Velvet Sorcery

Sorcery
Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
Cost: —; Mins: Occult 3, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
1Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Solar steps through the First Circle and is forever transformed. Upon learning this Charm, the Exalt gains the ability to learn and cast spells from the Terrestrial Circle of sorcery. In addition, the Solar learns one shaping ritual (p. 466) and one Terrestrial spell for free. The spell selected becomes the sorcerer’s “control spell,” and may feature in the anima iconography and be referenced in the mechanics of certain Charms.

Stormwind Rider
Cost: 15sm, 1wp
Keywords: None
Duration: One hour
Bending the winds to her will, the sorcerer creates a servile dust devil to ride. The Stormwind Rider is treated as a flying mount (p. 202), although it cannot take the sorcerer to more than short range above the ground. (Wits + Occult) replaces the usual rolls for all combat movement actions. The whirlwind can carry up to (Essence x 2) additional characters, or one hundred pounds of cargo in place of a single passenger. While it cannot soar as high as the Cirrus Skiff, the Stormwind Rider can travel at nearly 100 miles an hour and maneuver through forests or cities. In a race with other characters, the sorcerer rolls (Intelligence + Occult + current temporary Willpower) for each interval. In combat, characters within the Stormwind Rider are treated as having light cover against attacks made from outside of it, and vice versa. A passenger who is crashed or hit with a decisive attack is knocked out of the whirlwind, and suffers falling damage if applicable.
A sorcerer who knows Stormwind Rider as her control spell is buffeted by winds whenever she is beset by strong emotions. Sudden movements cause a small vortex powerful enough to scatter papers, upset furniture and topple someone caught off-guard. Her vertical leaps are buoyed by wind, allowing her to leap upward a single range band as her movement action; she can do so up to (Stamina) times before needing to rest.
In addition, characters with an Essence pool gain access to the following powers while this spell is active:
• Enduring Tempest (5m; Reflexive; Instant): Once this spell’s duration has elapsed, the sorcerer may use Enduring Tempest to extend its duration for another hour. She may do so for as long as she has Essence to continue using this power.
• Zephyr Rush(1m, 1wp; Supplemental; Instant): The sorcerer whips the Stormwind Rider into a sudden frenzy of speed, allowing her to move up to two range bands with a single movement action in combat or doubling 8s on one interval of a race.
Distortion (Goal Number: 15): Distorting a stormwind rider causes it to buck and swerve violently in its flight, threatening to throw off its riders. All characters carried by the whirlwind must succeed at a difficulty 4 (Dexterity + Athletics) roll to maintain balance, although the sorcerer who cast it may substitute (Wits + Occult). Characters who fail their roll fall out of the whirlwind

Celestial Circle Sorcery
Cost: —; Mins: Occult 4, Essence 3
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Terrestrial Circle Sorcery
The Solar ascends to the Second Circle and becomes an avatar bearing aspects of Heaven and Hell in her mind. In all the world, there are only a handful of sorcerers at this level of power. Upon learning this Charm, the Exalt gains the ability to cast spells from the Celestial Circle of sorcery. In addition, the Solar learns one shaping ritual and one Celestial spell for free. The spell selected acts as an addi-tional control. Celestial Circle Sorcery may not be learned prior to Essence 3 by selecting Occult as a Supernal Ability.

Magma Kraken
Cost: 30sm, 1wp
Keywords: None
Duration: One sceneCalling to the Essence of fire and earth that roils deep beneath her, the sorcerer wills ten tentacles of lava to erupt from the ground, shaking the earth as they burst forward in torrents of molten stone. She designates where each appears, out to as far as long range from her. Together, these form the Magma Kraken. It is rolled into battle with the sorcerer’s (Wits + Occult), and has a base Initiative equal to her Essence. As it erupts from the ground, any character who is at the point where a tentacle emerges must make a difficulty 2 (Dexterity + Athletics) roll to avoid it, or else be flung one range band away and knocked prone by the eruption.The Magma Kraken may act on its turn to make a withering or decisive attack, grapple an enemy, or wreak general havoc on the scenery. It uses the sorcerer’s (Intelligence + Occult + Essence) for all attack and feat of strength rolls, and each tentacle can strike out to short range from its location. If it becomes necessary for the kraken to make a roll for another action, such as opposing an enemy’s stealth attempt, its dice pool is equal to the sorcerer’s ([Relevant Attribute] + Occult + Essence). Magma Kraken tentacles have Parry and Evasion values of 5, and 10 points of soak.
• Withering attacks made by the Magma Kraken are treated as medium artifact weapons with the lethal, grappling, and reaching tags. If the kraken uses multiple tentacles to attack, it makes a single attack roll and divides the successes among all targets to determine who is hit, before rolling damage separately for each. Its baseStrength is equal to the sorcerer’s Essence rating.
• Decisive attacks add the sorcerer’s Essence to their base damage. If the kraken attacks multiple enemies, it makes one attack roll and does not divide those successes,but  instead divides its Initiative among each enemythat it  strikes to determine the raw damage of the attack. It must assign at least three points of Initiative toeach enemy.
• The kraken may only attempt to grapple a single enemy each turn, and receives a flat total of (five + sorcerer’s Essence) successes on the control roll. The kraken suffers  no penalties from grappling, but a tentacle being used to  clinch an enemy cannot make attacks against anyone else.
• Destroying scenery such as setting fire to vegetation, melting through stone walls, or uprooting statues counts as a feat of strength. The kraken is treated as having Strength 10 for determining the feats it may attempt, and doubles 7s on the roll. It may use multiple tentacles together to perform a feat with no penalty.The Magma Kraken cannot be grappled or defeated with standard decisive attacks; destroying a tentacle instead requires a difficulty 5 gambit, stunted in a way that could reasonably disrupt a living pillar of molten stone. At the Storyteller’s discretion, attacks or hazards that affect an area or multiple targets and deal 5+ levels of damage can also destroy any tentacles within their range. Destroying a tentacle frees any character being grappled by it. If all ten of the kraken’s tentacles are destroyed, the spell ends. At the end of the scene, the tentacles or their broken remains harden into obsidian and remain fixed where they stand or lie.
A sorcerer who knows Magma Kraken as her control spell is forever chased by magmatic flame. An open fire curls into tentacles around her, or a torch flame licks out from its sconce to light her pipe. When she is angry, the walls or ground become blistered and hot, with faint tentacle shapes writhing in rising smoke. The sorcerer can use these effects to intimidate, set fires, melt minor obstacles and perform other similar stunts.
Distortion (Goal Number: 10): Distorting a Magma Kraken renders it incapable of perceiving and attacking the distorting sorcerer as well as all allies within close range of her (though this is of limited use if it is already grappling her). If this distortion renders the kraken incapable of perceiving any enemies at all, it will begin using its tentacles to lash out at random in hopes of striking a hidden foe.


