First off this is not a traditional Legacy book like Legacies: the Sublime or Legacies: the Ancient. Left-Hand Path does not contain a catalogue of twisted legacies. Rather it is more like an Order book, discussing the major factions of Left-Handed Mages, their history and their beliefs. This includes the thus far barely mentioned Mad, the Order Heresies, the Scelesti, and the soul thieves such as the Tremere.
We start with the intro fiction. Thankfully this is short and sweet. It comes off as a bit disjointed due to the fractured viewpoint of the main character, a mage in the Legacy known as (Legion) (parentheses intended) who uses the souls of others to take on their identities. The intro fiction not only introduces this legacy but also connects other stories we have heard throughout the Mage: the Awakening line from the cannibal mages in the Adamantine Arrow, the Secret Concord from Boston Unveiled, and the Red Word cult from the same work.
The interior artwork is recycled from earlier work. It is not a major point for me as I am more interested in the text. The art does fit well with the subject matter and doesn't distract from reading.
The book consists of 5 chapters: Introduction, Heretics and Apostates, The Mad Ones, The Scelesti, and Reapers. The Introduction, like in Imperial Mysteries, includes what might be considered a storyteller section and is much more than a synopsis of what the other chapters will discuss.
The Introduction chapter does a nice job of pointing out the difficulty in pinning down what constitutes Left-Handed magic. The label is simply a matter of social convention. What is evil and wrong differs depending on the society or mage in question. Even using the Wisdom chart as a guideline is fraught with challenges. Is hurting someone with magic Left-Handed? If so someone should tell the Adamantine Arrow. We might agree to put the line further down: soul theft, trafficking with the Abyss, and the like. But taking someone’s soul is a valid (if rarely used) punishment for dangerous mages.
Does that mean some Left-Handed magic are tolerated to maintain the status quo? The book tells us yes. This ambiguity is great for using Left-handed mages in your chronicles. They are not just lone wolves at the edges of society or secret cults hiding within the concilium. They might be recognized by the local society of mages but kept at arm's length and watched carefully. This gives you more options for interactions with these individuals as enemies, allies, or even mentors.
Left-Hand Path does something interesting with the typical lexicon by expanding each term into a short series of paragraphs. We learn the old term for Left-Handed mages, Nefandi, and how it was once used to refer to the group that would become the Free Council. Thus it is rarely used now. In addition to some familiar terms, we also get a new term, Reapers, those who steal souls.
The book also brings back the tier system to show how Left-Handed mages interact at different scales. Nothing amazing here but still good stuff. They also discuss the task of finding and dealing with Left-Handed mages. That section is a bit dry.
More useful are the story hooks and examples for how Left-Handed mages exist either in normal mage society, as tolerated outsiders or secretive subcultures, or outside it as outlaws and insurgents. The story hooks for either case are great and illustrate cool ways for putting a cabal in a position where they might work with the Left-Handed mage or with enemies against a Left-Handed mage. All in all this is my favorite section of the Introduction.
The second chapter, Heretics and Apostates, covers most of the Left-Handed legacies in general (at least those not dealing with soul theft or the Abyss). We get a discussion of the various motives one might have to join a Left-Handed legacy. This is useful for making a fully developed Left-Handed character.
The means for obtaining a Left-Handed legacy is also discussed. What is interesting about this and later sections is the name dropping of legacies that are not detailed here or elsewhere. In the end we get a half-dozen legacy names with some hints of their powers like the Alienists who remove souls to study insanity or the Shadowbinders who bind ghosts to their souls. More of them can be found in the Reapers section.
We also get a bit more on the Lower Depths. It seems where the Abyss could be described as impossible things that never were, the Lower Depth is more of a hungry absence, twisting creatures and objects to feed it more of the Fallen world. This ties into the full legacy given in this chapter: the Cwn Annwn. The mages of this legacy have built a paradise in the Lower Depths from mana and phantasms. They use their powers and Lower Depth hounds bound to their souls to destroy objects in the Fallen world to feed and fill their paradise. It is interesting in that we see several motivations and goals within the group. The older members seek a permanent solution that does not involve feeding the Lower Depths part of the World of Darkness while their impatient students are set on collecting (i.e. destroying) those things they think would be nice to have in their paradise. Like fine art. Or people.
This chapter also includes the various Order heresies. These include groups that either bend or break an Order’s ethos. There are a lot of good ideas for heresies here. One in particular is given some more space: the Iconclasts. These are Diamond Order mages who believe Sleepers are to blame for the world’s problems.
The means for obtaining a Left-Handed legacy is also discussed. What is interesting about this and later sections is the name dropping of legacies that are not detailed here or elsewhere. In the end we get a half-dozen legacy names with some hints of their powers like the Alienists who remove souls to study insanity or the Shadowbinders who bind ghosts to their souls. More of them can be found in the Reapers section.
