THE LOGRUS

Basic Logrus

Cost : 45 points; cannot be bought partially

[A power which is apparently the Chaos equivalent of the Pattern, and which has a distinctly unpleasant psychic 'odour', at least to Amberites.]

PRE-REQUISITES : Basic Shapeshifting, Psyche and Endurance of over Amber rank (i.e. it is actually harder to assay the Logrus than walk the Pattern; this is essentially to provide a justification of why there are not vast numbers of Logrus initiates in Chaos).

The Logrus is not something which is walked, like the Pattern. Instead it is a three-dimensional mass of writhing black tendrils which is assayed by studying it until one comes to understand the way in which it functions. The Madness of the Logrus usually manifests itself as catatonia, into which the new Logrus user falls when they have understood the Logrus. The time they stay catatonic is the way in which the human mind comes to integrate the new knowledge of the Logrus into itself so that it can be used. The length of this time depends on their Psyche; with Psyche below the minimum limit, the person never comes out of their catatonic state. If the person trying to assay the Logrus does not have the minimum Endurance, then they die of exhaustion from the large amount of shapeshifting which assaying the Logrus forces upon them. This interpretation of the Logrus is a get-out from having to worry about the madness of the Logrus during a game, as no game I've played in, and not many I know of, deal with the madness of the Logrus at all.

Because of the Psyche and Endurance limitations on this power, Logrus is quite a rare ability in Chaos, and a number of people there go mad or die each Turning while trying to assay it.

At the basic level, a Logrus user can only summon up and control a single Logrus tendril to actively do their bidding, though they can still summon up many 'tiny' passive tendrils when searching or sensing for something. One of these can be 'pumped up' into an active tendril to grab a found thing.

There is no Logrus Lens/Logrus Sight; passive Logrus tendrils are sensitive to power and Psyche (much more so than Psyche alone) and transmit touch, but all sensations they transmit are touch based not sight based. Power of any kind cannot be transmitted down basic Logrus tendrils. As with the Pattern a Logrus user is not sensitive to the nature of the shadow they are in in anything other than the most basic fashion.

When travelling through shadow using the Logrus, most of the time taken is spent searching for the destination with Logrus tendrils; once a tendril has locked on it takes no more than minutes to 'reel it in', pulling yourself to the destination. Of course, if using the Logrus to get to somewhere one can actually see in the same shadow, this allows what is effectively teleportation. The more real a shadow is (as around Amber) the harder it is to force Logrus tendrils through the shadow walls around it.

Logrus users can carry as much mass with them when travelling via the Logrus as they could lift with it by physically manifesting a Logrus tendril. However, carrying much more than the clothes on ones back takes considerably more effort than otherwise.

Using the Logrus to search for items or creatures of power the length of time spent searching (and obviously the number of points in the thing searched for) is limited by ones Endurance. The Logrus user cannot stop part way through and restart later; it must all be done in one go.

As with Pattern defence, Logrus defence takes too long to really perform in combat, and requires so much concentration as to severely restrict ones effective Warfare. This is the case with both physical and mental Logrus defence.

Summoning the Logrus in order to use offensively takes considerably less effort than doing so defensively, but it still reduces ones effective Warfare. The Logrus can only be used offensively in a line-of-sight manner; this can be either using the basic active tendril (with strength equal to Psyche) to hit, grapple or throw, or forming it into a weapon (in which case they use ones Strength). In either case Warfare is the main factor determining whether one hits or not.

Advanced Logrus

Cost : 70+ points

PRE-REQUISITES : Ranked Psyche and Endurance; a lot of experience with Basic Logrus.

Logrus links into the very thin layer of roiling Chaos (like the Abyss) in Shadow boundaries and manipulates that.

ENHANCED SENSITIVITY - the Logrus user has learned to increase the sensitivity of their Logrus tendrils to essentially everything (though not all at once), within the area about themselves. The Logrus user has to specify what they are sensing for at the start, but once the Logrus has been summoned it can be 're-tuned' to different things.

CHANNEL POWER - this ability allows one to channel the energies of the Logrus along tendrils and into a target; this makes them much more effective against (for example) magical effects, either by disrupting them with the Logrus, or draining the power from them.

MANIPULATE SHADOW BARRIERS - this includes the summoning of 'Primal Chaos' by tearing open shadow boundaries in an uncontrolled fashion. This power cannot change shadow properties (this is why Ways are built from shadow fragments) but can move shadows around, and manipulate their boundaries, including performing such tasks as cleaving shadows into fragments, like a jewel.