Infrastructure: Pattern Spider

Hidden throughout the world are pieces of Infrastructure, devices and beings designed to serve the occult purposes of the Machine, a universe spanning entity working to unknown purposes.

The Pattern Spider

The concept for these spirits came from the Mage: the Ascension adventure Loom of Fate which I adapted to my Mage: the Awakening chronicle "The Darkness That Men Make".

Within the spirit world of the city, a spider-like creature lurks, tapped into the network of infrastructure that makes the city hum. Telephone cables, power lines, rail roads, fiber optics, asphalt and concrete all converge on this spot. From here it can sense any disorder and send its agents to repair the damage to the network.

But this potent spirit remains the network's greatest vulnerability, a linchpin without which the whole network could collapse. What it protects and for whom depends on who you ask.

• Mage: the Awakening: the spider serves to protect the burial-place of one of the Bound, a fallen god trapped here when the Exarchs ascended to the Supernal. Its creators serve the will of those Exarchs.
• Demon: the Descent: this Angel serves the Machine, helping to maintain a vast and potent network of lesser Infrastructure.
• Werewolf: the Forsaken: this spirit represents the city's infrastructure. It exists because the city exists and it works to maintain the flow of essence that sustains it. If it dies the city itself may die.

Whatever it truly is, it is served by a swarm of lesser pattern spiders.

Pattern Spiders

These dog sized spiders shuffle about on clockwork legs, chittering with squeaky metallic voices. Glass and steel make up their carapaces in equal amounts.

Servants of both incarnations of the spider, these beings of order repair the damage to the city's pattern like busy worker bees. Each seems much like the next though the perceptive can recognize minor differences in their appearances.

Rank: 1
Attributes: Power 1, Finesse 4, Resistance 1

Willpower: 5    Essence: 10
Initiative: 5      Defense: 4
Speed: 10          Size: 4
Corpus: 5

Influences: Order 1
Numina: Ban of Power, Calcify, Material Vision, Strengthen Gauntlet

Ban: Cannot resist a command from a superior, must repair or recycle damaged items left in its path

Cob

A unique pattern spider, Cob may have been conjured decades ago by a group of mages known as the Seers of the Throne. Or perhaps it is the product of the Machine's occult matrices and is truly one of its Angels. Either way it has since been strengthened the Seers’ magics.

Cob's arachnid form is composed of steel, allowing the bear sized spirit to loom over its surroundings. Its eight rusty limbs end in a prehensile grippers, powered by leaky hydraulics. Dull black and covered by rivets, its armored carapace has cracked in places, revealing patches of rust and broken wiring. Stiffly it clambers through a web of fiber optics, copper wires, and steel girders.Its many eyes shine with television static.

The burden of maintaining Chicago's infrastructure has worn down Cob, aging and weakening it. More than simple physical damage, the spirit is weary and tired.

Rank: 4
Attributes: Power 8, Finesse 8, Resistance 12

Willpower: 20  Essence: 25
Initiative: 16    Defense: 8
Speed: 26          Size: 7
Corpus: 19

Influences: Order 4
Numina: Alter Integrity, Calcify, Commune, Left-Handed Spanner, Material Vision, Reconfigure Object, Repair Object, Strengthen Gauntlet

Ban: Has no Defense against fire from a burning building