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Magic: The Libra Personae

Its full, official title: Summa Persona: De Elementa, et ad Relatio Inter Se; et Modum Repraesentationis et ejus Reflexio in Materia

In English: Personas: On their Elements and Relations to Each Other; their Construction; and their Modes of Representation and Reflection in Matter

I. Five Prefatory Notes

1. Most of the items made by the Libra contain a sub-sigil that restricts them so that they can only work on humans. So, when you put a blank mask on someone, the first thing it does is check for human essentia. If it doesn't find essentia, then it fails to execute, and just continues inertly. That's why a mask won't copy the air, or the desk it's sitting on; nor will it copy an animal or plant. If it finds human essentia, then it draws a boundary around the imago associated with that essentia; it does so by finding the anima and tracing out the physical pathways that lead to the creation of mental states associated with that anima. Those pathways will terminate at the skin (where the nature of the causal pathways will change to light and air waves), and that's where the masks draws a boundary and copies everything within it. That's why they copy bodies but not clothes.

Note that certain kinds of makeup and perfumes will penetrate the skin, and those will be copied as well; but because masks copy the physical kinds, the copied perfumes and makeups can be washed off after the imposter has donned the disguise. Piercings are not copied, but the holes for them are. For hair, we'll assume that it traces that out through the nerves at the roots of each follicle to take in all the shaft.

2. A modified version of Spell 23 appears in hidden form in the very first spell of the book. Imago, we said, can be separated from substantia and altered. This is a very complicated technique, but it can be automated to a degree. The information from one pattern of imago can be put into a kind of editing field, and information from another imago can be fed into it, combining in a random way to produce a average merger of the two. The first spell of the book, which makes a blank mask, contains this kind of auto-editor, which is why a blank and unsealed mask can be used to craft new imago by combining different people inside a mask. It is not in the nature of a mask to do this; it is an extra feature that has been packed into this first spell.

3. When donning a sealed mask, the new imago does not cover the imago of the person donning the mask. Instead, it swaps them out. The mask absorbs the imago of the person who has put on the mask, and onto his substantia (and essentia and anima) it places the imago it contained; in crafting the imago it copied, it also creates a hidden slot for itself, so that the mask itself disappears into the imago it has put onto the imposter. That is why the imposter has the new face and body, inside and out. Pulling the mask off reverses the process, with the modifications that have been made to the imago while it was being worn being packed back into the mask. Thus, if you put on a mask and then cut your hair off, then take the mask off, when you put it back on the hair will still be cut.

The presence of the mask inside the new imago explains two other features of mask wearing. First, it is why you can't put a mask or mind- or anima-band on someone who's already wearing one without causing problems. The new device will try to copy the imago, but will run into the mask or band which is hidden inside the person: It will try to absorb the imago it finds, but that imago already contains a mask.

Second, it is why bits of the body "evaporate" shortly after being separated from the disguise. Imago needs substantia, but separation from the mask-wearer—which is where the substantia resides—breaks that relationship, and the imago cannot long survive the separation. (In normal cases, substantia breaks off with imago when we shed skin or hair or blood; in the case of a mask, the substantia does not break off with the imago.)

Impregnation is impossible while wearing a mask. The sperm from a male disguise evaporates. Pregnancy requires the formation of human essentia, and the mask will block that as well. In the latter case, it is an intentional part of the design, presumably as a prophylactic measure. It would be embarrassing if, while disguised as a girl, you gave birth, and the baby vanished a few minutes after it came out of the womb.

One must be careful of piercings when putting on a mask; if you are wearing a stud and put on the mask of someone who hasn't got a hole there, you will materialize without a hole for the stud—and the stud will create one in a very painful way.

