Symbiosis Of The Burning Heart
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By Norr-SabaNorr-Saba

As chance would have it you encountered the enigmatic being known as C’Al Siphar, The Forger of Paths, who hides from all for his own protection, only occasionally venturing out from his hidden domicile close to the pole of flame when the desire to shine in the sky draws him forth. Perhaps you were guided by apocryphal legends of the Demon of Benevolent Flame who sought to help the world despite his origin. Maybe you chanced upon him in a moment of vulnerability as The Star of The Morning fell from the sky, as he is always fated to do. It is even possible that the being sought you out himself, sensing within you an opportunity to have an impact upon the world once more, and to serve as one of its many protectors and creators of great works. Regardless of the circumstances, you have made a pact with a demon of fire, binding your soul and fate to his and both of you are changed for the pairing.

Shaping Rituals

The sorcerer's power to shape the essence of the world comes from the bond that they share with their demonic symbiote. Once per day the sorcerer may benefit from this bond by by spending a scene socializing with C'al-Siphar, if they commit a WP point while doing so then they gain SM equal to the level of the intimacy of the sorcerer towards the demon added to level of the demons intimacy towards the sorcery multiplied by 2 until the end of the day.
Socializing can be represented by either communicating with the demon, feeding them from the sorcerer's own table, literally breathing out the heat of one's breath upon them, or anything else that the ST rules as appropriate.
This calculation can be represented as ((si + di)2)

The life of the sorcerer and the life of C'al-Siphar are linked from the time that they first make the bond of symbiosis together until the time that they are separated by some means. If the one feels pain, the other will feel it, if the one feels relief, that too will be translated to their counterpart, and if one is to die, the other will soon follow. While C’al-Siphar is protected most often in his sanctum, the same is not true for his sorcerer host. During times of peril the demon seeks to bolster the chances of his host and while in combat, for every level of damage a sorcerer suffers they gain 2 sorcerous motes.

As a former second circle soul hiding in creation, C'al-Siphar is well familiar with the feeling of desperation. The sorcerer, likewise able to feel this desperation through their symbiotic link, has learned to master this feeling to their own benefit. In a moment of desperation the solar may burn an object on their person that they have an intimacy towards that is tied to another intimacy they possess. Doing so consumes the intimacy they had towards the object and downgrades the intimacy that was tied to it. In return they receive SM equal to the intensity of the intimacy they had to the object added to the (original) intensity of the intimacy that the objects intimacy was tied to, to be used immediately. This shaping ritual may only be used if the sm's gained would cause the immediate completion of the spell they were working

Other Benefits

Burning Aspect (Merit •••):
Forging deep bonds of friendship with their demon symbiote, the sorcerer’s very nature is colored by the experience, taking on a visage of flame, all their workings, the physical manifestations of their spells, and all of their essence (including their anima) becomes aspected by fire, flames naturally grow more or less powerful around them at their command, and a sorcerer who purchases this merit may also use it to make an (occult+Intellect) roll to magically disguise themselves as a generic version of a flame aspected being, by projecting an aura of flame around them. This disguise can mimic the form of Flame Elementals to flame aspected Dragon Blooded and even a flame aspected Demon Of The First Circle who has a connection to C'Al Siphar.
This Disguise Action takes the form of a contested roll, with the Sorcerer being affected by penalties based on the difficulty of the disguise and the contesting parting gaining bonuses on the roll based on their familiarity with the form being attempted.

  • The Difficulty Penalty for the roll is determined by the level of difference between the sorcerers native form and the form they are trying to mimic, with the attempt to simply appear as themselves but a version of themselves that is a flame aspected being having no penalty, and an attempt to appear as a specific species of flame aspected being suffering a -2 dice penalty for every degree away from the sorcerer's native form as determined by the ST, with the degrees of difference being somewhat, very, and extremely different, for a maximum possible dice penalty of -6.
  • The Bonus dice granted to the contestor of the disguise role is determined by their level of familiarity with the subject that the sorcerer is attempting to mimic, as determined by the ST, the levels of familiarity similarly being not at all familiar, somewhat familiar, very familiar, and extremely familiar with the bonus dice being granted being 0, 1, 3, and 5 respectively.

If the contesting party exceeds the sorcerers roll they do not know the sorcerers true nature, but they know that they are not who or what they appear to be. This roll can be supplemented by larceny charms and social influence.

(in the case of an exalted, although the effects of the burning aspect will add flame aspects to their anima, it will not be able to mask the true nature of it, most obviously for those exalts who possess iconic animas, in which case their iconic animas will be as usual but surrounded in flames. For this reason the disguise ability can only be used when the exalt is not flaring)

(The Sanctuary Of Paths •••••):
With the purchase of this merit the sorcerer gains access to The Sanctuary Of The Paths, an artifact forged in the first age by C'al-Siphar with the aid of the demons first solar host, which serves as the creation bound sanctuary of the demon C’al-Siphar. The Sanctuary functions as a fully automated mobile fortress which the sorcerer is capable of forming evocations with, and is powered by the demonic energies of C’al-Siphar’s flames and the bond between symbiote and host,. When this merit is first purchased the sanctuary takes the shape that the sorcerer desires, limited to being a heavy vehicle of varying internal and exterior dimensions, appearances, and non-offensive functions depending on the sorcerer’s needs, but whatever shape it takes, it must include a hearth and a workshop for C'al-Siphar to dwell in.

First Evocation: Unlocking the fecund ingenuity of both the sorcerer and the demon through the strength of their bond, the two gain the ability to perform a sorcerous working of the terrestrial level ambition 1, as the ability to transform is already hardwired into the sanctuary itself, to recalibrate the functions and the shape of the fortress, unlocking the form of both an airship or, in more unusual circumstances, a boat.
Upon completion of the recalibration, if this is not the first time that the sanctuary has been recalibrated using a sorcerous working, the experience points spent to hold the sanctuary to its previous shape are returned, but a new recalibration can not be started unless the sorcerer has enough xp already at her disposal at the time that the working starts.

Second Evocation: Unlocking The Paths- The solar gains access to C’al-Siphar’s ability to create "paths" (technically folds between the interplanar space between two fixed points), able to have 4 locations that they can go to from within the sanctuary (at the st’s discretion), and can only be reconfigured when the sanctuary itself is reconfigured.

Third Evocation: Bigger on the inside?- Just as C'al Siphar is capable of folding the interplanar space between fixed points to create what mimics instantaneous travel, the space inside the sanctuary can likewise be folded, removing limitation imposed on the interior of the vehicle by its external size.

Form Of The Demon Bird (Merit ••):
Upon purchasing this merit the sorcerer gains the ability to take on the form similar to one of C’al-Ciphar’s first circle offspring in a way that mimics lunar shapeshifting with the only limitation being that the Rijal Al'Ghurban being the only form that they can adopt. The sorcerer may assume the demon's form by spending 4 motes and the transformation lasts indefinitely until the sorcerer reverts to their true form (which is free and reflexive).
Similarly this grants the sorcerer access to all of the Ghurban's physical dice pools, as well as the demon's special attacks and Merits, including their ability to project a protective shield against the effects of the wyld, the underworld, and malfease around themselves and up to two others.

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