Solomonic Magic

The sahirs' magic comes from their ability to summon spirits and direct them in limited ways. Over the many years they have been practicing this, sahirs have developed ways to modify their summoning powers so that instead of causing a spirit to manifest within a circle or other mystic container, they can draw upon its power to create other magical effects. These supernatural means of affecting a target with Solomonic magic are collectively called "the Solomonic Art," but each power is

also a "Solomonic art." These arts (not technically Arts but rather Accelerated Supernatural Abilities) are described in more detail later in this chapter.

The Solomonic Art can be used in two ways: to quickly cast memorized spells, or for long-term magical projects over a season or more. The former is called formulaic summoning, and the latter is called seasonal summoning. Every sahir has (or should have) a summoning power, such as Sihr, that is used to summon a spirit or other sort of being and negotiate with it. Sahirs refer to this power as their summoning art, but Sihr is sometimes considered a Solomonic art in its own right, and part of the Solomonic art as a whole (see The Solomonic Arts, Sihr).

A sahir's spells are a recipe for drawing upon a summoned spirit's power in a way that creates a magical effect. This formula is called a naranj ("spell"). Sahirs generally know many naranjs, which they cast much as Hermetic magi cast their spells — by concentrating for a moment and speaking an incantation while gesturing at the target. Learning to cast a naranj takes a season of work in a special laboratory (described under Seasonal Summoning, in the next part of this section).

The most basic form of naranj available to sahirs uses their summoning art, and summons a spirit to a prepared place within a few paces of the caster. This is called a summoning spell. Unlike using their summoning art, this naranj only takes a moment and does not cost any fatigue or vis. The sahir is still warded against the spirit, and as usual the spirit likely wants something in return for whatever service the sahir asks. To cast a summoning spell, the player rolls a stress die and adds Presence plus his score in his summoning art, as well as his modifier for the aura.

Characteristics: Int +2, Per +1, Pre +2, Com +1, Str –1, Sta 0, Dex 0, Qik 0

Size: 0

Age: 25 (25)

Warping Score: 2 (2) Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Virtues and Flaws: The Gift; Sahir, Vizier, Wise One; Gentle Gift, Sihr (Magic); Arcane Lore, Puissant Solomonic Travel (free); Magic Addiction, Infernal Spirit Companion; Reckless, Sheltered Upbringing, Tainted with Evil

Personality Traits: Optimistic +3, Reckless +3, Friendly +2, Brave –1

Combat:

Dodge: Init 0, Attack n/a, Defense 0, Damage –1

Soak: +0

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Abilities: Arabic 5 (Solomonic usage), Area Lore: Sana'a 3 (people), Artes Liberales 2 (lab work), Awareness 2 (alertness), Bargain 3 (with Kharrat), Concentration 2 (regaining control), Finesse 2 (casting multiple effects), Infernal Lore 5 (spirits), Magic Lore 2 (spirits), Penetration 2 (Infernal spirits), Profession Scribe 5 (copying

lab texts), Stealth 2 (sneaking) Sihr: 10, Alchemy: 0, Astrology: 5, Physic: 0, Storytelling: 5, Travel: 10+2 Spells Known:

Kharrat, the braggart (Infernal Might 10/+12)

What are the words that surround [Target]? (Astrology 15 Ritual/+7)

[Spirit], his arms wide (Storytelling 10/+7) Make their eyelids heavy and their heads to fall (Storytelling 15/+7)

Through the gray haze (Travel 20/+14) [Spirit] brings the curse of Bayna (Travel 25/+14)

We will meet again as the seasons turn (Travel 25 Ritual/+14)

Appearance: 'Arkhaman is a pale man with black hair, thin eyebrows and a curled moustache. He has an innocent twinkle in his eye and a confident smile. He wears a hooded robe that has seen very little travel, baggy clothes, and he is likely sitting down. The suggestion of a demonic spirit might hover over his left shoulder (see Kharrat, later).

The boy Laqy was born at the bayt al-hikma of Sana'a to a woman who desperately wished to keep him hidden from the imam, her uncle. His father was a spirit of flame, she said, a beautiful jinni with black eyes. Delivered in secret, the child was raised at the academy and desired only to serve the sahirs, but as he grew older, his resemblance to the important family became more pronounced. They decided to bring him into the Suhhar, and initiated him into Sihr. The first spirit he summoned was the being he believes to be his father: an Infernal jinni named Kharrat.

Kharrat is a pompous and arrogant spirit who believes that 'Arkhaman's desire to please his father will lead him to evil, and thinks he has him completely tamed. 'Arkhaman is naive, but has been warned by the older sahirs not to let Kharrat take advantage of him. So far, he has been able to control the jinni with vis, but as soon as possible Kharrat will get him to accept a duty and agree to seek out his mother. The shame that his presence will bring to her delights the wicked spirit.

'Arkhaman only recently manifested The Gift, and the power he now wields has made him a bit wild. When he casts a spell, he often cannot resist casting another (because of his Magic Addiction Flaw), and his presence generally makes those without The Gift uncomfortable (Tainted with Evil). His masters believe he needs to meet other Gifted sahirs or he will go mad; thus they have elected him their vizier and are sending him to Baghdad this summer to represent them.

Order: Tempter (Shaitan) Infernal Might: 10 (Ignem)

Characteristics: Int 0, Per +1, Pre +3, Com 0, Str +2, Sta +2, Dex +2, Qik +1

Size: 0

Confidence Score: 1 (3)

Virtues and Flaws: Jinni; Greater Malediction (bound by bargains); Weak-Willed

Personality Traits: Selfish +5, Proud +3, Cruel +3

Reputations: none Hierarchy: 1 (Shaitan)

Combat:

Fist: Init +1, Attack +9, Defense +8, Damage +2

Soak: +10

Fatigue Levels: OK, 0, –1, –3, –5, Unconscious

Wound Penalties: –1 (1–5), –3 (6–10), –5 (11–15), Incapacitated (16–20), Dead (21+)

Abilities: Arabic 5 (threats), Brawl 6 (fist), Charm 6 (bragging), Concentration 2 (maintaining spells), Folk Ken 3 (temptation), Penetration 3 (Vim), Theology: Islam 1 (jinn)

Powers:

Apparition, 1 point, Init 0, Imaginem: Kharrat may assume an illusory form that only his chosen victim, 'Arkhaman, can perceive. To 'Arkhaman, the form appears to be a real person in all respects.

