Sanctum Sanctorum:
I got to thinking about Sanctums the other day. and it occurred to me that it was one of those little corners of the WOD that wasn't exactly painted.(if you take my meaning.) I think each and every one of us has an idea of what a Son of Ether Sanctum looks like and what a Child of Knowledge Sanctum might look like too. So the challenge becomes to define what other sanctums look like.
What do all Sanctums share in common?
1) They are places where bending reality becomes easier for the Mage or Mages in question. In this respect, they are like places of power for Mages without exactly being a horizon realm. (which is a good thing, it gives a haven to Mages without all the baggage of horizon realms and ancient chantries and extra-planetary jaunts and all that stuff that is completely out of place in a "Destiny's Price" style chronicle. It also precludes the Mages from chickening out and ducking into the realm for a while when pissed off vampires or werewolves show up.)
2) They offer an additional amount of anonymity and arcane, thus enabling the Mage to work large magicks without being a huge blip on the nearest Manar scope. They enable a Mage to attack remote targets without being discovered. They enable Mages to hide when the heat is on.( "No...I'm sorry...you people want Doktor FrankenSTERN! He's the next castle on the left!") They also enable Mages to hide awkward things that need hiding like diabolic summonings and Nodes. Sanctums also keep others from knowing what you are up to and is perhaps the sole reason why Convention Mages use them too. Arcane keeps that pesky Time scrying off of you while you plot your enemies bureaucratic demise.
3) They act as a good place to put all the Mages assorted Mathoms like their library, their Tass supplies, ritual equipment, old foci, alchemical labs and other whatnot. Because of the place's Arcane, Others will not find them. In fact, Sanctums seem to gain power based on the amount of Magick Junk they have stored in them.(sort of a weird quasi-resonance thing.)
Akashic Sanctums:
These sorts of sanctums break down into a couple of different types. Many follow the form and function of a traditional Kwoon or Dojo. These types of Sanctum tend to accumulate weapons on the walls, pictures of former masters, scrolls of the teaching, the heavy bag, the speed bag, arrow and shuriken targets. Maka wara boards, bricks, wooden practice dummies, exercise equipment of all types. Herbalogical equipment in large lacquered wooden cabinets, Tatamae(a soft floor), and numerous other training tools. Some Akashics, particularly Orange Robes are more at home in a monasterial setting and might make a combination shrine/library sort of arrangement. While a Blue Skin might just find a waterfall and start to build a Zen garden around it.( the act of creating the Zen garden would be roughly analogous to act of gathering Stuff. the same effect would be achieved.) In all cases, you will be able to find joss, and ritual purification (the calligraphic form of hedge magick and the sight will also have to abide by the rules of feng shui.(and may, in fact, provide some additional abilities if in a really good site.
Celestial Sanctums:
These sorts of sanctums are a lot like a miniature shrine or temple of their own.They differ from a church proper because they are sustained by the will and faith of the user only. The best way to picture the kind of stuff that is available in a Celestial Sanctum is to picture a Catholic Mass. The priest enters into a fenced off area to separate himself from the parishioners mentally. (Proximity is very important in magickal theory.) He wears a special set of clothes(vestments) and works with a special set of tools and helpers(altar-persons, Holy water, and the cup and plate) He consecrates the wine and wafers.(symbolic representation of the deity) and even the air he breathes is changed to be made otherworldly.(With a censer, smell is a very important trigger for changing consciousness.) This collection of theurgical material is also important for magickal workings and is also augmented by religious books and in some cases music as well. Naturally, the trappings are going to be vastly different if your Celestial Mage is a Hindu or a Bantu. But the ideas and processes for touching the divinity are universal and even they are ultimately unnecessary. Other Stuff might include, healing paraphernalia, candles, musical instruments, scourges(to mortify the flesh) Hallucinogens (for the purposes of prophecy.) and a natural source of water or fire.
Cult of Ecstasy Sanctums:
Try to picture the coolest bedroom in the world. Nice big comfy futon, Game system that will run just about anything, Shelves and shelves of books and sheet music, a keyboard, and guitars, incense and other Head supplies like that. Psychedelic lighting and other weird stuff of that sort.(stick-on Glo-in-the-dark stars, Day-Glo mandalas, black light painting, a lava lamp or two. a Chinese rug on the floor...go nuts.) Candles with holders that will prevent an accidental fire. a skylight or maybe a mirror over the bed. A closet filled with every sex toy known to person-kind. Hell...maybe even a hot tub. This would be the place where the Cultist would go to safely stimulate himself or another or where he would go to seek refuge from too much stimulus. In many cases, these sanctums can be made as devoid of sensory stimulus as possible.(many are light tight.) Some Ecstatic cultists try to live in very small homes so as to be able to claim the whole house as a sanctum.
