BOOK OF SHADOWS )

[ninwe]

Contract/Dilate Time (Time 3)
>> Kezia uses focused trauma (i.e., pain -- cutting, bruising, pulling out hair, etc) to alter her perception of time. In doing so she is capable of contracting (slowing down) or dilating (speeding up) time as it relates to her individually. In this state, she will appear sped-up (or slowed-down) to others, who she will perceive as slowed-down (or sped-up). Dilating time is almost always vulgar magic; contracting time is usually coincidental, especially if she appears to be asleep or unconscious.

Petrify Heart (Time 3, Life 3, Entropy 2/3, Mind 3, optional: Matter 5)
>> The mage uses sex and music to simulate the rhythm of the heartbeat and tie the body's rhythms to that of the target; their bodily fluids (including blood) are the metaphysical binding agent between themselves and the target. Once the mage(s) are in harmony, they can extend their perception to a single target, and control the target's bodily rhythm. This causes cardiac arrest in the target, which may or may not be fatal, depending on how quickly they can get medical attention. (This rote can also be used to support or speed up an ailing heart or other biological function, and with a particularly adept user of the Life sphere can be made permanent.) Whether Entropy 2 or 3 is required depends on the age and health of the target. Optionally, the mages may use Matter 5 to literally turn the heart into stone, if they desire to send a message--Kezia's coven have done this once.

Detect Path (Time 2, Entropy 1)
>> Kezia tunes herself into the heartbeat of the world through the rhythm of music, and opens her mind with the aid of some mind-altering substance. (Ecstasy works best, but any mind-expanding drug will do, even alcohol.) She becomes able to read the immediate future of people and objects around her, which she perceives as thin silver threads people follow, as if they're stuck to them like railroad tracks. The more significant the person is to Fate, the brighter and more tangible their thread will be--i.e., the person who's going to the bathroom to take a piss will be faint, and the person who's holding a bomb under their trenchcoat will be bright and sharp enough to cut oneself on.

Keening of the Banshee (Time 2, Entropy 1)
>> This rote (also known as the Sight of the Valkyries) is surprisingly simple, but still very rarely used. By following the threads of fate forward, the mage can feel where they end. This can be used to predict how long anything will remain in existence; inanimate objects, living beings, people and even love itself. Most mages prefer not to use this rote at all. The rote has some limitations. It cannot predict exactly where something will end, just a time of great entropy. Sometimes people survive just barely, and go on living. Awakened beings also automatically disturb the predictions by their actions, especially if they have Time or Entropy themselves. If the rote is used on a mage, he will automatically try to subconsciously countermagick it. Cast the same as Detect Path.

Replay Past (Time 2, Mind 1, optional: Mind 2/3)
>> Kezia can shift her perception of time backwards in accordance with the psychic impressions she gets off a specific area (it doesn't have to be indoors, although something confined by four walls is easiest) to see a specific moment replayed in her mind. She will know exactly what transpired--who was there, what they did, what they said, etc, and if she has the help of another mage with Mind 2 or 3, they can even know what those people were thinking at the time. The easiest way to perform this is with the aid of a drug that will slow her perception of time and expand her mind, such as marijuana, but she can also go into a trance-state through various other methods (dancing is her preferred method; music is not required but it helps) to put herself in the right frame of mind.

Predict Future (Time 2, Entropy 1, optional: Mind 3)
>> Similar to Replay Past, but with the ability to determine what will happen in a given space (or to a given object, etc) at some point in the future. The closer in time she currently is to this future moment, the easier it is to predict--if the future is a significantly long distance away, what she'll get out of it will be fractured, because there are a thousand variables that can affect the flow of time and probability. The rote is the same as Replay Past, it's just more difficult and utilises different Spheres.

Create Malfunction (Entropy 2)
>> A simple rote that involves altering the probability that a piece of technological equipment will malfunction. She does this by exploiting a probability that already exists. Always coincidental magic. She harms herself in some way (cutting is easiest) as a metaphorical method of damaging the item in question.

Instant Reaction (Time 1, Mind 1)
>> When the mage expects a certain event, he can focus his attention on it to be able to respond reflexively at the same time. For example, if a thug threatens him with a gun, he can program his body to dodge at the exact moment the thug pulls the trigger or respond with magick. A stand-off between two mages both using this rote can be quite deadly, since they will both react at the exact same time. If the rote succeeds the mage will act just before the event, as long as the condition predates it slightly (like the act of pulling a trigger). He has to be completely concentrated on the condition to act, and cannot do anything else (unless he uses multitasking, of course).

No-Time (Time 1, Entropy 2, Mind 1/3)
>> This bizarre rote removes the sense of time from the subject or the mage. It becomes impossible to plan for the future or remember the past, all that exists is an eternal now. By combining this with entropy it becomes impossible to predict what the subject will do, even with Time. The Cult of Ecstasy usually invoke this by extreme intoxication, loud music and then by placing the ring on a finger; as long as it remains, the rote will be active.

Scent of the Hounds of Tindalos (Time 1)
>> The mage concentrates and tries to feel when something happened (or will happen) by imagining it and different times it might have happened. The mage will feel when he gets closer to the right time as the "scent" gets stronger. This can for example be used to find out when a building was built or when a clock stopped. It cannot tell why or where something happened. This rote is named for the legendary paradox beings the Hounds of Tindalos, which ruthlessly hunt down mages who interfere with Time. They have the ability to find the mage regardless of the time he exists in, and will appear out of nearby corners to destroy him.

Sense Angled Time (Time 1, Entropy 1)
>> Time does not always flow smoothly, sometimes there are corners and discontinuities in it for unknown reasons. These corners are dangerous times, since the defences of reality and casualty are briefly removed. Powerful beings of the Deep Umbra and dangerous weirdness may appear, and many momentous events occur at these times. This makes it especially important to know them beforehand.

Peer into the Beyond (Time 2, Entropy 2, optional: Correspondance 1)
>> Enables the mage to know the outcome of very specific actions. What the rote does is allow the caster to look into the future, but be able to filter out any unnecesary random future events, so that he can see one specific outcome. She essentially asks a specific question about the future, and gets a yes or no answer filtered through her Avatar through meditation or trance. Common questions include, "Oh, mighty Ishtar, I beseech you, is a page of the Necromicon behind this door?" or "If I get into a fight with this Mage, will I die?" The outcomes always occur, but not necessarily the way the Mage thought. For instance, in the first example, a page may be behind the door, but it could be buried under 3,000 feet of sand, or in the second example, the Mage may not die, but may be teleported in a Paradox dimension. Correspondence can be combined with this rote in order to ask questions about a place the mage currently is not, like "will I die if I go to Egypt tomorrow?"

Track Manipulations (Time 2, Entropy 2, Mind 1)
>> Inspired by a Technocracy rote, Kezia carefully analyses events to see if they have been manipulated by someone by searching for patterns or metaphysical disturbances. The difficulty lies in the fact that most manipulators are very careful, and the results are seldom apparent until years later.

Time is of the Essence (Time 3, Mind 1)
>> One problem many people have is that they become stressed or feel they don't have enough time to think in tense situations. The Cult of Ecstasy has a reputation of having many great improvisers or wits, and this rote is one of the reasons. By simply focusing on the present, the mage can speed his own thoughts to great speed while appearing to be acting normal. The rote will not give the mage any increased speed in movement or other physical actions (like looking at something else). For practical purposes, the world seems to have slowed down into slow- motion. Time is slowed at the rate normal for Time 3.