Book of Bone and Ebony

EXALTED • BOOK OF BONE AND EBONY
— or an unlucky ghost may find himself unable to return
to the Underworld. Folding Midnight costs 46 motes and
requires that the necromancer walk a path around the
shadowland in question during the time of day appropriate
to her desired effect.
MOTHER DARKNESS
Cost: 12 motes
Target: Area of effect
With a grimace and a snap of the fingers, the necromancer
can make herself more comfortable by changing the
local environment to suit her. Over the next minute, the sky
perceptibly darkens, the flora grays, and fauna either leave
the area or become sullen and surly. Landmarks of note take
on a devilish cast, and hills seem to carry with them threats
of something lurking on the other side. Some of the changes
are more overt: Glistening white bones are more easily
found lying about, and small stones become glittering obsidian.
A dirge floats lightly on the wind.
Creatures of the Underworld find themselves more at
ease within the one-mile reach of Mother Darkness. Those
beings who can normally respire no Essence while in
Creation find that they recover 1 mote per full day spent
within the shadowed area. Mother Darkness is considered
a significant fraction of the “trappings of death” required
for an Abyssal to shed Resonance.
The area affected slowly returns to normal over the
course of a week, except when cast within the Wyld. The
settling influence of necromancy act strongly upon the
lively Wyld. When cast upon a Wyld area, Mother Darkness
reduces the strength of the Wyld by one (Middlemarches to
Borderlands, Borderlands to Creation — see Exalted: The
Lunars for more information on the Wyld), and the trappings
of death remain until the Wyld sweeps over them
again. In some cases, this can be a long time.
The spell cannot be successfully cast upon a Demesne,
as the flow of aspected Essence already colors the environment
too strongly for the effects of Mother Darkness to
take hold.
PIERCING THE HEEL
Cost: 17 motes
Target: One ghost
Requires an arcane link
This spell cannot be cast unless the necromancer has
access to her victim’s body, which acts as an arcane link.
Ritually piercing the body’s tendons with iron nails above
the heel of each foot, the necromancer invokes this spell
and speaks the name of the ghost who once inhabited the
body. Thereafter, the ghost finds himself unable to enact
any physical harm upon the necromancer’s body. Should
he ever attempt such, he immediately falls lame and
unable to move until he abandons the intention.
This binding may be broken by countermagic cast
upon the ghost or by removing the iron nails from the
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ARCANE LINKS AND THE DEAD
As the study of performing sorcery — and
necromancy, once it was discovered — upon the
inhabitants of the Underworld progressed, the
Exalted learned that ghosts who refused to move
on had several natural arcane links: their Fetters. A
sorcerer or necromancer who is aware of her target’s
Fetters can use one in place of an arcane link to the
spirit. Standing in the ghost’s tomb is usually
enough to create a bond between the sorcerer and
spirit. Passions with clear physical representations
— a family that must be protected or a construction
the ghost wishes to see completed — can also
be used in this manner.
In the Age of Sorrows, the Deathlords have
found another such link. The bond between an
Abyssal servant and his Monstrance of Celestial
Portion allows his liege to spy upon him, speak with
him and inflict displeasure upon him in the form of
Resonance. It is also, as has been discovered, a
permanent arcane link to the Abyssal and yet more
leverage for the Deathlords. Most Deathlords have
kept this advantage, as they have kept many others,
secret from their Exalted servants.
body’s heels — but the ghost is bound not to attempt this,
and if the body has decayed to the point where the nails
have fallen from the heels on their own, the ghost’s only
hope lies in countermagic.
If the body is too decayed for the piercings to be
removed to end the spell, it is too far gone for this spell to
be effective.
RINGING HUN REBUKE
Cost: 19 motes
Target: Caster
Pulling two iron rings out of thin air as might a master
of legerdemain, the necromancer puts one on the middle
finger of each hand. He then claps his hands, striking the
two black ornaments together and letting them resonate.
Each emits a slightly different tone and continues to do so
for the next hour.
While these rings continue to sound, ghosts have
difficulty approaching the caster. In order to approach
within five yards of the caster, a successful Willpower
check must be made for the ghost against a difficulty of 3.
And even then, she finds it abhorrent to strike him — the
necromancer has an effective additional soak of 2L/3B
against all blows a ghost attempts to land. Ranged attacks
made from without the five-yard radius are unaffected.
If the necromancer walks into a ghostly crowd while
this spell is in effect, he finds that ghosts move out of his