4. When you craft a mask, the mask doesn't copy your essentia, but it does record it, and after it has been sealed, the mask checks the essentia of the person it is put on. If the person's essentia doesn't match the mask crafter's, then it puts that person to sleep for at least five minutes (or more). If the essentia does match, then it puts the person to sleep just long enough for the imago swap to take place—a matter of seconds, if even that long. Thus, a magician who puts on a mask that he is made will not fall unconscious for any great length of time, but his victims will fall asleep. The reason for this: the magician probably doesn't want to linger after donning a disguise, but he probably does want a victim to be unconscious while he makes his getaway.

NOTE: This is a new idea, not reflected in anything published in BoM. It doesn't have to be used going forward. But in a "canonical" version of BoM, this is how things would operate. It would simplify the confusion about when people get knocked out and when they don't, and for how long.

Regardless, when you put a blank mask on someone (the mask's crafter, or someone else) it will put that person to sleep while the copy spell executes, and for at least five minutes afterward (and maybe longer, depending on the person). This is also a design feature of the spell, not an aspect of magic, and can be removed or altered.

5. "Golems are creatures of magic, and cannot perform magic." That is a very old truism. But there is one exception: A golem that has had anima placed within it becomes indistinguishable from a human being, and therefore is able to perform magic, including any magic that would derive from the essentia it carries within it.

* * * * *

II. Some of the Original Latin.

Note that the Latin is what is canonical; the English translation is only the sense, and is probably best conceived of as a 17th century translation prepared by someone who got their hands on it.

[Latin translation is the awesome work of BoM author Nostrum.]

The Title Page (Latin): Summa Persona: De Elementa, et ad Relatio Inter Se; et Modum Repraesentationis et ejus Reflexio in Materia Lector diligens; in hoc opus ipsis est data sunt Personae tuus, eius familiarissimum aliquas operationes, et relationes ejus partes ad invicem ut totum constituere. Factum est compilatur et restituantur en forma singulari ex primaevis, antiquis, classici et moderni scientia, et sunt ornataque per nova et mirabile inventis. Datum sunt tibi maxime convenientis expressiones propter abstractionis et ad praesentationis de elementis Personae ad illustrationem intellectus, et Modi specifici ut per animadverto quam abstractae in materialiter, ita quod sensibus, non solum etiam intellectus.

The Title Page (English): Personas: On their Elements and Relations to Each Other; their Construction; and their Modes of Representation and Reflection in Matter Diligent reader, in this work you are given the persona, its innermost workings, and the relations of its parts to each other so as to constitute the whole. It is compiled and reconstituted in an original manner from primordial, ancient, classical and modern knowledge, and embellished by new and marvelous discoveries. You are given the most convenient expressions for the abstraction and presentation of the elements of the persona for the enlightenment of the understanding, and the practical means by which to realize these abstractions in material form, that they may be comprehended by the senses and not only by the intellect.

The Preface (Latin): De Re Abusus Potentialis hac Scientiam
Est in natura Personae quod sit dandum motus, quia non est anima sine motus, et reliquae Materia a quo Personam quod praeterisse sola corpus inertis residuum. Praeterea, est in natura Personae, ut esse videantur per contemplationem; quamvis Persona attinens in materia, tantum percipitur sola per intellectum qui vident.

Quia ex tempore Magna Ruina ut mali habitum autem Homine de fraus et adhibent de machinationes deceptio,prevaricando legem Divinam, et in illa simulatione dissimulatio operient, circumvenio proposito. Per calumnia et dissimulato, magna laborem habent effectum est, erit facile percipi quod scientia et machinationes presenti in opus, possunt usus in se proposita praeter quam illustrationem per intellectus, et admirationi et comprehensionem ex magni creaturae Dei.

Ergo, lectorem monuit ut sit periculi, ad animam, corpus et mens; quae adhibere ad haec thema et ejus studium, ut quasi non seducat quae inliciant. Et ne forte cor dicens, "Veni, et sic; per artes et scientiam huius summa operis, ut quia Ego potes cingunt multa magna opera, et aperis cor me ut in quae omnis contineri. Est et uti contentus cupio in quia ecce mihi ego, et qua non intellegis nihil me quam meas". Haec non opus habet insidias sed lectorem faceret sibi, prauitas humana insipientia et tamen, quia plures formae suam tentationibus, non attendit superbia et periculis etiam arte effecit.

