Sorcerers    Darkeye is a peculiar condition exhibited by some Aterr. It represents a greater “acceptance” of the host mind by the arcane adamant, as a result of extraordinary darkness (the Aterr term for self-honesty) shown to the material via participatory arcane visions. In addition to this requirement, those who would attain darkeye must display a well-defined desire for power that is not being fulfilled by their current capabilities. Often, they also require tutoring from an existing darkeye Aterr. To attain darkeye, you must fulfill these roleplaying requirements, have at least 5 Arcana tiers, and obtain the Dark Master Attribute. With notable character development, it is possible to become a sorcerer during the events of a campaign; if done between campaigns, becoming a sorcerer costs 1 LP. You must not lose or swap the Dark Master Attribute, or your darkeye condition will be lost, and regaining it later will cost a more complicated 5 LP.
    The primary attraction of darkeye is the heightened abilities it gives the host; namely, a superior form of vision, enhanced toughness, and access to the peculiar realm of Aterr sorcery. These preternatural abilities were so exotic that befuddled Alacrian commoners began referring to them as “sorcery.” Much like the way they embraced the pejorative “Dark Ones” as their name, Aterr with darkeye wryly adopted the term sorcerer, finding a degree of power in people’s fear of the unknown.
Arcane Visions & Breaches     Nearly all Aterr experience a more "interactive" arcane vision upon first becoming an arcanist, or very shortly afterward. Instead of normal arcane visions which simply present their content and fade, these visions inquire back-and-forth with the Aterr, typically seeking clarity on their desires and self-honesty. Rarely do these visions speak in plain language, but they still use impressions, pressing thoughts, or odd sentence fragments to elicit a response.
    For sorcerers, however, these visions are not a one-time initiation, but something they pursue regularly. Re-attaining these more participatory visions is key to achieving and maintaining sorcerer status. Not every vision you receive as a sorcerer will be interactive, and the likelihood is greater for an involuntary vision; the GM may also decide these visions come more frequently than the normal 1-in-10 daily chance, or even in the middle of the day. Refusal to interact honestly with an arcane vision can be grounds for the GM to suspend your sorcerer condition.
    As a result of their greater experience with visions, sorcerers gain an increased tolerance for breaching. Any time you accept an arcane breach, you may roll d20 on WILL; if you succeed, you do not take the normal 1-round stunning. If you succeed by 10, you also become able to breach again 1 round later, rather than needing to complete a 2-minute rest.
    Most Aterr tend to believe that the lifelike properties of adamant stem from its connection to the Restless Sleeper, and that arcane visions are at least semi-purposeful communication - not just simple reactive physics or the Rationalist hypothesis of "brain friction." This belief is even more dominant amongst sorcerers. No Aterr worships or defers to the Sleeper, nor do its visions demand sorcerers believe or act in certain ways, other than simply admitting their desires. Still, this does not alleviate the great discomfort common people have with a sorcerer's nature. With "moon cultist" already a slur in use against the Aterr, sorcerers are even more likely to be shunned out of fear of the Wandering Moon's clandestine influence.
Arcane Sense     The primary drawback of darkeye is in making it difficult for the sorcerer to avoid detection, and making it more likely that they will attract unwelcome attention in the first place. To the arcane sense, a darkeye Aterr’s signature appears “louder” than a normal Aterr, in proportion to their tier (any arcanist can make a d20 roll on INT to identify the exact sorcerer tier of any sorcerer they can sense; this can be repeated once per minute if failed). Additionally, the duration of Veiled Sense (Arcana) is cut in half for a sorcerer.
    Given most of Lur-Asko’s fear of Aterr, let alone sorcerers, all this can be a significant problem in any area frequented by non-Aterr arcanists. Without quick transportation and constant strategizing, you may find yourself surrounded by enemies.
Psychic Hazard     In addition to becoming more visible to arcane enemies, a sorcerer must deal with difficulty in keeping non-Dark friends close. All sorcerers are a 1st-degree dark psychic hazard for those around them (see Environmental Hazards). This generally includes all party members who travel with them, and anyone spending a majority of their time within 100m. Even if characters are succeeding on their WILL rolls to avoid trauma or simply not spending enough hours around them to roll, the uncomfortable nature of sorcerers' auras leads most cities to exclude them (or worse). Smaller villages are typically too afraid to try to remove a sorcerer, but are likely to send for help. For obvious reasons, Aterr who subscribe to the Dark Path of the Eclipse rarely become sorcerers, and those who do will often maintain many non-sorcerer Dark allies to mediate their dealings with the Blinded.
