Void Magic

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WARNING! Void magic is for use with NPCs ONLY. Although the rules do not necessarily disrupt game balance, GM's should be warned that there are inherent dangers in allowing a PC to follow this road. I don't need to point them out as they become apparent within the following text.

Void magic is an astral phenomenon which involves the lack of elements, rather than their presence. All known Void mages are grade three initiates or higher. In addition, they are all hermetic, there is no known parallel totem in the shamanic tradition. When a mage becomes initiated into Void magic, he becomes disassociated from the four traditional elements of hermetic magic and becomes incapable of summoning "normal" elementals, although their spell casting abilities are relatively unaffected.

A Void magician is capable of the seemingly superhuman astral feat of leaving the Gaiasphere, though not without restrictions. A Void mage may astrally project beyond the Gaiasphere for a number of hours equal to one half of his intiate grade (round down), although normal limitations still apply for astral travel. Potential Essence loss is doubled while the mage is astrally projecting beyond the Gaiasphere; but due to the alien nature of Void magic, higher grade mages capable of existing in astral space longer than three hours (grade 7+ initiates) are then given a number of minutes equal to their initiate grade to return to their bodies after their time expires. In addition, while astrally projecting beyond the Gaiasphere, spells cast incur a +(F/2) modifier to all Target Numbers, including Drain to reflect the increased energies the mage must expend in order to gather and manipulate that Force.

Void mages may also perform a metamagical ritual known as Gathering in order to travel beyond the Gaiasphere for extended periods. This ritual is used to establish an astral conduit in order to freely function outside of the Gaiasphere for a certain number of days. The number of days the Void mage may exist and function magically outside of the Gaiasphere may not be greater than their Initiate Grade^2. To perform the Gathering ritual, the mage must roll Magic dice against a target number equal to one half the number of days they wish to have this conduit active. Successes may be used either to increase the number of days the conduit is available (2 successes = +1 day) or lessen the amount of time the ritual takes (divide the time it is calculated to take by the number of successes). The consequences of a Rule of Ones are addressed below. The ritual itself takes a number of hours equal to twice the number of days the Void mage intends to spend outside of the Gaiasphere. The ritual also causes an initial Drain, which the mage must resist. This Drain Code is equal to (days/2)S. Once the ritual is over, the link is active and the countdown begins.

THE DANGERS
Void magic is not without its dangers. Mages who practice it travel perilously close to insanity. Beginning down the path of Void magic alone incurs a -1D6 penalty to all social skills. However, the dangers do not end there, as many of the Void mages' activities accumulate "points" toward this insanity. Certain events (itemized on the table below) trigger certain responses in the mage, pushing him closer and closer to insanity, until finally he loses all personal control.

EVENT	TEST	ON FAIL	ON "RULE OF ONES"
Astral Travel Outside of the Gaiasphere	Willpower (4) Test	+1 modifier on all Social Skill Tests	+2 modifier on all Social Skill Tests
Gathering	Gathering Test	nothing	-1D6 to all Social Skills
Summoning Void Elemental	Conjuring Test	*	*
Summoning Void Elemental Great Form	Conjuring Test	-1 Charisma	-2 Charisma

* = Note the failure, 5 of these add up to one of the failures when summoning a Great Form. The above are all to reflect the antisocial behavior and overall mental instability associated with the stress of void magic.

Void Magic has no known effects on metamagical abilities.

VOID ELEMENTALS

Body: F - 2
Quickness: (F x 2) x 3
Strength: F - 2
Charisma: F
Intelligence: F
Willpower: F
Essence: (F)A
Reaction: F+3

Attacks: Per powers
Powers: Engulf, Manifestation, Movement, Psychokineses, Reverse Elemental Power
Weaknesses: Multiply damage done by Mana spells on Void Elemental (x2)

When a Void Elemental "engulfs" someone, what it actually does is remove all matter from the area immediately surrounding that person, creating a vacuum to suffocate them in.

"Reverse Elemental Power" is the ability of Void Elemental to absorb the attacks of other Elementals and turn that power back on them or anything else in the Void Elemental's line of sight.