The Dark Art
The Dark Art is a skill normally reserved for creatures that live outside of the laws of the Illusion, or for those who have mastered it. It represents a control over the forces that have created our world, and allows the wielder to manipulate the Illusion to form the shape of his will. This practice can allow the caster to wield great amounts of power, however it can also be at a great cost.
The Dark Art in Kult represents a creature’s ability to form the Illusion to his needs, but is capable of achieving other feats as well. The Dark Art may allow a caster to create portals to other worlds, enter into the Dreamworlds, affect the very will of another being, and change the writ of fate itself. The skill score represents the harmony of the character’s natural willpower, his raw understanding of the true world, and his knowledge of how the Illusion fits into the truth of existence.
These things alone are unfortunately not enough. As a person might be aware of the existence of chemicals, and possesses an eager will to make them, a practical understanding of the concepts behind their creation is necessary before he can produce anything of substance. To use the Dark Art, the practitioner must have a rudimentary understanding of what he is attempting to accomplish. Usually this is covered by the Lores the character knows, but there may be circumstances when the mechanics behind a particular casting may require knowledge in a field before the feat may be successfully attempted. This may occur when the character attempts to create complex mechanical machines, alter the physiology of an individual, create electronic devices, and a myriad of other possible scenarios. The GM determines the decision as to whether or not a feat may require other knowledge.
As an example, a Conjurer of Madness finds himself cornered in a warehouse by several assailants, and decides that he must create a firearm to defend himself with. He succeeds his Lore of Madness roll, and his Dark Art roll, signifying that he knows rudimentarily how to create the object, and that he is capable of it. However, in order for the firearm to work mechanically, the GM decides that the caster must make a firearms or motor mechanics roll successfully, or the fashioned firearm is as useful as a paperweight.
The Dark Art represents the marriage of your innate strength of will and your personal understanding of precisely what you can achieve with it. Your Ego is the very strength of the nature of your being, and provides a characteristic for how much you are capable of imposing your strength of purpose on other people and objects. A strong will is useless though without the understanding of how to use it. Your actual skill level for the Dark Art is a derivative of your Ego score, altered by your Mental Balance. To determine your character’s Dark Art skill, multiply his Ego by the character’s Mental Balance as a real number percentile (i.e. a MB of -50 would be 50%, a MB of 125 would be 125%, etc.). For example, a character with an Ego of 12 and a Mental Balance of –75 would have a Dark Art skill score of 9, or 75% of 12.
Several variables come into play when determining how successful a conjurer is. The most important, due to the nature of the world and the Illusion, is whether or not the caster had any Witnesses to his casting. The very nature of the Illusion presupposes that everyone contained within has the same common concepts about reality, and it is the sheer strength of these concepts that maintain the Illusion in its status. Were humans as a whole to begin to change their understanding of the nature of the world, the Illusion would begin to falter. Anyone who is not aware of the true nature of the Illusion is considered a Witness.
This categorizes the attempts of the conjurer to use his Dark Art skill into two primary groups: Observed and Shrouded. Magic that has been cast in front of Witnesses is considered Observed, and can be very dangerous. A Casting that was performed out of sight of any Witnesses is considered Shrouded, and is much safer. However, just because magic has been cast without Witnesses does not assume that it is simple. There are yet two more subclasses of magic, Coincidental and Vulgar magic.
A conjurer may attempt to use his Dark Art skill to very subtly manipulate the Illusion, in ways that may not be apparent to those around him. This is considered Coincidental magic. A conjurer uses his Dark Art skill to will a stoplight to change to green as he approaches, or to conjure money in his wallet as he reaches for it to pay for a meal would be examples of Coincidental magic. Coincidental magic applies to situations where any Witnesses present would not know that the activity could not happen naturally.
Vulgar magic assumes that the caster is blatantly altering the Illusion in a way that cannot be considered coincidental, i.e. a conjurer wills candles to alight, or changes his physical appearance. Any attempt to affect another person directly, either physically or by forcing their will, is also considered Vulgar. Vulgar magic is harder to perform than Coincidental magic, and Observed Vulgar magic is the most difficult of all, where direct changes in the Illusion in front of Witnesses may result in dire consequences for the conjurer.
The Veil has become nearly an entity of its own, a simple intelligence born of the sheer desire of the humanity within to deny change and maintain a mundane existence. Because of the near sentient nature of the Veil, conjurers who attempt to shape it to their will and fail will likely suffer the consequences of a Backlash.
