Mage/Theme/Legacies/Sphinx

Sphinx

The woman had spent three weeks carefully examining the new painting that sat in the section of spanish painters. The original artist of the painting was unknown to the curators, but the woman had carefully made notes, sketching seemingly unimportant pieces of the painting and carefully annotating the relative postioning of its elements. Finally, she had found the answer she needed – it had taken the manipulation of a long chain of private collectors over months to get the painting somewhere she could access, but yet another of de Velasco’s hidden secrets would be retrieved and stored once more in an Athenaeum.

Don't Think. Just Know.

What makes humanity special? Is it the capacity to Awaken? Such a view is arrogant in the extreme, say the Sphinxes, for to look at the Sleepers as inferior is to ignore one’s own humanity. No, to the mages who choose to follow this Legacy, the true magic of humanity is language. More to the point, it is the capacity for symbolic recognition, to see a gesture or a marking, hear a collection of sounds, and from that understand. Human beings are optimized, either by the design of a greater being or the rigors of evolution, toward speech and language, both anatomically and neurologically. But all of the biophysical adaptations of the human body toward speech mean nothing without the ability to understand symbols. Upon this phenomenon (some would say “miracle”), the Legacy of the Sphinx is based.

Origins

Parentage: Mastigos or Mysterium

Nicknames: Pathfinders

Background: Mages who find their way to the Sphinx legacy are often interested in languages and symbolism. Some are computer programmers, others teachers, still others translators and communication specailists. An unusual few have no communication background at all, but feel that the universe has some deeper meaning that can be deciphered.

Appearances: The members of the Sphinx legacy can be found among nearly every culture and level of society. They are for the most part contemplative and observant, but frequently can be distracted in observing minute patterns in texture or light and trying to interpret them. The Sphinx legacy lends itself to communication and listening, and so its members generally attempt to present themselves in a nonthreatening manner.

Doctrine

Prerequisites: Prime 2, Investigation 2, Investigative Prodigy 1, One of the following at 2: Academics, Occult, Empathy and Expression.

Initiation: Potential members of the legacy often find themselves beginning their training before they ever even learn of its existence. Mages who look deeply into the world around them, studying patterns and their overlying meaning, can sometimes find themselves accidentally uncovering messages encoded with the Hidden Meaning attainment. Other times they find themselves seeking out other mages whose studies overlap their own. Mysterium mages who seem to have a predilection for puzzles and ciphers can find themselves being given roundabout hints to the legacy’s existence, even as their own nature is traded among potential masters. Once the pupil has been introduced to a master of a compatible temperament, they are bombarded with coded messages of increasing difficulty. If the student proves capable of learning the intuitive approach to meaning, seeing something greater than the message itself. If they are, the student and master can begin the process of soulcrafting.

Organization: Obsessed with messages as they are, Pathfinders communicate with hidden messages in just about every form of media accessible. White noise in radio broadcasts, the midnight channel in television, and innocuous random posts in internet forums - all those things are a useless for most, but the Sphinxes display an uncanny ability in using them to communicate with each other and host gatherings.

Theory: The true magic of humanity is language, and the capacity for symbolic recognition. Meanings are hidden everywhere for those who can see them. Follow the riddles, solve the puzzles and decipher the messages to reach the ultimate truth.

Magic

Ruling Arcanum: Prime

Yantras: Succeed on an Investigation check relevant to the spell (+2), Listening to random noise (+1); giving a cryptic answer to an inquiry (+2); a pattern related to the spell (+2); observing random visuals (Flags in the wind, a flock of birds taking flght) (+1); a journal containing several notes (+1, +2 if the information is relevant to the spell)

Oblations: Solving or creating a puzzle without using magic or attainments (crossword, Sudoku, puzzle video games), Translating written work, Transcribing a speech (A story, a monologue, or a political address), Facilitating communication (acting as a mediator or translator)

Attainments

First: The Hidden Meaning

Prerequisites: Initiation
The easiest pattern a mage can recognize is that of the Supernal, and Pathfinders are no exception. To decipher these patterns, a Sphinx must consult the seemingly random patterns around her target to decipher meanings from them. This Attainment replicates the Prime 1 rote "Supernal Vision" on the Pathfinder's person, with Reach assigned to instant use.
Optional: Mind 2
Often the solution to conundrums relies on information that has been previously uncovered. Casting their vision back on the pattern they have already traced, the Pathfinder calls to mind minute details that otherwise may have gone without notice. This optional attainment duplicates the Mind 1 rote "Perfect Recall" with Reach assigned to instant use, allowing the Pathfinder to perfectly recall a number of individual memories up to their dots in Mind.

Second: Blazing a Trail

Prerequisites: Prime 2, Investigation 3
After learning how to decipher meanings from patterns, the Pathfinder learns to do the reverse and encode meanings into patterns. This Attainment is a variant of the Prime 2 "Invisible Runes" rote, where instead of just leaving the message on a surface, the Pathfinder physically creates the medium she wishes to encrypt the message into. Reach is assigned to Advanced Duration.
Optional: Mind 2
With careful consideration of a subject, the Sphinx can read the direction of their thoughts using only superficial clues. This attainment duplicates the Mind 1 "Mental Scan" rote with Reach assigned to Instant Casting and Sensory Range.

Third: Truth Without Knowledge

Prerequisites: Prime 3, Investigative Prodigy 2, One of the other initiation skills at 2
Communication is ultimately made with signs, and to the Sphinxes who directly read the truth behind the signs, there is little that can be hidden. This Attainment replicates the Prime 1 rote "Pierce Deception" on the Pathfinder's person. Reach is assigned to Instant Casting, Advanced Duration, and gaining a symbolic sense of what the actual truth is.
Optional: Mind 3
Through the interpretation of minute cues about an individual, a Pathfinder can make an accurate assessment of many fundamental aspects of their character. This duplicates the Mind 1 rote "Know Nature" with reach assigned to Instant Casting, Sensory Range, and determining the subject's Aspirations and Obsessions.

Fourth: Answers Without Questions

Prerequisites: Prime 4, Investigation 4, and a third initiation skill at 2
All mages channel the Supernal through semiotics of Fallen Patterns, but the Sphinxes look beyond the obvious and see the more profound meanings within mundane patterns. This Attainment replicates the Prime 2 rote "As Above, So Below" spell with Reach assigned to Instant Casting, Sensory Range, and making the Yantra affected grant 8-Again.
Optional Mind 4
Dedicating their study to the pattern of meanings in sounds, movement, or characters on a page, the Sphinx separates meanings from its mundane sheathe, comprehending any communication they hear, see, or read. This attainment duplicates the Mind 3 rote "Universal Language", allocating reach to Instant Casting and Advanced Duration.

Fifth: Unveiling the Path

Prerequisites: Prime 5, Investigative Prodigy 3, all initiation skills at 2
Duplicates Prime 2 "Words of Truth" with reach allocated to Instant Casting, Sensory Range, Advanced Duration, and causing the Inspired or Guilty condition in the target based on if they go with or against the Sphinx's path.
Optional Mind 5
While some may call it mind-reading, all the Pathfinder is doing is analyzing cues given off by his subject that are painfully obvious to his eyes. Nevertheless the Pathfinder replicates Mind 4 Rote "Read the Depths" with Reach assigned to Instant Casting, Advanced Duration and Sensory Range. As the Attainment is not actually invading the subjects' mind but reading their surroundings, it is Withstood by Composure instead of Resolve.

Credit

Credit for a significant portion of this adaptation belongs to 21C Hermit on the Onyx Path Forums, whose conversion can be found here.