Because I generally discount the second series of Amber books in writing my Amber material, and because the Logrus only appears as a power in the second series, I am dubious about including it as a power in any game I might run. For that reason, I have come up with some alternatives to it.
So far there are three alternative sets of powers which could be used by the Courts of Chaos instead of the Logrus:
Click on the power names to return to the top of the page. Clicking on the names of the parts of the powers will return to the top of the power itself.
The Black Pathways power comes in two levels of knowledge, the basic and the advanced. This section also contains an example of how this power might be used in practise.
Cost : 30 points
PRE-REQUISITES : Psyche of Chaos or above.
An alternative replacement to Logrus, involving the creation and control of black pathways from the raw stuff of chaos, to carry one through shadow. It is something which was much more powerful before the Pattern was drawn, but which the creation of shadow has rendered much weaker than the Pattern, though still not without its uses.
Unlike the Logrus, it includes no ability to rack spells.
Unlike both Pattern and Logrus, it is a learned ability, rather than something one assays. It is hard to learn (much harder than, for example, Sorcery), and as such is quite a rare skill in Chaos.
As a power it works better in or near Chaos than elsewhere, where the Shadow veils are weak and easy to penetrate. It works best in raw chaos of the form which existed before the Pattern was drawn (and which still exists inside shadow veils), when there were no actual shadow veils at all. The Abyss is not such raw chaos. It is a distilled or compressed form which even most Chaosites cannot handle (though there may be some who can).
This power divides into the following areas, which must be learnt in the order of indentation shown:
Cost : 40 points
PRE-REQUISITES : Ranked Psyche, a lot of experience with Basic Black Pathways.
Extensions to the basic Black Pathways power, only learnt by a few in Chaos. They divide into the following areas, which must be learnt in the order of indentation shown:
I'm sure you've noticed that this power has no ability to create things like Ways. This is quite intentional. Perhaps the players of my game will discover the why of it one day.
In this game the Black Pathways power (though it is not known under that name here) appears to be gained by the contemplation of an object which has become known as the 'Impossagon'. The impossagon was obtained at the time of the mass suicide of the Courts of Chaos. It came in a dodecahedral case with a carrying handle. The case is covered in a heavy blue-black hide, like coarse leather, with white metal joints along all the edges.
Those with Advanced Pattern can sense that there is something Real inside the case, something which bears a great deal of resemblance to the Black Road. The case has no lock, and inside, in a hollow lined with blue-black velvet (the same colour as the hide covering the case), is a glossy black regular solid - the impossagon itself. Its surface looks as if it is swirling and shifting, without actually moving.
The only strange thing is that the impossagon appears to be an impossible regular solid - one with an odd number of sides (by a regular solid I mean a three-dimensional object all of whose sides are flat and identical, in the same way that all the sides of a cube - a regular 6-sided solid - are identical). It is as real as the Jewel of Judgement, though it feels weak and very old, as if damaged somehow. It would probably survive being taken to Amber, but there is some concern that it might react badly to the close proximity of the Pattern, perhaps damage it.
The impossagon randomly changes form when it is not being looked at. It can be anything from a three-sided regular solid (a trihedron), through five-, seven-, nine-, eleven-, and thirteen-sided regular solids (a pentahedron, heptahedron, nonahedron, undecahedron and tridecahedron respectively) to a fifteen-sided regular solid (a quindecahedron).
One gains the power of Black Pathways by concentrating on changing and controlling the number of sides of the impossagon. When one masters how to make it change its number of sides to the number one wants, while one watches, one has attuned to it and has learnt how to twist and move ones way through shadow, wriggling through the shadow veils. It takes someone with Advanced Pattern about thirty seconds to figure out how to do this, and someone with basic Pattern a couple of minutes. However, attuning to the impossagon does not give one any abilities one does not already possess at a much higher level after having walked the Pattern.
The main advantage of the impossagon over the Pattern, though, is that anyone can learn how to use it - not just those of Amber or Chaos blood.
Like the Pattern, the impossagon also gives one the gift of speaking in tongues. As with the Pattern, however, it only allows communication in languages which are related to or shadows of Thari.
Cost : 50 points
PRE-REQUISITES : Basic Shapeshifting, the Matter Moulding path of Advanced Shapeshifting, a ranked Psyche and Endurance. The Fluid Flesh enhancement to Shapeshifting does affect the use of this power, making it both easier and faster to use, but it is not an essential pre-requisite for it.
Another alternative replacement to Logrus, involving the extension of the shapeshifting of things other than oneself beyond matter and shadow matter, down beyond the physical into the very structure of a reality, then many and any realities. The allows one to both manipulate and travel between shadows. It is the shapeshifting of shadow itself and the space between shadows (the shadow veils).
This power has been play-tested in the 'Now These Her Princes Are Come Home Again' game, and it seems to be reasonably well balanced, and work reasonably well.
This power divides into the following areas, which must be learnt in the order of indentation shown:
A new power replacing both Shapeshifting and the Logrus.
The ever-changing environment of Chaos is too varied for any sane creature to cope with. It quite quickly drives everything with a mind of any kind insane as they attempt to cope with the way things and perceptions shift and change there. Consciousness fragments and shatters into schizophrenia. Even so, such mad entities are limited to a small range of environments, those that their bodies can handle.
The very maddest and strongest entities of Chaos refuse to accept reality as it is, and in rejecting it, become immune to it, even able to change it around them. This allows them to adapt to more extreme environments, and gives them the basic form of this power.
