Moros

"So what if I can make diamonds from ash? All the riches of the earth will not buy a single additional breath. Even diamonds will decay one day."

Favored Resistance Attribute: Composure

Rulling Arcana: Matter / Death

Inferior Arcana: Spirit

Legacies: Uncrowned King, Bokor, Tamer of Earth

Concepts: Thanatologist, speaker for the dead, modern alchemist, parapsychologist, elite assassin, leader of a ghostly spy ring, dangerous death cultist, euthanasia activist, inquisitive vivisectionist

Summary: Necromancers on the Path of Doom, Scions of the Watchtower of the Lead Coin in the Realm of Stygia, Kingdom of Crypts and Abode of Shades.

Many on the Path of Doom Awaken after a near-death experience, with the violence of their close call and their brief trip to the lands of the dead opening their eyes to the existence of magic. These mages often describe their Awakening as hearing the noise of the world die away and being wrapped in a shroud of tranquility. It is this shroud that allows them to maintain their composure once they gain the capacity to hear the shrieks and pleas of the restless dead.

More than anything else, the Moros Path is concerned with transition and transformation. Its magics focus on the transformative edge where life becomes death, lead becomes gold, and ignorance blossoms into understanding. Necromancers are fascinated by the edges of objects, places, and states of being, where shore becomes sea, where coal becomes diamond, and where the land of the living segues into the land of the dead. It is little wonder that they remind others of the tarot card of "Death," a card of transitions.

Necromancers are often hypersensitive to the brevity of life and understand just how little time they have to gain the transformative secrets they crave. They often become obsessive about their studies, sleeping only a few hours each night to leave enough time for their research. Moros mages who have mastered the basic arts of alchemy are free from the quotidian financial worries that plague some other mages, as they can create fortunes in gold and gems with only a modicum of effort.

Orders

Moros join orders primarily to facilitate their own understanding. The orders that offer them the most, in terms of Arcane Skills and like-minded companionship, are the Guardians of the Veil and the Mysterium. Their work with the latter in particular has led to the discovery of some remarkable items of power, thanks to knowledge they've garnered from the dead. Otherwise, they join the Adamantine Arrow or Silver Ladder for similar reasons as any mage to hone fighting prowess or to rise to power.

Appearance

Moros don't actually age faster than their peers, but they sometimes seem older than they really are, a side effect of their entropic magic. Enhancing this image is the fact that they take most matters very seriously (although some are known for their gallows humor). As a general rule, Moros dress themselves in whatever colors their culture deems appropriate for mourning. In Asia, for example, they dress entirely in white, while in most Western countries they prefer vestments of somber black. That said, some on the Path of Doom take great delight in going against expectation and wearing perfectly normal street or business clothes as a form of going incognito.

Sanctums

Moros often grow insanely protective of their privacy. They may establish their sanctums in remote locations to prevent intrusions or interruptions to their studies. If a mage has the money, she may surround herself with a buffer of empty land and a sturdy fence.

The closer to the grave a sanctum is and the more saturated it is with the energies of death and entropy, the more comfortable its Moros owner is. Proximity to cemeteries or sites of mass death is almost obligatory for a Moros sanctum. Others prefer more material palaces, such as lavish penthouses or manors.

Moros prefer dim lighting, cool temperatures, and absolute quiet in their sanctums, thereby minimizing the difference between their homes and the tomb. Moros sanctums also tend to be beautiful and richly decorated as a way of counteracting the sense of isolation some Necromancers feel. With their talent for alchemy, those on the Path of Doom can easily use precious metals and gems as common household objects. Just as Pluto's kingdom was the realm of the dead and the realm of riches, so do many Moros make their abodes into beautiful, if macabre, treasure troves.

Background

In one way or another, mages Awakening to the Path of Doom have an uncommon connection to death or the dead. It is not unusual for soldiers, doctors, morticians, and serial killers to Awaken on the Path of Doom. Alternatively, this Path also calls out to the greedy, including bankers, industrialists, and well-connected plutocrats.

Character Creation

Mental Attributes are almost always primary for Moros. As scholars of death and the dead, the mind is more crucial to their work than anything else. Like anyone fascinated with mortality, Moros often find themselves socially ostracized, so it's not uncommon for Social Attributes to be tertiary. With regard to Physical Attributes, Stamina tends to be high.

Mental Skills are heavily favored by those on the Path of Doom, especially Academics, Medicine, Occult, and Science. Other popular Skills are Stealth and Intimidation.

Good judgment is highly prized by Moros, so they often strive to master the Virtue of Prudence. The vice with which they are most concerned is Pride, which can lead a Necromancer to a terrible end.

Nimus

"Haunting." Onlookers think they see vague and blurry figures. Shadows grow deeper or seem to reach out to an onlooker, and objects look decayed or rotted. With powerful magic, they might even hear whispers. Corpses might twitch or seem to moan.

Associations

Necromancers aren't necessarily organized, but they are surprisingly social with one another (in part because they are often ostracized by other mages). Behind this social urge is a driving curiosity about what others on the Path of Doom discover in their research, though some of this intrigue stems from their knowledge that connection with others becomes much harder once one has passed across the shroud.