Breakthrough Limit Arcane Conn.

Games Discussion Ars Magica
1

After a series of great books, literally having Metaphysics fall on my head at the used book store, reading Arts and Academy, and reading posts, an idea has amalgamated and so I thought I would set it free to ruminate on the boards.

Thwarting, breaking, and perfecting Hermetic theory to eliminate the limit of Arcane Connection.

The theory is this: Using the concept of Plato's Theory of Forms, true name magic, first essences, ect. all those concepts of there existing a perfect abstract form of everything, finding the source of that perfect form or how to involve that source in your magic, and then attempting to exploit the true name/primal ideal form/mirror soul or spirit of the object.

An example of what it would mean. Say you have a room divided by a curtain that allows no species to be obtain from the exclusive sides, using the breakthrough, magi could upon knowing the true form of a dog, or of iron, or of the human mind, use that true essence as the Target of his magic. The Range is where my attempts begin to stumble (how does one limit what is affected when working on the core abstract form of something) although one could perhaps... well I will leave that part until I firmly grasp it.

hah ha! The difficulting in shattering the limits of Hermetic theory!

I am sure some of the books which I have not read may present a way around this, r perhaps deals with it properly.

Wait making the true form essence the Range and then leaving Target to be whatever ((I am still something of a novice, a novice's novice if you will, when it comes to Ars ethos)) would solve the problem. And was the intent of the breakthough from the start.

So comment, critique, lab partner assist?

1 Like
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Breaking (or at least bending) this limit is probably a common goal, and there are a number of ways to go about it that either haven't been accomplished yet or haven't wholly been incorporated into hermetic theory.

In Houses of Hermes: Mystery Cults, Merinita chapter, Symbol Magic allows you to affect someone via a symbolic representation rather than an arcane connection.
In Ancient Magic, I remember that at least Adamic, Defixio Lore, and the Coordinates thingy deal with cheating the limit of Arcane Connections in various ways, as does Canaanite Necromancy in a very limited manner, and maybe another one or two ancient magics. There's a bit of the Defixio Lore thing in Houses of Hermes: True Lineages, the... leadworker virtue, I think? A remnant of the lost tradition.
Probably others are slipping my mind at the moment. But it's possible with a Hermetic Breakthrough, generally (but not always) in the form of a new Major Virtue.

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The limit was set to keep the game playable.

If magic works without arcane connections - parma magica becomes useless: All you have to do is strike first, using a spell that attacks in the school of Vilano (using finesse to avoid penetration).
A world without Parma is a world without an Order of Hermes.

The research and the discovery must be kept secret unless you want the Trianormae to arrange a convenient accident. The Tremere will try to torture it out of you to create a fascist mage state, the Tytali will try the same to create anarchy. Heaven and hell will take an interest.

So if you want to break it, don't forget out to play a saga called Mythic Apocalypse.

Having said that, I find your idea rather charming because of its story potential.

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Scary.. truely frightening.

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I have said this like a hundred times before, but I will say it again.

Parma is quite useless as a protection against a committed attack. There are so many ways for a magus of the OoH to kill another magus of the OoH that this is not an issue. Parma does a thing that is MUCH MORe important: it removes the social penalties of the Gift. THAT is what allowed the Order to form. The magical protection is just a welcome side effect.

Parma protects well against supernatural powrrs and creatures that do NOT belong to the order of hermes. Hermetics are too god at penetration for Parma to be an issue at all. The idea that parma protects against hermetics is just a common delusion.

Cheers,
Xavi

6

Eh. I think you're overstating the problem. It's possible to break the limit of Arcane Connections without breaking the game. You just have to find another non-game-breaky way to do it, some limit on the new method that makes it useful but absolutely powerful.

Basically, you invent a new range that works like Arcane Connection but has some requirement other than an arcane connection, and you calibrate it so that the requirement is still sufficiently difficult to achieve to keep the Order from collapsing.