Dreamspeaker Sanctums:
Are usually naturally occurring structures or are built in such a way as to be part of the ecology. While the urban shaman might have some difficulty in this regard, treehouses are becoming increasingly popular as a means around the problem. Mages in the wild will use old trees, Caves, and burial mounds as well as any hidden spot where the ley lines are particularly strong. So how do Dreamspeaker accumulate Stuff? Well.... they don't really. But they might grow a garden, paint some cave paintings, and such sites often attract animals (peaceful ones generally.) Some Dreamspeakers also partake in Verbena-like lore and might have some books and herbs stored nearby. The Sanctum could take the form of a shack or cabin way out in the middle of nowhere. The sanctum might also accumulate cultural arts and crafts.Drums, hand built snowshoes and Bows, bullroarers and other caboodle like that.
Euthanatos Sanctums:
These sanctums often blend elements of Chorus Sanctums and Akashic Sanctums. Some are temples to Shiva. Some are workshops for assembling bombs or distilling poisons. Almost all have an area set aside for combat training and for using dance as a focus. Like many types of sanctums these places often rely heavily on music and incense to create a particular mind set and to remove the Mage from worldly concerns. There are so many ways to deal death, and there are so many tools to do so that a list of Euthanotic Stuff could be a post all by itself....But here is a short smattering of ideas like...tools, a forge, explosives, poisons, statues to Kali, booby traps, torture implements, Bones and other dead stuff, sharpeners, books of stolen kindred and wraith lore. Targets, sacrifices and maybe a prisoner or two.
Hermetic Sanctums:
While Hermetic Sanctums are not without their theurgical elements, they are mainly used as studies and places to experiment. Odds are good that their magickal library is here. if the hermetic in question has an interest in anything personal and time consuming it will be here as well.(Computers? Herbology? Alchemy? Ships-in-bottles? ) Alchemical labs are useful for a few things, Cabalistic high ritual magick requires a number of diverse foci, Enochian Mages will require a tablet of Solomon and every single hermetic sanctum has at least one permanent protective circle for summonings and other major workings. some also have thaumaturgical triangles and Sephirothic trees. Hermetic Sanctums are often very comfy as Hermetics spend a lot of time in them.
Sons of Ether Labs:
Well.....Hmmm...If there was any group that the background was invented for, this is it. Where else are you gonna keep those apparatus and monsters(not to mention that assistant...yeesh!) The following appended list is taken from someone else post. I regret that I don't know whose because it's simply brilliant and I reprint it here in the spirit of transmitting the information again. If it belongs to anybody out there get in touch with me and I'll credit you right here..
Extension cords - and lots of them.
Duck Tape - holds everything together.
A big Generator - MORE POWER!!! Bwahahahaha!
Tesla Coils - gives good mad-scientist lighting
A good "Control Panel" - with knobs, dials, and buttons galore.
A nice sound system, tapes of a raging thunderstorm - for mood.
A "Frankenstein switch" - to pull for big effects.
Spare lab coats - always have a clean lab coat on hand in case something important happens by.
Readouts with the glass covers off - so you can change the readings as needed.
A skylight - OK, more of a feature of the lab itself, but still essential.
All kinds of scientific meters - Photometers, Ph meters, voltmeters, Gas Chromatograph, Speedometer, Odometer, etc.
Ether Telescope and Microscope - to see things too small or distant for Ether goggles to pick up.
Rubber gloves - for messy work.
Sledgehammer, pipe wrench, pliers - for REALLY messy work, for self-defense too.Oil can - to get moving parts going right.
Espresso machine - for those long nights.
Lab Mice - even Mages need cute pets, never hurt them, only a cruel technocracy Mage would do that
A Freezer - for cold storage of things.
Beakers and glassware and Bunsen Burners (oh my)
Acid of some type - to warn people away from.
Many brightly colored chemical solutions
Some Fluorescent Fluid
Silly Putty - for calibrating instruments, defying analysis, and use on the funny papers.
A really big Fish Tank - for immersing things in moxes of stuff
An inflatable Godzilla Decoy - to fool rampaging monsters, best if enhances with a CO2 cartridge for a quick inflation.
Band Aids - For minor lab accidents and study.
