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Art: Infusion
The Art of advanced construction and modification, Infusion allows the caster to craft truly impressive chimerical inventions, including those normally forbidden to the nocker Birthright and similar powers (such as devices requiring electricity or chemical reactions). Although Infusion is still practiced primarily by nockers, others have also managed to learn the basics of this Art, such as boggans, eshu and sidhe of House Dougal, though the nockers jealously guard the higher levels and few of the other kith make any progress at all without a nocker watching over their shoulder. Unfortunately for everyone concerned, the Thallain goblins also have a knack with this Art, and like nockers need no teacher to grasp its principles until they reach the very highest levels.
It is important to note that this Art recognizes four types of chimera: Incidental, Dreamed, crafted and forged. Incidental chimera are things like a passing daydream or a changelings voile, flimsy and normally incapable of being used for any real purpose; Dreamed chimera are somewhat hardier, being formed of persistent dreams and fears, but still unable to withstand much abuse. Crafted chimera are commonly created through use of the nocker Birthright and Abilities like Crafts and Repair, and require a minimum of one Glamour trait to manipulate. Forged chimera are the most resilient of all, born of pure molten dreams, and only nockers and sidhe of House Dougal with this Art are capable of creating them. Note that this Art does not replace the nocker Birthright, but rather enhances it, going beyond its normal limitations and bolstering its strengths. Crafting most common tools, armor and weapons does not require Infusion, but truly complex, powered or intelligent creations are the province of this Art.
Type of Challenge: Mental
Basic
Harden: By spending a Glamour trait and casting a successful cantrip, the caster can "harden" inanimate, Incidental chimera, making them able to be forged or crafted like regular Dreamed chimera. This Art lasts a number of days equal to the Bunk traits gained during casting, although it can be recast for particularly lengthy projects - each successive cantrip is one trait up, cumulatively. Once properly forged or crafted, chimera modified by this Art retain such status until the item is destroyed or another user of this Art unweaves the cantrip.
Type: Chimerical
Toughen: This Art is identical to the Primal Art Oakenshield, except that when used on inanimate objects (such as materials a nocker is working on), the extra health levels are considered permanent until lost through some form of damage. Multiple castings of this Art are not cumulative, and recasting this Art on inanimate objects requires that they be "reforged" or otherwise taken apart and put back together. This Art is frequently employed to create armor of surpassing toughness or virtually unbreakable weapons, though those are far from its only applications.
Type: Chimerical
Intermediate
FUBAR Generation: FUBARs are small, spherical, semi-intelligent energy fields mad of Glamour that nockers use to power inventions that would normally require electricity or active chemical reactions to function, since Banality normally prevents such operations from working in the Dreaming. Once this cantrip is successfully cast, the user of this Art typically must also win a static mental test using the Gremayre or Science abilities to bend the FUBAR to his will and integrate it into the invention properly. The number or Bunk traits gained in casting equals the number of Glamour traits the FUBAR has, which often determines how many charges a weapon has, how long an item can function, etc. It is uncertain whether this Art creates FUBARs or merely summons them, and nockers have been known to debate the matter for hours.
Casters who attempt to abuse this Art to conjure up FUBARs for the express purpose of slaying them and taking their Glamour quickly find that this Art becomes extremely difficult, if not outright impossible to use; or, in especially nasty cases, that the devices they invent have a nasty way of turning against them, even years down the road...
Type: Chimerical
Required Realm: Fae x 5 (Dweomer of Glamour)
Animantis: This bizarre and powerful Art allows the caster to imbue a device with a form of limited sentience, allowing it to carry out a small number of simple tasks. Quality is highly important - successful Crafts and Gremayre tests, both against a difficulty of 11 traits, are required to fashion an item of suitable quality and form for this cantrip to empower. (Not just any old item can be gifted with some measure of intelligence!) In addition, the device must be physically capable of the tasks it is intended for or this cantrip is essentially useless; a bookcase cannot walk or carry things, for example, though a humanoid-shaped golem or "Glamdroid" might. Naturally, good ol' nocker ingenuity can solve most such problems with a little sweat, a ton of hidden features and some basic robotics work, but that's another story... Objects respond to the caster's simple commands, within their capabilities: "Fetch this," "Carry that," "Guard this door" or even "Attack!" are all acceptable. Conditional or conjunctional commands such as "If those people start shouting, then attack them" or "Protect me and destroy the intruders" are too complex, however. Additionally, for each Bunk trait gained in casting, the caster gets seven traits that can be assigned to the following categories: physical, social, abilities, health levels and Redes. Additionally, without at least one physical trait, the object cannot move or attack. Without a social trait, it cannot communicate. Without health levels, it is automatically destroyed by the first damage it takes.
Type: Chimerical
Required Realm: Fae x 5 (Dweomer of Glamour)
Advanced
Gilgul: The most sacred of creation rites, this Art imbues a target chimera or golem with life and true intelligence. While the results can be truly spectacular, the price of failure is high indeed, and in either case the caster is advised that life created is life that needs caring for. The process is twofold: first, the cantrip must be successful, to open the channels between the caster and his target and allow for the necessary transference of mental energy. Second, the caster must succeed at a static test of the Gremayre ability against 10 traits. If the second challenge fails, the player must immediately make a simple test - failure means that the target not only becomes sentient (and gains the normal number of mental traits that it would for a successful casting, as outlined below), but antisocial and dangerous, though the caster doesn't necessarily know this until it's too late. If both the cantrip and challenge are successful, however, the caster may give his creation a number of mental traits equal to the Bunk traits gained in casting, plus an additional mental trait for each Glamour trait the caster is willing to spend. Targets given life with this cantrip are loyal and friendly to their creator, and may learn any number of tasks in time. Humiliation and abuse may change these attitudes, however, and while they're willing to defend their creator, all creations constantly sent ahead to check for traps or used as guinea pigs for dangerous experiments eventually rebel against their masters, often at the worst possible time.
Type: Chimerical
Required Realm: Fae x 5 (Dweomer of Glamour)
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