Sponsored Magic: Shonokin (Asheville, stay out)

[FishStampede]

Now that my next plotline is about to start up and I'm building the main antagonists, I figure the easiest way to represent the powers of their sorcerers is to give them a special kind of Sponsored Magic. Also used for the few corrupt humans who they manage to get on their side:

Shonokin Magic [-4]
Description: The Shonokin are a most ancient race, predating human habitation of North America. In their heyday, they practiced great magic alongside technological might that humans are just now beginning to reach. When the Invaders came and wiped them out, they lost much of their power. However, they filled in the gaps by contracting with unsavory entities the world has largely forgotten.
Sponsor: Shonokin Magic is sponsored by the ancient race of Shonokin, and their dire masters from beyond. When choosing this though, specify whether your magic is sponsored by the "regenerationist" faction or the "annihilationist" faction of Shonokin.
Agenda: The Shonokin are primarily concerned with recovering their lost power. The two main factions have very different ideals on how to do this, though. Annihilationists believe in bringing down the wrath of their forgotten gods and wiping humankind (as well as their gods) off the face of the earth. Regenerationists believe in finding some way to restore their race's fertility, which is hampered by the fact there are no surviving Shonokin females. This may seem more noble, but they're willing to go to any ends to do this, including subjecting humans to horrific experiments. Also, they still believe in wiping out mankind, it's just a question of which should come first.
Evocation: Shonokin magic calls upon most ancient gods, but also technology long-lost. Regenerationists lean more towards odd technology, such as devices that warp and twist human bodies, while annihilationists lean more towards calling on the forgotten gods. Either way, the results are unnatural, alien, and disturbing.
Thaumaturgy: Regenerationist rituals often use technology, such as advanced lab equipment and humans rendered into stem cells (it is still magic though). Annihlationist rituals  look more magical, but follow precise fractal designs.
Evothaum: Regenerationist magic allows the use of biomancy at evocation speed. Annihilationist magic allows the use of entropomancy at evocation speed.
Extra Benefits: Using either form of Shonokin magic allows you to interact with the actual Shonokin without penalty despite their alien nature. Also, your magic does not cause any problems with technology.
Drawbacks: If you are not a Shonokin, you gain their penalty to social interactions. People can just sense the otherworldliness surrounding you. (treat as "Dude, you're dead!" under the "Living Dead" power, without the additional effects of physical consequences)

Despite the fact I'm treating them as two different factions, they're actually not very different. It's merely a matter of priorities, and relations between the two are pretty cordial because there aren't enough left for any ideological conflict to be worth it.

[Sanctaphrax]

The aesthetics are strong and the Power looks interesting, but there are a few small holes.

First of all, it's not clear what the limits on the Evocation and Thaumaturgy are here. Can I make wards with this? Can I throw fireballs? And so on.

Also the extra benefit and the drawback aren't necessarily a benefit and a drawback respectively. The Shonokin effectively get -1 Intimidation +1 other social skills against you, and you get +1 Intimidation -1 other social skills against everyone else. Both could be either good or bad.

[FishStampede]

good point on it not being a real drawback, I'll just merge that all and say "Special."

As fr whether or not it lets you throw fireballs...I'd say you can pretty much do whatever with it as long as the Shonokin would approve. Resurrectionists lean more towards the biomantic side of water and eschew fire for thematic reasons (though they could still use it), while Annihilationists tend to eschew anything that creates growth, so pretty much the destructive sides of water and fire. You can create wards even with Resurrectionist magic, though as in all things it's how you describe it that counts most.

In either case, Shonokin magic is on the line of Clarke's Law, with a bit of Lovecraft. It's technology, but it's really weird, alien technology. It's also magic, but it's magic that seems almost scientific and juuust outside understanding.

[Sanctaphrax]

I don't think letting people toss out whatever spells they want is a good idea. Sponsored Magic is like Channelling and Ritual, not like Evocation and Thaumaturgy.

The lack of a real extra benefit might balance that somewhat, but it seems unwise to me to let people trade in extra benefits for more spells.

[FishStampede]

Kinda brings in the larger issue of just how vague Sponsored Magic actually is. The way I read it it's a slightly cheaper version of Evocation and Thaumaturgy, with some tweaks like inability to take refinements, implicit approval, and the slight "bonus" of being able to go into sponsor debt (my players already fear sponsor debt).

Again, like the "ancient knowledge" thing, I severely doubt my players will take this, it's more a behind the scenes bookkeeping thing. If you want to tweak it to make it more balanced, be my guest, but for NPCs this is probably enough.

[Sanctaphrax]

It says that it's like Channelling and Ritual right on top of the second column of page 287. The examples bear this out.

[Mrmdubois]

Yeah, but a good imagination can get so much mileage out of sponsored magic that it can sometimes seem like full blown evocation or thaumaturgy.  Obviously it isn't, but you can get a lot of bang for that buck.

[FishStampede]

There's also the fact that under the very next header it says it emulates Evocation and Thaumaturgy. So as to the exact limitations of Sponsored Magic:



"I've heard it both ways."

I'll pin it down to Resurrectionist giving things related to life or creation, Annihlationist giving things related to destruction. That's about as specific as the given examples.

[Sanctaphrax]

The costing, the mechanics, the examples, and pretty much everything about Sponsored Magic is identical to Channelling + Ritual with a few extra bells and whistles. Evocation and Thaumaturgy really aren't that similar to it. Sure it emulates them, but only as much as Channelling and Ritual do already.

[Mrmdubois]

I'm not arguing with you Sancta because you're right, I'm just saying that Sponsored Magic can give you an awful lot of mileage.