Protection of the Close Friend, 0 points, Init +3, Mentem: The chosen victim of Kharrat cannot act directly against it without extreme provocation; it would be akin to attacking one's own mother. The victim may be as angry as they like with the demon, but actually physically opposing it requires a huge effort of will, which must be repeated every time the victim wants to renew his attacks.

Control Human, 2 points, Init equal to Qik, Mentem. If this power penetrates, Kharrat exerts direct control over its companion. It can issue commands that the target carries out to the best of his abilities; however, the target can attempt to break the control of the jinni every time he is asked to do something contrary to the tenets of his faith.

Envisioning, 1 or 2 points, Init +2, Mentem. This Power allows Kharrat to appear in the dreams of its sleeping companion (in which case it costs 1 point), or make the target experience a waking dream or vision (in which case it costs 5 points). The shaitan cannot instantly make substantial changes to a dream, but instead gradually twists it to take on darker and more frightening tone, and can speak through any figure from the victim's subconscious. A waking dream is more obvious; the victim suffers an immediate and powerful hallucination of whatever the demon desires. This may be so frightening that the victim is stunned for a round, and must make a Brave Personality roll against an ease Factor of 9 or have an extreme reaction, such as retching, convulsions, or abject terror. This is the preferred way a qareen commu-

nicates with its chosen companion. Coagulation, 2 points, Init –1, Corpus: See Realms of Power: The Infernal, page 31.

Obsession, 1 to 3 points, Init –5, Vim: Overconfident. See Realms of Power: The Infernal, page 31.

Weakness: Protected Group (A victim who willingly and totally rejects him, fueled with a Confidence Point), Protected Group (individuals that invoke the Bismallah invocation)

Vis: 2 pawns of Ignem in its eyes

Appearance: Kharrat looks like a normal man with pale skin and completely black eyes that give off smoke like smoldering coals. He is generally in spirit form, where no one can see him.

Kharrat is a pompous and arrogant jinni (see Chapter 4: The Jinn). He desires nothing more than to corrupt and control the sahir named 'Arkhaman, who believes him to be his father. At every opportunity, he encourages 'Arkhaman to behave recklessly and with sinful pride by goading him through his dreams, or by affecting him with his Obsession power. His plan is to help 'Arkhaman to become a powerful sahir under his control, and then force him to help Kharrat rise in the infernal hierarchy by fighting other demons.

When used to channel Solomonic magic, Kharrat is strongly associated with a sickly shade of yellow, like tarnished brass or sandy mud. This colors 'Arkhaman's magic much like a wizard's sigil affects Hermetic spells.

Summoning Total: stress die + Presence + summoning art + aura

Ease Factor: spirit's Might Score

To succeed, the sahir must penetrate the summoned spirit's Magic Resistance. Just as magi often do, sahirs can use Arcane Connections and sympathetic magic to boost their penetration — and since Solomonic summoning spells are designed to affect specific spirits, each summoning spell incorporates the spirit's True Name, which is a permanent Arcane Connection to that spirit. This allows the player to add 5 to the sahir's Penetration score multiplier when casting that particular summoning spell or using other Supernatural Abilities that must penetrate that spirit's Magic Resistance to have an effect. (This usually means that the sahir multiplies his Penetration score by 6, since his multiplier starts at 1.)

Penetration Total: Summoning Total + sahir's Penetration bonus – spirit's Might Score

Formulaic and Ritual Spells

The most common type of naranj that sahirs learn are formulaic spells, which require that the sahir has already summoned a spirit and convinced it to serve him. (For

Solomonic magic allows sahirs to invent summoning spells that incorporate a permanent Arcane Connection. This is very similar to a True Name, a supernatural formula similar to a spell that mystically identifies the target. Like any Arcane Connection, summoning spells do not stack with other Arcane Connections for increased Penetration, but may be combined with sympathetic connections such as the spirit's horoscope or a symbolic representation of it for additional bonuses. These summoning spells and their associated Arcane Connections can be taught to other sahirs and described in texts like any other spell.

Solomonic magic has not yet incorporated Arcane Connections into other types of spells — perhaps because sahirs have few uses for an Arcane Connection once they have summoned a spirit though this may be something that they are working on. Also, such a discovery would be a great benefit to magi, and an excellent subject for original Hermetic research (see Integration, Hermetic True Names, later in this chapter).

a sahir with a spirit companion, this means that he must still formally summon the spirit using a summoning spell or his summoning art before it can channel his magic for him.) They use the sahir's knowledge of the Art to direct his summoned spirit's power into a magical effect.

When casting formulaic spells, the sahir must have summoned the spirit that powers the effect himself, he must be close enough to the spirit that it can see him and hear his voice, and he must either speak in a firm voice with bold gestures or perform a mundane activity associated with the effect. For example, when casting a formulaic spell associated with Solomonic Physic, the sahir may choose to administer to the patient as a physician rather than obviously performing sorcery.

Using an Ability in this way generally adds about 15 minutes per magnitude of the spell to the casting time, but becomes more difficult to recognize as a magical effect. For example, to see through the cover activity, a suspicious character might roll his Perception + the Ability against the sahir's Presence + the Ability. Success would suggest to the suspicious character that the sahir is doing something unusual, though he still might not know what that is.

Whenever a sahir summons a spirit, either using a summoning spell or his summoning art, note the difference between his Summoning Total and the spirit's Might Score. This is called the sahir's Summoning Strength. It describes the amount of extra supernatural power that the sahir has drawn from the spirit during the summoning, and applies to every naranj cast through that particular spirit (and typically improves his position when bargaining with it as well).

