CrossQuint

This is just a guideline to how I, Cross' Player, handle Quintessence with Cross. You are welcome to join me or laugh at me.

What is all these strange words?

Here is a slightly more detailed Lexicon, written in a way that may be easier to understand.

Quintessence: It is the raw material of reality. It is what flows through all patterns and what makes magic possible. It is all energy, the fuel of everything. Glamour, Pathos, Faith, Gnosis, Mana, these are all just forms of Quintessence.

Tass: Quintessence trapped within a physical existence, generally naturally occurring around nodes.

Nodes: These are wellsprings of Quintessence, that occur naturally.

Junctures: These are like time dependent nodes, and rarely mentioned.

Periapts: A wonder created by a mage that can store Quintessence inside of it.

The analogy I like to use most is water based. Think of Quintessence as water. It is free flowing, and difficult to contain. Ice is Tass, nodes are oasis' in a proverbial desert, a juncture is a rare rainy day, and a periapt is a water-bladder. A mage can drink his or her fill of quintessence, but can only store up to their avatar rating. A periapt lets them carry more without using a rote to do so.

What about the other energies?

This is kind of more me rambling the anything else. Quintessence is like the 'all-energy'. Think of it as the purest form of water, and then all the other critters out there have their own 'tainted' energies that are highly resonant of their particular thing. Werewolves and Gnosis have a flavor that is likely very dynamic and wyld. Wraiths and Pathos have a flavor that is likely very Primordial and entropic. Changelings and Glamour, Demons with Faith, Vampires with Blood, etc, etc.

What can you do with Prime, Mr. Mage?

More like, what -can't- you do? Prime is the sphere that is dedicated to doing damn near everything with all of the energies. As Cross was first and foremost a Prime 5 mage, it was kind of his 'big deal'. Here is a list of things you can do with prime related to Quintessence directly.

Prime0: You can recharge your quintessence by meditating at a node. Only up to your Avatar rating.

Prime1: You can store energy above your avatar rating, to a maximum of 20-paradox. This counts as a maintained rote.

Prime3: You can recharge your quintessence at a node, and can take higher then your Avatar rating in Quintessence.

Prime3: Can pour Quintessence from periapt to periapt, periapt to mage, or back. You -CAN- take energy from another mage at this level, but only what they are storing that is above their avatar rating. You can't take the last of their energy from them. (See bond of blood)

Prime4: A mage can draw energy from areas of high resonance. 1 pt of Quintessence for every 3 successes. However, this can not exceed your Avatar rating. (See Wellspring)

Prime4: A mage can create a personal use periapt. See Periapt Section.

Prime4: A mage can create tass at this point, resonant of the quintessence that they infuse in it. (Usually, their own)

Prime5: You've now reached badass status. You are a living node. You can pull as much quintessence as you want, at a 1pt for 1 quint rating. (See Fount of Paradise)

Prime5: As if you weren't badass enough, you can now CREATE NODES in areas of extremely high resonance. This is not to be done lightly.

Prime5: As if Nodes weren't enough, you can create junctures. This is also not easy.

Prime5: Continuing the badass trend. Combining with Matter5 or Life5, you can create all-purpose periapts that anyone can use. See the Periapt Section.

Periapts

Periapts kind of need their own section, because they are a pretty big deal and people will love these things. Here is the rundown on Periapts, and some things to note. The Core Revised book begins mentioning creating Periapts in the section under Prime4 and Prime5. It is also very important to read the sections in Forged by Dragons Fire that covers periapts. All Periapts once created have a period of levelxMonth where using the periapt is a bad idea, and will result in it gaining permenent flaws.

Personal Use Periapts: Created using Prime4 and either Matter/Life, this is a personal use Periapt that is highly resonant of the mages own energy and intimately tied to them. Only the Mage can use it.

Fused Periapts: This is a personal use Periapt that has been fused into the Mages skin. The advantage of this process is that it essentially just increases the Mages own internal storage capacity, and the quintessence stored within the periapt can be accessed and restored freely. These take 10 weeks-periapt level to fuse.

General Use Periapts: Created using Prime5 and Matter5, this is a periapt that is resonant with the energy stored within it. It is not required to be the Mages own resonance, although it almost always is. Anyone can draw from or refill this periapt as per standard periapt rules.

Living Periapts: Created using Prime5 and Life5, this is a periapt that is created out of a living person. This is generally the mages Familiar, or someone very close to them. The problem with doing this is that living things are inherently more dynamic, and prone to changing the resonance of the quintessence stored within them based on their lifestyles.

Paradox and Periapts

Just as it works in a Mages Pattern, Paradox displaces the maximum storage ability of a periapt. Any periapt used to fuel a vulgar effect will gain one point of paradox (The Mage gains paradox like usual). The only way to remove this Periapt is with a prime5 effect, or by letting the periapt rest in a place highly resonant with its own energy. It will take 1 month for a point of Paradox to be bled off of a Inanimate periapt. The advantage of a living Periapt is that it would only take 1 week. Disadvantage you need to keep it around that highly resonant area for a week. If the Periapt is destroyed, the paradox backlashes automatically added in to the mages paradox.

Using a Periapt

Prime0: Recharging from a periapt just requires you to be in touch with it. If you are in combat/busy/running/etc, you need to make a wits+meditation roll and draw one per success.

Prime2: If its within line of sight, you can draw quintessence using Prime2

Prime2+Corr2: If its out of sight, you can draw quintessence using Prime2+Corr2.

Examples

Example Periapt: 5 pt Periapt created using Prime5 and Matter5. Rules for Periapts are in Forged by Dragons Fire.

<---======##=-------------[ EQUIP_699536 (PRIVATE) ]-------------=##======---> Status: APPROVED by WhoopingCrane on Sat Jul 13 14:30:30 2013

Wonder Name: Spiral Pendant Periapt 5: 25 Quint of Storage See +equip 699536

Effect: This Periapt stores 25 points of Quintessence, resonant of Holy Energy to match Cross' resonance. It can be withdrawn by anyone.

Created June 20th, 2013. Risk of adding flaws if Quint is drawn from it before 5 months have passed. <-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->

Example Rote: Fount of Paradise

<---======##=-----------[ FONT_OF_PARADISE (PRIVATE) ]-----------=##======---> Status: APPROVED by Mouse on Thu Nov 08 18:22:35 2012

Rote: Font of Paradise

Sphere: Prime 5 Effect: Coincidental

Description: Cross clasps his wooden cross in hand and spends a few moments praying for divine assistance and for extra strength to steel him for coming trials.

Difficulty:8=5(Prime)+ 3(Coincidental)

System:

• Every success acheived translates into one point of regained quintessence.

<-------------=============++++++++++++++++++++++++=============------------->