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* It’s been about ten years since we’ve
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that’s why it’s called the Sixth World, right? It
affected everything.” No, I’m really talking about what happened to the physical earth itself, like before
and after the orichalcum rush. If you don’t remember, Rockhound is the parageologist from MIT&T recom-
mended by the late Captain Chaos. He’s now one of the leading experts working with the Astral Space
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P ARAGEOLOGY
Posts/Files tagged with
“Parageology”:
* Mana Lines
* Type D (Dragon)
* Type L (Ley)
* Type S (Song)
* Sha and Shen effect
[ More ]
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PARAGEOLOGY
at a sixty-degree angle so that they intersect at the top of each building.
A parageologist’s tool kit contains dowsing rods and manatropic plant
seeds that can be used to measure a mana line’s characteristics.
e appearance of mana lines can vary depending on whether
the line is aspected toward a type of magic, the astral background, or
the state of the physical world it runs through. I’ve perceived them as
shimmering rivers, a solid-colored beam of light (hence the technical
analogy), or a subtle path in the astral plane. I’ve even seen one appear
like a black crack running through a city neighborhood.
While all are mana lines, I’m in a controversial camp that believes
that there are three subtypes that mainstream arcane schools tend
to ignore or gloss over. ese subtypes have di erent origination or
properties associated with them.
Posted by: Rockhound
Like everything else in the Sixth World, the earth experienced
all kinds of Awakenings. A simultaneous eruption of volcanoes in
2012 tops the list of big events. On the heels of this event, over the
next few years the landscape transformed in Tír Tairngire, Tír na
nÓg, and Amazonia. With no rational explanation for these altera-
tions, geologists created the new eld of parageology to study the
e ects of magic on physical terrain. In the beginning, it was mostly
the study of mana lines and power sites, and then people discovered
volatile elements of earth, air, re, and water that serve as physical
manifestations of the elemental planes. Since the Year of the Comet,
there has been a lot of commotion; India’s oating mountains, CFS’s
deep lacuna, Sana’a, and the orichalcum rush as the substance sud-
denly appeared in natural, mineable deposits, and vanished just as
mysteriously. During this time ve Awakened minerals manifested,
each rarer than gold and found in low concentrations around the
globe. ese Awakened minerals held strange properties, and unlike
orichalcum that vanished, these were still minable a er the passing
of the Comet. Since I have a lot to present, I shall start with the core
area of parageologic studies: mana lines.
e subtypes are designated L, D, or
S for ley, dragon, or song lines.
TYPE D (DRAGON)
Dragon lines relate to geographical ener-
gies. From fault lines and volcanic hotspots
to rivers and lakes, dragon lines move along
natural terrain connecting re and water like
yin and yang. Type D lines in uence and are
in uenced by changes to the land. Land along
positive D lines grow healthier plants and tends to
be stable, which means they usually host an abundance
of life. Type D lines are very strong and dangerous to manipulate, as
they can a ect the nature of the land when they move, which can cause
earthquakes. Dragon lines are the most dominant type of mana lines
on earth.
in uenced by changes to the land. Land along
positive D lines grow healthier plants and tends to
be stable, which means they usually host an abundance
> What the hell is he talking about? Floating mountains? I don’t remember seeing
this on the trids.
> HardExit
> Looks like the media has been holding out on us.
> Dr. Spin
> Depends on which media you view, and if you go beyond what is presented to
the masses.
> The Smiling Bandit
> That’s probably why Ryumyo is in charge of making any adjustments to mana
lines in Japan.
> Mihoshi Oni
MANA LINES
Heilige Linien’, fairy paths, dragon lines, spirit lines, dream
paths, ley and energy lines; all are di erent names for what we have
universally de ned as mana lines. Mana lines are a ow of concentrated
magical energy; a laser in a lit room if you like the technical analogy, or
a current in the ocean, if you prefer an analogy from nature. It can be
tapped into from both the physical and astral plane for greater power.
is is about how much most books on thaumaturgy delve into the
subject. I’m a little obsessive on getting details so here’s my two nuyen
on a few questions I wanted answers for.