Some summoning arts allow the sahir to summon a spirit even if his total does not exceed the target's Might Score; a negative Summoning Strength means the sahir is less able to direct his magic through that particular spirit, and thus gives him a penalty to his casting total.

Summoning Strength: Summoning Total – spirit's Might Score

Casting a formulaic spell requires that the sahir's player make a stress roll, to which is added his Presence, his score in the Solomonic art associated with the effect, his Summoning Strength, and his aura modifier. If the sahir performs the effect using an Ability, add his Ability score to the total.

Formulaic Spell Casting Total: stress die + Presence + Solomonic art + Summoning Strength + aura (+ appropriate Ability, if used)

Ritual spells are more powerful formulaic spells. They cost vis — one pawn of an appropriate type for each magnitude of the effect — and have ongoing durations that are maintained by the spirit and can last indefinitely. Any formulaic spell can be cast as a ritual spell, allowing the sahir greater control over the effect (described in the guidelines later in this chapter). There are also many special guidelines for effects that are only ritual spells.

To maintain a ritual spell, the spirit must concentrate. If it is distracted, make a Stamina + Concentration stress roll for it, with the Ease Factor varying on the severity of distraction. Failure means the effect ends.

Whenever a sahir casts a naranj through a spirit that is already maintaining one or more ritual spells, the sahir's player makes a Perception + Finesse roll with Ease Factor equal to (6 x (the number of active ritual spells)). If he fails, he cannot complete the spell and it has no effect. Most ritual spells allow the sahir to cancel them at will, and he may choose to do this before he rolls.

Ritual spells cannot be disguised with an Ability, although the sahir may still draw upon his knowledge to increase his Casting Total. This adds fifteen minutes per magnitude of the spell to the casting time. Note that unlike Hermetic ritual spells, Solomonic ritual spells cast without incorporating an Ability only take a moment to cast, just like a formulaic spell.

Ritual Spell Casting Total: spend vis, stress die + Presence + Solomonic art + Summoning Strength + aura (+ appropriate Ability, if used)

With both types of naranj, if the sahir's Casting Total is less than the level, his Summoning Strength with that spirit is reduced by the difference, and he loses one Fatigue level for every 5 levels by which he missed. If this fatigue causes him to fall unconscious, the spell fails; otherwise, the effect manifests.

If the target is protected by Magic Resistance, the effect must penetrate. To determine success, players use the spirit's Penetration Total instead of the sahir's, applying its realm interaction modifiers to determine if the target is affected. (This often means that it is advantageous for the sahir to summon an Infernal spirit when casting in an Infernal aura, for example.)

Because the sahir is using the spirit's power to penetrate, he cannot use Arcane Connections or sympathetic magic to boost the Penetration Total for his for-

mulaic or ritual spells, and the calculation always uses the spirit's Penetration score, not the sahir's.

Formulaic or Ritual Spell Penetration Total: spirit's Might Score + spirit's Penetration bonus + spirit's aura modifier – spell level

Finally, unless the sahir has The Gift, the highest level of formulaic or ritual spell he can cast is limited by the summoned spirit's Might Score. For example, to cast a Level 35 formulaic spell, an unGifted sahir must summon a spirit with 35 Might or more. The Gift allows a sahir to make up the difference between his spirit's Might and the effect level with his own inherent magical power, but unGifted sahirs do not have this advantage.

Spell Level Limit (unGifted): Might Score of summoned spirit

When sahirs botch their casting rolls, they receive one Warping Point for each 0 on the botch dice. If this gives them two or more Warping Points, they must check for additional bad effects (see Warping and Corruption, later in this chapter).

Vis (Taqa)

Sahirs use a great deal of vis, and they tend to describe it in unique terms, such as "the claw from the black beast Ashmael" or "magic incense made by Istvaan al-Makki." The general term they use is taqa (TAWqa), which is also a unit of measurement. For example, a sahir might say he has four taqa in a red stone, warm to the touch; or a single taqa in the pelt of a holy lamb, innocent and pure. One taqa is functionally equivalent to one Hermetic pawn.

By activating vis, a sahir can increase his Casting Total when casting formulaic or ritual spells. Each vis of a type appropriate to the effect gives him a +2 bonus. He can also increase his Summoning Total when casting a summoning spell using vis (this improves both his penetration and his Summoning Strength). Each vis that matches the form of the summoned spirit's Might gives him a +2 bonus, and any other type gives him a +1 bonus. He cannot spend more on a single naranj than his score in the associated art, however.

Vis Limit: score in summoning art (summoning spell) or Solomonic art (formulaic or ritual spell)

When casting ritual spells, the vis required for the effect counts toward this limit. This means that to cast a ritual spell, the sahir's score in the associated art must always at least equal its magnitude.

The other sort of Solomonic magic is called seasonal summoning, because it takes place over the course of a season. At the beginning of the process the sahir summons a spirit to him, and draws upon that spirit's supernatural power over the course of the season to enable more intensive magical activities. It is essentially the sahir's equivalent to Hermetic laboratory magic.

The sahir performing a seasonal activity must have summoned a spirit at the beginning of the project, which must remain present for the entire season or his effort is wasted. It must maintain the effects as it does for ritual spells, essentially concentrating on what the sahir is doing, and so it cannot activate its powers or perform any other activities that require its attention that season.

Most seasonal activities use a standardized total — called a "lab total" for convenience — this is the sahir's Intelligence, his

score in the Solomonic art associated with the effect, his score in the mundane Ability associated with the lab activity, and his Summoning Strength with the spirit that is assisting him that season. He also receives his aura modifier for performing magic.

Lab Total:

Intelligence + appropriate Solomonic art + appropriate Ability + Summoning Strength + aura

This is shortened later as a "(Solomonic art) + (Ability) Lab Total," specifying the art and Ability associated with each activity.

As with spells, unless the sahir has The Gift, all of his effects are limited by the spirit's Might Score — for example, a sahir who has summoned a spirit with 15 Might cannot invent spells greater than Level 15.

