Book of Bone and Ebony

place beneath it, the engine roars into life. Great blackiron
claws grab the creature and shovel it into the engine’s
gaping maw, the gears turn, the levers creak, and the
smokestacks belch thick black clouds. The creature, of
course, is irrevocably killed, its life and soul used to fuel the
creation of a shadowland in Creation.
The spell will create a shadowland centered around the
Forsaken Life Engine with a radius of 50 miles, plus 50 miles
for every additional 10 motes spent in the casting. A
shadowland created by this spell is rarely a perfect circle; the
shape of the shadowland is determined by the local dragon
lines as the engine taints them with the death Essence
released by the mass slaughter it requires to function.
When the spell is cast, the outermost boundaries of
what will become a shadowland darken. The engine must
then be fed a series of living creatures with a total permanent
Essence of no less than 10 times the Essence spent
creating the Forsaken Life Engine. With each life it devours,
the engine becomes a little bit transparent and a
little bit less real. Simultaneously, the outer borders marked
by the spell expand inward. Once it has annihilated the
final required life, the engine disappears entirely, and the
shadowland closes beneath it, complete. If the engine is
destroyed or if the process is not completed by the time the
sun reaches its zenith, the spell fails, and the shadowland
fades completely, as though it had never been.
Until the spell’s conclusion, the engine is susceptible
to attack. The Forsaken Life Engine is a robust creation; it
soaks 22L/30B and must be dealt raw damage greater than
its soak to inflict any damage at all. Damage that surpasses
soak must be rolled. A full 60 health levels of damage must
be inflicted to damage the machine enough that it cannot
function. Obsidian Countermagic will destroy the engine
instantly, while Adamant Countermagic will inflict 10
health levels of damage upon the machine per invocation.
The engine can fight back; the two claws that shovel
sacrifices into its body can be turned against attackers. If
the engine is under attack and has no victims to attend, it
will fight back. If there are sacrifices to process, the engine
will only neglect its duty at the command of its creator.
Treat the machine as a Strength ••••••, Dexterity
••••, Stamina ••••••, Perception ••, Intelligence
••, Wits •••• creature with a relevant combat Ability of
•••. Treat the claws as weapons (see below).
If the Forsaken Life Engine is destroyed, it selfdestructs
in a series of fiery explosions that can launch
fragments of bone and iron up to 500 yards and boiling
141
CHAPTER FIVE • NECROMANCY
blood up to 50. Storytellers are recommended to simulate
these using attacks at the engine’s Dexterity and
Ability until the important targets have escaped the
dangerous region. After the engine’s destruction, the
burgeoning shadowland recedes outward, fading entirely
by the next sunrise.
Up to five properly cowed creatures can be processed
by the Forsaken Life Engine in one minute, or one every
four turns. Resistance will slow the process, subject to
Storyteller discretion. This spell has no effect when cast in
the Underworld.
GRANDMOTHER VOID
Cost: 40 motes, 1 lethal health level
Target: Several spectres
As the caster’s silent entreaties to her masters end, she
speaks two words in Old Realm: a brief summons. Once
spoken, her mouth blackens to the color of the darkest
starless nights. In a slow instant, the color spreads throughout
the necromancer’s body, clothing and equipment until
her entire figure is little more than a silhouette. Then, to
all who watch, she flattens. To all points of view, she has
lost any depth she once possessed and is now an empty
doorway into Oblivion. Then, the spectres come.
Skin shining obsidian in the ambient light, the spectres
gather, entering the world of life through the caster’s
empty frame. Their claws drip red blood, and their teeth
bear tatters of the flesh of men and ghosts. Each spectre is
prepared to wreak havoc in the name of the Malfeans
under the necromancer’s command. While they fight,
they whisper in the voices of the dead gods that they hear
constantly in the back of their heads.
Once the spell has been successfully cast, the necromancer
remains a flat and empty figure for a number of
turns equal to her Essence. Each turn she is in such a state,
two spectres are spawned forth from her being into the
world. The spectres produced by this spell are fully material
and have full Essence pools and health levels. The necromancer
may dictate the statistics and advantages of each
individually as it is spawned as though each were created
as a starting ghost with additional experience equal to (the
caster’s Essence x 7). These spectres should never be
treated as extras. The whispering words that the spectres
constantly repeat are dangerous to ghosts — the players of
any who hear them must roll Willpower + Essence against
a difficulty of 5 to avoid their characters becoming tainted.
See Exalted: The Abyssals, page 284, for more details.
Weapon Speed Accuracy Damage Defense Rate Range
Engine Claws -2 +3 +6L +0 – –
Fragment – +0 +7L – 3 100
Blood – +3 +6L – 1 25