4

Original cOncepTJoshua Brain Jaffe

Megan Dawson JaffeRev. Mother Sean Benjamin Jaffe

Matthew Volk

WriTerSJoshua Brain Jaffe

Megan Dawson JaffeRev. Mother Sean Benjamin Jaffe

Miles LizakIan Powell

Michael Pucci

eDiTOrSCatherine Griffin

Michael Pucci

aDDiTiOnal maTerialS

Taylor FieldLiam Neary

layOuT

& DeSignJoshua Brain Jaffe

arTiSTSRalph Attanasia Neggme Elreda

Amber Kimmerly Joshua Brain Jaffe

prODucerAshley Zdeb

Credits

Aaron NewmanAaron Vanek

Abigail CorfmanAlan Sinnett

Alex SantiagoAmy ForsytheAnne Cross

Arnis KletieksBea Ellingboe

Beth BaniszewskiBethan Shipway

Bill GibbsBill McInisch

Chris CoxChris Moxley

Christian PerryChristine Beard

Christopher AmherstClinton RickardsClio Goodman

Craig PageDan BergeronDan Bergeron

Daniel AbrahamDaniel BuchananDanielle Shoback

Dave DickmanDavid CaveEddie Karat

Ekaterina KuznetsovaElisabeth FracalossiElizabeth Bartley

Eric Reuss

Ericka EmrickEricka Skirpan

Erin KellyEvan TornerGaylord Tang

Genevieve HarbuckIan Ally-Seals

Jacob StrangewayJason Schneiderman

Jeannie WhitedJenn Bechtel

Jeramy MerrittJes Mae LynchJessica AshbyJessica FryattJessica Lowell

Jim Edwards-HewittJohn Wedoff

Josh HarrisonJulia Ellingboe

Justin ReyesKat SchoenheyderKelsey DesrosiersKirsten HagleitKitt McKittrickKristen RobertsLawrence Lee

Lexx RasimowiczLiam NearyLisa LassnerLiz Lucking

Lucas McCauslinMaggie Lee

Michael SpragueMike CaprioMike YoungMiles Lizak

Miriam BoonNick Milano

Nyren KnappPaige DickmanPaige PinckneyPaul WaynerPeet JohnsonPeter Bensch

Peter WoodworthPippin Carino

Ralph A. AttanasiaRebecca Kletieks

Rose MoxleySam RobertsSarah JuddSean Foster

Sean MoulsonSeanna Lea LoBueSchuyler HowlandShaheen Rodgers

Shoshana GourdinShoshana KessockSuzanne Wayner

Tegan KehoeTim Emrick

Tricia MoxleyWilliam ChapmanWright Rickman

Xavid Pretzer

playTeSTerS

creDiTS

©2014 Eschaton Media ProductionsAll rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means,

mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of Eschaton Media Productions

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5

chapTer One: hiSTOria 12IntroductIon 12

HIstory 14

chapTer TWO: arcana 24tHe oatHs 24

eras 25tHe Four Leagues 29

socIety and socIaL structures 62

chapTer Three: eSOTerica 68sources oF MagIc 68

ÆtHers 72auras 74

PractIce oF MagIc 76scHooLs and sPeLLs 78tHe cryPtIc arts 102

taLIsMans 133

chapTer FOur: phanTaSmagOria 134transcrIPtIon 134

tHe oatHbreakers 138tHe outer Powers 143

aberratIons 181tHe outer sPHeres 190

chapTer Five: mechanica 196How to PLay exarcana 196How to run exarcana 208

appenDix 225tIMeLIne 225gLossary 230

Table

of C

ontentsSa

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The F

our O

aths

Speak now the apothecarium oath

I shall defend the thresholds.

The darkness of the Outer Spheres must never remain unchecked or be allowed to come to Earth.

Speak now the Daevani oath

I shall not create lIfe.

I will not covet the work of the Divine and create abominations that may breed and upset the delicate balance of nature and Æther.

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The F

our O

aths

Speak now the tetragrammaton oath

I shall not subjugate the sIlent.

The Eldritch must protect mankind, not be the artifice of their oppression.

Speak now the Shaitan oath

I shall maIntaIn the sub rosa.

I shall never let the Eldritch secrets fall into the hands of the Silent before they are ready.

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Forward by Keith Bishop

This isn’t the Libris ExArcana, (the “Book of Secrets,” for those who don’t feel like translating). It’s not the original, anyway. Depending on who you talk to, the last original copy was burned on the steps of Germelshousen by an Illuminati agent, or dropped into a void during a pitched battle in the twisting ruins of the Arkham spiral, or any of another dozen appropriately epic and legendary fates. But as long as there has been an Arcanum, there has been the Libris, and now that the Arcanum is re-asserting itself, it’s time to re-write it.

