From: Codex of Enigmatic Abandonment 492731
Description: Manifest a spectral sanctuary (20-foot radius) for 5 minutes, allowing caster and allies to project ethereal forms for reconnaissance (ignore physical barriers, no interaction). Reveals 2 hidden truths from cycle echoes; ends if physical body attacked. Costs 3 Mana Boost; DC 16 Concentration or backlash (2d8 psychic).
Roleplay: The codex flares as you invoke, “From enigma’s abandonment, rebirth’s shadow flows—project beyond the veil!” Spectral forms drift through walls, scouting rift-traps: “The guardian’s secret weakness… exposed!” Returning, shaken: “Their isolation clings like fog.” Allies plan strikes, but the pages tempt: “Venture deeper… claim their forgotten power.”
Lore: Emanation of Rebirth’s Shadow (Unique Variant 820435) is the Codex of Enigmatic Abandonment’s most guarded secret, born in the instant Lira-Vo herself stepped beyond the veil. During the final collapse of the Citadel of Shadows, as the last rift tore open and her companions fell, Lira-Vo opened the Codex to its bleeding center page and spoke the forbidden line: “From enigma’s abandonment, rebirth’s shadow flows—project beyond the veil!” The book answered with a scream of black fire and blue tears. Her body remained kneeling, but six spectral duplicates—each wearing her face yet older, younger, wounded, healed, abandoned, reborn—rose and walked through stone, flame, and memory. They saw the hidden heart of the rift, the guardian’s true name, the path to seal it forever. When they returned, Lira-Vo wept blood, for every duplicate carried a piece of her that would never come home. The spell was sealed that day as the Codex’s ultimate price: the power to walk as the dead while still breathing, to scout as the forsaken while still living, to know rebirth’s door from the inside—yet always leave something of yourself on the other side. Sages say the six shadows of Lira-Vo still wander Saṃsāra, looking for the pieces she lost, and that every caster who uses the Emanation leaves another fragment behind. The spell is therefore called “Lira-Vo’s Six Missing Tomorrows” in the oldest tongues, and those who cast it too often are said to grow translucent, as if the cycle is already pulling them through the veil one layer at a time.
Use: Once per day, the caster invokes Emanation of Rebirth’s Shadow as a 1-action ritual (normal chant flourish; full ritual >6 seconds grants +1 truth and +2 minutes). A 20-foot radius spectral sanctuary manifests (visible as faint blue-crimson mist-shroud). Within it, the caster and up to 5 willing allies instantly project perfect ethereal duplicates that can move freely through physical barriers (walls, traps, creatures) at normal speed for 5 minutes (7 minutes ritual). The duplicates are intangible, cannot interact physically or cast spells that require material components, but can observe and speak. The sanctuary reveals 2 hidden truths (3 ritual) from cycle echoes within 100 feet (secrets, traps, weaknesses, memories). The spell ends instantly if any physical body takes damage or leaves the sanctuary radius. Maintaining concentration (DC 16, or 18 ritual) is required; failure triggers 2d8 psychic backlash split among all participants. Costs 3 Mana Boost (irresistible silver fire). Safe areas double radius and truths; unsafe/deathly halve duration and add +5 to concentration DC.
