Geomancy

The Most Virtuous Art of Planar Alteration—colloquially known as Geomancy—is a rare power amoung the ranks of Noble society, due to the simple fact that Geomancy is not an intuitive application of Noble power. It works on a higher, subtler order, allowing its wielders to alter, abolish, or even enact the laws of nature in a given realm. These laws—manifested as Region Properties—are unspoken truths, and require a peculiar combination of steely will and meaningful empathy to influence.

Most Nobles initiate into Geomancy through meditation in the deepest, holiest parts of their Chancel, though some—especially those who feel called to the service of Heaven and Hell—refine their command of Properties through the study of other realms. A Noble may attune a number of Region Properties equal to (2 + Geomancy) at any given time. Any Geomancer may free a Property from their heart at any time, but attuning a new property requires a period of meditation within a realm afflicted by the Property to be attuned.

Geomancy is never common, but it is most prevalent among Aaron’s Serpents and their Powers, likely because of their innate connection to the World Ash from which all realms derive.

Difficulty 0 – Intuition
It is a difficulty 0 miracle to know the Properties of a given area instantly and effortlessly. Geomancers understand the flow of chi, mana, and a plethora of other esoteric forces that underlie the nature of local existence. This power—called Intuition—also gives Geomancers a curiously accurate sense of direction. Unless contested by magic, a Geomancer can utilize Intuition to understand their direction, distance traveled, and relative distance from anything “interesting,” though they know absolutely nothing about the nature of these points of interest.

Difficulty 1 – Lesser Empowerment
Difficulty 1 miracles, also known as Lesser Empowerments, allow a Power to strengthen a Region Property on a local scale. The Property is now treated as a 2-point Affliction rather than a Bond, meaning Strike is required to overcome its overwhelming truth. Nobles and other miraculous beings hiding behind an Auctoritas of 3 or greater are immune to such essential laws; they exist not within the world, but within a space of their own making. Mortals and magical beings such as lesser spirits are, generally speaking, powerless to overcome these Region Properties.

Difficulty 2 – Lesser Amendment
A difficulty 2 miracle is called a Lesser Amendment, and it has the power to twist an existing Region Property on the same local scale as a Lesser Decree or Release. This is only a twisting of the existing Property, and so the underlying nature of the world must still be present: “Heaven’s beauty demands service,” for example, could become “Heaven’s beauty makes difficult requests” or even “Heaven’s beauty is difficult to maintain!”

Difficulty 3 – Lesser Decree
Difficulty 3 miracles are called Lesser Decrees, and they let you enforce one of your heart’s Properties on the outside world. In general, a Lesser Decree affects an area with a single identity, no larger than an average Chancel. The new Region Property comes into force immediately, and remains in effect for about a week, though the actual duration is flexible. While most Lesser Decrees have no observable, tangible effect on the physical world in question, they often change the way that a location is perceived, in order to highlight the new Property. In general, no region can maintain more than 8 Properties at once.

Difficulty 4 – Lesser Exemption
Difficulty 4 miracles are called Lesser Exemption, and they allow you to temporarily suppress an existing property. The scope and timing of a Release are similar to a Decree—they affect areas with a coherent identity no larger than a Chancel, and remain in place for roughly a week. A single power removing more than one Property from an area at once risks a Deadly or Divine Wound.

Difficulty 5 – Greater Empowerment
Difficulty 5 miracles are known as Greater Empowerments, and they allow a Geomancer to strengthen a Property throughout its entire realm. Should the geomancer wish, she may strengthen an affected Property, transforming it into either a 3-point Bond or Affliction. These changes are slightly more durable than their lesser kin, but will still fade within a month—or much sooner, if many miraculous beings coordinate their defiance of the Property.

Difficulty 6 – Greater Amendment
Difficulty 6 miracles alter the workings of a Region Property throughout the entire realm it afflicts: altering a Property of Heaven, Hell, or the Beyond affects each region in its entirety. Anyone may utilize a difficulty 0 Geomancy miracle to follow such changes back to their source, though the process is laborious and time-consuming.

Difficulty 7* - Greater Journeys
Greater Journeys are special miracles to which there exists no Lesser equivalent—and yet their nomenclature has never been questioned. A Greater Journey allows a Geomancer to travel instantly to a place to which she is attuned; this is treated as a miracle with a difficulty equal to (7 – the number of properties shared between the Geomancer and the location). There is little to no fine control over a Journey; in general, a Geomancer and any companions she brings with her will arrive either in a safe, out-of-the-way location, or wherever they can be of the greatest help.

Difficulty 7 – Greater Decree
It is a difficulty 7 miracle to enact a new Property across an entire realm of existence, to make a Heaven of Hell or a Hell of Heaven. As with Amendments and Empowerments, the source of this change is discernible through Intuition, and so Geomancers trying to exercise authority over alien realms are advised to exercise prudence.

Difficulty 8 – Greater Exemption
Difficulty 8 miracles remove a Property from its home realm wholesale; if the Geomancer chooses, she may take it into her heart immediately as one of her attuned Properties. Doing so makes the Exemption—and any Decrees she lodges in its place—effectively indefinite, but many miraculous beings do not take kindly to the bald-faced theft of their home’s essential nature.

Difficulty 9 – Colocation
At the pinnacle of a Geomancer’s powers, she may wield her attuned Properties as leverage in order to tie two or more realms together. A miracle of colocation targets two realms of existence, and creates a relationship between them. The general nature of this relationship is at the Geomancer’s discretion, but specific details remain under the HG’s prerogative; in this way, a Geomancer could place Heaven at the service of Earth—while also making it a place one could reach by flying upward. This connection lasts for as long as the Noble maintains the miracle, and afterwards fades like an old story—though some small remnants almost always remain.

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