We could have used a simpler guide. To that end, I have begun this work: the sum total of my research under Professor Farquhar and also my student thesis. Naturally, there’s another version, a censored version that went to the other professors in my team that regard this all as mythology. But this is the real version, a new recreation of the original Libris ExArcana originally penned in 1599.

If you are reading this, you are either new to magic, or are in the know and simply curious. It’s really to those new at all this that I write, because you need it most. So before I get any further into all of the centuries of craziness that bracket all this, let’s break it down:

- Magic is real. Spells, wizards, dragons, other worlds... all of it.

- People who can do magic are called Eldritch. What powers magic are forces called Æthers.

- Magic flows in to our world through Thresholds, which are also gateways into other worlds.

- There are actual good guys and bad guys when it comes to the Eldritch. The Arcanum are the good guys, and a bunch of them essentially traveled through time to help us. They are comprised of four Leagues who follow certain laws, known as the Four Oaths, which were written to protect this world and everyone in it. As Far as “Bad Guys” go There are several myriad groups to speak of, but most notable are the Oathbreakers who are sworn to break every single Oath we hold dear as to enslave all mankind and take this world for their own.

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To that end, I am loyal to the Arcanum, and I have spoken the Oaths. I am a Guttersnipe, once a disdainful nickname, but one now worn worldwide by students like me as a badge of honor. I am a Chronomancer, an Arcanist and a Transvect. I am an Oracle of the Tetragrammaton. I have agreed to shoulder the burden of this power with the responsibilities it entails—secrecy, humility, compassion, and courage. But above all, I know I am not alone on this journey.

The world is a much, much weirder place to me now. I’ve opened my eyes to how much I take for granted—what might be behind locked doors, in shrouded rooms, and secret sub-basements. I look around me on the streets and know that the mousy girl with the books might be socially awkward, but she might also be building a doomsday device. The homeless man might be someone who’s fallen on hard times, or he might not trust the roofs we humans have built to hide ourselves from the sun. At precisely the time when most people my age are convinced they know everything, I’m a little kid all over again. I know magic is real.

If you’ve gotten hold of this book, now so do you.

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The cenTury OF Silence iS Over!

Since the dawn of time humanity has studied the Eldritch arts, harnessing the magical powers that flow through Thresholds into this world from the Æthers beyond. Those proficient in these elusive arts soon became feared and revered by the ‘Silent’: those who could not wield Ætheric Power. To save themselves from the Silent and each other, the Arcanum was founded: Four Leagues that protect and harness one of the four elemental Æthers of magical power. The Leagues entered into a covenant called the Sub Rosa: four rules to protect the Silent, the Eldritch, and even the very Æthers they wielded.

But around one hundred years ago, the light of magic sputtered and died. The noble forces of the Arcanum were beset on all sides by the combined forces of the Oathbreakers, bolstered by their unholy alliance with monsters, Liches, and Those Beyond. Unable to reconcile the horror of a future in which Aleister Crowley’s Ministry controlled the forces of reality, the Arcanum used Nikola Tesla’s Doomsday Weapon in Tunguska, Russia, closing the gateways to the Outer Spheres and stopping the flow of magic into our world for one hundred years. One thousand or more of the Arcanum’s most respected Magistrates stepped into the Soulvault, vowing to return and bring the light of magic back to the Earth when the threat abated.

That was 1908.

Now is the Advent Era.

The Century of Silence has passed, and the Thresholds are now re-opening and spilling magic, monsters, and mayhem back into a new world full of brash young Guttersnipes with little understanding of how to wield the mystical forces from beyond. The Magisters of the Arcanum are awakening from their protective Soulvault only to find a world foreign to them.

These are the new soldiers in the final battle against the Oathbreakers that still plague the Eldritch, and the ancient threats from the Outer Spheres. As a stalwart member of the Arcanum, you have a duty to uphold the Four Oaths, and to defend the Silent masses from all of the threats both within and without!

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12

His

toria

chapter one

hiSTOria

inTrODucTiOn

Welcome to the world of the Arcanum. For those of you just joining us, you may have found some magical ability in the recent past,

something that makes you extraordinary. You were what we call “Silent,” but no longer. You’ll find that there are many of you, all curious to know more about the magical world you’re just seeing for the first time. That’s where we come in.

Many years ago, due to a series of unfortunate events, we were faced with a choice. To save the lives of the silent, we the Magisters removed magic from the world. To be safe, many of us went into devices known as Soulvaults. We slept, and waited for the world to need us again.

Now, we are awake, and it is our goal to help you Guttersnipes understand our ways and our culture, and to help you defend against those that wish the members of the Arcanum harm. Tonight is your trial by fire. Something terrible wants into this world, and we need your help to keep it out.

Are you ready?

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