The more powerful effect that a conjurer attempts to create with his casting increases the likelihood and strength of a Backlash. Additionally, the more Witnesses aware of the casting attempt the worse the Backlash results will be. Thus, a powerful Observed Vulgar attempt that fails may result in the violent death of the Caster, as the Illusion seeks to fix whatever changes the Caster is attempting.
In order for a Conjurer to manifest some change to the Illusion, he must have an understanding of what he wishes to change. As with any skill, attempting to perform some task that you are not really capable of can result in dire effects. Therefore a solid understanding of the realm you wish to master allows for greater and greater feats with a lessening chance of danger to the caster or those around him.
Each of the Lores in Kult governs a realm of the Illusion, distinguishing one field of study from another. The Lores are independent of each other, and an understanding of one does not assume an understanding of another. A student of the Occult may develop an understanding of any of the Lores, although as the character’s knowledge increases, he may find it to be more and more difficult to find new resources of information. The Lores listed below are not the totality of possible Lores to study, but are the most common fields studied by Conjurers.
Each of the Lores listed includes some possible feats and their desired effect. The effect determines whether or not the character is capable of the feat, as well as how difficult it will be for them. The listed feats are not exclusive, however, and the player is only limited by the Lores their character knows and their own imagination. Use the examples below to help judge whether it would be in your interest to even consider attempting a feat before asking the GM for a ruling on the desired effect. Remember also that you can attempt a feat beyond your control, although failure may be painful.
The Lore of Death is a very direct study of the human Avatar, and the connection of the physical body to the Soul. A student of this Lore is able to affect the physical vessels of those around him, effecting the body without consideration of the Soul.
Effect
Result
3
Sense life and state of health; heal minor wounds on self.
6
Alter minor variations of own appearance, such as hair and eye color, pigmentation, etc, and may affect other’s forms to the degree of healing minor scratchs.
10
Temporarily enhance a physical statistic by 10 points. Additionally, the character may alter his own form to within the limit of his mass.
15
The caster may now alter another’s form within the limit of their mass, creating wounds and lesions, or altering appearance.
21
The caster has near total control of the physical form, causing corpses to animate, severing or connecting sections of flesh from bodies, etc…
28
A caster may attempt to force someone’s Soul to leave their body, killing them instantly.
36
The caster may attempt to reanimate a body by recalling the soul to the form.
A student of the Lore of Dreams is has managed to control the subconscious wanderings of his soul and can harness the power of the confusion generated from the bonds between mind and soul.
The Conjurer has learned to control his own dreams, and is capable of “watching” other’s dreams.
The caster can enter into another’s dream, although he has not learned to control them yet.
Control other’s dreams
Create waking dream
Create waking terror
Enter Dreamworld
Pull others into Dreamworld
This Lore is the study of the Illusion itself, and how those within witness it. Using knowledge garnered though this path allows the conjurer to manipulate the very veil around them. Although powerful, this Lore is also very dangerous, as it may lead to violent backlashes if the caster fails.
True sight through the Illusion,
Mild Coincidental magic
Major coincidental effects,
Mild Vulgar effects to illusion, creation of small objects
Major Vulgar effects, doors, cars, etc.
Heroic Changes to the Illusion, localized earthquakes, lightning
Create tears in the Illusion.
This is a very powerful lore, although this is often forgotten for its subtlety. The Lore of Passion allows the wielder to affect the very will of those around him, bypassing the physical Illusion of the Veil and touching the Souls of others.
Affect personal charisma, sense other’s moods, sense MB
Affect other’s moods/reactions, sense other’s conscious thoughts
Affect other’s thoughts,
Thought control,
Mind enslavement,
Soul containment
Possession
This lore is the most evasive of all, as those who study its practices often no longer exist to the rest of us. Practitioners of this art can step around or outside of the boundaries of the Illusion, whether physically or temporally.
Spatial awareness
Sense location of others and objects
Speed up own time for 1 round
Step outside of the Illusion
Appear in another location
Stop time
Step into another time
When a character attempts to apply his Dark Art skill during the game, many possibilities may result from the chaotic release of power. The effects, however, may not be within the realm of the caster’s desires. To gauge the level of success of the caster, first determine of the feat is within one of the known Lores of the character. If so, tell the GM what you wish to perform, and get a ruling for the desired effect and nature (vulgar/coincidental, etc) of the feat. Subtract the desired effect from the character’s associated Lore skill, and add the result (even if it is negative) to the character’s Dark Art score. This is the character’s modified Dark Art score. The character now rolls against the modified Dark Art score, attempts to roll an effect higher than the desired effect of the feat. If the roll generated is greater than the desired effect of the feat, the feat was a success. The amount the roll was over the desired effect determines the level of success. If the roll did not meet the target effect, but was under the caster’s...
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