黑暗终焉 The Darkness Ends 《升扬》聚焦于《法师》的最后故事,但这并不意味着我们无法将黑暗世界的其他部分融入其中。在我们自己的故事当中,我们可以假定《炽狱》和《怒嚎末日》亦是发生了的背景事件。不论是升扬、终末决战还是终归沉寂(《升扬》的三个不同结局路线),我们都认为法师的故事才是最为重要的。
进行游戏结局的跨线设计的最简单方法是直接沿用,用其他结局来强化《法师》的主题和故事。要整合出一个包含所有产品线的单一总领结局,难度会很大,但并非不可能。不要只是简单地将不同的元素拼接到一起。请将其当做整个世界的最后篇章,而非肆意滥用黑暗世界设置中的关联性。最后,正视你自己的偏见,并与其他玩家一同讨论。如果你因为对《炽狱》深深着迷而想要让它从《法师》的主题上直接辗过去,那么你应该先和想要使用她的空明宗徒来玩的玩家开诚布公地讨论。
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The Darkness Ends
Ascension focuses on Mage’s last stories, but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible to incorporate the rest of the World of Darkness. In our stories we assume that Gehenna and the Apocalypse are background events. Whether its Ascension, Armageddon or final Stasis, we assume that the mages’ stories are paramount.
The easiest way to cross over the games’ endings is to follow suit and let the other endings reinforce Mage’s themes and story line. It’s more challenging to synthesize a single, overarching ending that includes all the lines, but it’s not impossible. Don’t just throw together disparate elements. Look at it as the last story of an entire world, not an opportunity to use as much World of Darkness continuity as possible. Finally, admit your biases and discuss them with the players. If you’re going to run roughshod over Mage’s themes because Gehenna really fascinates you, you should share that with a player who’s thinking of running her Akashic Brother.
吸血鬼 《吸血鬼》的主要情景藏于寂静之中。薄血崛起,长者陨落,但他们忍受着这种变化,而没有去颠覆人类的历史。毕竟,畜群不应看到他们的软弱一面。上古耆宿们活跃起来,但似乎已经吸取了雷伏诺长者的教训:没有任何吸血鬼强到能够完全抛弃潜藏的份上。秘党和魔宴各自崩塌,留下一个个独立的狼群和帮派,在一个已将不死者遗忘的世界中穿行。
《炽狱》可以在几个方面吸引法师玩家。科技联盟的反吸血鬼项目“旭日行动”已有四年历史,是诸神黄昏行动部最为重要的项目之一。孟加拉事件后,诸神黄昏行动部对反常的吸血鬼活动开始变得极为紧张。科联技师们知道,他们杀死的那些东西与遍布全球各大城市的不死之物有关。诸神黄昏行动部的假设是,吸血鬼长者与其他更常见的吸血鬼这两种生物之间存在着捕食者/猎物的关系。强大的一方捕食弱小的一方,以防止它们过度猎食,并威胁它们的生态位。这是一个基于可信证据的绝妙猜想——而且完全错误。它无法成为安抚任何吸血鬼长者的理由。尽管如此,“旭日行动”还是在最大程度上削减了血族人口,防止了疯狂的大规模初拥暴露于公众视野的危险。
在传统宗派当中,赫尔墨斯秘会得益于瑞摩尔氏族遭受的每一次打击。每当奇术师们被迫逃离它们的圣堂,赫尔墨斯门徒拾荒者便悄然潜入,偷走任何有价值的东西。尽管有些小偷会死的很难看(瑞摩尔的守卫仪式还是一如既往地有效),但也有少数人能够将设法还原的魔典填入传统宗派的图书馆。在本书的第二章当中,这实在是交了好运道——它们的书籍能够哺育数百名新生法师的饥渴心灵。
瑞摩尔氏族几乎无法阻止这些小偷。它们的长者从其他上古耆宿那里吸取了教训,也许注意到了第二次魔煞战争给他的警示。当氏族苦苦挣扎时,赫尔墨斯占得胜机;古老的平衡在最后迎来了改变。
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Vampire
Vampire’s core scenario is quiet. The Thin-Blooded rise and the ancients fall, but they endure the changes without overturning human history. After all, the herd shouldn’t see them as weak. The Antediluvians stir but seem to have learned the Ravnos Ancient’s lesson: No vampire is too powerful to need the Masquerade. The Camarilla and Sabbat collapse, leaving individual packs and coteries to wend their way through a world that’s forgotten the undead.