Tier-Related Stats:
- Tier: 2 (Spell)
- Rarity: Very Rare
- Casting Time: 1 action (ritual +25% effect)
- Duration: 5 minutes (7 ritual)
- Range/Area: 20 ft. radius sanctuary (100 ft. echo perception)
- Damage/Effect: Ethereal projection (full scouting); 2 truths (3 ritual); backlash 2d8 psychic
- Concentration: DC 16 (18 ritual)
- Mana Cost: 3 Mana Boost
- Uses: 1/day (long rest)
Skills:
- Primary: Arcana (enigma projection), Religion (cycle truths), Perception (echo secrets)
- Secondary: Stealth (ethereal movement), Insight (soul memories)
- Advantage: Investigation (hidden truths); Mind’s Eye (tier 3+ full past-life visions)
Cost: 11 Platinum (scribed; reagents 3.5 Platinum/scribe)
Requirements:
- Tier 2+ caster
- Attuned Codex of Enigmatic Abandonment
- Trained Arcana/Religion
- Must have personally experienced abandonment (GM discretion)
- Open space for sanctuary (no total cover)
Tags: Tier 2 Spell, Illusion, Divination, Ethereal Projection, Sanctuary Effect, Cycle Revelation, Concentration, Backlash Risk, Mana Boost, Once-Per-Day, Lira-Vo’s Six Shadows, Rift-Sanctum Rite, Gestalt Scouting
Roleplay: The Codex flares like a dying star as you raise it, voice cracking: “From enigma’s abandonment, rebirth’s shadow flows—project beyond the veil!” Six spectral versions of yourself and your allies peel away from living flesh, translucent yet achingly real—each bearing scars you never earned and smiles you never gave. Allies gasp as their duplicates step through solid stone: “I’m… inside the wall. The guardian’s name is etched here—Keth-Vorak, afraid of mirrors!” The sanctuary hums with blue-crimson mist; outside, your bodies kneel in trance, vulnerable. Returning, the duplicates merge with soft screams; allies stagger, whispering, “I saw myself dead in another life…” You clutch the Codex, shaken: “Their isolation clings like fog.” The pages rustle temptingly: “Venture deeper… claim their forgotten power.” In quiet moments, party members notice faint translucent after-images trailing them for hours, as if a piece never quite came home.
Tactics:
- Perfect Recon: Send 6 ethereals through walls/floors to map dungeons, read sealed scrolls, eavesdrop on bosses—100 ft. echo range reveals traps/secrets pre-fight.
- Boss Prep: Ritual cast in safe room before final door (7 min + 3 truths = full enemy stat reveal).
- Escape/Reposition: Project to scout safe paths during siege; bodies remain in sanctuary, guarded by one ally.
- Synergy: Combine with Tether (share ethereal senses); tier 3+ Mind’s Eye = full memory download from echoes.
- Risk Management: Never cast while bodies are threatened (instant end + backlash); Mana Boost reaction (1 point) auto-succeeds one concentration check.
- Counter: Area damage to bodies ends spell; true seeing pierces ethereals (tier 3+). Once-per-day makes it the ultimate pre-boss tool—tactical god-mode scouting with heavy roleplay cost.
Activation Perception of Emanation of Rebirth’s Shadow (Unique Variant 820435):
Sight
- What is Perceived: The Codex erupts in a silent nova of blue-crimson light; six translucent duplicates peel away from caster and allies like living ghosts, each trailing faint after-images of past lives. The sanctuary manifests as a 20-foot sphere of swirling mist-veil that bends light into sorrowful auroras.
- Description: Ethereal forms glow softly, passing through walls while leaving faint rebirth-echoes (past-life silhouettes) visible only to participants; returning duplicates merge with a ripple of tears.
- Positives: Perfect scouting vision through barriers; truths appear as glowing runes floating in the mist.
- Negatives: Sanctuary visible 100 ft.; returning merge causes brief translucent flicker (foes notice bodies).
Sound
- What is Perceived: A low, heartbeat-like thrum from the Codex, layered with distant cycle-chants and the soft sigh of departing/returning souls.
- Description: Whispers of “beyond the veil…” carry the 2 truths directly into the mind; returning duplicates produce a soft weeping chime.
- Positives: Pinpoints hidden threats (echo volume = danger); +2 Initiative from cycle-sync.
- Negatives: Thrum audible 60 ft.; attracts auditors (15% chance spectral judge appears).
Smell
- What is Perceived: Cold ozone of veil-piercing mixed with incense of ancient funerals and faint lotus of rebirth.
- Description: Scent trails follow ethereal forms, intensifying near truths (sweet lotus = revelation).
- Positives: Tracks unseen paths through barriers.
- Negatives: Lingering funeral-incense nauseates (DC 14 Con or sickened post-spell).
Taste
- What is Perceived: Metallic void-tang evolving to bittersweet rebirth-lotus.
- Description: Flavor pulses with each truth (sweet per revelation), souring on return.
- Positives: Confirms truth authenticity internally.
- Negatives: Bitter aftertaste distracts (disadvantage Concentration 1 min).
Touch
- What is Perceived: Skin prickles as ethereal duplicate separates—like shedding a layer of soul; sanctuary feels insulating yet weightless.
- Description: Ethereal forms feel cold freedom; returning merge causes phantom limb-chill.
- Positives: Enhances scouting agility (+2 Dex ethereal); guides in total darkness.