Nec quisquam ignarus geometriae alchymicam ingredieris huc.

Traduntur mysteriis opere, quod est obsignatum compagibus. Nec signi est cor ejus et spiritus hoc est frivolum et negligens.

The Preface (English): Concerning the Possible Abuses of this Knowledge
It is the nature of personae that they be given motion, for without motion there is no life, and matter from which the persona has departed is a mere corpse. Moreover, it is the nature of personae that they be displayed for contemplation, for although the persona is realized in matter it is perceived only through the understanding of those who behold it.

It has been since the Fall the evil habit of men to deceive and to employ instruments of deception, in contravention of holy law, and by dissimulation to encompass their purposes. By pretense and disguise have mighty labors been achieved, and it will easily be grasped that the knowledge and instruments given in this work can be employed for purposes other than the enlightenment of the understanding, and the admiration and comprehension of God's mighty creation.

Therefore, let the reader beware those dangers, to soul as well as to body and mind, that attend this subject and its study, and let him not deceive himself as to them. Let him not say in his heart, "Come, by the knowledge and craft of this work may I encompass many great works, and ease my heart to all content. Let me employ its art how I will, and understand it no further than that my purposes be realized." This work contains no snares but those the reader may make for himself, yet such is the folly and perversity of mankind that many may those snares fashion for themselves, and in their pride see not the dangers that attend even the most artful falsehood.

Nor let any untrained in alchemical geometry enter here.

Great mysteries in this work are presented, and so certain locks are placed upon it. Sign it not with a heart or spirit that is frivolous and unheedful.

* * * * *

III. The Spells

The Mask / Corpus (Spell 1): Makes a mask containing a sigil that copies non-mental imago. The mask contains an auto-editor for combining imago; this auto-editor runs if and only if the mechanism for swapping imago is disabled.

The Sealant / Membrana (Spell 2): The seal inside a mask has only one function: it disables the auto-editor, which has the effect of activating the imago-swap mechanism. From this point on, the mask cannot copy; it can only disguise.

The Mind-Band / Tabula Mentalia (Spell 3): The sigil inside this one copies only mental imago (after first testing for the presence of human essentia), and instead of swapping out imago it inserts the mental imago into the person who has donned the band. It does not contain an auto-editor, and once it contains an imago, the insertion mechanism operates when someone puts it on. The reason for not containing an auto editor? A full merger of disparate memories can create a confused mess, as would a random and chaotic merger of them. If separate mental states are to be merged, the magician should sort it out himself.

The Glue / Ferrumen (Spell 4): A kind of glue that merges mental imago into non-mental imago. Contains a block that prevents additional mental imago from being inserted, though additional non-mental imago can be merged if the mask has not been sealed.

In principle, it is possible to craft a sigil that copies both mental and non-mental imago at the same time. Such a sigil would not be hard to craft, given a knowledge of spells 1 and 3. In practice, though, it is no great hassle to keep the two kinds of copying separate: gluing a blank mind band into a blank mask basically accomplishes this.

The Golem / Sustentaculo (Spell 5): Golems have been represented as "pure substantia," but that is technically untrue. Rather, a golem is simply a hunk of matter that has been altered in such a way that it can take on imago. The alteration is to give it human essentia. That's what masks look for before they operate, so the way to make a golem is to infuse a hunk of matter with human essentia.

More than that, a golem needs an animating force within it. Biological essentia (the root essentia common to humans, animals, plants and microbes) would suffice for that, but that kind of essentia does not survive death; in BoM, a corpse is not a human being, its essentia having broken down at the moment of death. There are, however, residual energies from decaying essentia, and these energies can be harvested and used to "kick start" a golem.

