Since the dawn of civilization, mankind has dreamed of creating wealth from worthless matter. Such a dream can be made real, mankind found, but only through hard work and a bit of luck. A lump of stone or wood can, through carving, grinding or knapping, be made into an object that is useful, beautiful or both. Patience and toil can be applied to a patch of dirt to cause crops to spring up or livestock to increase and grow strong. Those willing to sacrifice their time and effort in this way often seem to feel that basing their lifestyle on such activity yields not only material wealth but also endows the soul with extended qualities of utility and beauty.
Not everyone was willing to put forth such effort, though, so some devised shortcuts to wealth, claiming credit for the work of others or even claiming the product of that work for themselves. They divorced the notion of “wealth” from the material benefits of work, reducing riches to a system of artificial value placed upon rare metals or gems (and later to printed scraps of paper and then to glowing numbers on a monitor screen). The actual work of enriching life was denigrated as a lowly occupation and the soulcraft it engendered dismissed as fantasy by those unwilling to engage in it.
Getting something for nothing only leaves one wanting more. Empty wealth, like food without nutrients, can be addictive, expanding the vacuum it was intended to fulfill. Into such a vacuous society there inevitably resurfaced distorted legends that told of how the mages of old learned the secret of tuning lead into gold, dirt into money, shit into Shinola. With the legends came charlatans, those who claimed to know the trick of getting something for nothing, who were sought out by kings with vacuous coffers, who fleeced their patrons by wrapping their lead ingots in polished brass foil and slipped out of the palace by night with their own empty wealth jingling in their purses. So the legends fell into disrepute (but without ever disappearing entirely) while the quest for empty wealth continued.
The truth behind those legends would shock the royal addicts who heard them. Indeed, the mages of Time Before had learned the “trick” of transmuting one substance into another, but it was only an incidental side effect of their real work. Their labors were not ultimately directed toward the external material world, but inward. Like land, wood or stone, the human soul can be cultivated and shaped, they found, transformed into something both greater and finer than what it might otherwise be. The “lead” that they operated upon was themselves, and the “gold” that they created was themselves.
This is not to say that their “alchemy” was a purely contemplative practice, a type of meditation cloaked in a physical metaphor. The image of the secluded chamber with its kiln and clutter of alembic, retort and crucible is factually accurate. Experimentation in the material plane was as much a part of their practice as spiritual discipline. Engaging in a physical craft with an appropriate mindset of self-observation can synchronize changes in both the inner and outer worlds. This Legacy teaches that true understanding is best reached by mirroring the inner process with the outer.
Just as matter can be shaped by heat and cold, by hammer’s blow and chisel’s cut, so too can the soul be shaped by pleasure and pain, by feeling and thought. Emotional baggage or faulty modes of thought can be trimmed away and desirable qualities such as honesty and compassion may be added to the alloy mixture in the crucible of the soul.
Imperfection can be burned off, boiled out or frozen and chipped away. The soul’s purest essence may be distilled out of the woes and trauma that weigh it down, leaving it free to become that which is rarer and more precious than gold — the fulfilling life of the complete person.
Inheritors of this Legacy are known as the “Uncrowned Kings,” a term that most outsiders take to refer to the age of the charlatans, when the rulers of the world could be led by their vacuous desires and anyone who knew those desires could easily become a true “power behind the throne.” But a more esoteric meaning is hidden in the name. Having perfected the technique of crafting their own souls, the Uncrowned could truly claim to be “self-made men,” masters of their own souls. Their “royalty” is based, not upon primogeniture or the hoarding of hollow wealth, but upon the noble qualities that they have cultivated within themselves. They do not rule over nations, but over themselves to a degree that “common” folk can scarcely imagine. The qualifier “Uncrowned” is equally significant on an esoteric level, beyond the fact that they do not openly display their unique nobility. The adornment of precious metals and gems is at once a metaphoric image connoting inner nobility and personal power, a reference to the physical transmutations that this Legacy practices. The title is also an oblique suggestion of the halo found in religious iconography denoting a brilliance or radiance of consciousness so bright that it shines directly through the skull (normally visible to those with aura perception but sometimes accessible to Sleepers in a religious context). But these Kings are emphatically Uncrowned, eschewing not only the lauds of their peers, but also the empty wealth that they are capable of creating – they much more share those with those that need it.
Doctrine
Parent Path: Moros
Prerequisites: Mind 2, Prime 1, Crafts 2, Gnosis 2
Initiation: Create what you would perceive before your initiation as your Magnum Opus, and then see yourself reflected in it, realizing that your greatest achievement is yet to come.
Magic
Ruling Arcanum: Mind
Yantras: Succeed on a Crafts roll related to the spell (+2), helping another with a difficult task (+1), having personally crafted an item relevant to the spell (separate from any Sacraments used) (+2), pursuing one’s craft to the detriment of the physical self (+1, +2 if this creates and adverse condition)
Oblations: Engaging in physical labor, engaging in meaningful work (not for Attainments), coordinating others in teamwork, practicing a hobby or craft (not for Attainments)
Attainments
First Attainment: Nigredo
Prerequisite: Initiation
A perfect Mind cannot be raised on uncertain grounds. As an Instant Action, the mage may recall a number of her memories equal to her dots in Mind with perfect clarity. This includes information that she was not consciously concentrating on at the time, but which she still experienced.
This emulates Perfect Recall with automatic activation, Reach is to Instant Casting.