Darkeye Vision     Sorcerers of all tiers have access to a superior form of vision. When using darkeye vision, your eyes are completely covered by a thin film of black adamant. In this state, you have combined normal and shadow vision at all distances, seeing in any Low Light condition as if it were Medium Light. Through your adamantine connection to the æther, you also receive innate awareness of your immediate surroundings, detecting all matter through its interaction with space; within medium range, you see all hidden areas, items, or characters, even through obstacles. You detect any illusions and disguises. You cannot be blinded, and ignore any preexisting blinded status for as long as darkeye is active. You receive a +2 bonus to DEX. This medium-range sense detects mass rather than light, and therefore cannot perceive color or fine visual details (for example, you might be able to "see" a piece of paper in someone's pocket, but are unlikely to be able to tell what's written on it).
    Despite the advantages, sorcerers do not use their darkeye vision at all times. While not physically uncomfortable, it does require some mental energy to endure constant awareness of all the details of your surroundings. Darkeye vision expends 1 insight to activate, plus 1 insight for every 15 minutes of use, and cannot be used at all if you have 0 insight. Sorcerers also report that darkeye vision is really a different kind of sense, and that nothing really "looks good," therefore many prefer to enjoy their normal vision when the circumstances don't demand otherwise.
    Activating (or deactivating) darkeye vision is a free action in combat. It must be activated in order to use Sorcerer Abilities.
Arcane Insight     All Sorcerer Abilities can be fueled by arcane insight, just like Arcana Abilities. This rule does not apply to the insight cost for darkeye vision.
Sorcerer Tiers     As time progresses, you will become even more familiar to the adamant, achieve a rapport with it through personal growth, and enhance your connection through your regular Arcana training. This progression is quantified as your sorcerer tier.
    Normally, your sorcerer tier is equal to 50% of your depth tiers, plus 50% of your Arcana tiers, minus 5. Because of the requirement for the Dark Master Attribute, your tier will never be less than 1. When you first attain darkeye, you will begin at 1st tier. If the above equation calls for a higher sorcerer tier, you will gain 1 tier per day until the appropriate total is reached. After this point, you will immediately gain sorcerer tiers whenever you gain an even-numbered depth or Arcana tier.
    At 1st tier, you gain two Sorcerer Abilities. At every tier beyond 1st, you may either gain a new Sorcerer Ability, or emphasize one you already have. Much like Study Abilities, each Sorcerer Ability lists progression effects for both Normal (unemphasized) and Emphasized states; each one refers to your sorcerer tier.
Sorcerer Abilities Word Sorcery     These Abilities are concerned with harnessing the telepathic properties of adamant. As the name implies, you must speak whenever these Abilities are used. Such speech always has loud and distorted qualities, as the adamant copies the words of its host. Since adamant telepathy is at the root of these Abilities, enemies do not need to actually be able to hear or understand you in order to suffer the effects. Virtually all sentient life, with the exception of dragons, are susceptible to adamant telepathy; non-sentients are not. These Abilities cannot be used while paralyzed, but can be used while restrained, so long as you can speak. The actions to use these Abilities cannot be rendered non-verbal with Sign Language (Culture).
Word of Confusion    This Ability is a verbal major action and consumes 5 insight. All characters susceptible to adamant telepathy within medium range who fail a d6 roll on WILL are stunned until the end of your next turn. Aterr are immune to this Ability, and you may exclude characters you do not wish to affect, provided you are aware of them.
Progression
    Normal: The insight cost is reduced by 1/8 your tier. For every 4 tiers, you may choose a character within range to add 1 Hindrance to their WILL roll (you cannot choose the same character more than once).
    Emphasized: The insight cost is reduced by 1/4 your tier, to a minimum of 3. For every 2 tiers, you may choose a character within range to add 1 Hindrance to their WILL roll (you cannot choose the same character more than once).
Word of Conjunction    As a free action, for the cost of 2 insight, this Ability allows you to communicate with any other arcanist you can detect via long-range arcane sense, just as if you were both holding a commstone. Most notably, commstone jammers cannot interfere with this Ability, nor does it require a free hand as a commstone does. The link lasts for 2 minutes, or until the other arcanist leaves your arcane sense. You must spend the insight again to switch the link to a new arcanist, and any arcanist can choose to block out your link.
Progression
    Normal: For every 4 tiers, the duration is doubled (that is, to 4 minutes, then 8 minutes, etc.).
    Emphasized: As Normal, but every 2 tiers.
Word of Dominion     This Ability does not link to the minds of other characters, but directly to the adamant in high-end devices, disrupting their function. As a verbal major action, for a cost of 8 insight, you may specify a single target within short range. The target may be a device with an Adamantology competence requirement, or a non-sentient technological. You immediately inflict 10 damage on your target, ignoring all armor; if used on a tech, the damage inflicts Core Injuries. If used on a device, follow Damaging Small Objects rules just as if the object was hit by an attack. If your target was an Adamantology device with advanced status, or if it was a construct tech, it takes double damage.
