Your character has a “Tome” which is a representation of their Spirit and shows the history and experiences of your character, including details of their mortal life; their knowledge and skills; and the scars and powers left by acts of powerful magic. Your Tome also serves as a character card, detailing your HP, Spirit and other powers.
These rules apply to all Tomes:
You may not steal, read, damage or remove another character’s Tome even with their permission unless you have a specific power that allows you to.
You may at any point read your own Tome but you may not change, damage or leave it behind, unless you have a specific power that allows you to.
Tomes do not exist physically; they are a metaphorical representation of your character and their Spirit.
Your Tome will consist of a number of Pages that are split between Titled Pages and Lore Pages. A Titled Page is a page on a particular topic such as the character's blood oath to a dragon, a permanent curse, or a character's mundane past before becoming Awakened. These are added or edited by the game team after specific events take place. There is no intrinsic limit on how many Titled pages your character can have, though some Titled pages may prevent you being given other pages.
Lore Pages act like XP, since Lores will come with some mixture of mechanical powers, Rites, Spiritual Renewals and roleplay effects for your character. You are not locked into the Lores you have chosen; there will be regular in-character opportunities to swap or change your Lores for a small cost either for new Lores or for Lores the group has previously discovered.
All player characters can have up to 3 Lore Pages and increasing the power of The Unfinished Tome may result in all of the players increasing the number of Lore Pages they can have.
All player characters begin the game being Wise in a chosen topic. Being Wise in a topic represents an innate sense of understanding of a particular scenario and some magics related to it and will allow you to glean hidden information about your specialty from clues that others will miss. The available topics can be found in character creation.
Being Wise in a topic will allow you to read any additional information which is marked on a document, item or area etc. This is normally done using Wise Cards, which state the ability required on the front along with a description of the object and more detailed information on the reverse of the card.
If you feel that the topic that you are Wise in is appropriate to a current situation you may check with a ref and they may be able to provide you with some extra insight into an event, person or situation. Some Third Eye results or other forms of information may only be discovered by characters who are Wise in the relevant topic. This will be listed at the relevant time. Being Wise in a topic can have a minor effect on some Rites.
If you realise that you want to change what you are Wise in this will not be a problem. Speak to a ref in game or you can change your Wise between events.
All characters can Open the Third Eye to discover the magical properties of creatures, items and enchantments.
This requires you to be within Touch Range of the target and concentrate on the target, becoming temporarily unaware of your surroundings, and state “I lower my magical defences to open the third eye and [Glance at/Gaze upon] the magic within.”
There are two levels of opening your third eye:
Glance - you gain a broad understanding of the target, some of the magic’s purpose and may experience strange senses of sight, taste, touch, smell or sound according to the magic within the target.
Gaze - you gain a deeper understanding of the target and the intricacies of its functioning, but to do so you lower any magical defences you might have and become vulnerable to the target’s magic.
Creatures and items can be temporarily enchanted by casting Rites or using magical abilities. These events will be called out by the key word Enchantment and means you should tie an appropriate Ribbon to the target. If the target is a player they should also note the Enchantment they are affected by on their Enchantment Page.
Once an Enchantment is used or expires you should remove the Ribbon at a convenient moment (e.g. once combat has finished). Some Enchantments last a set amount of time (e.g. until dusk) and others last until the ability is used (e.g. you may strike for Burn once). This will be detailed in the ability which grants the Enchantment. An Enchanted item loses its Enchantment if you lose possession of the item.
A creature or item may be Enchanted multiple times, but cannot have the same Enchantment effective on them more than once at a time. Enchantments can be removed using an appropriate Cleanse call (e.g. Cleanse all enchantments, Cleanse concealing enchantments, Cleanse Arcane Veil).
If you or an item you are carrying are Enchanted and another character Glances With the Third Eye at you then you must tell them that you are Enchanted and the colours of any ribbons attached to you.
The normal people of the world are not Awakened to magic as you are. Magical effects may affect them far more severely, drive them mad or even outright kill them. Awakening also makes a creature far harder to kill than normal. Non-Awakened creatures may die or be severely wounded from a single sword blow unless they are well armoured and die much faster than Awakened creatures.
Magic is terrifying, powerful or overwhelming against those unused to it. Without the magical defences of an Awakening, the Non-Awakened are totally overwhelmed by Sensation effects with such intensity that it can become the focus of their existence and their entire personality may be permanently warped by the experience. Magical items may also significantly change them. Any Sunder effect will instantly slay them, even if they parry the attack.