Gehenna can attract mages on several fronts. The Technocracy’s anti-vampire Operation Sunburst is four years old and one of Ragnarok Command’s most important projects. After Bangladesh, Ragnarok Command is very edgy about strange vampire activity. Union scientists know that the thing they killed was somehow related to the undead that infest every major city. Ragnarok Command’s hypothesis is that creatures like the Ancient and more common vampires have a predator/prey relationship. The more powerful creatures devour the weaker ones to keep them from overfeeding and threatening their ecological niche. Therefore, Technocrats can prevent more powerful creatures from arising by managing the vampire population. It’s a brilliant hypothesis based on compelling evidence — and it’s wrong. It fails to pacify a single Ancient. Nevertheless, Operation Sunburst thins the Kindred population where it can, preventing insane mass Embraces from spilling over into the public eye.
Among the Traditions, the Order of Hermes benefits with each blow the Tremere clan suffers. As the Warlocks flee their chantries, Hermetic scavengers move in, pilfering anything of value. Some of the thieves die horribly (Tremere warding rituals are as effective as ever), but a handful manage to fatten the Tradition’s libraries with recovered Grimoires. In Chapter Two of this book, this turns out to be a fortunate thing indeed, as their books feed the hungry minds of hundreds of new mages.
The Tremere do little to stop the thieves. Their Ancient reels from the plots of other Antediluvians and, perhaps, heeds the warning given him during the Second Massasa War. As the clan flounders, Hermes triumphs; the ancient balance shifts for the last time.
狼人 请选择最适合你故事的《狼人》情景。如果科技联盟取胜,你可能也想让织者同时大胜。险棘变成无法逾越的天堑,彻底截断了世界与超自然力量之间的关联。而如果你认为灭世者的主人只不过是原初毁灭者的一副面具,那么可以让灭世者战胜对手并拜请妖蛆伟力的驾临。不过,你不应该被这些最表面的选项所束缚。在科技联盟得胜之后,它是否还有足够的知识和资源来对抗一只同样成功的妖蛆?SPD(辛迪加特别项目部)可能会完全倒向宾得,让两个工业巨头以启蒙超科技一决雌雄。
在《法师》的情景当中,说书人可能会想在影界继续与妖蛆的终末决战,这样一来也让觉醒的人类有机会能够为地球/尘世而战。尽管如此,如果险棘崩塌,三相精魂将能显现祂们的伟力。第二章假设祂们仅仅只是影裔(Umbrood,法师对影界生物的总称)军团的三个派系;祂们的影响尚不足以将其与其他精魂活动区分开来。如果你愿意的话,可以假定祂们的大部分力量投注于影界更深处,为盖亚的灵魂展开大战。影界战争可以通过让精魂世界变得危险来帮助你的游戏将视线集中在现实当中发生的进程。用尖啸的忌灵和式样蜘蛛填满Spirit Wilds,以此来强调剧变正在发生,但角色们脚踏实地行动会更好。另一方面,第二章的结局是角色们去探索极境魔法(titanic magic)带来的影界撕裂。你可能会想在寻求最后的升扬之前解决狼人的战争。
第二章假设赤星实际上是平衡与完成的原力。而在《狼人》,赤星可能是天神凤凰,准备净化整个世界。它会是和塞内克斯的引渡者(Psychopomp)一样的凤凰么?这些精魂有着相同的目的和力量,因此很有可能。凤凰的力量显然足够强大,使其能够向狼人和法师显露不同的面相,并激励他们完成各自的任务,去实现那个相同的目标。
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Werewolf
Chose the Werewolf scenario that best fits your story. If the Technocracy wins, you might want to have a concurrent victory for the Weaver. The Gauntlet becomes an impassable wall, severing the world’s ties to the supernatural. The Nephandi could eliminate and usher in the Wyrm’s reign if you decide that their lords are nothing but masks for the primeval destroyer. You shouldn’t feel bound by the obvious choices, though. After the Technocracy defeats its rivals, does it have the knowledge and resources to fight a triumphant Wyrm? The Special Projects Division might fully defect to Pentex, leaving two industrial juggernauts to battle it out with Awakened super-science.