    Devices with an Adamantology requirement that is being ignored via Device Affinity (Technology) are still valid targets for this Ability. Devices that are made out of adamant but do not involve Adamantology competency (even if complicated in other ways) are unaffected by this Ability.
Progression
    Normal: The insight cost is reduced by 1/8 your tier. For every tier beyond 1st, the damage (prior to any doubling for advanced devices or constructs) is increased by 2.
    Emphasized: The insight cost is reduced by 1/4 your tier. The damage is increased by 4 times your tier.
Word of Dread     As a verbal major action, for a cost of 5 insight, this Ability causes you to inflict terror (see Trauma & Terror). Your side's inflicted terror is raised to 10.
    Conversely, this Ability also increases the amount of terror you remove with a successful rally by an amount equal to the terror it inflicts (this applies to both yourself and your allies). This can apply at any time during a battle or social encounter in which you have used this Ability. You may simultaneously perform either intimidation or rallying as part of this Word's verbal action (though its own terror does not require intimidation).
Progression
    Normal: The effect on terror is increased by your tier. The insight cost is reduced by 1/8 your tier.
    Emphasized: The effect on terror is increased by 2 times your tier. The insight cost is reduced by 1/4 your tier, to a minimum of 1.
Word of Perspicuity    This Ability consumes 5 insight, and is used while touching another character susceptible to adamant telepathy. You gain access to the character's thoughts. This link is similar to draconic telepathy, but is immune to adamant headbands, draconic defense, or other countermeasures specific to draconic telepathy. Like other forms, it accesses only the surface thoughts of the victim, not the profound or subconscious, nor anything the victim isn’t caused to think about. The effects of this Ability continue for 1 minute, or until you stop touching the other character.
    This Ability is not effective on other Aterr, nor on any character whose WILL is greater than 50% of your sorcerer tier.
Progression
    Normal: For the purposes of this Ability, you consider the other character's WILL to be lower by an amount equal to 1/2 your tier.
    Emphasized: For the purposes of this Ability, you consider the other character's WILL to be lower by an amount equal to your tier.
Word of Wrath     As a verbal major action, you turn non-Aterr arcanists' adamant against them, removing some of the protection afforded by their training. This Ability costs 8 insight to use, and affects all non-Aterr arcanists within short range that you desire to harm. Orthodox arcanists immediately suffer the negative effects of an arcane breach (that is, trauma with WILL roll, stunning, and delay until their next breach), with no corresponding positive breach effects for any of their Abilities. Any arcanists who could not normally accept an arcane breach at the time (including Conjurers, and Orthodox who have already breached without yet resting, including those affected by a previous use of this Ability) instead take damage. The damage is equal to 10, minus 2 times their Arcana tier. Any injuries inflicted are Core Injuries.
Progression
    Normal: The insight cost is reduced by 1/8 your tier. For every tier beyond 1st, the damage (prior to subtracting double the victim's Arcana tier) is increased by 3.
    Emphasized: The insight cost is reduced by 1/4 your tier. The damage (prior to subtracting double the victim's Arcana tier) is increased by 5 times your tier.
Æther Sorcery     Through these abilities, your adamant's link to the æther may be used to turn space itself into your tool. Unless these Abilities describe the use of hands or a related Ability which requires hands, they are activated solely by thought.
Ætherial Beacon    As a slowing major action, for the cost of 15 insight, this Ability allows you to "inject" any solid adamant object with a distortion that functions as a personal homing beacon. You must be able to touch the object, and the object must weigh at least 1 pound and be at least 1 foot across in some dimension. This Ability does not interfere with any normal function of the object, and your beacon cannot be detected except by the darkeye vision of a sorcerer with an equal or greater sorcerer tier. Subsequent sorcerers attempting to place a beacon in the same object will fail unless the object is large enough to allow the beacons to be at least 3 feet apart; this restriction provides a makeshift way for a lesser sorcerer to detect the presence of a beacon in a suspected object.
    Once established, you always sense the exact direction and approximate distance of your beacon. Aside from this general use, a beacon is useful for the Ætherial Scrying Ability. In particular, establishing a beacon, scrying on it, then teleporting to it is a favorite getaway tactic for talented sorcerers.
    You can only maintain the beacon at a distance of up to 20 miles; it will dissipate only if taken beyond this range, if you create a new beacon, or if you dismiss it voluntarily. It will also be lost if the area of the object it resides in is notably damaged; for small objects, this typically requires critical damage (see Damaging Objects).
Progression
    Normal: For every tier beyond 1st, the range is increased by 5 miles. The insight cost is reduced by 1/2 your tier.
    Emphasized: The mile range is increased by 10 times your tier. The insight cost is reduced by your tier, to a minimum of 2.
