Terminal Apparitions, wielders of Void
Overview
When the collision of two opposing incantations of magic occurs there is always a risk of creating an Anomaly in reality. These schisms in manifesting mana cause instability in the rendering of existence, often creating deadly consequences for the unlucky spellcasters caught within its influence. Even the Stiffs must be weary of weaving magic of great magnitude into their prison reality, as the risk for catastrophe is much higher when attempting to change so many multitudes of interlocking processes and constructs.
Yet this is the true power that Void spellcasters cherish and revel in. By flinging confluxes of broken reality as weapons with little risk to themselves, they shred all that manifests as obstacles in their ambitions. The Void spares many of risks when the conduits of its power are themselves already dead.
There are the two requirements for choosing spells from the Void Protocol:
- The Cipher must have died, either by failing a Cheat Death roll in a session or by creating a character who has already experienced death prior to the beginning of the story.
- Once a Cipher dies and becomes a spirit, they cannot cast spells from any other Protocol. The Cipher’s magic forever changes once they become a spirit and cannot be restored.
There are benefits to shedding a corporeal form however, such as:
- The deceased Cipher may move in any direction and through solid objects unphased as a benefit of losing their original corporal form.
While many mages do everything they can to minimize the risk of an Anomaly occurring when casting spells, Void spellcasters embrace this distortion as an inherit risk within their spellcraft. Their spirits tethered only faintly to the reality around them, they can create unbearable environments or inconceivable harm without risking their own injury. These Ciphers obtain the ability to distort magic in all its forms, but at the cost of being able to cast spells from any other spellcasting Protocol.
By wielding the power of antinomy, Void spells can sabotage another lifeform’s spells, cause chaos and confusion at an unpredictable scale, and enter realms inaccessible to the living. Others claim to have found beings within the farthest breaches beyond observable reality, a space filled with doomed timelines and whispers from worlds seemingly beyond the prison of Nihil. Spellcasters of this Protocol seek to invert the very essence of magic in Nihil in order to create distorted realities from fragments and torn asunder logic. It is with deftness and reckless abandon that these Ciphers split apart the reality of the Stiffs as revenge for their untimely demise.