As the strength and madness of the Chaosite increases this power can develop in two ways as they gain a deeper madness. Some Chaosites, by the power of their will alone, become able to change reality around them, externalsing their insanity. Others, again by sheer willpower, become able to warp themselves to match their environment, giving them a Chaos-based form of Shapechanging. They use their will to force changes onto themselves and internalise their madness. Their shattered minds impress their views and their ability to survive onto their bodies. As such the power is a form of powerful schizophrenia imposed on physical Reality or the world around them.
All of this works better the more UnReal the shadow the being with the power is in.
'Training' is not, perhaps, the word to be used for the teaching of this power to younger Chaosites. Lovingly tailored abuse from an early age would probably be a better description of the way in which those of Chaos are initiated into this power. For this reason I am not sure if it would work as a player character power.
Note that this power has not, as yet, been play-tested, so I have no idea how balanced, or otherwise, it may actually be.
Cost : 20 points
PRE-REQUISITES : Psyche and Endurance of Amber or above.
This is the initial level of the power, and must be gained before anything else. With this, the character is immune to the ever-changing environment of Chaos and hostile environments in general. They simply refuse to let the environment affect them, imposing their will on themselves and the world close to them to ignore its effects on themselves. They can, however, still be affected by attacks, which are too sudden for them to refuse.
This is effectively an intrinsic version of the 'Mould Shadow Environment' Creature or Item Power.
Cost : 95 points
PRE-REQUISITES : Ranked Psyche and Endurance.
There are two paths that the madness of the individual can take from here. It is entirely possible for the same character to travel both paths, with the correct training.
Externalise Madness
Cost : 60 points
PRE-REQUISITES : Ranked Psyche and Endurance.
Some Chaosites, by the power of their will alone, become able to change reality around them. This includes the ability to warp worlds around them, changing physical objects and, at higher levels, the properties of shadow itself. It also allows them to move through shadow. It does not include any ability to sense the properties of shadow, as the initiate is ignoring them anyway, whatever they are. All of these abilities work better and faster the more UnReal the shadow the being with the power is in.
- WARP SURROUNDINGS (20 points) - the Chaosite has moved beyond simply ignoring the environment around them, to the level where they can warp the matter and energy within it to whatever ends they wish. This includes the ability to change physical objects and creatures into desired forms, though this requires either a willing target or a Psyche advantage. The more drastic the change, the larger the area to be affected and the more Real the shadow, the longer it takes. The more powerful the mind of the initiate, the more quickly the change happens. This power also includes the ability to Empower Qualities and Powers into creature and things with the normal time restrictions.
- WARP LAW (5 points) - the initiate can not merely warp the matter and energy around them, but reach beyond that to affect the deeper structure of the shadow they are in. They can thus simply 'wish' the properties of shadow to be whatever they desire. These changes are temporary, and only last until the Chaosite stops maintaining them for whatever reason. This includes their leaving the area.
- CHANGE LAW (5 points) - the initiate can now permanently change the deeper structure and properties of the shadow around them.
- OPEN PATH (20 points) - the Chaosite can, by simply willing to travel to a destination, cause shadow to warp and change around them towards that end. They move through shadow without having to physically move, the place they are standing effectively flowing towards their desired destination, shadow veils opening and closing around them as they go. They can carry others along with them when do this, but multiple initiates concentrating on different destinations can seriously disrupt one another's efforts; the person with the stronger mind will win in this case. This power also allows physical transportation within a single shadow.
- OPEN ROAD (10 points) - the Chaosite can permanently affect the shadow veils as they pass through them, making permanent roads through shadow. The Black Road is an example of this.
Internalise Madness
Cost : 35 points
PRE-REQUISITES : Ranked Psyche and Endurance.
Other Chaosites, again by sheer willpower, become able to impose their will, not on the world around them, but instead on their own bodies. They become able to warp themselves to match their environment. Their shattered minds impress their views and their ability to survive onto their bodies and at higher levels includes the ability to become immune to damage. Unlike the externalisation of madness, this power is largely independent of the Reality of the shadow the initiate is in.
- UNLOCK FORMS (10 points) - the Chaosite's will becomes sufficiently powerful and flexible that each of their aspects and personalities warps their body to match their own self-image whenever they become dominant. Precisely how many of these aspects and personalities there depends on the individual in question, but there are likely to be many of them. Each aspect tends to have a fixed form. How much control there may be over the changes between aspects and personalities again depends on the individual. With limited control changes may take longer as the Chaosite's aspects fight one another for dominance. This again depends on the individual.
- WARP BODY (10 points) - the Chaosite can now consciously control their self-image to the point of being able to change it, and by doing so impose those changes on their physical body. This allows for essentially any kind of change to take place, although more drastic changes take longer, and are harder to achieve. They are also subject to the Chaosite being distracted, which can send the change 'off-course'.
- PROTECTIVE MADNESS (5 points) - the Chaosite, faced with more than they can handle either physically or mentally, simply lets their madness go free, and their body goes wild as it attempts to survive however it can. This is basically the equivalent of Primal Form.
- IGNORE DAMAGE (10 points) - the initiate's control over themselves and their form now extends beyond merely ignoring of any hostile environment they may find themselves in to their refusing to allow actual damage to be inflicted on them to affect them in any way. This is a combination of attacks simply passing through with no effect, invulnerability, and instant healing. It does require the Chaosite to be conscious, and attackers with more powerful minds can wear down the individual's ability to resist their attacks.
Or go to the Pattern, Logrus, Shapeshifting, Trump, or Magic Pages.