Broken Pattern Imprint

This is a complicated topic but it bears close examination. It is said that Shadow breeds powerful sorcerers at either end of shadow. If the person is powerful & they do not have Pattern Imprint it is a fair bet they have Broken Pattern imprint or a flawed logrus imprint.

The Broken Pattern is a shadow of the Pattern of Amber cast during the three times the pattern has been defaced. The first time occurred in antiquity and it was a relatively minor wounding. The details are not clear and not public knowledge. Sorcerers call it Oberon's Wounding. The second time was during the reign of Oberon and was done by Dworkin, to prove to Oberon that he knew how to destroy the pattern. This is called Dworkin's Wounding. The Third was the wounding of Martin by Brand in the opening phases of the Patternfall War. This is called Martin's Wounding.

Each Wounding has cast 3 powerful, walkable, shadows. Each of the three allow an opportunity for shadow sorcerers to gain great power and use sorcery & conjuration on the highest scale, only overshadowed by the full imprints of the powers themselves. Each has powers in proportion to the damage the pattern sustained at the time of it's marring. The properties of the Broken Patterns are generally similar to each other, despite the difference in power levels. The more of the pattern defaced the less power accessible. Differences in the Broken Patterns will be discussed later.

Sorcery & conjuration based on the Pattern Imprint & on the Broken Pattern Imprint are the same in structure, semantics, and research. An Amberite sorcerer with a Broken Pattern Imprint who walks the Pattern of Amber need not learn new magic. It is the same.

A similar phenomenon is the Flawed Logrus. This is detailed elsewhere.

There is a considerable difference between Broken Pattern Imprint & Shade. In short the Broken Pattern Imprint is of a higher order of power than Shade patterns due to the fact that even missing a section they are still more true shadows of the actual pattern then shade patterns.

This gets even more complicated when it is realized as Broken Pattern is a shadow of the true pattern, so each Shade may have broken patterns of their own, as well as shades of their own. The details of quantifying the details of the "Main Trunk Shades", "Branch Shades", " Trunk Shade Broken Patterns", "Branch Shade Broken Patterns", "Broken Pattern Branch Woundings", and a series of variations takes the lives of ancient sorcerers to understand.

There is a general establishment of terms called the Orders of Magnitude that is based on the amount of power 'throughput' or 'driving force' a imprint can deliver to a specific spell at each level. Multitude of variations in the shadows of patterns, broken patterns, and shades; as well as the various other initiations and imprints, such as the Sigil At Riess, can be compared and ranked by the amount of driving force the imprint can deliver to a specific spell.

The Three Initiations of the Broken Patterns

Attribute Tips for Broken Pattern

Psyche is the most important attribute for Broken Pattern Imprint, because not only is it important for manipulating Pattern and Shadow, but it also is the attribute that allows you to detect how the Break in the Pattern manifests in your Shadow manipulations. Don't neglect Endurance, however, as a minimum Endurance is required to walk even the Broken Pattern without assistance.

Broken Pattern Abilities

Initiates of the Broken Pattern have almost all of the abilities that those with Pattern Imprint have, but at an inferior level. In addition, all initiates of the Broken Pattern have a dangerous weakness which inhibits their powers, making them easy game for a true Pattern initiate, with Pattern Imprint. The three imprints have different power levels. Martin's Wounding is the least of the three.

The Break in the Pattern

Adepts of the Broken Pattern have the Broken Pattern imprinted on them, just as those with Pattern Imprint have the Pattern imprinted on them. However, those that walk the Broken Pattern have an imperfect image imprinted on them. Every time they use the power of the Broken Pattern, that Break in the Pattern is with them. Thus, when they Shadow walk, the Break follows them wherever they go. Every spell a Broken Pattern initiate casts has the Break within it. Any Shadow a Broken Pattern initiate seeks out on their own will be imperfect (failing to conform to the initiate's desire) in some way.

The larger the Break in the Pattern, the greater the flaw in the initiates powers. Once the Broken Pattern has been traversed, the Broken Pattern is imprinted upon the initiate, and, though the initiate may walk a different Broken Pattern, the initiates imprint will never change.

Treat the Break as a specialized form of Bad Stuff, which only applies when you are using your Broken Pattern powers. For a small Break, treat as 5 points of Bad Stuff, for a medium sized Break, 10 points, and for a large Break 15 points. Broken Pattern initiates tend to hit the worst of hellriding routes, and those with a large Break may have to go far out of their way to avoid falling into the Break as it accompanies them.