Lab Effect Level Limit (unGifted): spirit's Might Score

A Solomonic Laboratory

Like Hermetic labs, a sahir's work space must be a room protected from the elements with at least 500 cubic paces of space. It requires equipment appropriate to the sahir's fields of expertise and proper organization of materials; this takes a person with an academic and arcane background a single season to set up, after which it may be used with a –3 penalty to all activities.

If a Solomonic laboratory is established or reorganized by a person with a score of 3 in one of the five Abilities associated with the Art (Area Lore, Artes Liberales, Medicine, Philosophiae, or Realm Lore), then the penalty to that activity is eliminated. For example, a sahir with Artes Liberales 3 and Philosophiae 3 could establish a laboratory with no penalty for alchemical (Philosophiae) or astrological activities (Artes Liberales), but would still have a –3 penalty to other lab activities.

Literate sahirs working in laboratories take notes, usually in Arabic, which can produce lab texts that other sahirs may study. These work just like Hermetic lab texts (ArM5, pages 101–102).

Sahirs can also assist each other in the laboratory, and this practice is much more common in the Suhhar than in the Order of Hermes — so much so that their process is more efficient and effective than the Hermetic version. All participants must have the required Solomonic arts, and one of the sahirs working on the project must have a Leadership score equal to (the number of participants – 1). Each sahir who participates in the project adds his Intelligence to the lab total, plus his score in the Ability related to the effect, and the final result uses the highest value among the participants in the appropriate Solomonic art. Only the sahir with the highest Solomonic art must summon a spirit to assist them that season. This means that it is common to involve a competent manager in a Solomonic lab activity, even one with a negative Intelligence, because it increases the number of sahirs who can work together.

Not counting time spent away from the lab for sleep and weekly religious observances, sahirs may miss up to ten days of a seasonal activity with no penalty. Beyond this, the sahir's lab total receives a –10 penalty, and –2 for each work day missed. If multiple sahirs are working together, the number of person-days that may be missed with no penalty is multiplied by the number of participants, and any penalty is divided by this same number, rounding up. For example, three sahirs may miss up to 10 days each with no penalty, or only one of them may miss up to 30 days. If together they miss a total of 34 days (perhaps because two were absent 10 days and the third was gone for 14 days), their lab total would receive a –6 penalty (–10 for more than 30 days, –2 for each of four days over 30, yielding a penalty of –18, divided by 3 for –6). Players should not include the scores for any sahirs who fail to contribute at least 10 days of work, and if any individual sahir's penalty before dividing exceeds the overall lab total, the entire project simply fails.

Sahirs can perform more than one lab activity in a season. Add together the effect levels required for all of the activities, and use the lowest lab total among them. As long as this is great enough to equal or exceed the sum of all effect levels, any number of activities may be performed at once. For those activities where progress is measured by how much the sahir's lab total exceeds the effect level, divide the excess among all activities, rounding down any fractions.

Vis Manipulation

A sahir with Solomonic Alchemy can extract vis from a supernatural aura as a seasonal activity, concentrating the power of the realm into a specific object. This produces a number of pawns of what magi call Vim vis, equal to one-tenth his Solomonic Alchemy + Philosophiae Lab Total.

Vis Extraction: pawns equal to (Solomonic Alchemy + Philosophiae Lab Total) / 10

Sahirs can also forcefully remove vis from supernatural beings or enchanted objects. This is an excruciating process for creatures that feel pain, which must be restrained for the season, and is considered a grave offense by the Suhhar when practiced on unwilling jinn or other intelligent spirits.

A maximum number of vis equal to one-fifth of the sahir's Solomonic Alchemy + Philosophiae Lab Total can be removed in one season. For each pawn removed, either the supernatural being's Might Score is reduced by 1, one invested effect is removed from an enchanted device, or one pawn's worth of space is cleared from an invested object with no invested effects. If the sahir's (lab total / 5) is greater than the pawns this would yield, no additional vis is produced. Removed vis is affiliated with the realm of the being or the power that created the enchanted object, and is of a type appropriate to the effect or Might of the being.

Vis Removal: pawns equal to (Solomonic Alchemy + Philosophiae Lab Total) / 5

A sahir can also transfer vis from one object into another, a number of pawns equal to half his Solomonic Alchemy

Naranjs

• Philosophiae Lab Total. This is commonly used to separate large chunks of vis into more manageable units, and does not work on vis that is part of a living creature or has been invested into an enchanted device. The process usually destroys the original vessel, and if an object contains more vis than the sahir can transfer, the excess is lost.

Vis Transfer: pawns equal to (Solomonic Alchemy + Philosophiae Lab Total) / 2

Sahirs have a limit on the number of pawns of vis they can use on any seasonal activity, equal to their score in the associated Solomonic art. For example, a sahir with Solomonic Alchemy 10 can only extract 10 pawns of vis from an aura in a single season.

Vis Limit: score in associated Solomonic art

Arcane Connections

Like Hermetic magi, sahirs can fix Arcane Connections, making them permanent. This costs them a pawn of Vim vis, and requires a score of at least 1 in Solomonic Astrology (because of the vis limit). When performing multiple activities in one season, this activity is considered a Level 5 effect.

Fix Arcane Connections: Solomonic Astrology + Artes Liberales Lab Total

Sahirs can also transfer an Arcane Connection from one object to another. This requires a pawn of Vim vis and an appropriate object to become the new connection. I t does not affect the original connection, and so creates a new Arcane Connection. When performing multiple activities in one season, this is considered a Level 5 effect.

Transfer Arcane Connections: Solomonic Astrology + Artes Liberales Lab Total

Sahirs learn their spells using the same mechanics as magi. They can invent a number of formulaic or ritual spells with total level equal to their teacher's highest applicable lab total, substituting the teacher's score in Teaching for the associated Ability; or by the sahir collecting enough points above the spell level in the associated art + Ability lab total over the course of one or more seasons to equal it. Sahirs often make use of laboratory texts to speed this process.