A mana line can be as narrow as y centimeters to several meters
in diameter with a length that varies depending on the connecting
“end points” where the magical energies start and end. While a mana
line seems small, it generates an in uence eld, otherwise known as a
domain or background count, for tens of meters around it, depending
on the power ow. In most circumstances mana lines rest against the
earth and ow along its contours. ere are exceptions to all of the
rules, so don’t blame me if you nd one that doesn’t match. For exam-
ple, the Wuxing Skytowers have a set of mana lines leaving the ground
> It was a terrorist disruption of a mana line that caused the Japanese quake in
2060.
> Plan 9
> Or maybe it was because Japan is on the edge of the ring of fi re and earthquakes
happen there often.
> Stone
> Believe what you like. I should add that given their effectiveness, it’s surprising
that mana lines weren’t used in the Azt-Am war.
> Plan 9
> I don’t think either side of the Azt-Am war wanted to start messing with that
sort of thing. Who knows what trouble that would lead to?
> Glasswalker
> Right. Because Aztlan is exactly the type of nation to shy away from potentially
dangerous magic.
> Marcos
PARAGEOLOGY
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PARAGEOLOGY
TYPE L (LEY)
ough the term “ley” was coined
about a century and a half ago to de ne
archaic tracks connecting man-made
features, we continue to use the term
with a slightly different definition.
Ley lines are mana lines that connect
man-made and fey sites—supposed
non-human constructed locations, some
of which have religious or emotional
signi cance that generate power. L lines in uence and are in uenced
by civilization. People who live close to an unin uenced type L line are
generally healthier. ose that live directly in an unin uenced L line
tend to feel more energized and inspired.
restored. e sha e ect is stationary but can expand in a cascade e ect,
unbalancing other mana lines connected to it.
TYPE L (LEY)
ough the term “ley” was coined
about a century and a half ago to de ne
archaic tracks connecting man-made
features, we continue to use the term
with a slightly different definition.
Ley lines are mana lines that connect
man-made and fey sites—supposed
non-human constructed locations, some
of which have religious or emotional
signi cance that generate power. L lines in uence and are in uenced
by civilization. People who live close to an unin uenced type L line are
generally healthier.
e sha e ect disrupts
mana ow causing mana ebbs.
In the opposite imbalance, a shen e ect is similar to a localized
mana surge in a mana line. Such an e ect can occur when there is an
uncontrolled or unnatural convergence of multiple mana lines.
> It appears a good guideline is “Don’t cross the streams” if you don’t know what
you’re doing.
> Mika
ose that live directly in an unin uenced L line
is comes back to the feng
shui e ect a positive mana line can have.
THE ANTHROPOCENE AGE
Posted by: Ecotope
One of the biggest geological features created in the age of man has been
landfi lls. Large swaths of land have been fi lled with a dense mixture of waste
and trash. Over two centuries of this wasteful practice have created huge arti-
fi cial layers of land, with some places over a kilometer thick. While the surface
may look like a golf course green or some nice little urban community, but below
things decay and chemically mix into a possible time bomb, as gasses such as
carbon monoxide, radon, and methane escape from lawns and basements, or
liquids that are just as dangerous and corrosive leech into drinking water (not
that anyone drinks from their faucets).
As humanity entered the Sixth World, with its growth in human misery and
its large class of people who barely have access to basic necessities, there rose
a new profession and way of life. They are called recicladores, waste-pickers,
mole people, and eco-miners. They are part anthropologist, part geologist, and
part chemist. The recicladores excavate rooms and tunnels into the landfi lls
for resources like metals from old electronics, methane from decomposing
organics, and other recyclable materials. They trade such goods to various orga-
nizations and black markets for necessities such as clean water and medicine.