That is why organic earth is needed to create a golem. Enormous amounts of plain earth (containing the decaying residue of vegetative essentia as well as microbial essentia) would suffice, but graveyards contain these energies in concentrated form, so that only 400 pounds—rather than the several tons of regular earth otherwise needed—will suffice. The danger is that graveyard earth will invariably contain decayed human anima, and with these present revenants can enter and take control of the golem. Setting the earth on fire fuses the magician's essentia into the golem in a way that also burns out any anima. The result is a blob that contains the magician's essentia, and fuel to instantly start it up. (Note that "fuel" does not imply a set quantity that is consumed over time. Think of it as something more like a one-time nudge that pushes the golem into motion, after which it continues without needing any further pushes.)

The golem contains essentia, but it does not contain anima or any of the neural pathways that would create anima. That means that a blank mask will not copy a golem, even though it can recognize the essentia inside one. But a sealed mask, once it has found the essentia inside a golem, will operate on the golem. It works just the way it would on a person: It swaps the imago of the golem for the imago it contains within itself, then tucks itself inside the imago it has cast onto the golem.

If the mask and golem have been made by the same magician, then the golem wakes instantly. If cast by different magicians, the golem will take several minutes to wake even after the imago has manifested. Note that this is also "canonical" but can be ignored because it has never been written this way before.

The term used in the book for a golem is "pedisequos".

The Corpse-Golem / Membrum (Spell6): This is an "inside out" spell. If you visualize a person as "layers," there would be a layer of imago over a layer of essentia over a core of anima, all resting atop a blob of substantia. This spell reverses these layers, putting the substantia on top. Use of graveyard earth in the spell gives the substantia a new imago so it can be apprehended and handled, resulting in a golem like in the previous spell, but one that still shows the physical form of the victim.

The spell calls for graveyard earth, but any kind of earth will do, in even small quantities. The victim's own essentia acts as fuel for the golem, so no vegetative essentia is needed. However, the golem itself has the magician's essentia, so it still must obey the magician.

This spell, like the next spell, is designed to kill two birds with one stone: It furnishes a golem that can be disguised as the target while getting the target out of the way. It is safer to use than the mask-golem, though, if the magician does not want the original coming back: it takes a high degree of magical skill to reverse.

[Fragmentary notes to self: The mask swallows the imago, essentia and anima, but projects the imago. Unconscious because no essentia or anima in operation.]

Substantia cannot interact with the world except through imago; therefore, the corpse-golem spell holds enormous tension within it, like a heavy object resting on a buoyant one. The inversion must be held in place by the imago that is laid over the substantia.

When placing a blank mask on a corpse-golem, the mask swallows the imago, which releases the tension and the c-g snaps back to normality. However, this leaves the mask buried inside the imago where it can still be removed. Removing the mask puts the blank imago back in play, which rebinds the c-g.]

The Mask-Golem/ Mobili Servus (Spell 7): This spell actually works as a three-step version of the first spell while making use of sixth spell's animating techniques.

The golem shell that goes inside a mask deactivates the auto-editor and activates the disguise mechanism. When placed on a victim, it checks for essentia. If the essentia in the victim matches the essentia in the mask, then it operates as regular mask, and just swaps out physical imago while injecting mental imago. This is why the magician can wear a mask that he has put his essentia in without getting buried beneath it.

If the essentia doesn't match, then it executes a complicated switch: It operates a "corpse-golem spell" on them, turning them inside out and burying the original person under a new golem imago in such a way that his or her essentia can only operate as the kick-starting fuel. It then swaps out the "golem imago" for the imago that was copied into the mask, as though it's a regular mask that has been placed on a corpse-golem. So, the result is actually a corpse-golem with a mask on it, but you never seen the corpse-golem, and the spell that creates that corpse-golem is instantly reversed when you take the mask off, restoring the person to normality.