Learning Spells: spell levels equal to teacher's highest applicable Teaching Lab Total

Inventing Formulaic or Ritual Spells: (appropriate art + appropriate Ability Lab Total – effect level) points towards spell level

Summoning spells use the teacher's Solomonic Astrology + Teaching Lab Total or the sahir's Solomonic Astrology + Artes Liberales Lab Total (though summoning spells are so widespread that the sahir does not need to know Solomonic Astrology to do this). The spell level is the spirit's Might Score, and unless the sahir has a Laboratory Text he must possess an Arcane Connection to the spirit, or else it must be present in the lab for part of the season.

If a sahir knows the True Name of a spirit (see Realms of Power: The Infernal, pages 34-35*)*, he can reinvent it as a summoning spell as if it were a Level 5 effect.

Inventing Summoning Spells: (Solomonic Astrology + Artes Liberales Lab Total – effect level) points towards spell level

Bindings

Sahirs can attach their summoned spirits to inanimate objects, essentially creating magical devices that produce a magical effect designed especially for the object when activated. These are called bindings. They can be given to others to use, even others who do not understand Solomonic magic. It is said the Umayyad wazirs and other early summoners who knew this process created many such devices, some of which still exist in hidden caches in the desert or within musty dwellings used by ancient sorcerers. Jabir, one of the members of the First Council, is said to have possessed a binding created by Solomon himself.

The first type of binding is known as a lesser binding. This superficially ties the spirit to an object, creating a mystical connection between the two, and includes a trigger activity that releases the effect in a momentary burst of power. Lesser bindings take a season to make, and can hold any effect the sahir can invent, with level of up to half the sahir's Philosophiae Lab Total. When binding ritual spell effects, the sahir spends the necessary vis as part of making the enchantment, and once activated the effect lasts for as long as the spirit maintains it.

Lesser Bindings: effect level equal to (appropriate art + Philosophiae Lab Total) / 2

Sahirs can also create a greater binding. This is where the spirit is held captive by an object to power an effect. The effects invested into this object continue indefinitely, and may activate repeatedly: each time someone performs a trigger action associated with an effect, that effect ends and is immediately cast again on another target chosen by the wielder. If the object is damaged or destroyed, all active effects cease and the associated spirits are freed. While bound, the spirit may be summoned, but it cannot use any of its powers, regenerate its Might Pool, move from where it is summoned, communicate more than short sentences, power Solomonic naranjs, or maintain other ritual spells. The Suhhar forbids sahirs from binding an intelligent spirit in this way, but there are many types of unintelligent spirits that are ideal for this sort of application (elemental spirits, for example).

To make a greater binding, the sahir must first enchant the object by which the spirit will be held captive. This enchant-

ment binds the spirit and any invested effects with Vim vis, which must be transferred into the object over the course of a season, "opening" it for the binding. Every object has a maximum number of pawns of vis it can hold, found by calculating the number of Base Points for the object's size and material on the Material and Size Table (ArM5, page 97). There is no benefit to sahirs for using an object of any particular shape or material except one: a literal container (a bowl, jar, bottle, lamp, or even a skull) can hold twice as many pawns of vis, and the sahir receives a +5

bonus to his Lab Total whenever he binds

an effect to it. The maximum number of pawns of vis the sahir can transfer into an enchantment in one season is equal to his Solomonic Alchemy score, but he may add vis to an enchantment in subsequent seasons as long as the maximum has not been reached. Enchanting an object for a greater binding is a Solomonic Alchemy + Philosophiae activity with level equal to the number of pawns invested. It is possible to open an object for enchantment and bind a spirit and effect to it in one season, as long as the character's Lab Total is great enough to accommodate both activities.

Binding Enchantments:

(Solomonic Alchemy + Philosophiae Lab Total – pawns of vis to be invested) points towards the number of pawns of vis to be invested

To bind a spirit and effect to an enchanted device, design the effect as a spell using the sahir's Philosophiae Lab Total with the associated art. Each magnitude of the spirit's Might Score and each magnitude of the effect takes up "space" in the object equal to one pawn from the initial enchantment. As long as there is enough space in the enchantment to accommodate both the effect level and the Might of the spirit, the sahir can perform the binding. He can even bind the spirit and effect in one season if his Philosophiae Lab Total is at least double the effect level; otherwise it takes multiple seasons to accumulate enough points to complete it.

Greater Bindings: (appropriate art + Philosophiae Lab Total – effect level) points towards effect level

A sahir without Solomonic Alchemy may still bind spirits and effects to an ob-

The sahir can place additional effects into the object in later seasons, as long as there is still space available, either by binding more spirits to the object or by binding the effect to a spirit that is already imprisoned in it. A bound spirit can only maintain one effect at a time.

When the wielder activates a greater binding with a ritual effect, the bound spirit must spend a Might Point for each magnitude of the effect, which the spirit does not recover for as long as it is bound. If the spirit runs out of Might Points, its Might Score is reduced by 1 and its Might Pool is replenished. Once its Might Score is reduced to 0, it can do nothing but maintain the last effect it triggered. Spirits do usually regain their lost Might Scores eventually, though this typically takes a very long time, at least a year per Point lost, and often longer.

A binding is an Arcane Connection to the bound spirit, and the spirit knows the triggering actions to activate the device. For sahirs, investigating enchantments is often as simple as summoning the spirit and asking what it can do.

Seeking and Scouring

A sahir can locate new spirits to summon as a seasonal lab activity. This requires knowledge of Solomonic Storytelling, an applicable Area Lore Ability, an Arcane Connection to the area he is searching, and a pawn of form-appropriate vis. The sahir casts a kind of magical net over the area that finds and holds an appropriate spirit. Then, he may either invite the spirit to visit him in his laboratory, which is called seeking, or force the spirit to come to him, which is called scouring. The maximum value of the spirit's Might Score is equal to the sahir's Solomonic Storytelling + Area Lore Lab Total when seeking, or half the that total when scouring.

