The Aboriginal Clever Men were sitting on the finest cornucopia of herbal medicines in the world – Western trained doctors constantly wrote back describing wonder drugs used by the natives, and calling for formal trials of their properties. The finest moment for Aboriginal herbalism came during WWII: Germany had been the supplier of the finest drugs before the war, and the Allies found themselves unable to produce sufficient sea-sickness tablets for the troops for beach landings – until Aboriginal scouts introduced a nauseous river patrol to their own sea sickness cure. Fully half of the sea sickness tablets issued for D-Day were made from this indigenous cure.
Sadly, feral animals, especially rabbits and goats, have swept the continent, rendering most of these remedies extinct. In my own part of the country, over sixty herbs identified by trained doctors as having medicinal properties are now extinct.
Western hypnotists have been repeatedly impressed by Indigenous skill with hypnosis, particularly self-hypnosis. Rather than directly influence another, a Clever Man is more likely to hypnotise himself to believe that what he wants is inevitable; the resulting calm assurance is very persuasive – even fatally so.
The most famous example of Aboriginal magic though is Bone Pointing: pointing a human bone at a victim and cursing to die. This probably never happened. Bone Pointing though is an effective explanation for the most powerful treatment available to the Clever Man. Facing a seriously ill patient, the Clever Man will claim that a fragment of the bone has magically penetrated the victim's heart, and insist on immediate surgery. The patient is not permitted to see the surgery, and may be given an anaesthetic. A fine line is cut in the middle of the patient's chest, only breaking the skin; after an hour or so of fake activity the cut is then sealed with spider's web silk and the patient shown a bloody fragment of bone that is claimed to have been taken from the wound. Then, the patient is asked: “Given you've just had surgery, how do you feel?” Naturally, the patient feels much better than they would expect to after surgery, and inevitably gains a strong placebo effect from the fake surgery.
Another mildly famous piece of Aboriginal magic – available to all following a full adulthood ceremony – is the rainbow rope. Drawn from the mouth, these can be used for pretty much anything Indiana Jones could use a whip for. They are invisible to mundane characters, but visible as a twisting rainbow to anyone else.
Aborigines are more likely to be devout Christians than white Australians, so may mix and match True Faith Powers with their Spellcasting Powers.
CHANNELLING – ABORIGINAL MAGIC
As an attack, the Clever Man can only do Mental Stress. However, they have a wide range of useful spells. While other spellcasters can gain Powers as spells (Paranet papers p308) Clever Men may cast spells duplicating the Mortal Stunts for the Deceit, Discipline, Intimidation and Presence Skills. If they have any true Faith Powers, they may do the same for the Conviction Skill.
RITUAL – ABORIGINAL MAGIC
Rainbow Rope This enchanted item typically adds +1 to an Athletics test, reduces a border rating by 1, or allows you to move to an adjoining zone that doesn't require crossing a border. EditThe Clever Man only has one Rainbow Rope, but may enchant it with different applications; additional uses can be sacrificed to increase the bonus to Athletics as normal (YS p279b).
A Rainbow Rope could also be bought as a Power by any Aboriginal PC at a cost of 1 pt per use per session.
Potions In theory, can do anything that a full practitioner can do, but the GM can and should repeatedly compel the Clever Man with 'the herbs you need for that are extinct'. This doesn't reduce the number of potions the Clever Man can make per scene though, and if a potion is possible, it will remain possible – we take extinctions seriously now. The GM will find this most useful for potions that sound boring/annoying. Also, getting the components while overseas will be close to impossible.
Bone Pointing Spell
Usable by either Ritual or Channelling, the spell will replace a Consequence, either Physical or Mental, with both a Physical and a Mental Consequence that are one level less serious. Thus a Moderate Consequence can be replaced with a Physical Mild Consequence and a Mental Mild Consequence. The spell requires a number of shifts equal to the stress the treated injury cancelled out.
BORDERS AND THE NEVER NEVER
The Outback is crisscrossed with Thresholds that are invisible to mundane eyes; relics of the sacred sites and tribal boundaries of yesteryear. A dry creek bed will stop a spell as effectively as running river, as waterways are always borders and thus thresholds.
On the upside, the Outback is the Never Never. Rather than enter the Never Never fully, a Clever Man may use either Ritual or Channelling to 'half' enter the Never Never and travel at blistering speeds across the continent. This is far safer than truly entering the Never Never, as stepping off the path returns the traveller to the mortal world. Most thresholds can be circled, but the tribal borders cannot be crossed this way; on reaching a tribal border the Clever Man must either travel fully into the Never Never or return to the mortal world. Using this ability in a city is tricky, and incredibly dangerous overseas; you are better actually going into the Never Never fully if you leave OZ.
Mortal Stunt (Survival): Traditional Upbringing
The character has been grown up in an Indigenous community, and adds +3 (!) to all Survival checks while on tribal lands. However, outside their tribal lands their Survival skill is restricted by their Scholarship skill. This Stunt can only be taken at character creation, and the character must start with a Scholarship of +0.
