God-Machine Protocols

Advancing the blend of mysticism, technology and pattern manipulation in both power and scope, the extraordinarily powerful God-Machine Protocols belong solely to Autochthon and his most favored children.

 

Auspicious Reformatting Mudra

Cost: (Rating affected x 10) motes

Target: One automaton

Duration: Permanent

Minimum Clarity: 6

With a quick series of deft hand gestures, the Alchemical fundamentally reweaves the pattern of an automaton or any type of machine, thereby assigning it a completely different destiny. If the weaver’s Essence is greater than or equal to the automaton’s, this effect is automatic. If the automaton’s Essence is higher, the player makes a contested Essence roll against the machine spirit.

This powerful protocol might be used to mend or reactivate a broken machine spirit, or it might transform the automaton into something else entirely. A gremlin could be reformatted again as a custodian, for example or broken down into its inert component pieces entirely. A First Age warstrider could be transformed into a First Age airship. An Exalt using this protocol can reconfigure a machine spirit with up to half the weaver’s Essence (rounded up) into a device with an Artifact rating equal to half the Alchemical’s Essence (rounded up) or into an Autochthonian familiar with a rating equal to the Exalt’s Essence rating. If the weaver is transforming one artifact into another of equal power, his player rolls Intelligence + Lore and must get (Artifact’s rating) successes for the Exalt to accomplish his task.

At Essence 7, the weaver may reconfigure multiple patterns simultaneously for an additional 5 motes per added target. All targets must be within line of sight. Used in this manner the Auspicious Reformatting Mudra can only alter the programming and behavior of the automata rather than rebuilding their entire physical forms, and no target can have a permanent Essence greater than 3.

 

Destiny-Optimizing Meditation

Cost: 20 motes

Target: Weaver

Duration: (Essence) turns

Minimum Clarity: 6

The sorcerer communes with the Core of the Machine God, discerning the warp and the weft of the Great Maker’s Plan for the future. In so doing, the weaver prognosticates the optimal path to achieving his goal (for the next few moments anyway) and, in a state of perfect mechanized grace, makes those steps come to pass. For the duration of the protocol, the weaver adds (Essence rating) successes to his every roll.

 

Essence Matrix Inversion Procedure

Cost: 10 motes

Target: Weaver

Duration: One day

Minimum Clarity: 0

The weaver prepares this protocol up to one day in advance of when he thinks it may be needed. Perception + Investigation rolls (difficulty 4) may discern a slight mirage-like ripple in the light around the weaver, and anyone capable of seeing the flow of Essence will note that her body radiates foot-long quills of blue light. While protected with this protocol, the Essence flow matrix around the weaver becomes highly reflective. All incoming protocols, sorcery spells and necromancy effects — with the exception of Solar Circle Sorcery and Void Circle Necromancy — targeting the sorcerer or any area of effect that includes him are instantly turned back on the one who launched them. The effects of Essence weapons (e.g., implosion bows, Essence cannons and the like) are likewise reflected back at the attacking weapon.

 

Executive Filature Protocol

Cost: 5 motes + 1 mote per turn

Target: One individual

Duration: Varies

Minimum Clarity: 6

By grabbing hold of the strands that constitute a being’s pattern, the Exalt begins unweaving that incarnation from the pattern entirely, unraveling her Trait by Trait. Perceiving and unweaving an individual’s pattern is extremely difficult; the Alchemical can be no farther from the target than her Essence in feet. The weaver can do nothing else during this time, and if she is interrupted, the protocol terminates. Ending the process does not return Traits that have been unwoven, although the weaver can spend 5 motes per dot to weave them back in, provided no more than one day has passed and the target hasn’t faded from existence. The first turn, the target is filled with a wracking anxiety and panic as she feels her pattern being accessed and tampered with. After that, she loses one Attribute dot per turn, starting with her highest and working downward. Once all of the target’s Attributes are reduced to 1, the target begins losing health levels, and as she does so, she grows increasingly transparent. When the final health level is removed, the target fades from the pattern entirely, and her soulgem clatters to the ground, all memory of this incarnation purged from it entirely. In Creation, the souls of those who have undergone filature fall instantly into Lethe.