- Negatives: Separation ache (1d4 psychic/min extended); chill lingers post-return.
Extra-Sensory Perception 1: Cycle Projection Harmony (Unique Variant 194752)
- What is Perceived: Saṃsāra’s wheel manifests as vibrating golden threads—ethereal forms ride rebirth-currents, truths glowing as memory-knots.
- Description: Caster feels sanctuary as pulsing heart; truths download as past-life flashes.
- Positives: Advantage Investigation (hidden truths); uncovers permanent lore.
- Negatives: Thread-overload (DC 18 Wis or stunned 1 round from cycle-flash).
Extra-Sensory Perception 2: Enigmatic Auditor Temptation (Unique Variant 672819)
- What is Perceived: Azeron’s ambition surges as tempting psychic dawn—voices urging “stay beyond… claim their lives.”
- Description: Temptation manifests as dual visions (freedom vs. possession), granting +2 Intimidation aura.
- Positives: Compels weak-willed (DC 17 Wis or reveal memory).
- Negatives: Corruption risk (post-spell DC 17 Wis or tempted: disadvantage moral 1 hour).
Extra-Sensory Perception 3: Forsaken Fragment Loss (Unique Variant 305947)
- What is Perceived: Each return leaves a translucent soul-fragment behind—caster feels permanent lightness, allies notice faint after-images.
- Description: Fragments manifest as lingering translucent duplicates visible to Mind’s Eye.
- Positives: Permanent +1 Perception (cycle-attunement).
- Negatives: Cumulative loss (3+ castings: -1 Max HP permanent until quest-retrieval).
Six-That-Walked-While-One-Stayed
Shadow-That-Went-And-The-Body-That-Waited
In the time when body had no shadow and shadow had no body, there was a place where the world was half. We call it the Half-That-Is-Not-Half. There the cycle was door. Souls went through. Souls came back. Souls got stuck in the middle.
There was a woman. No, not woman. A thing-that-was-many. Her name was broken six ways, but the stones say Lira-Vo, which means She-Who-Was-Six-And-One. She carried a book. The book was black. The book was blue. The book was door. The book was key.
Lira-Vo stood in the Half-That-Is-Not-Half. The dark wanted to eat her friends. The dark wanted to eat her. The friends were five. The friends had fear. The fear had teeth.
Lira-Vo opened the book. The book opened six ways. One way for her. One way for each friend. One way for the dark. One way for the door.
She said a word. The word had no tongue. The word had six mouths. The word had five minutes. The word was the Six-That-Walked-While-One-Stayed.
The six came out. The six were Lira-Vo. The six were the friends. The six were not flesh. The six were not dead. The six were shadow. The six were light.
The six walked. The six walked through stone. The six walked through fire. The six walked through the dark. The six saw. The six saw the trap. The six saw the name. The six saw the weakness. The six saw the way.
The one stayed. The one was body. The one was Lira-Vo. The one was still. The one was open. The one was hurt if hurt came.
The six came back. The six came back with the way. The six came back with the name. The six came back with the weakness. The six came back with the light.
But the six left something. The six left a piece. The six left a tomorrow. The six left a maybe.
Lira-Vo closed the book. The book did not close. The book took the piece. The book took the tomorrow. The book took the maybe.
Lira-Vo walked. She walked with the five. She walked with the light. She walked with the missing. She walked a little less.
The book stayed. It stayed in the Half-That-Is-Not-Half. It stayed in the hand of those who want to see. It stayed in the hand of those who want to know.
The tablets say the six are still walking. Somewhere. Looking for the pieces. Looking for the tomorrow. Looking for the maybe.
The last line is scratched with a finger that was not there: The six that walk will leave the one that stays lighter, and the lighter one will one day walk away and never come back.
Moral of the Story: A shadow that goes to see will take a piece of the one who sends it, and the one who sends too many shadows will one day have no shadow left to send. Look through the door, but do not walk too far. Send the six, but keep the one. The spell that lets you be many places will one day make you no place at all, unless you remember to come back before the back is gone.
Suggested conversions to other systems:
Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition) Emanation of Rebirth’s Shadow
Spell Type: Mythos Ritual
Description: Spectral sanctuary (20 yd. radius, 5 min); caster + 5 allies project ethereals (ignore barriers, no interaction, reveal 2 truths). Ends if body attacked.
