying the issue as to what they are collaborating with. The Euthanatos and Hermetics tolerate these aberrations privately because they hold the key to unlocking one of the most cloying mysteries of the Awakened: the nature of the Avatar.
Becoming a Lich is no easy task. First of all, the Mage must be of at least Arete 4, and must be initiated by another Lich. Any Mage can join the Craft, however they are immediately declared barrabi and subjected to Gilgul if caught. Worse, no Avatar will voluntarily want its host to join for obvious reasons, and will resist the change with all their might. However, once the rites are conducted, the senior Lich tears the Avatar out of the aspirant, replacing it with a ragged, sucking paradox-wound, and initiating the aspirant into Lichdom. From there, the following changes take place.
- Tremere Liches, have no personal Avatar. They do however, immediately gain the power to sever the Avatar from a victim (only a sleeper at this point). While they cannot attach it to themself without the senior Lich present (at least until they reach Arete 6, at which point they gain the ability to attach the Avatar to themselves and utilize it as their own), when it is attached, the Avatar is awakened and can be used by the Lich to access his or her own spheres. The Avatar is slowly and painfully digested over the course of several weeks, sustaining both the Liche's immortality and magic, until they are fully digested and destroyed forever (such an Avatar does not re-enter the cycle of reincarnation, and are instead annihilated forever). At Arete 8, A Lich gains the ability to steal an Awakened Avatar, and may use one sphere from his or her victim after it is attached. This soul-theft ability is not a magical ability and can be used without an Avatar or even if the Lich is cut off from regular Sphere magick. Victims roll Avatar + Arete + Willpower (Difficulty 9) to resist having their Avatars severed. Tremere Liches can only use this power on an individual once a month, and if they fail, the victims are immune to this power.
- Tremere Liches are subject to the whims of their stolen Avatar. While their Arete doesn't change, they gain the Essence and Rating of their stolen Avatar (Sleeper Avatars are a random number between 1-3). The Avatar is also universally antagonistic to the Lich and will often refuse to lead it on seekings, as it is being slowly devoured. The Lich however, may automatically lower the Sustaining time limit of the Avatar by one week, painfully devouring a portion of the Avatar to torture it into co-operating.
- Avatars last for one month per Avatar rating. They keep their rating until they are fully devoured.
- If their Auras are somehow sighted, Tremere Liches always have a tainted aura, covered in black veins, similar to vampiric diablerists. Their resonance is also deeply disturbing and often contains elements desperation and being eaten alive.
- The ultimate aim of Tremere Liches is to eat the soul of an Oracle and finally Ascend. Not one has accomplished this yet.
- Tremere Liches are despised by literally EVERYONE who is not another Lich. The Traditions and Technocracy rightfully consider them ghastly aberrations and kill them on sight to free their current Avatars. Even Marauders, Infernalists and Nephandi do not fancy the idea of slowly and painfully devouring the immortal parts of their souls and will not risk truck with them for too long.
- A Tremere Lich who devours a damaged Avatar, such as a Marauder's broken soul or a Nephandi's inverted one effectively becomes a Marauder or Nephandus for the time they use it, but ultimately, when the Avatar is digested, their are no permanent ill-effects.
- An Avatar-less person (Lich or Victim) loses the ability to do magick, and in extreme cases, lose any kind of creative thinking if they go for an amount of weeks equal to their Avatar rating. Liches keep their soul-severing ability, but no other magick.
(Special Note: One awesome guy on Facebook who sadly disagrees with me on Awakening's coolness suggested making these guys Gilgul survivors, which I think is a great idea as well)
Tremere Liches in Mage: The Awakening
A nice, easy rundown of the Liches and their abilities and organization in Awakening. Now, if you've read that, you'll see that the Liches are pretty well fleshed-out in NMage. The main, major change I'd make is that I'd make their Legacy open to any Path, (though because of their Attainments, they'd be an obvious choice to the Moros, who would make up the vast majority of their ranks) to really drive home the idea of power being open to corrupting everyone. All the Paths have Reaper legacies, and it makes sense that the Tremere can assimilate anyone or anything who deals with souls, making corrupted Reaper houses out of any Path or Legacy, effectively making them a 'sixth' Path to be Awakened to. They also provide a neat tool for particularly amoral Consilums or Ministries, who may see the Liches' power as a particularly horrible weapon to be used against their enemies.