Solar Circle Sorcery
Cost: —; Mins: Occult 5, Essence 5
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Celestial Circle Sorcery
The Solar rises to the Third and final Circle of sorcery and becomes a herald of untold power. Spells of the Solar Circle are the most powerful sorceries ever imagined. Only the Solar Exalted have the power necessary to master spells of this magnitude. Learning this Charm grants the ability to cast spells from the Solar Circle of sorcery. In addition, the Solar learns one shaping ritual and one Solar spell for free. The spell selected acts as an additional control. Solar Circle Sorcery may not be learned prior to Essence 5 by selecting Occult as a Supernal Ability.

Benediction of Archgenesis
Cost: Ritual, 3wp
Keywords: None
Duration: Instant
Chanting from one sunrise to the next, the sorcerer calls down a soft, warm rain that carries life-giving Essence. Over the course of this spell’s ritual, the rain falls on up to (Essence x 100) squares miles of land which the Solar wishes to revitalize with the Benediction of Archgenesis. If the land is infertile, such as an arid desert, marshy bog or rocky mountain face, then the Benediction transforms it into arable terrain, encouraging plant growth and making it possible to sustain a productive agricultural community off the land. Weather is temperate, with only enough rain to keep crops well-watered and unseasonably pleasant temperatures year-round. Animal populations from other regions migrate to the newly-fertile ground, while indigenous species have been known to grow to prodigious sizes off the bounty conjured by the benediction. Even the spirit world is affected—elementals become far more likely to arise from the blessed land, while displaced gods may seek to find a position of stewardship over the terrain, flora, or fauna of the region.If the land is already fertile, Benediction of Archgenesis causes life to grow at an almost impossible rate. Fields of wheat grow to tower over those that tend them, while man-sized pumpkins and gourds become a common sight. Animals flock to the lush vitality of the region to the point of overpopulation. While this swell is enough to multiply the bounty of a single year’s harvest by nearly a hundredfold, the surge of growth can easily deplete the soil of nutrients and create ecosystem imbalances that will persist for years. Unless the sorcerer is vigilant in counterbalancing the effects of this lush growth, she may leave famine in her wake for years thereafter.
Benediction of Archgenesis can only be cast once per story. The geomantic upheaval it causes prevents the sorcerer from casting it within one thousand miles of any region that she has previously blessed with the spell within the same year, with the exception of performing a second casting of the spell to transform a barren region made fertile into a supernaturally lush overgrowth.
A sorcerer who knows Benediction of Archgenesis as her control spell reduces the distance requirement to one hundred miles. Wherever she goes, life tends to spring up in her wake—flowers grow around her when she sleeps, grasses become taller in her footsteps and her home becomes a veritable wildlife sanctuary if she isn’t careful.
Distortion (Goal Number: 30): Distorting the Benediction of Archgenesis causes all plant life within (Essence) miles of the distorting sorcerer to wither and die, leaving a barren dead zone within the blessed land. Animals in the blighted region are driven outwards as the ecosystem collapses in an instant. Herbivorous creatures may stampede or raid the food supplies of settlements within or near the blessed lands, while predators respond to the flight of their prey by turning man-eater, attacking any human settlements they can find. Even the spirits of the blighted land are corrupted, each one gaining a Major Derangement (p. 168)that somehow turns them against their original purpose or makes them harmful to humankind, assigned by the Storyteller. Note that spells can only be distorted once—an enemy sorcerer could create a rottingnexus of corruption at the heart of the Benediction of Archgenesis, but she could not utterly undo the spell without a sorcerous working.