In a Mage scenario, Storytellers will probably want to keep the final battle against the Wyrm in the Umbra so that Awakened humanity has room to fight for Earth. Nevertheless, if the Gauntlet falls, Triatic spirits will make their mark. Chapter Two assumes that they’re just three factions of a legion of Umbrood; their influence isn’t pervasive enough to distinguish it from other spiritual activity. If you like, assume that the majority are deeper in the Umbra, fighting for Gaia’s soul. Umbral war can help your game by making the spirit world so hazardous that characters will focus on an Earthly agenda. Fill the Spirit Wilds with screaming Banes and Pattern Spiders to emphasize that great things are afoot, but that the characters would be better off with their feet on the ground. On the other hand, Chapter Two ends after characters explore an Umbra rent by titanic magic. You’ll probably want to resolve the werewolves’ war before seeking final Ascension.
Chapter Two posits that the Red Star is actually a force for balance and completion. In Werewolf, the Red Star could be the Incarna Phoenix, ready to cleanse the world. Is this the same Phoenix as Senex’s Psychopomp? These spirits share a common purpose and power, making it very likely. Phoenix is certainly powerful enough to show Garou and mages different faces and spur them to independent quests in search of the same goal.
其他产品线 这是黑暗世界的终结,还有其他更多神秘超自然派系的命运可能会让你产生兴趣。
恶魔的地缚者并非自己前来的;秘学家们靡费其宝贵的魔法将它们召来凡世。如今,那些最强大的堕落者们可以凿穿 深渊,新旧恶魔的追随者们为重塑它们的偶像而展开斗争。奇怪的是,地缚者的巫术教派通常会被灭世者回避,它们更乐于被那些无可名状无可理解的主宰所奴役。尽管如此,他们也可能会找到一起去毁灭世界的共同理由。在传统宗派当中,赫尔墨斯门徒曾是恶魔学的大师。他们的智慧可以成为力量与诱惑之源。尽管如此,如今的赫尔墨斯秘会已经历大清算的洗礼,比以往任何时候都更不可能屈服。
浸染者的行动可能会趋向两极。他们当中的一些人会豁出一切去和超自然力量算总账。已无物可再失去,他们的绝望将会吞没那些与他们不期而遇的法师。另一些猎人则将终末时刻视作最终和解的时机;他们会向那些信使以良性的光辉标识的觉醒者们伸出援助之手。作为一个转折,你可以保留这样一条原则:即便在共识撕裂之后,猎人也会是“目击者”。这一限制将浸染者表现为“反法师”,或暗示他们可以称为新的共识场的基石。
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Other Lines
It’s the end for the World of Darkness, and the fates of more obscure supernatural factions might interest you.
Demon’s Earthbound didn’t get there by themselves; occultists squandered the gift of magic to bring them to Earth. Now that the greatest fallen can pierce the Abyss, followers of old and new demons fight to reshape the world in their image. Strangely, the Earthbound’s sorcerous cults are generally avoided by the Nephandi, who prefer to be enslaved to less comprehensible masters. Even so, they might find common cause to finish off Creation. Of the Traditions, the Hermetics are past masters of demonology. Their considerable wisdom can serve as a source of power and temptation. Still, the Hermetics have been through the cleansing fire of the Reckoning and are less likely to succumb than ever before.
The imbued are likely to move in two directions. Some of them will settle their scores with the supernatural as vigorously as possible. With little to lose, their desperation will endanger mages who happen to cross their path. Other hunters see the end as a time of final reconciliation; they’ll offer a hand to Awakened that the Heralds show in a favorable light. For a twist, you might want to retain the rule that hunters are “witnesses” even after the Consensus breaks down. This limitation portrays the imbued as “anti-mages” or suggests that they could form the bedrock beneath a new Consensus.
