See the Silver Ladder Order book for all fluff.
Doctrine
Parentage: Thyrsus, Silver Ladder
Prerequisites: Matter 2, 2 dots in Persuasion, 1 dot in Craft, and 1 additional dot between Craft, Socialize and Politics
Initiation: Maintain and care for your material possessions until one of them Awakens, and then with this assistance of this Spirit and your Mentor, craft your soul.
Magic:
Ruling: Matter
Yantras: Succeed on a Persuasion roll relevant to the spell (+2), caress/stroke a relevant physical object (the subject, a used tool, etc) (+1), casting upon an inanimate subject, with the cooperation of its resident spirit (+2), repair, maintain or otherwise improve the situation of an inanimate object subject (+2).
Oblations: Polishing or caring for tools and equipment, knitting, carving or performing other handcrafts, selecting materials for use in some craft project.
Attainments:
First Attainment Commanding the Inanimate
Pre-Requisite: Initiation
Animists know well within every physical object lies a slumbering spirit, a small bundle of potential not yet realized. With but a whisper, the Mage can temporarily rouse this Spirit into animation, the entity following his requests in its animated slumber. As an Instant Action, the Animist can talk to an inanimate object within sensory range without an awake Spirit, and request it perform a specific course of action. The Spirit remains animated for a number of rounds equal to the Mage’s dots in Spirit.
Control Object, reach for instant casting, and sensory range. However, he must talk to the object, and it only works on ones without awake Spirits, so I feel it’s balanced.
Optional Arcanum: Spirit 1
The Spirits of items know many secrets, having been present, if half-awake, for everything they have ever
done. As an Instant Action, the Animist can ask the sleeping Spirit within an item a question about any action
it has been actively involved in. A piano half-remembers every song ever played on it, a magic item
remembers some information about every user it has had, and a knife remembers every life it has taken.
This groggy awareness is not perfect, as such Spirits have neither the full awareness, or wakefulness for total
recall, and the ST is to consider this when determining what information a Spirit will know. The more
strongly resonant the act however, the more likely it is to have roused the Spirit enough to remember it.
Creative thaumaturgy, asking an item what it has done. Reach into Instant casting. Tell me your secrets!
Second Attainment: Inanimate Attunement
Pre-Requisite: Matter 2
Lords of the Inanimate learn how to waken the Spirits of objects well enough to communicate their form and
function. Understanding their purpose, issues which are halting their potential operation, and granting
insight into how best utilize this function.
This Attainment takes an Instant Action and a touch to activate, and grants the Animist a comprehensive understanding of the purpose and impediments to this for a specific item, as well as granting him the 8-again on the item’s use, and removing any potential untrained penalty for its use in relevant skill tests. This benefit lasts for a number of rounds equal to the Mage’s dots in Spirit.
Craftsman’s Eye, reach into Instant Casting, and Reach option.
Optional Arcanum: Spirit 2
Attunement to the Spirits of objects grants additional insight into the Spirit world as a whole. At this stage,
the Animist can open herself up to the experience of Spiritual Twilight, allowing her to perceive and speak
with Spirits in the physical world, as well as detect the presence of Spirit-related Manifestation Conditions
and Reaching conduits. This Attainment takes an Instant Action to activate, and lasts for a duration equal to
the Mage’s dots on the Advanced Duration table, in addition if needed this enlightened awareness can be
shared, and the Attainment used upon others.
Exorcist’s Eye, reach into Instant Casting and Advanced Duration
Third Attainment: Shepherd of the Craft
Pre-Requisite: Matter 3
A sufficiently trained Animist can learn to control and affect non-living matter to bolster and aid the spirits of
objects and repair the inanimate. By touching and talking with an item, the Mage can repair an amount of
lost Structure equal to his dots in Matter. In addition, such an intimate understanding of the item grants the
Mage the Informed Condition in relation to that item until the end of the Scene.
Nigredo and Albedo, Reach into Instant Casting. Added in the condition because otherwise the only benefit is being able to fix stuff in front of Sleepers.
