Whispers of the Heavens
The Almohad Empire and Taugast both boast astronomers whose knowledge far exceeds all European lore of the stars. Both cultures also possess a wealth of fortune-tellers who claim the ability to read knowledge from the heavens. The Assamites draw on both of these traditions in addition to their own studies. This path emerged from sorcerer workshops after long effort to reconcile conflicting beliefs. Practitioners of Whispers of the Heavens are also known as seers or diviners
Whispers of the Heavens depends in large part on the sorcerer's ability to see the stars. All uses of this path are at +1 difficulty in overcast weather and +2 difficulty in storms. The path cannot be used at all if the sorcerer cannot see the sky.
1) Map the Skies
Though Europeans have not yet leaned to navigate by the stars, Cainite observers with centuries in which to travel and watch the skies have made some progress toward this goal. The first technique that a student of this path learns is that a divining his location with a mere glance at the stars.
System: The player rolls normally. The number of successes determines how accurately the character is able to determine his location. If he has access to an accurate map, he can apply this knowledge to pinpoint his location; if not, he simply knows his position relative to known landmarks.
1 success: Within 100 miles
2: Within 10 miles
3: Within 1 mile
4: Within 250 yards
5: Within 10 yards.
2) Read Heaven's Plans
Many diviners claim to be able to read the fate of a place or person in the stars. This power allows these effects, though not with the precision many false prophets claim. The sorcerer is able to glean the approximate fate of the ground on which he stands or the person to whom he speaks, though this is less an absolute reading than a hint of the most likely of many possible futures.
System: The character must be standing on the ground or touching the person on whom he wants to use this power. The number of successes determine roughly how far forward the character's observations reach. The exact nature of the vision is up to the Storyteller, but this power never grants absolute clarity. Instead the seer typically receives a few images and a sense of the emotions and time frame associated with them. Using the power to determine the fate of a city which will in fact be burned by the Crusaders on October 8, 1201, but will be the region's best producer of grain until that time, might result in a vision of bountiful wheat fields suddenly scorched by fore and trampled by horses four years hence. As always with such imprecise prophecy, the fate foretold is not an absolute certainty, merely the one that is most likely if events proceed in their present course.
1 success: 1 lunar month
2: 1 season
3: 1 year
4: 1 decade
5: 1 century
3) Call Down the Hunter's Moon
"to everything," says the christian holy book, "there is a season." Natives of Taugast speak of "auspicious and inauspicious occasions" on which to perform certain actions. This power grants its wielder a sense of the best time to tact in a particular manner. Though the sorcerer is free to ignore this divine scheduling, his chances for success will be vastly increased if he heeds it.
System: The sorcerer names aloud the act in question, from "the planting of this year's crop of wheat" to "Lucas of Normandy's proposal of marriage to Katherine of Bordeaux" to " the assassination of the Ventrue, Fabrizio Ulfila." If the roll succeeds, the character learns the best night within the next season (three lunar months) to attempt this act, or the best hour between the present time and the coming dawn to attempt a more immediate task. The choice of the moment itself is entirely up to the Storyteller, who should work it into his existing plans for the chronicle.
If the character does try to perform this task on the indicated night or at the indicated hour, the player gains a number of temporary Willpower points equal to the number of successes scored on the roll. These are tracked separately from his normal Willpower pool, and any that are unspent are lost at the end of the night or upon the successful completion of the task. This power may only be used once to divine the best night or hour for any given task - the sorcerer may not stock up on bonus Willpower.
a small group of individuals (no more than the sorcerer's Leadership rating) may benefit from this power. Each character must be aware of the rite and give the sorcerer one blood point, which is destroyed when the power is used. Every individual who so donated gains the same number of temporary Willpower points as the sorcerer himself, and the same rules and restrictions apply to these boons.
This power may only be used on an extended, complex task - it may not be applied to something that can be accomplished in a single action (or with a single die roll). The effects of a botch are left to the Storyteller's imagination, but will definitely include a false message that prompts the sorcerer to act when the stars are not right. Also note that outside circumstances may conspire against the sorcerer's execution of his task on the appointed night - this power does not automatically reschedule the summons of princes, for instance.
4) Trace the Soul's Favor
A diviner who knows the date of birth of a specific individual has access to a vast array of information on that individual's history and destiny. By tracing the position of the stars under which the subject was born, the sorcerer can learn such diverse facts as what trade he is best suited for, what his personality tends toward, or what sort of ultimate reward is in store for him upon his death.
System: The player rolls normally, with a +1 penalty imposed if the character knows only one of the subject's name or date of birth (or date of Embrace, for Cainite subjects) and a +3 difficulty if the character knows neither. For each success, the sorcerer receives one piece of information about the core identity of the individual in question. Five successes give the sorcerer clues to the subject's ultimate fate (Storyteller's discretion). A botch gives the target a sudden realization that someone is watching him; if he ever sees the sorcerer, he will instantly realize that this person has spied upon him before.
The exact nature of the facts revealed by this power are up to the Storyteller, but they may include revealing the subject's Nature, Demeanor, approximate Willpower rating, Road and approximate rating, notable Disciplines or Abilities. Ideally these should all be revealed in character, without using overt game terms. A subject with Melee 5 and Politics 5 might elicit the response "sword and state are as equally mastered tools in her hands." Such a revelation would require two successes (one for each Ability).
5) Ripples on the Sea of Stars
The pinnacle of this path allows the sorcerer to cast his point of view far away from his physical body, using the heavens as a vast scrying pool. With this power, he may observe any events that are transpiring under the same stars that he sees. Of course, even this powerful divination has its limits. The sorcerer must be familiar with at least one participant in the scene which he wishes to observe, be it the city in which the events are occurring, an individual who is participating in them or a specific item around which they center.
System: The character must have a specific target in mind, be it a location, a person or an object with which he is at least casually familiar. If the sorcerer has read the target's future at least once before, either with lesser applications of this Path or with some other magics, the roll's difficulty is reduced by one. The scene that is being observed must be occurring under the night sky, and must be within sight of at least one start that the sorcerer can see (though weather does not block this vision past the usual difficulty modifier which it imposes). If the events are transpiring under the sun or under a roof, the attempt simply fails (though the Storyteller should still have the player roll). The number of successes determine the clarity of the image that the sorcerer receives, as well as his ability to exert limited mystic influence over the scene that he is watching.
1 success: The sorcerer can dimly see the scene
2 successes: The sorcerer can see and hear the scene
3 successes: All of the sorcerer's senses function with perfect clarity, and he may use Auspex 1,2, and 4 to observe in greater detail.
4 successes: The sorcerer can use all his Auspex powers to affect or observe the scene, and can also use any other sorcerous path power (though not a ritual) to observe or analyze what he perceives.
5 successes: The sorcerer can use any Assamite Sorcery power or ritual he knows to affect the scene, as long as this exercise of power does not require his physical presence at the scene.
This power's effects last for the duration of the scene being witnessed or until daybreak at the sorcerer's location or at the site in question. While the character uses this power, the player suffers a +2 difficulty penalty on all actions that require the character to interact with his physical surroundings. If an individual being observed has Auspex, he receives a faint sense of being watched from above. this is not enough to identify the observer, though the paranoid unease it induces may be enough to press the subject to take matters indoors, away from prying eyes - and prying stars.
