Book of Bone and Ebony

The player of the target of this spell is allowed a
Willpower + Essence roll against a difficulty of 7 while
scenes from the spectre’s life before becoming tainted play
out in shadow. The caster may purchase additional successes
for him at a rate of 3 motes per, up to a maximum of
her Essence. If the roll is a successful, the spectre has been
separated from the whispers of the Malfeans and is freed of
his obsessive obligations toward the Labyrinth, other spectres
and Oblivion. He could, if he desired, return to his
previous afterlife in the Underworld.
A spectre so severed from the Void retains all the
memories and skills from his time as a servant of the
Malfeans, and he will always after have a frightening insight
into the minds of the dead gods. He retains the alterations
made to his ghost flesh, and most rescued servants of the
Void find operating in the societies of the Underworld
difficult, at best, before severe reconstructive moliation.
When cast upon a ghost suffering from the taint of
Oblivion’s Whisper (see Exalted: The Abyssals, p. 284),
this spell completely expunges from him that black shadow
upon his soul. All his tainted Passions are cleansed.
The Twilights of the First Age utilized this spell to
learn the secrets of the Labyrinth and of the Malfeans,
using what secrets they could glean to develop further
spells of necromancy. The most kind-hearted would occasionally
enter the Labyrinth on missions of kindness,
freeing as many spectres as possible before returning to
Creation. In the Age of Sorrows, Deathlords have sent
ghostly agents into the Labyrinth to become spectres with
the knowledge that they can be recovered using Golden
Shadows Cast in Frieze. This sort of reconnaissance against
the masters of the Void is rare, even for the most paranoid
and scheming, for most believe that the Malfeans can
sense the loss of a spectre in this way.
GRAY EYES SHIELD AND SHELL
Cost: 25 motes
Target: Varies
The necromancer crouches, and when she arises, she
is rubbing her hands with the gray dust that is everywhere
in the Underworld. Mixing it with a dash of spit and
blood from her lip, she dabs her eyes with the concoction.
When she next opens them, her eyes are both a dull gray
in color, entirely unremarkable. More so, her entire
image is struck by a pallor, anything vivid about her
becoming less exciting, more drab.
Her shield of gray eyes bars a ghost from affecting her
with any manner of Arcanoi. Skinriders cannot grasp a
hold of her, the phantasms of the dead appear transparent
and listless to her bored gaze, and ghosts cannot steal her
Essence. A ghost’s self-moliation is the only thing that can
affect her, and even then, she is immune to any mental
effects. It is only the great claws and teeth that can pull at
her flesh. Ghosts who peer at the necromancer with the
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CHAPTER FIVE • NECROMANCY
Arcanos Aura-Reading Technique (see Exalted: The
Abyssals, p. 245) see only a dull gray aura, meaningless
and unreadable.
Alternatively, as the spell is completed, the caster
may choose to instead expend its power in an instant. She
casts her gaze upon a single pitiable ghost, and her gray eyes
flash, glowing with the pearly gray light of the spell. Her
player rolls Wits + Occult with an additional three successes
— if the necromancer’s victim fails to dodge, he is
struck unable to use his Arcanoi. Any effects currently
operating cease, and he is unable to begin new ones.
Either effect lasts until the Calendar of Setesh next
marks midnight.
INFINITE FOOTSTEPS
Cost: 26 motes
Target: One journey
Standing within the edge of the dead gods’ dreams,
the necromancer throws out her arm and splays her fingers
wide. The Labyrinth around her bends and stretches, a
small portion of the Malfeans’ slow nightmares bending to
her will. From her outstretched arm flies an infinite hallway
of the Labyrinth’s black stone, shored up by the
shining white ribcages of long-dead giants.
The passageway is broad enough for seven of the
animate dead to stagger abreast, and the echoes of footfalls
disappear into the distance. This passage, carved by necromantic
influence, directly connects any two points of the
Labyrinth that the caster has previously visited or scried.
No matter where they may be relative to the Underworld
above, travel between the two points takes one full day of
travel. Speedier methods of transport will not alter this
time. The tunnel will remain for a number of days equal to
the necromancer’s Essence, after which it is as likely to
disappear as any other portion of the Labyrinth. It may
remain for a second or a century before it dissolves to make
room for a new dream.
This spell causes a sizable rearrangement of the
Labyrinth’s physical and temporal representations. Although
the effect avoids running through existing inhabited
locations, it often comes shockingly close. The nephwracks
and mortwights who call such places home may, at the
Storyteller’s discretion, take offense at such actions and
attempt to make passage difficult.
JOYLESS SPIRIT’S CORRUPTION
Cost: 30 motes
Target: One god
This spell is a ritual that completes a corrupt spirit’s
transition from being a god of the world of the living to a god
of the land of the dead. Only the most foul and base spirits
of decay or death ever choose to follow this route, but there
are some exceptions who have made that choice: Fou Tung,
Transcendence of Brigands’ Passing, is the most notable