In more barbaric times, this protocol was deliberately left unfinished to reduce a target to a pathetic wreck of humanity before exiling her to the Reaches. Denied the tools needed for survival, such individuals never lasted long. Weavers typically need to obtain this protocol either from the Divine Ministers or from the design weavers themselves.

 

Homuncular Drone Deployment

Cost: 5 motes and one health level per drone (committed)

Target: Weaver

Duration: One scene

Minimum Clarity: 2

The weaver is able to separate his forearms from the rest of his body, deploying them as attack drones, or simply allowing him to attack a target who’s out of reach. The weaver is down one health level per drone until the limbs return and fuse with the Exalt.

Launched attack drones are considered to have the sorcerer’s Traits but gain the weaver’s Essence in Brawl and retain all the benefits of using brawling aids. These drones hover at twice the weaver’s

movement rate.

The Alchemical always knows the whereabouts of his drones. Each drone can take three health levels of damage. If a drone is destroyed, the character is permanently down one health level until he returns to the Vats to have the limb replaced or is treated with Charms capable of healing aggravated damage.

 

Incarnation Of Bestial Malice

Cost: 30 or 35 motes

Target: Weaver

Duration: (Essence) hours

Minimum Clarity: 2

Maximum Clarity: 7

The weaver weaves a chrysalis of Essence around himself and undergoes a spectacular high-speed metamorphosis, transforming himself from a synthesized being to a living, breathing nightmare creature comparable to a Lunar’s war form. This recombinant atavism form incorporates elements of beasts entirely unknown in Autochthonia, so the character can become a terrifying chimera combining aspects of yeddim, tyrant lizard, stryx or any other animal the player wants to incorporate.

Alternatively, the sorcerer may take a vegetative form instead, with bark, thorns, prehensile vines and branchlike appendages — or he may mix attributes of both. Since none of these creatures is known in Autochthonia (or at least not native), this form is among the most terrifying to the Maker’s citizens. All of the monstrous forms created by this protocol are enormous, weighing a ton or more, and most are covered with a hard carapace, thorns or thick bony plates. This form is entirely living — the Alchemical’s mechanical nature disappears, although some bulky Charms may appear as vestigial metallic studs on the bestial form.

Under the effects of this protocol, the Exalt’s atavistic war form incorporates all manner of bestial weapons. The Alchemical may sprout enormous horns or porcupine quills, her hair may become hundreds of asps, and she may grow enormous chitinous barbs or talons from her fingertips. The player and Storyteller should design the sorcerer’s war form beforehand and agree on its Traits. In general, they can be as effecting as normal Artifact •• weapons of the Magical Materials, sans the Material bonus.

Furthermore, the weaver gains an effective hardness of 10 and gains 10 additional soak against both bashing and lethal damage. Her Strength and Stamina both increase by two, even if this takes them above 5. All Brawl, Martial Arts and Melee attacks made with her claws gain +3 speed and + 1 accuracy and do Strength + 6 lethal damage. Her hand-to-hand combat range increases dramatically, and she can affect opponents up to (Essence rating) yards away. The character does Strength + 8 lethal damage in a clinch. This protocol isn’t even vaguely compatible with armor or weapons, and such items are buried deep within the character’s bulk for the duration of the effect. The weaver retains her normal movement rates and may grow gills to breathe underwater. For 5 additional motes, the Exalt also has wings and the musculature and knowledge necessary for flight. These wings may be those of a bird, a bat or a gigantic insect, but they allow the character to fly at three times her land speed.

 

Instantaneous Transfer Protocol

Minimum Clarity: 0

This protocol is identical to Travel Without Distance, except that the Alchemical simply sinks into the substance of the Great Maker, physically merging with the Machine God in one area and emerging the next instant from the ground at his destination.