Maximum Might Score (Seeking): Solomonic Storytelling + appropriate Area Lore Lab Total

Either activity brings a spirit applicable to the sahir's summoning art by the end of the season, causing it to appear within a magic summoning circle that prevents it from affecting anyone or anything outside the ring for as long as it remains unbroken. When summoned by seeking, the spirit may return to where it came from at any time; when summoned by scouring the spirit is held captive. In either case, the sahir can return it by simply looking at it and concentrating.

The sahir cannot decide what spirit comes, as the magic targets the area, not individual spirits. This means that the spirit summoned by this activity is essentially up to the storyguide to describe. See the various Realms of Power books for powers a summoned spirit might have, and what spirits with different Might Scores look like. In the Mythic Middle East, jinn are common, as are elemental spirits. Infernal spirits are also especially likely (though since it is a form of magical detection, they are never forced to answer a scouring), and Divine spirits are generally unlikely. Ultimately, the storyguide should choose a spirit for the sahir that will enhance the story the players are telling.

Warding

A sahir can enchant an area or object with the power to repel spirits appropriate to his summoning art. The sahir devotes a season to preparing the effect, and then draws a mystic circle on the ground or on an object and ceremonially imbues it with magic by spending a pawn of Vim vis. (The vis and the formula for the ward may be taken from the laboratory and used once to enchant a circle drawn in an outside location, as long as both the sahir and the spirit through which he casts it participated in the lab activity.)

Any spirits normally targeted by the sahir's summoning art cannot touch the person carrying the object or affect him with their powers, or cannot cross the circle or affect anything on the other side of it. They also cannot affect the enchanted circle or the object itself. These effects last until the object is damaged or destroyed, or the circle is broken, either deliberately or by the deteriorating forces of age or climate.

Creating a ward is a Solomonic Travel + (Realm) Lore activity, of the realm affiliated with the sahir's summoning art, and his lab total determines the maximum Might Score the ward can affect.

Maximum Might Score Warded: Solomonic Travel + (Realm) Lore Lab Total

Solomonic wards must penetrate the Magic Resistance of any spirits affected by them. Calculate the sahir's Penetration Total based on the Might of the spirit powering the effect, minus the level of the ward. As with spells, the sahir cannot improve the spirit's Penetration bonus with Arcane Connections, though a supernatural aura at the site of the ward can modify the effect's Penetration Total.

Servant Spirits (Khuddam)

An intelligent spirit that agrees to serve a sahir and assist him with his magic may be enchanted with special properties that help the sahir whenever he casts spells through that spirit. This spirit is called a khadim (fem., khadima; pl., khuddam), meaning "servant," and the enchantment is called "the khadim bond." These terms are thought to derive from the name Al-Khidr, the spirit who served Al-Hajjaj of the First Council among others, and thus "servant" does not have a derogatory or submissive connotation in this context.

To establish the khadim bond, the sahir generates a Realm Lore Lab Total no less than the spirit's Might Score, using the Realm Lore associated with the spirit and his highest Solomonic art. He must also spend a number of form-appropriate pawns of vis equal to the magnitude of the spirit's Might Score. This gives the sahir the same number of Bond Points (equal to the magnitude of the spirit's Might Score) to spend on the following benefits:

Safety: Subtract 1 botch die from the sahir's summoning, casting, and Fatra Bayna Avoidance rolls (see Warping and Corruption, later in this section).

Casting: Add 2 to the sahir's Casting Total. Finesse: Add 3 to the sahir's Finesse rolls. Concentration: Add 2 to both the spirit's and the sahir's Concentration rolls.

Penetration: Add 5 to the spirit's Penetration Total.

From then on, whenever the sahir summons and casts spells through that spirit, he receives the benefits of all Bond Points he has invested into it. These benefits are purchased on a pyramid scale, so that 3 Bond Points spent on Safety subtracts 2 botch dice, and 10 Bond Points spent on Penetration yields a +20 bonus. A sahir may perform the lab activity more than once with the same spirit, but this only allows him to reallocate his Bond Points; the benefits are not cumulative. A sahir can create bonds with multiple spirits, though the same spirit cannot have a bond with more than one sahir.

Enchanting ^a Khadim: highest Solomonic art + (Realm) Lore Lab Total, equal to spirit's Might Score

Al-Iksir (The Elixir of Life)

The secret of Al-Iksir was said to have been brought to the original council by Al-Hajjaj, who received it from Al-Khidr. The sahir summons a spirit into a liquid concocted from vis and other materials and then consumes it, taking properties of the spirit into himself. This frees the spirit and purifies the sahir, giving him a taste of immortality in exchange for experiencing Warping and other effects. The process is intensely personal, and while a sahir can invent his own formula based on another sahir's laboratory text, he cannot make one for anyone but himself.

Al-Iksir is a Medicine activity, using any of the traditional Solomonic arts: Solomonic Alchemy purifies the body, Solomonic Astrology aligns the sahir with beneficial influences, Solomonic Physic promotes overall health, Solomonic Story-

telling nourishes the soul, and Solomonic Travel exposes the sahir to favorable otherworldly environments.

Al-Iksir: highest Solomonic art + Medicine Lab Total

The process takes a season of effort, and costs a number of form-appropriate pawns of vis equal to the sahir's (Lab Total / 5). This gives him the same number of Al-Iksir Points to spend on the following beneficial effects:

Al-Iksir Points: 1

Beneficial Effects: Remove an Aging Point; Reduce Age and Apparent Age by 2; Reduce Apparent Age by 10

Al-Iksir Points: Points equal to the absolute value of the Characteristic. Beneficial Effects: Improve a decreased

Characteristic by 1, though not above the character's starting score.

After the potion is consumed, the sahir must also spend the same number of Al-Iksir Points on the following negative effects:

Al-Iksir Points: 1

Negative Effects: Gain two Warping Points and check for Fatra Bayna (see Warping and Corruption); Lose memories and associated knowledge, removing a simple die's worth of experience points, usually starting with childhood.