We also get a bit more on the Lower Depths. It seems where the Abyss could be described as impossible things that never were, the Lower Depth is more of a hungry absence, twisting creatures and objects to feed it more of the Fallen world. This ties into the full legacy given in this chapter: the Cwn Annwn. The mages of this legacy have built a paradise in the Lower Depths from mana and phantasms. They use their powers and Lower Depth hounds bound to their souls to destroy objects in the Fallen world to feed and fill their paradise. It is interesting in that we see several motivations and goals within the group. The older members seek a permanent solution that does not involve feeding the Lower Depths part of the World of Darkness while their impatient students are set on collecting (i.e. destroying) those things they think would be nice to have in their paradise. Like fine art. Or people.
This chapter also includes the various Order heresies. These include groups that either bend or break an Order’s ethos. There are a lot of good ideas for heresies here. One in particular is given some more space: the Iconclasts. These are Diamond Order mages who believe Sleepers are to blame for the world’s problems.
Lastly we get some new crunch. There are new flaws for Apostates and Heretics to reflected the added difficulties they have. There is also a new spell: Inscribe Daimonomicon, for making a book that holds a legacy. We also get new merits. The Nameless Order merit seems particularly useful as a guide for creating groups of apostate mages who work together.
The third chapter, the Mad Ones, deals with mages who have lost all Wisdom, either through heinous deeds or by shattering their soul with poorly considered magics. The Mad are not intended to be playable but to provide a serious and frightening challenge to mages while warning them of the dangers of immorality. The Mad gain occultation and a strange powers as the magics within their soul leak out and form independent spells called Tulpa.
It is crucial to realize that the Mad are not merely insane but are also completely sociopathic. They care nothing of the feelings of others if they consider them at all. All that matters is their particular fixation or Fault. This is a Skill, Arcana Practice, Spell or act that they need to use or complete again and again. If they don’t their Tulpas grow in power and arrange for circumstances where they can satisfy their fault.
The Mad are roughly classified into three groups: Savants, who focused on a particular talent; Malefactors, who engage in violent and murderous behavior; and the Walkers, whose madness is so extreme that their conscious mind has been ejected from their body and exists are a sentient spell.
All in all the mechanics are intriguing and likely lucrative in term of Arcane experience if your character survives. The Tulpa and the Mad One's natural occultation allows a Storyteller to easily foreshadow the building pressure on a Mad One to satisfy their Fault. The Storyteller advice is well written and the sample characters presented are excellent.
The fourth chapter deals with the infamous Scelesti. It starts with their version of history, twisted and at odds with most other group’s stories. The Scelesti, unsurprisingly present themselves as the heroes, working to overturn creation and return the world to its original primordial chaos. Personally I don’t buy their story. We get a breakdown of the general philosophies of the worshippers of the Abyss. There are generally realistic and helps to paint the group are more interesting than just a group of Nihilists.
I really like the example characters they provide. We have a religious serial killer, an Archmage willing to sacrifice Shadow to make a world without a predator prey system, and Angrboda from the Mage: The Awakening. As part of this we also get an abyssal cult serving the Archmage, the Gardeners of the Shadow Angel. This also demonstrates the use of the Nameless Order merit from Chapter 2.
We also get a breakdown of the loose knit society of Abyssal mages. The rules in this section are recycled from Tome of Mysteries but we do get a better view of how the Scelesti themselves view it. We also get a lot more detail on the Abyssal Watchtowers. We also learn about the rivalries between the two major factions: the Autarks, solitary mages who have built their own legacies; and the Shedim, who worked their way up the steps of an established Abyssal Legacy cult. We also get guidelines on building new Scelesti legacies, including cool ideas for the Abyssal Channels to teach them. The highest rung of Scelesti society are the Baalim, the lords of the Scelesti, who are crowned by Old Man (also known as the 11th Aeon). They gain strange powers over paradox and potentially odd ailments as part of their bargains with the Old Man.
The third chapter, the Mad Ones, deals with mages who have lost all Wisdom, either through heinous deeds or by shattering their soul with poorly considered magics. The Mad are not intended to be playable but to provide a serious and frightening challenge to mages while warning them of the dangers of immorality. The Mad gain occultation and a strange powers as the magics within their soul leak out and form independent spells called Tulpa.
It is crucial to realize that the Mad are not merely insane but are also completely sociopathic. They care nothing of the feelings of others if they consider them at all. All that matters is their particular fixation or Fault. This is a Skill, Arcana Practice, Spell or act that they need to use or complete again and again. If they don’t their Tulpas grow in power and arrange for circumstances where they can satisfy their fault.
