Utterances

Utterances are sacraments hidden within the signs of the world, rituals folded into the earth and sea and sky during the act of creation. Sekhem washes over them and through them, awaiting only the expression of an immortal soul to unleash a miracle; and they can only be described as miraculous. Utterances are rarely subtle, rarely mistaken for anything other than an act of divinity. With access to these sacraments encoded within the Rite of Return, the Arisen are forevermore able to unfold the world, striding as did the gods in the beginning.

Yet they cannot do so with complete freedom. Indeed,
Utterances are a glittering lure for the Arisen. Only the cycles of Descent and repose provide the means to access the mightiest expressions of their Utterance. When Memory rises and Sekhem drops, the Arisen lose the ability to unleash the energies of creation with their Pillars.

LEARNING UTTERANCES
Utterances are learned not from sacred texts and fragments of elder magics but from careful study of humanity and heka flows (and, sometimes, from someone else’s hard work of thousands of years ago preserved in sacred texts and fragments of elder magics). The secret miracles hidden inside the world during its earliest epoch can only be determined by rigorous study and magical experimentation.

System: The mummy enters into an investigation (see p. 193) with a Scope defined by the highest Pillar rating of the Utterance she’s trying to learn. Each roll has an interval of one chapter, and may be rolled not only as a continuous  investigation, but as a flash of insight following a dramatic event that gives clarity to the mummy’s search. As the mummy’s discovered Clues cross each Tier of Utterance’s requirements, they learn the Tier and may unleash it at will.

STRUCTURE AND COST 
Each Utterance comprises three tiers of power. Each tier may be used by any mummy with the requisite Sekhem rating to unleash a tier.

Utterances have Pillar ratings described in their effects, which always use three different Pillars. An Utterance may use Ab for the first tier, Sheut for the second, and Ba for the final tier, for example. If a mummy doesn’t meet a tier’s Pillar minimum, she may still use the tier, but without the additional Pillar effect described in the tier. Pillar requirements always follow two patterns — 1, 2, 4, or 1, 3, 5, with the latter being slightly stronger, more efficacious, or more spectacular Utterances. These also comprise the Utterance levels that a mummy may unleash as determined by her Sekhem rating.

In most cases, unleashing an Utterance is an instant action. Some tiers may be unleashed reflexively, while others may only be unleashed in specific conditions. Mummies must spend one Pillar of any type to unleash an Utterance’s first tier. The second and third tiers require a Pillar point of any type and one point of the specific Pillar cited in the Utterance.

SPECIAL RULES
Early Termination: The Arisen can reflexively terminate any single unleashing by expending one Willpower point. If an Utterance states a secondary or alternate condition to terminate the Utterance, give that condition priority over this rule. Sybaris: Utterances invoke Sybaris in mortal viewers on the turn the Arisen unleashes the power, unless they have the Subtle keyword.

Words Beyond Sound: Mummies can have their tongues ripped out, be exposed to the scouring sands of Mars, or have their mouths filled with molten lead — their soul speaks the words of the Utterance, and not with anything as profane as breath. Utterances may be unleashed regardless of environmental conditions, the Mute Condition, the Grip of Death Affinity, or any other silencing effect.

Unique Expression: While Utterances are miracles folded into the world, they are each unique, and every Arisen’s expression of an Utterance is different. One Arisen’s Wrathful Desert Power may generate luminous golden grains of sand from the Caribbean, while her fellow guildmate’s is the jetblack volcanic sand of Hawaii.

UTTERANCE KEYWORDS
Curse: If a mummy is forced into a death cycle as a result of another’s actions, whether direct or indirect, he may curse his killer with this tier of the Utterance. This Reflexive unleashing costs no Pillars, but otherwise follows normal rules for unleashing, save that the mummy may select multiple targets if they shared the deed of slaying the Arisen, unless the curse affects an entire area rather than individuals. Only one Utterance may be unleashed by a death cycle.

Epic: Unleashing these Utterances blasts away the illusion of life surrounding the mummy’s sahu for the remainder of the scene, as well as emanating Sekhem across a vast area (Sekhem rating in miles across). Anyone succeeding at a Wits + Occult + Sekhem roll can identify the target and effects of the Utterance. 

Potency: These Utterances are particularly efficacious and difficult to resist. Subtract Potency from any benefits conferred by Supernatural Resistance. For example, a tier with Potency 1 used against a vampire with Blood Potency 3 would only let the vampire add two dice to resist the unleashing. Mummies are unaffected by Potency, a consequence of sharing similar magics.

Subtle: Unleashing the Utterance neither reveals the mummy’s sahu nor imposes Sybaris.

CLASH OF WILLS
When two mummies bring their powers to bear against one
another, it’s not always clear which ability trumps another.
Likewise, an Utterance may have effects that oppose the effects of a werewolf’s Gift or a mage’s spells. When the effects of supernatural abilities clash in this way, it’s a Clash of Wills. 

Each player involved rolls his character’s Sekhem + rating in the appropriate Pillar, using the defining Pillar if the appropriate Pillar is unclear. Whoever scores the most successes wins; his power takes effect as normal while the conflicting effects fail. Ties reroll until one player has accrued more successes than all others. A character only spends a Willpower point on the Clash roll if he and his opponents are physically present, and he is aware that abilities are in conflict, which may require magic. Other supernatural creatures have their own dice pools for Clashes, detailed in their respective books. 

Long-lasting effects add a level of supernatural endurance, per the following table.