Al-Iksir Points: 2

Negative Effects: Gain an eccentric Personality Trait at +3, or increase this Trait by 1 if the sahir already has one, which becomes an obsession at +6 and madness at +10.

Al-Iksir Points: 3

Negative Effects: Gain a Minor Flaw appropriate to the spirit's influence.

The spirit's Might Score is also temporarily reduced by the number of Al-Iksir Points spent; this lost Might generally returns at the rate of one point per year.

Once a sahir takes the potion, he begins to age as an adult, even if he is not yet 35 years of age. For this reason, most sahirs wait until they reach old age before concocting Al-Iksir, preferring to experience its dramatic changes much later in life. Note also that sahirs have no way to remove Decrepitude Points, which will continue to accumulate as they gain Aging Points, and which will still eventually lead them to aging crises and death.

Initiating the Arts

It is a relatively simple process for a Gifted teacher to pass on the Solomonic arts to another student with The Gift. The teacher, a spirit summoned by the teacher, and the student with a summoning art spend a season together in a Solomonic lab, and the teacher performs a powerful ritual that opens all five Solomonic arts. This is a Magic Lore activity that is also associated with Solomonic Travel, but since it has been fully integrated into Solomonic magic, it does not require that the teacher possess that art.

Any art in which the teacher does not have at least a score of 5 gives the student the Deficient Technique Flaw. If the student has any non-Solomonic Supernatural Abilities or Arts, add their scores together and double the result, adding 10 if The Gift has already been opened. Compare this to the teacher's Opening Total, which is half his Solomonic Travel + Magic Lore Lab Total; if this Opening Total is less than the sum of the character's scores in his powers, the teacher cannot initiate the student.

Opening Total: (Solomonic Travel + Magic Lore Lab Total) / 2

In order to pass on the magical secrets associated with the Art of Solomon to those who did not have The Gift, Muhammad al-Fazari — one of the six unGifted members of the First Council — discovered how to use his guardian spirit to initiate them through the power of the Magic Realm. Many of his line believe that this discovery, more than any other, led to the golden age of sahirs and the formation of the Suhhar Sulayman. This process also works on Gifted students who have already been opened to another tradition, and for sahirs without a summoning art or who come to the tradition from another one, this is typically their best method of entry.

The process involves the teacher summoning a willing spirit to carry the student, in spirit form, into the Magic Realm. During the season, the student undergoes a sort of dream journey appropriate to the spirit, while his physical body remains in the lab in a deep sleep. The experience is very similar to what happens to Hermetic magi when they experience Twilight — he might find himself in the physical world, but in a ghostly form that is unable to affect his surroundings; or in a surreal environment surrounded by other spirits interrogating him, urging him to prove his worth; or reliving events of his past as if they were happening to him again.

While the student is in this state, his teacher performs the opening ritual and calculates his Opening Total. If this is 30 or more, the student gains a Major Virtue associated with the Art of Solomon that is also possessed by the teacher, usually a Solomonic or a summoning art. With a total of 25, he gains the Major Virtue but also receives a Minor Flaw. With only 15, he gains the Major Virtue and a Major Flaw. These Flaws should be tied to the student's travels in the Magic Realm.

Before the process is complete, the teacher spends form-appropriate vis equal to half the necessary Opening Total (7, 12, or 15 pawns of vis), and the spirit's Might Score is reduced by the same amount. This reduction is not permanent, but it generally takes at least a year for the spirit to recover each point. The student also gains two Warping Points, though no check for Fatra Bayna (see Warping and Corruption, later in this section) is required.

To initiate an unGifted student in a summoning art and all five Solomonic arts using this method is time-consuming, visconsuming, and Might-consuming, and tends to produce sahirs with a weak grasp on reality due to accumulated Warping and Flaws. This is why unGifted sahirs tend to group in families, and generally teach their summoning art and Solomonic specialty only.

While it is nothing so grand as Hermetic arcane experimentation, sahirs have a means of producing unexpected results in their laboratories, and by sharing these discoveries they can improve their tradition's magic in slow and incremental steps. Because it requires that the sahir have more than one Solomonic art or power, Gifted sahirs tend to be the most inventive.

When designing a new effect, either inventing a formula or binding a spirit, the sahir may declare that he is experimenting by incorporating a second art or another power into the effect. His lab total then uses the lower of these two Abilities or Arts, and the player adds a simple die to the sahir's lab total. The player should give the storyguide some idea of what he is hoping to achieve, based on the two powers.

After the project is completed, the sahir makes an experimental stress roll. On a 0, check for botches to see if there is a disaster; otherwise the result is a story event determined by the storyguide. If the die result is 12 or more, the sahir makes a unique discovery related to one or both of the powers included, which replaces the original effect. For all other rolls, the results include a side effect related to the secondary power. For example, a Storytelling/Astrology spell to put people to sleep might also tell the sahir the sleeping characters' names.

Sahirs with Solomonic Astrology may apply one-fifth of their Solomonic Astrology score to these rolls (see The Solomonic Art, Magical Defense Bonuses, later in this chapter). This does not prevent them from botching if they roll a 0, but makes a discovery more likely. Sahirs with the Inventive Genius Virtue may similarly add 3 to these rolls.

If multiple sahirs are working together on an experimental project, the players make a die roll for each participant, modified by appropriate Virtues and Solomonic Astrology scores, but also subtracting the number of participants from all of their totals. For example, if there are three sahirs working together, each of them receives a –3 to their result. If no one botches and at least one character achieves a total of 12 or more, they make a unique discovery. Otherwise, there is an appropriate side effect.

Unique discoveries from an experiment can be used to improve Solomonic magic in much the same way that magi improve Hermetic theory. If the sahir achieves a discovery and spends a subsequent season duplicating his efforts, and gets no 0s on the experimentation rolls, he stabilizes it and generates a number of Breakthrough Points equal to the effect's magnitude. (He also gains this many Warping Points minus a simple die.) These Breakthrough Points accumulate to produce Minor, Major, or Solomonic Breakthroughs that can change how sahirs practice magic. (See Houses of Hermes: True Lineages, pages 26-30.)