The Mad are roughly classified into three groups: Savants, who focused on a particular talent; Malefactors, who engage in violent and murderous behavior; and the Walkers, whose madness is so extreme that their conscious mind has been ejected from their body and exists are a sentient spell.
All in all the mechanics are intriguing and likely lucrative in term of Arcane experience if your character survives. The Tulpa and the Mad One's natural occultation allows a Storyteller to easily foreshadow the building pressure on a Mad One to satisfy their Fault. The Storyteller advice is well written and the sample characters presented are excellent.
The fourth chapter deals with the infamous Scelesti. It starts with their version of history, twisted and at odds with most other group’s stories. The Scelesti, unsurprisingly present themselves as the heroes, working to overturn creation and return the world to its original primordial chaos. Personally I don’t buy their story. We get a breakdown of the general philosophies of the worshippers of the Abyss. There are generally realistic and helps to paint the group are more interesting than just a group of Nihilists.
I really like the example characters they provide. We have a religious serial killer, an Archmage willing to sacrifice Shadow to make a world without a predator prey system, and Angrboda from the Mage: The Awakening. As part of this we also get an abyssal cult serving the Archmage, the Gardeners of the Shadow Angel. This also demonstrates the use of the Nameless Order merit from Chapter 2.
We also get a breakdown of the loose knit society of Abyssal mages. The rules in this section are recycled from Tome of Mysteries but we do get a better view of how the Scelesti themselves view it. We also get a lot more detail on the Abyssal Watchtowers. We also learn about the rivalries between the two major factions: the Autarks, solitary mages who have built their own legacies; and the Shedim, who worked their way up the steps of an established Abyssal Legacy cult. We also get guidelines on building new Scelesti legacies, including cool ideas for the Abyssal Channels to teach them. The highest rung of Scelesti society are the Baalim, the lords of the Scelesti, who are crowned by Old Man (also known as the 11th Aeon). They gain strange powers over paradox and potentially odd ailments as part of their bargains with the Old Man.
The final chapter deals with Reapers, mages and legacies that deal with the theft and use of Souls. We get errata that clears up confusion about soul loss. We also get greatly expanded material on the Tremere Liches: their beliefs, their history, and their goals. It seems the mad Tremere siphoning souls on the edge of the Concilium are the equivalent of street corner drug dealers living in their parents’ basement. The real leaders of the soul trade belong to special houses. In addition to being at the top of the soul trade pyramid, they gain additional legacy powers stolen from other Reaper legacies the Tremere exterminated centuries ago.
We get a new monster, the preta, which is a Tremere whose initiation rites went wrong and now is a soul sucking horror. The Tremere gain new powers like the ability to go into a torpor like state like vampires or to hide their true nature using a soul they are devouring.
We also get two other Reaper legacies: the Cloud Infinite and (Legion). The Cloud Infinite is a Free Council Left-Handed legacy based on the idea of using the minds and souls of others like a server. They steal mental processing from others for their own purposes. (Legion) on the other hand is a psychic illness affecting Guardian of Veil mages who use Masks too much. They gradually lose their own identity but can steal the souls of others and use them to take that person’s identity.
Overall the Left-Hand Path is excellent. The legacies are intriguing and work well for inspiring adventures and new enemies. The material for joining or advancing as a Scelesti or Reaper seems great for use either as a player or a Storyteller. The Mad look to be excellent antagonists. The myths and history can be a bit dry and are perhaps my least favorite part of the book but are useful for providing context to the Left-Handed beliefs. I think this is a great book to have as a Storyteller or as a Player who is interested in pursuing a Left Handed Legacy for his or her character.
We get a new monster, the preta, which is a Tremere whose initiation rites went wrong and now is a soul sucking horror. The Tremere gain new powers like the ability to go into a torpor like state like vampires or to hide their true nature using a soul they are devouring.
We also get two other Reaper legacies: the Cloud Infinite and (Legion). The Cloud Infinite is a Free Council Left-Handed legacy based on the idea of using the minds and souls of others like a server. They steal mental processing from others for their own purposes. (Legion) on the other hand is a psychic illness affecting Guardian of Veil mages who use Masks too much. They gradually lose their own identity but can steal the souls of others and use them to take that person’s identity.
Overall the Left-Hand Path is excellent. The legacies are intriguing and work well for inspiring adventures and new enemies. The material for joining or advancing as a Scelesti or Reaper seems great for use either as a player or a Storyteller. The Mad look to be excellent antagonists. The myths and history can be a bit dry and are perhaps my least favorite part of the book but are useful for providing context to the Left-Handed beliefs. I think this is a great book to have as a Storyteller or as a Player who is interested in pursuing a Left Handed Legacy for his or her character.
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