Babylonian Tradition (Magic Vegas)

This describes a Tradition of Magic Vegas 
v60e Chapter 3 continued
==Views==
Described in the sample design, Babylonian is among the most ancient traditions, used throughout Mesopotamia over thousands of years. The region became an epicenter of anti-channeling Monotheism which preached a strict moral code at odds with Babylonian ritual practices like idolatry, sex, intoxication, games, and occasional human sacrifice. This led to a diaspora often mistaken for extinction, but the tradition endures in dens of vice where sinful acts fuel its budget as well as its rituals, and Monotheists of the Abrahamic traditions which supplanted Babylon are ripe for seduction. 
Mesopotamian city-states vied to advance their favorite gods as supreme, but to modern-day Babylonians, Nergal has the killer app, the ritual of Obscurity which compensates for the lack of Believers in the Babylonian tradition. Skepticism is a defensive instinct, but instead of training worshipers to suppress it, the neo-Babylonian magician simply avoids triggering it by escaping notice, dissociating from the priestly role of his forebears. A popular view of Babylon as the height of sinfulness isn’t really true; it was the most advanced civilization of its era, with rule of law, and priests had responsibilities as well as privilege. Their modern heirs see themselves instead as nature’s aristocracy, above the law, entitled by power to use it however they please. 
Babylonian magicians are like a mafia. They usually train their own children but also recruit those who can benefit the organization, so the tradition has long since lost any ethnic character. The ideal recruit is both unconventional, like any potential magician, and driven; the relationship is definitely symbiotic, as the reward for helping advance group goals is a tool to advance personal goals, starting with the Path of Tammuz, as it imposes loyalty. Though honorable in their own way, Babylonian magicians are usually associated with actual mafias, the criminal kind, especially those who trade in sex and drugs. You won’t find a magician selling drugs on the corner, but you will find him blessing the enterprise. Since they don’t compete for Believers, Babylonians get on well with other Channeling traditions that don’t oppose their commercial interests. 
Babylonian lore isn’t widespread in any modern culture, and it only gets lip service from neo-pagans, but there is a Believer base among fringe cults. If they involve free love, psychadelics, mental communion, and especially ancient aliens, then there’s a good chance Babylonian magicians are pulling the strings and recruiting those who manage to suppress their Skepticism entirely. However most practitioners are raised to it or scouted young. They’ve a rep for quality, and the resulting income pays for tools to make them even better. Wealth also pays for all the decadent luxuries, and if ancient Babylonian priests didn’t promote vice outside a ritual context, their modern heirs see no reason not to indulge. 
With a cultural shift away from monotheist religions, the Babylonian star is starting to rise. Promoting other traditions is a good strategy, because pagan Believers detract from Monotheists, and Babylonian magicians have little need for Believers themselves. They’re a power behind the scenes in Hollywood and Las Vegas and other sin cities, pushing cultural shift. Ironically, the Middle East is an area where they’ve the least influence, and it’s doubtful they care, for having their historical sites of power under the guardianship of Monotheists isn’t all bad. Magic Vegas is a Babylonian initiative, and their “embassy” is the Bellagio: You can tell by its slightly terraced architecture (reminiscent of a Ziggurat), by the “hanging garden” of glass flowers on the lobby ceiling, and by the famous fountains, a gigantic ritual aid for the path of Enki.
==Symbols==
* Rod and ring, horned crown, scaly vestments, untipped arrows, intoxicants, games of chance, sacred sex, burnt offerings. Language: Calssical Arabic/Herbrew or any cuneiform. Weapons: Club, composite bow, epsilon axe, long knife, mace, shield, sickle-sword, spear, net. Countermagic: Cord tied into a different knot for each effect. Magic Vegas Embassy: Bellagio. Mark: Obsession with immortality (disadvantage like Vow to Be Remembered or Shocking Affectation characteristic of youth culture).
==Allies==
*Non-unique Monsters include venomous scorpion-men, rock demons with auras of heat, and fire-breathing wind demons like the winged leonine lammasu or bovine shedu. Babylonian “nymphs” aren’t nymphomanic but sexless. Babylonian Ghosts are vampires who animate their own corpses in order to prey on the living. Divination: Astrology/Numerology. Patrons: Marduk above all, plus Dagon (farming), Gula (healing), Nabu (scholarship), and Ninurta (battle). Totems: Bull, Fish, Fly, Fox, Goat, Lion, Serpent, and Vulture; conventional hosts for Familiars include owls though totem species serve as well.