 

Machine-Soul Essence Baffle

Cost: 30

Target: Area of Effect

Duration: Five shifts

Minimum Clarity: 2

The Alchemical pattern weaver assumes an asana sacred to the Divine Ministers in the exact center of an area he wants to make proof against sorcery or protocols. Once the proper posture is attained, he drones out a chant to attune the area around him to his own Essence flow to the exclusion of all others. Once the area is attuned, the sorcerer expands his soul out from the confines of his soulgem and fills the spherical space with the weight of his being. In all other respects, this is the equivalent of Mercury’s Deliverance.

 

The Maker’s Advanced Defense Array

Cost: 25 motes

Target: Weaver

Duration: 12 hours

Minimum Clarity: 0

This protocol is like the Maker’s Basic Defense Array, but instead of small metal spheres, the Exalt is surrounded by a spherical array of whirling, coruscating adamant shuriken. This protective sphere of smoothly arcing blades has an effective hardness of 10 and adds 20L/20B to the sorcerer’s soak.

Attacking a pattern weaver protected by this effect is much more dangerous than attacking one protected by the Basic Defense Array. The Storyteller rolls a single die every time a weapon hits the defense array. Weapons not made out of Magical Materials shatter on a result of 1 to 9. Weapons made of the Magical Materials shatter only on a 1. Even if the weapon sustains no damage, the player of the attacking character must make a successful Dexterity + Melee roll (difficulty 3) to prevent the impact of the flying blades from knocking the weapon out of the attacker’s hands.

Characters making unarmed Brawl or Martial Arts attacks upon the weaver suffer 10 dice of lethal damage. This damage may be soaked, but if an attacker takes more than two health levels of damage, the limb with which she was attacking is severed.

In bright light, the weaver of this protocol will be surrounded by a vivid storm of swirling rainbow-colored flecks, as the blades refract ambient light.

 

Maser Palm Technique

Minimum Clarity: 0

This protocol is equivalent to the spell Blood of Boiling Oil, except that the blood doesn’t become oil, it simply boils and denatures in the target’s veins.

 

Passenger Hosting Protocol

Cost: 15 motes per passenger

Target: The weaver and passenger(s)

Duration: One day

Minimum Clarity: 3

By interweaving the threads of his pattern with that of another, the Alchemical allows up to (half the weaver’s permanent Essence, rounded up) willing individuals to step into and occupy the same space he occupies. All parties are telepathically linked for the duration of the effect. While all passengers think independently, only the weaver can act. The passengers’ Strength, Stamina, Soak and Resistance stack on top of the weaver’s, but beyond that, there’s no way of discerning that the sorcerer is more than one individual. All damage taken by the sorcerer is split evenly between the weaver and all passengers. If a spirit is to be made a passenger with this protocol, it must first Materialize. A sorcerer using Passenger Hosting Protocol cannot be possessed.

 

Pattern Suspension Protocol

Minimum Clarity: 0

This protocol, known to both Alchemical protocol masters and design weavers, is the Alchemical version of Eternal Crystalline Encasement. The particulars of the spell are the same, except that the Alchemical wraps the object whose pattern she wishes to suspend in fine crystalline filaments that she sprays from her fingertips. The weaving of this protocol involves wrapping the target object in a scintillating cocoon of spun diamond fiber. Once the cocoon is woven, the weaver spins a pearl of tightly woven strands of gemstuff, and it is this pearl that must touch the cocoon to end the protocol and resume pattern function.

 

Radiant Matrix Transmutation

Cost: 35 motes

Target: (Essence x 10)-foot radius

Duration: Permanent

Minimum Clarity: 6

The Alchemical invokes this protocol by assuming a divinely authorized asana. A wave of dynamic order radiates from where he sits at a rate of 10 feet per turn. Solids and liquids are transmuted to beautiful, faceted elemental crystal that coruscates in even the dimmest light. Objects caught in the range are transmuted as well, although items already made of crystal (Hearthstones or items made of adamant for example) are not affected in any way. Artifacts remain unchanged for (Artifact rating) turns before crystallizing, while a rating of N/A protects the object for 10 turns. Artifacts forged by the Maker himself, such as the Eye of Autochthon, are wholly immune to this protocol.

