Magick

For powers not defined here, SW2RE (p.) or REUP (p.). This supplement overlays Dathomiri tradition without replacing core powers.

General Assumptions (Play Aids)

Smoke wrote a crooked line from the north. They found a scorched tag half-buried in grit, the letters burned to iron ghosts. Sira pressed the warm scrap into a wax blank and spoke a name she didn't know she knew. The figure took it and softened. "Name taken," she said, feeling the tug of a thread she had not woven.

The pass ahead wore a black lintel like a frown. Hair-fine cords winked in soot. Jessa breathed and listened. "It wants a tally," she said. Karo frowned. "We have one." He cut a thin braid from his own wrist, the beads carved with small, careful notches. Sira held the braid to the web and murmured the word for "guest." The cords stilled. They passed single-file, careful not to brush what had been strung to sing—law and habit meeting in the narrow.

Later, pressure—bolts screaming white. Sira slipped between niches, one breath at a time, the world bending and unbending around her. No one saw her move; the dust told on her later. At the lair's bowl the ash was cold. A whisper clung to bead and would not let go, hungry to be more than a draft on stone. "Kindly," Sira told it. "And quick." Steady first, then listen, then press; the bowl woke.

A low green fire climbed the night. When the last spark settled, Sira's finger remembered the weight of her ring, and the knife's tiny bite asked to be fed a vow.

Overview & Terminology

Ichor. The visible "green" expression of Dathomirian magick—condensed intent shaped by chant, gesture, and focus. Weave. The pattern a spell traces through voice, will, and space; complex weaves are stabilized by chorus and foci. Focus/Loom. Consecrated tools and workstations (altars, stelae, boneforges) that hold ritual charge. Ward-Web. Subtle, persistent weaves stretched over entries/approaches that tingle when disturbed. Tokens & Offerings (Bone‑Tally) for keyed signs and tribute braids. Matron/Mother. Ritual leader; Seer/Thread-reader keeps omens; Chorus-witches scale workings beyond one voice. Nightbrother Empowerment. Warrior-focused rites that transmute rather than teach sorcery. Usage Note: "Dathmiri" refers to the extragalactic Great Mothers' civilization; "Dathomirian" refers to the people and covens native to the planet Dathomir.

Ritual Focus & Triune Chorus

Ritual Focus (place, tools, time) Working inside a prepared ring/altar/loom and using proper tools/materials, taking ×10 time grants +1D to one activation roll (choose one). Stacks with Assistance (§02.05); does not stack with other flat Focus bonuses unless explicitly stated.

02.02 Book of Law: Codification & How It Differs from Standard Force Powers Externalized. Components, inks, bone, and sites matter. Chanted & choreographed. Meter and breath cadence are part of the effect. Communal scaling. Chorus and witnesses amplify; many workings assume multiple participants. Ethic-gated. Book-of-Law clans reject coercive/necromantic variants per "Never concede to evil"; Nightsisters/Great Mothers keep the full "shadow" canon. Sympathetic links. Hair, blood, name-knots, and sigils substitute for line of sight.

02.03 Casting Procedure & Counterplay Opposed Targeting (Higher-of Rule): If a weave lists a category TN and the target rolls resistance, the caster must beat the higher of the category TN (use top-of-band) or the resistance total. This prevents a low resistance roll from making the cast easier than the base task. Practically: roll vs. max(category TN, resistance total). If no category TN is listed, resolve as a normal opposed roll.

Tie Policy: If totals are equal, there is no change (the defender holds).

Who Resists: Sentients resist with Willpower. Creatures resist with Orneriness.

02.03.01 Procedure Name the weave → set locus → choose tools/focus (§.00.01) → gather aid (optional) → declare Ritual Focus (optional) → roll listed Force skills → resolve effects/backlash. Maintaining a power that "may be kept up" costs an action each round unless a specific weave says otherwise.