Game Mechanics:
- Casting: 1d4 rounds + 14 MP + Hard POW roll; 1/1d6 Sanity.
- Effect: Ethereal scouting + truths; concentration fail = 2d8 MP drain all.
- Uses: 1/day.
Blades in the Dark Emanation of Rebirth’s Shadow
Ritual Effect: Attune (Desperate, Great)
Description: Sanctuary (20 ft.); caster + 5 allies ethereal (ignore barriers 5 min, 2 secrets).
Game Mechanics:
- Position/Effect: Risky/Great.
- Stress Cost: 4.
- Uses: 1/score.
Dungeons & Dragons (2024) Emanation of Rebirth’s Shadow
2nd-level illusion (necromancy) Casting Time: 1 action Range: 20 feet Components: V, S, M (Codex page) Duration: Concentration, up to 5 minutes
Description: 20 ft. sanctuary; caster + 5 allies ethereal (ignore barriers, no interaction, reveal 2 truths). Ends if body damaged. Con save DC 15 or 2d8 psychic backlash.
Knave (2nd Edition) Emanation of Rebirth’s Shadow
Spell Level: 2
Description: Sanctuary (20 ft., 5 min); caster + 5 allies ethereal (ignore barriers, 2 secrets).
Game Mechanics:
- Casting: INT check DC 15.
- Uses: 1/day.
- Backlash: Body damage = 2d8 psychic all.
Fate Core System Emanation of Rebirth’s Shadow
Spell Effect: Create Advantage (Desperate, Great)
Description: Spectral sanctuary (20 ft. radius, 5 min); caster + 5 allies project ethereals (ignore barriers, reveal 2 truths).
Game Mechanics:
- Create Advantage: Lore +4 vs. Superb (+5); success: “Rebirth Shadow Projection” aspect (3 free invokes).
- Stress Cost: 4 (body attack ends).
- Uses: 1/session.
- Glitch: Backlash (moderate consequence).
Numenera & Cypher System Rulebook Emanation of Rebirth’s Shadow
Level: 6 Form: Spell incantation Effect: Action: Sanctuary (20 ft., 5 min); caster + 5 allies ethereal (ignore barriers, no interaction, reveal 2 truths). Ends if body damaged. Depletion: 1 in 1d6 (backlash 10 damage)
Pathfinder (2nd Edition Remaster) Emanation of Rebirth’s Shadow Spell 2
Traditions arcane, occult Cast 2 actions (somatic, verbal) Range 20 feet; Area 20-foot burst Duration 5 minutes
Description: Sanctuary; caster + 5 allies ethereal (ignore barriers, no interaction, reveal 2 truths). Ends if body damaged (Will DC = spell DC or 2d8 psychic).
Savage Worlds (Adventure Edition) Emanation of Rebirth’s Shadow
Power Points: 4 Range: 20 yd. Duration: 5 minutes
Description: Sanctuary; caster + 5 allies ethereal (ignore barriers, 2 secrets). Ends if body damaged (3d6 psychic).
Shadowrun, Sixth World (6th Edition) Emanation of Rebirth’s Shadow
Spell Type: Manipulation (Detection) Type: P, LOS (A), 5 min Drain: 6
Description: 20m sanctuary; caster + 5 allies project ethereals (ignore barriers, no interaction, reveal 2 truths). Ends if body damaged.
Starfinder (Second Edition) Emanation of Rebirth’s Shadow Spell 2
Traditions arcane, occult Cast 2 actions (somatic, verbal) Range 20 feet; Area 20-foot burst Duration 5 minutes
Description: Sanctuary; caster + 5 allies ethereal (ignore barriers, no interaction, reveal 2 truths). Ends if body damaged (Will DC = spell DC or 2d8 psychic).
Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition Update 2022) Emanation of Rebirth’s Shadow
Psionic Discipline: Awareness Difficulty: Formidable (12+) Range: 20m Duration: 5 minutes
Description: Sanctuary; caster + 5 allies ethereal (ignore barriers, 2 truths). Ends if body damaged.
Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th Edition) Emanation of Rebirth’s Shadow
Spell Type: Lore of Shadows (Petty) CN: 7 Range: 12 yards Duration: 5 minutes
Description: Sanctuary; caster + 5 allies ethereal (ignore barriers, reveal 2 secrets). Ends if body damaged.