spirit over the material, though, and through the Dreamquest, they learned to call out to the Umbra and cause the living world to respond in turn. Many shamans know of this ritual, but the power and danger inherent in its use makes it a rarely invoked rote.

Using the linkage of material and spiritual, it is possible to find the Umbral effects that will cause the desired result to occur in the mundane world. To cause an earthquake, the Dreamspeaker might have to do battle with a powerful Earth spirit. To cure a plague, the Dreamspeaker might have to go on a lengthy quest into the far reaches of the Umbra for a special healing herb. Similarly, causing a city to collapse under social unrest and economic upheaval might require that the Dreamspeaker gather an army of Umbrood to storm the city's spiritual counterpart.

A Dreamquest rote is designed specifically to produce large-scale effects. In its most extreme forms, it can start or stop wars, topple governments, unleash or banish wide-spread famine and pestilence. However, the difficulty of the Umbral quest is directly proportional to the magnitude of the desired change. A Dreamspeaker who casts this rote successfully will know the quest that she must undertake and approximately how difficult it will be. Mages who fail or who abandon the quest before it is complete accomplish nothing at all. They may even draw down the ire of spirits roused for the task and then left astray. Furthermore, while the quest is in motion, other great forces may mobilize to maintain the status quo. A Dreamspeaker could go on a Dreamquest to rid his city of Technocratic influence, but the Technocracy would certainly send its Pan-Dimensional Corps to intervene.

[The Dreamquest is one of the oldest of the shamanic rituals, as well as one of the most unusual. This rote essentially allows the Dreamspeaker to make powerful, coincidental changes in static reality by altering the Umbra. Powerful magic that has a profound effect on the mundane world is often exceedingly difficult. Loosing or curing a huge plague, destroying a city or causing a large earthquake can often involve rituals that require as many as a dozen successes and difficulties of 8 or higher. Such rituals also risk completely destroying the mage with paradox. However, Dreamspeakers know that every action taken in the Umbra affects the mundane world just as every action taken in the mundane world affects the Umbra.]

[When a mage performs this ritual, the Storyteller is under no obligation to make this quest easy, or even possible. This rote could theoretically be used to start a global thermonuclear war, ruin the economy of the United States, cure the AIDS virus or produce a lasting world peace. However, such extreme quests might take many months or even years, and they would be far too difficult for anything but a large group of the most powerful mages in the world. As a general guideline, a normal group of mage characters should, after much work, be able to affect the fate of a single moderately large city. A quest of this magnitude should be an epic event, not merely a matter of a few die rolls.]

[The mage or mages involved enter the Umbra (either by using the Stepping Sideways, Breach the Gauntlet or Untether Effect), then begin their quest. As soon as the mage who actually performs the ritual enters the Umbra, she will have a vision of the quest which must be undertaken to accomplish the desired goal. At this point, the mages involved can either decide that the quest appears too difficult and dangerous, or they can set off. Such quests form an entire story's worth of events, and they involve a series of heroic endeavors like slaying foul Umbrood, capturing valuable treasures or helping important spirits in their hour of need. The nature of the quest should relate indirectly to the task being performed. Causing social chaos in a city or producing some other disaster usually requires a quest that involves slaying or destroying something; blessing a city or solving some social problem usually involves rescuing a spirit or repairing some damaged object of value.]