Magic and Powers in the Weimar Republik

Magic

The tech in the Weimar Republik itself was in the late-2010s, but unusually for such a high tech world, magic was both known and active, and worked with efficiency. Indeed, one of the specialities of Weimar mages, was combining the two at a level far high and more robust than standard Sable Mech-Tech . This suggests that technology might not have been the only thing that has been changed artificially when the Republik was founded.

Access to magical training was strictly limited at anything above basic level. Roughly 1 in 1,000 of the population have some degree of sensitivity or Talent. Of those, maybe 1% were allowed to be taught the higher levels of magic. There was a single Mage College, located in Weimar City. Full courses in magic were only open to the Ubermensch, and lasted five years for undergraduate study, and an additional one to five years for either Masters or Doctorate studies. Any Untermensch who were found to be Talented could take a one-year course in basic industrial magic, such as boiler spells, power generation and communications repair.

Transport magic in the Weimar Shadows was somewhat unpredicable, with empirical evidence that teleports made in haste  ended up with the mage teleporting into solid matter, which should not be possible. This might have been related to the fact that there had been significant meddling with all the worlds that Weimar had more than 50% control of. Agents were advised to exercise caution when using tranport magic in the area.

Weimar had a fully implemented ID system, combining magic and technology, which was recognisable as having been influenced by New Oceania. After the release of the Namenlos virus, and the breakdown of the technological ID system, it was noted that a more magically-based variant of the ID system was fully implemented on four of the six Shadows adjacant to Weimar, but was no longer active on any of the other Shadows previously held by Weimar.

Powers

When the Weimar Republik was first encountered, agents reported that the Power used in the Weimar Shadows had distinct elements of the New Oceanian Darkstream and the Reich Pattern, plus lesser elements of the Nexus, but that it was something different to any of them. It seemed more complete than a normal Broken Pattern, and was certainly more stable, with no sign of the growing pains experienced with the worlds around New Oceania. Assuming that the Power was Created relatively soon after Andreas Delatz founded the Republik, in the early-120s, this might have been due to it having had longer to settle. It was not, however, as strong as full Sable Pattern.

The surrounding worlds which were previously significantly under Weimar’s control were bootstrapped up higher tech levels (2000s in the security zone; 1990s in the more fully controlled worlds; less in worlds which were still being placed under control). This helped Weimar’s conquests of these worlds significantly, as they could bring higher-tech equipment onto lower-tech worlds, knowing that their opponents will not be able to match them.

After the deployment of the Namenlos virus, and the return to core, that control slipped in a lot of the Shadows that were previously conquered, so that they began normalising to their native tech levels. The main exceptions were the six worlds immediately surrounding Weimar, and those within the Weimar quarantine zone.

The Darkstream and the Nexus were fully functional in the Weimar area, as were hybrid technologies of the two. Pattern was limited to Broken Pattern-level ability, due to this being a Primal Realm, which was of concern, as such a restriction would have needed a great deal of Power and ability on the part of the person who put the restriction in place. Full Aurellian Logrus was limited to Piloting for the same reasons.


The Muster

The Muster Power itself appeared to be a cross between a Broken Pattern, and the Channelling abilities that are a integral to the New Oceania Darkstream. It was not a single-person Creation, but appears to have been the result of co-operation between Ernst Keller, Sofia Halbeck, Helmut Eckart, Alfred Weber, Carlos de Real and Raymond Syke.

What gave the Weimar Republik its edge in the Bloc region, was the fact that it was particularly suited to messing with the parameters of Shadow, most especially amending tech levels and calendars. The Sable SIS confirmed the following abilities linked to the lower levels of initiation, which appear to be accessible by anybody, although it seems that to use the Channelling abilities, the initiate needed some knowledge of ritual magic.

Item Comments
Assisted This was akin to lower levels of Broken Pattern, although walking Shadow is was nothing like as unpleasant for straight Broken Pattern.

It was also possible to use it for defence, which is not the case for Broken Pattern.

This did not appear to have a Bloodline component, and non-Cornelians could initiate at this level.
Basic This introduced the equivalent of farsensing lenses, although it was visual only, the range was limited to about 50 miles. Walking Shadow became easier.

Doctors of magic could rack spells on the Muster at this level, without the flaws which cause problems for racking on a normal Broken Pattern.

Ritual mages could Channel energy through the Muster, making it possible to use it as a Power source, although this needed to be done in a ritual setting, it took time to achieve and is was exhausting, with a recovery time of several hours. There is an implication that this was possible with assistance and tuition from one of the Creators of the Power.

This level was also believed not to have a Bloodline requirement.
Advanced Shadow walking became possible at Pattern standard, and Hellriding becomes available. Farsensing extended to 250 miles and included an audio element, although it could be somewhat indistinct unless the initiate was concentrating fully on what he or she was listening to.

Basic probability manipulation and seek in Shadow became available to the initiate, albeit at a generic level (“a blade”, rather than “the blade my dad gave me”).

All mages could rack on the Muster at this level of initiation, and back their spells with it.

Energy Channelling no longer needed a ritual setting, but it took several minutes to perform, and the recovery time was still several hours.

Initiates of this level gained the ability to affect such things as tech levels and calendars, and the local weather to a limited extent, and to maintain changes made to such areas made by the Creators.

While this level had no specific Bloodline requirement, at least some measure of Cornelian blood was required to avoid the initiate burning themselves out.
Higher Levels From discussions with prisoners taken in the region, it appears that Keller, Halbeck, Eckart, Weber, and certain personnel who appeared to be Blood relatives of theirs, all demonstrated more Pattern-like abilities, such as faster and less tiring Channelling, seeking in Shadow for specific items, spotting Powers imprints, remote scanning at a greater range with the ability to record what is seen, and point to point teleports using the Power.

These were rumoured, rather than proven.

What was confirmed was that it was these four, plus de Real and Syke, who were  responsible for the initial 20-30-year bootstrapping of target worlds.

Post-1 February 158

In the time since the massive arcane explosion on the Weimar homeworld on 1 February 158, on-site Sable commander Prince James and a team of SIS agents have ascertained that the Muster Power is no longer present and that th eworld was completed scoured to the bear earth. The explosion led to the breaking down of all barriers in the area, and interfered with use of the both the Pattern and the Nexus in the area for several weeks. On the other hand, now things are settling down, both Pattern or Aurellian Logrus use are becoming more stable in the area.

From studying the aftermath of the event (once the Pattern could once again be used with confidence), His Highness’s assessment is that an attempt was made to edit the Muster which either went cataclysmically wrong, or had unexpected effects. Since then, however, occasional Muster initiates have been encountered, who do still seem to have some ability to manipulate and travel in Shadow, so it is possible that something survived the process.