Ætherial Scrying    As a slowing major action, for a cost of 15 insight, this Ability can re-center your darkeye vision in a location beyond its normal radius. One use of this Ability can have one of several effects:
    -Your darkeye vision can be re-centered on a point up to medium range away from you. This point moves with you if you move.
    -Your darkeye vision can be re-centered on your ætherial beacon. This point moves with the beacon.
    -Your darkeye vision, once re-centered with one of the previous options, can be moved up to medium range in any direction. Its new center point moves with you, or with the beacon (depending on which one it started with).
    You can continue using the new center of vision without further major actions, at a cost of 1 insight per minute. You lose the effects of darkeye vision in your own location, but retain normal and shadow vision; you must add 1 Hindrance to any roll on DEX due to slight disorientation. You may cease using this Ability as a free action, instantly returning your darkeye vision to normal. The center of vision's movement (either during re-centering or subsequent movement) is not obstructed by any object; it can travel through solid objects just as its vision can.
    When re-centered, the center of your darkeye vision can be detected by any other sorcerer's darkeye vision; other than this, this Ability is undetectable.
Progression
    Normal: The insight cost is reduced by 1/4 your tier.
    Emphasized: The insight cost is reduced by 1/2 your tier, to a minimum of 5.
Ætherial Mastery    This Ability grants you an extra 1 maximization in the Study of Arcana.
Progression
    None. This Ability cannot be emphasized.
Chaos Projection    As a slowing major action, for the cost of 8 insight, this Ability allows you to spread the subtle distortions found within adamant into the bodies of nearby characters. You may affect as many grouped-up or engaged characters as you wish to, and the effects last for 3 rounds; a character's effect will end early if they cease to be grouped-up with you, or you can end the effect on as many as you wish as a free action. While affected, a character counts as a sorcerer for the purpose of defense against Draconic Telepathy, Draconic Possession, and Telekinesis (Draconic). Characters who are already sorcerers are unaffected.
    This Ability can be used offensively to "de-possess" a non-Vicar character under Draconic Possession, but it has no effect against a Vicar using Abilities on themselves.
Progression
    Normal: For every 4 tiers, the insight cost is reduced by 1, and the duration is increased by 1 round.
    Emphasized: As Normal, but every 2 tiers.
Decoherence Barrage    You may use this Ability whenever you use Energy Ranged Attack (Arcana), and are not also using Improbability Barrage. If you do so, Recyclic Shielding and Tempered Shielding cannot be used against your attack, except by a sorcerer who also has this Ability. You may take this Ability for the purpose of counteracting it, even if you do not have Energy Ranged Attack.
Progression
    None. This Ability cannot be emphasized.
Sleeper's Step    As a minor action, for the cost of 8 insight, this Ability teleports you to a new location within the range of your darkeye vision. You do not need a clear path to the new location; any location you can "see" using darkeye vision can be reached. If you are teleporting to a beacon you are scrying on, you must spend an additional 1 insight per mile, and must use a major action.
    This form of teleportation is high-precision (see Combat). You can teleport a maximum weight equal to your own weight (not including your inventory), plus 100 pounds. The teleportation creates a distinctive noise audible to medium range at both the origin and destination locations. Unlike other adamant-based teleportation, it emits no light.
    This Ability cannot be used on the same turn as Arcane Mirror (Arcana). When you first obtain this Ability, you may freely swap Arcane Mirror for another Ability, as well as its emphasis (if you have either), since this Ability is virtually always superior.
Progression
    Normal: For every tier beyond 1st, the maximum weight you can teleport is increased by 25. The insight cost is reduced by 1/6 your tier.
    Emphasized: The maximum weight you can teleport is increased by 50 pounds per tier, and the insight cost is reduced by 1/3 your tier, to a minimum of 2.
Improbability Barrage    You may use this Ability whenever you use Energy Melee Attack or Energy Ranged Attack (Arcana). If used with Energy Ranged Attack, it causes shielding points created by Null-Energy Shielding (Draconic) or acoluthic devices to be only half as effective against the damage (in other words, the character or device must spend double points to shield your damage). If used with Energy Melee Attack, it causes those forms of shielding to have no effect whatsoever. When used with either Ability, the offense and defense rolls for the attack cannot be affected by Probability Field (Draconic).
     An attack that uses the effects of this Ability causes only 75% damage to targets other than a dragon (after resolving all energy shielding and drive). However, any non-dragon character hit by the attack (regardless of drive) will lose the use of their Draconic Abilities and acoluthics until the end of your next turn, as if carrying adamant.
Progression
    Normal: At 2nd tier, dragons take 110% particle damage from any attack using this Ability (after resolving all energy shielding and drive). For every 6 tiers, this 110 percentage is increased by 10.
    Emphasized: As Normal, but the percentage increases every 3 tiers.