Again, graveyard earth is not necessary, but the Libra is a nasty piece of work and calls for it anyway.

The Test (Spell 8): Not technically part of the Libra. Just a challenge. The solution, however, relies on copying the book's anima. That it has an anima is the first clue that the book contains a person.

The Anima Band / Amphora Anima (Spell 9): Copies anima. The anima band does not test for essentia before operating, either to copy or to disguise. That's because only things with human essentia have anima to copy. Moreover, there's no reason to check the magician's essentia before executing when he puts an anima band on. If the magician only wanted the victim's memories, he would have made a mind band. If he wants to don an anima band, then it's only because he wants to replace his "sense of self" with that of the victim; and who is the anima band to argue that he shouldn't do that?

An anima band suspends the victims' own anima and substitutes that inside the band. However, because anima needs the brain to operate (it's where mental states come together, remember), its activities leave imprints upon the victim's physical imago. This is why victims remember what they did and felt after the band comes off them.

While operating, the anima band sets up a kind of "shadow anima" inside the person, that is modified by what the altered person does. These modifications are not recorded inside the band itself. For that reason, the band does not accumulate memories while it is on a person, and resets to the time it was forged once it comes off.

The Chameleon (Spells 10-12): A convenient manner of arranging multiple, independent imago within one mask. In an anticipation of the "remote control" masks, it includes a "control" sigil that allows the shifting of imago.

The Nail (Spell 13): This is an independent spell, useful on its own. Nails crafted with this spell can be used on any material, not only masks and mind bands.

Stripping Items (Spell 14): Removes imago (bodily and mental) and anima from masks and bands. The data removed is not recoverable, though it may attach to other items.

Copying Items (Spell 15): Like spell 14, but the data is transferred to another base but not removed from the original. That base must be a prepared item, though, and not another human being.

Stripping Minds (Spell 16): Strips anima from a person. The data is not recoverable. Stripping anima also arrests all forward mental momentum, so that the person becomes catatonic despite retaining all their other functions, including essentia. But an anima band can be placed on the person, animating them with the psychology associated with the band. The original's mental imago remains, so a successful imposture can still be carried out. The band, though, can be discovered and removed.

Stripping Bodies (Spell 17): Strips imago and anima from a person, but leaves essentia behind. The result is like a golem that has been crafted with another person's essentia. Setting a mask on them will create a free golem; setting a mask-golem on them will cause them to operate like a mask-golem.

This is probably inconsistent with what's been published, but would allow the same kinds of things to be done.

The Doll (Spell 18): Shrinks a golem. Used in advanced spells as an item of mental focus.

The Doppelganger (Spell 19): Copies imago onto a golem. The sigil here is modified so that golems, not masks or bands, are the receptive item, but it has also been limited so that it only works to copy imago. The result, therefore, is only a simulation of an exact copy because it lacks anima.

However, by altering the sigil so that it also copies anima, you can create a more exact simulacrum. The addition of anima to the doppelganger would give it the ability to perform magic. Moreover, the addition of anima would also set up interference in the resonance between the essentia inside the magician and the essentia inside the golem. This would result in a free golem.

The sigil can also be modified to copy essentia over.

Spell 20: This is a magical illustration that causes intense vertigo in the viewer, leading to loss of consciousness. It can only be navigated by someone with tremendous powers of concentration, which will allow them to "see" the whirlwind it contains and mentally navigate it. At the end is a lock with a key. If you touch the key, the illustration vanishes--releasing the reader from the vision--and replacing it with an illustration of a lock and key. Turn the key, and the page will turn. It will remain open unless you lock it again, in which case the vertigo illusion will reappear, and the vision will have to be navigated again.

The Remote Control (Spell 21): The spell provides a fragment of a sigil (it contains some obvious "holes") and a "rebus" constructed of other, simpler sigils that give hints as to what to do. The spell leads to the creation of two masks. The first is a "control" mask which anyone can wear; the latter is a "remote" mask which is put upon a victim. When the control mask is activated, the wearer has the experience of being "transported" inside the remote mask, and can manipulate it as if he were wearing it. His body (in the control mask) falls into a catatonic state.

