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 • Completed

• 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 •••. Researchers must have one of the following: the demon's appearance, the demon's sigil, or the demon's name.]
• 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 (••)

Individual Goetia

Obscurity: • to •••
Lore concerning individual goetia. Knights and Barons are Obscurity •. Counts and Marquises are Obscurity ••. Princes, Dukes, and Kings of the Goetic Legion are Obscurity •••.

• 2 successes: This degree of research reveals the standard appearance of the goetia in question, as well as the traditional folkloric reasons the entity is most often called upon for.
• 5 successes: The goetia's Ban is revealed, in the form of its sigil.
• 8 successes: The goetia's individual Bane is revealed.
• 12 successes: The goetia's individual Numina and Influences are revealed.

Obscurity •

Goetic Symbolism

Obscurity: Occult •
Lore concerning the kinds of symbols and ritual embellishments that engage the spiritual power of the goetia.
Progress: 12 successes • 3 rolls • Completed

• 3 successes: Perhaps the best known and most important of goetic symbolism is the goetic sigil.
  • Each goetia has a specific pattern that represents its essence – its "true name," effectively. This functions as the entity's Ban.
  • A researcher that has researched Spirit Lore: Bans & Banes realizes this means that all goetia have a universal Ban to prevent them from spending Willpower to resist occult compulsions by someone who is using their sigil.
  • Spirit Lore: Bans & Banes (•)
• 5 successes: The Solomonic Circle is a properly constructed circle that prevents a goetic demon from crossing its boundaries.
  • Crafting it is a Dexterity + Occult or Expression test. A success creates a circle worth a +1 to Warding efforts using it. An exceptional success creates a +3 modifier.
  • This assumes it is being copied from a resource, which usually deals an equipment modifier ranging from a -2 to a +1 in terms of their accuracy.
  • If constructing it from memory, the check is made a -5 dice, reduced by 1 per success on an Intelligence + Wits memory test.
  • Apotropaic Warding (•)
• 8 successes: The Magical Triangle, also called the "Place of Acquiescence," is a symbolic design that forces goetia to speak truthfully within their boundaries.
  • They are designed like Solomonic Circles are, with the same mechanics.
  • A researcher that has researched Spirit Lore: Bans & Banes realizes this means that when used in a Summoning, a goetic appears within the magical triangle first, and receives the Ban "Speak only the truth while within a magical triangle."
  • Each round, the goetia and summoner make opposed extended Willpower tests, the successes of which are cumulative. Should the summoner ever gain the proper number of successes (Rank x2), the demon resolves to remain within the triangle for the duration of its presence. If the demon ever gets the same Target Number, however, it leaves the triangle immediately.
  • Apotropaic Summoning (••)
• 12 successes: The Brass Vessel is a pot, vase, lamp, or similar container, made of brass and etched with specific symbols.
  • It is created in the same manner as the Solomonic Circle above.
  • When properly created and used in spirit binding rituals, it can be used to trap goetia within them, by summoning them and ordering them within.
  • Apotropaic Binding (•••)

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Squires

Obscurity: Occult •
Lore concerning the least of the goetia.
Progress: 11 successes • 2 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.
• 7 successes: Goetic squires have a minor ability to sharpen and heighten the worst parts of a person's personality for those around them. Each squire has a different type of Vice it is aligned with, and when they appear they almost all go off hunting for people with those vices. Due to their alignment with them, they feed on the spiritual energy generated by people indulging in their vices.
  • Researchers who have researched Spirit Lore: Manifestations realize that goetic squires use the Fetter Manifestation to connect themselves to those with those vices.
  • [Researchers who have researched Spirit Lore: Influence gain more knowledge here]
• 10 successes: Because goetic squires are effectively non-individual entities, they do not have their own sigils. They are, however, compelled by the sigils of any greater goetia, if used correctly. Their powers, rooted in the weakness of mankind, wither before expressions of great faith.
  • A researcher that has researched Spirit Lore: Bans & Banes realizes this means that the sigil of any of the goetia is part of a goetic squire's Ban. The Ban is "obey those who wield the powers of the Legion." Anyone aware of the presence of a goetic squire may present a sigil of any goetia and attempt to use it to compel service. This requires the expenditure of 1 Willpower, and a Presence + Occult -3 test.
    • Dramatic failure inflicts the Fettered and Urged Conditions on the one attempting to control the entity in question.
    • Failure grants the squire the ability to flee, and prevents another attempt to control it for 24 hours.
    • Success causes it to follow a single order until it is completed, or until a number of hours equal to the successes gained in the test have passed.
    • Exceptional success grants service for multiple services, for 24 total hours thereof.
  • A researcher that has researched Spirit Lore: Bans & Banes is also aware that a goetic squire's bane is a "holy symbol presented by a person of strong faith" (Willpower 6+)
  • Goetic Symbolism (•)