简化宇宙观 Simplifying the Cosmology 不论你的游戏是由《法师》主导还是在所有产品线之间取平衡,你都应该认识到每个游戏产品线自身的完备性会导致某些冗余元素的出现。一些游戏线已经通过以自己的视角来解释另一游戏来解决了这种问题。在《狼人》中,矛盾由某些织者精魂所控制——因为和矛盾一样,织者代表着现实趋向停滞、无机性结构发展的失衡。这一选择将矛盾融于《狼人》的宇宙观当中,但却并不适于单纯的《法师》游戏,因为在这一游戏当中矛盾精魂并不同于实相当中的其他影裔。
作为说书人,你可以通过将矛盾置于织者力量之下来调控一些事情,而不允许狼人或法师在没有5阶能力的情况下影响它们。狼人可以从法师的反冲中嗅出织者的臭味,但他们不能滥用其spirit-binding灵赋来以矛盾精魂攻击法师。
仔细审视围绕每个游戏的诸多元素的更宽泛的主题,去决定它们之间重叠多少,以及你能否将它们糅合到一起。例如,《木乃伊》的玛阿特判官(Judges of Ma’at),猎人的信使(Messengers),法师的引渡者(Psychopomps)都代表着相似的宇宙观理念。决定让这些实体作为同一宇宙规则的不同方向,并为不同任务戴上不同的面具,并不是个过分的设置。
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Simplifying the Cosmology
Whether your game will be dominated by Mage or balances all the games equally, recognize that each game’s self sufficiency leads to certain redundant elements. Some games already deal with this by interpreting another game’s features though their own lenses. In Werewolf, Paradox is controlled by certain Weaver spirits because, like Paradox, the Weaver represents reality’s imbalance toward a stagnant, sterile structure. This choice folds Paradox into Werewolf’s cosmology but doesn’t really work in a straight Mage game, in which Paradox spirits are unlike any other Umbrood in the Tellurian.
As a Storyteller, you can moderate things by fitting Paradox under the Weaver but without allowing Garou or mages to influence them without a fifth-rank power. Werewolves would be right to recognize the stink of the Weaver in mages’ Backlashes, but they couldn’t abuse their spirit-binding Gifts to attack mages with Paradox spirits.
Look at the broader themes around the elements of each game, decide how much they overlap and whether or not you can merge them. For example, Mummy’s Judges of Ma’at, Hunter’s Messengers and Mage’s Psychopomps all represent similar cosmological principles. It’s not too much of a stretch to decide that these entities are all aspects of a single cosmic balance that wears different masks for different tasks.
统一的黑暗世界 A Unified World of Darkness 压缩背景有助于你解决那些主要的矛盾,然而你仍然会需要与不同的历史与各种便宜形而上学理论进行斗争,例如为什么狼人和吸血鬼可以免于矛盾这一永恒的问题。
没什么答案是简单的。每场游戏的设计首先都要基于其自身的真实可信。你要做的是找到一个共通的主题。
例如,你可以决定你游戏的主题是揭开宇宙的奥秘。而出于这个原因,你可以认为法师们只正确了一半;共识场是由虚妄所铸就的监牢,而法师们只有通过将微乎其微的真相融入这一很大程度上完全虚假的世界观才得以从中逃出。这种对立引发了矛盾。潜藏的真实宇宙是泛灵论的,由隐匿无形的三相统治着诸多精魂。而狼人是真正精魂世界的后裔,尽管他们并没有证据表明盖亚能够支配三相。相反,这只是他们种群的一种信仰。天神在他们(指法师)看来并不存在,因而他们不得不以不同的方式应对成千上万的各种影裔。吸血鬼确实是熵的奴仆,为静态的力量所诅咒而被迫滞留于共识的虚假世界当中。因为从未有人见过太神,他们可能也就是天使和恶魔。
在这一黑暗世界当中。超自然的角色们都在寻求宇宙的奥秘。狼人想要知晓精魂世界的本质。法师们想要摆脱凡俗无知的最后枷锁。吸血鬼们则想要逃脱这让他们被迫以吸血怪物身份苟活的虚假世界。在这世界的阿米吉多顿当中,上古耆宿们聚焦的灵性力量摧毁了险棘,向毫无防备的凡俗众生释放出无穷的精魂。法师必须教育人类,使其能逃离这摇摇欲坠的监牢。狼人则要学习如何维系三相的平衡。
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A Unified World of Darkness
Paring down the setting will help you take care of major contradictions, but you still need to wrestle with divergent histories and street-level metaphysics, like the eternal question of why werewolves and vampires can avoid Paradox.
There’s no easy answer. Each game was designed to be true to itself first. What you have to do is find a common theme. Instead of deciding which game you like better, pick the option that best suits the stories you want to tell.