==Path of Enki==
*Channeling (Enki), Command the Waves, Continual Light, Create Animal, Create Earth, Create Gate (Abzu), Create Object, Create Plant, Create Spring, Create Warrior, Current, Divination (Lycanomancy), Earth to Stone, Endure Elements, Fuel, Gentle Beast (Reptile), Hold Breath, Inexorable Breeze, Journeyman's Blessing (Maritime), Mist, Planar Visit (Abzu), Predict Weather, Purify Water, Resist Pressure, Seek Beast (Fish), Seek Coastline, Seek Water, Skinchange (Fish), Swim, Walk on Water, Water Vision, Weatherworking (Rain/Storm). Symbol: Capricorn. Portfolio: Creator, Water. Mark: Concern for the human race and/or the environment (Sense of Duty). World: Abzu is a turbulent, flooded cavern with a starlight glow even underground, its generative potential masked because everything turns into fish. 
==Path of Enlil==
*Air Vision, Cadence, Channeling (Enlil), Create Gate (Anu), Gentle Beast (Bull/Eagle), Gift of Tongues, Great Haste, History, Inexorable Breeze, Journeyman's Blessing (Governance), Lightning (ground strike), Mist, Planar Visit (Anu), Predict Weather, Ruin, Skinchange (Eagle), Speak with Beast (Eagle), Stone to Earth, Suggestion, Summon Beast (Bull/Eagle), Supercharge, Thunderbolt (groundstrike), Vigil, Virility, Vision of Luck, Weatherworking (Rain/Storm). Portfolio: Sky, Sovereignty. Symbol: Winged Wheel. Mark: Wrath (disadvantage like Bad Temper or Bloodlust). World: Anu is a stormy sky inhabited only by eagles, for to land is deadly. 
==Path of Ishtar==
*Armor, Channeling (Ishtar), Command Beast (Lion/Steed), Create Gate (Xanadu), Gambler's Token, Ghost Shirt, Grace, Halt Aging (adds no years but reduces the ravages), Hasten Mount, Journeyman’s Blessing (Sex Work), Liar's Charm, Love Charm, Lust, Perfect Appearance, Perfect Control, Planar Visit (Xanadu), Stroke of Luck, Unbearable Pleasure, Vigor, Virility, Vitality, Warrior's Blessing, Weapon Blessing, Windfall. Symbol: Eight-pointed star. Portfolio: Fortune, Sex, War. Mark: Impetuous, especially with regard to sex (disadvantage like Impulsiveness, Lecherousness, Compulsive Carousing or Thrill-seeking). World: Xanadu is a world of sexual indolence (and occasional conflict over a lover).
==Path of Kingu (Horror)==
*Blackout, Channeling (Kingu), Command Beast (Vile Legion), Create Gate (Tiamat), Dark Vision, Doom, Essential Acid, Exchange Bodies, Gentle Beast (Vile Legion), Ghost Shirt, Great Gas Mileage, Irradiate, Journeyman’s Blessing – Military, Locate, Love Charm, Loyal Item, Machines Hate You, Madness, Planar Visit (Tiamat), Seek Beast (Vile Legion), Speak with Beast (Vile Legion), Summon Beast (Vile Legion), Stench, Telepathy, Tirelessness, Transform (Vile Legionaire), Unlimited Ammo, Vigil, Vision of Luck, Vitality. Symbol: Tablet. Portfolio: Destiny, Evil, Military. Mark: Spiritual Distortion. World: Tiamat is dead, decomposing and caustic.
==Path of Nergal== 
*Age, Blight, Channeling (Nergal), Cloud Memory, Command Beast (Vermin), Conjure Flame, Continual Light, Create Gate (Irkalla), Death Vision, Decay, Divination (Pyromancy), Endure Elements (also heat DR), Gentle Beast (Lion), Heat, Impotence, Infravision, Malaise, Night Terrors, Obscurity, Planar Visit (Irkalla), Retch, Rotting Death, Ruin, Seek Beast (Vulture), Smoke, Spasm, Sterility, Stop Healing, Summon Beast (Vermin), Weaken Blood. Symbol: Inverted pentegram. Portfolio: Drought, Ghosts, Plague, War. Mark: Ruthlessly domineering (disadvantage like Bully or Callous, or even Legalistic honoring the letter of law without regard to its moral spirit). World: Though historical Babylonians didn’t conceive it thus before its conquest by Nergal, Irkalla’s much like a conventional notion of Hell, full of fire and spirits, mostly Monsters and Ghosts ruled by the devil himself; if the living go there, they will suffer (briefly) and die.
