See the Mysterium order book for all fluff.
Doctrine
Parentage: Moros, Mysterium by demographics, however ANY Mage of ANY Path from ANY Order can attract the attention of the Unforgotten and learn from its whispers
Prerequisites: Mind 2, Expression 2, and 2 dots between Academics, Occult, Deceive
Initiation: In the depths of desperation and fear, heed the whispers of the Unforgotten. Follow its instructions, and brand the mind of another with your memetic musings. In the reflection of that scarred mind, see how the Unforgotten’s caress has sculpted your soul into a reflection of itself.
Magic:
Ruling: Mind
Yantras: Succeed on an Expression roll relevant to the spell (+2), cast in desperate efforts to protect your accumulated knowledge or own life (+2), cast upon a subject which either does not acknowledge, or in an attempt to express your own genius (+1), push your sanity and mental stability to the breaking point in pursuit of your task (+1, +2 if this imposes a negative Condition).
Oblations: Pursuing forbidden research, convincing others of the importance of the mage’s works and ideas, making physical records of the Dreamer’s works or forcing others to do the same, communing with the Unforgotten and heeding its advice.
What is the Unforgotten?
Dreamers all carry a direct mental link to the astral entity they call the Unforgotten. The exact nature of this being remains unknown, but evidence gathered by the Mysterium strongly points to it being a kind of Goetia, embodying the idea of the Legacy itself as a central nexus of the viral meme. Even if this theory is correct, it doesn’t explain where the Unforgotten came from, though that doesn’t deter wild speculation of mad Oracles or the transcended daimon of the Legacy’s original founder. About the only thing scholars can definitively agree upon is that the Unforgotten has no ties to the Abyss, which seems strange given its association with corrupting madness. The perverse truth is that Dreamers actually oppose the Abyss by preserving and disseminating magical lore through the world, though most Awakened would quite happily do without such “help,” if given the choice.
While the full range of powers available to the Unforgotten remains unknown, it can certainly maintain an Astral presence to any sleeping or meditating Mage, through which the two may communicate in a lucid fashion, while also concurrently experiencing all surface thoughts and comprehensive sensory input of all Dreamers, and can telepathically communicate with all of them at will. It can also hide itself from detection quite effectively, and automatically wins all Clashes of Wills to obfuscate its presence when performed against lesser opponents, while also being invisible to all passive mystical attempts at detection.
Conditions:
Imprinted
Your character has had some quantity of information forcing into their Mind, seared into your memory either through magical or mundane means. While the Condition lasts, you cannot forget any information with which you have been imprinted. When your thoughts stray to anything relating to that information however, the mental strain relating to the forced focus which has been placed within your mind distracts you from being able to appropriately interact with others. You suffer a -1 to all Social Tests, this rises to -2 if the subject matter is directly connected to the subject and you refrain from sharing the imprinted information. These conditions may be cumulative, with heavily imprinted individuals rendered incapable of interacting with others, and barely capable of managing their own minds, so crammed full of information.
After exceptionally long periods of being Imprinted (months equal to Willpower), or highly strenuous situations arising from the condition, certain mortal subjects may be required to test for a Breaking Point against Integrity.
Resolution: The memories are mystically removed from your mind; the memories are surgically removed from your mind; sufficient counseling is achieved to help your mind ‘write over’ the information imprinted on it (this may take months, or years).
Merits
Whispers
Your character’s mind has ripped open, allowing tendrils of underlying primordial truths to reach into his
psyche. He can purchase the Dream Merit (see Mage: The Awakened, p. 101) even if he is not a mage, and
may attempt to gain insights through that Merit as an instant action while conscious rather than requiring
the usual hour of meditation or sleep. However, each time he accesses Dream in this accelerated manner
further erodes his sanity, requiring a character without Falling Wisdom to suffer a Breaking Point against
Understanding Wisdom, and a Sleeper to suffer an Breaking Point against Integrity, unless sufficiently
inured.
Attainments:
First Attainment Indelible Intimation
Pre-Requisite: Initiation
The first trick any Dreamer learns is how to impress ideas into their own, or another’s Mind. At this level of
proficiency, this requires a scene of communication between the Dreamer and either themselves or another.
If the other individual wishes to contest this imprinting, then the Attainment will only take effect if the
Dreamer’s Mind dots exceed the subject’s Resolve.
If the Dreamer is successful, then the subject gains the Imprinted Condition, pertaining to the information contained within them. This Condition is lasting, however at this level it can still be resolved by the subject through sufficient mystic effort, or sleeper counseling. At this stage, the Attainment merely imprints the information it does not maintain it, and as such, the information may be affected or removed by Magic and Sleeper science. It does not however cause Quiescence or Dissonance, however circumstances and the weight of time may inflict Breaking Points on Sleeper or Sleepwalker ‘subjects’.