02.03.02 Counterplay & Interference Sense as a reaction can pierce veils/illusions (costs an action). Absorb/Dissipate Energy blunts Ichor Blast/Pyre spill; Resist Stun/Detoxify counters many hex side-effects. Break the pattern (noise/off-meter; sunder focus (§.00.01)) to impose penalties or end "kept up." Sanctity matters: crossing thresholds or smashing haunted altars can end bindings. Faraday cages and heavily shielded rooms impose Sense penalties on sympathetic work.

02.04 Sympathetic Links & Effigies Token definitions: a weak token is a minor keyed object granting recognition but no bonus; a strong token carries a keyed shard/mark and qualifies for Focus-based interactions when stated (see item notes).

What this does: lets a witch target someone at any distance via a crafted effigy (poppet) + a sympathetic link (§02.04) (blood, hair, personal item), then route existing or new weaves through it.

02.04.01 Make the Effigy (once) Craft: alchemy (ichor) TN 15; Time: 10 minutes. Result = a valid Focus (§.00.01) keyed to one target. It confers the usual Ritual Focus option (×10 time → either –5 TN or +2 pips to one activation roll for a weave routed through it). It's fragile—Body 1D; destroyed effigies end any "kept up" effects.

02.04.02 Bind a Link (once per target or to refresh) Control Difficulty: Easy (10). Sense Difficulty: Moderate (15). Time to Use: 1 minute. Effect: Success "keys" the effigy to that specific link/target for one week (or until replaced). Option: taking ×10 time at a prepared locus can extend the keying to one month (same rolls).

02.04.03 Link Quality Modifiers (apply to the initial Sense roll of a sympathetic casting)

Fresh blood, tooth, or tissue (≤24h): –10 Hair/nail/shed skin (≤7 days): –5 Worn personal item (carried/worn ≤24h): –3 Long-kept personal item/signature tool: –2 True name + birth-glyph (properly sanctified): –5 (requires a Seer to prep; stacks with one physical link)

02.04.04 Distance/Obstruction Modifiers Same planet +5; same system +10; interstellar +15. Heavy shielding/Faraday cages/warded sanctums: +5 to +15 at GM's call.

Quick Table:

02.04.05 Backlash (sympathetic casting via effigy only) Fail any required roll by 10+ or roll a Wild Die 1 on the leader's check: the caster suffers 2D Stun, the effigy's link burns out, and no further casts through that effigy work until the link is rebound.

02.04.06 Notes The effigy's Focus bonus does not stack with other Focus bonuses granted from Ritual Focus (§.00.01); it does stack with Assistance (§02.05). You can route an existing weave through an effigy only if the weave already supports non-line-of-sight targeting; when you do, apply the effigy's distance/link rules (see §§02.00–02.05 & §02.14.11). Destroying an effigy ends any weaves sustained solely through it. Conditional effects or curses persist per their own durations. Effigies are objects. Standard Sunder/Break rules apply; wards that protect gear also protect effigies if encompassed by the ward.

02.05 Assistance & Combined Actions Ritual Chorus: Leader rallies voices to empower one declared action on the following round.

Scope: A properly themed chorus may boost one declared roll (including Beast Handling) for that next action only; bonus dice never persist. GM approval required.

0D Rule: If modifiers reduce the action to 0D or less, it cannot be attempted this round.

Triune Chorus uses Combined Actions (REUP). Foci/sites provide the listed step/pip bonus; do not stack flat Focus bonuses beyond what an item/site states.

Assistants roll scholar (Nightsister Lore) vs. TN 15 (Moderate) to "keep the meter." Every full 3 successes grant +1D to the leader (cap +3D). (Count each assistant who passes as one success; 3/6/9 helpers → +1D/+2D/+3D.) Triune kicker: if exactly three succeed in lockstep, add +1 pip to the leader automatically. Any number may attempt to assist; the leader's bonus is capped at +3D.

02.06 Tradition Notes Coven structure; sanctity/taboos (communal artifacts); burial & revenants; dialect & diaspora; ethic split (Allya vs. Nightsisters/Great Mothers).

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Source: WoD