 

Traveling through Shadow

Initiates of the Broken Pattern are not as good at traveling through Shadow as real Pattern adepts, and cannot make even small changes without moving a significant distance. It takes an initiate of the Broken Pattern roughly twice as much movement to elicit the same amount of changes as someone with Pattern Imprint.

In addition, Shadow walking is much more dangerous for initiates of the Broken Pattern, as the Break in the Pattern manifests around them wherever they travel. The Break moves around as they travel through Shadows, and though they can see the Break, they never know where around them the Break in the Pattern will be. Without warning, the Break can show up directly in front of the Broken Pattern initiate, and if the initiate steps into the Break, she will lay herself over to the domination of Chaos or worse. Thus, initiates of the Broken Pattern usually travel much slower among Shadows than those with Pattern Imprint.

Strengthening Shadow

Broken Pattern initiates do not have a strong enough imprint of the Pattern to truly make the Shadows they stay in more real. So long as the initiate is within the Shadow, the Shadow will be slightly strengthened. However, as soon as the initiate leaves, the Shadow will return to its original strength. No matter how long a Broken Pattern initiate stays in a Shadow, the Shadow itself will not become any more real, and once the initiate leaves, the Shadow will be just as strong or weak of a Shadow as it was when the initiate arrived.

Because of this initiates of the Broken Patterns can not acquire shadows as Amberites do.

 

Affecting Probability

Unlike those with Pattern Imprint, initiates of the Broken Pattern cannot affect probability in a Shadow. Instead, they must actively move to a different Shadow to get things to change.

Broken Pattern Defense

This works much like Pattern Defense for someone with Pattern Imprint, except that the Pattern has a Break in it, making the initiate vulnerable to those who can sense the Break. Anyone who studies the initiate with Logrus Sight or Pattern Lens can see the Break, and attack through the Broken Pattern Defense with no resistance.

 

Dying on the Broken Pattern

You can die on the Broken Pattern, too. Any step onto a line of the Pattern, and the Broken Pattern initiate will be destroyed. And, as with the real Pattern, any initiate of the Broken Pattern without the Endurance to succeed will die in the attempt.

Sorcery of the Broken Pattern

Initiates of the Broken Pattern may learn the powerful Sorcery practiced by Amberites and members of the Courts of Chaos. This is the greatest benefit to mortals of walking the Broken Pattern. Just as the Pattern provides power to the sorcery of an Amberite, and the Logrus provides power to the sorcery of a Lord of Chaos, the Broken Pattern provides power to the sorcery of a Broken Pattern Initiate.

The forms and doctrines of Sorcery are the same despite the imprint powering it. A broken pattern sorcerer who gains the amber pattern imprint can immediately begin using sorcery based on it. As well as continuing to use Broken Pattern spells.

However, the spells of initiates of the Broken Pattern have the Break in the Pattern within them. Spells always contain this flaw, which will manifest itself in some way. Spells cast by Broken Pattern initiates are always inferior to the counterparts cast by those with Pattern Imprint or Logrus Mastery, and will always be considered to be one rank worse than normal in a contest of Psyche. In addition, this Break is fairly easy for a sorcerer with Logrus Sight or Pattern Lens to detect, if they know what to look for. Once anyone with Logrus Sight or Pattern Lens has looked at the spell of a Broken Pattern initiate, the spell can dispelled, without a contest of Psyche.

Also, an initiate with both a broken pattern imprint & an Amber Imprint can not combine spells. They do not mix well with each other.

Hanging Spells on the Broken Pattern

The Broken Pattern adept can hang spells in the Broken Pattern. However, as with all Broken Pattern manipulations, this is dangerous. The more spells an adept hangs, the more likely it is that a spell will come into contact with the Break in the Pattern. As soon as any spell hung comes into contact with the Break in the Pattern, all the spells hung on the Broken Pattern are released, except the spell which came into contact with the Break, which vanishes. When the spells are released, the adept is knocked unconscious, and the spells are released uncontrolled. When the adept awakens, the Pattern's Price will manifest strongly for a time.

The limit to the number of spells that can be hung is 10. However, the more spells hung, the greater the chance that the Break will be hit. It is usually safe to hang 5, 3, and 1 spell if the adept has a small, medium sized, or large Break, respectively. Beyond that and it gets risky.

 

Walking the True Pattern

Initiates of the Broken Pattern may be of the blood of Amber. They gain the great boon of being able to raise the sign of either the pattern of Amber or the Broken Pattern. Although an initiate of the Broken Pattern can only bear to have one such imprint.

Advanced Broken Pattern Imprint

Yes, it is possible to get advanced Broken Pattern powers. It is likely that those with enough power to gain this level of power with the Broken Pattern have the Blood of Amber flowing within their veins, though the relation may be very distant.