The sigil provided is fragmentary because the holes have to be filled with a unique code that the spellcaster can create. The same sigil (with appropriate modifications) is put into both the remote and control masks; the unique code "tunes" them to each other, so that the impression of transference is made between appropriate masks and cannot be hijacked by another. One control can be linked to multiple remotes. The spellcaster also invents a method--inscribed into the sigil--for deactivating the transference, or moving into a different remote mask.

The spell calls for essentia to be used inside the remote, but this is not necessary. If essentia is used, the remote mask will function like a mask-golem and be under the spellcaster's influence even when he is not under it. If essentia is not used, then the person is not under the spellcaster's control, and will have the felt experience of being possessed when the remote is active.

The spellcaster's name is used only to "tune" masks to each other. Anyone can don a control mask and take control of the remote(s).

There is no "transfer" of anima or essentia with this spell. There is simply a kind of at-distance resonance that gives the wearer of the control mask the experience of being directly under the remote mask.

Influence (Spell 22): Uses a mask and/or mind band and one of the shrunken golem "dolls" which has had a simplified version of the "remote" sigil inscribed on it. This creates a kind of link between the imago in the item and the original who contributed it. The spellcaster places the doll onto the mask (and/or band) and covers it with his hand. This does not give him control of the original person, but it allows him inside that person so that he can nudge them. If it is a mask, he can exercise a puppet-like control over the body. (If he cannot see the victim, he has to do this blind, not knowing where they are or what effect their actions are having on the environment.) If it is a mind band, he can influence their thoughts, sowing confusion or giving them ideas they wouldn't have had otherwise. The control given is very crude.

Alteration (Spell 23): Uses a mask and/or mind band and one of the shrunken golem "dolls" which has had a simplified version of the "remote" sigil inscribed on it (different from Spell 22). This creates a kind of link between the imago in the item and the original who contributed it. The spellcaster places the doll onto the mask (and/or band) and covers it with his hand. This gives him a mental representation of the victim. If it is a mask, he can intellectually apprehend the bodily imago and make alterations to it. These may be gross--squashing and stretching the body, adding/removing organs, appendages, etc.--or very subtle, such as tweaking eye color or slightly strengthening muscles. If it is a mind band, he can edit memories, dispositions, habits, skills: inserting new ones or removing old ones. The original's anima is not altered by the latter operation, but a kind of "fog" will prevent the anima from overriding the changes; the victim will be unaware that they have lost or gained phantom memories or skills.

As noted above, Spell 1 contains a version of this spell. After studying Spell 23, a magician should be able to find that aspect of the sigil that puts the auto-editor into a mask, and can remove it. This would obviate the need for sealant. A very clever magician could reverse-engineer the "edit imago" sigil from Spell 1 but he would already need tremendous learning and skill.

There might be more spells at some point.

* * * * *

IV. Possible Extensions

Anyone who has mastered the Libra through Spell 23 will have the skill to employ these techniques in many new and useful spells, especially if they have other skills and education. Possibilities:

* Spell 5 and Spell 19: A Doppelganger spell used on a golem prepared according to Spell 5. The resulting item uses the original's substantia (a meaningless carryover), and contains the golem-maker's essentia. The result is a controllable golem but one that hasn't got a mask that can be changed or removed. The result is a golem-slave that cannot be identified as such, there being no masks or bands to find on them.

* Spell 6 and Spell 19: A Doppelganger spell used on a golem prepared according to Spell 6. The resulting item uses the original's substantia (a meaningless carryover), and contains the golem-maker's essentia. The result is a controllable golem but one that hasn't got a mask that can be changed or removed. The result is a golem-slave that cannot be identified as such, there being no masks or bands to find on them. The original's essentia and imago remain buried within the golem, but have no influence and cannot be accessed. If Spell 17 is executed on them then the original's essentia, anima and imago are also stripped, resulting in a plain golem.