When a sahir receives two or more Warping Points as a result of a magical botch, there is the chance that he will lose control. Instead of channeling the spirit's power as he desires, the spirit's power overtakes him. He typically blacks out and awakens in another place: lost in an otherworldly desert with nine moons and sand of every color; or perhaps held as a prisoner in the castle of his enemy, locked in a dark dungeon; or perhaps even bound in the position of his summoned spirit, watching as the spirit performs magic while drawing upon the sahir's own life energy. Sahirs call this place (which many believe is separate from the Magic Realm) Bayna ((BEY-na), "Between"), and the experience Fatra Bayna ((FA-tra BEY-na), "Time Between").

Upon gaining the Warping Points, the sahir's player may make a Stamina + Concentration roll (Solomonic Travel gives a Magical Defense Bonus to this roll, as described later). The Ease Factor is a stress die (no botch possible), plus the sahir's Warping Score, plus the number of Warping Points he received, plus his aura modifier. If he rolls a 0, roll a botch die for each Warping Point gained. Success means there is no other effect. If he fails, he experiences Fatra Bayna.

Fatra Bayna Avoidance: stress die + Stamina + Concentration + Solomonic Travel bonus vs. stress die (no botch) + Warping Score + Warping Points received + aura

summoned spirits are released from his control, dispelled whether they want to depart or not, and all his active ritual effects end. What happens to his body varies; for some, it remains in stasis or transforms into a spirit form, while for others it continues to react and respond as if controlled by one of his summoned spirits. Some sahirs describe the experience as similar to what they imagine it is like for intelligent spirits, like jinn, when they are bound to an object or person against their will. The character continues to age while he is away, though he does not starve, asphyxiate, or suffer from exposure in the meantime. Fatra Bayna lasts approximately two

During Fatra Bayna, all of the sahir's

minutes at minimum, to approximately one year maximum. This duration is determined by a secret simple die roll according to the following chart. The sahir's player does have some influence over the results, even though he does not see the roll; he may add or subtract 3 by spending a Confidence Point, and if the sahir possesses Solomonic Travel, the player may also add or subtract his Magical Defense Bonus. (Players should add to the roll if they want a better chance of positive effects, or subtract from it for fewer Warping Points and less time spent away from the physical world.)

Die roll	Duration E	ffects
1 or less	Diameter	+3 Corruption Pts
2–4	Sun	+2 Corruption Pts
5–7	Moon	+1 Corruption Pt
8–9	Season	+1 Spirit Pt
10+	Year	+3 Spirit Pts

When he returns, the sahir receives a number of Warping Points equal to the modified roll, and a number of Spirit or Corruption Points, as indicated on the chart. These are similar to experience points in that they must be spent immediately; Spirit Points provide beneficial effects and Corruption Points negative effects. Sahirs are more likely to gain Corruption Points than Spirit Points, and for this reason Fatra Bayna is generally regarded as a phenomenon that punishes careless sahirs. Those who benefit from it are admired (or envied) for their wisdom and endurance.

Also, whenever a sahir's Warping Score increases, he automatically receives an additional Corruption Point, which must be

spent next time he experiences Fatra Bayna.

The storyguide may spend Spirit Points as follows:

Spirit Points: 1

Effects: Gain (Warping Score x 5)

experience points in a summoning or Solomonic art;

The sahir invents a new naranj with a level no greater than the sahir's (Warping Score x 5);

The sahir returns with (Warping Score x 5) vis of a type appropriate to the experience, collected within his person or his belongings; Gain 3 Confidence Points.

Spirit Points: 3

Effects: Increase the sahir's Confidence

Score by 1;

Gain a +1 cumulative bonus to all social interactions (leading, teaching and bargaining, but not summoning or casting). While the effects of The Gift or similar Flaws are unchanged, the sahir becomes better at talking his way around them. The bonus does offset simple penalties to social rolls imposed by The Gift or Flaws, however. For example, a Gifted sahir with the normal Gift who takes this effect once has a –2 penalty to social rolls, but still suffers from the distrust and dislike inspired by The Gift; Gain a Minor Virtue appropriate to the experience, or remove a Minor Flaw.

Corruption Points have the following effects, also chosen by the storyguide:

Corruption Points: 1

Effects: Make an immediate Aging roll, adding the sahir's Warping Score to the total;

Suffer a Heavy wound;

Gain a bad Reputation among spirits from the appropriate realm at 2, or increase this Reputation by 1 if the sahir already has one.

Corruption Points: 3

Effects: Gain a –1 penalty to all social interactions, which is cumulative with the effects of The Gift and similar Flaws; Gain a Minor Flaw appropriate to the experience, or lose a Minor Virtue.

Other sahirs and spirits who are familiar with the sahir can usually tell, upon the character's return, whether the experience was positive or negative, though this otherworldly aspect fades quickly.

Scientates Suleimanis

Major, Hermetic (Hermetic Breakthrough)

This breakthrough Virtue allows a magus to invent and cast spells that use any of the non-Ritual Solomonic guidelines, using Rego with a Form appropriate to the target. This is similar to craft magic, where magi produce goods through magic labor. For example, a magus with this Virtue could use ReTe to duplicate the alchemical process by which a gem's quality is enhanced, or ReCo to encourage the body to recover fatigue more quickly.

Hermetic Realm Initiation

Major, Hermetic (Hermetic Breakthrough)

The magus may initiate students into Virtues in the same way sahirs do, by convincing a spirit to accompany the student into the Magic Realm. This uses the character's Rego Vim Lab Total instead of Solomonic Travel, and substitutes Magic Theory for Magic Lore, but otherwise works the same way: costing vis, reducing the spirit's Might Score, and Warping the student.

There is always the possibility that peaceful voices will prevail, and that magi and sahirs will work together to combine their magic into a unified tradition. Or perhaps one of them will learn enough about the other to steal their magical secrets and gain the upper hand. Here are some examples of discoveries that might be achieved in either case.