Communities of them live above and within the landfi lls recycling the materials
as part of their survival and livelihood. The downside to being a recicladore is the
constant exposure to a toxic cocktail of chemicals, diseases, even radiation from
the material within the landfi ll. Life can be short and miserable as a recicladore.
The upside is sometime you get to eat without having to kill someone. Not
much, but as we all know people often take what they can get.
Corporations don’t get into this, as the profi t margin is too low for the
headaches. When they created the landfi lls, they didn’t think ahead; they just
strip-mined the resources out of the ground, then sold the space for cities or
corporations to dump waste. However, municipalities have collaborated with
recicladores for the power that can be generated from the methane gas, which
allows them to buy at least some power from something besides corporations. The
corporations are about as thrilled about this as they are about any loss of revenue,
which means that runs against recicladore operations are sometimes available.
The next largest man-made feature is the proliferation of plascrete con-
struction. With the higher expense of material like asphalt and tar, construction
companies threw more money into their R&D on design alternatives. What they
came up with are long fi brous chemical chains that can be added to concrete
aggregate to form plascrete. Plascrete, which has the advantage of being
moldable and more durable than concrete with rebar, was prolifi cally used for
construction of freeways and new buildings. The construction advantages of
plascrete are balanced by its ecological disadvantages. It can resist cracking due
to freeze/thaw cycles and invasive plant roots. The surface can be treated to
be resistant to water and other chemicals, which would normally be absorbed
in traditional concrete. So what we have are huge swaths of urban blight that
instead of breaking down over a couple of decades may last as long or longer
than ancient Roman construction.
> The reason you don’t see such positive effects often in this dystopian world is
because corporations killed the positive energy with the depletion of resources,
pollution of the land and air, and their systematic crushing of the creative soul
of the common wageslave.
> Ecotope
> How did cairns stay powerful? Yes you had a neodruidic movement at
Stonehenge, but once it was tapped, wouldn’t it drain away?
> Arete
TYPE S (SONG)
Song lines are mana lines that are
most indicative to the Australian conti-
nent. ey are di erent to type L or D as
they may or may not have any in uence
over the land or people. Instead they are
designed for travel and navigation both
physically and astrally. S lines form astral
ri s and can connect to astral gates. ey
are unnatural lines channeling mana
energy, and they don’t handle mana uxes well. Chaotic mana storms
are generated along Song lines.
> To me it’s all ley lines. In Europe, everything is just classifi ed as ley lines, not
type D lines here or a type L lines there.
> Ethernaut
> And I doubt that Wuxing will change their Dragon line procedures whether it’s
their headquarters in Hong Kong or some branch in France.
> Lyran
> True, but what he speaks of should not be ignored just because of Western or
Eastern cultural classifi cations.
> Arete
SHA AND SHEN EFFECT
Mana ows along mana lines like rivers when there is a balanced
harmony of positive and negative energies. Mana lines are able to
handle some imbalance by distributing such energies along the length
of the line. When the balance tips too far into negative energy, the
mana line becomes blocked with what is de ned as the sha e ect. e
toxic energy then in uences the world at that point until balance is
4
PARAGEOLOGY
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MAJOR MANA LINES OF THE WORLD
Mana lines cross the face of the earth like a chaotic web. Most are
minor or have been broken up by urban sprawls. ere are, however,
a few that are powerful or have recently gained power. Such locations
are what many mage groups look to control. ey have classi cations
of power based on the Metzger-Typhus scale of power in orders of
magnitude as well as the type of mana line.
> There’s also a drop in average temperatures up in the northern latitudes that is
having an effect on the mountain snow.
> OrbitalDK
Type D, Class 3: Niagara Falls
An alchera has manifested similar to Victoria Falls; in this case, a
cli face has manifested. Its appearance re lled as much as ten meters
that had been lost to erosion while also displacing a hydroelectric
dam. e falls drop y meters into Lake Erie. e mana line runs the
length of Horseshoe and America Falls, covering an entire kilometer.