For a SoE Botanist:
Several dozen spray bottles containing a variety of plant nutrients
A large hydroponics tank with gro-lighting adjustable to an extensive variety of colors
Flowers which would change color whenever nobody was looking at them.
A Familiar which appeared as a cross between Junior from Little Shop and Cleopatra from Addams Family.
Hundreds of soil samples, including some taken from Umbral Realms.
A seed collection containing varieties which were either extinct or which nobody had ever heard of, as well as mundane ones.
An attached greenhouse which was conspicuously designed more to keep things IN than OUT.
A cage and tank containing common feeder animals (goldfish and mice) though there APPEARED to be nothing to feed them to.
Several cages (again, no lab ANIMALS to put them in.)
A flame thrower (?!)
A moderate chemistry lab, mostly mundane.
The occasional small plant which would uproot and run away if anyone attempted to touch it.
A plot of carrots which appeared to be growing upside down (with the leaves in the soil and the root protruding.)
A couple cabbages which could occasionally he heard to hum tunelessly.
A hand-pump chemical sprayer labeled EMERGENCY in ominous lettering.
A notable lack of insects.
(I'm sorry...I had to laugh after reading it again. We now return you to our regularly scheduled article)
Verbena Sanctums:
Verbena and Dreamspeaker sanctums share a lot of common characteristics. an outdoor setting or very convenient to one. a lowered gauntlet, friendly local animals, artsy-craftsy stuff, healing supplies, apothecarial junk, a local garden, an almanac, an ephemeris, incense, air, earth, fire, and water. sacrifices,(maybe.) some Teutonic Verbena go a lot further with old weapons and runes on everything, Santeria practitioners rival both Celestial Mages and Bataa'a Mages for sheer volume of sacred materials and icons. goblets, altars and some kind of knife of axe are usually the only universal element in this group. Verbena Sanctums react badly to being desecrated. It is known that those who do usually end up horribly cursed.
Virtual Adept Sanctums:
In some respects, the virtual sanctum is often the only place that a virtual can really relax and play a bit of Marathon. while Virtuals pride themselves on their self sufficient nature and self contained power they perhaps need a sanctum as much if not more than Sons of Ether. The Virtual sanctum often is dominated by the Virtual's sit-down mainframe computer. workdesk and an electronics workbench. the place is often heavy with multiple monitors, fax/modems, printers, laminators, phone lines, VR gear, tech manuals, CD-roms of important Magickal works, backup software, a portable fridge and microwave. most Virtual Sanctums also have technology built into the walls and the phone lines that is similar to a fighter jets ECM package to produce that Arcane feeling.(never mind that this is probably impossible.) There is at least one Virtual Magus in our campaign that has transformed an old reconditioned Bookmobile into a Sanctum. Virtuals only spend a lot of time in their sanctum when coding something big or when making a serious run on a heavily protected system.
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You might think that Technocrats would not have to have a sanctum and in fact the official policy is that Sancta(?) are against the rules of the union, they endanger the prevailing paradigm, they make members of the union difficult to find, and there is no reason that convention members can't use open general labs for their work.
This is, of course, Bullshit.
Technocrats need Sanctums just as much as tradition Mages if only to keep prying eyes from their own side off of them. Technocrats need a place to experiment with the cutting edge of the paradigm, plan their bureaucratic vendettas, turn Nephandi, plan their escape, and of course store their junk.
Progenitor Sanctums:
It is heavily frowned on for Progenitors to use Conventional resources to make things for their personal use...Never mind that everybody does it. That's what Progenitor Sanctums are for. There are Progenitors that study herb lore, keep bees, grow custom orchids, make pets(that will kill you...) and stow away a spare tank for the clone you are growing on the sly.
Iterator X Sanctums:
Rare, but not impossible. They violate Orthodoxy, but some Iterator Mages do find that they work better alone. Picture an immaculate workshop with every kind of tool that you can imagine.then double it.
Order Sanctums:
Every Order Mage needs a place that he is sure is not bugged and will often go to great lengths to secure such a place. Most Sanctums of Order Mages are extremely anonymous offices in near empty office buildings somewhere out of the way. They also use small cramped labs for those Mages well versed in brainwashing techniques. Since Order Mages must usually account for every piece of equipment that they handle, sometimes stocking the Sanctum with found articles can be a real hassle.