Optional Arcanum: Spirit 3
As the Animist learns how to repair the inanimate, they can also realign the structure of the inanimate to
awaken the Spirits within such objects. In a scene-long ritual, the Mage may rouse the spirit within an object
affected by this Attainment into full activity. This requires a sufficient amount of Essence to fully fill the
Spirit’s capacity, and it awakens with only its rightmost Corpus box cleared. The Spirit remains awake for a
period equal to the Mage’s dots in Spirt on the advanced duration table. At this end of this time, the Spirit
will fall asleep again, unless the Mage casts some other spell to grant it a condition or purchases its services
with a Merit such as Retainer, Ally or Familiar, representing the Spirit’s increased capacity to stay awake
without Supernal assistance.
Rouse Spirit, Reach into Advanced Duration
Fourth Attainment: Inanimate No More
Pre-Requisite: Matter 4, Fate 2
That the inanimate holds much potential is a truism. An even greater truism however is that the inanimate need not necessarily be so. Having learned greater secrets as to the nature of the interaction between Spirits and objects, an Animist can borrow some elements of a Spirit’s own nature to grand ambulation to what was once unmoving.
In a scene-long ritual, the Mage can animate a non-living object capable of ambulatory movement, such as a robot, car, or doll (but not an unmodified skeleton, for example), so long as a promise or agreement between it and the object’s spirit is somewhere contained on its person. This creation counts as a Retainer equal to the Mage’s dots in Matter, however its purview is limited to very simple tasks such as simple physical labor, combat, and other very simple tasks. This creation has no Defense, a Durability based on its composition, and a Structure equal to Durability + Size. The Golem lasts for a period of one Month, but may be preemptively disrupted if the agreement contained within it is damaged, or removed.
Golem, with Advanced Duration, and the Conditional Duration Attainment used to increase the duration to a feasible timeframe.
Optional Arcanum: Spirit 4
If the Mage is sufficiently learned in the arts of Spirit, they may forsake the agreement between themselves
and the Spirit in exchange for a personal compact. In doing so, the spirit is willingly bound into the vessel,
serving as an animating intelligence. Its capacity is still limited to the Mage’s dots in Matter, however the
Spirit can use all of its abilities, and its ‘field’ is now any task the Spirit can undertake. However should the
Mage breach his agreement with the Spirit, the Attainment will fail. Some Mages undertake more specific
agreements with Spirits, that are more easily breached to extend the duration of the Attainment further, for
details, see the Conditional Duration attainment.
Modification of the Golem spell with the Spirit 4 element.
Fifth Attainment: Honor of Transmutation
Pre-Requisite: Matter 5
Having mastered his Legacy, the Mage can now shape matter to his desire, allowing him to reconfigure the
structure of objects touched, transforming them into whatever form they desire. This allows the Mage to
transform the molecular structure of an amount Matter of up to size 5 permanently into another shape. This
for example could permit a Mage to turn a chunk of steel into an engine, paint and canvas instantly into
artwork, or another person’s clothing into a straightjacket.
Patterning effect, with Instant Casting and “Lasting” effects, re-arranging the atoms within a structure into a new formation.
Optional Arcanum: Spirit 5, Fate 2
As the Mage re-structures an item, she can bind the Spirit slumbering within it into its new structure,
imbuing it with the ability to hold Essence, and/or as well as granting the bearer access to its Numina and
Influences. This Attainment takes a scene to activate, and lasts for a month, and creates a Fetish. The
created Fetish contain an amount of Influences or Numina equal to the Mage’s dots in Spirit, minus the
Spirit’s Rank. Activating these powers is an instant action and uses the Spirit’s dice pool, and uses the
slumbering Spirit’s essence pool, and can be recharged with an appropriate source of Essence. If created
without using the slumbering Spirit’s powers however, such items merely contain 10 + Spirit dots Essence
without any powers.
Any action which triggers the Spirit’s Ban or Bane will destroy the fetish, so will it gaining Essence equal to the Spirit’s Corpus. In addition, when crafting the Fetish, the Mage promises to the Spirit to not disrespect the boon he has been granted, and any actions taken in such a manner, in violation of the sacred trust, also will cause an end to the spell.
Craft Fetish, Reach into Advanced Duration and changed Primary factor, added Fate 2 for Conditional Duration for misuse of trust (+1 factor).