Another change was the intersection of Niagara Falls and the river at
Goat Island. is island was overbuilt as a tourist resort and expanded
by ten acres to support new structures, parking, and a helipad. A surge
at the nexus in 2058 caused several small tremors that damaged most
of the buildings and collapsed the land lled portion, which the river
then took away.
NORTH AMERICA
Type L, Class 3: The Great Cahokia Mound Web
Like the stone rings that formed in Great Britain, large earthen
domes rose again from previously destroyed Cahokian mounds shortly
a er the passing of the comet. e nexus of this web is Monks Mound.
Prior to the awakening, this mound was thirty meters in height; a er
the Awakening, it rose to forty meters. Many lines connect as far north
as the Great Lakes, as far south as the Gulf of Mexico.
> Several of these locations were already known as power sites and minor,
unstable lines. After the comet, it was like someone kicked the magic machine
and all the lines and locations popped up and connected together.
> Lyran
> Goat Island has become a smuggler rest spot for people moving goods both
north and south.
> Turbo Bunny
> There’s a northern group around the Chicago area looking at a possible failed
connection because of the blast site. They’re seeing if it can be restored.
> Mika
> Manitou Island has some interesting activity as well, with a minor mana line cross-
ing through the heart of the island. Since 2061, it becomes physically visible with
fi re on the anniversary of the Beaver Wars, which wiped out the native population.
> Mika
Type S, Class 3: Chaco Canyon
ere are ve meter-wide, straight roads that run along the outside
edges of the canyon and connect the ruins of Chetro Ketl, Pueblo Bonito
at the northern end with the ruins of Una Vina at the other end. e
mana line rings the canyon rather than cutting across it. One of the
a ects of this mana line is an alchera river that runs down the length of
the canyon, disappearing into the mists a half kilometer further down
from the Chaco Canyon at the ruins of Kin Kletso. Walking within the
canyon is dangerous due to the random manifestations of astral gates.
Type D, Class 4: Mississippi River
is four-thousand-kilometer mana line runs down the middle of
the great river. Pollution and construction around it have caused sha
events, making it di cult to harness the energy. Shamans who connect
with this mana line o en anchor stone e gies to the bottom of the
river or place wooden markers in sand bars to insure their control of
part of the river.
Type D, Class 3: Mount Hood, Rainier, St. Helens
ere is a scattering of mana lines that spider web down these
mountains following old lava ows. It’s similar to the Auvergne volca-
noes’ mana lines, but less dynamic as none of them are erupting.
Type D, Class 2: Harding Icefield
Harding Ice eld currently covers ve hundred square kilometers
of Kenai Mountains in ice. Prior to the Awakening, this was smaller,
with over seventy cubic kilometers melting annually contributing to
the rising sea levels. By 2010, the fourteen glaciers were reduced to
one as they retreated back up the mountain. It wasn’t until 2014 that
the recorded amount of glacial melt slowed, and by 2060 the ice eld
was back to its size prior to 1999. It will soon exceed the size recorded
during the 1960s. Astrally at several Nunataks or “lonely mountains,”
there are criss-crossing mana lines that intersect beneath the ice. Along
them, the temperature is always twelve degrees Celsius colder than sur-
rounding environs. Since the passage of the comet, a sheng qi e ect has
been located along all the intersections, introducing an astral shallow.
ere is a visitor-hiking trail by Exit Glacier, north of Seward, that goes
six kilometers into the ice eld, but the rest of the ice eld is a preserve
and is o limits.
Type D, Class 3: Yellowstone Thermal Line
From the Yellowstone caldera to the Liard Hot Springs, this mana
line connects the various hot springs, from the Vichy and Orr Springs
in southern Tír Tairngire and northern CFS to the St. Helens and
Rainier fumaroles in the Salish-Shidhe Council and Seattle, all the way
north into the Athabaskan Council and ending at Liard Hot Springs.
MAJOR MANA LINES OF THE WORLD
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