Void Sanctums:
Void engineers, because of the sheer weight of secrets that they must keep, often need a sanctum. Research and Execution always needs a lab away from the prying eyes of those not in on the big joke. cybernaut sanctums are practically identical to Virtual Sanctums and anyone involved in Chronal or Dimensional Science Research has to have a Sanctum if he's going to be working earth side for any reason. In fact, it is a good idea to assume that any Void engineer that is working on terran soil has got to have a lab/bolt hole tucked away somewhere. if only to be able to use magicks that he's grown used to in other places that he can't use here.
Syndicate Sanctums:
It doesn't matter what the place looks like as long as it has electricity, and a connection to civilization. As long as that's the case, Hey....Why not go all out? Some syndicate consider their offices to be their sanctums, some keep mountain retreats where they go to recharge from the office. A palatial penthouse somewhere in the city is also a possibility. especially if that place is well stocked with alcohol, cable T.V, a Jacuzzi, and a few buff sorority girls. In fact, in Syndicate circles, Sanctums are a form of status symbol and only a low level schmuck doesn't have at least one. Among Convention Mages, Syndicate Mages are also the most likely to have some sort of Trophy room of some sort and all sorts of junk is likely to accumulate here.
Other Kinds of Sanctums:
Hollow Ones Sanctums:
While Orphans tend to run the entire gamut of Sanctum types, Hollowers have sort of taken on a distinctive look and feel to their Sanctums. Like every other type of Mage they have some sort of incense.(in the case of technocrats, just in case you are wondering it is either Spic-n-Span or burning solder) and they also have books. (although a Hollower is just as likely to have them jammed into a disused closet as on a bookshelf.) Some Hollowers like graveyard crypts for their Sanctums while others will decorate a room with decayed black lace and real cobwebs to get that oh so important ambience. Their choice of music is liable to be as laid back as Enigma or Orbital or as violent as the Ramones or the Dead Kennedy's. Some might have musical instruments or computers.Others might have bongos and the odd wraith fetter. No Hollow One Sanctum is complete without a set of Tarot cards and a Ouija board.any place that is abandoned is ideal for making into a sanctum.
Craft Sanctums:
Any of the Asian Crafts(Wu Keng and Wu Lung) will usually conform to the kinds of Sanctums that the Akashics have. As far as the Bataa'a go, a voodoun Hounfor is basically the definition of a Sanctum. Their will always be plenty of wide open space for dancing. Children of Knowledge will have alchemical equipment that will put any Hermetic equipment to shame. Hermetics have entered into CoK labs and found themselves drooling. Sisters of Hippolyta and Kopa Loie Mages are likely to conform in many ways to both Dreamspeaker and Verbena Sanctums. Kopa Loie Sanctums are always near water. Which isn't exactly hard in the Hawaiian islands. Templars will have Sanctums that are identical with their Chorus counterparts. (although the musical elements will be conspicuously absent) and as far as the Hem Ka Sobk go...well, they probably have Sanctums but nobody has seen the inside of one and lived.
Nephandi Sanctums:
Small out of the way temples, in building basements, in deep subterranean fastnesses, in old abandoned barns in New England somewhere... Some Nephandi sanctums reside cheek-by-jowl with tradition and technocrat areas. Some like to reside near Spiral danser Caerns, Jhuvunka warrens, and large nihils. Nephandi have even been known to create havens out of radioactive test sites, on islands crawling with smallpox, and in neighborhood graveyards and junkyards. Icons to their master often have links to them as well, and may prove dangerous.(especially in the case of the outsider things who have a history of statue animation) Nephandi Sanctums are likely to be littered with slaves and pets.(who may or may not be able to leave) and all sorts of equipment. The sanctum will often conform to their former traditions or conventions standards unless of course, they are not barrabi and follow the Nephandic tradition itself. Such Sanctums are a Satanists wet dream and occasionally make Spiral dansers nervous and ornery.(>sniff< ..."Too clean...need more shit, blood, and dirt in the air.") their incense is a cloying sickly sweet reek that leaves itself embedded in your clothes. their books are those worm-eaten but carefully preserved tomes of utterly damned literature. Their trophies are likely to be real heads on the wall. Some historically minded Nephandi have become attached to particular eras of history and or particular atrocities. and they have started decorating their sancta in those fashions. This is a fad that is beginning to catch on as it make it very to easy to link these sanctums to certain areas of the Atrocity Realm. The current favorites decorator fashions include Concentration Camp, Ancient Rome, Spanish inquisition, Soweto, Jonestown, and Khmer Rouge. Also remember that most Nephandi Sanctums are seriously booby-trapped. if only to keep out their fellow Nephandi.
