Maple Shade Goetia Lore Research

Goetia Lore (Main Topic)

Skill: Occult
Lore detailing the goetic family of spirits, part of a larger body referred to as "demons."

Goetia Lore, Basic

Obscurity: Occult •
Progress: 19 successes • 3 rolls

• 2 successes: Goetic demons are a type of strange demonic entity that seems to originate in Levantine (Middle Eastern) lore, most notably as the demons bound by King Solomon's virtue into building the Great Temple of Jerusalem. The term "goetia" means "the howling" or the "wailing ones," a reference to the cries they made when bound by Solomon; "goetia" is used as both plural and singular. The entire body of the goetia is sometimes called the "Goetic Legion."
• 4 successes: Goetia are highly tied to symbolic concepts whose origins stretch back to the occult lore that supposedly has its origins with Solomon the Magus-King. These symbols are often tied to written words and symbols, rather than pictographic or physical symbolisms.
  • Goetic Symbolism (•)
• 7 successes: Goetia are capable of working wonders in the world when they are capable of interacting with it. Goetic texts indicate that the goetia were frequently called upon to grant their summoners all manner of special abilities and boons. Each of the goetia has a specific suite of boons it is traditionally called upon to grant.
  • Spirit Lore: Manifestations (•)
  • Spirit Lore: Influences (••)
  • Spirit Lore: Numina (••)
• 12 successes: The least of the Goetia are called "squires" and are not, unlike most of the goetia, individuals. In some ways, squires are tied to the "personal demons" of individuals, and it is said that by summoning and binding one's own personal goetia (the summoner's own squire), he can exercise power over his personal flaws and limitations.
  • Squires (•)
• 15 successes: More powerful goetia are given faux-feudal rankings, although there are no systems of vassaldom in place between them. They exist in a confusingly brutal hierarchy of sheer power one over the other. With this lore, a researcher can begin researching the specifics of individual goetia. The rankings are, from least to greatest: Squires, Knights, Barons, Counts, Marquises, Princes, Dukes, and Kings.
  • [Researchers can now perform research on Individual Goetia. Knights and Barons are Obscurity •. Counts and Marquises are Obscurity ••. Princes, Dukes, and Kings are Obscurity •••.]
• 18 successes: The "hells" of the goetia are a facet of the real referred to as the "astral realm." Their close association with human thought, virtue, vice, sin, and faith are explained by this place of origin.
  • This reveals the fact that the goetia do not have physical forms; indeed, they hunger for physicality, with which they might unleash hell's pleasures into the physical world, instead of simply tempting mortals into debased acts.
    • (Researchers who have studied Spirit Lore: Manifestations understand goetia to have the following Manifestations: Twilight Form naturally; Image, while within the Magical Triangle; and Fetter, if a deal is struck between summoner and demon; plus Discorporate at will)
  • Astral Lore (••)

Obscurity •

Goetic Symbolism

Obscurity: Occult •
Lore concerning the kinds of symbols and ritual embellishments that engage the spiritual power of the goetia.
Progress: 0 successes • 0 rolls

Squires

Obscurity: Occult •
Lore concerning the least of the goetia.
Progress: 4 successes • 1 rolls

• 2 successes: Goetic squires are the lowest of the goetia, entities of barely animal awareness. They feed on human acts of depravity, vice, and unrestrained emotions that cause others pain. They appear as tentacled, multi-limbed clambering creatures with flesh the color of bruised human skin in mottled multi-tones.
• 4 successes: They most often appear in the world where a higher-powered goetia is present, following powerful masters as footsoldiers follow a general.