For example, you could decide that your game is primarily about uncovering cosmic secrets. For this reason, you decide that mages are only half right; the Consensus is a prison of delusion, but mages have only escaped by incorporating a bit of the truth into a largely false worldview. This tension causes Paradox to strike. The hidden cosmos is animistic, with a secret Triat ruling over a host of spirits. Werewolves are descended from the true spirit world, but they have no proof that Gaia unifies the Triat. Instead, it’s just their species’ cult. The Celestines don’t appear to them, so they have to deal with millions of lesser Umbrood with diverse agendas. Vampires really are servants of Entropy, cursed by the forces of Stasis to remain in the false world of the Consensus. Because nobody has ever seen the face of the Celestines, these beings might be angels and demons.
In this World of Darkness, supernatural characters all seek out the secrets of the universe. Werewolves want to divine the true nature of the spirit world. Mages want to throw off the last shackles of human ignorance. Vampires want to escape a false world where they’re forced to live as blood drinkers. In this world’s Armageddon, the Antediluvians’ concentrated spiritual power breaks the Gauntlet, loosing the spirits upon an unprepared populace. Mages must educate humanity so that it can flee the crumbling prison. Werewolves need to learn how to keep the Triat balanced.
离裂宇宙 A Fractured Cosmos 在《法师》当中,说书人不比执着于建立一个统一的宇宙观。相反,你可以选择让每个游戏都有它自己的宇宙。我们可以概括一下这种可能性。
科幻小说和神秘学理论都支持存在其他宇宙的观点。在犹太教卡巴拉体系中,上帝创造了其他的宇宙,但其中没有一个适于人类的生存。在一个例子当中,他创造了一个完全公正的宇宙,但绝对正义与自由意志和怜悯相矛盾。出于仁慈,上帝创造了一个可能存在不公但人们可以做出有自己意义的选择的新世界。那些原型宇宙从造物当中剥离,留下空洞的外壳(或称邪茧Qlipoth),被有害于灵性的能量填满。那些在生命树(卡巴拉生命树Sephiroth)上行进的秘学家们可能会误入邪茧并堕向腐化。
佛教和印度教宇宙观也为宇宙轮回提供了自己的解释。在这个信仰体系中,时间周而复始,从百万年计的宇迦(युग,Yuga)到亿年计的劫波(कल्प,kalpa)再到兆亿年的大劫(mahakalpas)不断循环。因为时间是轮回的,所以没有真正的过去或是未来。而每个周期都有一些共通的特征,例如伟大的宗教导师或是神的显迹。通过忆起他世的化身,秘学家们可以从一次轮回渡入另一次轮回。
在当代物理学中,周期性宇宙的概念存在于量子力学的多世界诠释(由艾弗雷特三世提出)当中。根据这个颇具争议的构想,叠加态粒子并不会坍缩成单一形态。相反,每种可能的排列都将分裂出自己独立的宇宙。理论上与这些世界交流或进行旅行是不可能的,但这对感兴趣的以太之子和技官来说只是一个小小的障碍。这些宇宙可能确实在极小尺度上互相扰动。在《法师》游戏当中,这种扰动可以被夸大以允许不同宇宙间更大程度的交互行为。
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A Fractured Cosmos
In Mage, Storytellers don’t need to worry too much about forging a unified cosmology. Instead, you can decide that each game has its own universe. Let’s outline such a possibility.
Science fiction and occult literature both support the idea of other universes. In Jewish Kabbalah, God created other universes, but none of them suited humanity. In one instance, He created a perfectly just universe, but absolute justice contradicted mercy and free will. Out of compassion, God created a new universe where injustice could exist, but where men and women can make meaningful choices. The prototype universes were peeled from Creation, leaving hollow shells (or Qlippoth), full of energies inimical to spiritual health. Mystics who travel the Sephiroth (the Kabbalistic Tree of Life) risk wandering into the Qlippoth and falling to corruption.
Buddhist and Hindu cosmology provides its own opportunities for alternate universes. In this belief system, time is cyclical, moving from yugas of thousands of years to kalpas and mahakalpas of millions and billions of years. Since time is circular, there isn’t a true past or future. Each cycle has common characteristics, such as the manifestations of a great religious teacher or god. Mystics can travel from one iteration of the cycle to the next by recalling other incarnations.