* Spell 17 and Spell 19: A Doppelganger spell used on a golem prepared according to Spell 17. The resulting item contains the victim's essentia, leaving it as a free golem, but made into a duplicate of some other person. There would be no masks or mind bands to discover on them.

* Spell 17 contains sigil elements for the individual removal of imago and anima. Spells 9 and 16 contains elements for the individual removal of anima. Spells 1 and 2 contains elements for the isolation (for copying) of bodily and physical imago (complete imago, if they are combined). By process of elimination, then, a sigil for the removal of essentia can be constructed after close study of Spell 17.

* Spell 15 and Spell 21. Spell 21 works by inserting a control sigil between a mask and the person beneath. The remote sigil, however, could be placed on a golem. If Spell 15 is then executed on the golem, the remote would still function, giving the possessor of the control mask access to the resulting doppelganger without there being a mask that could be discovered or removed.

Extensions
The Libra spells are designed only to work on humans by checking for human essentia before executing. Removing or modifying this part of the sigil would allow the copying/disguising of other objects, including animals, plants, clothing, furniture, etc.

* Masks could copy animals or plants or pieces of furniture, or be placed upon them, if the sigil were suitably modified so that it accepts certain kinds of bodies as receptacles. Animals (and other items) could thus operate as golems by hanging human masks upon them; and if the mask is a mask-golem then there would be no difference between putting the mask on the animal or on a golem. If it's a regular mask, however, the result would be a free golem disguised as the person who was in the mask. If placed on an animal, the resulting golem would act just like the person in the disguise, but they would also have the animals memories, and maybe some of its dispositions. Most likely, though, those memories would be vague and haphazard, and the dispositions would be swamped by the much more complex dispositions of the human. But it could create unwanted and unfortunate confusions.

Such confusions could be avoided if placed upon non-sentient objects, but there would be insurmountable engineering problems. The masks work well at copying humans because after finding essentia they are easily able to find the boundaries of the object that needs copying by tracing neural pathways. Something similar could be done for animals, but there are no similar pathways for non-sentient objects. Without boundary criteria, masks would execute in mid-air or when placed randomly upon other objects; or, if the boundary criteria are too strict, the masks wouldn't operate at all because even the smallest nick or scratch would change the boundaries of the object you're trying to set the mask on.

Here is one solution: The magician would craft a kind of magical cabinet that would copy the imago anything placed into it (animate or inanimate). The imago would then be transferred into a "chameleon device": an object that when activated shifts into the imago that has been transferred into it.

So, suppose your chameleon device is a tea kettle. You put a coffee cup into the magic cabinet, press the "copy" button, and send the imago of the coffee cup into the tea kettle. Then, when you stroked it just the right way, the kettle would turn into the coffee cup. Stroke it again, and it would turn back into a kettle. By building in more chameleon layers, you could add more "disguises" to it.

Furniture could become configurable: a safe, for instance, might get a second disguise as a smelly garbage can. A valuable urn might turn into a house cat or a copy of your best friend. More practically, "chameleon clothes" could be made, so that instant wardrobe changes could be accomplished.

Another practical project: Copy an animal into a mask; attach a mind band of yourself to the mask; set it on a golem. The result would be a familiar: an animal that can look like an animal but think and act like the magician. (Though the animal might not much enjoy it.)

* Passively, one might create a kind of camera that, when tripped, copies imago of the person who tripped it. In this way it could "photograph" people entering certain areas or be used as a magical retina scanner.

Self-executing spells
Sigils are self-executing spells, but they must be set in motion by a magician. However, they can have triggers attached so that they execute under set conditions. As applied to the Libra spells, here are some possibilities:

* Instead of a mask or band, a copy spell (of any kind) could be put in a more mundane item, like a book or pencil, and it might passively copy a person without knocking them out; the booby-trapped item could then be recovered and the data put into a more conventional receptacle, like a mask.

