Mage/Theme/Legacies/House of Ariadne

HOUSE OF ARIADNE

You frolic in the woods and forget the power calescing in the cities. The city tells me you will fail in your ventures.

Wisdom is in the Journey

The Metropolitans believe the myth of Ariadne, Theseus, and the Minotaur in the labyrinth is a metaphor for finding Supernal enlightenment in the heart of the urban jungle. With so many threads of Time and Fate tangling together, the city is a whole that far exceeds any one of its myriad parts. They traverse every nook and cranny of the city’s streets and secret corners to divine its past and future, investigate its omens to solve its Mysteries, and follow the threads that connect every piece of it to a higher Truth.

Origins

Parentage: Acanthus, Seers of the Throne, Guardians of the Veil

Background: The majority of those who join this Legacy are born city-dwellers, though a few suburbanites and country mages find themselves drawn to the city. Most Metropolitans grew up knowing the shortcuts, the best places to eat, and where not to go after dark. The frequently can feel the pulse of the city before awakening, and have a knack for finding lost things and knowing what's going on in the neighborhood. They were the type of people who would wander the streets at night, going nowhere in particular.

Appearances: Look at a roomful of Metropolitans, and you will see a cross-section of urban styles. Some dress as wealthy socialites, viewing the city from above. Others prefer the underbelly, and appear as rag-tag, cart-pushing homeless people. Still others adhere to street culture, flaunting gaudy jewelry, artistic tattoos and gang colors. The only constant is that you would never assume they live anywhere but the city.

Doctrine

Prerequisites: Time 2, Fate 1, Streetwise 2

Initiation: The House of Ariadne offers to train nearly anyone who asks, though they will turn away those who cannot see Ariadne's thread after a training. Those who see it without Metropolitan training are immediately welcomed. Once a recruit proves they can see Ariadne's thread, they are taken to a spot in the city and told to follow the path. The mentor follows, not commenting, merely observing how long the protege can follow the path. The length of time they follow before hesitating or asking questions dictates their welcome. Within an hour, the protege is told to walk the streets for a month, looking for the thread, before returning for more training. A mage who follows the thread for two hours is accepted, but warned that much patience is needed. If a candidate walks for three or more hours, they are welcomed to the House of Ariadne without reservation.

Organization: Each city has one House, never more (though the Legacy's definition of a city doesn't always follow the lines on a map). Each House is divided between the Trackers and the Weavers. Most Metropolitans are Trackers. They search the city, following Ariadne's thread and learning every secret they can. As they gain skill, they are assigned to find particular lost items or people.

The most senior Metropolitans are the Weavers, who have at least their third attainment. Weavers supervise other Metropolitans and manage the cities. They take an active hand in guiding the city's future, based on its past. They listen to the city, understanding when it tells them to change. The ultimate goal for any Weaver is to find Ariadne's Exit, as they call it, hoping to follow her thread to the Supernal Realm.

Theory: Some mages claim that Sleepers interfere with mages' concentration, and that cities are cesspools. That only natural sources of magic are truly pure. The House of Ariadne knows the folly of this thought. Cities are the true fount of power. Even in sleeping society, money and political power gather in cities. The Metropolitans take this as a supernal sign, that the sheer numbers of people present creates a sort of mystical power. Metropolitans can follow ley lines wherever they like. In time, they learn to see subtler lines, which the Legacy calls Ariadne's thread, spun throughout the city, which can be followed on a meditative path through the city. All the threads together form the city's Knot. Through the Knot, the city can speak to Metropolitans, leading them to wherever they need to go. Whether physical things, such as lost items or people, abstract things, such as safe hiding places or Hallows, or even memories of the past and secrets buried to mortals, the Metropolitan can follow the Knot to it. The only trick is finding the thread.

Magic

Ruling Arcanum: Time

Yantras: Casting in a crowded place (+1); successfully using Contacts, Allies, or Streetwise to gain information related to the spell (+1, or +2 if rolled); a famous landmark associated with the city (+1); walking Ariadne’s thread (+1 per hour walked, maximum +3).

Oblations: Discovering or exploring something in the city you’ve never seen before; watching a sunrise / sunset from a place that overlooks the city; visiting a tourist attraction; attending a private or elite event.

Attainments

First: Attune

Prerequisites: Initiation; Time 2, Fate 1, Streetwise 2, Occult 2, Investigation 1
The mage spends the ritual preparation of this Attainment walking through a city at random, tracing the maze of its streets for at least a few hours. Metropolitans call this process “walking Ariadne’s thread.”

Once complete, this Attainment emulates the Time 1 spell “Postcognition” (Mage, p. 187) regarding the history of the city, something or someone within it, or the mage himself, with regard to a valid subject he chooses. The mage may seek a particular kind of moment to view, such as “the last time someone died in this alley” or “the day this building first opened its doors,” but the Storyteller decides the precise moment he sees, as the city’s Fate calls his attention to the most relevant one for his (and its) needs. This Attainment is Withstood by temporal sympathy, and assigns its fixed Reach to sensory range.