In contemporary physics, the idea of alternate universes exists in the Many-Worlds (or Everett) Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. According to this controversial idea, superpositioned particles don’t collapse into a single state. Instead, every possible permutation splits off into its own, self-sufficient universe. Communicating with or traveling to these worlds is supposedly impossible, but that’s a small barrier for interested Etherites and Technocrats. These universes do interfere with each other on a very small scale. In a Mage game, this interference can be exaggerated to allow for more robust interactions between universes.
宇宙的相互作用 Cosmic Interaction 在《法师》当中,所有这些理论都能反映出一个更大的事实:实相实际上由诸多织锦共同构成。
这些世界的命运交织在一起。当一个重大事件发生时,其振动会传递给其他世界。有时这会导致平行宇宙复制这一事件的发生,但具体细节可能会发生变化。而一个足够震撼的冲击可以扰乱几个宇宙当中的因果关系。最终清算这一事件的莫大破坏性可能致使如此的混乱,使得上古者雷伏诺能够将其怪异的存在投射到诸多世界当中。
因此,法师们居住在由信仰塑造现实的织锦之中。而这一存在流入泛灵论宇宙当中,在那里狼人们宣称觉醒者们的异常力量来源于对盖亚圣名的扭曲。吸血鬼、狼人和法师的黑暗一面在一个他们是宇宙秩序的叛逆者的世界当中至关重要。在这一宇宙当中,浸染者们会为信使与天官的正当统治殊死拼搏。每条游戏线都有其织锦,其自身的规则在当中至高无上——而同时它们也只是可能性之海当中的几滴而已。矛盾则代表着来着平行世界的扰动。
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Cosmic Interaction
In Mage, all of these theories can reflect a larger truth: The Tellurian actually consists of several connected Tapestries.
The destinies of these worlds are intertwined. When a significant event occurs in one, its vibrations transmit to the others. Sometimes, this causes the parallel universe to duplicate the event, but precise details shift. A sufficiently strong pulse can violate causality in several universes. The events of the Reckoning might have been so traumatic that cause and effect were scrambled, allowing the Ravnos Ancient to project its singular being into several worlds.
Thus, mages inhabit a Tapestry in which belief shapes reality. This property bleeds into an animistic cosmos, where Garou claim that the Awakened’s alien powers come from twisting Gaia’s sacred names. Vampires’, werewolves’ and mages’ dark sides are paramount in a world where they are all rebels against the cosmic order. In this universe, the imbued fight for the rightful dominion of the Messengers and Ministers. Each game line has a Tapestry in which its rules are paramount — and they are a few drops in a sea of possibilities. Contradictions represent the interference of parallel worlds.
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灭世者与邪茧 Nephandi and the Qlippoth 如果你使用离裂宇宙,那么灭世者的起源便不仅仅是黑暗的共鸣(Resonance)与自毁倾向。灭世者实际上是来自另一个宇宙的侵略者。
当堕落者们坠入胎膜(Cauls)时,他们的灵魂(以及在那之后的化身)将会被邪茧——他们主子所居住的腐化的残蜕宇宙——的法则腐化。他们的魔法使用了那些反世界的领域。每个邪茧法术和堕落的灵魂都会更多的邪茧本质污染织锦,直到像是赤星这样的巨大侵入出现,每个被污染的世界最后要么走向被吞噬,要么通过自己的不同法则来变形逃脱。不论如何,所有的黑暗世界最终都将变得面目全非。
与此同时,请记住,邪茧可能是因为人类的不完美而存在的。邪茧因祂对我们自由意志的支持,这一伟大的善举,而被抛却。在这种情况下,灭世者因其对黑暗一面的整合,无意地推动人类走向升华。
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Nephandi and the Qlippoth
If you use the Fractured Cosmos, Nephandic initiation isn’t just about dark Resonance and self-destruction. Nephandi are literally invaders from another universe.
When the Fallen go to the Cauls, their souls (and later, Avatars) are corrupted according to the laws of the Qlippoth: the corrupt shell-universes inhabited by their masters. Their magic draws upon the Spheres of those anti-worlds. Every Qlippothic spell and corrupted soul infects the Tapestry with more of the Qlippothic essence, until major intrusions such as the Red Star appear and each world is either consumed or uses its own strange laws to transform and escape. In any event, every World of Darkness changes beyond recognition.