Playing a Tremere Lich is something that could be really fun, but the Wisdom mechanic in NMage (That I almost always port over to OMage when I can) makes it a pretty risky prospect. That said, a Mad Tremere would be a terrifying force indeed, and really could make for a great Big Bad for a chronicle.
Houses of the Soul-Eaters
Because the Left Hand Path book has some really cool ideas for Houses (assimilated reaper Legacy conquered by the Tremere), here are some sample Houses I've created. I haven't made up Attainments for them yet, but if you think of any good ones, by all means, stick them in the comments. They will be coming soon when I think of them, but for now, enjoy the flavor of them.
House Ghul
Spawned from a truly repulsive Arabian legacy of Necromancer Reapers, House Ghul is a visceral branch of the Tremere Liches who make even their fellow soul-eaters uncomfortable. Ghul are the absolute masters of necromancy, and their cannibalistic rites are known throughout the order to be truly nightmarish. Ghuls have a tradition that they do merely steal the soul, but magically preserve the life and consciousness of their victims while they eat them alive, holding them in suspended animation until they have consumed the last bite, at which point they capture the fleeing soul and devour it. This House is almost an Infernalist house, with some of the truly deranged members believing themselves to be Arabian demons in human bodies, and many fall to become the Mad very quickly. Their lairs are festooned with paralyzed but still horribly alive and conscious victims, and while the Tremere hesitate to deal with these wayward cannibals, they are happy to leave these vile abominations to burn their Wisdoms and souls out doing truly disgusting jobs for their fellow Liches.
House Dracos
A House spawned from a Reaper legacy that was hidden deep within the Mysterium of the Pentacle orders. The Dracos believed that the only way to access the Supernal was to force a human to awaken, and consume their souls at the very instant they visited the Supernal, accessing their memories and learning more about the Supernal in the process. When they were conquered and assimilated by the Tremere, the Liches saw them as a useful resource to find any clue about their mysterious, Watchtower of the Soul, to research if anyone could truly Awaken to it with no stimulus. Dracos are the lorekeepers of the Tremere, managing vast libraries of Atlantean lore, that are defended both by members of the rogue Mystagogues, and by other Tremere as well.
House Demiurgos
A house assimilated from a Seer Legacy, that focused on ripping the souls out of Sleepers before they could awaken. This house specializes in destroying Awakened opponents, negating magics and possessing the truly feared ability to rip the souls of the Awakened out far more easily then their brethren. Unusually, while they are loyal only to the Liches, it is not common knowledge that the Legacy has been devoured, and many of its operatives still infiltrate the Seers, eating the souls of any who discover their new allegiance.
House Nihilous
Nothing disgusts the Tremere like a traitor, and this absolutely repulsive House has earned the disdain and censure of even the most base and vile of beings, their fellow Liches. Declared heretics by the rest of the Tremere, House Nihilous is hated and hunted, both for what they represent and for what they may yet do. Assimilated from a Scelestus Legacy, which tore the souls out of their victims and feeding them wholesale to their Acamoth masters, the Tremere felt that the Nihilous would help in giving the Tremere access to the Antinomian magic of the Scelesti. House Nihilous, however, was corrupted, going not to the Watchtower of the Soul, but to its Abyssal Dur-Abzu reflection, where they inverted not just their torn and fractured souls, but the souls of all they ate as well. No one knows exactly what the Rogue House serves, but they have access to both Tremere attainments and the Antinomian sorcery of the Scelesti, and are more dedicated than ever to feeding the souls of the Fallen World directly into the Void.
- Kephn
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