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.

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, 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.

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

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. Only the mage can use it, but it lets them store quintessence to be drawn from later. (Using Prime3) (See Create Talismans and Artifacts, Soulgem)

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: Continuing the badass trend. Combining with Matter5 or Life5, you can create all-purpose periapts that anyone can use. Whether it be a living periapt or just an object like a soulgem, they are not limited to only the creator using them.