At the same time, remember that the Qlippoth might exist because of humanity’s imperfection. The Qlippoth were cast away as an act of mercy, to support our free will. In this case, the Nephandi are unwittingly forcing humanity to Ascend by integrating its dark half.
旅行与复制体 Travel and Duplication 有可能去往另一个黑暗世界吗?精魂,连接,时间和熵魔法都可以帮助法师进入另一个世界。《传统宗派书:以太之子》当中便有一个提及了定式的故事发生在另一个宇宙当中。
角色可以通过影界抵达其他世界,但只能通过穿越外层穹界(the Outer Horizon)进入未知的影界空间来实现。在灵性的原野之中,旅行者需要寻找到与物理空间截然不同的路径。有传言称,在影界的最深处存在着巨大的裂隙与出入口,能够让旅行者完全脱离已知的织锦。平行世界包括它们自身的影界一直延伸到外层穹界。甚至精魂世界也可以从一个宇宙转变连通另一宇宙。
在默认的离裂宇宙当中,我们假定每条游戏线所描述的宇宙都是相互纠缠关联的,因此人和物体都不会有复制体。《吸血鬼》中曾描述有一个科技法师通过改变自己的量子谐波取代了自己的同位体。她与同位体几乎完全相同,但仍然存在一些可能会引起同位体朋友们怀疑的细微差异。记住,如果基于这一宇宙模型,那么在不同宇宙间移动将会是很常见的。大多数人甚至不会意识到这一点,因为织锦之间的差异往往极其细微。
同位体会怎样?来访者的式样、心智与精神可能会与自己叠加在一起。而更有可能的是,当来访者到来时,她的“双胞胎”也会同时前往另一个宇宙——因为她复制了来访者的实相旅程。同位体可能会与来访者交换宇宙,或与来访者同时横向移动。后一个选项意味着同位体的同位体也会无限地向后移动。
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Travel and Duplication
Is it possible to travel to alternate Worlds of Darkness? Spirit, Correspondence, Time and Entropy magic could all help catapult a mage into another world. Tradition Book: Sons of Ether features one suggested rote and a story that takes place in an alternate universe.
Characters might be able to reach alternate worlds through the Umbra, but only by traveling past the Outer Horizon and into uncharted Umbral space. In the spiritual wilderness, the traveler needs to search for paths that don’t correspond with physical space. Rumor has it that great cracks and portals lie in the deepest regions of Umbra, capable of taking voyagers out of the known Tapestry completely. Parallel worlds include their own Umbrae all the way to the Outer Horizon. Even the spirit world can change from universe to universe.
In the default Fractured Cosmos, we assume that the universes described in each game line are sufficiently entangled that people and objects can’t duplicate themselves. A technomancer who changes her quantum harmonics to visit the world described in Vampire displaces her counterpart. Her counterpart will be almost exactly the same, but a few slight differences might arouse suspicion in her friends. Remember that according to this model, moving between universes is common. Most people aren’t even aware of it, since the Tapestries tend to have very subtle differences.
What happens to the counterpart? The visitor’s Pattern, mind and spirit might superimpose themselves over the double. Its more likely that when the visitor arrives, the double travels to another universe as well because she replicates the visitor’s Tellurian travel. The double might switch universes with the visitor or move laterally in the same direction as the visitor. The latter option means that the double’s double also moves down a universe, ad infinitum.
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造物主 Creators 在源质上拥有9级的大法师可能会通过逆转节点的流向使其从织锦中释放出魔素。这些能量将流向虚空,进入一个外拓展宇宙的式样和循环。大法师可以支配他们所拥有宇宙的宇宙常数,但他们无法将任何东西从这一被创造的宇宙转移到他们的原生宇宙当中。一位宗师(Archmaster)当然也可以在这一下级宇宙当中创造第二个宇宙,从而形成一系列相嵌套的织锦。每个宇宙当中的节点都将是下一级宇宙的能量来源。
一些大师认为这种情形已经发生了,但他们拒绝对他们生活在什么宇宙以及究竟是谁创造了这个宇宙作进一步猜测。
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Creators
Archmages with the ninth rank of Prime might invert a Node’s flow so that it projects Quintessence away from the Tapestry. Energy streams into the Void, settling into the cycles and Patterns of an expanding cosmos. The archmages might control the cosmological constants of their universe, but they cannot transfer anything from the created universe to their native universe. It would certainly be possible for an Archmaster to create a second universe inside the next one, leading to a succession of nested Tapestries. Nodes in each universe serve as the power source for the next.