==Path of Ninmah==
* Calm the Winds, Channeling (Ninmah), Clean, Create Gate (Hursag), Dose, Fertility, Firecalm, Gentle Beast (Pest/Maneater), Hide Path, Hunter's Blessing, Journeyman's Blessing (Childcare/Healthcare), Planar Visit (Hursag), Predict Earth Movement, Purify Air, Purify Earth, Purify Water, Regeneration, Remove Contagion, Seek Beast (Game), Seek Pass, Seek Plant, Smooth Ride, Soothe, Speak with Beast (Fox), Succor, Summon Beast (Goat), Walk Through Plants, Weatherworking (Fair), Wisdom (only to mitigate Afflictions). Symbol: Omega. Portfolio: Earth-Mother. Mark: Nurturing and protective of women (disadvantage like Charitable or Selfless, or even Gentleman’s Code of Honor). World: Hursag is a paradise, fair all year, where the land yields all that is needed to survive, and injuries heal rapidly; nothing burns (without Countermagic), making technological industry impossible. 
==Path of Shamesh== 
*Bright Vision, Channeling (Shamesh), Continual Light, Create Gate (Suen), Flash, Gentle Beast (Bull/Lion), Gift of Letters, Gift of Tongues, Hawk Vision, History, Journeyman's Blessing (Education/Law), Locate, Locate Spares, Mirror, Oath, Perfection of the Soul – no effect on marks of power, Planar Visit (Suen), Read the Manual, Read Thoughts, See Secrets, Sunbolt, Vigil, Weatherworking (Fair), Wisdom (only to mitigate Afflictions). Symbol: Crescent on disk. Portfolio: Justice, sun/moon, wisdom. Mark: Either fair or generous (disadvantage like Compulsive Generosity or a Code of Honor relating to fairness). World: Suen, heaven shadowless from bright light from every direction, residents in full communion reading each others’ thoughts regardless of language, pulling all manner of knowledge from the collective. 
==Path of Tammuz==
*Borrow Skill from Tammuz (Assyriology, Psychology, or agricultural/artistic), Channeling (Tammuz), Command Beast (Dog/Hawk/Horse), Create Gate (Geshtinanna), Divination (Oneiromancy), Dream Shackles, Dream Visitor, Dreamwalk, Fertility, Garble, Gentle Beast (Bull), Hallucination, Heal Plant, Journeyman's Blessing (Artist/Farmer), Lure, Madness, Night Terrors, Planar Visit (Geshtinanna), Plant Growth, Preserve Food, Rejuvenate Plant, Slumber, Summon Beast (Domestic/Pest), Vigor, Water to Wine. Symbol: Cross. Portfolio: Agriculture, dream interpretation, wine. Mark: Loyalty (disadvantage like Vow, Dependent, or Duty). World: Geshtinanna; visitors vie for control of insane communal dreams, oblivious to the desolation around them. 
==Absent Rituals==
*Alter Terrain, Apportation, Body of Shadow, Cloud-Vaulting, Cold, Command the Bodies of the Dead, Command the Waves, Contract Object, Distant Blow, Earth Vision, Enlarge, Evil Eye, Evisceration, Fix Glitch, Frostbite, Gloom, Gremlins, Guise, Hail, Hand of Glory, Ice Slick, Invisibility, Journeyman's Curse, Know Fault, Lesser Wish, Mage-Stealth, Magelock, Measurement, Night Vision, Panic, Phantom, Read Memories, Repair, Reshape, Rockfall, Scry, Seek Earth, Shake the Earth, Shape Earth, Silence, Snow Shoes, Steal Energy, Summon Shade, Teleport, Time Out, Timeslip, Transmutation of Metals, Walk on Air, Walk Through Earth, Will Lock, and Wizard Mouth.
Category:Magic Vegas Tradition