Mind 1 to inflict a Condition upon the subject given existing factors which will permit it. Single point of reach into justifying the Condition lasting longer than the Attainment’s duration. You’re using your Magic like a branding iron, the brand isn’t Magic, it can be cut out or with great effort forgotten.
Optional Arcanum: Prime 1
So long as the information which is interred within the subject’s mind is known to the Dreamer to be true,
this opinion is interred in the imprinted subject’s Mind as well. They are incapable of refuting the
information they have been imprinted with, and as such certain actions which would involve acting in
contravention of this information may provoke Breaking Points or even Acts of Hubris upon
Sleeper/Sleepwalker and Mage subjects respectively. Once per imprinting, if the subject would be forced to
work in defense of whatever subject matter has been imprinted on their mind, they may gain the Steadfast
Condition relating to the Truth they have been bestowed.
Your Imprint is imbued with a resonance of Truth. This means it can be used as a great way of enforcing that Sleepers/Sleepwalkers keep it secret, spread it around, or to assist them in its protection, given the steadfast resolve that such knowledge of Truth may bring.
Second Attainment: An Open Mind
Pre-Requisite: Mind 2
The best minds are ones which are always open to new experiences, the difficulty with this however is that
in a world infected with Quiescence, sometimes a mind will have to be forced open. Through use of this
Attainment, an Unforgotten Scion may ever so slightly crack open the mind of a subject, so that they might
better receive any information that he will endow them. By breaking a subject’s Mind in such a way, tendrils
of primordial truth may reach in and find purchase amongst their thoughts.
Activating this Attainment requires physical contact and takes a scene’s worth of focused probing of a subject’s mind. To resist this Attainment requires that the subject’s Composure exceed the Mage’s Mind dots. If the Attainment is successful, the subject gains the Whispers (•) merit, even if they are not Awakened (though the purchase of the Dream merit will make them a Sleepwalker). If the subject is not a Mage, and does not purchase the Dream merit, then over the next few months their sanity will slowly deteriorate regardless of the use of the Merit, as they suffer Breaking Points as the whispers of the Astral corrode what little remains of their stability.
However if the Mage seeks to use any Attainment or Spell against another individual so affected, it is not Withstood. The Merit can be removed with a Patterning Mind spell, and its removal will be Lasting, the Mage having patched the fracture in the subject’s mind which lets the whispers through.
A bit broken, but meh, so what. Firstly it just grants a Merit, secondly if you’re spending a scene with that person you could easily have killed them. Thirdly the Merit can still be removed.
Optional Arcanum: Prime 2
Sadly, most Mages do not understand the great and noble work which the Unforgotten Scions perform in
ensuring that mystic knowledge is protected against the march of time, and the error of mortal foibles. As
such, many are constantly on watch for various signs of maliciousness. Through a sufficient understanding of
Prime, such Mages may Veil their endowments and hidden caches of knowledge from the misunderstanding,
such that bar focused investigation, their work may go undetected and unmolested.
Any Legacy Attainment which the Mage utilizes on another individual is automatically veiled against Mystical detection, such that passive attempts at detection will automatically fail, and active attempts will provoke a Clash of Wills.
Supernal Veil, Reach into Advanced Duration
Third Attainment: Truths Best Unknown
Pre-Requisite: Mind 3
Communication is key to ensuring the proliferation of any knowledge, but in a world where Truth is quite
literally suppressed by the Powers that Be, that communication must be covert. Through this Attainment,
Dreamers can wordlessly project their words and thoughts into the mind of another within sensory range.
This Attainment takes in Instant Action to activate, and permits the Mage to project their thoughts for as
long as they maintain concentration, or 2 rounds otherwise (3 rounds at Mind 4).
This communication is moderately unpleasant for the recipient, and may involve a mind headache, a pressure behind the eyes, or a small amount of bleeding from the nose, eyes or ears, however this will take no mechanical effect except in the case of those with the most delicate, and fragile of constitutions. If the subject wishes to resist such communication, and has not been affected by the Dreamer with An Open Mind, then the Dreamer’s dots in Mind must exceed the subject’s Resolve.
Telepathy, Reach into Instant Casting and Sensory Range. Nuff said.
Optional Arcanum: Prime 3
To allow their actions to speak for themselves, communion with the Unforgotten grants the Dreamer an
advanced understanding of the creation of Grimoires, such that those created through use of this
Attainment may permit Mages and even Sleepwalkers to cast from them, regardless of whether they meet
the Gnosis and Arcanum requirements.