Creatures caught within the protocol’s radius are also transmuted, usually from the feet up, and take the caster’s Essence in aggravated damage each turn they’re within the area of effect. Characters taken to Incapacitated with this effect become crystal statues of themselves. If Charms are used to heal the damage inflicted by this protocol, all the crystal must be cut away from the living flesh before Medicine Charms are applied or slivers of crystal will remain in the regenerated limbs.

This protocol empowers Autochthon in those areas where it is used, and weaving it in a blight zone heals the blight and allows Essence to flow through the area again. Likewise, this protocol reclaims any sectors of Autochthon that may have been turned into shadowlands.

 

Transcendent Consciousness Protocol

Cost: 15 motes

Target: Weaver

Duration: One scene

Minimum Clarity: 4

The Alchemical’s eyes blaze with a white light as she reallocates her perceptions, dramatically expanding all five of her senses to fill a sphere 60 yards in diameter. Within that area, she feels everything as if she were touching it with her hands, sees everything as though she were closely examining it and hears everything as though it were the only sound being made. Solid objects are no barrier to this protocol, so she can sense what is happening 30 yards beneath her or what is taking place on the other side of a wall. She can even sense what is flowing through the Maker’s veins within the area of effect. This protocol grants the character processing capabilities as well as sensory capabilities, so she can instantly process all sensory data she receives. This protocol facilitates all manner of reconnaissance, eavesdropping and perimeter monitoring.

The weaver cannot be surprised. If someone tries to sneak up on her using invisibility, she may not be able to see him, but she feels the weight he exerts on the floor, she feels him moving through the air, and she hears his heartbeat or smells the scent of sweat or oil. The character’s player gains the Exalt’s Essence rating as automatic successes on all Perception rolls within that 30-yard radius.

 

Transcendent Pattern-Weaving Protocol

Cost: 20 motes

Target: Nearby Wyld areas

Duration: Permanent

Minimum Clarity: 10

Containing as they do a spark of Primordial power and a portion of the weaving ability of the design weavers, truly powerful Alchemical Exalted have the capacity to spin pattern out of the madness of the Wyld. Wherever the chaos of the Wyld dominates an area, an Alchemical weaver can grab the blowing filaments of gossamer, spin them into thread and weave order from it.

Invoking this protocol requires absolute understanding of the Machine God’s ways, as the user is patching in whole new sectors of Tapestry. In preparation for invoking this protocol, the Alchemical would do well to spend many days in contemplation in the Far Reaches of the Maker, preferably near a crystalline node in the Machine God’s neutral pathways or near one of the industrial tabernacles of the Divine Ministers. Once the Exalt attains perfect Clarity, she may attempt this extraordinarily powerful protocol.

This protocol requires the weaver to step into the swirling chaos of the Wyld and execute a long prayer and a complex mudra. Every hour the sorcerer prays and works this protocol, she formats reality around her in a 20-yard radius, and she may only weave this protocol for as many hours as she has points of Stamina. Fair Folk caught in the area of effect take health levels of aggravated damage equal to the weaver’s permanent Essence.

It is unlikely that the Exalt will be allowed to weave for that long, as this protocol causes an unpleasant stranglingsensation in every member of the Fair Folk in a radius in miles equal to the weaver’s Essence rating. In the Deep Wyld, that radius is doubled. Fae antagonized in such a way are unlikely to be friendly toward the weaver.

This weaving can bring about another effect as well, although no Alchemical is likely to stumble across the effect on his own: By weaving pattern directly from the substance of a Fair Folk noble (rather than catching him in the effect area of weaving pattern from the Wyld), the sorcerer can reformat a fae into one of the Mountain Folk.

The player of a raksha noble directly targeted with this weaving must succeed in a contested Willpower + Essence roll against the weaver’s player, or his character is transformed into one of the Jadeborn. The resulting Mountain Folk soul would resemble an energy pattern locked inside an egg of jade, totally torpid and lacking all memory, a blank slate waiting to be quickened to activity by the right Mountain Folk Charm.

This protocol is an extraordinarily rare one, as there has been no need for it for millennia, but it exists in the keeping of the Divine Ministers and may yet linger somewhere in the Sodality’s vaults.