Once per scene, as long as the mage has previously Attuned to the city he’s currently in, the Storyteller may offer the player an Arcane Beat for the character to receive this Attainment’s benefits without walking the thread or deliberately activating it, as the city reaches out to make a request or express a need through vague omens and symbols. If the player accepts, he must follow up on the vision within that scene to gain the Arcane Beat.

Subsequent Attainments require the mage to have previously Attuned at least once to the city where he uses them; he may Attune to any city. This Legacy’s Attainments only function in urban environs, though a small city is just as urban as a sprawling metropolis for these purposes; the legal definition of a place as a “city” or “town” is less important than the way the inhabitants think of the place. The mage enjoys a +1 equipment bonus to Social rolls in a city to which he’s previously Attuned (+0 in the suburbs), but suffers a −1 to the same in rural environments or wilderness.
Optional: Space 1
When the Metropolitan views the past with this Attainment, he also learns one of the subject’s sympathetic connections per dot in the caster's Space arcana, similar to the Space 1 spell “Correspondence” (Mage, p. 172), as long as that connection was within the city at the viewed time or is now.

Second: Discovery Meditation

Prerequisites: Time 2, Streetwise 3
Focusing their mind upon something they seek, the mage can call upon Ariadne’s thread to lead them to where what they seek is. This attainment only functions so long as what they seek is still within the city, and has not entered the Shadow, the Underworld or various other dimensions, however it will function should it have merely entered Twilight. The path Ariadne’s Thread takes will not be the shortest, most direct, or even the safest route, nor will it ensure you are capable of bypassing obstacles on your path, however if you can follow it, it will lead you to what you desire. This functions similarly to the Time 1 spell Divination, with 1 Reach spent for more detailed answers and 1 Reach spent for instant casting. The two questions asked must be related to going to a certain destination.
Optional: Fate 2
Walking the path dictated by Ariadne’s Thread, when the mage encounters an obstacle to their path, their understanding of Fate enhances a tool on their person which could conceivably resolve this issue into a tool of destiny, increasing its equipment bonus by their dots in Fate for the purpose of resolving that obstacle.

Third: Hidden Meditation

Prerequisites: Time 3, Streetwise 4, Occult 3
While the mage is walking Ariadne’s thread, their destiny is unreadable. As long as the mage is actively meditating on Ariadne’s thread, any magic viewing them through time (whether looking at the shielded Duration from the future, or predicting the subject’s future while in the present) provokes a Clash of Wills.
Optional: Space 3
With a sufficient understanding of sympathies, the mage can subsume all of their connections into the thread. They also provoke a Clash of Wills on a single sympathetic connection, chosen when this attainment is learned.

Fourth: Geomantic Meditation

Prerequisites: Time 4, Occult 4, Investigation 2
Fixing a question in her mind, and starting to walk the streets of her city, the Metropolitan can seek out an answer written in the city itself, if one exists. By following Ariadne’s thread for a scene, the mage can ask specific questions about things that may come to pass, depending on choices or outside chance, asking one question per dot in Time. Answers come in the form of symbols reflected in the city itself, which while perhaps devoid of meaning to the Mage’s companions, make perfect sense to the Metropolitan. It is possible however that the city itself might not know the answer to some lofty questions of Gods, alternate realities, realms of the Fae and the like, and in such a situation the thread may simply lead the Mage in circles, or nowhere at all.
Optional: Space 4
The Metropolitan can also draw upon the sympathetic links of the city to draw her to a location best suited for a purpose related to a question asked in her meditative walk. This can include but is not limited to areas with specific resonance, defensible locations for sanctums, or sealed off tunnels unknown to any other living person.

Fifth: Temporal Meditation

Prerequisites: Time 5, Investigation 3
Following Ariadne’s thread with no goal in mind, the Mage is capable of drawing upon the thread to grant them the time they so desperately need. By spending a scene walking the city, the Mage seems to become entwined with Ariadne’s thread, and the world around them slows until it stops, entering a pocket of time where they may reside until they decide to stop it. While in this state, the Metropolitan ages normally, and personal Conditions are maintained, however they can move freely, examine the world, take mental actions, heal, touch things, and even cast spells with herself as the subject. Any attempt to affect any other thing immediately ends the spell once the action has been completed. A Metropolitan can stay in this state of existence for up to a year, if they so desire, however they would need to bring sufficient supplies with them, or be knowledgeable in other Arcana sufficient to survive, and not go mad from the isolation.
Optional: Fate 5
Walking the path of Ariadne’s thread with a companion, the Metropolitan can pull upon it to ensure that their companion can fulfill their destiny. After a scene’s worth of walking the city following Ariadne’s thread, the mage can grant one of the following advantages to a willing companion that walked with them. This effect lasts for one year.

• The companion gains a Supernatural Merit for which she qualifies with a maximum rating of 5. Sanctity of Merits doesn’t apply to the loss of this Merit.
• The companion’s rating in a supernatural merit increases or decreases by 5 (up to the normal maximum)
• The companion replaces up to 5 of their aspirations and obsessions with ones chosen by the mage.
• The mage chooses the companion’s Doom. This can affect subjects even if they don’t have the Destiny merit.