This Attainment takes a scene to activate, as the Mage pens a Grimoire in any form. The Grimoire must be designed by them however, though the Rote itself need not be. Whenever the Grimoire is cast through, the casting pool is Gnosis alone (Sleepwalkers count as Gnosis 1), and cannot benefit from any Yantras beyond the Mundra tied to that Rote. The caster suffers additional Reach equal to the discrepancy between their Arcanum rating and the required Rating for the spell, in addition to any further Reach to affect spellcasting elements. Sleepwalkers casting spells in this manner ALWAYS suffer a Breaking Point against Integrity, and regardless of the identity of the caster, whenever an individual casts such a spell or learns the Rote within such a Grimoire, they must succeed in a Clash of Wills against the creator (using Gnosis + highest requisite Arcanum for the spell) or be afflicted with the Imprinted Condition pertaining the contents of the Grimoire.
Very weird version of Grimoire, which breaks spellcasting rules, and even Sleepwalker rules. But this is a weird Legacy attainment about communing with a Magic-sharing entity. Aaaaaaand it’ll incur a SHITLOAD of Reach. Plus Sleepwalkers can hardly cast anything with their base dice pool of 1.
Fourth Attainment: Instill Comprehension
Pre-Requisite: Mind 4
For many Dreamers, simply sharing information is not enough. Others can scarcely appreciate their genius
through merely having HEARD of what they have achieved, they must KNOW it for the brilliance that it is. In
a scene-long ritual with a suitable individual (has at least 1 dot in a Mental skill relating to the Dreamer’s imparted knowledge), the Dreamer may bestow upon them greater comprehension of his knowledge than
the subject had ever dreamed. This permanently increases the subject’s rating in that Mental Skill by 3 dots,
and grants them a Persistent version of the Imprinted Condition in relation to the imparted skill. This may be
done telepathically, through use of Truths Best Unknown.
Such is the depth of conviction with which the information they have been imparted however, that should the subject ever fail a test relating to that skill, then they must immediately, and always suffer a Breaking Point.
Enhance Skill, with a Lasting Condition stapled on the end. With a downside of driving people mad if they don’t truly understand what the Dreamer has given them, and cannot reconcile his imprinted Ego with not knowing anything/everything.
Optional Arcanum: Prime 4 4
The Dreamer may also bless such an individual with protection from the ravages of Quiescence... For a time.
For the next month (rising to year at Prime 5) the subject counts as a full Sleepwalker in all respects.
However at the end of that period, all instances of Quiescence will come crashing down upon the individual
all at once. Some Dreamers for this reason do not grant this element of Instill Comprehension to their
subjects, for they do not care one jot for their mystical potential, but instead merely want a receptacle for
their genius.
Fifth Attainment: Eternal Dreams
Pre-Requisite: Mind 5
Focusing upon a Grimoire which he has scribed through Truths Best Unknown, the Dreamer calls forth from
the Temenos the Goetia of that Grimoire and the knowledge contained within it. This entity starts at a Rank
proportional to the number of people who know about it. A Grimoire known about by only a Cabal would be
Rank 1, that known of by a larger group including an odd half-dozen Sleepwalkers would be Rank 2. A
Grimoire which is known of by all who study the Occult would be Rank 5, and if such a Grimoire managed to
stay in the public eye as a reputed source of information on the Occult (without Exarchal intervention),
regardless if it was taken seriously or not, it may even become a lesser God at Rank 6. Such a Dreamer who
manages this had better be seeking to Ascend, for there are various factions who would seek the destruction
of such an individual who wishes to tear down the Veil and spread mystic secrets to all out of nothing by
pure Ego.
Such entities are solely interested in propagating themselves, and have Numina appropriate for this aim, and appear visually to those blessed with Mind sight, in a manner identical to that of the Unforgotten itself. Such entities show deference to the Dreamer as their creator, and while self-willed entities will usually accept advice from him as to how to proceed in their mission, and perhaps even when to stop, or risk annihilation and reciprocation from aggrieved Guardians of the Veil and Seers.
Summon a Goetia from the Temenos. You create the portal, through it pops. It lasts after the duration runs out, so Reach is into summoning from the Temenos, and Advanced Duration. To give it enough time to use its powers.
Optional Arcanum: Prime 5
Rather than merely relying upon a Goetia to do their work for them, a Dreamer may instill upon a Sleeper,
Sleepwalker, or even other Mage one of his Obsessions. This takes a scene of focus and commingling of
Minds, at which point the other individual gains one of the Dreamer’s obsessions (likely the one relating to
ensuring his knowledge never fades from memory). This allows Sleepers and Sleepwalkers the capacity to accumulate Arcane Beats, although it does not grant them the capacity to use them unless they later
Awaken. Unless the subject is willing, this Attainment will only function on this with a Resolve of 2 or less.
Forge Purpose, Reach into Advance Duration