Attribute tips For Advanced Broken Pattern Imprint

Psyche is all-important.

Abilities of Advanced Broken Pattern Imprint

Walking the Pattern of the Mind

This is required, as it is for Advanced Pattern Imprint. However, it is more dangerous, as it is possible for the Broken Pattern adept to make a mistake, hitting the Break in the Pattern. This usually only happens when the adept is fatigued or distracted, but when it happens, the adept is knocked out, and the image of the Broken Pattern falls from the adept's mind.

Sensitivity to Logrus

This works exactly as it does for Advanced Pattern Imprint, except that when the Logrus contacts the Broken Pattern, the adept is extremely fatigued, and the image of the Broken Pattern automatically falls from the adept's mind. If the power of the Logrus is extremely strong (overwhelming Psyche superiority), the image of the Broken Pattern may be driven from the adept completely, requiring the adept to walk the Broken Pattern again before any Broken Pattern powers can be used again.

Looking through the Broken Pattern Lens

This works as it does for Advanced Pattern Imprint, except that the Break in the Pattern manifests itself in a blind spot in the adepts Lens. Certain things will simply not be visible to the Broken Pattern adept through the Broken Pattern Lens. There is usually no rhyme or reason to what is left out, but the blind spot will sometimes manifest to miss things which the adept subconsciously does not wish to see (such as things which would be frightening or which would conflict with the adepts beliefs). Even worse, the Broken Pattern Lens will occasionally show things which are not true, such as showing a card to be a Trump, when it is really just a regular playing card, or showing someone to have the blood of Amber, when they really have the blood of Chaos.

In addition, the Broken Pattern Lens is not as sensitive as the true Pattern Lens, and is more likely to miss traces of things than the true Pattern Lens. The Broken Pattern Lens also usually takes longer to employ than the true Pattern Lens, as the adept has to look at things for a few moments before the lens comes fully into focus.

Shadow Manipulations

The Advanced Broken Pattern adept has more control over Shadow manipulation than a regular Broken Pattern initiate, and is able to achieve results in the same time as someone with basic Pattern Imprint. However, unlike someone with Advanced Pattern Imprint, the Advanced Broken Pattern adept cannot create Shadow pockets, detect or disguise traces of Shadow (though detection is possible with the Broken Pattern Lens), manipulate Shadow without moving, Pattern travel by walking the Broken Pattern of the mind, perform Pattern editing, or erase Shadows.

However, the Advanced Broken Pattern adept can perform a special sort of Pattern editing. The Advanced Broken Pattern adept may force her imprint of the Broken Pattern upon a Shadow, forcing that Shadow to conform to the Broken Pattern. This has the effect of introducing the adepts Break in the Pattern into the Shadow in some form. The Advanced Broken Pattern adept can never choose how the Break manifests itself; she can only force the Break to manifest, causing the Shadow to manifest some flaw. The Shadow will not take on the flaw immediately, but will change to conform over the course of one-week Amber time (so if the time stream is different, the flaw will take more or less time than a week to manifest).

This Flawing of a Shadow is tenuous, though, and anyone with Advanced Pattern Imprint will notice the flaw as soon as the Shadow is entered or viewed with the Pattern Lens, and may change the Shadow back to normal. Any influence of Pattern on the Shadow for 24 hours or more (such as the presence of someone with Pattern Imprint) will cause the Shadow to revert to normal, though the change may take some time, as the original warping did.

If an Advanced Broken Pattern Adept makes a mistake while imposing the flaw, the Shadow will be permanently damaged, but so will the adept. The Shadow will have a hole ripped in it, which can only be mended by someone with Advanced Pattern Imprint, and the Advanced Broken Pattern adept will be physically wounded (the size of the wound corresponding to the size of the Break), and the Pattern's Price will permanently grow stronger. The adept can choose to cause this permanent rift if desired, and suffer the consequences. 

The Blood Curse of an Advanced Broken Pattern Adept

Advanced Broken Pattern adepts have a strong enough imprint of the Broken Pattern to be able to utter a blood curse, just like those with the blood of Amber. However, the Broken Pattern adepts curse is more draining than that of an Amberite, costing the Broken Pattern adept her life in all cases. However, this curse is weaker than that of an Amberite, because no matter what the curse, the Break in the Pattern manifests itself in the curse as well, providing some way for the target of the curse to break the curse. There will always be some action that the target of the curse can perform to break the curse. How the target of the curse can find out what action is required is up to the GM, who probably will have a pretty good idea for a quest before the curse is even uttered.