A few Masters maintain that this has already happened, but they refuse to speculate about what universe they live in and who created it.
根本性差异 Radical Differences 一旦你离开了诸多紧密相关的世界所组成的局部宇宙群,你就会到达真正的或然/架空世界,例如一个在公元1000年发生了火焚末日的凋亡地球,或是一个Biscoccian Coprosperity Sphere(见《法师说书人手册》)在太阳系内层行星上高举以太之子霸权的连续体。在这些宇宙当中,旅行者并不总是会有同位体。而即便有,他们的同位体也可能过着相对陌生的生活。在这些情况下,可以与同位体实现接触。不同之处阻止了旅行者将自己叠加到同位体上,或同位体没有决定跳往不同的宇宙。
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Radical Differences
Once you leave the local cluster of closely related worlds, you reach truly alternate worlds, like a blackened Earth where Gehenna happened in AD 1000, or a continuum where the Biscoccian Coprosperity Sphere (see the Mage Storytellers Handbook) spreads Etherite hegemony throughout the inner planets. In these universes, visitors won’t always have counterparts. Even if they do, their doubles might lead comparatively strange lives. In these cases, it is possible to meet your counterpart. Dissimilarities prevent the traveler from superimposing himself over the double, or the double doesn’t decide to hop to a different universe.
逃离! Escape! 角色无法使用离裂宇宙情景设置来逃往那些相似的世界。不论是火焚末日、怒嚎末日还是终末决战,由于世界的命运彼此紧密相连,每个结局都会在同一时间到来。角色只有逃往那些完全不同的世界才能免于被毁灭。而即便如此,他们也可能会带来毁灭的种子。一个来自黑暗世界宇宙簇的角色可能承担着来自他家乡的形而上学重荷。一个难民可能会让黑暗世界的末日感染她的新家园,或者她可能会因在故乡宇宙凋亡后还苟活而遭受矛盾的作用。
或者,宇宙的终结可能只是从黑暗世界开始。异界旅者可以通过不断在陌生的世界之间跳跃,逃开身后不断追及的形而上的破灭之澜。
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Escape!
Characters can’t use the Fractured Cosmos scenario to escape to a familiar-looking world. Whether its Gehenna, the Apocalypse or Armageddon, each end comes at about the same time because of the worlds’ linked destinies. Characters can avoid destruction only by escaping to radically different worlds. Even then, they might bring the seeds of devastation with them. A character from the World of Darkness cluster could carry his home’s metaphysical burdens. A refugee could infect her new home with the World of Darkness’ doom, or she might suffer Paradox for living past the death of her home universe.
Alternatively, the end of the universe might only start with the World of Darkness. Dimensional travelers could stay one step ahead of the metaphysical wave front by leaping to stranger and stranger worlds.
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疯狂的世界,疯狂的上帝 Mad Worlds, Mad Gods 《疯狂之书》表明,一些劫夺者积累了过多的幻劫,以至于无法继续在共识场中存在。现实将他们抛入影界当中,在那里,灵质被扭曲以服从和支撑他们的幻妄。
如果你使用离裂宇宙设置,疯法师们还可以更进一步。当一个大到足够自持的宇宙围绕劫夺者成型时,法师和他的造物将分裂出他们自己的织锦。劫夺者创造的世界绝对属于完全不同这一标准。这些宇宙会比他们的造主更长寿。而如果劫夺者仍然存在,她可能会是她自己宇宙的至高神,掌管着一个完全不同的影界和迥异的物理法则。
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Mad Worlds, Mad Gods
The Book of Madness notes that some Marauders acquire too much Quiet to exist in the Consensus. Reality ejects them into the Umbra, where ephemera twists to support their delusions.
If you use the Fractured Cosmos, mad mages can take this one step farther. When a large enough self-sufficient universe accretes around the Marauder, the mage and his creations split off into their own Tapestry. Marauder-created worlds definitely belong to the radically different category. These worlds outlast their creators. If the Marauder still exists, she might be the supreme god of her own universe, presiding over a variant Umbra and radically different physical laws.