* A forbidden area might be booby-trapped with a copy of someone's anima, such that when triggered by an interloper the anima snaps onto them, changing their personality, perhaps to turn them into an ally of the person who wants the area guarded.

* More complicated version of the previous: A sigil that traps an intruder, strips them, and copies them onto a docile, obedient golem that then takes their place.

Creation of new persons
Because the metaphysical elements can be individually isolated, separated and edited, they can also be put together into new combinations. This means you can create "new" people with varying degrees of independence and originality, all without leaving masks or bands on them that might be discovered.

Creation of animate inanimates
It is an essential aspect of humans (in BoM) to be animate; that is why dead people are no longer human in BoM, because death involves the breaking of their essentia. But, conversely, inanimate objects can be imbued with a degree of animation by giving them animal essentia.

The results would not be as trippy as you might imagine, for the fusion would be limited by the imago of the thing. A desk, for instance, would not be able to walk, simply because its legs are not built for that kind of thing. But it might be able to flap its drawers open and shut. An essentia-infused car would be able to drive itself.

You'd need more than essentia, though, or the items would only be randomly alive, like possessed furniture. (That, perhaps, would be an explanation for haunted furniture and dolls; the essentia didn't break, causing the person or animal to die. Rather, the essentia came unbound from them—so they died—and it then attached to furniture.) For a truly animate object, it would also need a simulacrum of intelligence: mental imago, at least; anima would also work. Then there could be purposeful motion and activity. Insofar as it could, it would try to move in a human- or animal-like way (that being the thing's experience) but it could learn to move in other ways.

The great problem would be sense reception; desks and cars don't have eyes. Best thing I can come up with is that even furniture, as a physical object, has light rays and sound waves playing on its surface, and an intelligence-infused object would get muddy, garbled input from these, perhaps enough to see and hear in a very vague way.

I think I need something like this to fully explain what happened to Will when he fell into the Libra, which I think I'm now in a position to describe.

* * * * *

V. What Happened to Will When He Went Through the Libra

When Will fell into the Libra, it separated him into his constituent elements. His substantia went by the wayside—it's not like mass, and is not conserved. His essentia was edited, removing the connection to Kenandandra. His imago got stored in the book. His (edited) essentia and anima were then bundled up with some self-executing sigils that were variants on Spell 19 (The Doppelganger), which needed a golem to ground onto.

When Blackwell made a mask of Will Shabbleman, this combination got included with the mask, and then (as with Spell 19) Will's remnants executed onto Blackwell's golem. (The spell also destroyed Blackwell's essentia that had been in the golem.) Technically, the result was a doppelganger, but one that had Will's anima and essentia, but not his imago. Instead, it still had the imago of a golem.

This had the effect of making him an "animate inanimate," of the kind I described just above. Golems are described as being stone-like; in fact, they are just made of incredibly viscous clay. Will was able to force it into motion, and since it was vaguely human shaped anyway, he made it move in a very human-like way when he was outside a mask. If he had tried, he would have been able to make it move in other ways, or even able to metamorphose, like Clayface, maybe, from the DC Comics, though I don't think he'd have been able to mimic colors or textures. He'd only have resembled a more life-like statue. But he could have flowed around more.

When he passed through the Libra a second time, the golem's imago was stripped from him and his original imago (though reversed) was copied onto him the way imago is put onto a mask. All the other Libra spells were also inscribed on him. What came out the other end, then, was the substantia of Blackwell's golem, carrying Will's modified essentia, his anima, and a reversal of his original imago inscribed on him like imago is inscribed on a mask, along with the capacity to inscribe imago, essentia, anima, and self-executing spells onto himself. Most of these possibilities he has not explored, because he has mostly turned into a good guy who seriously dislikes these powers because of their provenance.