Optional Arcanum: Prime 1
Lies cannot stand before the power of the Mage’s sight; as an Instant Action the Mage can see through active mistruths, such as lies, phantasms and illusions. Mundane falsehoods are automatically discernable, but those from a supernatural source provoke a Clash of Wills.
Pierce Deception, Reach is to Instant Casting.
Second Attainment: Albedo
Prerequisite: Mind 2
Understanding the self requires one to be stalwart against outside influences. So long as the mage continues their craft, by spending at least a scene exercising it, any attempt to influence their Mind by a Goetia’s Numina, Influence or Manifestations, or by any other supernatural Mind affecting abilities must first best the mage in a Clash of Wills.
Mental Shield, Reach is to Advanced Duration, which means at Mind 2, it lasts a day. Mind 3, a week; Mind 4, a month, and Mind 5 a year.
Optional Arcanum: Prime 2
With a better understanding of the self comes the ability to more readily refute Magic which would attempt to undermine that, in addition to the protection against Mind-affecting abilities, the Albedo shield increases the Mage’s Withstand by 2, increasing to 3 at Prime 4. This Withstand still only applies should the Mage wish for it to.
This is basically a modified version of the non-houseruled Wards and Signs (Prime ••), to bring it in line with 1E, somewhat. But hey, it fits with the idea of being such a master of yourself that it is harder to affect you with spells.
Third Attainment: Citrinitas
Prerequisite: Mind 3, Crafts 3, Gnosis 4
By performing their craft, the mage can enhance a specific Mental or Social Attribute (decided when the Attainment is selected) by their dots in Mind. To use this Attainment, the Mage must have performed their craft within the last day, and must take an Instant Action to inspect an item created with that craft. The Mage increases the attribute by their dots in Mind for the remainder of the scene, potentially taking the Mage over their Gnosis-determined maximum. At Mind 4, the Mage need only have practiced their craft in the last Week.
This Attainment messes with Reach a bit, but I think it’s balanced. First you’ve got to have performed your craft in the last week (which is basically the scene’s worth of ritual), and then it takes an Instant Action to activate, looking at what you made. Basically, you exchange the ability to specify which attribute you boost, and the lack of needing a specific action, for the additional reach for exceeding Gnosis limits.
Optional Arcanum: Prime 3
Studying an object of their craft, the mage is capable of empower their Tools with holy Supernal power. As an Instant Action, the Mage can study an object of their mundane craft, and drawing power from its reflection of themselves, empower a Tool to allow them to more efficiently shape their mystic craft. This grants any spellcasting roll she uses that Tool in 8-Again, so long as it is used within a number of rounds equal to her Prime. If that spell is one used to enhance the Mage’s own mental capacity or clarity, the Tool’s Yantra Bonus increases to +3.
This emulates As Above, so Below, but with additional requirements, but it can conditionally improve your Yantra (which Prime 3 could do anyways). You’re a Mage about refining the self, and you’re studying an aspect of yourself, as a Second-Degree Disciple, with Gnosis 4, and you’re still using a Tool.
Fourth Attainment: Rubedo
Prerequisite: Mind 4, Crafts 4, Gnosis 6
The mage’s Mind continues to expand. The mage may select another Mental or Social attribute which she can enhance in a manner identical to Citrinitas. The mage may have both enhancements active within a scene, if she spends two Instant Actions inspecting a physical object of her craft.
Optional Arcanum: Prime 4
The mage’s words ring with such purity that all those who bear witness to them must attest to the Truth she speaks. With an Instant Action, the mage may imbue the next sentence she speaks with Supernal Truth and project that Truth directly to a single individual within Sensory Range. This decreases either Doors or improves impression level by one per dot of Prime, minus the target’s Composure. If the subject refuses this Truth, they may suffer a Breaking Point or Act of Hubris. Furthermore if the subject goes along with the stated sentence, they gain the Inspired Condition, but if they ignore it, they gain the Guilty Condition.
Words of Truth, with Instant Casting, Sensory Range, and the +1 Reach option.
Fifth Attainment: Magnum Opus
Prerequisite: Mind 5, Crafts 5, Gnosis 8
By spending a scene to create something new with their craft, the highest among the Uncrowned Kings are able to understand how to perform any mundane action, and in doing so, can become a master of any mundane skill, granting them 5 dots in any Skill of their choosing, even if they previously had no rating whatsoever. If they already know the rudiments of the Skill, this Attainment perfects it even moreso, increasing the Uncrowned King's rating by 5, or to their Gnosis-derived maximum, whichever is less. This lasts for one Week.
This emulates Gain Skill, with its Reach allocated to switching its Primary Factor to Potency, and giving it Advanced Duration.
Optional Arcanum: Prime 5
Holding a physical object that they have created in the past week, an Uncrowned King can harvest the truest form of the fruits of their labor, and with an instant action, can absorb the Mana integrated within the object. This Attainment draws the Mana from the base, Fallen matter of the object, weakening and potentially destroying it. The mage inflicts Structure damage (bypassing Durability) to the object equal to their dots in Prime; every point of damage done restores one point of Mana to the mage. This does not count as Scouring.
This emulates a Prime 4 version of Devouring the Slain that affects objects, with Reach spent on Instant Casting and not counting as scouring. It does mean that a master Uncrowned King has a ton of free Mana available to them so long as they are frequently crafting, but they are (at minimum) a Second-Degree Master at Gnosis 8. They deserve it.