Darkness, decay, ectoplasm, enervation, ghosts, soul stealing

Death is a gruesome and terrible Arcanum. With it, a mage can exert control over that most primal and frightful of mysteries. Ghosts and the dead fall under the purview of this Arcanum, as does the health of the soul.

Those who delve deeply into the Mysteries of Death are often (though not necessarily) morbid people, given to considerable introspection regarding mortality, decay and endings. Many such individuals had too close a brush with their own mortality at some point. Out of fear (or disdain), they attempt to master the very metaphysical constant responsible for claiming those whose time has passed, seeking to define the limits of their own existence rather than being subject to the whims of a cold and impersonal universe. Like the Arcanum they pursue, such mages tend to be subtle, owing much less (despite what others might think) to bad horror movies and heavy metal than to a pervasive, cold and clinical outlook on Creation, one in which they have already perceived the destiny of everything and flensed away their fear in the crucible that is the knowledge that all things must die in time.

1. Initiate (Knowing/Compelling/Unveiling)
2. Apprentice (Ruling/Veiling/Shielding)
3. Disciple (Weaving/Fraying/Perfecting)
4. Adept (Patterning/Unraveling)
5. Master (Making/Unmaking)